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Pro-War Russian Blogger Killed in Explosion; Doctors Perform Reconstructive Surgery on Wounded Ukrainians; Washington and Moscow Discuss Detained American WSJ Reporter; Pope Released from Hospital, Thanks Supporters; Israeli Veterans Playing Key Role in Protests; Experts Piece Together Artifacts Destroyed by ISIS. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 03, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company.

[00:00:32]

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, video captures the moment an explosion happens at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia. A prominent pro-war military blogger is dead. But who's the blame?

Finland's prime minister concedes defeat, and a new government is on the way in, just as the country is set to join NATO.

And piecing history back together. The work to reconstruct priceless artifacts in Mosul after they were destroyed by ISIS.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: And we begin this hour in Russia, where authorities have launched a murder investigation after a prominent pro-war military blogger was killed in a blast at a cafe in St. Petersburg. That moment caught on this dramatic video. You see it there.

Vladlen Tartasky was -- died in that explosion, which happened during an event hosted by a pro-war group. More than 30 other people were injured, and video shows the extensive damage left behind.

State media reports that investigators have been questioning everyone who was inside the cafe at the time. A spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry is already pointing the finger at Ukraine, without citing any evidence, while a Ukrainian official suggests the killing was the result of infighting within Russia.

CNN's Matthew Chance is following developments and has more now for us from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this explosion killed one of Russia's most prominent pro-war military bloggers -- CHANCE (voice-over): -- posting by the name of Vladlen Tartasky. He accumulated more than half a million followers on his pro-war Telegram channel, on which he was notoriously hardline, you know, enthusiastically declaring on Ukraine, We will kill everyone. We will rob everyone. We will have our way.

And, of course, like other prominent Russian military bloggers, criticizing aspects of how the war in Ukraine is being fought.

Tartasky was the guest speaker at that pro-war gathering at a St. Petersburg cafe when the explosion ripped through the venue. Eyewitnesses say it took place shortly after he was presented with a figurine in a gift box, state media, quoting official sources as saying an explosive device may have been hidden inside.

Already there's been a denial of responsibility from Ukraine, with the presidential advisor there characterizing this as an internal Russian dispute.

But Tartasky is, of course, the second hardline pro-war activist to be targeted and killed in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last year. In August, Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, was killed in a car bomb outside of Moscow.

Russian officials back then accusing Ukrainian saboteurs of the attack.

CHANCE: The Ukrainians insist it had nothing to do with them.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Joining me now, Steve Hall is the CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia operations.

Great to get you on to talk about this, Steve.

You have Russia, you know, blaming Ukraine. Ukrainian officials already suggesting this could have come from within: Russian opponents of the war or enemies of the Kremlin.

And then there's the chance that perhaps Tartasky himself may have made enemies in the Kremlin. It's a rich field of maybes, isn't it?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, it's a very byzantine situation whenever you're trying to figure out what's going on, either inside the Kremlin or the Ukrainians are being very canny about, you know, what they are or are not doing inside of Ukraine.

So, yes, it's really hard to get down to the -- you know, to what really happened.

HOLMES: This was a well-known blogger, very pro-war. Half a million followers on Telegram. What -- what do you think, is the significance of him being targeted? But most importantly, targeted on Russian soil. HALL: Well, you know, again, it all depends on who did it. And I guess

to get to that question, you have to ask who would have benefited. And the problem is -- is that there's really two -- two entities, two camps that would have benefited.

The first, obviously, is the Ukrainians, because Tartasky was extremely critical of Ukraine and very supportive of the Russian war. And so the Ukrainians, obviously, you know, had no great love for him.

But by the same token, he was also -- excuse me. He was also critical, on some occasions, with how the Russian ministry of defense and Russian forces were conducting the war.

[00:05:11]

So is it possible that he stepped over? You know, a Kremlin red line that is not obvious to us here in the West and irritated somebody so much in the Kremlin that -- that he had to be taken off the scene.

It's hard to tell which of those options is behind all of this.

HOLMES: Yes. Byzantine, as you said.

There are a lot of bloggers covering this war, often at the very, very front lines. And as you mentioned, it's important to note that a lot of them have been critical of tactics and failures, even the Kremlin. What what do you think their role has been in messaging during this conflict?

HALL: Well, this is sort of a fascinating moment in Russian history, because I'm not sure that the Kremlin knows exactly what to do about these bloggers. Some of them, of course, are very supportive. And so it's easy for the Kremlin to say, Well, yes, that's great.

On the other hand, there not unanimously supportive, and some of them are indeed critical, especially the ones that seem to favor Yevgeny Prigozhin's group, the Wagner group, over the Russian military.

In the past, the Russians have always had sort of an iron fist in terms of control over their own media. But these folks are, to a certain extent, a little bit further outside of that grip.

And so I think it's sort of -- it's difficult for the Kremlin to know exactly what to do with these folks.

HOLMES: Yes. And the other thing, too. I guess whoever is behind the attack, I mean, how worrying are the optics for the Kremlin, if more of these attacks happen on Russian soil in major cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg? Because it effectively brings the war to the home front.

HALL: Sure. We've already seen the car bomb that killed -- that killed Miss Dugina. You know, her father was a prominent Kremlin supporter.

The thinking was that, you know, that bomb was probably intended for him and not her. But nevertheless, you know, it's a strike. You know, right in downtown

Moscow. You've had other military attacks that have occurred inside of Russia.

And then you've got these sort of shadowy situations where, you know, people are assassinated. And none of that is good for the Kremlin, because it's says either that they're not capable or that they don't know when the next attack is going to -- is going to come, if it, indeed, is authored by the Ukrainians.

HOLMES: Yes. I wanted to ask you about something else, too, because on Sunday, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, you know, urging the release of the Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, who Russia accuses of spying.

Of course, Lavrov said Washington shouldn't politicize the case. But history would suggest this is very political.

What do you make of that call and what impact it might have, if any, with the Gershkovich case.

HALL: Well, first to address Lavrov's comments. I mean, it's -- it's completely laughable, of course, as are many of his comments, but it's not political. It's all political. It's really nothing but political, because you know, this -- this poor journalist is obviously not a spy.

He was kidnapped. He was -- he is now being held hostage by the Russian government, and it's probably in my -- in my sense, it's probably because there is a Russian intelligence officer, an illegal who was arrested by the Brazilians about a week ago, who was charged last Friday by the United States.

So it's entirely possible what's really happening here is that, proactively, the Russians are taking an American hostage so that they are in a better bargaining position to perhaps release their own intelligence officer, currently in jail in Brazil.

It's sort of parallel to the situation that we had with WNBA star Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout, who were exchanged under similar circumstances, so that might be what's going on there.

HOLMES: Real quick. We're out of time. But if you are a journalist in Russia, would you be inclined to stay?

HALL: Absolutely not. It's -- it's incredibly dangerous. It's incredibly unsafe. And I think a lot of news organizations are probably having right now, going through this process of, you know, is it really worth the type of information that we're able to get out of Russia, if we're looking at one of our journalists spending the next 20 years in a Russian prison?

I wouldn't have a journalist there, if it were me.

HOLMES: Valuable insight, as always. Steve Hall, our thanks.

HALL: My pleasure.

HOLMES: The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner says a Russian flag has been raised in memory of that blogger, Vladlen Tartasky, in the battlefields of Bakhmut.

Now those comments from Yevgeny Prigozhin, coming in a brief video. You see it there. He claims it was recorded in the Eastern Ukrainian city.

CNN can't immediately confirm the location where Prigozhin recorded that message, holding a flag that was indistinct in the darkness.

In the video, he also claims Bakhmut has been taken in legal terms, but there's no independent evidence to suggest that Wagner holds the city.

[00:10:066]

The Ukrainian military says its fighters are still holding the city and repelling Russian attacks.

Now to the West, across the Kyiv region. Ukraine marking one year since Russian forces were expelled from cities and towns. The region was one of the first areas to be hit hard after Russia's unprovoked invasion, with strikes targeting the capital.

Ukraine says military operations in the region lasted for more than a month, with more than a dozen communities occupied before Ukrainian forces took them back.

Thousands have been wounded in this war, and now there is new help for some of those who were disfigured.

CNN's David McKenzie met surgeons from the U.S. and Canada who are helping them heal. We do want to warn you that some images are hard to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look up. And right.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The impact of war is hard to look at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my finger.

The difficulty that I'm having is that I don't know what anything looks like behind the skin here. I can make an opening that looks like there's an eye, but they're never going to look like normal eyelids.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): And the surgical realities are nothing like civilian life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

MCKENZIE: How do you compare it to here in Ukraine? ANTHONY BRISSETT, MISSION DIRECTOR, FACE THE FUTURE: Well, the level

of complexity for these cases is significantly more elaborate and significantly more complex.

We think we can get the mouth working better.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Face the Future mission director Anthony Brissett says the blast injuries are often devastating.

BRISSETT: One of the things that we can do is improve the appearance of the scar.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Multilevel bone and soft tissue injuries.

BRISSETT: It really get does not get any more complex than this, even in a combat scenario.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): They brought together highly-specialized plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses from the U.S. and Canada to reconstruct and repair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All that bone is missing.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But many cannot.

BRISSETT: And if we can do that, then that certainly is a fulfilling opportunity.

MCKENZIE: So it's not just the physical change. It's a psychological help, you hope.

BRISSETT: Absolutely, absolutely. And it's a psychological help, not just for the patient but also for their family.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Roman Belinsky (ph) is one of the patients. He's invited us to his home.

"What do I think of him? I'm proud of my son," says his mother, Lacia (ph). "I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the fact that he didn't run away. He didn't hide."

Early in the war, his mechanized infantry brigade faced the brunt of Russia's invasion and the oncoming tanks.

MCKENZIE: Are you surprised that you survived?

MCKENZIE (voice-over): "I do not understand how I survived," he says. "I don't even understand how I got through the shelling, because it was dark. My eye was hanging out. I was concussed. My whole face was covered in blood. Shrapnel went right through me."

He says many in his brigade were lost. "We were all like one family," he said. "Somewhere, you feel your guilt, that I didn't also die like they did."

Roman lived. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCKENZIE (voice-over): And this will be his third surgery with Dr. John Frodel.

DR. JOHN FRODEL, FACIAL PLASTIC SURGEON: What bothers you the most now?

Our hope is that at some point they leave happy, and then I don't see them again. On my end, what I have to appreciate we're making steps because they -- we don't fix them. We make them better.

BRISSETT: This is where we shine, which is in the operating room. All of the steps and activities that we're doing before getting here is really to get us to this point.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Roman's surgery is one of the first of the day. He says Dr, Frodel and the team have already put him back together and saved his life.

MCKENZIE: Dr. Frodel is working to move a cheek implant just a tiny bit higher on Roman. The margins in this kind of surgery are very small, but the differences for the patients can be huge.

DR. PETER ADAMSON, FOUNDER, FACE THE FUTURE: A person's appearance is a reflection of their inner spirit, of their inner self to the world. And we must never forget that everyone wants to have a facial appearance that others want to look at who would want to get to know you. It's part of the human condition.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): David McKenzie, CNN, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, as we mentioned earlier, the top Russian and U.S. diplomats spoke by telephone on Sunday about the arrest of "The Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be detained by Moscow on espionage charges since the Cold War. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

For more on this story, here's CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[00:15:06]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on Sunday to urge Russia to immediately release "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich. This marked a very rare phone call between the two men. They've only

spoken three times since Russia invaded Ukraine, and each of those calls has focused on trying to release detained Americans.

Now the State Department released a readout of this most recent call, where they say, quote, "Secretary Blinken conveyed the United States' grave concern over Russia's unacceptable detention of a U.S. citizen journalist. The secretary called for his immediate release. Secretary Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan."

Paul Whelan has -- is in the process of serving a 16-year sentence after facing espionage charges in Russia.

Gershkovich is also facing espionage charges, something that the White House and his employer, "The Wall Street Journal," say simply just is not accurate.

Now on the Russian side, they said that this phone call between Blinken and Lavrov was requested on behalf of the United States, and they said that Lavrov told Blinken that, ultimately, that "Wall Street Journal" reporter's fate would be determined in Russian court.

Now this all comes at a point of very high tension between the U.S. and Russia, especially with that war in Ukraine continuing on.

And one thing that officials will be working towards in the coming days is trying to get consular access to Gershkovich, so they can see what exactly his state is so officials can assess that, and they can also relay that to their family.

But the White House at this moment is trying to stress that this remains a top priority for the president.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And word now that an unidentified American citizen has been detained for allegedly committing, quote, "indecent acts" against a 15-year-old Russian girl. That's according to Russian state media.

The incident allegedly taking place in St. Petersburg.

Russian investigative authorities have opened a criminal case. CNN has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

Even as it prepares in the coming days to join NATO, Finland is heading for a dramatic change of government. We'll explain who will be taking over after Prime Minister Sanna Marin's defeat.

Also, Pope Francis had a special message for his well-wishers as he led the Palm Sunday services at the Vatican after leaving hospital. We'll have details on that and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Just days before Finland is set to become NATO's newest member, the government in Helsinki is heading for a change. Results in Finland's parliamentary elections indicate Prime Minister Sanna Marin's center-left party will lose, and she will be out of office.

[00:20:05]

She conceded defeat to the opposition right-wing National Coalition Party.

Its leader, Petteri Orpo, ran on a pro-business platform and has vowed to cut spending, but his party will have to form a coalition with others to govern.

Still, Orpo greeted the results with optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETTERI ORPO, NATIONAL COALITION PARTY LEADER: I'm very happy. Because this result, it is very strong. And we have -- we have very good campaign. And I think that election day today we have more votes, and I'm quite sure that we can keep our lead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you the new prime minister.

ORPO: Let's hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now whoever becomes prime minister will shepherd Finland into NATO. All 30 NATO countries have approved Finland's ascension to the organization.

In Iran, many women are condemning a yogurt attack on two women for allegedly not wearing the hijab. The viral CCTV video shows the moment when a man enters a shop, confronts them, then proceeds to dump a tub of yogurt on their heads.

The two women were arrested for failing to wear the hijab in public, according to Mizen News Agency.

Now several Iranian women are speaking out, blaming the government for sowing discontent among citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I think those women AND the way they were dressed had nothing to do with that man. This behavior causes tensions. The family of the victimized women will be upset after seeing this video and take other action. I think this sort of behavior should be condemned in every country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): If the government did not cause such discontent amongst the people, they would not rise up against them. People would have no reason to fight, and foreign countries would not support them in their protests. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Pope Francis is thanking all those who prayed for him while he was in the hospital. The pontiff's remarks came during Palm Sunday mass at St. Peter's Square to kick off the Holy Week celebrations.

The religious leader was admitted to hospital last week. CNN's Delia Gallagher with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis seemed to be in good spirits for the Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square, just a day after being released from the hospital for bronchitis.

He was sitting down. That had been already scheduled because of his knee problem. However, he did give a homily in which you could hear his voice was a little bit more hoarse than usual, showing some signs of tiredness. But perhaps that is to be expected.

The pope spoke about some of those themes that are closest to his heart, about people who are abandoned by society -- the elderly, the sick, people in jail, migrants.

In fact, Pope Francis will be going to a juvenile jail on Thursday in Rome for the traditional washing of the feet ceremony.

Francis also thanked the people in the square and the people around the world for their prayers while he was in the hospital. He was able to go in his Popemobile amongst the crowds. Some 60,000 gathered in St. Peter's Square, according to the Vatican, waving and giving a thumbs up.

It begins a very busy week for this pope. On Friday, he's expected to be in front of Rome's Coliseum at night for the Way of the Cross ceremony. Then on Saturday, the Easter vigil and on Sunday, Easter Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square.

Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Top Chinese and Japanese officials met in Beijing on Sunday to discuss pressing issues both at home and around the world.

Japan's foreign minister spoke with his Chinese counterpart, as well as China's premier and top diplomat. At one point, Japan urged China to release a Japanese national who was detained last month.

According to Beijing, the parties also discussed Ukraine, North Korea and Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its territory. China said it doesn't want Japan meddling in issues regarding Taiwan, saying the island is at the core of its interests.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's president is in the middle of a 10-day trip across North and Central America. This past week, she spent three days in Guatemala and is now visiting neighboring Belize.

She's trying to deepen connections with allies as a growing number of countries are abandoning Taipei for Beijing.

CNN's Rafael Romo with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen traveled to Belize Sunday after wrapping up a three-day visit to neighboring Guatemala.

Earlier Sunday, President Tsai and host Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei toured a hospital in Chimaltenango, a city about an hour West of the Guatemalan capital.

The medical center was built thanks to a $22 million donation from Taiwan. Once again, President Tsai praised the Guatemalan government for its support to her country, saying that Taiwan will continue to cooperate and provide assistance to its democratic partners around the world.

President Giammattei reiterated his country's support for Taiwan. "I reaffirm before you the unconditional commitment that Guatemala, as an essential part of its foreign policy, will continue to support the recognition of Taiwan's sovereignty," he said.

President Giammattei went even further at a public event Saturday when he reiterated that Taiwan is, in his words, "an independent nation and the only true China," with which Guatemala shares democratic values, mutual respect and fraternal ties.

Tsai's visit to Central America happened only a week after Honduras, another Central American country, broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan after 80 years just before forging a new alliance with China.

Now Taiwan has only 13 diplomatic partners, mainly small countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

On Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said that the one- China policy should be accepted worldwide, adding that she hopes Guatemala makes the right decision to stop supporting Taiwan in the near future.

On Monday, Taiwanese President Tsai is expected to sign several agreements with the government of Belize before meeting with Prime Minister Johnny Briceno.

She's traveling to California later in the week before returning home. And already visited New York last week as part of her 10-day trip to the region.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Still to come on the program, Donald Trump expected to appear in court on Tuesday. What his lawyers say they will do with the indictment. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Donald Trump is expected to appear in a Manhattan court on Tuesday. The former president's attorney says he will voluntarily surrender but plans to file, quote, "substantial legal challenges."

Trump also plans to deliver remarks on Tuesday night. The former president has been indicted for his alleged role in a hush-money payments scheme involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is still awaiting to see exactly what he's charged with --

POLANTZ (voice-over): -- in Manhattan for the first criminal charges ever levied against a former president or president of the United States.

But his legal defense team is already out there laying the groundwork on how they're going to fight the case.

So one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, spent many minutes on television over the weekend, talking about all of the options that they might have once -- once the team is able to actually see this indictment brought by the Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg, against Donald Trump.

[00:30:12]

And he says that one of the options will be to challenge the law to ask a judge to throw out the case, potentially. Also, another option is to challenge on the timing of what is being charged here.

We know that there -- some of this case is based around camp -- the campaign of 2016 for Donald Trump; hush-money payments that were made to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet before the 2016 election, and also some financial entries related to the Trump Organization, related to that hush-money payment.

There's a possibility that, because that's 2016, Donald Trump's lawyers could step up and say, That's way too long ago; can't bring that in court now. It's 2023. It's past the statute of limitations.

But here's what Joe Tacopina said specifically to Dana Bash on "STATE OF THE UNION" on Sunday.

JOE TACOPINA, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: We will take the indictment. We will dissect it. The team will look at every -- every potential issue that we -- we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge. And of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming, because there's no law that fits this.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": Are you going to ask for a different judge?

TACOPINA: We are going to take the indictment, evaluate all our legal options, and pursue every one most vigorously. This is a case of political persecution. I have no reason to believe this judge is biased. I have not been before him on this matter. So we have to let this process play out.

POLANTZ: Dana asks Donald Trump's lawyer about the judge in this case. That judge is one that Donald Trump has already been out there on Truth Social attacking, saying that he hates him.

This is the judge that Trump is going to have to appear before on Tuesday, and much is in the hands of the judge going forward in this case, including whether the case could be tossed, could be moved, many of the other things that Trump's lawyers could be requesting help on in this case as it leads up to a jury trial.

But right now, the first decision the judge may need to make is whether or not the indictment should be unsealed early. A press coalition, including CNN, has asked for the charges to be made public before Donald Trump gets to court on Tuesday.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Bowing to the demand of Israel's far-right security minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government has agreed to create a national guard.

The controversial move comes days after Security Minister Itamar Ben- Gvir demanded enough action on that proposal in exchange for agreeing to a pause in the government's judicial reform plans.

Mr. Netanyahu's cabinet did not say who would run the new force. That will be determined by a committee in the next 90 days.

The guard would be charged with dealing with, quote, "emergency situations," but the guard proposal has already set off protests in several cities.

Critics fear it would target Israeli Arabs and, Ben-Gvir controls it, it could become an extremist private militia.

Former prime minister, Ehud Barak, calls it a, quote, "lunatic step," given Ben Gvir's history of inciting racism and supporting terrorism.

Israel's judicial reform was put on hold amid raging protests by critics who fear it would undermine the country's democracy. Among them, Israeli veterans, a revered group in Israeli society.

CNN's Hadas Gold spoke with one of their leaders about why he and his fellow former soldiers have taken to the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yiftach Golov (ph) may look like one of the hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters, but a special forces veteran from the Second Intifada, injured on the front lines, he now helps lead a group of Israeli veterans, Brothers and Sisters in Arms, who've become a backbone of the protest movement against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul.

YIFTACH GOLOV, BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ARMS: We are again in the front line, defending Israel, but not from external forces; from within, from here from television to defend our own democracy.

We're fighting for justice and liberty. Just like the American story. That's the values that -- that are being represented, symbolized back when we look on our flag.

GOLD (voice-over): Golov says he had never been particularly political. But he translated his experience from the battlefield to a new arena.

GOLD: Do you feel that your experience in organizing and running missions has helped you organize and run.

GOLOV: One hundred percent yes. First of all, the motivation, the very deep feel that you are part of something bigger than yourself; that you allowed to sacrifice anything that is needed.

GOLD (voice-over): Israel's protest movement is made up of many disparate groups. But the pressure from Israel's much-vaunted veterans has been seen as a key to moving the needle, thousands of whom have threatened not to heed the call to serve if the reform passes.

[00:35:05]

GOLD: Even though last week the Israeli government and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that they were going to pause legislation, these protestors essentially, they don't believe that this pause is a real pause.

What will satisfy you? When will you stop marching?

GOLOV: Only we -- we as the Brother and Sisters in Arms, we will start doing the activation only when we will know, 100 percent, that we can -- that we can assure that Israel's state will stay a functional democratic country, end of story. Whatever needs to be done for that.

GOLD: Would you be willing to take up arms, real arms, for this fight.

GOLOV: So I don't really want to imagine the situation that I need to hold to carry any arm. Nothing. I don't believe that we go to the situation.

GOLD: We can expect these protesters continue coming out on a regular basis. They plan to keep the pressure up for as long as possible.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The U.S. has pushed back against oil production cuts being made by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC Plus countries. A spokesperson for the National Security Council called the move unadvisable due to the uncertainty in the markets.

Riyadh and other oil-producing nations say they will start reducing output by more than a million barrels a day from May till the end of the year. It follows further cuts OPEC announced in October, a move that rankled the White House.

Still to come, restoring Mosul one piece at a time. The ongoing efforts to repair the damage done by Islamic State militants who once controlled that Iraqi city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The Olivier Awards for theater have just been handed out in London.

The biggest winner of the evening is "My Neighbor Totoro." It's a stage adaption of a 1988 Japanese animated film. It picks up six awards, including Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.

Best New Play went to "Prima Facie." It's a one-woman show about a lawyer defending men against sexual assault before she herself is attacked.

Best New Musical was awarded to "Standing at the Sky's Edge," about three families living for more than 60 years in public housing.

And the Best Musical Revival went to "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma."

Well, it may seem like distant history when ISIS was driven out of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. But the effort to rebuild that city and reconstruct the treasures that ISIS destroyed is a long and painstaking process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): A rampage by Islamic State militants, who filmed themselves in 2015 smashing ancient artifacts in the Mosul Museum in Iraq. Statues thousands of years old, toppled and pulverized, all part of a campaign by the terror group to demolish any cultural history that conflicted with their barbaric and extreme ideology.

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Like the piles of rubble they left behind, ISIS's rule in Mosul, a stronghold for the terror group for three years, would crumble. Iraqi forces, with the help of a U.S.-led coalition, reclaimed the city in 2017.

The rest of its self-proclaimed caliphate would fall over the next two years.

The fragmented artifacts in the Mosul Museum have been under repair by a team of Iraqi and French restoration experts for the past four years. They say it is a painstaking process to try to repair the shattered antiquities, jigsaw puzzle of pieces that might never quite fit together again.

One restorer says this is the most gratifying part, assembling and gluing the pieces, although some are too crushed to use. Others are missing altogether.

The museum is just one of many ongoing rebuilding projects in Mosul. In March, church bells rang out again in another part of the city, part of a UNESCO effort to rebuild churches and mosques destroyed by decades of fighting in Iraq.

Since 2018, UNESCO has raised more than $105 million for reconstruction efforts in Mosul.

AUDREY AZOULAY, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, UNESCO: Mosul is the place where UNESCO has the largest commitment today in the world. Because the city deserve it, because the people of Mosul deserve it. Because we know what they've been through and the tragedies, the intimate tragedies they've been through over the last decades.

HOLMES (voice-over): Another project is taking a more modern approach to maintaining the city's heritage. The Eye on Mosul Foundation is recording videos of witness testimonies of what life was like under ISIS rule, which will then be archived in the public library.

A common theme of the project's is to rebuild, as well as remember. But the director of the Mosul museum says it is impossible to recreate what happened here without any scratches or imperfections.

But those, too, are now part of Mosul's history.

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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. WORLD SPORT is coming up next, and I'll be back with more news in about 15 minutes.

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