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Russian Self-declared Victory in Mariupol; Mass Graves in Mariupol Seen in Satellite Imagery; Russian Forces Continue Shelling Azovstal Steel Plant; Ukrainian Officials Wants to Preserve Evidence Against Putin; Israeli Police Fights Back Against Palestinians in Jerusalem; French Voters Watches Who is Best to Vote; NATO Could Move to Evacuate Trapped Civilians in Mariupol; Prime Minister Boris Johnson from One Scandal to Another Wrong Move. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 22, 2022 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:00]

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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isa Soares, live in Lviv, Ukraine.

The horrors of war in this nation only seem to grow. We have new images of a mass grave in Mariupol where Russia claims victory.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta, following tensions at a mosque in Jerusalem, where Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli forces who responded with stun greens and teargas. We're live in Jerusalem, ahead.

SOARES: Now, Ukraine denies the port city of Mariupol has fallen to Russian forces despite Russia's president claiming it has been liberated, those were his words. While an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers are still holding out inside the sprawling Azovstal steel factory, they are reported to be critically low on water, as well as food.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has chosen to wait them out, really, and order to blockade around the plant that even a fly can't get through. Also, his words. While not far away, Ukrainian officials say the grim discovery of suspected mass graves adds to really the growing evidence of Russian war crimes, you're seeing it on your screen. Satellite images indicate about 200 new graves were recently added.

Ukraine's former prime minister called on the international community to get serious about prosecuting these atrocities. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARSENIY PETROVYCH YATSENYUK, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF UKRAINE: The world has to stand its ground. We need not just to send the message, we need to send a legal team to every single spot where Putin committed this crime, and actually orchestrate a legal case against Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, civilian evacuations from Mariupol have been extremely difficult from the very beginning. But now, they are almost nonexistent. Fewer than 100 people were able to reach the relative safety of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday. The mayor says many more are desperate to leave, but unfortunately, can't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VADYM BOYCHENKO, MAYOR, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE (through translator): There are still 100,000 people in the city who, for the second day in a row are waiting for evacuation, and they give us such a tiny number of buses, like yesterday, they said that there would be 90 busses, but only seven of them arrived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, says another $800 million package of U.S. military hardware is heading to Ukraine, really as quickly as possible. He also announced an additional $500 million to support the Ukrainian government. Now, the weapons shipments include Howitzer cannons, 144,000 artillery rounds, and a type of attack drone that was modified to suit Ukraine's circumstances.

Well, a gruesome example of Russian soldier's brutality is allegedly caught on tape. Ukrainian military intelligence says it intercepted Russian communications, giving in order to kill Ukraine's POWs, specifically those in the Luhansk region, which is bearing the brunt of Russia's renewed attacks. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): What can I tell you, damn it. (Inaudible) You keep the most senior among them, and let the rest go forever.

UNKNOWN (through translator): Let them go forever, damn it, so that no one will ever see them again, including relatives.

(END VOICE CLIP)

SOARES: Well, CNN can't verify the authenticity of the recording, but Ukraine says previous intercepted communications reveal Russia's plan to level everything to the ground at the steel plant in Mariupol where soldiers and civilians are hold up.

Well, constant bombardment has really been a way of life for many left in Ukraine's battered cities. Russian and Ukrainian forces battle for control while civilians find themselves in the middle, really huddling for safety.

Ben Wedeman takes us to the basement of a bombed-out theater where people are finding shelter and little else. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it begins again. Hell rains down. A dozen people are hiding in the basement of a bombed-out theater in the town of Rubizhne.

[03:05:07]

"Let it stop, oh Lord," he says. Now there is incoming. A white flag hangs outside to no effect. The theater above has been bombed and bombed again and again. Yet, they stay.

Too poor, two old, too frightened to flee. Nina, 89 years old, has been here for five weeks. "I want to go home," she says, "I've suffered too much, I've seen the fire and the smoke, I've seen it all. I'm scared."

Nina's plea, simple. "Help us, help us." Her daughter Ludmila (Ph) struggles to comfort her. "We're praying to God to stop it," she says, "to hear us." Yna (Ph) says "I have nowhere to go. I have no friends, no relatives."

With the shelling intensifying, volunteers are finding it hard to deliver food. As Russian and Ukrainian forces fight for control of Rubizhne, there are people down there praying as hell rains down.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rubizhne, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Just so much heartache you are seeing across this country. Well, my next guest is a member of Ukraine's parliament, Andrii Osadchuk is joining us live from Kyiv. and Andrii, thanks for taking the time to speak to us.

Let me start really with our top story this hour. And that's the discovery of these mass graves in Manhush. What can you tell us?

ANDRII OSADCHUK, MEMBER, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Look, it's not the first, and we are sure it's not the last case when we received confirmation of war crimes, and crimes against humanity, which had been already happened in Ukraine. And I support many Ukrainian politicians that support President Zelenskyy, claiming from the west, the criminal responsibility for everyone who did war crimes in Ukraine.

We are not talking about Vladimir Putin, and it is a big mistake to say that only Vladimir Putin is responsible for all atrocities in Ukraine. Thousands of Russian soldiers, thousands of Russian officers were killing civilians. What we need to do, we need to investigate everything, and we need to bring them to accountability and responsibility.

So, that's why besides military support which Ukraine needs, we need huge support in criminal justice to investigate everything and report to everything properly. Because all these people shall be brought to responsibility in International Criminal Court.

SOARES: Andrii, does the Ukrainian government have a sense at this hour of how many people have been inhumanely dumped in these graves as we look at the satellite images. Any sense of the scale here?

OSADCHUK: I know more or less figures on the Kyiv region which we are now currently trying to clean up, it's about 1,000 bodies of civilians which are being collected all over Kyiv region. When we speak about Mariupol, it's very difficult to calculate. Last -- there is a confusing number of people which were in the city before the war. It's something between 400,000 and 450,000. But base on the local reports on our military and officials, we may say about from 10 to 20,000 people have been already killed in Mariupol and in surrounding areas.

SOARES: So, ten and 20,000 you expect have already been killed in Mariupol and its surrounding areas. Of course, we don't know how many we're looking at these mass graves here. And Andrii, will Ukrainian officials, I mean, you say you're talking about the importance of gathering this evidence of war crimes. Will Ukrainian officials be traveling to Manhush. How are these atrocities being documented here?

OSADCHUK: Again, it's easier to do that in the Kyiv region. But again, you take huge amount of bodies, huge amount of cases, it's extremely high workload on our law enforcement and medical staff. With Mariupol it's much, much more complex. For the moment we don't have as you know access to the city. No international organization has the access to the city. So that's why it will be much more difficult to record everything what is happening in Mariupol.

[03:09:57]

Plus, we know for sure that Russians already used mobile crematoriums. So they're burning bodies to hide the crimes they already did. So that's why I think for the moment we need to collect as much as possible satellite images and intelligence information. And only after the liberalization of Mariupol we will be to investigate more.

Definitely we collect the witness's information, so luckily quite a lot of people were able to escape from Mariupol, so each witness is important.

SOARES: I mean, so many people, meanwhile, Andrii, roughly 100,000, I believe, are still stranded in Mariupol. The evacuations, I think it's fair to say, having gone according to plan. Are you hoping for a humanitarian corridor today? Or is that being put on hold?

OSADCHUK: Unfortunately, Russian military never care civilians. So never in the history they taken into consideration the life of civilians. We understand that they will continue to do the same in Mariupol and in all other places in Ukraine.

Ukraine, from our side, we do everything what we can, we try to influence our allies, we try to influence the international community to try to force Vladimir Putin to ensure safety for civilian evacuation. But they always lie, they never keep their word, they never keep promises. So that's why our expectations are quite pessimistic. Yes, we will

continue to do everything what we can, but at least 100,000 people are still under death threat in Mariupol and is definitely a (Inaudible).

SOARES: Andrii, very, very quickly, these mass graves that we're seeing just outside Mariupol. Would you go so far as saying this is genocide?

OSADCHUK: That's very, very important, because again, our target not just to defeat Putin. Our target is to bring all of them to responsibility, and in this case the terminology is very important. And legal definitions are very important, so that's why we call all the world, we call the United States and all other civilized countries to recognize everything what was happening here as a genocide.

Because Russians are killing Ukrainians just because of Ukrainians without any other reason. It is genocide in the 21st century.

SOARES: Andrii Osadchuk, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. Thank you, Andrii. Stay safe.

And some breaking news coming in to CNN, we can now confirm Ukraine's deputy prime minister says there will be no humanitarian corridors open in the hours ahead. Iryna Vereshchuk cite dangers along the routes as a reason what we heard from our M.P. just now which is one example, the dire need for such corridors, the estimated 100,000 people that remain trapped as we are discussing Mariupol.

The southern city has been under constant bombardment since it was surrounded by Russian forces on March 1st. And that is according to Ukrainian officials, they claim that more than 20,000 people have died in Mariupol during the assault.

And this just coming in as well, Ukrainian officials described heavy fighting throughout Donetsk as well as Luhansk regions amid a Russian offensive in the Donbas region. So, we'll keep on top of those two developments, but really the humanitarian corridors something that we've seen the real challenges in Mariupol.

Only, in fact, some 70 people or so being able to make the way from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. And the expectations were for 6,000. So very worrying indeed.

I'll turn things over now to my colleague Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta following other top stories. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you so much, Isa.

New clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

CNN's Hadas Gold joins me now from Jerusalem. Hadas, what is the latest on this volatile situation there?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, Jerusalem has been on edge for about week now. Clashes first broke out at the Al-Aqsa compound which is also known as the Temple Mount to Jews on Friday.

And this morning we're seeing this once again, video circulating online is showing hundreds of Palestinians throwing rocks and fireworks towards Israeli police, and Israeli police have been responding with stun grenades and tear gas.

In a statement, the Israeli police said that this all started around 4 a.m. this morning, they said the Palestinians were throwing stones and launching fireworks, including towards the back of the western wall, that's where Jews traditionally pray.

And the police forces say that they were forced to used means to dispersing demonstrations in order to stop the violence and repel the crowd. The Palestinian Red Crescent says there is at least 31 injuries, 14 of whom were taken to hospital for further treatment. The rest were treated on site.

[03:14:54]

In addition, we are seeing videos of a tree that caught fire on the compound. Israeli police say it was because of a firework. Today, Kim, is the third Friday of Ramadan, and it's the last day of Passover. This is an unusual confluence of holidays we are seeing this year where Ramadan, Passover, and last week in the western Easter were all overlapping, so that was contributing to the tensions.

In addition, it's been several weeks of tensions in Israel and across the West Bank. There are a series of deadly attacks in Israel that killed 14 people. The Israeli military were stepping up its raids in the West Bank, those raids and other clashes led to the deaths of at least several -- at least a dozen Palestinians.

And then the tensions in Jerusalem as well, the other night we saw the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. So far, though, it doesn't seem like the militant groups in Gaza want to escalate things further. But Hamas, the militant groups that runs Gaza has warned that its finger is on the trigger as they are watching the events unfold in Jerusalem. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks for walking us through what's behind this unrest, and we'll keep monitoring that situation there in Jerusalem. Hadas Gold, thank you so much.

Well, a potential kingmaker is emerging in Sunday's presidential runoff in France. Next, we'll look at how a candidate who came up short in the first round of voting could tip the scales in a second one. Stay with us.

[03:20:00]

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BRUNHUBER: The two candidates are about to begin the final sprint in the French presidential race. President Emmanuel Macron and his far- right challenger marine Le Pen are set to hold their final rallies in the coming hours. The campaigning will then come to a halt before they face off in Sunday's runoff. And that will be a rematch of the 2017 race when Macron easily beat Le Pen in the final stage of voting.

This time around, poll suggest a much tighter race. Macron and Le Pen are going into the runoff after winning the top two spots in the first round of voting but a candidate who ended up third is now emerging as a potential kingmaker in the presidential contest.

Jim Bittermann explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He didn't win, but he didn't exactly lose either. The first round of the French presidential election, Jean-Luc Melenchon and his France unbound party came in third. In the French system not enough to make the runoff round for the presidency but he did manage to garner more than 20 percent of the votes cast, votes that can make the difference in Sunday's election between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron, and right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen.

So, for days now, analysts have been pondering which candidate the Melenchon voters will support. Melenchon himself made it partially clear how he feels.

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BITTERMANN: Saying four times in his concession speech that his voters should certainly not choose Le Pen with her anti-immigrant, anti-Europe policies. But he did not suggest that they should vote for Macron, which leaves it an open question which way they'll go.

BRUNO CAUTRES, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Even if they have a lot of anger against Emmanuel Macron, they have a broad attitude which is clearly anti-Le Pen. A society of tolerance, cultural tolerance, favorable to immigration when actually Marine Le Pen is still extremely opposed to tolerance society and immigration. So, I believe that at the end of the day, the Melenchon voter will abstain and vote Macron.

BITTERMANN: Melenchon's voters of course can choose which ever candidate they please, and many may abstain or cast ineligible ballots. But what's Melenchon and his party are looking forward to most importantly, is what the French called the third round in the elections. The election in June to determine the makeup of the French legislature.

Melenchon himself said this week, that if his supporters win enough seats in the parliament, he would be happy to serve as prime minister. Happy about that as well would be a long time Melenchon supporter who is already a deputy in the department.

Daniele Obono says it's hard to imagine many electors from her party would vote for Le Pen but they are sufficiently angry with President Macron that even if he should win reelection, Melenchon's revolutionary left party will try to impede his reform plans.

DANIELE OBONO, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBER, FRANCE UNBOWED: To implement as much of our program as possible, despite having presidential power. We could use all the tools inside the, you know, the parliament to rebuke despite the (Inaudible) being a system that gives a lot too much to the president.

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BITTERMANN: In the end, which direction the Melenchon voters go could be crucial in determining who is the next president of France. Just a few weeks later the same voters can produce a legislature which could be very frustrating for presidents five years in office.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

BRUNHUBER: And join us Sunday at 8 p.m. Paris time, 2 p.m. Eastern for our special live coverage of the French elections right here on CNN. All right, we'll head back to Ukraine after a short break.

Coming up, time is running out for civilians and soldiers trapped in Mariupol. We'll have a live report from Brussels on how many hopes NATO might help to get them out. Stay with us.

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SOARES: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Isa Soares. And you are watching CNN Newsroom.

Well, the last signs of life in Mariupol are hold up at this hour in the sprawling steel factory. Hundreds of men, women, as well as children, are surrounded by Russian troops who are constantly shelling the facility. Their own protection is in the unknown number of Ukrainian fighters standing their ground.

We've just learned that Ukraine's deputy prime minister says there will be no humanitarian corridors on Friday. And she blames danger along the route.

[03:30:03]

Meanwhile, the Czech foreign minister is holding out hope that NATO will help with evacuations from Mariupol. He tells CNN it would be a game-changer. The U.S. State Department said that there is hope that Russia will allow NATO allies to evacuate the city.

And authorities in the Luhansk, as well as Donetsk regions report heavy fighting again today. An official in the office of the president says at the last -- over the last 24 hours, 42 settlements had come under Russian control.

Let's go live now to Brussels, and that's where we'll find CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. Nic, good morning to you.

Just explain to our viewers if you could, exactly how NATO could be involved here, and what that might look like. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: NATO is not

talking about this officially. They are not even sort of briefing about it behind the scenes. It would be a very difficult thing for them to do, it would be a new development if they were to go in this direction.

Certainly, the hope was expressed there by the Czech foreign minister, and also, we've heard talk about this coming from the U.S. State Department spokesman. But no official word what it could look like. In terms of NATO members who have had a hand, a diplomatic hand, a military hand if you will, in Mariupol who might be positioned to do that.

Of course, the Greeks pulled out there, (Inaudible) from Mariupol. He was the last senior international diplomat to leave there, and he came out about a month ago with tales of absolute destruction and tragedy behind.

There is a large Greek orthodox identifying community, or there was in Mariupol. So, there's a diplomatic link there from the Greeks, and there certainly was a desire at the time back in late March for them to try to lend a hand for the evacuation.

Turkey, of course would be in prime position, perhaps physically to execute a hand in a logistical withdrawal of the last of the -- last of the Ukrainian military forces from Mariupol because they have ships on the Black Sea. Turkey is one of those ships that's on the Black Sea, so potentially they could be in the position.

But again, neither these nations, Greece nor Turkey have put themselves forward in this capacity in this latest context. And I think the read that we've had from President Putin over the past couple of days is one that he was quite happy now it seems, to have the last remaining Ukrainian troops. Their commanders speaking on camera, in effect, not begging but pleading asking for international support to extricate them and the civilians there from the siege in Mariupol.

This plays into President Putin's hands nicely because it allows his propaganda machine to spin this as a victory as he's trying to do over Mariupol and that -- and that the Ukrainian forces are defeated. And this of course, is stuffed the grist to President Putin's propaganda mills so he can propagate the idea that they are winning in Ukraine all over, and that the Ukrainian forces were under pressure.

So, there wouldn't seem to be a will on the Russian leadership side at the moment to allow an evacuation of military elements within -- within Mariupol at the moment. So, at the moment, this is -- this is an idea that's being cherished, if you will, perhaps kindled by some NATO members, but not one that we see that these embers glowing into a final product.

SOARES: A game changer, at least on paper for now, it doesn't seem that it was going to happen. Nic Robertson for us in Brussels, I appreciate it, Nic. Thanks very much. And coming up right here on CNN Newsroom, British Prime Minister Boris

Johnson is overseas on a trade trip to India, but is it enough to distract from the new investigation over partygate. You remember that? That's next.

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. He's on a trip to India that Downing Street says will seal a two-way investment deal with more than a billion U.S. dollars, but an unforced error is dogging his trip abroad.

Johnson is facing heavy criticism as he climbed onto a bulldozer while touring a JCB factory. That happened just a day after the same type of machinery that was used to destroy homes and businesses in a prominently Muslim area of New Delhi.

The leaders of North and South Korea have exchanged letters expressing hope for improved relations. In his letter, South Korean President Moon Jae-in express the hope that the two Koreas would, quote, "overcome the era of confrontation with dialogue." Exchange of letters comes as Moon prepares to leave office.

Moon met with Kim Jong-un three times while he was in office and encourage Kim to continue talks with South Korea's next president.

The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez has been extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking and other charges. The former president was transferred from a police special forces prison into U.S. custody Thursday.

[03:39:59]

Hernandez is accused of protecting and profiting off smugglers moving cocaine across South America and into the United States. Hernandez has denied any wrongdoing.

I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks so much for joining us. For our international viewers, Living Golf is next. If you're watching from here in North America I'll be back with more news after a short break. Please stay with us.

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