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Benjamin Netanyahu Vows To Defy Biden's "Red Line" And Invade Rafah; Biden Approved Evacuation Operation From Embassy In Haiti; Interview With Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz; Scarlett Johansson Spooks Republican Response On "SNL"; Caring For The Wounded On The Frontlines Of Ukraine; Protests Clash With Hollywood's Biggest Night. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 10, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:17]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining us in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Sunday. I'm Erica Hill in New York, and we do we begin this hour with breaking news.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hitting back at President Biden tonight in a new interview, vowing to cross Biden's red line and invade Rafah in southern Gaza. Netanyahu in an interview with "Politico" and a German news outlet defending his policies in Gaza. This after President Biden said this weekend the Israeli leader is, quote, "hurting Israel more than he's helping."

CNN's Scott McLean is following all of these developments for us from Istanbul.

So what more did we hear from the Israeli prime minister?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica, as you mentioned, President Biden had said in an interview on MSNBC on Saturday that, look, his red line would be Israel going into Rafah, which even Israel's closest allies and many other countries in the international community would be a catastrophe because you have well over a million people there who are sheltering. And frankly, there is nowhere for them to go.

Israel has said that they would evacuate them elsewhere, but there is fighting and bombing taking place in virtually every other part of the country. And yet despite that warning from President Biden of not crossing that red line, we have Prime Minister Netanyahu saying that that offensive in Rafah will in fact go ahead saying that his red line is October 7th, and making sure that that doesn't happen again.

And he said that an IDF incursion into Rafah to root out Hamas there could take two months, perhaps even less than two months, and that there would be no pause in the fighting until there's some kind of a deal made to bring the hostages home. He also left open the possibility of expanding military operations into southern Lebanon, where of course there have been many back-and-forth firing between Hezbollah and the Israelis. In fact, you have tens of thousands of Israelis who've been forced to

leave their home in northern Israel. And this is what Netanyahu said about ensuring those people can go back home. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: So we will do whatever we can to restore security for them and bring them home. And I hope we can do that if we have to do it with military means, we'll do so. If there's a diplomatic way to achieve it, fine. But ultimately we'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: It is worth pointing out, Erica, that Hezbollah, excuse me, is a much more formidable fighting force that really dwarfs the capabilities of Hamas. The Israelis themselves estimate, at least before the war, estimated that there were hundreds, maybe thousands of rockets stored in people's private homes near the border within firing range of Israel.

When it comes to the negotiations to get those hostages back in any kind of a potential ceasefire the hopes of that happening anytime soon are pretty dim at this stage of the game. You had President Biden pointing out that the CIA director was in Israel to meet with his Mossad counterpart. But the problem is that the Israelis and Hamas are not actually talking to each other, at least not publicly.

You had Hamas leaving the last round of talks in Cairo on Thursday and the Israelis were never there in the first place because they say that Hamas has failed to address its latest demands, which include providing a list of hostages which are alive and which hostages are dead. Something that Hamas says that it cannot provide. Hamas is also digging in on its key demands of a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.

Both things that are going to be very difficult for the Israelis to agree to because they continue to insist that the war will only end, as you heard the prime minister saying there, until Hamas is completely destroyed. And that means going into Rafah, whether that's before or after any kind of a ceasefire deal is made. And they also say that the day after the war, the IDF will have full control, free rein, to go wherever they want inside of Gaza.

And the IDF will also continue to control the borders of everything going in and out of the territory. We also heard from the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who gave a televised address and Hamas is still open to talks, but he says that it is Israel who is to blame for the lack of progress. And he also insisted that there would be no hostages released until there's a deal -- Erica.

HILL: Wow. And as we watch all of that, a lot of really important developments tonight, Scott, appreciate it. Thank you.

I also want to bring in now CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton. Colonel, always good to see you. First, I'd just love to get your

reaction as we start to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments about invading Rafah, which of course come on the heels of what we heard from President Biden in that interview yesterday.

[18:05:05]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Erica. I think this is really setting things up for a showdown between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu. It looks as if both sides, both U.S. side and the Israeli side, are basically digging in in their respective positions. The Israelis have that military in charge of basically destroying Hamas and doing it at Rafah because everybody seems to be concentrated in that area, there in the southern part of Gaza.

The problem with that, as Scott pointed out in his reporting, one million plus people are right there because they had to flee to that location and to get them out of there, to get them out of harm's way is going to be really difficult to do under the best of circumstances. And in these conditions, those circumstances are certainly quite difficult. So it's one of those areas where we're going to see a lot of difficulty, a lot of problems.

And this could portend a rift in the U.S.-Israeli relations at least to some extent. And that could be really interest for any peace prospects for this area.

HILL: Were you surprised at all at how far we saw the president go in those comments yesterday? So saying that Rafah would be a red line. When asked about other specific red lines, he was a little less committal, if you will. He said there can't be another 30,000 -- another 30,000 Palestinian civilian deaths, for example. The fact that the rhetoric is now ramping up, and to your point, the impact that this could have moving forward, especially given the U.S.' role in these talks, in these efforts to try to get to a ceasefire, to try to get some of the hostages home, how damaging could this be at this point?

LEIGHTON: This could be very damaging. It can be damaging for the Israeli hostages that are still being held by Hamas. It could be damaging for all the Palestinians, civilians that are, you know, caught in this -- in Gaza, especially in Rafah. And, you know, from a political standpoint, I think, Erica, what you're seeing here is, on the one hand domestically, President Biden is trying very hard to placate concerns from the Arab-American community.

And on the other hand, he still wants to show himself as being a strong supporter of Israel. But there are things that Israel is doing that make it very difficult for the U.S. to, in essence, sell those policies or needed to defend those policies in international forums like the U.N. or with European allies, in the union, and with international public opinion at large. And so this is, you know, where the United States finds itself.

And it's going to be really difficult for them to -- for the United States to be in lockstep with Israel at this particular juncture. HILL: Let's talk about the aid situation. So news today that some of

the equipment for this new floating pier is actually on its way to Gaza. So the Pentagon has said that pier is going to take probably at least a month to construct. It would require as many as 1,000 troops to get that completed. That's a long timeline. When we look at just how acute the needs are today, what do you make of that timeline?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's certainly a long timeline. I do think that it is possible to do some things, I a lot quicker than that timeline. For example, we know that there's a barge that's on its way from Cyprus right now to Gaza or at least it's supposed to be on its way sometime today. If that is the case, then that will help alleviate some of the things that are plaguing the population in Gaza in terms of hunger and a possible famine.

But the fact is that to the military, the U.S. military is going to have to the move very quickly to install this floating pier and to make sure that the requisite number of ships can actually come in to provide the kind of support that's necessary. I think it is something that should have been done a bit earlier. But sometimes we just don't know how difficult a situation is, or how dire a situation is until we start seeing the pictures from places like Gaza.

HILL: One Qatari officials said that this new marine corridor would bring some 200 truckloads of aid via barge from Cyprus to Gaza each day. Do you think that is a realistic number?

LEIGHTON: I did a little quick math just based on how many containers can fit on barges and how many shipping containers can fit on trucks. And it does seem a realistic possibility, assuming that all of the flows from places like Cyprus are going to be interrupted and there are not going to be any security issues once everything gets to Gaza. So assuming all of that works perfectly, it is realistic that, you know, somewhere around the order of 200 truckloads of foodstuffs and other necessary equipment can get into Gaza using this method.

[18:10:02]

Of course, the other thing is I think before this crisis occurred on the 7th of October, it was somewhere around 400 to 500 trucks that were needed just to sustain the Gazan population. So this is about a little less than half of what they really need and what they can sustain themselves.

HILL: Really quickly before I let you go. We have seen an analysis of satellite images which show Israel building this road that runs across the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has said that route will help it to establish an operational foothold in Gaza. What does that say to you?

LEIGHTON: Well, it says to me that the Israelis are going to try to maintain some degree of a presence, a military presence in Gaza. And they're going to make it as much of a permanent presence as they possibly can. Basically, this road will facilitate them getting in and out very quickly. And it may facilitate the idea of lightning raids against Hamas terrorist cells, you know, installations of that type possibly walk at launch facilities, things like that.

So they're building it for military purposes and they want to continue to have a say in Gaza. And basically the security situation they are and they want to try to protect themselves from Hamas at this point.

HILL: Colonel Cedric Leighton, always appreciate your insight and your expertise. Thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet. Anytime, Erica.

HILL: Turning now to this worsening situation in Haiti, the German and E.U. missions say they have evacuated diplomatic staff from Port-au- Prince due to the gang violence in the capital. And we're also learning President Biden did approve the overnight airlift operation to get non-essential personnel out of the U.S. embassy there. A spokesperson telling CNN President Biden is deeply concerned about the situation on the ground.

And of course, in terms of that situation, gang leaders, as you likely know by this point, are threatening civil war if the prime minister does not step down. Well, Haiti, at this point is under a state of emergency until early next month.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in nearby Havana, Cuba monitoring the situation in the region. Priscilla Alvarez is in Washington.

Priscilla, I do want to start with you here. What more do we know about that decision which the president made to evacuate these personnel from Port-au-Prince?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, this is a situation that U.S. officials have been closely monitoring. That includes, of course, President Biden, who has been briefed and updated regularly over a situation that a spokesperson tells me he is deeply concerned about.

Now President Biden did approve this operation that included the evacuation of nonessential personnel from the U.S. embassy in Haiti. Now, according to the State Department, the reason for this in part was because of escalating gang violence near the U.S. embassy compounds and the airport.

Now this was an airlift by the U.S. military, this according to U.S. Southern Command, this is standard practice under these circumstances, and there were no Haitians on this military aircraft, but they were able to help evacuate and airlift out those non-essential personnel. We should note, though, that the U.S. embassy is still operating.

Now, of course, the concern here is what the Haitian gang leader has said about a civil war, also saying that there will be a genocide if the prime minister doesn't step aside. Now it is believed that the prime minister is currently in Puerto Rico and Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week spoke to the prime minister and talked about accelerating the transition of a more inclusive government. So this is clearly top of mind here in the United States as they watch

the situation unfold with this extraordinary move to evacuate those non-essential personnel from the U.S. embassy as violence only worsens in that country.

HILL: And Patrick, when we look at what is happening in that country, right, gang leaders threatening civil war now if the prime minister does not leave office, give us a closer look if you could at both the situation on the ground and what we know about the prime minister's whereabouts.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, for months, if not years now, the gangs have slowly been taking more and more territory to the point where it's believed they control not only most of the capital Port-au-Prince, but most of the country. There have been instances in the last several years where the prime minister of Haiti has not been able to travel in parts of Port-au-Prince because the gangs simply do not let him.

So even for diplomats who know Haiti well, the escalation of violence in the last week has really caught everyone off guard. I talked to a diplomat a few days ago who's in Port-au-Prince and they said that yes, they had stores of food and water for an incident like this, but that those stores are now running low because people really have never had a situation quite like this one. Aware there is no safe places to go.

They can't leave the apartments, can't leave their compounds. And so what you're seeing now is not only with the U.S., but other nations, other aid organizations helicopter airlifts. It's really the only a reasonably and safe way to believe the country because driving out to the border with the Dominican Republic is too risky.

[18:15:05]

And we saw the airport close down after claims were actually shot at, at least one hit by some of those gunfire from the gangs so the concern now is, will the Haitian national police, will they essentially collapse as the gangs continued to take the fight to them in a way they haven't before. And Ariel Henry, you know, he has been receiving pressure both from the U.S. and from within Haiti to announce a transitional government, to essentially announce when elections could take place, and indicate when he plans on leaving power, something he has resisted up until now.

But it has been essentially radio silence all week throughout this crisis. And even though he as a received calls from the U.S. and calls from other political parties in Haiti to come out and announce the wave for it, he appears to be resisting that, at least for the moment, but tremendous pressure on him right now to begin to come up with a solution to this problem that has affected so many Haitians' lives, so many Haitians have had to flee from their homes, can't find food or water and are living really an increasingly dangerous circumstances.

HILL: Yes. They certainly are. Patrick Oppmann, Priscilla Alvarez, appreciate the reporting. Thank you both. Just ahead here, more on the breaking news this hour, Israeli Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signals he plans to in fact cross that red line that President Biden said he had with a push into Rafah. We'll speak with a U.S. lawmaker next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:13]

HILL: Tonight, Israel's prime minister promising Israeli ground forces will move into Rafah. That is a direct response to President Biden's comments on Saturday saying that such a move into Rafah would be a red light. He was asked directly in an interview on MSNBC Saturday, what would be a red line with Prime Minister Netanyahu. It was asked specifically whether an invasion of Rafah, which of course President Biden has urged Prime Minister Netanyahu not to do, whether it would be a red line. Take a listen to President Biden's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here's a red line, but I'm never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there's no red line. I want to cut off all weapons so they don't have the Iron Dome to protect them. They don't have -- but there's red lines that if he crosses -- they can cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining us now is Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz,

Congresswoman, it's good to have you with us tonight. As I know you've been aware just a short time ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, remarks were released in an interview that he did with "Politico" and a German news outlet, and he said specifically in regards to this, I'm quoting the prime minister here. "We'll go there. We're not going to leave." He said, "You know, I have a red line. That red line is October 7th and that it doesn't happen again."

What are your main concerns? What is your initial reaction at this hour to this very public back-and-forth between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and what it could mean?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Well, Erica, thanks for having me and, I mean, my reaction is this. What I know and what gives me confidence is that there really isn't a country in the world that we have a closer relationship with where our intelligence officers and our military leadership are working side-by-side each and every day and are able to communicate effectively about operational decisions and next steps.

And so this is a nation in which we are aware and they are aware of where each of us comes down on the new military decision-making. And that's incredibly helpful so that there are no surprises. President Biden made it clear in his comments this morning that he is not planning on conditioning our assistance in terms of the defense of Israel, making sure that we have Iron Dome in place.

That Israel has the ability to continue to defend herself, that she has the right to that, while also underscoring that the death toll in Gaza is significant and that we need to make sure that that's addressed.

HILL: You know, to that point, he did say and as we just heard from him, that this would be a red line, but in the words of President Biden, which we just heard him say there, and I'm quoting, I'm never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. That being said, the fact that President Biden went on the record saying this is a red line, Prime Minister Netanyahu came out and said, too bad, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, right?

This is my country. I'm going to make these decisions. Do you believe there needs to be some sort of a consequence or further reaction from the president, given the fact that he said this is in fact a red line?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What I believe, Erica, is that Hamas needs to release the 134 hostages as well as the bodies of the deceased who died in their captivity. What I believe is that Hamas needs to end the threat that they represent to Israel's very existence, that they have committed repeatedly. And people keep forgetting this or it's -- you know, its shoved aside because the distance of time that they are sworn to have October 7th be the first.

That there'll be a second, a third, and a thousand time. And so look, there's no country on earth, including and especially the United States that would tolerate conditions like that. And neither should or is Israel.

[18:25:10]

And so this can end tomorrow. It could end in five minutes. If those conditions are met. So let's make sure that Qatar and Egypt and other countries that have sway with (INAUDIBLE), let's make sure that they use their leverage and help get the hostages home, including the six American hostages that are still in captivity, and ensure that that threat ends.

HILL: You mentioned the situation on the ground for civilians. Bernie Sanders said this morning, Senator Sanders, that President Biden needs to make it clear in his view that the U.S. support for Israel does in fact have some limitations. Here's more of what Senator Sanders said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): United States of America cannot be complicit in this mass slaughter of children. What you can say to Netanyahu, stop the slaughter, no more money to Netanyahu's war machine to kill Palestinian children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: President Biden yesterday in that same interview and he was asked about a red line, he went on to say 30,000 additional Palestinian deaths would be a red line. Do you also see that as a red line?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What I see is that we have to make sure that Iran, who is obviously tied closely to Hamas -- Hamas, Hezbollah -- aren't able to declare victory because this was all part of their plan. They intended and knew that Israel rightfully so would respond forcefully in their defense and the goal by using civilians as human shields, by putting their people in harm's way, that don't really have the same value for human life as most other civilized nations in the world do.

And this is all part of this all by design, Erica, they want to turn the world against Israel. And we have to make sure that while making sure there is humanitarian assistance and the hunger that is growing as addressed, that Israel has the threat removed, that Hamas as the terrorist organization that it is continues to represent, and hostages are released. Both things have to happen and the world and the Arab world in particular needs to lean in on Hamas and its allies and ensure that we can have peace.

We don't need to be talking about conditions in the United States, on our aid. We need to be talking about putting worldwide pressure on this terrorist organization who was holding 134 people in captivity.

HILL: There is -- obviously those hostages need to come home, right? There's so much talk about a ceasefire. There's talk about how that is connected. There is also a very real conversation about aid and what we have seen in terms of starving and malnutrition amongst civilians. I was struck. My colleague Clarissa Ward was reporting in the region this week, and I was struck by an exchange that she had and I just wanted to play part of that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should get only the minimum calories required to survive.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're starving to death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until there are no --

WARD: They are starving to death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They only have to release the hostages so they won't starve to death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what, if they are starving to death, give us -- give the hostages back. No single loaf of bread should goes there until our hostages are coming back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: What would you say to those women?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What I would say to those women, I know that there are Palestinians that believed and that are fed up with Hamas, but just want the violence to end that they are experiencing and they are victims of Hamas as well. What I would say is that Speaker Johnson needs to put the national security package that includes aid to Israel as well as humanitarian aid to the Palestinians on the floor for a vote.

He knows there are 300 plus votes in the House to send that bill to the president. And he refuses to do it because he cares more about staying in power than he does about the suffering of the Palestinian people. And he does more about the protection of the -- that we need for the people of Israel and cares more about holding on to power than he does about making sure that hostages are released.

This is an outrage. We could send this assistance from the United States tomorrow when we go back to Washington and vote. Speaker Johnson needs to put that bill on the floor. He's been playing little games for months. It has to end.

HILL: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, appreciate the time tonight. It's good to have you joining us on the breaking news. Thank you.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Good to be with you.

HILL: And our coverage continues on the other side of this quick break, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:17]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": First and foremost, I'm a mom, and like any mom, I'm going to do a pivot out of nowhere into a shockingly violence story about sex trafficking. And rest assured, every detail about it is real, except the year where it took place and who was president when it happened.

And tonight, I am not just responding to the State of the Union. I am also selling these gorgeous bejeweled cross necklaces. This divinity diamond necklace goes with anything and you can wear it from the church to the club.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: "Saturday Night Live" and a little surprise sits there at the top of last night's show from actress Scarlett Johansson, who as you saw there took on the role of Alabama's junior senator, Katie Britt.

[18:35:08]

The show lampooned her response to President Biden's State of the Union address.

CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy is with me now.

Oliver, good to see you. So "SNL" also pointing out there Senator Britt's sex trafficking story, which was delivered out of context. The senator today admitted, right, that it didn't happen during the Biden presidency. The parody I would say probably not a surprise to anyone. What's the response been?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Probably not a surprise given what we saw on Tuesday night from Katie Britt. But I think Scarlett Johansson certainly hit it out of the park. You know, people are praising this for not only being funny and doing a really good job I think lampooning the delivery style, the bizarre delivery style from the senator in which we all saw. But also adding some substance to that, pointing out those fuzzy details and some of the specifics that she offered in her speech. And so, you know, she's being widely praised I think for really doing a good job with a parody.

HILL: I want to get your take, too, when we were talking about this a little earlier tonight. This bill in the House that could lead to a ban of TikTok headed to the House floor for a vote this week. President Biden has said, look, if it passes, he will ultimately sign it. Former president Trump is now saying, whoa, abandon the TikTok, not so much, shifting from where he used to be.

This bill, though, does have broad bipartisan support. How far do you see this going?

DARCY: Well, it's not the first time that lawmakers have talked about potentially banning TikTok, but this bill has seemed to gain a significant amount of momentum very quickly. And so we'll see where this bill goes. I do think it's interesting that both President Biden and President Trump, you know, they have -- they sort of do to some extent maybe support that. You know, Biden got on the app recently and that actually ruffled some feathers I think from people who said, wait a second, we're talking about whether this app is secure from a national security stand point and you're now on the app.

And Trump, you know, who was very opposed to the app during his own administration, is now coming out and saying, wait a second, don't maybe pass this and taking a shot at Mark Zuckerberg saying it's going to be good for him in the long term. And so I guess we'll see where this bill goes. There's always been some hesitation to outright ban TikTok because of maybe of some political blowback that the lawmakers would get.

And you're already seeing TikTok poured the gasoline on that. You know, they were encouraging their users last week to call Congress and they were flooding the congressional -- the phone lines, their supporters, saying don't ban this app. You know, we have to keep in mind that this is also, this is a free speech issue. There are a lot of people who have built businesses now on TikTok, rely on this app.

And so it's a little more complex I think than outright banning it. This bill would force ByteDance, which owns TikTok, to divest from the app before they effectively ban it. But, you know, there's a lot of issues at play. We'll see where this goes.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. And we can't ignore the fact, right, we are talking about an election year. And so when you see, you know, there are the concerns and the talk of hypocrisy, right? All the outcry about potential national security concerns, then you see, oh, wait, this is a great way to reach younger voters and we see more and more politicians, including President Biden, as you point out, jumping on the old TikTok. Yes, more to come in this space as we would say.

I did want to get you quickly to, since we have a little bit more time, the ratings for President Biden's State of the Union. They were up 18 percent over last year. Some 32.2 million people, I believe, that has tuned in to watch this live from five million from 2023. Is this simply because it's an election year?

DARCY: I think it's probably because it's an election year. Look, these numbers do fluctuate quite a bit year to year. And so last year was down from the previous year. This year is up. I do want to say I think largely speaking, if you look at the broad trends, you know, from decades ago, the numbers have slipped. You know, you're not getting maybe the 50 million to 60 million people you would have gotten a few decades ago.

But this is still by far the largest audience a president gets to speak to live unfiltered, you know, every network carries the speech. They don't edit it, they let the president have his say with the American people, connect with them. And so very important, particularly when you're heading into an election year and you saw Biden obviously take advantage of that, delivering a very campaign or like, you know, campaign-like speech in front of the Joint Session of Congress.

HILL: Oliver Darcy, good to see, my friend. Thank you.

DARCY: Thank you.

HILL: Ukraine's armed forces enduring yet another surge of Russian attacks along the frontlines. Just ahead, the dangerous task of keeping injured soldiers alive in the middle of a battlefield.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:44:28]

HILL: For the men and women of Ukraine's armed forces, battlefield injuries are a near constant threat. And those charged with caring for the wounded play, of course, an urgent, dangerous, and often heartbreaking role in the frontlines.

Here's CNN's Nick Paton Walsh from Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice- over): Light is also their enemy here. Daylight brings the threat of attack drones. So it's hard to collect casualties from the frontline. Dark is when they bring most wounded out. Two medics hiding in the tree line. [18:45:04]

The other light flashes from enormous bombs hitting the village of Horlivka and around a tiny place of outsized consequence. It's Ukraine's defensive line, but Russia is raging hard for a breakthrough. The flashes constant, a seven-mile slog from there to here for the wounded.

MAXIM, COMBAT MEDIC (through text translation): There was a lot this morning. Six or four.

WALSH (through text translation): But they were heavily injured.

MAXIM (through text translation): It depends on the day. But now it's relative few. The Russians have more vehicles, more weapons, more men. And that's the biggest problem.

WALSH: They wait underground for the radio to say who, when, where. It feels almost mundane, often hours of silence. The thump of shelling hidden by TV series.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Drones are a huge problem. We rarely evacuate during daylight. Mostly at night. We try to extract the heavily injured during the day, too.

WASH: Then it is time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): One wounded to pick up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): What's the condition? When and who delivers?

WALSH: They never really know what they'll find until they get there. And they too are targets. But along this eastern front, these slick routines carry on. Minus one key thing. Hope.

Because of the intensity of the fighting here, this happens all night every night. The desperate race to use dark cover of night to get the wounded to hospitals as fast as possible. Here comes some more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Put the camera away. Put it away.

WALSH (voice-over): From one Humvee to another, the wounded of a war they're losing because the U.S. is dropping out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): I don't see blood. Roll the sleeve, brother.

WALSH: The force of a blast appears to have broken his upper arm. It's going to be a painful drive until the drugs kick in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Bodya. Drive slowly. No potholes please.

WALSH: He says he only had stitches out four days ago from another injury. A Russian attack drone ripping into their armored vehicle two weeks ago. One of the five men hit inside then, and still in hospital. Tonight, it was also drones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): We were running for kilometers. Under the drones, under everything. They were waiting for us as soon as we arrived. Our two groups were pinned down by drones. The medivac was coming but we can't see it. It's also being shelled with everything they have. I just heard a bang right on my side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): I feel down inside the Humvee. Couldn't feel my hand. Couldn't move the fingers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): So the arm is still there, in its place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Can they fix it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Yes. There is nothing serious. You are very lucky the artery isn't damaged.

WALSH: When they get to the hospital, all is blacked out and we cannot even film doors. Russia is scouring the frontlines for any part of a medical chain to hit to make help harder and further away. Just like American money.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, near Horlivka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:53:39]

HILL: Developing right now, protesters clashing with Hollywood's biggest night. So we're going to show you some pictures. This is all happening near the Dolby Theater, which is of course where the Oscars are being held tonight.

CNN's Camila Bernal is in Los Angeles watching these developments for us.

What more do we know about these protests and the impact?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Hey, Jessica. So right now we know that LAPD has ordered a dispersal order for unlawful assembly. But this crowd is still relatively large. They have been sort of marching down the street and getting closer to the Oscars venue. There's a lot of them who are in fact dispersing, but there is so a large group, an area that I am right now.

You know, they're chanting their flags. They're not only by foot, but they also have cars here supporting them. And they say they want to call attention. I mean, one of the biggest chants has been free Palestine. And so you're hearing and seeing a lot of the chants and the posters and people demanding action, demanding support for the people of Gaza. And again, there's this causing somewhat of a disruption in terms of the Oscars. And they are being told to leave.

Thankfully, though, LAPD saying there are no injuries as saying so they have not made any arrests as of the moment, but it is somewhat developing and they do want to call that tension on the day of the Oscars -- Jessica.

[18:55:05]

HILL: All right. And we know you'll continue to follow it for us. Camila Bernal live for us in Los Angeles. Thank you.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Thanks for joining us in the CNN NEWSROOM this hour. I'm Erica Hill in New York. We do begin with breaking news.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hitting back at President Biden tonight.