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Ukrainians Battle Russians near Kharkiv; Village Held Hostage by Russian Troops; U.K. Prime Minister: Putin May Win War; Patchwork of Mask Mandate Rules; Suspect Named in British Girl's Disappearance; Nearly Two-Thirds of Ukraine's Children Have Fled Homes; U.S. Markets Fell Friday on Fears of Rate Hike. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 23, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and here in the United States. I'm Michael Holmes at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Appreciate your company.
Coming up, Russia's military now confirms its objective in Ukraine is to take, quote, "full control of the Black Sea coast" and establish a land bridge between Russia and Crimea. Key to that is the city of Mariupol, where an unknown number of Ukrainian troops and civilians are trapped inside that large steel factory.
Ukraine's prime minister calling the situation in Mariupol one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in a century.
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HOLMES (voice-over): In northeast Ukraine, recent video out of Kharkiv shows Ukrainian forces attacking Russian positions with rockets. Russian troops are attempting to break through these defenses and advance south, further into Donbas.
In a small town outside of Kyiv, new video shows damaged and destroyed homes left by Russian shelling during the first phase of this conflict. As Ukraine's Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this weekend, Ukraine's president said he was hopeful of prevailing against Russia.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The 58th day of our defense is coming to an end. It ends on Good Friday, one of the most sorrowful days of the year for Christians, the day when death seems to have won. But we hope for a resurrection. We believe in the victory of life over death and we pray that death loses.
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HOLMES: Moscow has finally acknowledged casualties from the sinking of the Moskva more than a week ago. It says only one sailor was killed, 27 are missing. Moscow also claiming the 396 remaining crew were rescued and taken to Crimea.
For more, let's bring in Isa Soares.
Hi, to you, Isa.
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: A very good morning to you, Michael.
As our reporters meet more Ukrainians, the stories of brutality at the hands of Russian troops are the common thread. Ed Lavandera had people show him where they were held captive in the basement of a school.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): War stopped time here. Bombs and artillery scorch this village in Northern Ukraine, Russian occupation ravaged the minds of its people.
The story of what happened in Yahidne is just emerging, revealing how the Russian Army held this village hostage for more than 30 days.
Sofia shows us the underground bunker in her shed where she first hid from the fighting. She says she had food stored here that the Russians ate. This is where she slept.
Sofia says Russian soldiers went door to door rounding people up and taking them at gunpoint into the basement of the village school.
LAVANDERA: Sofia tells us that when the Russian soldiers moved them all into the basement of the school building, that they were put down there and that the soldiers told them that they were being put in the basement to die.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): A woman named Natalia took us into the basement where she was trapped.
"I was in a stupor," Natalia tells me. "I was just sitting there praying, hoping it would all stop soon."
LAVANDERA: Residents tell us that there were about 350 people held hostage in the basement of this school building. Men, women and children forced to live in these horrific conditions.
In fact, it was so strangulating, there was so little air circulation that one resident told us that 12 elderly people died here because they couldn't breathe, and their bodies were left while the fighting raged outside.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): These are some of the only known images captured in the school's basement. The faces say at all. LAVANDERA: She is telling me that about 35 people slept in this small
room. Nobody could lie down. They slept kind of sitting with their knees up against their chest.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The rooms are littered with makeshift beds, schoolbooks, and Russian troop meal boxes, but it's the art on the walls that stops you in your tracks. This is how the children passed the time. Colorful drawings on a canvas of anguish.
LAVANDERA: The people who were trapped down here etched names onto this concrete wall. They marked the days with a calendar crossing out the days as they went by.
Everything down here has the feel of a World War II era concentration camp.
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): Above the basement, Russian soldiers took over the school building. Residents say they were used as human shields. They knew the Ukrainian military wouldn't fire at the school with civilians inside.
Olena grabs food from a humanitarian delivery truck and takes us to her home. Russian soldiers threw grenades through her windows and defecated on the house floors.
She was also held hostage in the school basement with her one-year-old daughter.
LAVANDERA: Did you think you were going to survive that?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): "I thought my child would not survive," she tells me. "I asked them to let me out so the child could breathe fresh air because she felt bad, they said, 'Let her die. We don't care.'"
LAVANDERA: Sofia, how did you feel when you got out of the basement of the school?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): She says, "One of the villagers opened the basement door and said the Russians left. The trapped villagers were surprised."
"In the morning, our guys entered the village," she said. "We cried, we hugged them and cried."
LAVANDERA: What will you tell your daughter about this experience?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): "Nothing," she says. Her daughter will not remember it and she will tell her nothing -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Ukraine.
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SOARES: Incredibly brave people there. Meanwhile, investigations are underway into the violent deaths of two
Russian business titans and members of their families. One was in Moscow, the other in Spain. Brian Todd looks at why the cases are so similar and why they're raising so much suspicion.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two unsettling cases, similar, fueling more intrigue around the Putin regime tonight. Within the span of 24 hours this week, two wealthy foreign Russian gas executives found dead with their families.
On Monday, Vladislav Avayev, his wife and daughter were found dead in Avayev's apartment in Moscow. Russia state news agency Tass citing a source in law enforcement says authorities were investigating the incident as a murder-suicide.
The next day, Sergei Protosenya, his wife and daughter found dead at their home and a resort near Barcelona, Spain. A source close to the investigation tells CNN Protosenya's wife and daughter were likely murdered inside the luxury home. Protosenya found dead in the garden outside.
BILL BROWDER, CEO, HERMITAGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: When Russian business people die, I think one kind of has to assume the worst first.
LOUISE SHELLEY, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: I think these deaths in my book are very suspicious because they are so similar and they're of prominent individuals, who made their money in the oil and gas sector.
TODD: If these were murder-suicide, could these men have been under financial pressure from fallout over the Ukraine war?
BROWDER: We're in a very thought moment: money is scarce, all sorts of people are under a lot of pressure.
TODD: Few answers but plenty of theories.
SHELLEY: There might be people in Russia connected to the security apparatus who don't like things that these individuals are doing.
There could be patterns of retaliation against individuals who may be collaborating with foreign qualities for people in Russia that don't want certain information shared.
TODD: What's not clear tonight, whether Vladislav Avayev and Sergei Protosenya knew each other or communicated recently with each other. And the analysts we spoke to say it's not clear if either man has spoken out against Vladimir Putin or the war in Ukraine.
Could they have been targeted by Putin himself?
ELISABETH SCHIMPFOSSL, AUTHOR: It would almost be something. We need Putin to take measures against people of low ranking. What he goes for is the big fishes -- and only very few of them -- in order to set an example of risk and tame them and bring them under control. TODD: Still, some experts say, if there was foul play, it wouldn't be the first time among Russian tycoons.
SHELLEY: There is a pattern of suspicious deaths overseas. We will be seeing more pressures among the elite, because there is a lot of suspicion and recriminations in Russia.
TODD: Professor Louise Shelley says there is another level of suspicion to these cases. She says Spain, where Sergei Protosenya died, had, among the highest numbers of Russian organized crime figures operating inside its borders of any country, many of whom, she says, have ties to Russian oligarchs -- Brian Todd, CNN.
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SOARES: During his trip to India, the British prime minister Boris Johnson was asked about the war in Ukraine. He said there's a chance Russia may get what it wants.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: The sad thing is that, that is a realistic possibility. Yes, of course, Putin has a huge army. He has a very difficult political position because he's made a catastrophic blunder.
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JOHNSON: He has the -- the only option he now has really is to continue to try to use his appalling, grinding approach, driven -- led by artillery, trying to grind the Ukrainians down. The situation is, I'm afraid, unpredictable at this stage. We've just got to be realistic about that.
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SOARES: But the U.S. disagrees with that view. A top U.S. security adviser says efforts to keep Ukraine a sovereign nation would just intensify over time. And Putin still has much to lose.
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DALEEP SINGH, U.S. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Ultimately, Putin will see this is not the end game he bargained for. Thousands of body bags are coming home. His economy is contracting by double digits.
If inflation is up to 20 percent, if the shelves are empty, if people can't travel, if his country's in default, if Russia's a pariah state, that's not a win for Putin.
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SOARES: And Singh adds the U.S. will do everything it can to end the war, short of a military confrontation with Russia. I'll be back later with more from Lviv. For now, back to Michael Holmes in Atlanta.
HOLMES: Isa, thank you.
Coming up here on the program, French voters prepare to decide which of these two candidates will be their next president. But whomever they pick, the implications will not be felt only in France.
And why health authorities in Boston are telling people they may want to start masking up indoors once again.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Two candidates and two opposing visions about the future of France. the incumbent Emmanuel Macron and his challenger Marine Le Pen wrapping up their final campaign events on Friday. Now it's up to the people of France to decide who will be their president.
As Melissa Bell reports, the decision will have a profound effect well outside of France.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A final push for votes by both Emmanuel Macron and his far right opponent, Marine Le Pen on Friday, before a media blackout that will last in France until polls close on Sunday.
The idea is that people can think about how they're going to vote without extra polls or more campaigning, simply time to reflect on a vote, that will have profound implications, not just for France but beyond its borders as well.
Macron proposing more of the same, further European integration; Le Pen offering something very different to what Macron has done so far, wanting to focus more on France, helping those worst off. That has been central to her pitch throughout the campaign.
You remember the anger that spilled out on the streets of France in the Yellow Vest protests, also protesting against the pension reform that the president had proposed. That will now be the center of what she proposes.
But there will be impacts for Europe, since she's suggesting Europe be reformed into a much looser alliance of sovereign nations. And there will be implications for the war in Ukraine. So two very different visions of France on Sunday night, with implications for France, Europe and the world -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
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HOLMES: For Election Day, join us Sunday at 2:00 pm Eastern in the U.S. for our special live coverage here on CNN.
More than 30 people are dead, dozens injured, after another deadly blast in Afghanistan. The Taliban say the explosion hit a mosque in Kunduz province during Friday prayers. This is the latest in a wave of explosions to strike Afghanistan over the last week or so.
Most are claimed by ISIS and its rival ISIS Khorasan or ISIS-K. We haven't heard a claim of responsibility in the latest blast yet.
Some troubling news, statistics from health officials in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. during 2021. More than 415,000 people died from the virus. Only heart disease and cancer had higher death tolls.
Now residents of Boston are being told they should wear masks indoors again, after a 65 percent increase in COVID cases over the past two weeks. Officials say hospitalizations have been slowly rising during that same time period.
Across the country, there's been no shortage of confusion after a court struck down the mask mandate on public transportation. CNN's Pete Muntean took a trip just to find out how things have changed and where people aren't ready to give up their masks just yet.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We put the new nationwide patchwork of mask rules at airports and transit hubs to the test.
A mask optional rideshare started my trip from Washington, D.C.
OK. We're going to Union Station. No mask required.
Most people here are still wearing masks -- like Verna Swann, who was boarding our train to Philadelphia.
VERNA SWANN, TRAIN PASSENGER: I just feel like I need to take more precautions than anyone else. So --
MUNTEAN: You are just being careful?
SWANN: I'm being careful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Masks are welcome and remain an important preventive measure.
MUNTEAN: After Monday's sudden end of the federal transportation mask mandate, Amtrak was among the first to announce that masks are now optional.
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ANTHONY TISDALE, AMTRAK CONDUCTOR: Thank you, sir.
MUNTEAN: Thank you.
Conductor Anthony Tisdale told me he is going mask-less after months of wearing one on the job.
TISDALE: I'm like, yes! I took it right off.
MUNTEAN: My train took me to Philadelphia Center City Amtrak hub. Philly was one of the few major cities to have an indoor mask mandate. But it was just rescinded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It changes a lot. So it has been confusing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I should wear a mask regardless.
MUNTEAN: My trip continued with a local train to the airport.
Except that here in Philadelphia, one of the mass transit systems where masks are optional, unlike the New York City subway system where masks are still mandatory. The change here happened so abruptly, the sign hasn't been changed yet.
During my travels on Thursday, Philadelphia's airport was one of the few still requiring masks inside the terminal. LAX in Los Angeles is joining the list, along with New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia.
MARY NICHOLS, AIRLINES PASSENGER: I think it's confusing. We all need to be on the same page.
MUNTEAN: But the airports mask rule no longer applies the moment you board.
About to go down the jetway, another change in policy. We're leaving the airport where masks were required. Now we're getting on the plane. The transportation mask mandate is over, so I can take my mask off.
Once seated, I did decide to wear a mask. The 32-minute flight back to D.C., was full. It is a new era for travel now governed by personal choice and a patchwork of rules.
At Reagan National Airport, no mask required. It's harder and harder to know the rules when you travel. Philadelphia International Airport said on Friday the rules are loosening up. At LAX, the rules there are tightening. You can still wear a mask while you're traveling. In fact, the CDC still recommends it.
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HOLMES: Foreign travelers wishing to visit Hong Kong will soon be able to, after a two-year ban. Beginning on May 1st, Hong Kong will allow non-residents to enter the city. You must be fully vaccinated and register a negative rapid antigen test before entering state managed quarantine for 14 days.
Despite a decrease in COVID infections, Shanghai officials say a strict lockdown will remain in place. They've been on lockdown for weeks now. And local officials are beginning a new testing effort for millions of residents. CNN's David Culver has the latest from Shanghai.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Shanghai officials say the lockdown will remain in place until community spread of COVID-19 is eliminated, adding that this city of 25 million is at a critical stage in its fight against the spread.
The government figures reflected a gradual decrease in the number of cases this past week. But harsh restrictions, well, we're still dealing with them. More than 16 million residents are still banned from leaving our doors or even our neighborhoods as the city vows to adhere to Beijing's zero COVID policy.
On Friday, officials launched a campaign in to clear the community or societal spread of COVID-19. It includes daily PCR tests for more than 11.8 million residents whose neighborhoods reported COVID-19 cases in the past 14 days.
Those residents not in strict lockdown are allowed to leave. But they're mostly limited to just going to the grocery store, then you have to go back home. Authorities want to round up all positive cases and close contacts of COVID-19. And all those individuals will be sent to government quarantine facilities -- David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.
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HOLMES: It's a case that has been captivating the world for almost 15 years now. British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared during a family vacation in Portugal back in 2007 when she was only 3 years old. Investigators were in the dark about what happened to her. No one has ever been charged in the case. But as Nina dos Santos reports, officials now have a suspect.
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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: Portuguese authorities said on Friday they'd identified a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, one of the most high-profile mysterious missing person cases to have captivated the world's attention and also a case that hasn't really moved forward for quite some time now.
They didn't specifically name the individual in question. But the Portuguese authorities said they had been liaising with German authorities, who, in 2020, said they had an individual in custody in jail, serving time for separate, unrelated offenses, who they believe knew what happened to her all those years ago.
That suspect was identified at the time as Christian B.
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DOS SANTOS: But authorities said they didn't have enough evidence to charge him with a particular crime at the time. And he still hasn't been charged. The latest move, what it does from a Portuguese legal perspective, is
to keep this case alive just before the statute of limitations was set to expire on May 3rd. That would have been the 15th anniversary since she disappeared on a family holiday back in 2007.
Having said that, sadly, German authorities already said two years ago they were working on the assumption back then that Madeleine may no longer be alive -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, "INSIDE AFRICA" is next. For everyone else, the news continues after the break.
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SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Isa Soares, live in Lviv, Ukraine. It's just gone 7:30 am.
According to Russian state media, the Russian military now intends to create a land bridge between Russia and Crimea. To that end, Russian shelling of the southern port of Mariupol is said to be continuous.
Russian troops control much of the city but an unknown number of fighters and civilians are still holding out within the Azovstal steel works. And Ukraine is accusing Russia of additional war crimes, as more suspected mass graves were discovered near the city.
The U.N. says Secretary General Antonio Guterres plans to travel to Moscow Tuesday to meet with President Putin. He then will go to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy.
Officials in Ukraine are hoping to open humanitarian corridors Saturday. They say they may be able to open out of Mariupol if all goes well. Ukrainian authorities say they were unable to establish any on Friday because of the persistent danger.
According to the U.N., more than 5.1 million people have fled the country since the fighting began. And that fighting has hit Ukrainian children particularly hard. According to recent U.N. data, nearly two- thirds of Ukraine's 7.5 million children have been forced to flee their homes.
Toby Bricker is a UNICEF spokesperson and its chief of communication. He joins us live from Dnipro.
Thank you for joining me. I understand you've been meeting with families of those escaping Mariupol. Give us a sense of what they've been telling you. TOBY BRICKER, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: Yes, we've been meeting some
families arriving in Zaporizhzhya at this sort of transit center, where we are positioned. We see families coming from across not just Mariupol when they can and when the corridors work safely but from also across the southeast.
I met a family yesterday who had managed to make it out with 12 other cars. They formed their own convoy and took a massive risk. And they made it, thankfully safely. They said they have a 5-year-old and 7- year-old girl. They had spent literally a large part of the last nearly two months since the war started hiding underground.
So the situation was incredibly difficult. They had been through a horrific time. And the only positive side was that they had made it out. And the two children were playing again in this child protection space that we have. And the joy on their faces was incredible, just to have some toys was a massive relief, I think, at that point.
SOARES: We were looking at you were talking at some of the buses arriving. And the children's faces, they're smiling. I'm guessing they're so relieved. But they must be so exhausted, scared and tired. On top of that comes the trauma of living in a basement for weeks on end.
I mention this because I saw on your Twitter, a photo of a little girl. She's so young, playing with, I think it was a doll. There you go. We're showing it now.
"Anya finally reaches safety," you said, "after nearly two months in a basement."
Talk to us about the trauma, the impact this is having on some of the children here.
BRICKER: Yes, the impact of the horrific experience is massive. I think it really varies. It can have a medium and a long term impact, of course. I've spoken to a 16-year old in Lviv, who told me he wasn't afraid anymore. He wasn't scared of bombs anymore.
That normality that had already come since the war started said a lot in terms of the support he would need. Then also just this kind of constant fear of even now, here in Zaporizhzhya and in other areas, the uncertainty will all play out. And it has an impact also on their long term development.
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BRICKER: And that's why what we call this psychological first aid is so important, to get children the emotional support they need. And their parents, their mothers primarily, or extended family are going through the same trauma.
So we provide support both for the children and the women that they're with, who are doing anything they can to protect them but at the same time look after themselves.
SOARES: Absolutely. The mothers and fathers are trying to shield their children.
Are the majority of people arriving, are they women and children?
What about elderly?
Our correspondents are showing us so many elderly people that have been living in basements, left behind, living in fear.
BRICKER: Yes, there's women, children, elderly. I've worked across the eastern conflict area for the last eight years, on and off. You find a lot of older people saying, I'm not moving. This is my home. I've lived here for many, many years. I'm not leaving.
Of course, nobody wants to leave their home, it's very much a last resort. So we're seeing older people coming out as well, because they've also been trying to stay at home. They don't want to leave.
Mothers don't want to bring their children, because they want to protect them. Sometimes they get stuck at home because they're protecting them in the basement, then it gets too dangerous and they have to find a way out.
And the horror is, they don't have the safe passage that should be guaranteed, particularly from places like Mariupol but other areas.
SOARES: On the question of Mariupol, there was no humanitarian corridor yesterday.
But will there be another chance to evacuate families from Mariupol?
BRICKER: We certainly hope that people can come out safely. I've heard some reports there could be an opportunity again today. But we shouldn't be having this discussion day in and day out. It should be a guarantee that children, women, can come out safely from areas of heavy fighting.
The longer the war goes on, the longer the impact on the children, the worse the development and the worse the impact on them will be. Children we've met before in the intensive care unit, who have tried to come out, have been injured and are recovering now.
And that shouldn't be the case. They should be able to come out safely when they need to.
SOARES: Yes. And there are so many still trapped, 100,000 or so still inside Mariupol. Quickly, before you go, you and your team have been doing some incredible work on the ground.
What are you most in need of right now?
BRICKER: Well, right now, what children are most in need of is to be safe. And that's why we need children to come out of Mariupol and other areas safely.
And we're working with medical facilities, hospitals, we're providing supplies, medical equipment, surgical items, to help alleviate some of the strain, the extra strain on the facilities there.
And there's 2.8 million children in Ukraine who are moving to new cities and new villages, in very uncertain times as well as 2.2 million or more now outside.
So it's providing the psychosocial and emotional support they need, opportunities to play and also access to online learning and just to have some normality again, to try and start some sort of recovery, despite everything that is going on.
SOARES: Absolutely. That's so important for all those children. Nearly two-thirds have fled their homes. Toby Fricker, thank you for taking the time.
I'll have much more at the top of the hour. Coming up, food and energy costs are up across the United States. Inflation is a big problem for businesses large and small and maybe also in elections later this year. We'll explain, next.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Police in Washington, D.C., say the suspect in a Friday shooting that wounded four people has died. Two of the injured were reported in critical but stable condition. A third victim had a minor gunshot wound and a fourth was grazed by a bullet.
Authorities say the suspect took his own life. Several firearms were found on the scene. Police say the investigation is ongoing and, so far, they do not have a motive.
U.S. markets plunged on Friday amid fears of a hike in interest rates, the Dow falling nearly 1,000 points, about 2.8 percent. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also down more than 2.5 percent.
Markets tumbled after the Federal Reserve chairman said a possible half-point rise in interest rates will be, quote, "on the table" in the Fed's May meeting.
They hope raising interest rates will get inflation under control but that could also impact consumers, already hit by rising food and energy costs, driven by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Richard Quest explains.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: The market has ended the week truly unhappy, with more worries about rising inflation and policymakers now talking about raising interest rates faster and more harshly than before. So there's a realization that the good times have gone, for the time
being. In the United States, as the prospect of a half-percentage point rate rise from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the same again in subsequent meetings.
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QUEST: Here at the IMF and World Bank, they've been talking about nothing other than inflation and how to tame it. And as the war in Ukraine continues, so the prospect of higher oil and gas prices simply won't go away.
Put it all together and the downgrades of economic growth from the World Bank and the IMF; the unhappiness of investors, wondering where money can be made; even the streaming problems of companies like Netflix, which are rewriting the rules of entertainment, it has led to investors basically saying, for the time being, the market is not the place to be.
And what's more, no one can see any improvement in the near future -- Richard Quest, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: Economic worries could also impact midterm elections later this year. Jeff Zeleny with that.
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MARIAMA DAVIS, OWNER, THE BEEHIVE: When you go to the grocery store, it feels like you're shopping in Hawaii.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But Mariama Davis lives in Georgia and feels the sting of inflation for herself and customers at her boutique, The Beehive.
DAVIS: The idea that eggs are $3 now, is that's a lot. And people have their families to feed. So if they have an option between buying a gift or putting food on the table, I'm going to expect folks to put food on the table.
ZELENY (voice-over): Six months before voters decide if Democrats maintain control of Congress, a sour mood is hanging over the economy. As inflation looms as a major issue in a national election for the first time since 1980. Some blame President Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever since Mr. Biden took office, everything has been going up.
ZELENY (voice-over): Others do not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a number of things. I wouldn't just blame President Biden solely.
ZELENY (voice-over): Yet it's a problem he owns. And one of the biggest challenges facing the White House. At Daddy D'z Barbecue, owner Christianah Coker-Jackson sees inflation
everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love that.
ZELENY (voice-over): From paper goods, to the cost of meat, to how often people are dining out.
CHRISTIANAH COKER-JACKSON, OWNER, DADDY D'Z BARBECUE: We're not seeing the same amount of traffic that we normally do. And I think that's a fear of just spending with the talk of inflation, inflation, inflation. Customers are scared.
ZELENY (voice-over): And as a Democrat, she's scared of the consequences come November.
COKER-JACKSON: If we can't get out and vote for the midterms, then all the work that we did in 2020 is not really going to matter, because then we're going to have a handicap president.
ZELENY (voice-over): Georgia is also a hot political battleground, which Biden narrowly won in 2020. This year, it will help determine whether Democrats hold the Senate by re-electing Raphael Warnock. His early campaign ads trying to redirect any economic blame.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): What if I told you shipping container companies have been making record profits, while prices have been skyrocketing on you?
That's why I'm pushing to hold them accountable.
ZELENY (voice-over): But that message is competing with loud Republican criticism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden's ruining our country.
ZELENY (voice-over): Jen Jordan, a state senator who turned a suburban district from red to blue and is now running for Attorney General knows that Democrats face headwinds but she said Republicans have not offered a positive alternative.
JEN JORDAN (D), GEORGIA STATE SENATOR: We're still in the middle of a pandemic, right?
And so what people do is they respond to, you know, how are they feeling?
How are their lives, right?
And they're always going to tag the president for that. But look, we have got a million miles to go before November.
ZELENY (voice-over): Back at The Beehive where we first met Davis a year ago, she then urged people to give Biden time.
DAVIS: Just be patient, like it's coming. Everything doesn't happen overnight. Folks know that.
ZELENY (voice-over): Now she adds this caveat.
DAVIS: Patient or just frustrated, just frustrated. Just would like to get the relief that we need so we can start operating how we used to.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Parts of the United States are under critical fire and severe storms threats. We'll go to CNN's weather center for details on this dangerous combination. That's after the break.
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HOLMES: Several dangerous wildfires are burning throughout the U.S. this week from the Southwest into the Rockies and the Plains. More than 4 million people under a level three of three, extremely critical fire threat; 12 million also under red flag warnings on fire weather watches.
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HOLMES: Thank you for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. We're live from Lviv after a break.
