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Ukraine Official Says, Half of Energy Infrastructure Damaged, Destroyed; U.S. Hospitals at the Fullest They've Been Throughout the Pandemic; Sheriff's Investigators Apply for Search Warrants. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 09, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: He is here in D.C., he joins me live with his call for help.

[10:30:03]

That is next.

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SCIUTTO: With winter weather there and the war raging on, the energy crisis in Ukraine is becoming even more alarming. The country's infrastructure minister outlined the reality there, that around half of the critical pieces of their electrical grid, as you see here are damaged or destroyed.

[10:35:03]

They're trying to shield them from Russian strikes using just sandbags. The occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains off the grid. U.N. officials say that Ukraine is in the middle of what the U.N. calls a human rights emergency, one so dire it brought Pope Francis to tears at a public prayer just yesterday.

Joining me now is Petro Poroshenko, he's the former president of Ukraine. Mr. President, thanks so much for joining me.

PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Jim, thank you for the invitation.

SCIUTTO: You're in Washington for a short time and then returning home to Ukraine. I wonder if you could describe to people watching now what the situation is today for Ukrainians as they live through this Russian barrage of missiles?

POROSHENKO: This is the tool -- main important factor. First, this is the situation on the frontline when the Armed Forces of Ukraine stopped the second biggest army in the world. Many times bigger than ours, many times better financed than ours, but we beat them and we don't have any doubts with our victory because we have two key factors. We have strong motivation of Ukraine soldiers, protecting their land and their families and the global solidarity with Ukraine.

The second factor, exactly as you told, we have disastrous Putin attack on the civilians, on the critical energy infrastructure. People of Ukraine live without heating, without electricity, without water. In my house, we have only three hours of electricity during 24 hours. And this is under the temperature minus eight, minus ten and this is definitely humanitarian crisis. But it is extremely important that we in Ukraine do not trade electricity, water, heating, for our freedom, for democracy and better to be without water and without electricity than to be a slave.

SCIUTTO: You and other Ukrainians have been pushing for months for more air defense and you've been getting more over time but certainly not as much as you have been requesting. Is that changing and do you hold the west responsible to some degree for not providing more air defense more quickly?

POROSHENKO: First of all, weapons is never enough. We understand that, situation step by step improving. And we have German (INAUDIBLE), we have German RS-3. We hope to have very soon the American air defense. And now we need not only in the frontline but to cover, to close the sky on the object of the critical energy infrastructures throughout the country.

SCIUTTO: Because it has not closed the sky.

POROSHENKO: Definitely. This is useless to supply generator and converter without air defense.

But we have promising figures that during last 48 hours, the Russian missiles and drone attacks were 100 percent hit by air defense and this is 100 percent efficient, which never happened before. And this is just the thing that you have to supply for us the energy equipment, plus air defense can be the game-changer and can stop Putin to attack the critical energy infrastructure.

And together with that we need more weapons. We need jet fighter, definitely. Nobody said about that, and we need it just to take the air dominance and to cover Ukrainian troops from Russian --

SCIUTTO: But there is still resistance certainly to fighters, and there has been limitations set on the range of missiles. You've been here in Washington. Do you sense any movement on that?

POROSHENKO: I think that we are close to the moment, not the moment yet. And I want that all Americans to understand that supply for us the artillery, multi-rocket launch system the longer range, this is not the question for the possible attack on the Russian territory. We do not do that. This is a question of trust. We have now this trust that Ukrainian Armed Forces has a trust from American side.

And we need these long range artillery and missiles just because if Russia has a big amount of artillery, from the bigger distance not be hit by Russian artillery, we can destroy Russian ammunition storage, Russian commanding points. And this will helping us to protect Ukraine and correspondently this has helped us to protect Europe.

[10:40:00] Because now, not Article 5 of NATO is protecting Europe but the blue and yellow shield of Ukrainian Armed Forces doing these important things.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about Viktor Bout, this Russian arms dealer who has been traded for the American basketball player, a long history of trading in arms, including some experience in Ukraine. And I wonder, the U.S. says he is no longer a threat. Do you consider him a threat to Ukraine and the war, Russia's war effort there?

POROSHENKO: Based on the information I have as the president of Ukraine four years ago, it was a threat. And maybe now it is something changes. Maybe they have more information. But with that situation, definitely, we have in Russian prison thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and definitely could be united to release all of the prisoners, prisoners of war from the Russian prisons. And for that, we need the loud united voice of the whole world. And I hate the idea to comment one to one. This is not now the key factor.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, Petro Poroshenko, former president of Ukraine, thanks so much for joining us. We wish you and your people the best of luck.

POROSHENKO: Thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Erica?

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, not since the government began tracking hospital capacity during the pandemic have we seen U.S. hospitals as full as they are right now. This is not just about COVID. We're going to take a closer look at what is behind this strain and the impact that it is having on both providers and patients. Stay with us.

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[10:45:00]

SCIUTTO: New data paints a troubling picture at hospitals across the country today, hospitals and health centers at their fullest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

HILL: Which is really saying something at this point.

Joining us now, CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Tara Narula. So, talk to us more about this situation, the rise in numbers and what is behind it.

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Erica. So, hospitals were required to report their capacity in the beginning of the pandemic to get an idea of how COVID was tracking, and the numbers looked for past two years about 70 percent. Meaning 70 percent of beds and hospitals were full. That is until this week when the number went up to about 80 percent. The last time we saw an 80 percent was in January of 2022 at the height of omicron. In fact, this number this past week, it jumped about 8 percent over the last two weeks. And there are certain states that actually have even higher numbers. So, Rhode Island, we're talking over 90 percent, places like Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, the numbers are over 85 percent. And there is a lot of things contributing to this. I mean, certainly, we've talked about the tripledemic, RSV, COVID and the flu, while it does seem like RSV numbers seem to be peaking in most places and coming down. The flu cases are still high. We just heard Rochelle Walensky say that hospitalizations for flu at this time are really the highest they've been in almost a decade, 78,000 total hospitalizations this year already.

So, that is definitely contributing. But then you have to think about work flow, work staffing shortages. And that is an important part of what is happen right now, not just in the hospital, but we as providers, we try to get patients out of the hospital to skilled nursing facilities, rehabs, and if you don't have staff there and you have shortages, you can't discharge patients.

And then, finally, there are patients who delayed care. They didn't have their procedures done. They didn't seek medical career for the last two years, and now they're doing it, and that is taking up space as well. So, it is really the convergence of all of these factors that is contributing.

HILL: It feels like a perfect storm.

NARULA: It is a perfect storm.

SCIUTTO: Just, Dr. Narula, before we go, given this is flu-driven, do we expect COVID to contribute more so that these numbers might balloon further?

NARULA: We certainly think that it could, right? People are going to be getting together, and that is why you hear about the push for getting your booster and certainly everyone should be getting their flu vaccine. We know that it's a good match this year.

But what's interesting is when you look at the number of hospital beds now being taken up by COVID patients, it is about 6 percent compared to last January when it was 25 percent. So, it's definitely a contributing factor, but I think really the flu and all the other respiratory viruses are making up a large proportion.

HILL: Yes. Interesting, really, all those staffing issues too. Dr. Tara Narula, good to have you have, as always. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, new details perhaps in progress in the hunt for a suspect or suspects in the attack on the power stations in North Carolina. The sheriff's office in Moore County is now applying for search warrants. What that means for the investigation, coming up.

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[10:50:00]

HILL: With the power back up in Moore County, North Carolina, school is also back in session. Search warrants could be going out as investigators try to determine who is behind the attack on two substations there.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now from Moore County, site of these attacks. So, Whitney, what do we know about these warrants?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that these are warrants that have at least been applied for. They're under seal. So, the details of which, how many, what they're for, we can't say for sure right now, and those could be under seal for several months. So, the reality is law enforcement trying to do whatever they can to keep this investigation tight. They're staying very tight- lipped here in Moore County, North Carolina.

However, they have assured the public that they are moving at a fast clip and knowing that these search warrants have been applied for is more proof of that. That is a standard investigatory practice. It doesn't necessarily mean that they've zeroed in on a suspect but it does show that they're doing whatever they can to try to get this investigation going as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, what they're asking from the public is anybody with any information to come forward, to try to get as many tips as possible. They have raised a reward, $75,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people who did this.

[10:55:04]

In addition to that, Jim and Erica, they're canvassing the area and trying to get as much video as possible from people who might have video on their -- outside of their homes, outside of businesses, anybody who might have captured any piece of this crime as it unfolded from just a car driving down the street at a certain time of day to anything that might be closer to here at this substation.

We continue to ask law enforcement for as many details as possible but right now they're staying very tight-lipped, Jim and Erica.

SCIUTTO: Understood, but it is progress. We'll keep on top of it. Whitney Wild there in Moore County, North Carolina, thanks so much.

HILL: And thanks to all of you for joining us today. I'm Erica Hill.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

At this hour with Kate Bolduan started right after a quick break. You have a good weekend.

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