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Loss of Avdiivka Wars Second Anniversary for Ukraine; U.S. To Impose Sanctions On More Than 500 Russian Targets; Navalny's Mother Says She's Seen Son's Body; Israeli Delegation Departs For Paris Hostage Talks; G20 Says Two-State Solution Only Answer To Israel- Palestinian Conflict; U.S. Pulls Off First Moon Landing Since 1972 With Spacecraft Odysseus. Ukrainians in State of Anxiety Two Years into War; China Calls U.S. Lawmakers' Visit to Taiwan "Interference"; Third Alabama Clinic Pauses IVF Programs after Court Ruling; U.S. Cellular Network Outage; China to Send Two Giant Pandas to San Diego Zoo. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 23, 2024 - 01:00 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: Hello, and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom. As the world prepares to mark another year in Russia's war on Ukraine, new signs Moscow might be ready to negotiate with the catch of course, and the Israel-Hamas war and negotiations through a temporary ceasefire and release of hostages appear to be back on track.
And this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know this was a nail biter, but we are on the on the surface and we are transmitting and welcome to the moon.
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HOLMES: After some touching go moments the lunar lander Odysseus is now transmitting from the surface of the moon.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Ukraine marks the second anniversary of Russia's invasion on Saturday by playing defense on the front lines and hoping for more aid. Some allies are ready to deliver with Denmark working to send F- 16 fighter jets this summer, Britain pledging more anti-tank missiles and France holding an international meeting on Monday focused on aid for Ukraine.
On the battlefield Ukraine says it beat back new Russian attacks on the areas it recaptured last year, including in the Zaporizhzhia region. And on the diplomatic front, Russia's Foreign Minister says Moscow is ready to talk about Ukraine with the U.S. with the caveat that the negotiations must be quote, open and honest.
Meanwhile, the human toll of the war is mounting including a mother and two children who were laid to rest in the city of Kramatorsk. On Friday, they were killed in a Russian missile strike which hit their home, which through this reaction from a local priest.
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FATHER IGOR, PRIEST FROM KRAMATORSK (through translator): We all understand that the soldiers on the frontline are armed and can defend themselves. They are defending our independence, our free country with the weapons in their hands, but the people living at home, it means attacks are becoming hostages in this situation when Russian missiles randomly destroy peaceful families and children.
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HOLMES: Ukraine will mark the anniversary after losing the eastern town of Avdiivka, which Russia captured last week. That was Russia's biggest victory in months which Ukraine blames on the lack of Western military aid. Clare Sebastian looks at the big picture on the battlefield after that Ukrainian loss was stuck.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was once Avdiivka's main hospital filmed in the final days before Ukraine's withdrawals. People used to get medical treatment here, says this Ukrainian journalist, now a total ruins. Satellite imagery taken the day Ukraine pulled out revealing the extent of the damage to the hospital and surrounding area. Compare that to just a few months before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
SEBASTIAN: Well, in the context of this 1,000 kilometer, frontline Avdiivka doesn't actually change much. In fact, the whole second year of the war barely changed this picture. Russia, of course captured Bakhmut in May in Ukraine. You can see here in yellow, that string of villages that it managed to take in western Zaporizhzhia as part of this counter offensive, but this was ultimately a year when neither side was able to gain an advantage.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Russia now might be this video posted on February 12, which CNN has geo located to the area around that of Avdiivka hospital purportedly shows Russian strikes using massive half ton glide bombs. These are known to be increasingly in use on the battlefield and capable of evading Ukrainian air defenses.
The satellite image shows several very large craters near the hospital and likely to be the result of artillery strikes weapons experts say. F-16 fighter jets would help combat these bombs. But Ukraine's pilots are not yet ready to fly them.
OLEKSANDRA USTINOVA, UKRAINIAN LAWMAKER: There is no political will I would say it in the United States to train more pilots. It seems right now that we're going to have more jets than actually the train pilots.
SEBASTIAN: Russia is seizing the moment and is now on the offensive in multiple locations up here, around Bakhmut again up north in the Kharkiv region, near the town of Kupiansk and down in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. And these are mostly it should be said not new battlefields but areas previously occupied and then lost as Ukraine counter attacked.
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Case in point, if we zoom in on the southern front is the town of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Ukraine raised the flag here last August. Now its forces on alert again, as Russia ramps up attacks.
USTINOVA: So unfortunately, we paid a lot of lives was the counter offensive last year to get those territories. We basically have to pray for the United States Congress to understand how important it is to pass the bill no matter what happens, or not passing it in March, Ukraine is going to be screwed.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Ukraine's resistance is fierce. It's continuing to wreak havoc on Russia's Black Sea Fleet. And on the front lines, it's digging in the Ministry of Defense publishing new images this week of extensive construction of fortifications. The only hope now is to hold on. Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: The U.S. is set to announce what's described as the single largest tranche of sanctions against Russia since the start of that war in Ukraine nearly two years ago. They will come one week after the death of Putin critic Alexei Navalny and include more than 500 Russian targets.
U.S. President Joe Biden says the new sanctions are being imposed directly against Putin, who was responsible for Navalny's death. Biden met with Navalny's wife and daughter in California on Thursday, expressing heartfelt condolences.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: He was a man incredible courage. And it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that. We're going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin who was responsible for his death.
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HOLMES: Meanwhile, in Russia, Navalny's mother has finally been allowed to see her son's body but she says authorities are insisting on a number of conditions before his burial, including a secret funeral.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LYUDMILA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S MOTHER (through translator): According to the law, they should have given me Alexei's body right away. But they haven't done it yet. Instead, they blackmailed me and set conditions for where, when and how Alexei should be buried. It is illegal.
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HOLMES: Navalny's team says rational authorities are insisting on a special plane to transport his body to Moscow. More now from CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is actually quite remarkable. Now this of course, comes from the director of the Anti-corruption Foundation, Ivan Zhdanov. There is really three main restrictions that we could see you mentioned one of them, and that is that special plane that's supposed to bring the body to Moscow. Well, one of the conditions on that is that Alexei Navalny's mother is not allowed to announce when the body is to arrive before it has arrived. So obviously, they're trying to keep all that under wraps, allegedly, so that people won't show up at the airport.
Another thing that we also discerned is that at the whole time on the ground until the funeral, a member of the Investigative Committee and employee of Russia's Investigative Committee has to be with the family of Alexei Navalny. So obviously, trying to keep the family under wraps as well.
Also, allegedly, the body is supposed to be kept either in the Moscow or Vladimir Region and the Anti-Corruption Foundation believes that's because the Russian authorities fear that people could try and storm the morgue, again the Russian authorities themselves haven't commented on this.
Another two things that we're hearing as well is that apparently, the cemetery of choice of Alexei Navalny's mother has been denied to her, apparently some arrangement has been made there and they have not yet agreed on a farewell hall either.
Obviously, the Anti-Corruption Foundation is saying that Alexei Navalny's mother has been forced to agree to all this under threats.
And we did hear some of that from her earlier today when she said that she really wanted all the people who are obviously devastated who feel that the death of Alexei Navalny is a personal loss for them to be able to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny and a volunteer to be able to see his body that has been denied to her. She also said that the authorities threatened her and said time is not in on her side, saying quote, the corpse is beginning to rot. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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HOLMES: Senior officials from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are set to meet in Paris in the coming hours to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Israel's War Cabinet has agreed to send a team to Paris for the talks. Israel looking to take a more active engaged role in the discussions. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with more from Tel Aviv.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, after it seemed that Israel and Hamas were at an impasse negotiations over a potential deal to see a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages they appear to be very much back on track. Israeli media reporting that Israel does intend to send a delegation on Friday to talks in Paris.
We are He knew that CIA director Bill Burns, Qatari and Egyptian intelligence officials as well were set to meet on Friday in Paris to move those negotiations forward.
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And we're also getting signs of optimism, signs of progress from key members of Israel's war cabinet. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday saying that Israel is expanding the authority of its negotiators, allowing them to return to the negotiating table, not just in listen only mode, which is how it appears to have happened during the last round, but to actually actively engage in these negotiations to actually try and influence the course of those talks and to try and strike a deal of Benny Gantz, another member of the war cabinet, former member of the opposition. He also indicated that there are, quote, initial signs that indicate the possibility of progress in these negotiations.
The hostage and missing families forum which represents many of these hostage families for their park, welcoming this decision by the war cabinet to send negotiators to Paris to push these talks forward.
And certainly this will be a critical moment. We know that every time the CIA director has headed out for these negotiations, it's typically at an inflection point. But one thing that we do know is that time is certainly running out.
The holy Muslim holiday of Ramadan is just over two weeks away, and Israeli officials have indicated that that is their deadline for deciding whether or not there will be a deal, whether or not a deal can be struck with Hamas, or whether Israel will instead choose to move forward with a major military offensive in Gaza southernmost city of Rafah.
One and a half million people are currently living in that city. And there's no question that Israel is under enormous pressure not to carry out that operation under the current conditions, including from their American counterparts.
So these talks will be critical not only to determining the fate of hostages, but also for the people of Gaza to see if they can get a humanitarian cause as conditions their grow increasingly dire. And of course, for those one and a half million living in Rafah. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
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HOLMES: For more on all of this, I'm joined now by Gershon Baskin, a former hostage negotiator and researcher on the Israeli Palestinian Conflict and Peace Process. It's good to see you, sir.
The White House says hostage talks are going well. They say there's word that Israel will expand the authority of its negotiators, you will form a hostage negotiator. How do you evaluate how the negotiations have been handled up until now?
GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Well, I think that they've been too slow. This should have been done months ago at the very beginning of the conflict should have been the major effort to get the hostages home. At that time, it was quite clear that Hamas was demanding from Israel release of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel. There was a significantly smaller number of prisoners at the beginning of the war than there are right now.
And there was no demand from Hamas at the beginning to end the war when they thought that they were actually on the road to what they called liberating Palestine.
Right now, it's much more complicated because Hamas is demanding from Israel to end the war and withdraw from Gaza, while Hamas is still in command of the Gaza Strip, as well as releasing in exchange for hostages all the prisoners in Israel, especially those who have murdered Israelis over the year, and there are 559 of them serving life sentences, and hundreds of other Hamas fighters who have been taken out of Gaza since the beginning of the war.
HOLMES: Right. Israel has at the same time stepped up strikes on Rafah and with promise of more, and with one and a half million Palestinians still trying to survive it.
How does Israel's offensive in Rafah and what might be ahead complicate hostage negotiations for one and to impact those Palestinians crammed into an area which is the size of Disney Land?
BASKIN: Well, it seems that an attack on Rafah at this point would be catastrophic. And yet it might be actually what is pressuring Hamas to be more flexible in its demands. This might be the opening of the crack in the wall of Hamas' demands to enable an agreement to be reached.
What's essential now in the three-part plan that's been on the table since the Paris talks were held last month, is the possibility of separating phase one from phase two and phase three, which would be the indication by Israel of its willingness to end the war. If we can get a 45 day ceasefire now, that would opening up time for more calmer talks in an atmosphere that could produce a diplomatic end to the war perhaps released civilian hostages in exchange for a large number of public stinging prisoners.
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But it would also lead us to a period of Ramadan, which is always very sensitive where the area would be quieter again.
HOLMES: Yes.
BASKIN: We would have less mix from the north and from Yemen and from other places in the region, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
HOLMES: Yes. I wanted to ask you this to the notion of a two state solution has effectively been all but dead for so long now, zero momentum. And Israeli prime minister who openly says it will never happen. But yes, of course, 140 countries have already recognized Palestine. It was raised at the G20. Meeting in Brazil this week, do you still see a pastor that a Palestinian state?
BASKIN: I do. And it's important to recognize that defeating Hamas is not only on the battlefield, but defeating Hamas is defeating the idea from us. Palestinians have to know with the international support that they have a reason to leave for Palestine. And they can stop back dying for Palestine.
This is really essential. And what I would say with regard to Netanyahu and his rejection of the idea is that it's true, it won't happen while he's Prime Minister, but he won't be Prime Minister for very much longer. He's at the end of his political career, the Israeli public is fed up with him and holds them responsible for what happened on October 7, the lack of Israel's ability to defend itself.
We will be going to elections at sometime in the future, probably in this year. And the next prime minister of Israel will have to deal with the reality that the solution of two states for two people is not a price for Hamas. It's exactly what Hamas doesn't want.
HOLMES: Yes.
BASKIN: And it's what the region needs in order to reach peace.
HOLMES: And that would take away their reason for being. I mean, Netanyahu said, an aim of this war in his words is to deradicalize Gaza. You wrote an article in Haaretz recently and you mentioned Gaza's Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar and you wrote in the peace, quote, in the absence of peace, ongoing occupation and economic siege on Gaza, successive rounds of violence, especially this brutal war, 1000s of potential Sinwar's are being created. We're almost out of time. But can you briefly expand on that?
BASKIN: That's right. We know for historically, the harder that Israel and Hamas without a political solution, the more Hamas' gained strength within the Palestinian territories, in the only thing that can derail Hamas from its popularity is if we move into a genuine peace process.
And here, the United States has a crucial role to play. It's time for the Biden administration to put its money where its mouth is and recognize the state of Palestine and lead the rest of the world to the recognition both of Israel and Palestine and to materialize the two state solution.
HOLMES: Great analysis. Thank you so much. Gershon Baskin, appreciate it.
BASKIN: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, G20 foreign ministers have wrapped up two days of meetings in Rio de Janeiro host nation Brazil's saying, virtually everyone agrees as we were just discussing there that a two-state solution is the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken downplay differences with other countries over a ceasefire in Gaza. Many G20 countries want an immediate end of the fighting but the U.S. has called for a temporary ceasefire. More now from journalist Stefano Pozzebon.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The two chief diplomats from the United States and Russia took part in the same summit for two days, but never interacted a sign of how tensions are over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the situation in Gaza overshadow the G20 Foreign Ministers Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday and Thursday.
Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State said that many of the countries that took part in the meeting share the same goal of putting an end to Russia's aggression and cold Russia and I quote the world's leading exporter of instability.
The summit was the first time that the Russian and the U.S. foreign ministers saw each other since the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister said on Thursday that the West reaction over Navalny's death was hysterical.
Rising tension in the Middle East, instead was the other main topic discussed in the meeting which was hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, just days after he was called it was declared a persona non grata in Israel after comments that he made comparing the situation in Gaza to the killing of Jews in Nazi Germany. And referring to those comments until Blinken said this.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We can have these disagreements, even profound disagreements on one particular issue or I should say even an aspect of the issue and still continue all of the vital work that we're doing together. And also we're joined in having the shared objectives in this moment of getting hostages out getting an extended humanitarian ceasefire in, along with more humanitarian assistance and ending the conflict.
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POZZEBON: This week somebody who was part of a series of meeting of G20 countries hosted by Brazil. There will also be a presidential summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.
And after the summit, Antony Blinken will continue his tour of Latin America by going to Argentina meeting President Javier Melei, while just last night Lavrov met with Lula da Silver completion of that meeting. For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And American spacecraft has touchdown on the moon for the first time since the Apollo era. And it wasn't a flawless landing there is much to discuss and we shall.
And Google pumps the brakes on a controversial feature available through its artificial intelligence tool more on the company's decision and the backlash which led to the move. That's when we come back.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're that standing effort. I know this was a nail biter, but we are on the sit on the surface and we are transmitting and welcome to the moon.
UNIDENTIIFED MALE: Houston, Odysseus has found his new home.
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HOLMES: Standing ovation there as the Odysseus lander, also known as Odie touchdown on the moon. This is the first time in American spacecraft has done that in more than half a century. No images released yet showing the actual landing or the view from or near the moon South Pole. We've been told though, that Odysseus is upright and is sending data.
This also marks the first time a private company has achieved a lunar landing. More now from CNN's Jenn Sullivan.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can confirm without a doubt is our equipment is on the surface of a moon.
JENN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): It historic moment in lunar exploration, a U.S. made spacecraft landing on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the moon.
UNDIENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very excited about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): The last time the U.S. landed on the moon was the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
STEPHEN ALTEMUS, INTUITIVE MACHINES CEO: This is quite an emotional feeling to be here.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): That's the CEO of Intuitive Machines talking before the launch. He's the head of the company that created this robotic explorer named Odysseus. It's the first time a private company has landed a craft on the moon.
Odysseus is about the size of a phone booth. No crew members were on board. It landed Thursday night on the moon South Pole. None of the Apollo missions have landed in that area. The reason behind this was to explore that part of the moon and see if there's water in the form of ice before NASA sent a crewed mission there in late 2026.
NASA also paid the company $118 million for this mission.
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This will have a major impact on future exploration.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been going to the moon for a while and we need to continue to work.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): The spacecraft left Earth February 14, traveling roughly 620,000 miles to get to the moon. Other private companies have attempted to complete this mission. But none of them landed on the moon until Thursday night making this a giant leap for further Moon exploration. I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.
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HOLMES: Joining me now Miles O'Brien, CNN Aviation and Space Analyst and science correspondent for PBS NewsHour, always good to see you, my friend. This was a nail biter, but it is there it is transmitting. How big of a deal is this mission?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION AND SPACE ANALYST: Well, it's been 50 years or so Michael since the United States attempted this. And that's a, you know, that's a couple of generations. If you think about it, there's no institutional memory and how to do this. The people who did it a long since retired are no longer with us, unfortunately.
And so this is a whole new generation learning how to do it and doing it in a different way. You and I are old enough to remember, as Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 was on his way to the surface of the moon. If he had relied on the autopilot, they would have gone straight into a boulder it would have been a disaster.
But the human being in the loop managed to take control and save the day. So how do you engineer that into an autonomous system? That's what the challenge has been. And on top of that, do it for pennies on the dollar. So I would put this done a pretty good success.
HOLMES: Yes. And speaking of navigation, there was this issue with the navigation, the LIDAR. And when I was watching this, I thought, what are the odds that they would have a NASA experiment on board, they could activate and use to replace the thing that wasn't work. I mean, let that that's crazy.
O'BRIEN: You know, I've started to keep talking about Apollo. But it sort of felt a little bit like Apollo 13, where they use the lunar module to get them back home. They have this experiment on board that was piggybacking along the way they were able to tap into it. I don't know for sure how much the engineers had considered this in advance.
But I'd be willing to bet you there was at least one person on that team who had thought about it and said in the in the crux of the moment, you know, we could patch the software to the ferromet. Everybody would be like, whoa, that was good.
HOLMES: Yes, I thought that was wild. And now of course, the ultimate aim is to put the humans back there. How realistic is that? And how far off? How do you think that's going to unfold?
O'BRIEN: Well, it's all about money. And the Artemis program, as you well know, Michael has been delayed for lack of funding most. And, you know, NASA has a lot of its plate between the International Space Station, its science mission, and this effort to return to the moon and hopefully one day go to Mars.
So it may be, you know, one too many things right now. And that's why I don't know how soon it's going to be that this happens. But I do like the idea that NASA is approaching it this time not to plant flags and the footprints behind, but with an idea of creating a sustained presence on another planet. Because once you learn how to do that, and build in all the systems to do that, and all the techniques, it becomes a little more realistic to think about venturing forth to Mars.
HOLMES: Yes. There are, of course, other nations with moon missions. It's just seems like a lot of them these days. Does that diversity of involvement help? Or do you think of? Would it be better to be pursuing joint collaborative approaches putting heads together?
O'BRIEN: Yes, I think so. And I think, you know, what's called the Artemis Accords are an attempt to do that, you know, the Artemis mission will include Europeans, that Canadians, Japanese, the Australians, Michael, all are a part of this mission contributing, either, you know, kind of in kind contributions, shall we say.
So there is a loose partnership there. Of course, notably, absent would be the Chinese and the Russians, who are going their own way. And I sort of have to think about it like how we've explored Antarctica, multi nation effort coming at it from different angles, different parts of the world. And everybody's found a way to explore it and do the science there without turning it into an ugly scene. So let's hope that happens on the moon as well.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. So just sort of looking down the road a bit. What do you envision as the next steps for lunar exploration following the apparent success of Odysseus?
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O'BRIEN: Well this is part of an ongoing campaign, Michael, to encourage commercial free enterprise to build vehicles which NASA can, you know, catch an Uber ride on, if you will, but also other commercial providers, other interested parties can also bring their payloads to the moon. You're going to see more of these missions, more autonomous landings,
those that would be more cost-effective than NASA could ever do them. And this will lay the groundwork ultimately to send people when that day comes, those missions are traditional mass admissions, much more expensive and unfortunately right now heavily delayed.
So they might have the infrastructure all set to go and nobody there. Hopefully NASA can get its act together, get the funding together to get this encampment going before too long.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Yes. You're calling me out with Neil Armstrong and the Apollo missions because I do remember them and you and I are old enough to remember them.
So thanks for that Miles.
O'BRIEN: Let's say with pride by friend.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. Miles O'Brien, always a pleasure. Great to see you.
O'BRIEN: Pleasure, Michael.
HOLMES: Still to come amid the destruction in Ukraine, ordinary citizens mounting their own resistance to the war by simply buying books or listening to the radio.
We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: A quick update for you on the latest developments in Ukraine. Kyiv says it struck a Russian training ground ahead of Saturday's second anniversary of the war. It was near a bridge head south of the Dnipro River that Ukraine captured last year.
Ukraine says it has beaten back multiple Russian attacks in that area. And in parts of the Zaporizhzhia region that it liberated during its summer offensive.
In the east, one person was killed, 18 injured in multiple Russian strikes in the Donetsk Region. Kyiv says one of the strikes hit a power plant, leaving a number of workers there injured.
And as the war rages on, ordinary Ukrainians are carrying on with daily life amid a state of anxiety, of course. Our Christiane Amanpour visited two cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv and found out how their residents resist Russian propaganda by studying Ukrainian history and listening to Ukrainian radio stations.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This bookstore is called Sens or "The Meaning" and opening in Kyiv just days before the Russian war enters a third year sends a clear message.
And Ukraine's greatest living novelist, Andrey Kurkov tells us there is much to say about Ukraine's culture, identity and resistance. He wrote the foreword for this tome full of 12th century artifacts.
AMANPOUR: So when Putin says this is all greater Russia, what's your answer?
ANDREY KURKOV, AUTHOR, "THE SILVER BONE": Well, he's silly. And he's not historian. Kyiv is 1,540 years old. Moscow is only 870 years old.
AMANPOUR: An army of workers is still getting the bookstore cafe ready. But it is open and people come in hungry for nonfiction these days, for the history of their region.
Ukrainian identity helps them fight and resist, says Kurkov, reminding us that Russians have looted and destroyed libraries, theaters and museums in parts they now occupy.
AMANPOUR: And what would you be saying, if you were to say anything to the people of Russia?
KURKOV: It's a very good question. I would probably ask them to put mirrors all around them and to look themselves in the eyes and to ask themselves a question if they are living in 21st century or they are still living in Stalin's Gulag.
AMANPOUR: Kurkov, like most Ukrainians, see themselves, their land, as the front line between the authoritarian and the democratic world.
Kyiv is further away from the fighting, but over in the northeast, Kharkiv, the second largest city, the danger is real and ever present.
Some 40 miles from the Russia border, their massive S-300 missiles reached the city in less than 40 seconds, no time to hide. Memorials to the recent dead spring up all over.
This is a place where material evidence of war crimes committed by the Russian Federation is stored, including multiple launch rocket systems, grads, cruise missiles, Shahed drones, artillery shells.
This Kharkiv radio station is called "Boiling Over". It started up 10 years ago after Russia's first invasion as an alternate voice.
"Just a month and a half ago, you could listen to dozens of Russian stations," says the founder, Yevhen. "All of these are Russian propaganda stations that tell us that Ukraine doesn't exist, that it's in Russia and that Ukrainian soldiers should surrender."
Natalia, the radio host, tells us it's also become a sounding board for the terrified and depressed Kharkiv listeners.
"Feedback can be varied," she tells us. "Sometimes they just thank me for the show, and for the fact that they got out of bed thanks to the program. And I consider this a victory, because it could be someone in a state of absolute despair. Like Ukrainians everywhere, the novelist Kurkov tells me, he is hoping for America to step up now.
KURKOV: And remember that America was always a symbol of freedom for Ukraine, for many countries, and I wish America remains the symbol of freedom and the country which set up the standards of democracy in the world.
AMANPOUR: Kyiv and Kharkiv, a tale of two cities and separate states of anxiety.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Russia and the U.S. trading insults now after President Biden sharply criticized Vladimir Putin over Alexei Navalny's death. Mr. Biden called the Russian president, quote "a crazy SOB" according to reporters traveling with him on Wednesday. On Thursday, a Kremlin spokesman described the comments as rude. Here's more of what he had to say.
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DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON (through translator): This is a huge disgrace for the countries. I mean, for the United States of America. So if the president of such a country uses such language, it would be shameful. Clearly, Mr. Biden is demonstrating behavior in the style of a Hollywood cowboy to cater to domestic political interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Also on Thursday, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. said Biden's comments couldn't be resolved with a quote, "simple apology", and the Russian embassy also sent a note of protest to the U.S. State Department.
China is lashing out at U.S. lawmakers who are visiting Taiwan and promising continued support for the island with Beijing calling it interference.
This comes as China's leader, Xi Jinping is taking a page out of Putin's playbook when it comes to Taiwan.
CNN's Will Ripley reports from Taipei.
[01:39:54]
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dangerous parallels between Vladimir Putin's ambitions in Ukraine. Xi-Jinping's claims over Taiwan.
In his recent softball interview with Tucker Carlson, Putin justified his brutal war in Ukraine, invoking historical grievances and nationalism.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers were screaming from there in Russian, perfect Russian, saying, Russians do not surrender and all of them perished. They still identify themselves as Russian
RILEY: Putin, glossing over the fact thousands of Ukrainians have died defending their democratic homeland from Putin and his army, which has also suffered huge losses for tiny territorial gains.
Xi Jinping echoes Putin's narrative consistently framing China's claim over Taiwan through a lens of historical entitlement, national rejuvenation.
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and share a natural affinity and national identity built upon kinship and mutual assistance. This is a fact that can never be changed by anyone or any force.
RIPLEY: Here in Taiwan poll after poll shows the majority of people identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese. That's not how President Xi sees things. To back up his claims, Xi is expanding China's military at a pace the world hasn't seen in a century since before World War II.
Former Taiwan presidential spokesperson Kolas Yotaka says both autocratic leaders pose a direct threat to the autonomy and democratic systems of Ukraine and Taiwan.
KOLAS YOTAKA, FORMER TAIWAN PRESIDENT SPOKESPERSON: Putin and Xi Jinping are similar, because both of them believe they represent the old imperial power in their countries. They think they are the chosen ones and they want to stay in power forever. But this is scary.
RIPLEY: The Atlantic Council's Wen-ti Sung, democratic nations need to unite against authoritarian aggression.
WEN-TI SUNG, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: You hear Xi Jinping talks about the east is rising and the west is declining all the time. With that increased projected confidence comes increased demand for results to be delivered by Xi Jinping as well.
RIPLEY: Critics of Russia and China's strongman leaders say that two nuclear superpowers threaten the norms of international relations, the very foundations of democracy and freedom.
A high profile bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers is on the ground here in Taipei. And that is particularly infuriating for Xi and the Chinese Communist Party because the cornerstone of rejuvenating the Chinese nation in their view to a position of power and global stature is to take control of Taiwan and they see this deepening relationship on all fronts with the United States, albeit an unofficial one, as a threat to that plan.
Many here fear it may be only a matter of time before Xi, like Putin puts his words into action.
Will Ripley, CNN -- Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come on the program for almost half a day, AT&T phones were knocked out and customers in the U.S. couldn't make phone calls or send texts, heaven forbid. What AT&T says caused the disruption after the break.
[01:43:24]
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HOLMES: A food (ph) clinic in the U.S. state of Alabama has paused part of its in vitro fertilization programs after the state's Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children.
The CEO of that latest clinic to halt its treatment saying the ruling left them with no choice.
CNN's Isabel Rosales with this (INAUDIBLE).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES: Days after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos have the same rights as children under state law, more fertility centers in the state, now up to three, continued to announce they will halt most IVF treatments.
Alabama fertility specialist called the decision an impossible one. While the CEO of Infirmary Health said in a statement, "We understand the burden this places on deserving families who want to bring babies into this world and who have no alternative options for conceiving."
At least one facility in Alabama now, planning to send frozen embryos out-of-state.
DR. ANDREW HARPER, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, HUNTSVILLE REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE: The ruling is quite the motivation to move embryos from in-house to outside off-site storage facilities.
ROSALES: The legal fallout becoming a harsh reality for Gabby and Spencer Goidel.
GABBY GOIDEL, FERTILITY PATIENT: I think it was absolutely my worst fear.
ROSALES: Hours ago, the couple received the news from their fertility clinic that they can no longer proceed with their planned IVF treatment.
G. GOIDEL: I've gone through three miscarriages. It honestly felt like a very similar feeling.
ROSALES: The couple has been trying to become parents for years and they began the IVF process in Alabama.
G. GOIDEL: This is all my medication.
ROSALES: A difficult process that doesn't always yield results showing us the dozens of medications and daily injections required in the process.
Now the couple expects to go into debt to routinely fly to Texas, all in hopes of salvaging their shot at a successful pregnancy.
G. GOIDEL: So I will go and get my monitoring appointment done and they will do the egg retrieval in Texas where I'll store my embryos. It doesn't feel very supported here. And now they're just going to make it less accessible, more expensive. They're taking away peoples chances, women's chances to have children.
ROSALES: The political implications of the Alabama decision now playing out on the campaign trail. President Biden issuing a statement saying, "Make no mistake, this is a direct results of the overturning of Roe v Wade. Vice President Kamala Harris echoing that sentiment at a reproductive freedom forum in Michigan today, blaming former president Donald Trump.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you look at the fact that the previous president of the United States was clear in his intention to handpick three Supreme Court justices who would overturn the protections of Roe v Wade and he did it. And that's what got us to this point today.
ROSALES: Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, continuing to tow a fine line in the abortion debate when she spoke to CNN.
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is incredibly personal to me because I had both of my children with fertility. I personally believe an embryo was a baby, not everybody's going to agree that an embryo was a baby but that's why parents need to be able to have the decision on how they're going to handle those embryos. And they need to know that they're going to be protected.
ROSALES; There's so much legal uncertainty swirling around. The fertility clinics didn't have the answer. So CNN reached out to the state attorney general's office, which could not answer specific questions we ask them about whether the state would charge someone who destroyed embryos with a crime.
Isabel Rosales, CNN -- Birmingham, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Tech giant Google says it is temporarily pulling the plug on Gemini, a feature in the company's artificial intelligence tool. The move comes after people on social media blasted the image generator. At issue when Gemini was asked to produce an image it often creates historically inaccurate images which replace white people with people of color. You can see some of them there on your screen.
The controversy shines a spotlight on how A.I. struggles with the concept of race. But Google's attempt to make sure that Gemini did not perpetrate harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes seems to have backfired.
The company says it is working to address Gemini's image-generating feature which Google admits is quote "missing the mark".
[01:49:55]
HOLMES: The Federal Communications Commission is investigating a huge outage of AT&T U.S. cellular network on Thursday. AT&T says service has been fully restored. But for about 12 hours, customers were unable to make calls, send texts or access the Internet on their devices.
The company says it was not a cyberattack, but it might have been related to a network expansion.
CNN's Brian Todd with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A massive disruption, AT&T's network goes down for many customers across the U.S. People unable to place cell phone calls, send texts, or access the Internet on their phones.
LANCE ULANOFF, U.S. EDITOR IN CHIEF, TECHRADAR: We don't see a lot OF, you know, outages like this. We've had spotty ones, but this was probably the biggest, certainly the biggest one this year. Maybe it is a wake-up call that this could happen.
TODD: The spike in outages started around 04:00 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, according to downdetector.com and lasted until midday with tens of thousands affected -- Houston, Dallas, and Chicago were hit especially hard. By mid-afternoon, AT&T said its network was completely back online and apologized.
But in the meantime several local municipalities said the outage disrupted crucial services, like 911 calls.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): And they are focusing a lot on emergency services. It's a little bit -- a little bit jarring to think about the implications of something like that happen on a much grander scale.
TODD: A bracing reminder, experts say, of the need for strong backup systems.
CHRIS KREBS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: What we're seeing is that we are increasingly dependent in every aspect of our life, whether its work, in our homes, in our communities, we are increasingly digitally-connected.
And the things that we're connecting to the Internet do rely on a strong, consistent, reliable signal. And it is pretty unnerving when that signal is broken or severed.
TODD: What can you do if your cell service is not working. First, try reconnecting. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turning airplane mode on, waiting a few seconds and
then turning it off.
And the idea there is that your phone will try to re-establish contact back with the cellular network.
TODD: Or if you have a Wi-Fi Internet connection, switch to using that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So to setup Wi-Fi calling, it's pretty easy. It's generally a setting that's in your device or phone settings. So you go in there and there's a switch you can toggle or a setting you can enable that says Wi-Fi calling.
So you could also use a service like Google voice or Skype that lets you place phone calls over the Internet instead of over a cellular connection.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come. Panda diplomacy is apparently alive and well. A pair of giant pandas might soon be heading to an American zoo courtesy of China. We'll have that when we come back.
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HOLMES: What you're hearing there are the alluring songs of baleen whales. One of nature's best kept secrets has eluded scientists since its discovery more than 50 years ago. That is until now.
A study published on Wednesday reveals baleen whales are able to sing underwater courtesy of their uniquely-shaped larynx or voice box. The study's lead author told CNN that whales use sound to locate each other and mate.
[01:54:49]
HOLMES: Understanding how earth's largest mammals vocalize could help scientists better understand how manmade noise pollution in oceans impacts the sea giant.
For the first time in 20 years, pandas from China could be headed back on loan to the United States. No official timeline yet, but two giant pandas will soon call the San Diego Zoo home marking a big step forward for panda diplomacy.
CNN's Marc Stewart is in Beijing with details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If anyone understands the political power of the panda, it's China's Xi Jinping, who calls the animals "envoys of friendship". According to officials, two pandas are expected to come to the San Diego Zoo expressing optimism it would happen in the not-so-distant future.
This would be the first time we'd see new pandas essentially on loan to the United States for the first time in two decades. Yet, we've seen pandas on loan across Europe including Germany and the Netherlands over the past decade. And in 2022, Qatar in the Middle East.
Many pandas loaned to the United States, including those at the national zoo in Washington, D.C., have returned to China in recent years.
State media in China reports the zoo in D.C. is in talks to see pandas once again. This idea of this panda pathway came up in November when Xi Jinping visited San Francisco. He brought up the notion during a dinner with some of the most influential business leaders.
For the record, there are fewer than 2,000 pandas in the wild. That's according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Marc Stewart, CNN -- Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Basketball legend, Shaquille O'Neal gave one fan the shirt off his back and his supersized shoes to boot. 16-year-old Jor'el Bolden from the Kansas City area, desperately needed a size 23 shoes. His family says, companies don't make that size and custom pairs would cost $1,500.
So his mother started a GoFundMe campaign and then the retired NBA superstar heard about it, heard about Jor'el, he then sent the teen 20 pairs of shoes, new clothes, and other items from his own closet.
He is a good man by the way.
Thanks for watching. I'm Michael Holmes.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Mr. Kim Brunhuber, next.
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