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Ukraine Disputes Mercenaries' Claim Soledar Has Fallen; Poland Plans To Send Leopard Tanks To Ukraine; U.S. FAA Orders Unprecedented Ground Stop On Wednesday; Suspect Stopped By Off-Duty Police Officers Who Opened Fire; Thousands Of Protesters Arrested Amid Anti-Government Movement. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 12, 2023 - 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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[00:00:20]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up this hour, CNN reporting from Soledar, no sign Ukrainian troops are falling back, no sign of imminent retreat despite Russian claims now control the small town in the east of Ukraine.

The glitch that grounded all U.S. Air Traffic, how a 90-minute ground stop cascaded around the world with ongoing flight delays and cancellations.

If only a few dozen people have died from COVID in all of China over the past few weeks, then why could long lines outside crematoriums can be seen from space?

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Ukrainian officials insists the small town of Soledar has not been lost to Russian forces. Despite claims where the owner of a Russian mercenary army known as the Wagner Group that it is now in control, claims the Kremlin has been unwilling to make instead saying there was a positive trend.

Meantime, a CNN crew not far from the frontlines of Soledar reports the sound of outgoing artillery fire and say Ukrainian troops appear to be calm.

One soldier they say in the situation is very difficult, the next 24 hours critical.

The salt mining town not far from the city of Bakhmut, which has been under siege by Russian forces for weeks.

Ukraine's president says the Russian offensive to control Soledar has a lot more to do with claiming a victory than any strategic gain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The terrorist state and propagandists are trying to pretend that some part of our city of Soledar almost completely destroyed by the occupiers is some kind of achievement of Russia.

They will present this to their society in order to support mobilization and to give hope to those who are for aggression. But the fighting continues. The Donetsk front is holding.

VAUSE: Another shake up of Russian military commanders with Vladimir Putin appointing General Valery Gerasimov as head of the Russian General Staff to oversee all Russian military forces in Ukraine. He replaces General Sergei Surovikin who was appointed just three months ago. He will now become a deputy to Gerasimov.

The official reason according to the Kremlin, to improve coordination among its military branches, he was also known as General Armageddon.

With the battle of a Soledar already one of the most brutal and bloody of the war so far, Ukrainian officials are urging residents of the town and surrounding villages to evacuate ahead of that Russian offensive.

But as CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, many are determined to stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Medics loaded wounded soldier onto an ambulance, another casualty from the embattled town of Soledar.

It varies depending on the number of casualties on the front lines.

Russian forces mostly troops from the Wagner Group, the private military company claimed to have control of the entire Soledar territory.

The battle for Soledar may be in its final stages, and it doesn't appear to be going well for the Ukrainians. And if indeed the Russians do emerge victorious, the villages around it may be the next to fall.

Ukraine's helicopters still flying sorties, its forces aren't giving ground easily. One soldier says it's difficult but we're hanging in there.

Despite the fighting, Eda (PH) is staying put with her pigs and cows in her home in a nearby village.

We won't leave, she says. You can only die once. I will not abandon my house.

Her 81-year-old mother Lumila (PH) has lived here for more than 40 years.

We had a good life here, she says.

Sergei Goshgo (PH) heads the Soledar military administration. I'm delivering aid, he says and reminding people they need to evacuate before it's too late.

Swetlana (PH) says she'll heed his call. Everyone is tired she tells me, we can't take it any longer.

As Soledar burns, there is little time to waste.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, outside Soledar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining me now from Brisbane is retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan. General, thank you for being with us sir.

[00:05:03]

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Hi, John.

VAUSE: OK, here's one adviser to Ukraine's president describe the fighting around Soledar and Bakhmut, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYKHAYLO PODOLYAK, ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Everything that is happening today in the direction of Bakhmut or Soledar is the bloodiest scenario of this war. A lot of blood, a lot of artillery duels, a lot of contact combat, especially in Soledar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It seems that strategic value of Soledar is inversely proportional to the size, scale and intensity of this Russian offensive to try and take it.

So, will the destruction be so extensive, the cost so high in terms of blood and treasure for the Russians that a win will ultimately be a loss?

RYAN: Well, I think it'll be a Pyrrhic victory if indeed they do have a victory there. They've wasted thousands of Russian lives, mobilized troops and some of the elite troops they sent from Kherson after withdrawal there.

But the military value of Soledar and Bakhmut is very low. So, given the resources they've expended, it's a very poor return on investment for the Russian military.

VAUSE: We're almost a year now to this war. And it seems there will be almost role reversal here. The Russians are the ones, you know, on defense, trying to hold on to the territory they have. The Ukrainians are on offense trying to force them back and reclaim that ground.

And that means the Ukrainians now need a lot more firepower. So, that -- here's the President of Poland who is visiting Lviv in Ukraine on Wednesday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDRZEJ DUDA, POLISH PRESIDENT (through translator): Lately, we decided that the moment for Poland to decisively support Ukraine has come, a company of Leopard tanks will be handed over as part of coalition building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, a company of tanks, that sounds great, but what? It's 14 in all, and you know, right now, the U.S. is not committing tanks. The Germans are sort of on the fence over committing leopard tanks. So, the British would likely to commit the challenges, but they're going to need a lot more than 14 tanks from Poland.

RYAN: They are, they're going to need hundreds more. But the reality is, the Pols have really given their fair share. They've given the Ukrainians over 250 of their Soviet era tanks.

The reality is they're giving these Leopards to Ukraine to force Germany and other European nations to give more Leopard as well.

Now, Ukraine needs M1s and Leopard tanks, not old Soviet era tanks at the moment and it needs lots of them.

VAUSE: Well, the United States has what about 2001 Abrams tanks sitting in a desert in California doing absolutely nothing? Why don't send a few hundred of those to Ukraine?

RYAN: Well, you'd have to ask the U.S. administration but with Bradleys on the way now, the M1s could well be next, they were very fine tank. I've certainly commanded a brigade with them myself in Australia. And we shouldn't overestimate logistic difficulties. Ukrainians are very canny. They've proven themselves able to absorb advanced equipment before, they'd be able to do the same with M1s.

VAUSE: I want you to listen to what the Russian president told his cabinet about the ongoing fighting in territory which Moscow recently illegally annexed, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I understand that the situation in new regions is difficult. In some places combat actions are ongoing, peaceful life hasn't been restored everywhere. And the safety of people hasn't been insured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, it's difficult but nothing to see here. Actions are often speak louder than words. And after just three months in charge of the Russian forces in Ukraine, General Armageddon has been sacked. Putin's replaced him with the Chief of General Staff.

So, what does this latest shakeup say about Putin's thinking here? And does it mean anything in terms of how the Russians may change their tactics or plan to fight in the months ahead?

RYAN: Well, I think it says more about how those politics in Moscow than it does in the battlefield outcomes in Ukraine. Surovikin has actually been probably the better Russian commander of this war, and it's a very low bar to be frank.

Gerasimov has been fairly inept so far during this war, so we shouldn't expect him taking over command to make any difference significantly on the battlefield. It's really a power play to ensure the Russian military overcomes the influence that Wagner is now having in Moscow and beyond.

VAUSE: Retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan. Sir, thank you for your time. Thank you for being with us and your insights, very much appreciated.

RYAN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, a corrupted data file in the Federal Aviation Administration's computer system appears to be the reason why authorities in the U.S. ordered an unprecedented ground stop for all air traffic Wednesday morning, local time.

The pause lasted about 90 minutes but the ripple effects from delayed flights cascaded across the country and around the world.

At last count more than 10,000 flights had been delayed according to FlightAware. Around 1300 cancelled. Authorities say there's no evidence of a cyber-attack and U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg says an investigation is underway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Now we have to understand how this could have happened in the first place. Why the usual redundancies that would stop it from being that disruptive did not stop it from being disrupted this time, and what the original source of the errors or the corrupted files would have been.

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[00:10:15]

VAUSE: Mary Schiavo is CNN's Transportation Analyst as well as a former Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It's good to see you, Mary.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Thank you, it's good to be with you.

VAUSE: OK, so officials have confirmed this damage database file essentially took down the system which sends safety alert notices to pilots. But what else do you know about the immediate problems here within the FAA, which led to this ground stop decision? And what can you piece together as to the likely causes of everything?

SCHIAVO: All right. Well, the FAA in making this ground stop decision didn't really have much of a choice because this particular system is part of a larger system. NOTAM's notice to airmen, and now it's called notice to air missions give crucial information to pilots, which by law, and by law for all commercial operations, you must check. It has things like which runway can you use -- can you use if there

are special conditions, if there's a runway equipment that's out of commission, if there are in special conditions en route.

I remember when we had some volcano explosions, NOTAMs warned you about our volcanic ash in the air. So, it contains a lot of valuable information that pilots must access.

Now, in the olden day, back when I got my pilot's license, you could get it, you could call it flight service, you could access it various ways, you could use the telephone, you can't do that anymore. It's just too complicated. And this is part of a bigger system called SWIM, System Wide Information Management. And it's all supposed to work together seamlessly.

So, when this computer went down on NOTAMs, it was really impossible for pilots to fully comply with the requirements to access data. So, they had to do what they had to do.

The causes are a little more complicated. So, the FAA has been trying to build out what's called next gen, the next generation air traffic control system literally for decades. And part of that system requires seamless integration of various data streams.

So, aircraft literally can talk to each other, can talk to air traffic control, can exchange data by computers.

But the problem is, is the FAA does not run com -- huge computer purchasing programs very well, if at all. And so it's a mishmash of contractors that provide all these services to the government. And the FAA has for decades been criticized because they just don't manage their contractors.

VAUSE: I want you look to the U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the decision to stop automatic air travel as well as the ongoing investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: It is the right call to act out of an abundance of caution. But no, these kinds of disruptions should not happen. And my primary interest now that we've gotten through the immediate disruptions of the morning is understanding exactly how this was possible. And exactly what steps are needed to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, a couple of questions out of that statement.

So, the first one being Canada had a very similar outage as well on Wednesday, but there was no grounds of order in Canada, the planes kept flying.

So, how -- why did they managed to keep the airplanes in the airs -- in the air rather and the United States did not? SCHIAVO: Well, I think in the -- in the case of the United States is literally too much depends upon the computer and the volume of traffic is so much greater.

And the problem is, is international carriers heading into the U.S. also have to consult this and so, the ground stop literally affected aircraft around the world who could no longer consult the system.

And frankly, the FAA and other service providers for air traffic control just don't have the manpower to answer the phone and provide you the NOTAM data other than on the computer.

VAUSE: OK. So, as to the how, how is this possible? The answer, you kind of touched on this, it seems to be you're within the FAA itself, one of the reasons is that it's been underfunded, at least many people say that's the case. It's 2022 budget was $18.5 billion and adjusted for inflation. That's less than it was almost 20 years ago according to reporting by the New York Times back in 2004, I believe. Which means it's using sort of outdated technology as well some say, as well as its understaffed. So, is that where the systemic problems are?

SCHIAVO: Well, that's part of the problem. So, the problem that the technology is outdated is the FAA has been building the system so long, the next generation air traffic control system is no longer next generation, it's last generation.

So, what happens is they built it out so long that they've had to scrap many systems while they're in the process of building out the system.

Back when I was inspector general, they had to scrap the system before this and the system before that. So what's happened is, they never really quite get it finished. And by the time they're ready to get the system, you know, be done with one part, there's something new coming down the pike that they have to adjust.

[00:15:05]

And that's how they have ended up with the system with so many contractors, and so many software and service providers, they simply can't keep track of it.

VAUSE: I want you to listen to the White House press secretary on what this outage was not, here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We do not have evidence that this outage was caused by a cyber-attack, the FAA is working aggressively to get to the bottom of the root causes for the system outage so that it does not happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, this time, it wasn't the result of cyber-attack or cyber terrorism. But how vulnerable is the FAA to something like that given the set of its equipment and its technology?

SCHIAVO: Well, again, there have been audits investigations by the Office of Inspector General which have criticized the FAA for not being prepared or protected against cyber-attacks and situations like this, which no one -- I don't think anyone really thought was a cyber- attack. And they've been criticized for that.

So, this does give, you know, people a clue that if one, you know, glitch is what this was brought down the system and their backup system could not take over. See, that's what's disturbing here, is when they were building out the next generation air traffic control system, they will have to -- literally supposed to have redundancy so one system could be running, the backup system would be ready to go. And they could be working on literally almost a third system, they could be making repairs.

But the problem was they never really got it to the point where it -- the backup system could come on in real time, meaning if one went down, the other simultaneously kicked in. And that's the real problem.

So, if you did have a cyber-attack, you couldn't guarantee that your backup system would be ready to go. That's a problem. And that shouldn't happen. That backup system should be ready to go at all times.

VAUSE: Seems like there are a few problems that they could be having to deal with in the coming weeks and months, possibly years as well.

Mary, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate your time.

Thank you.

VAUSE: So, why did he do it? The search for a motive after six people were wounded during an attack at a Paris train station. That's coming up in a moment.

Also, a government hijab crackdown in Iran be damned. Women nationwide continue their fight for equal rights.

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VAUSE: It's just gone 2:00 a.m. in Brazil, where officials have beefed up security across the country even calls for more protests from supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. But so far, there's been no sign of mass demonstrations.

Officials began reinforcing security as a precaution as post circulated on social media urging protests on Wednesday to retake the power in 20 cities including the capital, Brasilia.

Just days earlier, Bolsonaro supporters stormed all three branches of government in the capital. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said any gesture against democracy will be punished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:08]

LUIZ INACIA LULA DA SILVA, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translator): What happened here? I wouldn't even like to think of as a coup. I'd like to think of something smaller, like a group of crazy people who still haven't understood the election is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The official now in charge of Public Security in the Capitol says there is no chance the events have happened on Sunday will be repeated.

An offshoot of ISIS has claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack outside the Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul. ISIS-K says one of its militants set off an explosive belt at the ministry's main gate killing 21 people.

CNN cannot independently verify that claim. Kabul police put the death toll at five, added those behind the attack will be found and punished.

It is (INAUDIBLE) on Wednesday's attack at a busy Paris train station which left six people wounded. Prosecutors say the suspect was armed with a metal hook. He's in his 20s and maybe from Libya or Algeria.

Melissa Bell has more details now reporting in from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Six people were injured at one of Paris's busiest train stations early Wednesday, when a man armed with a homemade blade went on a bloody rampage.

We saw two people on the ground an onlooker told French TV. One was hitting the other people tried to pull them apart, and that's when the attacker pulled out his weapon. The French Interior Minister later at the scene, said off duty police officers stopped the attacker shooting three times.

It was all over within a minute.

At 6:42 am an extremely threatening individual attach people at the entrance and then inside - he said at 6:43 he was neutralized by the police forces by police officers who were out of uniform.

BELL (on camera): This is one of the busiest train stations in Europe and that attack that took place at 6:42 it took place even as it was filling up with commuters. Beyond that perimeter is where it happened and it was in the space of that minute that the assailant managed to ruin six people, including one critically.

BELL (voice over): The suspect now in police custody is also in a critical condition. The Paris prosecutor's office said his motive isn't known but authorities say this is not being treated as a terrorist attack.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Iran's former Deputy Defense Minister has been sentenced to death on charges of spying for the U.K. Ali Reza Akbari has dual Iranian and British citizenship and was arrested in 2019.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry claims he was an undercover agent for Britain's MI6. The British foreign secretary says the death sentence is politically motivated and is calling for Akbari's release.

Iranian police have reportedly been ordered to deal decisively with women who violate the country's hijab law. But those who oppose that law as well as other strict policies of the hardline regime remained defiant.

Here's CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hijab or no hijab onwards to a revolution they chant death to the dictator. Those who know the regime know it will never give up the hijab, one of the pillars of the Islamic Republic. But many say that's not what this is about.

It's about the right to choose the right to speak, to live with no fear to be free. The past few weeks, the world got to see just a little of how far the regime will go to silence its own people. Any voice every voice can be silenced in the Republic of fear.

Dozens of journalists like Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi are behind bars that you were among the first to tell the world the story of Mahsa Zhina Amini, the regime's accused them of orchestrating the protests and being agents of foreign states.

Rights activist and blogger Hossein Rongahi is no stranger to regime jails. He was violently arrested in September and reportedly tortured. This is what 64 days in the notorious Evin Prison and a hunger strike did to Rongahi, only out for urgent medical treatment.

Many artists and musicians like dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi and rapper Saman Yasin who have been arrested, according to the U.N. rights groups and state media the two are now facing the death penalty.

And they were the voices that have been silenced forever. No one really knows how many, hundreds, maybe more. For those mourning their dead are also being harassed and intimidated into silence.

This grieving mother walked the streets holding up a portrait of her 16-year-old son Sirash Hamadi (PH) she wanted people to see her voice face and hear his name. They killed him. They shot him in the head she cried. They told me to be silent. I won't be quiet.

[00:25:16] They will not be silenced they say, this is a battle to save the future, the battle for a free Iran.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The sanctions are biting with Russia's budget awash in red ink. We'll have the numbers in a moment when we come back.

Also, officially just a handful have died from COVID in China in recent weeks. In reality, crematoriums are overflowing. How could these two factors sit side by side? Well, they can't. One of them is not true.

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VAUSE: A new report from Human Rights Watch calls the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine "linear violations of international humanitarian law".

Among them, the evidence of war crimes left in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, after Russian forces retreated. Human Rights Watch says it's part of a pattern that's been repeated countless times.

The group also notes how Russia has struck many hospitals including maternity wards and with regard to Russian tax on civilian infrastructure, H.R. writes, inflicting civilian suffering, such as the repeated strikes on the energy infrastructure that Ukrainians depend on for electricity, water and heat seems to be a central part of the Kremlin strategy.

Russia is reporting a huge budget deficit for 2022 as government spending surges and economic sanctions take their toll.

The deficit $47 billion is equivalent to more than two percent of Russia's GDP. Country's finance minister look to a strike on an upbeat tone, saying Russia fulfilled its plan tasks despite the geopolitical situation presumably, including the war in Ukraine and sanctions imposed on Russia.

Here's what Vladimir Putin had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (through translator): We can state with assurance that the financial and banking system of the country the economy is stable, and is actively developing. We have every reason to believe we will maintain these tempos in 2023.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Still, it's clear Russia's economy is under stress as it works to fund its war in Ukraine. Here's Clare Sebastian with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More than 10 months into a war that he hoped to wrap up in days, President Putin is preparing his people for a long and costly battle.

PUTIN (through translator): We have no limits when it comes to financing. The country, the government gives the army everything it asks for.

[00:30:08]

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): It's not just the high-tech drones and tanks, or the new frigate, loaded with hypersonic missiles. According to an estimate in July from British think tank RUSI, at the height of the fighting in the Donbas, Russia was burning through more ammunition in two days than the British military has in stock.

The impact of that clearly showing up in the Russian budget.

SEBASTIAN: This was the official estimate for last year. Defense spending was expected to have grown by about 30 percent compared to 2021. National security spending, meanwhile, by about 20 percent.

But oil and gas revenues were expected to grow by about a third. They ended up coming in higher than expected, according to the finance ministry, but so did spending, tipping the budget into a bigger-than- expected deficit.

Now, this year, we're looking at more defense spending, a rise of about 6 percent. That's roughly in line with inflation. But add to that a 58 percent planned increase in national security spending and a complete reversal of last year's oil and gas windfall. And this means budget cuts.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Roads, agriculture, even health care all getting hit.

ELINA RIBAKOVA, DEPUTY CHIEF ECONOMIST, INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCE: Money is not -- it's unlike what President Putin says. And I think he understands it better than anybody else. Because these authorities were in power already in the '90s when Russia went through severe crises: default, denomination (ph), you know, devaluation. And I think they remember that. That -- of that were to happen, it will be even a faster way for them out of the office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Keeping Putin in power and fighting a war is expensive. Next year, Russia has allocated almost as much to national security, which also includes law enforcement, as it has to defense, according to the budget passed early last month, a sign of Moscow may still intensify its crackdown on protests and dissent.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We all know that European solidarity --

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Experts say even with an E.U. embargo on Russian seaborne oil, a price gap mechanism in place, and lower energy prices, Russia is not facing an imminent budget crisis.

RIBAKOVA: Well, we did not implement energy sanctions up into now, right? The embargo just came in. So what happens, Russian (UNINTELLIGIBLE) surpluses last year was more than 200 billion. So if you think about it, if you rested about, say, 300 billion in reserves, Russia already accumulated more than 200 billion just last year.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Pressure is still mounting. If the E.U. and G- 7 lower their oil price cap below $60 a barrel, that would likely hurt revenues. And technology sanctions make it harder for Russia to modernize its military.

Still, behind the propaganda, it's clear Russia has a financial plan to fund this war, even as its people pay an ever-increasing price.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: It seems something is better than nothing, and the World Health Organization says China is now showing more data about its surging COVID outbreak, but continues to withhold crucial information on viral sequencing, which helps identify new variants.

The WHO says China's reported death toll is nowhere close to reality, with hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAM: We -- WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported from China. And this is in -- in relation to the definitions that are used. But also to the need for doctors and those reporting to the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Selina Wang went to a funeral home in Beijing, where signs of the overwhelming death toll are impossible to ignore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): COVID lockdowns may be over in China. But for many, there's misery at the end of zero-COVID. The virus is overwhelming hospitals across the country. The sick struggle to get help.

Patients crammed into available space, every hallway and corner of this northern Chinese hospital. Not everyone survives the struggle.

Rows of bodies filled this funeral home storage room in Liaoning province, but we don't know how many died of COVID.

In Jiangsu (ph), families in mourning clothes flood the gate. And in Sichuan, families lined up outside right next to coffins, waiting to cremate their loved ones.

China has only officially reported a few dozen COVID-19 deaths since reopening. But satellite images confirm the different reality we see on the ground.

These images taken in late December and early January show crowds and long lines of cars waiting outside of funeral homes in six Chinese cities.

The images from the outskirts of Beijing show that a brand-new parking lot was even constructed.

[00:35:03]

We visited that funeral home. Rows of cars were already there.

WANG: I'm now standing in that new parking lot of this Beijing funeral home. This entire parking lot area did not exist a month ago. And as you can see, the roads are not paved.

WANG (voice-over): One van pulls in, unloads a body, and another follows. A man tells me he waited hours for his brother's body to be cremated, but the wait is nothing, he says, compared to the crowds from a few weeks ago.

Experts say Beijing's COVID outbreak has already peaked. In December, we filmed these body bags piling up in metal crates at another Beijing crematorium during the height of omicron spread in the city.

This video CNN has obtained was filmed by a man who said his father's body was lying in this overflowing Beijing hospital morgue for days. He said his father waited hours for hospital bed space. By the time of bed opened up, it was too late.

Cities are now scrambling to set up fever clinics and increase ICU capacity. For weeks, it was nearly impossible to buy cold or fever medicine. They were all sold out because of the huge demand.

WANG: Drug companies like this major pharmaceutical manufacturer in Beijing, they are going into overdrive to increase supply after there was a shortage of medicine to treat COVID-19 symptoms.

I asked the vice president if they had received any advanced warning from the government that they were going to abandon zero-COVID so they could prepare to ramp up production. Well, he didn't directly answer my question, but it's clear that now, they are doubling down.

WANG: The company told us they simply follow government policy.

The drug shortage, overflowing hospitals and crematoriums, they're images of a country unprepared for the sudden end of zero-COVID.

So many families in mourning are questioning what their three years of sacrifice during zero-COVID was really all for.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Another planetary heat record for the fourth straight year. The world's oceans have hit their hottest temperatures on record.

Experts say the oceans show the real impact of climate change and are less affected by daily weather cycles. Warmer oceans mean more powerful storms.

Scientists from 16 institutes around the world looked at data going all the way back to the 1950s for this study. And they say the warming trend will continue until we reach net-zero carbon emissions, which we know we are nowhere close to meeting anytime soon.

Still ahead, a frenzy of whataboutism in D.C. as the White House goes on the defensive and President Joe Biden's legal team finds even more classified documents. Republicans are calling for an investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC: "HAMMERHEAD")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Guitar great Jeff Beck there, playing "Hammerhead" at the Grammy Museum a few years back. He's died.

The 78-year-old's death from bacterial meningitis announced on social media on Wednesday. Beck first rose to fame when he replaced Eric Clapton in the band the Yard Birds.

He later started his own group, the Jeff Beck Group, featuring Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, who would later join the Rolling Stones.

Wood remembered his former band mate in a tweet, saying, "Now Jeff is gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I'm going to dearly miss him."

Rocker Ozzy Osborne also offered his condolences, saying, "What a terrible loss for his family, friends and many fans."

Long live Jeff Beck.

U.S. President Joe Biden's legal team has found a second batch of classified documents. We don't know exactly where, but they should not have been there.

Biden is already facing questions about why the first set of highly- sensitive material was found in a former private office he used. Well, at an office.

CNN's Phil Mattingly has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As President Biden and the White House counsel's office describe the initial discovery of ten classified documents, documents that were turned over to the National Archives and the Justice Department, the Justice Department review ongoing, they never actually weighed in on whether or not there could be additional documents out there.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): As that was happening, there was actually a very quiet but very intensive review ongoing by the president's legal team to see if there were any.

In fact, there are. A second set of government records has been discovered, according to two people briefed on the matter. Some of those government records, they are, indeed, classified.

Now the president and his team, again, never said that there weren't any other documents out there. They spoke only about that initial set of ten classified documents.

MATTINGLY: In fact, to some degree, they have been very careful not to say anything about what else may be out there. Let's take a listen to the White House press briefing.

Do you know what assurances you can provide at this point that there were no other classified documents out there, in any other office?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Again, this is an ongoing process. So I'm going to let the process continue. It is being reviewed by the Department of Justice, and I'm just going to leave it there.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Now, that answer was one that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated over and over to just about every question, underscoring the limitations the White House says they feel like they are under as the Justice Department continues this review.

MATTINGLY: Now, ,hat actually happens next, or if there are even any more documents out there is still an open question. So, too, is what the actual documents -- the second set of documents -- actually included. There are sparse details about where they were found, what is inside of them.

But it certainly exasperates the situation that has been politically perilous for the president over the course of the last several days.

Republicans on Capitol Hill, both the Senate and House Republicans, say they believe they should investigate the matter. They have called on the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to look into the matter.

Obviously, drawing clear parallels, even though the situations are quite different, to former President Donald Trump and his classified records issues right now, his legal problems.

How this actually ends going forward has very much remained an open question. The White House says they are fully cooperating. That isn't going to change, according to White House officials. But certainly, finding a second set of classified records only complicates a problem that had only been growing in the hours before it was eventually revealed.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first WORLD SPORT starts after a very short break. I'll see you back here in just over 16 minutes.

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