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Protests Break Out after Memphis Releases Deadly Police Beating Video of Tyre Nichols; At Least Seven Die in Jerusalem Synagogue Attack; Poland Pledges More Tanks for Ukraine; Haitian Protesters Riot over Gang Killings; Flooding Leaves Three Dead in New Zealand; Huge Hail in Central Argentina. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 28, 2023 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone, I am Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.
Coming up:
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HOLMES (voice-over): Rage and anguish; protesters taking to the streets across the U.S. after Memphis police released video showing the brutal and deadly beating of Tyre Nichols.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Police in Israel are calling it one of the worst terror attacks in years, at least seven killed after a gunman opened fire near a synagogue. We will have a live report from Jerusalem.
Plus, Western allies are preparing to send modern battle tanks to the front lines of Ukraine. Why Kyiv thinks they could be critical to turning the tide of war.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: As promised, the city of Memphis has released a gut-wrenching police footage of Tyre Nichols ' fatal beating three weeks ago. Before we get to that, I want to show you the five men you will see in those videos.
All were fired from the police force and on Thursday were indicted on numerous charges, including second degree murder and kidnapping. All of them have since bonded out of jail. The first arraignments are set for next month.
Meanwhile, funeral services for the 29-year-old victim are being planned for next Wednesday at a local church. And as we are about to show you, some of Nichols ' final words were calling out to his mother as he was being beaten.
Now she is pleading the loudest for nonviolence as the videos drive home the enormity of her son's tragic death. What you are about to see and hear is extremely difficult to watch. There are four clips we are going to show you, each taken from a different police camera.
But together, showing the killing of an unarmed man and the police officers' disregard for him afterwards. Again, these images are graphic and they are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the (INAUDIBLE).
TYRE NICHOLS, MURDER VICTIM: Damn, I didn't do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn your butt around.
NICHOLS: All right, all right, all right, I'm on the ground --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lie down --
HOLMES (voice-over): Now we do not see Nichols being pulled over for what was alleged to be reckless driving. But that first clip is from an officer arriving at the scene.
Nichols, as you see, yanked from the car, forced to the pavement. It's not known why officers appear so agitated at this point. But the situation escalates rapidly. Nichols manages to run away but is soon captured nearby, where the fatal blows were apparently delivered.
Police surveillance video, you are seeing it there, that appears to show Nichols was struck, punched and kicked at least nine times in less than four minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me your hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to get sprayed again?
Hey.
NICHOLS: Mom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out. Watch out.
NICHOLS: Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom.
HOLMES (voice-over): And this is what was happening on the ground, as recorded by another police body cam.
One officer can be heard saying, "I'm going to baton the F out of you." It was just one of many violent threats directed at Nichols from the
very beginning. After several minutes, the officers leave Nichols slumped over and badly injured. At no time do any of them appear to render aid.
In fact, it would be nearly 30 minutes before an ambulance finally arrived with, apparently, nothing done for Nichols in the meantime.
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HOLMES: Protests have erupted across the U.S. after authorities released video of the deadly police beating.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?
PROTESTERS: Justice!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do we want it?
PROTESTERS: Now!
HOLMES (voice-over): In Boston, people marching through the streets to demand justice for Tyre Nichols. And in places like New York and Washington and other cities coast to coast, more rallies to voice frustration with police killings.
Authorities in some cities were worried the protests would get out of hand. And in Georgia, they even positioned the National Guard as a precaution.
But so far, things have remained calm, with most people heeding calls to march peacefully.
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HOLMES: In Memphis, where the police beating took place, dozens of people demonstrated on an interstate bridge.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tyre Nichols. Tyre Nichols.
HOLMES (voice-over): Protesters blocking all lanes of traffic, chanting slogans against injustice. Police say no one was arrested and many began to disperse after a while. CNN's Sara Sidner reports.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing an absolute standstill. If you look behind me, you see all these trucks, down here. That is behind me.
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SIDNER: The I-55 bridge, southbound and northbound, northbound toward St. Louis, southbound toward Jackson, Mississippi. There is a huge section of I-55, the bridge included that has just been stopped, for quite some time.
I want to give you a sense of what it looks like and where I am. This is Exit 12B and apropos of what's happening, the National Civil Rights Museum is off of that exit. As you know, this was the place where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, here, in Memphis.
But what you are seeing is what protesters here call, resistance. They have been peaceful with their resistance. They are here. You can see the signs there. There's Crump Boulevard, not Mr. Crump that you just spoke with but that's the name of the boulevard there.
That exit is 12A. You can see the I-55 South, to Jackson, Mississippi, sign, to give you some sense of exactly where we are.
Downtown Memphis is not far. And what we are seeing is people, who have, on both sides, of I-55, just stopped traffic. They have stopped traffic. They are holding signs, "Justice for Tyre." They are holding signs that, "Police who murder must be put in prison," they must face justice.
And the crowd is here. There are emotions that are high. But they have been nothing less than peaceful. They have just stopped the traffic flow. And part of that is because they want people to see that disruption is part of the way they're going to protest, because they are feeling pain.
And they want people to understand how serious they are, about all of what they saw, on that videotape.
You're hearing them chant something that we have heard, across the country, from Michael Brown, to George Floyd, to Freddie Gray, "Whose streets?
Our streets."
That is what they're chanting, because they feel like these are their streets. They are taxpayers, too. And there is no reason why these five officers, should have been involved, in taking the life, of a resident, here, in Memphis.
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HOLMES: And joining me now from Memphis, mayoral candidate Michelle McKissack, who is currently on the Shelby County school board.
It is great of you to make the time. I wanted to firstly get your reaction to these videos and really the sheer aggression from the outset, Tyre appearing compliant yet getting brutalized really.
MICHELLE MCKISSACK, MAYORAL CANDIDATE, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: It was absolutely heart wrenching and shocking because it just went from nothing -- it started already at 10, you know?
And it just went from 10 to 100 in a matter of seconds, it seems like.
And my heart just went out, when I heard him calling out his mom, I mean it was just -- as a mom of four kids myself, three sons, one of them just a few years younger than Tyre -- absolutely heart wrenching.
HOLMES: And the other thing too that was striking was, a lot of the worst beatings happened when he is already handcuffed.
MCKISSACK: Already handcuffed. And that was what was striking to me. And especially in that last video clip up on the lightpost. And you can see all the brutality that was taking place.
And he was completely helpless. I don't know what more -- what level of submission that they wanted from him that they already had. So I -- it's hard for me to wrap my head around that as I watched it.
I know you spoke with Tyre Nichols' mother. This was before the video's public release.
What she did you tell?
What was your sense of how she is, given everything she has gone through?
MCKISSACK: I was absolutely amazed by her grace and dignity. I was at the vigil last night. They had a vigil at a skateboarding park. And it's the same park where two of my sons also would skate, where Tyre would skate.
And so I made it up to her and I just said, Ms. Wells, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how you are feeling.
And she said to me, "Michelle, it feels like I am in a movie. It just does not seem real."
And I just told her, as mayor, I'm running for mayor here in Memphis, that I would do all that I could to ensure that his death was not in vain, that we would have laws passed in his name and in his memory.
HOLMES: Yes, that was my next question. You are a candidate for mayor.
What would you change if you were in office right now?
MCKISSACK: Well, right now, one of the first things I would say is that this unit in which the officers were a part of, the SCORPION unit, that it needs to be disbanded.
You know, I have heard talk about, yes, it has had some positive gains in the past, in terms of tackling crime. But right now there is just too much negative that is associated with the SCORPION unit.
Because we need to focus now on rebuilding trust between the police and the community. And so you can't do that, if people know that there are officers out there, working under the guise of law enforcement but being very lawless while they try to supposedly protect and serve.
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HOLMES: You mentioned this. And I will ask you about it. Your oldest son just a few years younger than Tyre.
Do you find you put yourself in Tyre's mother's position?
And on that same subject, we talk a lot about what you would tell your kids to avoid being in a position like this. But he did everything he was told pretty much.
MCKISSACK: And that is the part that just -- it makes me scared. My sons are 19, 20, almost 25 years old. And they just want to go out and hang out with their friends. And I get nervous every single time that they hang out late at night. And it's not even crazy late.
This happened at 8 o'clock in the evening with Tyre. So I pray. I pray for their safety. But you have got to also act as a city, as a community. We have to come out of this better and be a model, not only just for us but in the country.
And that is what gives me some hope, is that the fact that how swiftly the police chief fired the police officers to how the district attorney here -- those charges were filed against the officers and indicting them for the murder of Tyre Nichols.
HOLMES: Yes. Michelle McKissack, thank you so much. We really appreciate you making the time.
MCKISSACK: Thank you.
HOLMES: Now at this point, we don't know the specific cause of death of Tyre Nichols. But medical experts tell CNN he probably died from internal injuries from blunt force trauma. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, tells us more about the possible injuries Nichols might have suffered.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is just horrific to watch even as a trauma neurosurgeon myself. I've never seen anything quite like that. You don't -- you often see patients who are brought into the hospital but you don't see that, that sort of just horrific beating that he took over those several minutes.
When you, when you look at this sort of thing, there's obviously so many different injuries that he could have sustained at the time.
GUPTA (voice-over): I think one of the areas that people probably paid a lot attention to was just all these blows he took to his head and to his face. He was restrained at one point, taking fists to the face and he was being kicked in the face when he was on the ground.
What can happen sometimes is that the brain is the one organ in the body, that when it's starting to swell, it really has no place to go because it's encased by the skull. Every other organ in the body can swell a little bit more easily.
GUPTA: Brain swelling can start to take place and one can start to lapse in and out of consciousness as seemed to be happening with, with, with Mr. Nichols. I watched the videos alongside medical examiner's from around the country and that was the area that they really pointed to was these, these blows to the head.
But it's also worth noting that he's a pretty skinny guy from we understand. And there were kicks to the body, to the torso, to the chest, as well. And any of those organs may have actually sustained damage and started bleeding as well, could have been suffering from internal bleeding at the time that all this was happening.
GUPTA (voice-over): And that brings us to the to the next point, which I think is critically important. When you look at sort of the timeline of what was happening there. It was around 8:33 or so 8:34 when you see this last kick that he sustained and then he was handcuffed and dragged over to the car.
And then it's eight minutes later before we see EMS even arrive but it's not until around 9:02. So 20 minutes after that, 21 minutes after that almost half an hour in total before you see a gurney arrive.
So you have a critically ill man who's lying on the sidewalk, sustained all these injuries, hard to say, the extent of the injuries or even how serious they are at that point.
Obviously, they are serious but what exactly is the most serious is difficult to ascertain. And it's a full half an hour before he's really assessed. You hear at various times that it's going to take a while for the ambulance to get there. And that's, that's obviously very problematic.
He needed to be in a hospital; whether or not it would have made a difference ultimately, that's hard to say.
GUPTA: And we'll get more information, you know, probably over the coming few days as to exactly what caused his death. We don't have a firm cause of death yet from the county medical examiner.
But watching that video, looking at that timeline, you can get really get a sense of what happened to him and what happened to him in the days that followed.
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HOLMES: Dr. Sanjay Gupta there.
We will have much more on the story later in the hour, including a closer look at that SCORPION police unit that some of the officers were a part of.
A quick break now; when we come back now, a shooting near a Jerusalem synagogue leave several people dead. Ahead, how the attack unfolded and how Israeli officials are responding to it. We will be right back.
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HOLMES: Israeli police say at least seven people were killed and three were wounded Friday in a shooting near a Jerusalem synagogue. According to authorities, a 21-year-old gunman shot people at close range with a pistol. He later fled the scene and was killed in a shootout with police. Israel and the U.S. have condemned the shooting as an apparent terror attack.
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VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: This is absolutely horrific. Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence. We condemn this apparent terrorist attack in the strongest terms.
Our commitment to Israel's security remains ironclad. And we are in direct touch with our Israeli partners. And our thoughts are with the Israeli people in light of this horrific attack.
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HOLMES: The shooting happened hours after Israel launched strikes on Gaza in response to militant rocket fire and a day after Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
It also comes as the U.S. secretary of state is preparing to visit Israel and the West Bank for the first time since the new Israeli government took power.
Let's get more now from journalist Elliott Gotkine standing by in Jerusalem.
What more do we know about who was behind it?
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HOLMES: What happened?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, it appears that the government was operating alone. There's been no claim of responsibility by any of the militant groups just yet.
You've outlined the details of the shooting itself. It was at 8:15 pm, after evening prayers for the Jewish Sabbath had ended. The gunman pulled up in his car, got out, began shooting, got back in the car and then as people, approach he fired more shots.
He drove about 300 meters away, was intercepted by police. They exchanged more fire and they pursued on foot and then shot him dead. In terms of the wounded, the situation there, a 15 -year old boy who
is now recuperating, he is in moderate condition; a 24-year-old man in hospital, who's on a ventilator, he is in serious condition. A 60- year-old woman, whose condition is moderate also in hospital there as well.
That is the current aftermath. We heard from Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of this attack last night, sending out his condolences, saying some measures had already been taken but that the Israeli government would decide on what more measures, and would outline those measures, in a cabinet meeting, due to take place at the end of the Jewish Sabbath. That's in about 8.5 hours time.
Netanyahu also implored Israelis not to take the law into their own hands, saying Israel has police and security forces and the army, which will act on the orders of the cabinet. So no details as to what actions the Israeli government will take just yet. But we expect to get more details at the end of the Jewish Sabbath in about 8.5 hours' time. Michael.
HOLMES: All right and so often, as you and I both know, Israeli- Palestinian violence has a cycle; one action leads to another. We're in another cycle right now.
I guess the question is, where the experts think this latest round could be headed.
GOTKINE: Michael, there is a very real concern that, even though tensions seem to be sky high between Israel and the Palestinians, there is almost daily raids by Israeli security forces, engaging with militants in the West Bank.
As you say, there were rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by Islamic Jihad, whose militants were among those killed by security forces. Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, launching rockets into Israel; retaliatory airstrikes.
Alongside the combination, we heard from secretary of state, Antony Blinken, we also heard from the U.S. urging de-escalation. But I think most people, from what we are right now, would think that not only is this the most right-wing government Israel has had but also security was a very big part of its platform in getting elected, being able to put this right wing coalition together.
Clearly, there will be a response by Israel. And I think any urging of de-escalation by the U.S. or anyone else is, I'm afraid, going to fall on deaf ears in all likelihood.
HOLMES: Yes, sadly, probably right. Elliott Gotkine, appreciate it, thank you so much.
All right, time for a quick break. Still to come on the program, a specialized and controversial Memphis police unit, tied to the death of Tyre Nichols, is now under review. But the Nichols family says it must be disbanded. We will have more when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. Thanks for your company. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Now police videos have been made public of Memphis officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols following a traffic stop on January 7. He died of his injuries three days later. And the fired officers now face second- degree murder charges.
The videos of that incident are graphic and difficult to watch. We do not see Nichols being initially pulled over for what police allege was reckless driving. Even police say that they can't see any reason why it was so.
But from the very first clip, you see an officer arriving at the scene, Nichols aggressively yanked from the car, forced to the pavement and screamed at. It's not known why officers appear to be so agitated at this early stage. But the situation escalates even further.
A short time later at a nearby location, Nichols is on the ground, badly injured. But no officers appear to render aid. And nearly 30 minutes pass before an ambulance finally arrives.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who spoke with Nichols' family on Friday, had this to say after viewing the footage.
Quote, "Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols' death. It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day."
Now after the videos came out, protesters in Memphis marched onto a major interstate bridge across the Mississippi River, bringing traffic to a standstill for a time. No arrests were reported.
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HOLMES: Let's talk more. John Burris is a criminal defense attorney, joining me from Oakland, California.
There is so much to be outraged at, including a lot of the worst of the beating happening when he's handcuffed.
What went through your mind when you watched those videos?
JOHN L. BURRIS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Certainly, watching the video, when a person is handcuffed, that is the most outrageous form of beating imaginable because the person is handicapped. He is unable to take care of himself and defend himself.
And he's handcuffed. So to me, that was the most outrageous act of all. As you know, when I did the Rodney King case, Rodney King got beaten badly. But he wasn't handicapped when he was handcuffed at the time he was being beaten.
So in this case, this is pretty outrageous. And then you take all the beating that he was taking and then he was left alone.
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BURRIS: He was literally left alone to die, suffering in his on blood, if you will. And so there is that disconnect, in the sense that we didn't care about him as a human being. What we did was, he ran from us and when you run, you pay. That's the motto that this unit apparently has.
Which is obviously a very notorious way of policing. And it's one that we made a lot of efforts down through the years to try to prevent. Officers should know that you don't (INAUDIBLE) person run. That doesn't mean that you catch them and then beat them, make them pay in the form of --
HOLMES: I guess, you know, his family would argue he only ran because he was being beaten so badly after the initial traffic stop.
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HOLMES: Yes, lawyers for some of those cops, a couple I heard said that their client didn't physically take part in the beating.
Do you, as an attorney, and your involvement in the Rodney King case, is that a defense?
How damning --
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HOLMES: -- being there but not stepping in?
BURRIS: No, you have a duty to intervene. When you see that officers are violating someone's constitutional rights, that is saying they're using force that is unnecessary. That's unwanted, they're not physically in harm's way. And that officer is beating that person, the officer standing by had a duty to intervene and pull that person back. To stop it if they can.
If they don't do that, then they become equally liable under federal civil rights act. They are (INAUDIBLE) responsible as well for failure to intervene as well as failure to provide medical assistance. (INAUDIBLE) record shows that he sitting there, maybe almost 25-30 minutes after being beaten.
And the officers are walking around, almost like they're planning their defense, talking about he's pulling a gun and that he's yanking on (INAUDIBLE) and couldn't get his hands together. So there was a lack of concern for him as a human being and (INAUDIBLE) tragic (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: Absolutely. I want to go back to -- I mean, you go back to the Rodney King beating. And here we are, all this time later, talking about a similarly brutal beating.
What is fundamentally wrong, structurally, within policing that these awful incidents keep on happening?
BURRIS: It could be a question of accountability, that every department develop its own culture. So that culture results in people using excessive force and not being held accountable like in this particular case.
There is a sense that these officers must have not felt that they were going to be held accountable because they knew they were being videoed by camera. They have body worn cameras, there are speed (ph) cameras, undoubtedly felt that there was not going to be any accountability.
So lack of accountability on the part of supervisors and command staff of holding officers accountable, that creates this atmosphere that you can do these kinds of things and get away with it.
It's horrible. Rodney King was really, really bad. We don't have as many of those kinds of beatings but we still have beatings because now we have video cameras and cell phones that really show that.
But notwithstanding that, there is a culture in a department that, if it condones beating, crossing the lines, officers pick up on that. And it's a generational thing that can occur within a department.
So it's not an easy thing to break up. But it certainly does show that departments allow certain kinds of brutality to occur.
HOLMES: Yes, it is interesting, with the video, yes, they knew they were being videotaped because it was their video. So the behavior continued regardless.
John L. Burris, really appreciate you coming on and speaking with us. Thanks so much.
BURRIS: Thank you. Good to be with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Some of the former Memphis police officers accused in Tyre Nichols' death were part of a specialized unit called the SCORPION unit. Officials tell CNN that the unit has now been inactivated following the death of the 29-year-old and is now under review along with all specialized police units. CNN's Brian Todd with that report.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dramatic call from an attorney for Tyre Nichols' family to dissolve the special unit of the Memphis police that at least some of the officers accused in Nichols' death belong to. ANTONIO ROMANUCCI, TYRE NICHOLS' FAMILY ATTORNEY: We are asking Chief Davis to disband this SCORPION unit effective immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ROMANUCCI: The intent of the SCORPION unit has now been corrupted.
TODD (voice-over): SCORPION standing for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, is a specialized unit of the Memphis Police created by the current chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis in the fall of 2021, with a promo video accompanying its launch.
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TODD (voice-over): Chief Davis told our Don Lemon they needed a unit to address a surge of violent crimes in Memphis.
CHIEF CERELYN DAVIS, MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is one of three teams whose primary responsibility is to reduce gun violence to be visible in communities and it will also impact the rise in the crime, basically out of an outcry from the community. We had record numbers in 2021, 346 homicides.
TODD (voice-over): Chief Davis says the SCORPION unit at least initially had great success.
DAVIS: Last year, was the first year in a long time that we have reductions.
TODD (voice-over): The mayor's office also touted SCORPION's early success, saying that between its inception in the fall of 2021 through January of 2022, the unit made 566 arrests, seized more than 250 weapons, 270 vehicles and over $100,000 in cash.
But in its brief lifetime, there's already a history of tension between SCORPION officers and the community.
Attorneys for Tyre Nichols' family say the unit goes around in unmarked cars and is sometimes unnecessarily aggressive. Family attorney Ben Crump relayed one account that a local man had also described to media outlets of his encounter with SCORPION.
BEN CRUMP, NICHOLS' FAMILY ATTORNEY: There's a brother who said four or five days before this happened to Tyre that same SCORPION unit confronted him while he was in his car going to get pizza and he said that they used all counter profanity against him. They threw him on the ground, talking about where the drugs and where the weapons.
TODD (voice-over): And Crump said the officers pointed a gun at the man's head. CNN has reached out to the Memphis police for response to that account. We haven't heard back. One law enforcement veteran described issues that often crop up with specialized units in city police departments.
DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Generally speaking, we have an enforcement driven unit. These units have a greater propensity to rack up complaints against them based on excessive force.
But the terminal piece in this is overall supervision. So I believe that we had a failure in supervision and there was no appropriate oversight to ensure that these officers were doing what they were supposed to do.
TODD (voice-over): Again, the Memphis Police Department has not responded to specific allegations of previous use of excessive force by the SCORPION unit.
Memphis police tell CNN that unit and all other specialized units of the department will undergo a review and that the SCORPION unit is, quote, "inactivated during the review process" -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: A barrage of artillery fire coming down on Ukraine's defenses across the eastern front line. Ukraine says Russia has been launching one salvo after another on multiple towns in the Donetsk region. At least two people were killed. Five others were wounded on Friday.
Kyiv says Russia is also sending waves of infantry into battle in an attempt to break through Ukrainian lines. President Zelenskyy says there's only one way to stop the Russian onslaught.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The situation on the front line, importantly in the Donetsk region, near Bakhmut and Vuhledar, continues to remain extremely acute.
The occupiers are not just destroying our positions, they're deliberately and methodically destroying these towns and villages around them with artillery, airstrikes, missiles. The Russian army has no shortage of lethal means and can only be stopped by force.
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HOLMES: Ukraine is hoping that some of that force comes in the form of those Western tanks, which NATO countries are increasingly pledging to send. Poland now promising to supply 60 more modern tanks, many of them Polish made. That's on top of other types of battle tanks that Poland and Western allies have recently pledged for Ukraine.
Kyiv now says that it is expecting to receive more than 320 more tanks from the West. And as Fred Pleitgen reports, those weapons can't come too soon for Ukrainian troops.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Revving like a dragster, the crew from the 28th Mechanized Brigade warm up their Soviet era T-64 for battle.
"We have problems with ammunition. We are running low," the commander tells me.
"And that's the only problem we have. To get enough spare parts, our commanders work all the time to sustain the tank and repair it."
That commander, who goes by the call sign "David," races the 40-year- old beast toward the front line like a steam engine train.
PLEITGEN: A lot of Ukraine's main battle tanks are as old as this one. That's why the military says they urgently need those new western main battle tanks -- they say around 300 to 400 -- to try and turn the tide in this war.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The problem, Ukraine is running out of Soviet era tanks and is having increasing trouble replacing those lost in battle or needing repair.
[02:40:00]
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The 28th helped liberated Kherson in the south and then was sent here. It has already been a long war for this unit.
Ukrainian soldiers on the front around Bakhmut are elated Western nations are sending modern battle tanks, M1A2 Abrams from the U.S., German made Leopard 2s and British Challenger tanks.
But the Ukrainians are also masters at using the old Soviet tanks they have now to best effect: firing, reloading, taking aim and quickly shooting again.
The tank engineer, who only gave his name as Maxim (ph) says the soldiers from the 28th could operate these vehicles blindfolded.
"If we fire from a covered position, we use this device," he says.
"It's old and analog but pretty efficient, very precise."
Ukraine's forces say their tanks have been extremely important and effective here in Bakhmut, taking on the mercenaries of Russia's Wagner private military company, who often use convicts as cannon fodder to try and storm Ukrainian positions, with almost no fire support.
The tank commander says they are constantly working to stop Wagner's advances here.
"We just fight against them. If we stop, they will come closer and we will lose our houses and families. We stand here to allow people to peacefully live in their homes."
But Ukraine's army is under growing pressure around Bakhmut, as the Russians pour more armor into this area. The promised Western tanks probably won't arrive fast enough to make a difference in this battle. But these soldiers hope they will turn the tide of the war -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, near Bakhmut, Ukraine.
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HOLMES: In Haiti, the murder of police officers causes chaos in the capital and forces the prime minister into hiding. We will have the latest when we come back.
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HOLMES: Doctors without Borders has shut down operations at a hospital in Haiti after armed men killed a patient being treated there.
Haiti has been thrust into fresh turmoil this week, due to demonstrations over police officers being killed in the line of duty. Protesters say officers are being deliberately targeted by gangs and that the government isn't doing enough to protect them.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Ariel Henry must go. The police need the support of the people in the fight. Ariel's aim is to massacre the police in order to legitimize military intervention. We are against it. We need proper weapons to deal with the armed gangs.
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HOLMES: According to one count, at least 78 police officers have been assassinated since Ariel Henry became prime minister in 2021. CNN's Patrick Oppmann with the very latest now on the violence and on his close call with the protesters.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Haitian government officials accused protesters of trying to assassinate the country's prime minister, Ariel Henry, who was returning to Port-au-Prince following a regional conference in Argentina when protesters first attacked his house.
And then after realizing that he was not there, went to the airport where he was. Henri had to be evacuated from the airport by patient special forces. Government officials say that the protesters are angry at the spiraling violence taking place in Haiti.
Gang violence has cost the lives of as many as 10 police just in the last week. And some of the protesters were actually police. Police say the government is not giving them the resources they need to fight the gangs, that are often better equipped than the police.
And the police say that the government is setting them up for failure, that the gangs are simply more powerful than they are and that too many police are losing their lives.
Haiti is facing an increasingly dire situation. As the different gangs swallow up more and more territory. In Haiti, the government is not able to combat them. The Haitian government has asked the United States and Canada to send forces to essentially quell the gang violence.
Send armed forces to bring the gangs under control. But those countries, so far, have resisted that idea. And they've agreed to send aid to Haiti but so far, have not agreed to send forces because there is the fear that that would only fire up the violence.
It would only create a more unstable situation. At this point, advisers to Ariel Henry say that he is safe. But they're not disclosing his location. He is essentially in a safe house at this point because it is too dangerous for him to announce where he is in his own country -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
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HOLMES: Torrential rains, massive flooding as well in New Zealand leaving several people dead and destroyed homes and businesses. It was extraordinary. We will have the details when we come back.
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HOLMES: In New Zealand, three people have died, at least one person missing, following torrential rainstorms and flooding. Auckland's airport has reopened for domestic but not yet international flights, after high water disrupted operations and forced more than 2,000 people to stay overnight in the terminal buildings.
New Zealand's new prime minister, Chris Hipkins, met with emergency services and surveyed the damage in Auckland on Saturday. Many residents simply devastated.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My house is gone. My -- our house is -- I can't even talk.
My (INAUDIBLE) stuck as well so (INAUDIBLE) because it was (INAUDIBLE) to get out. So once you're in this property (ph), you can't get out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
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HOLMES: Weather officials said Auckland got almost 25 centimeters of rain on Friday. That's a stunning quarter of a meter and is triple the average rainfall for the entire month of January.
And check out the extreme weather in Argentina. Hailstones the size of tennis balls, battering the central part of the country on Thursday night.
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HOLMES: The hail shattering glass in vehicles and buildings. Some even crashing through roofs. One man went out to check out on his car and got pounded himself. So far, no reports of serious injury.
Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
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HOLMES: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM:
