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Ukraine: Russia Exerting Intense Fire on Multiple Fronts; U.N. Chief to Meet with Zelensky, Kuleba in Ukraine; Dangers of Delivering Supplies to Civilians Unable to Flee; Ukraine: Luhansk Region Bearing Brunt of Increased Shelling; Recent Strikes Rattle Sense of Security in Lviv. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 28, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in Lviv, Ukraine. And we are following the breaking news coverage of Russia's war on Ukraine. And just ahead right here on the show --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is an artillery frontline. Let's get into the basement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A deeply disturbing pattern of systemic abuse across all areas where Russia's forces are engaged.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The war in Ukraine is our war. It is everyone's war because Ukraine's victory is a strategic imperative for all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can have all meetings, but that is not what will end the war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our response to oncoming strikes will be swift, lightning fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is Thursday, April 28th, and we begin with Russia stepping up its assault on eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military says Russian forces are now, quote, exerting intense fire on multiple fronts with a focus on making a breakthrough around Izyum, that's in Kharkiv region in you map as you can see there.

The area has become a staging ground for Russia to make advances on the neighboring Donetsk as well as Luhansk regions. This is the aftermath of a Russian strike on a hospital in the Luhansk region. We've been told one woman is dead. The officer said the hospital is operating despite suffering significant damage.

If we take you to the south, an explosion rocked the Russian occupied city of Kherson on Wednesday. Have a look.

Russian state-run media report it was caused by three missiles fired by Ukrainian forces. We haven't had any confirmation of that from Ukraine. Ukrainian who gathered to protest Russian rule of Kherson on Wednesday, were met with teargas. And a Russian appointed official in the region now claims the return to Ukrainian control is, quote, impossible.

Meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin is making a very stark as well as direct threat about foreign interference in Ukraine. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If someone intends to intervene in what is happening from the outside and creates unacceptable strategic threats for us, then they should know that our response to oncoming strikes will be swift, lightning fast. We have all the tools for this. Ones that no one can brag about. And we won't brag. We will use them if needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, the war crimes case against Russia and Vladimir Putin's army is building. For instance, the United States says it has credible information that Russian soldiers executed Ukrainians who were trying to surrender. According to the U.S., it happened near Donetsk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. At the United Nations on Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador at large for global criminal justice said the U.S. also has credible reports of civilians killed execution style, of torture and sexual violence against women and girls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH VAN SCHAACK, U.S. AMBASSADOR AT LARGE FOR GLOBAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Let us be clear, those who unleashed, perpetrated and ordered these crimes must be held to account and the evidence of this criminality is mounting daily. Our simple message to Russia's military and political leadership and to the rank and file is this -- the world is watching and you will be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in Ukraine where he is set to meet today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as their Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. This comes just two days after the U.N. chief sat down with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Today's talks are expected to focus on humanitarian support and of course, the evacuation of civilians. A topic discussed during Guterres's meeting with the Russian leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: President Putin agreed with me in principle that we would have the support of the U.N. and the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross that we will have the evacuation of those civilians into the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.

[04:05:04]

And we have been working on the details. At the present moment, the war will not turn with meetings. The war will end when the Russian Federation decides to end it when there is after the ceasefire the possibility of a serious political agreement. We can have all meetings, but that is not what will end the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: The U.N. Secretary-General speaking to our Anderson Cooper there. Well, Guterres said the U.N. has 1,400 staff members on the ground in Ukraine. And one of the reasons he is here to ramp up the aid to the Ukrainian people. But getting it aid to where it needs to go is often a very dangerous task -- as our Sam Kiley now found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Severodonetsk on the frontline with Russia, it is an artillery frontline.

KILEY: Basement. Let's get into the basement.

KILEY (voice over): Local police are delivering aid to civilians unable to leave. There's no time to wait out the bombardment. There's no likely end to the shelling either, supplies need delivering and fast. She tells me there are three people next door including a granny of 92.

Upstairs, a bedridden woman. She says that normally, they stay in their flat and only use the basement when it is bad.

"Thank you for not forgetting us," she adds.

KILEY: The urgency of these sorts of deliveries cannot be exaggerated. Just in this block, there is mostly old people. One gentleman is dying of cancer in front of his wife. She is saying, she's living in a double hell.

Since we've been here, there have been, I don't know, five, six, eight impacts very, very close. Almost every tree, every corner, every bit of this local neighborhood has got the signs of recent impacts, and Russians are just a kilometer, maybe three away. KILEY (voice over): Russian guns are so close, you can hear the whole arc of their shells. From Kyiv to Mariupol, from Kharkiv to here, this is the Russian way of war -- pound civilians, flatten cities, and maybe occupy the ashes.

KILEY (voice over): Oleksandr (ph) says, "We're in danger now. They're shelling us so it could come at any moment and shrapnel could hurt us. We try to hide there in the bomb shelter."

A few months of war has driven these people underground, and there is no end in sight. The fears, Oleksandr confesses, he tries to keep inside, but it creeps out.

KILEY: There is one more delivery that the police have got to make, but every time we tried to get out the front door of this building, there is another impact. There is another one now. They're saying that the hospital, which is nearby is under heavy shelling. We were planning to go there. We can't get through nor indeed at the moment can we even get out of this bunker.

KILEY (voice over): The hospital was hit. Images of the damage done that morning, posted online by the local administration. Officials said that one civilian was killed, others injured and several floors were badly damaged.

The humanitarian effort goes on. This woman asked only for the basics of existence, water and candles for light.

KILEY: Hey, Joe, you do this every day?

LOGDAN: Yes.

KILEY (voice over): Logdan (ph) tells me that most people left here now have nowhere else to go. They've lived here all their lives and don't want to abandon their homes.

KILEY: Do you think the Russians are going to take Severodonetsk?

KILEY (voice over): "Never," he says. "We will stand our ground to the last man. No one will leave here."

That may be a dangerous claim. It is likely that Ukrainians will destroy this bridge to hold up the invasion, and anyone still here would then be trapped in Russian hands.

Sam Kiley, CNN, Severodonetsk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, getting aid to the people of Ukraine is one thing. Equipping the military is another. We spoke with a retired colonel who said supply chain problems are hampering the fight. He says much of the military aid makes to cities like here in Lviv where I am but doesn't get all the way to the frontline. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COL. ANDREW MILBURN, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): It has everything to do with the fact that the, you know, for the supply chains administered certainly by the U.S. government, they stop at the border. They stop at the polish border.

[04:10:00]

You cannot ensure distribution of items to the units that need them in order of priority if you don't oversee that supply chain. Look, I get it, you know, the U.S. government is trying to fix this. I don't mean to keep throwing darts and we in The Mozart Group are trying to fix it working with the U.S. government. But it is a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: So, I spoke with a deputy mayor of Lviv about this very problem and here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERHIY KIRAL, LVIV DEPUTY MAYOR: Lviv has indeed become a kind of a humanitarian hub. Indeed, it's in the crossroads of really important transportation routes going west to east and vice versa. And you also have to understand that Lviv as us as the local and regional authorities, we have nothing to do with military supplies. This is completely part of our military and armed forces to organize that.

As far as the humanitarian aid is concerned, over this two months, we have received as the city more than 4,000 tons of humanitarian aid. This is about 200 trucks. 90 percent of that was immediately shipped to the east to where it is really needed. The mayor is in constant communication with the mayors of Chernihiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv. We do not keep anything except maybe a small reserve in case of emergency.

SOARES: You are talking humanitarian but I want to pursue on the military. Because I've heard from several people now who have said that the supplies are not getting through, they stopping at Lviv. Is that the case? Are you stockpiling here and if so, why?

KIRAL: For sure we are not stockpiling anything. Moreover, as the local authorities of the cities, we are also concerned about the necessary supplies, our local territorial defensive brigades have --

SOARES: Is that because you think that something is going to happen, that you're going to see an increase in attacks?

KIRAL: No, it's because we are part of the overall war effort together with other cities and the Ukrainian central authorities. We just want to make sure that they have everything before they have been sent to the east where the fight is the most important, the so-called battle on Donbas is going to unreel.

SOARES: How quickly though -- we heard from the U.S. side, from Lloyd Austin saying, you know, we're getting weapons within a period of 24 to 48 hours. How quickly -- once they arrive in Lviv, how quickly are they being shipped out? Because this is really important. KIRAL: I think that we shouldn't overestimate the role of the

Ukrainian authorities in making sure that the supplies are getting to the front. The Americans the said themselves including President Biden that it takes less than 48 hours from the decision before the weapons are actually on the ground. So -- and you also should understand that those Russian efforts to disrupt the supplies are not really effective. Partly because of the lack of proper intelligence. But mostly because we have multiple choices, many transportation routes. We have more than six border crossing points. We have rail and road which connects the border to other agency in Ukraine.

SOARES: But you didn't really answer my question. You didn't tell me how quickly they are getting sent out.

KIRAL: The get a green corridor. I'm sure that they get as soon as they are at the Polish/Ukrainian border shipped from all over the world including from the U.S. I'm sure that they can get to the front within 24 hours.

SOARES: Right, thank you very much for clarifying that. We have seen of course here in Lviv attacks on your railways. Has that in any way affected -- shattered a sense of security, let's say?

KIRAL: There've been bombardments in western Ukraine before over these past two months. I'm sure that there will be more attacks. It's part of the reason why Ukrainian authorities have been begging, in fact, for increased air defense capabilities and the no-fly zone. It's because we understand that Russia's capacity to continue to shell Ukraine will stay there. Unfortunately, we didn't receive that.

On the other hand, I'm sure this is not going to have a major effect. These six rail junctions, which were shelled. They have been already repaired by the emergency services, the firefighters and other professional personnel are working very effectively. Take for example this recent shelling of the bridge in the south in Ukraine. Within 24 hours, all the work was done and then the traffic has been reinstalled.

SOARES: Was that near Odessa?

KIRAL: Yes, that's connecting Odessa to the Transnistria region. So, we make sure that all professionals that are staying here on the ground are working effectively and doing their job as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:15:03]

SOARES (on camera): The deputy mayor of Lviv Serhiy Kiral there.

Well, a reunion years in the making start order a tarmac in Turkey. U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed is headed home to the U.S. following his release from Russia in a prisoner swap between the two countries. U.S. officials say Reed's declining health was a driving factor in the deal which took months to secure. No one is more excited than Reed's parents -- if you can imagine. At one-point protests at the White House so officials would work to bring their son home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY REED, TREVOR REED'S FATHER: It is not going to hit us until we see him.

PAULA REED, TREVOR REED'S MOTHER: And we won't work Saturday. We know he's on the plane, but I think that we'll really going to -- it's going to really hit us when we get to put our arms around him and hug him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, also reunited with his family is Russian national Konstantin Yurchenko who had been held in the U.S. for more than ten years on drug trafficking charges which he denies. CNN's Kaitlan Collins explains how the exchange happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House says it was months and months of work behind the scenes that eventually brought Trevor Reed home, released from Russia in this exchange for another Russian, a convict who is out of prison in the United States.

And his parents say that seeing Trevor Reed on that tarmac in Turkey as the swap was happening, him getting off one plane, getting onto another. They recognized their son but said that he looked terrible, said that is not the condition that they expected to see him in. Though of course, they said when they spoke to him, they say it took until the second phone call where he sounded really upbeat and started to sound like he -- it was sinking what was finally happening, this release from Russia.

And when President Biden was asked about the fact that this is coming in the middle of this Russian invasion of Ukraine, the worst tension between the United States and Russia that has been there in decades. He said that this is something that he lobbied for three months ago, saying that is something that he talked to Russian officials about. Of course, now this release was secured about a month after President Biden last met with Trevor Reed's family here at the White House. Who have been demonstrating in front of the White House on a rainy day trying to bring attention to their son's second hunger strike after he said that he was denied health care while being held in a Russian prison.

Now he's being evaluated by doctors. They say they he's want to know if he has tuberculosis. They want to do a head to toe evaluation on him given that he has been locked up in this Russian prison where these accusations of malnutrition for several years.

Now when it comes to the broader context of this and what this means for this invasion going forward, the White House says it doesn't change their perspective. They are going to continue to try to send more weaponry into Ukraine, something that President Biden is expected to ask Congress for more funding on as soon as this week. Though it does show one thing, which is that the diplomatic channels between the United States and Russia are still functioning.

Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, CNN spoke with former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who went to Moscow before Russia's invasion of Ukraine to secure Trevor Reed's release. He feels the U.S. got the better deal in the exchange of prisoners. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR: The U.S. generally is against prisoner swaps. But you don't get these exchanges for free. So, the Russians wanted Yurchenko and I think that we got the better deal. An American Marine coming home, wrongfully detained. The Russian, a drug dealer, served 13 years -- a drug pilot. So, this is a day to celebrate amidst all this terrible news that is happening in Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Richardson says the same effort must now go to bringing home the other two Americans still in Russia. That's Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. We'll have more on their cases later this hour.

And we have much more of our breaking news coverage ahead. For now, I want to head it back to Max Foster in London -- Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much Isa. We're going to go to China. Long lines in Beijing as millions get tested for the coronavirus to prevent a Shanghai-like lockdown. How China is scrambling to implement its zero COVID policy next.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase. Mainly we don't have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: America's top infectious disease's doctor is doing some cleanup after people took his words to mean the COVID-19 pandemic is over. But Anthony Fauci later clarified that the pandemic is not over but the U.S. is in a transition phase that is hopefully heading toward some form of normality. Fauci noted that COVID cases are trending upwards again, but nothing

like the omicron wave over the winter. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention forecast that hospitalizations in the U.S. will likely increase over the next four weeks.

Now authorities in Beijing are scrambling to detect new COVID cases and avert a major outbreak. Just hours ago, they announced the closures of some schools and major hospitals with almost no advance warning. Entertainment venues are closing as well. More neighborhoods are now considered high risk and are being sealed. Well, it's not quite the lockdown that Shanghai has been facing. Beijing residents fear they're not that far behind. CNN's David Culver has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): The calm before the storm. Beijing residents are stocking up, bracing themselves for a potential onslaught of COVID cases. Beijing officials calling the matter urgent and grim, ordering nearly 20 million people to get tested three times this week alone. CNN is in the capital city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it doesn't seem to affect daily life. These office workers take a quick test at lunchtime, and back to work, they seem calm and prepared.

CULVER (voice-over): But Beijing's preparation is in part, due to Shanghai officials' disastrous response to an outbreak there. The horror stories from the financial hub, a shock to many across China.

[04:25:02]

Officials in the capital determined to avoid the embarrassment of botching President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID strategy, especially in the city where he lives.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: You are seeing, at least on the surface, a more orderly and kind of organized kind of effort. And even overstocking supermarkets, which are still open.

CULVER (voice-over): Open for now. Residents know how quickly it can all change. Some Beijing communities already in lockdown. People sealed in, a taste of what life is like for most in Shanghai.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SCREAMING)

CULVER (voice-over): Nearly one month of hard lockdown, and many Shanghai residents are at a breaking point. Feelings of being caged in amplified when the city recently began installing fences like these to keep people from leaving their apartment buildings. And on the streets, more and more barricades going up.

Medical resources, stretched. These Shanghai hospital workers refusing to help a desperate mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CULVER: CNN also living through the Shanghai lockdown. Outside my door, only a paper seal. A COVID guard sits on watch in my compound. Much like the rest of this city, exhausted by the extreme containment efforts.

Here, the white hazmat suit is the new uniform of authority -- the enforcers. So much so that this compound even using it as a scarecrow to keep people in check.

Since 2020, Chinese authorities have relentlessly turned to harsh lockdowns in hopes of containing COVID. Right now, people in more than two dozen cities across China are living in full or partial lockdowns. Some border cities have been in months-long lockdowns, with outsiders barely paying attention.

In Shanghai, demand for government quarantine space is rising with the case count. Exhibition centers, gyms, classrooms, entire office buildings, all taken over to isolate positive cases and close contacts.

And those trapped in their homes, banging pots to vent their anger. One woman heard screaming --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CULVER: -- "Give me back my freedom."

David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Incredible scenes there. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Ukraine reports intense fire by Russian forces in the eastern regions as one British official warns Vladimir Putin may be digging in. We're live in Lviv next.

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