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CNN International: Navalny's Widow Vows to Keep Up His Fight; Mourners Lay Flowers in Moscow for Alexey Navalny; Ukraine Withdraws as U.S. Aid Stalls; U.S. Proposes Temporary Ceasefire in U.N. Draft Resolution; Situation Remains Dire for Children in Gaza. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired February 20, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Despite the risks, Russians are publicly grieving at Alexey Navalny's death.
YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEY NAVALNY'S WIFE (through translator): I'm asking you to share my rage, anger, hatred for those who dared to kill our future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Biden once again expressed disbelief that House Republicans have yet to get on board with additional aid for Ukraine.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The way they're walking away from meeting our obligations is just shocking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. is now putting forward its own U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Gaza, calling for a temporary ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many of us have to die just to listen to us, to stop these crimes?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. Bianca has today off.
It is Tuesday, February 20th, 9 a.m. here in London, 2 p.m. at the Polar Wolf Penal Colony in Siberia. That's where a spokesperson for Alexey Navalny says Russian authorities will not be releasing his body to his family for another two weeks.
The 47-year-old Putin critic died on Friday after a walk, seemingly in good spirits, one day earlier in a video court appearance. His widow, Yulia, says she will carry on his cause and will fight for a happy, beautiful Russia.
More now from CNN's chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance, reporting from Moscow.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite the risks, Russians are publicly grieving at Alexey Navalny's death. In Moscow, a steady stream of mourners laying flowers for the late opposition leader. Across Russia, rights activists say hundreds have been detained for just this.
My hero has died, this man told us. I grew up watching and learning from him, so it feels like a personal loss, he says.
This woman tells us she desperately wants Russia to change, but now we're at a dead end, she says, with sorrow, grief and pain.
Few feel that pain more than Navalny's own family. And his widow, Yulia, here meeting outraged European leaders, is vowing to expose what she says are her husband's killers and to assume his opposition mantle.
YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEY NAVALNY'S WIFE (through translator): I will continue Alexey Navalny's work. I will keep fighting for our country and I encourage you to stand by my side. To share not only grief and the endless pain that has enveloped us and does not let go. I'm asking you to share my rage, anger, hatred for those who dared to kill our future.
CHANCE (voice-over): Meanwhile, the Russian president, expected to be re-elected next month, has yet to mention the unexplained death of his fiercest critic. The Kremlin refusing to comment while it says investigations are underway.
Even recovering Navalny's remains in Russia is proving painstaking. His elderly mother, Lyudmila, who's travelled nearly 2,000 miles to the remote Arctic region where he died in prison, has been told, according to Navalny's spokeswoman, that post-mortem tests mean the body won't be released for at least another two weeks. Plenty of time say Navalny's supporters deeply suspicious of the Kremlin for the real cause of this sudden, tragic death to be hidden.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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FOSTER: Navalny's widow is alleging, without evidence, that Russian authorities are hiding her husband's cause of death, claiming he was poisoned.
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CNN spoke with a forensics professor about Navalny's autopsy and why Russian authorities won't release the body for another two weeks.
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JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF APPLIED FORENSICS: One of the things that's kind of troubling about this, is the following.
When the family get the remains back, if they get the remains back, I would keep a very close eye on if there are any missing elements with the body. And I'm going to be very specific and blunt here. You have to think about these things.
As far as the organ systems, will the body be returned with the lungs, with the heart, with the brain? Because if you're talking about this organophosphate poisoning, you're going to want to look at the brain tissue microscopically. That's going to be important. But here's the big one.
What is kind of attached to this particular agent in particular is the liver. It sends the individual into a hepatic failure, a liver failure, and can actually lead to cirrhosis. That's not alcohol related. Most of the time we think about cirrhosis as being related to alcohol. It can cause the liver to shut down. And I'm very curious, and it's kind of interesting from a scientific standpoint, because there have not been that many cases related to this that have been documented and examined.
Could that original exposure that occurred back in, I guess it was 2020, I think, could that have led to maybe liver failure? And let's keep in mind, he's in a penal colony, John, north of the Arctic Circle. What kind of medical treatment was he being given, even as a follow-up to that event back in 2020?
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FOSTER: As Ukraine suffers a setback on the front lines, NATO Secretary General has called on the U.S. to make good on his commitments to Kyiv. Jens Stoltenberg was speaking to CNN's chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour, in Munich.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: What I can say is the vital and urgent need for the U.S. to decide on a package for Ukraine because we need that support. Now it's for the U.S. to deliver what they have promised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: And an increasingly frustrated President Biden couldn't agree more. CNN's Arlette Saenz has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden once again expressed disbelief that House Republicans have yet to get on board with additional aid for Ukraine at a time when the country is in a critical moment in its battle against Russia. This really took on heightened significance over the weekend following the death of Alexey Navalny in Russian prison, the president holding Vladimir Putin directly responsible for Navalny's death, saying that they are still looking for ways to respond to this.
The president told reporters he is considering issuing additional sanctions against Russia in the wake of Navalny's death, but he has noted that the U.S. and its allies have already implemented wave after wave of sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
But the president is trying to use this moment to really ramp up the pressure on House Republicans. He criticized them for taking a two- week break without getting this additional aid for Ukraine passed.
And he expressed some shock when he spoke to reporters about the topic on Monday. Take a listen.
BIDEN: They're making a big mistake not responding.
Look, the way they're walking away from the threat of Russia, the way they're walking away from NATO, the way they're walking away from meeting our obligations, it's just shocking. I've been here a while. I've never seen anything like this.
SAENZ: This all comes after the Biden administration warned for months that Ukrainian soldiers would be hampered on the battlefield if they did not receive this additional military assistance.
Over the weekend, the president spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the White House said that in that conversation, he directly tied Ukraine's withdrawal from a key town in the east to Congress' inability to pass this aid for Ukraine. The president told reporters he's not entirely confident that another town won't fall in Ukraine as many soldiers are facing ammunition shortages at this time.
But even as President Biden is ramping up the pressure on House Republicans, he's running up against the political reality that so far the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, has shown no appetite for bringing up a Ukraine aid bill for a vote in the House, really throwing into jeopardy and leaving many open questions about whether the president can eventually get this aid across the finish line.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
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FOSTER: Ukraine is watching for the Kremlin's next move after Russian troops captured Avdiivka, the eastern town that Arlette was mentioning just there.
It was a symbolic and strategic loss for Kyiv's forces. Overnight, Ukraine says it repelled Russian attacks in Zaporizhia. The fall of Avdiivka has put more pressure on several other points along that front line.
[04:10:00] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited troops near Kupiansk to boost morale. You can see him there. He thanked them for their service and told them to quote, told them, quote, I'm confident in you.
Clare is here. Look at these images. I mean, the pressure on the Ukrainians now is pretty phenomenal.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's, yes, this is a really delicate moment for Ukraine. They're not even trying to attack in any of these areas. They are simply digging in and trying to defend.
So we now have the situation in Avdiivka where they've withdrawn. There are other parts of the Donetsk region where Russia is on the attack. Marinka just to the southwest of Donetsk city. And then we have two other major hot spots up in the north in the Kharkiv region where President Zelenskyy -- you just saw there -- was visiting troops.
And significantly down in the south in Zaporizhia, this is the area where Ukraine had tried to launch that counteroffensive in the sort of spring and summer of last year. They took a few small villages. Now we're seeing Russia attacking back, trying to take back those villages.
I want to show you some video that emerged in the last couple of hours from Ukraine's military command in the west. They've posted -- I think we have it -- some video that shows really the intensity of the fighting. They said it was a difficult night -- there it is -- in Zaporizhia. But they are managing, they say, to repel Russian attacks there.
So you get a situation, there's now pockets of very intense fighting in various portions of this front line. And it really feels like Russia is taking this moment, is emboldened by the capture of Avdiivka and is looking to try to gain as much territory as it can while Ukraine is in this defensive mode waiting for more Western weapons.
FOSTER: Reports that they took prisoners of war, the Russians took Ukrainian prisoners of war. How were they treated?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, so this is an incident that's emerged in the wake of the capture of Avdiivka. There was a group of Ukrainian soldiers from the brigade in that area that had been fighting there for basically two years. A number of them were injured.
They managed, in video that's now been spread pretty widely on Ukrainian media, to contact family. There's one soldier in particular who contacted his sister. Very emotional video.
He's talking about how badly he's injured, two broken legs. You can see it here. She's obviously very upset, wondering if he's going to get out.
They were then told by their commander that they couldn't get them out, so it was agreed that they would allow themselves to be captured by the Russians. There was even a suggestion that their brigade had negotiated with the Russian side.
So while everyone was waiting for news on that, a Russian military blogger posted video that essentially showed what the family later identified to be their bodies.
So now the Ukrainian prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into what they say is a violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder. So you get a sense of what that withdrawal was actually like in some cases.
FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you so much.
Major General Mick Ryan, former commander of the Australian Defence College, spoke to CNN earlier about the fall of that town. He explains how Russia has been able to make these gains on the battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAJOR GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Well, I think at the moment we could say that the Russians do have the strategic initiative.
They are able to attack where and when they want, whether it's in the south or at multiple locations in the east. That alone suggests an overall operational or even strategic plan, like an anaconda, to slowly strangle the Ukrainians throughout this year on the battlefield. It's a grim situation, but we shouldn't be too much into doom and gloom.
The Ukrainians have surprised us multiple times throughout this war. They have a new commander that has a new mandate from the president, and I expect they should be able to hold, should that new support --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Canada is donating 800 drones to Ukraine. The drones carry camera systems to detect and identify targets. Officials believe they'll help troops gather more information and quickly assess targets more accurately.
The U.S. is now calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and proposing its own U.N. draft solution -- resolution, rather. We'll have the details just ahead.
Plus, several killed, including children, as Israeli strikes hit a building housing dozens of Palestinians fleeing Rafah. Details of the deadly aftermath just ahead.
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FOSTER: The U.S. is now putting forward its own U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Gaza, calling for a temporary ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas. The draft proposal by the U.S. also warns against an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, but it falls short of urging for an immediate ceasefire, and instead calls for one, quote, as soon as practicable. This all comes after the U.S. vowed to veto an Algerian draft proposal, which is set to come up for a vote today.
Meanwhile, European countries are pushing for urgent action, with 26 of the 27 EU countries agreeing to call for an immediate humanitarian pause, which would lead to a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said the statement also calls for the unconditional release of hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Elliott's been looking at all of this. I mean, it is a big move, actually, by the U.S., isn't it? Because it's blocked previous resolutions.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Right, it has blocked previous resolutions, and this one from Algeria is also dead on arrival because the U.S. has said that it vetoes it. Of course, it's unclear that any U.S. resolution will have any more chance of getting through.
Obviously, the U.S. won't be the one vetoing it, but there's always the chance that Russia or China or someone else could anyway. But what the U.S. is doing, and it's doing this for a couple of reasons, is, first of all, it says it's trying to, I suppose, respond to this Algerian resolution to show that it is doing something, that it does care about trying to get a cessation of hostilities and minimize civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
But it also says specifically that it's concerned about the displacement of Palestinians, and in particular the potential for displacement over the border into Egypt, because it says that would have implications for peace and security, namely the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. So it's concerned about that.
[04:20:00]
And the other interesting aspect, as all this is going on, is, of course, we heard from Benny Gantz, member of the War Cabinet in Israel, former chief of the general staff, former defense minister, drawing a direct line between the hostages being released and a ground operation in Rafah. Saying that unless all 100-plus hostages who were kidnapped on October the 7th as part of the terrorist attacks led by Hamas, unless they are all freed in time for Ramadan on March the 10th, then that ground operation will proceed.
FOSTER: Take us through the latest hostage videos. I mean, incredibly hard to watch.
GOTKINE: Yes. So, in fact, the words from the Bibas family, unbearable and inhumane, as images of Shiri, this is the mother with her two children, the four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old baby, as he was then, Kfir, their trademark, if you like, red heads popping out from over the shawl that the militants were throwing over them, seemingly being hustled to a particular part in eastern Khan Younis, the IDF says, and then being bundled into a car.
Now, you may recall that back in November, Hamas actually said that Shiri, along with her two small children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. They didn't provide any evidence for that. What they did do, though, is show a propaganda video of them breaking the news to the husband, who was kidnapped separately, that his wife and two small children had been killed.
Prime Minister Netanyahu using this as evidence to show, look, this is who we're dealing with in this war with Hamas, cruel baby killers, he says.
FOSTER: OK. Elliott, thank you.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says it's evacuated more patients from Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. A source says 16 patients were evacuated on Monday, with the wounded being transferred to the American and Indonesian field hospitals in Rafah. The World Health Organization, which also evacuated more than a dozen patients, says this comes amid an acute shortage of food, oxygen and basic medical supplies.
Nasser had been the largest functioning hospital in Gaza until last week, when the Israeli military raided the medical complex and now claims to have apprehended hundreds of Hamas militants hiding there. CNN can't independently verify the Israeli military's statements, though.
One doctor got emotional as he described how the food shortage is impacting his own family.
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DR. AHMAD MOGHRABI, HEAD OF PLASTIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY, NASSER HOSPITAL: During the siege over the hospital, the hospital was besieged three weeks. I couldn't offer anything to my children. We used to eat only, you know, only bread.
My children, they want some sweets. I couldn't provide some sweets for my children. My little girl, three years old, she used to ask me many things, but I couldn't provide my little girl. So we used to eat only once a day.
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FOSTER: Well, as Israel set a deadline for its proposed ground offensive in Rafah, many Palestinians are fleeing from the southern Gaza city, only to realize there are no more safe zones in the besieged territory. And as CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports, the situation is especially dire for children.
But a warning, this report does contain disturbing images.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One after another after another after another. The victims of the latest Israeli airstrike flood into this hospital in central Gaza.
They're mostly children. Some of them still clinging to life, others bloodied and limp. Without a pulse, the life gone from their eyes.
Here, children comfort children, even as they are still trembling from the shock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CHILD (through translator): I was on the rooftop and suddenly I heard an explosion. I flew away and fell down. My back hurts. I saw smoke and stones falling. Then I heard people screaming.
DIAMOND (voice-over): A hospital spokesman said at least 18 people were killed and dozens of others injured Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment about the strike.
Witnesses say many of the victims had just arrived from Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city where fear and confusion have set in as Israel threatens a coming military offensive.
But central Gaza is no haven, a reality revealed in the cruelest of ways.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I can't speak. Innocent children were asleep. They killed them all. They didn't leave a child alive.
DIAMOND (voice-over): In the ruins of the al-Baraca family home, the target of Sunday's airstrike, the desperate search for survivors is underway.
As one man dives into the rubble, another shouts, get out of there. You'll die down there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We could only pull two alive from under the rubble, and the rest are all missing.
We don't see safety in a mosque or in an UNRRA school or in a hospital. The word safety is not something that exists anymore. They evacuated us from place to place claiming it's safe. There is nowhere safe.
[04:25:02]
DIAMOND (voice-over): Shouts praising God rise as a girl is pulled from the rubble, but her body is lifeless, added to the list of more than 12,000 children killed in Gaza. Bystanders try and cover her body, but the man carrying her throws the blanket off. He wants the world to see what this war has wrought.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The International Court of Justice is set to begin a second day of historic hearings on the legal consequences of Israel's practices and policies in the Palestinian territories.
On Monday, Palestinian and Israeli officials laid out contrasting views over the role of the court in addressing the long-running conflict. The Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister advocated for the ICJ to recognize the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. While the Israeli representative criticized the Palestinian Authority for, quote, distorting reality and avoiding direct negotiations by seeking a ruling from the court. A non-binding decision isn't expected to come down for months.
Still ahead, a demoralizing loss for Ukraine, why the Russian flag now flies over what remains of Avdiivka.
Plus, growing concerns about a new era of recession in Venezuela and what the Maduro government's growing relationship with Russia could mean for the U.S.
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