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At Least 57 Killed in Friday's Station Missile Attack; Putin Appoints New War General with History of Brutality; Austrian Chancellor Meets Putin in Moscow; Israeli Army Ramping Up Operations in West Bank & Jerusalem; Ukraine: Russia's Offensive in East "Has Already Started"; Exhibition Traces Rise of UAE Art Scene. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired April 11, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Welcome back to "Connect the World". I'm Becky Anderson coming to you today from London. We could be

nearing a pivotal and especially bloody new phase in Russia's war on Ukraine.

Ukraine's Interior Minister says Moscow is sending more troops and equipment to the Eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions Ukraine now ramping up

evacuations as it braces for an all-out assault there. East of Kharkiv satellite pictures appear to show Russian military trucks stretching for

nearly 13 kilometers'. The Mayor of Kharkiv tells CNN's Brianna Keilar the city is being bombarded. He says Russia is using a new type of weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IHOR TEREKHOV, KHARKIV, UKRAINE MAYOR: We have seen ammunition that has a time delay so it strikes and then it waits a while before it explodes.

Also, we have quite lethal ammunition being used where we have specific civilian targets aimed at.

I can also say that the Russian aggressor is bombing residential districts in Kharkiv and as of today, we've had 1617 residential buildings destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, in meantime the UK says fighting is intensifying for the City of Mariupol, which of course has already seen so much destruction

Moscow, and then shifting the battlefield after failing to capture Kyiv. CNN's Clarissa Ward has been reporting from the Ukrainian capital and she

spoke with Brianna Keilar and John Berman earlier about Russia's latest moves, have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): One Ukrainian official who says basically, in effect, it already has started.

The offensive in the east, you're seeing that six mile long convoy of Russian weaponry and troops bearing down south coming from the East of

Kharkiv as you also are seeing Russian troops redeploying after their failed offensive here to the North of Kyiv.

Now, we know there has also been a lot of shelling overnight in the City of Kharkiv right near essentially where that convoy is pushing down from. The

Governor there saying 66 reports of shelling in about 24 hours, 11 civilians killed, among them a seven year old child.

Now we're also hearing as you mentioned about this attack on a railway station in the east. Now this is significant because although fortunately,

there were no casualties, and the target appears to have been several locomotives as well as power lines and the tracks themselves.

I think what this speaks to is the clear, broader Russian strategy here which is trying - to try to attack Ukraine's attempts at resupply and

logistics. This is going to be the big challenge for Ukrainian forces as they face down this Russian offensive in the east is to sufficiently and

adequately be able to resupply their troops on the front line.

Unlike Kyiv, this is much further away and much more difficult to get to in terms of what will soon presumably be desperately needed weaponry. Now,

President Zelenskyy says that they are ready for this moment. But he has also warned of a very bleak picture in terms of the lengths that Russian

forces are clearly willing to go to.

He spoke to South Korean Parliament earlier today and said that he believes tens of thousands of people have been killed in the City of Mariupol that's

in the southeast that port city that has been bombarded day in and day out for many weeks now indiscriminately. Residential buildings, shelters and

maternity hospital most infamously, as you probably remember, and so there is a fear going forward.

Well, of course, we cannot confirm that number in terms of tens of thousands of people killed in that fighting. There is certainly a very real

and palpable sense of concern that when this Russian offensive develops or sort of reaches a crescendo, that it is going to be very, very ugly indeed,

John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: As Clarissa was just saying the Russian military is aiming at railways to prevent Ukraine from resupplying its cities but it's also

targeting railway stations to where people are waiting to evacuate. You'll remember Russia's devastating missile strike that hit a train station

Kramatorsk on Friday.

Well, here is some of the aftermath for Ukrainian regional military official says the death toll there has risen to at least 57. The attack

happened as thousands of people tried to evacuate from there.

[11:05:00]

ANDERSON: The Mayor of Kramatorsk says the train station remains closed and civilian evacuations are continuing in or from nearby towns. CNN's Senior

International Correspondent Ben Wedeman joining us live from Kramatorsk in Ukraine. I know you've spoken to the Mayor.

You've witnessed the aftermath of that deadly strike. What can you tell us Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can tell you right now Becky that this station is abandoned, there is nobody here and still

very much present the signs of what we can only call a massacre - that massacre that took place here. There's still blood on the wall.

This is one of several impact points in this. These are big impact points. And here people were sitting on these benches; you can see where the

shrapnel ripped into them. It was nothing other than a bloodbath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The air raid siren rings out over a scene of carnage passed. In Kramatorsk railway

station, a ripped shoe, a discarded hat, a cane left behind. They came to the station with only what they could carry hoping to reach safer ground,

but nearly 60 never left.

Lives cut short by a missile on it someone scrawled in Russian for the children. 4000 people were here waiting for a train west when the strike

happened the massacre accelerating the Exodus.

WEDEMAN (on camera): Most of the residents of Kramatorsk have left the city having been urged to do so by local authorities as this part of the country

the entirety of Eastern Ukraine, braces for what could be a massive Russian offensive.

WEDEMAN (voice over): At the city's bus station Nikolay a volunteer has been helping with the evacuation. For him news of the pullback of Russian

forces around the Capital Kyiv was bittersweet.

NIKOLAY, VOLUNTEER: When I heard about Kyiv - I was happy, you know, but then I realized a couple of seconds later that they move in to Donbas or

their forces. I'm little bit I can't say that I'm scary but I'm worrying about my people about people about mothers about grandparents.

WEDEMAN (voice over): Some are heading West, others North the town of Slavyansk where trains still run. Oksana and a friend and their children

are bound for Lviv in the far West. There's a lot of bombing here says Oksana, I'm afraid for the children. The children thankfully, still

children. A handful of adult relatives stay behind far more aware of the danger ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And this afternoon we spoke with the Mayor of the city. And he said that essentially less than a third of the population remains. And he's

worried because many of them are the elderly who simply do not want to leave their homes to go to the far west to who knows where?

So what they're doing is they're basically building up in terms of supplies, food, medicine, and other things in the event and he said he

doesn't think it's going to happen but they're preparing for it anyway in the event, Russian forces which are just to the north of here, and just to

the south start to surround and perhaps besiege the city Becky.

ANDERSON: Well, frightening, frightening thought. Thank you, Ben. Well, Russia has a new commander to lead this next phase of the war. The U.S.

National Security Adviser warns this could be or certainly could mean more brutal attacks on civilians. CNN's Nima Elbagir has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We all remember those images, men, women and children screaming

burnt out apartment buildings, devastated cities and towns. And now the Russian general responsible for that devastation has been assigned by

President Vladimir Putin with turning the tide of his devastating defeats here in Ukraine.

General Alexander Dvornikov has been put in charge of Russian forces pushing to advance through Ukrainian cities and towns. It tells us a number

of things. One is that Vladimir Putin is looking both to disinformation abroad and disinformation at home. This is the man who is believed to have

delivered the victories so to speak of Russia in Syria in support of President Bashar Al Assad's forces.

He's also the man whose impunity lives on in the collective global memory. The hope we are told by President Putin has but he will deliver a victory

before May 9th the anniversary of the Nazi surrender to Soviet forces so that there can be a victory parade in Russia's Red Square.

[11:10:00]

ELBAGIR (on camera): Whether it will be quite that simple, given what has happened here to Russian forces remains to be seen? Ukraine is a very

different terrain, not only have Ukrainian forces been able to push back, Russia's offensive here in Kyiv and in the surrounding territories, but

they are also very differently supported by the international community.

They have been given an arsenal of anti-aircraft capabilities. And that was what helped General Dvornikov to win in Syria, the superior aerial capacity

that his forces have. Whatever happens in the coming days and weeks, the message that President Putin is sending to the world is chilling, that the

man responsible for what Syrian human rights organizations believe was the deaths of over 5600 men, women and children is now in charge of what

happens here on the ground in Ukraine Nima Elbagir CNN Kyiv Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, a break down why Russia has brought in this lethal mastermind. With my next guest, Neil Melvin is the Director of

International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute joining us live from Geneva in Switzerland.

It's good to have you with us, sir. Why has it taken the Russians this long to appoint a general overseeing their "Military operation in Ukraine" that

being the war of aggression?

NEIL MELVIN, DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES, RUSI: Hi Becky thanks. That's a good - that's a key question really, and really reflects

the fact that initial Russian approach has failed when they tried to do a blitzkrieg to decapitate the Ukrainian political system by seizing Kyiv

using Special Forces.

We saw the scenes with that as they tried to move those troops in quickly and also coming up from the south. And the Ukrainians really defeated that

approach. So now, what Russia is trying to do is regroup to coordinate more effectively by putting one person in charge of General Dvornikov, and then

try and use their massive advantage in terms of numbers and firepower to break through in the Donbas region.

ANDERSON: Let's just have a listen to what National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had to say about this man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This particular General has a resume that includes a brutality against civilians in other theaters in

Syria, and we can expect more of the same in this theater. This general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian

civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Killing stuff Nima Elbagir my colleague also reporting on the murderous nature of this man who's theater, as we understand it now and as

you have been explaining, is likely to be in eastern Ukraine.

So what does victory look like for Russia at this stage, given that we are reporting and it's been sort of received wisdom now for some time that

Vladimir Putin may want this sort of wrapped as it were, by May 9, which is their sort of Victory Day in Russia? What's your sense of what this may

develop into and result in between now and then?

MELVIN: As your correspondent I think said, is General Dvornikov really represents the Russian military in many ways. It's not just he served in

Syria, but he also served in Chechnya, and he's been in charge actually of the conflict in Donbas since 2016. So he's very experienced.

So what they will try and do is use that experience, I think, to focus their resources that they obviously got badly mauled, North of Kyiv. They

will try to push through very quickly, but they're facing the most experienced the most professional Ukrainian defenses.

They're heavily dug in; they know the Russians are coming. So the Russians will also try and use their air power their artillery, but I suspect

actually that it's likely to evolve into more like a war of attrition in which victory for Russia will be destroying the Ukrainian military in

Donbas. So perhaps surrounding them, and then claiming that that is the victory that they sought all along.

ANDERSON: I mean, look, the West is not going to want to stand by and watch this happen. But we know they are also not prepared to get involved on the

ground, a one might call successful trip by the UK Prime Minister into Kyiv to see Zelenskyy over the weekend and more promises from the UK of weaponry

of military hardware to support Ukrainians. Neil, what do they need at this point to prevent an all-out massacre in the East?

[11:15:00]

MELVIN: This will be a very different type of fighting potentially that we saw around Kyiv in which the Ukrainians very successfully use light

infantry and anti-tank weapons and this kind of now they need heavier armor, they need artillery, they particularly need anti-aircraft missiles,

perhaps longer range ones, because this will be the advantage of the Russians.

We'll have some of that stuff has been coming in, in relatively small numbers. And I suspect what will happen now is that Ukrainians will try and

trade territory while more of these resources come in and they'll try and wear the Russians down.

ANDERSON: When you say until more of these resources come in, what are your expectations at this point in with regard support incoming support for the

Ukrainians?

MELVIN: Well, there's quite a steady flow of things coming in. I mean Slovakia just over the weekend sent in their Soviet era, anti-aircraft

systems that these are quite sophisticated ex Russian ones, the S300.

So there is a steady stream, but what needs - the Ukrainians really need a bit more time to build up their capabilities, they've got quite a lot of

light weaponry, but this heavier staff, they have to move it from the Polish border to Donbas in quite large numbers. And that's going to take

some time.

But I think this would be why there'll be playing for time gradually retreating, trying to push the Russians into overextending their front

lines.

ANDERSON: Do you share the view that others are now suggesting this could be extremely bloody, extremely deadly? And you know, certainly for those

who are observing, and let's be quite frank, I mean, although the Europeans and the West are getting involved in sending, you know, sending support, as

far as military hardware is concerned, they aren't getting involved on the ground or in the air. How difficult is this going to be to watch?

MELVIN: Well, I think the concern is that General now put in charge, as I say, he embodies the Russian approach to war, which has developed which is

not just fighting armies, but it's actually destroying all of the civilian infrastructure and including targeting civilians.

And we've seen that in Chechnya, in Syria, and we've seen it recently in places like Mariupol where President Zelenskyy of Ukraine today said that

there may be tens of thousands of dead, we're likely to see that approach repeated all across Donbas, in which the Russian forces will move forward.

And they will be trying to destroy everything, the entire urban infrastructure, the civilian railways, the roads as well as defeat

Ukrainian army.

ANDERSON: So and this isn't a thank you, sir your analysis out of Geneva Switzerland today. Well, you're watching "Connect the World" live from

London. Still ahead, the EU now considering more sanctions against Russia the new measures under discussion in Luxembourg. And this man says the war

is destroying all spheres of life in Ukraine, including its architecture, its history and its culture. I'll speech to Ukrainian Novelist Andrey

Kurkov just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:00]

ANDERSON: The European Union now discuss a sixth round of sanctions against Russia, Ireland's Foreign Minister saying the EU needs to and I quote him

here take a maximalist approach to sanctions including Russia oil. And that news coming after the British Prime Minister made a surprise visit to Kyiv

for over the weekend.

The UK promising a robust arms package to Ukraine after Boris Johnson met with the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Our International Diplomatic Editor

Nic Robertson, tracking these developments for us from Brussels.

And let's talk about this latest package of sanctions. We are talking about the sixth raft of sanctions against Russia here. I mean you know, the

Europeans and the U.S. they promise that these, these sanctions will be ratcheted up, what does this latest package contain, as we understand it?

And, will it serve a harsher or the harsh blow on Russia that Europeans hope to serve at this point?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, the fifth round came last week, and there was a real hope that more parts of the

energy sector, you know, what energy Europe, the European Union nations buy from Russia can be targeted? And the only agreement on that fifth round was

coal.

Going into this sixth round, the foreign minister is going into the meeting this morning and Luxembourg were talking about oil. And that would be a

much bigger financial blow to Russia, if the European Union could agree, a common position to cut off oil supplies, perhaps not immediately, perhaps

by a certain date, we've seen the UK say that it will cut off gas and oil supplies from Russia.

By the end of the year, the European Union's agreed by the end of August to cut off the coal supply. So these are not things that can be done quickly.

And that's been the difficulty here because some nations are more dependent on Russian oil than others. But there is a real galvanized interest to do

this.

And I think you know look at the fact that just over the past few days, the President of the European Parliament has been to Kyiv and met with

officials there. And the European Parliament has come out hugely strongly saying that the EU must stop buying all energy projects from Russia. So

that's a very tough message from the European Parliament.

You've had the European Commission President, the Europeans, top diplomat, the High Representative Vice President in Ukraine over the weekend. So

there is a real political push from the top from the sort of - the European parliamentarians. And really, it's up to the nations to find that common

ground but yet, it hasn't been found the pushes on today with the foreign ministers.

There will be the Europe ministers meeting tomorrow, not just trying to find that common ground on the sanctions, but also sort of trying to push

support for Ukraine in other ways that you know, its desire to join the European Union find out how that can be done more effectively and more

speedily. But oil is the central big ticket item in a sixth round of sanctions.

ANDERSON: Possibly gas to come who knows. But certainly it was the oil and gas industry that Zelenskyy has been pushing so hard for hasn't he? And it

was to Irish lawmakers just last week that he implored Ireland to lean heavily on the EU to sanction Russian oil and gas.

So a lead being taken by the Irish on certainly on the oil at this point. Look, Austria's Chancellor has met with President Putin in Moscow today.

We're told the meeting lasted an hour and 15 minutes, it's now wrapped the visit, of course, has drawn criticism from Ukrainians and from some

European. So what do we understand to have come out of that meeting, Nic?

ROBERTSON: Well, President Zelenskyy said that he was pleased that the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer was going to Moscow to present the

position. He vowed to go into that meeting to look Putin in the eye to tell him the truth to tell him that he'd lost the moral war.

And Nehammer going in with the moral authority of somebody who just been to see the war crimes that he said were committed in Bucha and other places

and saying that people should be held accountable.

So 75 minutes, the Kremlin held the meeting under strict media wraps so that the messaging from the European Austrian side wasn't going to leak out

to the Russian people because the message was a very, very tough one coming from the Austrian Chancellor.

We're told that the meeting was unfriendly that it was direct that it was open, that it was tough that the Austrian Chancellor told President Putin

that he looked the unimaginable suffering of the Ukrainian people in the eye and this was as a result of Russian aggression.

[11:25:00]

ROBERTSON: So he was very direct with President Putin and told Putin as well that the sanctions would continue on Russia, as long as people were

dying in Ukraine. Does this actually change President Putin's course of approach?

Very unlikely in the short term, but that that direct message was one that the Austrian Chancellor said he hoped, at the very least, would give a

chance for more humanitarian corridors to open. But really be the first person who can break inside Putin's inner circle and tell him what's going

on in the outside world and tell him face to face because the assessment all along has been that Putin isn't getting a clearer view of what the real

world thinks that he's trapped in his own bubble and his own advisors.

ANDERSON: Nic is in Brussels Nic, thank you. Ahead on the show, Pakistan's Parliament chooses a new prime minister but who is Shehbaz Sharif, and how

will he lead the country out of its economic and political trouble? We'll be live from Islamabad after this.

And Palestinians, mourn a 21-year-old man killed by Israeli soldiers will speak with the Head of the Palestinian Mission to UK about this latest

string of violent exchanges between Palestinians and Israelis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back to "Connect the World". But before we get back to our continuing coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we'd like to get

you up to speed on some of the other stories that we are following from around the world.

First up Pakistan, which is getting a new Prime Minister, Former Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif is expected to be sworn in soon. Imran Khan, who's

spent a tumultuous nearly four years in office, lost a vote of no confidence on Sunday, backed by an alliance of politicians including

Sharif, more than a dozen defectors from Khan's own party.

Well, protests ramped up again on Sunday with Khan's supporters saying his ouster was a conspiracy by the United States. On the other side, opposition

supporters accused Mr. Khan of treason. Well, a bid to dodge the no confidence vote Khan had dissolve parliament and call for early elections.

But the Supreme Court weighed in and blocked the move, saying it was unconstitutional and Khan was ultimately ousted. Well, CNN's Sophia Saifi

joins me now live from Islamabad. Just tell us a little bit more about who Shehbaz Sharif is and what this means for Pakistan in the short to medium

term?

[11:30:00]

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Becky he is somebody who has been the Chief Minister of the Province of Punjab, which is, you know, he's been the Chief

Minister much lauded Chief Minister of the most populated and politically important province, about three times.

He's known for being very hands on administrator. He's also known to have a great relationship with Beijing. He's the one who was, in fact, responsible

one of the main people responsible for bringing in the One Belt One Road project to Pakistan back in 2015.

He's also known for having corruption cases on going against him and he was the leader of the opposition that led the entire campaign to oust Imran

Khan so he comes from a political family. His brother Nawaz Sharif has also been the Prime Minister and has now been disqualified for life.

But he's promised in his inaugural speech, that he will be tackling Pakistan's economy which is currently in a very dire strait, so that's

something he's got about a year and a half to fix it. So let's see how that works out Becky?

ANDERSON: Thank you. Well, a 21-year-old Palestinian man in the West Bank has died after Israeli soldiers shot him. They say he was throwing Molotov

cocktails at cars. Israeli forces have been stepping up operations across the West Bank and Jerusalem there have been weeks of shooting attacks on

Israeli civilians.

On Sunday, Israeli forces also shot and killed two Palestinian women in separate incidents in the West Bank. In the first the army says a woman

failed to heed their auditors stop as she ran towards a checkpoint. In the second incident Israeli border police said a Palestinian woman who stabbed

a police officer was shot and killed.

Well, these are just some of the violent encounters between Israelis and Palestinians in recent weeks. Hadas Gold is up live for us from Jerusalem.

Let's start with what we know here. What's going on what happened?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, the violence is really escalating and everything I can tell you feels very much on edge. As you

noted, the Israeli military operations and raids in the West Bank have increased dramatically.

And this the Israeli military says it's in direct response to a series of terror attacks that have taken place in the last three weeks or so were 14

people were killed. But also at least four Palestinians in the past 48 hours have died as a result of Israeli forces in separate four separate

incidences.

Now, in all but one of those incidences, the Israeli military says that they shot in response to violence. There was a stabbing, as you noted,

there was one of a Molotov cocktail allegedly being thrown at an Israeli vehicle.

But one incident in particular is bringing up a lot of questions and international condemnation. And this is the incident on Sunday of a 47-

year-old woman who was shot at a military checkpoint not far from Bethlehem.

And according to the Israeli army, the woman was told to stop before approaching the checkpoint and when she didn't do so they fired warning

shots in the air. Now video from the scene does show her then running towards the soldiers who then shot at her legs.

And she later died from those wounds. And I should note she was also later found to be unarmed. Now the Israeli military says that as far as they can

tell their soldiers followed the protocol, but they will be investigating the incident.

But the action has brought condemnation from organizations like the United Nations and the European Union, who say this incident shows and others show

an excessive use of force by Israeli forces against civilians.

And Becky things really don't feel like they're going to be coming down anytime soon, especially as we look towards this weekend, when Ramadan,

which is ongoing, will overlap with both Passover and Easter. This is not something that happens very often.

So a lot of the concern that tensions will just continue to rise and that there will just be more violence, Becky.

ANDERSON: What officials specifically from both sides been saying about this recent uptick in violence? I mean, and this is, you know, I talked

about violence here. And these are deadly, deadly incidence.

GOLD: Very much deadly incidences. So let's start with the Israelis. The Israeli military says that in terms of those terror attacks that have been

happening in the last month or so they don't see any sort of grand organization behind them. There's not one terrorist organization that's

been any planning these in any sort of way.

And while militants in places like Gaza, like Hamas have praised these attacks, Gaza has actually been incredibly quiet in the recent weeks. This

is of course very much in contradiction to what we saw just around this time last year when tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank boiled over and

helped lead to that 11 day conflict between Israel and the Hamas and militants in Gaza.

Now the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said in a statement yesterday that the State of Israel has gone on the offense and that there

are no restrictions on Israeli security forces in the war against terrorism.

[11:35:00]

GOLD: The Israeli security cabinet has also improved extending that barrier wall between the West Bank and Israel. This will be replacing wire fencing

with those really high concrete barriers.

Now, on the Palestinian side, the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had condemned those attacks against Israeli civilians, but did warn

about it leading to a cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis.

And today, the Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad accused Israel of what he called a shoot to kill policy warning that Palestinian anger is mounting

and that matters are escalating. And he's calling on the international community to do more; he said to stop the Israeli aggression Becky.

ANDERSON: Hadas thank you! Well, my next guest spoke out about the killing of the woman who is really forces there refuse to stop approaching the

checkpoint. "Tweets from the UN and EU Representatives from Palestine" expressing shock at the Israeli military murdering a Palestinian mother of

six yesterday and her son near Bethlehem" I am shocked at their shock and wonder, does shock ever lead to action?

Well, that's the Head of the Palestinian mission to the UK who Husam Zomlot, who I'm pleased to say it's joining me live in the studio. What

sort of action would you like to see just out of interest?

HUSAM ZOMLOT, HEAD OF PALESTINIAN MISSION TO UK: International law is very clearly defined. I mean, the premise of it is the inadmissibility of

acquiring land by force, which Israel has been doing for at least 55 years. The full array of international sanctions has been applied on Russia only

in a matter of weeks.

But over 74 years, the Palestinian people have been suffering from colonization, military occupation, killings, it's getting fields. I mean,

you've just described the woman she is half blind, she didn't tear them. They simply executed her and everyday only yesterday, four Palestinians

were killed, including a young boy - Academy Engineering.

And now we're hearing reports that they miss identified that boy, that misidentification happens on a daily basis. So the international rules are

very clear. And the Palestinian people have had it Becky they're sick and tired of the double standards of the hypocrisy.

And they have adopted the non-violence; we have adopted the non-violence seeking to go to the international organizations going to the International

Criminal Court. And guess what, we have been blocked even from pursuing such peaceful action. So there is a rise of temperature in Palestine.

ANDERSON: I read a lot of analysis at the moment that suggests that there is on the Palestinian side, no guiding hand, apparent in the incidence

events, the attacks that are happening against Israeli. So I just - I want to know where you believe this is headed at this point.

ZOMLOT: There is a guiding hand. It's the occupation.

ANDERSON: You know what I meant by that question?

ZOMLOT: Yes, the root causes of all this is very well done.

ANDERSON: But there's no every single group involved here. That's the point. I mean, and that is the worry, I think for people watching this.

ZOMLOT: It's not the worry if we really want to understand it, international media has got to stop blaming the victims and start

understanding them and what's happening and exposing the reality that leads to all these events. And this has been ongoing and repeating itself.

I think it's about time that we understand why young people do what they do. Why a person who was born in a refugee camp, who has seen his camp

destroyed twice, who knows the story of his parents as they fled under gun force removed from their homes? Why would he do that? It is about hope, and

hopelessness. It is about trust and believe.

ANDERSON: What do you make the apparent discrepancy between Mahmoud Abbas's condemnation of - and the response of the Governor in Jeanine, to attend

the mourning for the attacker? I'm just trying to get your sense of the positioning, for example, by the Palestinian President, at this point. Does

he understand what you have just explained to me about what is going on in a refugee camp, right?

ZOMLOT: Of course he does. And of course, every single day, even when he condemns any acts against Palestinian or Israeli civilians, he also reminds

the world that this is because of the occupation and that we need an international momentum and peace process to end this occupation once and

for all, and actually to provide some future for these kids.

So he knows but the Palestinian public also realizes that such young people are the double victims of occupation.

ANDERSON: There were some discrepancy, though, in his statement wasn't there?

ZOMLOT: Which is?

ANDERSON: Which is you know, he's condemning what happened, and we get the response to the Governor in Jeanine to attend the mourning of the attack.

I'm just trying to establish where, where the politics are around this?

ZOMLOT: The politics is the difference between strategic and human. In strategic terms we have adopted nonviolence for many years that took us to

the United Nations seeking recognition of the State of Palestine going to the ICC.

[11:40:00]

ZOMLOT: And guess what, Becky, its Western countries, including the UK, who actually issue public letters saying they will not allow the Palestinians

to seek the International Criminal Court. So there is no discrepancy. This discrepancy is here. It's in the international community.

It's in the international media that keeps depicting, you tell me, what would you recommend the Ukrainian people would do? I see the media full of

loading them for taking up arms defending their land, you know, throwing Molotov cocktails.

And when it comes to Palestinians, we are still described as terrorists. So it is about time, high time that we truly, truly understand the situation

as it is. The Palestinian people have had it.

ANDERSON: There's no sign yet of widespread violent protest in the West Bank. Do you expect that to change at this point?

ZOMLOT: The Palestinian people have been at it on their land for 74 years. There have been so many attempts at uprooting us, not only from the 48

areas which became Israel, my own parents were uprooted from our home and I became a refugee and I was born in a refugee camp to the very south of

Gaza.

But it is ongoing Nakba catastrophe. You follow the house demolitions, evictions on a daily basis, and the murder. I mean, the media picks on

deteriorating situation when Israelis are harmed. But last year, only more than 355 Palestinians were killed, including 78 children, Becky, and it

wasn't picked up on.

So every household every neighborhood has a child who has been killed. A woman who has been misidentified has a neighborhood that has been

devastated, cannot travel cannot work cannot move in a system that was described only recently by Amnesty International here in the UK based and

before it the Human Rights Watch in the U.S. to be full-fledged apartheid that is Israel operating.

So the root causes are very well defined. We know that human rights organizations know them. Palestinians live it on a daily basis. The

question is why aren't we visiting the root causes? Why are we putting Israel above the law? And you know the situation in Ukraine has really

exposed the selectivity of the international community.

ANDERSON: Zomlot it's good to have you with us. Thank you very much indeed. Up next, he was born in Russia and writes his books in Russian. But his

work has been banned in Russia since 2014. One of Ukraine's best known Authors Andrey Kurkov joins me live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, a Ukrainian official as an expected Russian offensive in Ukraine's Eastern Donbas region has already started. Satellite images show

a 13 kilometer long convoy of tanks and armored vehicles just east of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv over the weekend.

[11:45:00]

ANDERSON: Now the Russian military shifting its focus to the east is after a stalled offensive and withdrawal from areas around the Capital. Scenes of

destruction and horror left in their wake. My next guest is Andrey Kurkov, a Prominent Ukrainian Novelist who's been watching these attacks. And those

attacks against artists about against journalists and intellectuals across the country in a recent article, he writes, culture is what cements a

nation.

Ukrainian culture has only just begun to revive after 70 years of Soviet rules 70 years of censorship and persecution. But today that culture and

its representatives are the targets of Russian bombers. He joins us now live from Mukachevo and thank you.

Just give us a sense, if you will, of what life is like in Ukraine and what it's like to be a writer there today?

ANDREY KURKOV, UKRAINIAN NOVELIST: Well, to be a writer doesn't mean to write fiction anymore, because we know the writers are involved in

humanitarian projects and different activities, social political activities. They also write texts and reports for international media and

for Ukrainian websites.

But generally, they become public figures, those who are civil civilians. Of course, we have several writers who are fighting on the front line. And

we have several writers who left for abroad and became refugees in Poland and in Germany.

ANDERSON: In that same article that I just read out to our viewers, you said that you'd asked a writer friend in occupied - to keep a diary of life

under occupation and send it to you so that you could keep it safe. Did your friend do that? And that how important is your role today as a writer,

sir?

KURKOV: Well, it's quite interesting because I haven't received anything from my friend. I received a couple of emails that she is fine. One email

every three or four days, but probably I assume she is afraid to write and at the same time, I'm receiving letters from imprisoned - journalist from

Simferopol prison from - and I am capable to send him photos of my letters. So the situation is quite unpredictable.

ANDERSON: You are ethnically Russian. But you said that you consider yourself politically Ukrainian you have the option to leave Ukraine but you

did decide to stay put why? And what has this war done to the people of Ukraine?

KURKOV: Well, I'm a Ukrainian. I'm a Ukrainian citizen of Russian origin. I mean, there are probably about 7 million ethnic Russians who are

Ukrainians. There are half a million of Armenians who are Ukrainian citizens.

So I mean, for me, I belong to Ukraine, whatever I do belongs to Ukraine. And to go abroad to become a refugee, this is the least appealing

possibility for me. I mean, only if I'm forced physically out of the country, I will leave this country because the writer exists only on his

own territory, when he becomes or she becomes a refugee abroad.

You stop, I mean, representing your literature, your country, you are becoming an immigrant; you have to survive to adapt to new conditions of

life. And of course, you start suffering because of your detachment from your previous life where you were useful, where you were read, where you

were respected, and you had your place in this society.

ANDERSON: I want to just bring up a photo that you took in, in Borodianka, one of the towns near Kyiv that until recently was occupied by Russian

forces. And this is an image that we have on the screen now shows a bullet hole in the monument of Taras Shevchenko, the National Poet of Ukraine

whose themes explored oppression by the Russian Empire in the 19 - sorry, in the 1800s.

And this, this is a photo steeped in symbolism, isn't it? What was your reaction when you first came across this and how much do you fear that

Ukraine's culture and heritage is being destroyed as this invasion grinds on?

KURKOV: Well, I think we can talk about hundreds of historical buildings, if not thousands, destroyed, dozens of churches, one synagogue, one mosque,

many museums, theaters, et cetera. So I mean this bullet in the head of the monument just shows to me that Russia did not change from a 19th century.

[11:50:00]

KURKOV: And from 20th century when actually half of Ukrainian writers and poets were executed in the northern camp of - in 1920s and 30s, when they

were trying to resurrect Ukrainian literature, Ukrainian theater.

So I mean Ukrainian culture is a danger for Russia. And this is just a Poland because I mean, there was always respect for Russian culture in

Ukraine. But Ukrainians just wanted to be left alone with their culture and not to interfere.

And for 70 years, Russia was interfering with Ukrainian culture, supporting communist writers and killing dissidents and killing writers who were

advocated the idea of independent Ukrainian culture and independent Ukraine.

ANDERSON: Sir stay safe, and keep up the good work. And you and I should talk again, at some point soon. I've got to take a very short break at this

point. Thank you, sir.

KURKOV: Thank you very much.

ANDERSON: We'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, just a couple of minutes left of the show. Regular viewers of this program will know that this show is normally broadcast from the UAE

and we follow the country's vibrant and evolving art scene there.

Are parting shots today and exhibition which charts the development of those scenes is the founding of the country 50 years ago portrayed or a

nation to part of the Abu Dhabi Festival brings together a unique collection of Emirati and expat artists and works tracing the UAE's

development as a cultural hub? The Curator of that Exhibits Maya - gave us a tour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): The exhibition really explores the development of the art scene in the UAE over 50 years from the founding of

the nation up until now. We have 62 artists, we have over 110 artworks.

We divided the exhibition to five themes, the first being a reclaiming reimagining. The second theme is shifting the landscape, configurations of

togetherness, reclaiming reimagining language. And finally, the fifth theme is about shifting, so shall at least what are the changes that are

happening at the society level.

The Scene in the Gulf, it's quite a young scene. But also it is a scene that has developed so quickly - Mohammed Yusuf is an artist who very much

was one of the founding artists of the scene. He is part of the art. He was challenging the understanding of what art is and how art should be

practiced?

And rather than making artists about the idea of living art, the Manhattan installation how useless are 1000 spoons which is actually a commission for

denomination to these are 1000 handmade ceramic spoons and obviously it is a comment on consumerism, but it's also comment on mass production.

I think it's the first time where we have an exhibition that really charts the development of this scene from really from the beginning up until now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And that exhibition in Abu Dhabi closes on Saturday. You've been watching "Connect the World" I'm Becky Anderson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello everyone! I'm Zain Asher in New York and you aren't watching "One World". Ukrainians are bracing for what's

expected to be a brutal and concentrated Russian assault in the eastern part of the country.

The next target appears to be the Donbas region a senior Ukrainian official says the onslaught there has already begun with Moscow continuing to amass

forces. Meantime new satellite images show--

END