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U.N. Chief Says War Will Continue until "Russia Decides to End It"; Ukrainian Rape Victim Recounts Attack; Police Deliver Aid to Civilians on Front Line in Ukraine; Russia Steps Up Shelling in Eastern Ukraine; Family Demands Police Remove Video of Daughter Dying; "Heaviest Airstrikes So Far" on Azovstal Steel Plant; Ukraine Gathering Evidence of Atrocities Committed in Bucha; Biden Administration Requests $33 Billion in Ukraine Aid; Russian Space Walk at the ISS; Lviv Church Becomes Haven for Ukrainian Refugees. Aired 10-10:40a ET
Aired April 28, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): This is Dasha. She is 16 and was six months pregnant when it just over a month ago,
Russian forces came to her village here.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the war's ugliest crimes are being dragged into the light by CNN reporting in
Ukraine's Kherson region.
Then --
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's one more delivery that the police have got to make but every time we try to get out
the front door of this building, there's another impact. There's another one now.
GIOKOS (voice-over): Delivering aid to vulnerable people, as shells continue to rain down. Sam Kiley joins a group of brave police officers on
their daily journey.
And --
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Azovstal was partially demolished during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s.
Now it faces the wrath of a president who says he's denazifying it.
GIOKOS (voice-over): This steel plant has become Mariupol's last line of defense. The fate of those still trapped inside is uncertain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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GIOKOS: I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
Happening this hour, the U.S. president is scheduled to speak on America's continued support for Ukraine, as that nation fights for its people and its
freedoms against Russia. The U.N. secretary general is in Ukraine today, ahead of talks with President Zelenskyy.
It comes just two days after Antonio Guterres sat down with Vladimir Putin and urged the Russian leader to allow the immediate evacuation of
civilians. Guterres later told CNN's Anderson Cooper that it's up to Moscow to end this war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: That war will not end with meetings. The war will end when the Russian Federation decides to end
it and when there is -- after the cease-fire -- the possibility of a serious political agreement. We can have all meetings but that is not what
will end the war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: But some believe Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon. Britain's defense secretary says Putin may try to consolidate
what he already has in Ukraine and dig in like, quote, "a cancerous growth."
Meanwhile, the U.N. foreign secretary is urging Western allies to supply Ukraine with more heavy weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ TRUSS, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES: The war in Ukraine is our war. It's everyone's war because Ukraine's
victory is a strategic imperative for all of us. Heavy weapons, tanks, airplanes, digging deep in our inventories, ramping up production, we need
to do all of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Ukraine's military is reporting intense fire across the east, with Russia's focus on making a breakthrough in the Kharkiv region. And the
situation is growing even more dire in the occupied city of Kherson.
A Russian appointed official in the region claims a return to Ukrainian control is now quote, "impossible."
And Russian state news reports that Kherson will move to the ruble payment zone beginning next month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
GIOKOS (voice-over): That loud explosion erupted in Kherson overnight, reportedly near the city's main TV broadcaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Now horrifying stories of atrocities by Russian forces are emerging across Ukraine, including in occupied Kherson. Among, them a 16
year old girl, who says she was raped by a Russian soldier. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has her story. And a warning, the details are quite harrowing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice-over): It is from these gentle shrugs of villages, lazy and clean, in the green expanses of the Kherson region, that some of this war's
ugliest crimes are being dragged into the light.
This is Dasha. She is 16. And was six months pregnant when just over a month ago, Russian forces came to her village here.
[10:05:00]
WALSH (voice-over): Her family were in the basement sheltering from bombs, the cold and the Russians shooting in the air or at cars and legs, she
said.
At dusk, they brought the children out to the kitchen to eat, where there were two soldiers, one drunk.
DASHA: He asked how old every one was. There was a girl there who is 12, another one 14 and I 16. First he called my mother into another room. He
let her go quickly.
Then he called for me and he started to shout. Well first he started telling me to undress. I told him, I will not. And he started shouting at
me. He said if I don't undress he will kill me.
WALSH: His sober colleague then came in and told the drunk attacker to stop to no avail and left.
DASHA: When I resisted, he was strangling me. And he was saying he'll kill me. And he said, either you sleep with me now or I will bring 20 more men.
WALSH: By then, night had fallen in the cold house.
DASHA: I just remember that he had blue eyes. It was dark there and I don't remember more. WALSH: She heard the Russians say her attacker's name
was Blue. He was from Donetsk and had a criminal past. He tried to attack her again, she said, until Russian snipers later came to help her.
But still some of the Russian soldiers in that unit even were disgusted by what happened then tried to move her and part of her family away to safety.
That began a process in which Russian soldiers seemed to try to get her to go back on the claim she had made.
Two days later, she was taken to a Russian paratrooper commander who, she said, began shouting at her, like her attacker had.
DASHA: He said he would do to me the same as what the rapist did. I was so frightened I started crying. He it was a test for him to check whether I
was lying or telling the truth.
WALSH: It seems that they did believe her but the fate of her rapist remains unclear. While we cannot independently verify her harrowing story,
Ukrainian prosecutors told us they have investigated the case and confirmed this attack, which they said was a war crime.
But like so much here, the question why is the one without a humane, palatable answer.
DASHA: If we hadn't gotten out to eat, he wouldn't have seen us and then maybe he wouldn't have touched me. We were told that he was going around
the village looking for someone he could -- a girl of easy virtue as they said.
WALSH: There are lives here that you can see Russia has changed forever but also those whose trauma sits beneath the surface and lives on -- Nick
Paton Walsh, CNN, Kherson Region, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: And if you would like to help those in Ukraine who may need shelter, food and water, please go to cnn.com/impact. You will find several
ways you can help safely and securely.
Now supplies like food and water are desperately needed in Eastern Ukraine. CNN's Sam Kiley has been in the thick of things and brings us the latest
from the battlefield. Here is his report.
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KILEY (voice-over): Sievierodonetsk on the front line with Russia. It's an artillery front line.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basement, let's get into the basement.
KILEY: Local police are delivering aid to civilians unable to leave. There's no time to wait out the bombardment. There's no likely end to the
shelling either. Supplies need delivering and fast.
She tells me there are three people next door including a granny of 92. Upstairs, a bedridden woman. She says that normally they stay in their flat
and only use the basement when it's bad. Thank you for not forgetting us, she adds.
The urgency of these sorts of deliveries cannot be exaggerated. Just in this block, there's mostly old people. One gentleman is dying of cancer in
front of his wife. She's saying she's living in a double hell.
Since we have been here, there have been five, six, eight impacts very, very close. And almost every tree, every corner, every bit of this local
neighborhood has got the signs of recent impact. And Russians are just a kilometer, maybe three away.
Russian guns are so close you can hear the whole arc of their shells.
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KILEY (voice-over): From Kyiv to Mariupol, from Kharkiv to here, this is the Russian way of war, pound civilians, flatten cities and maybe occupy
the ashes.
Alexander (ph) says we're in danger now, they're shelling us, so it could come at any moment and shrapnel could hurt us. We try to hide there in the
bomb shelter.
Two months of war has driven these people underground. And there's no end in sight.
The fear, Alexander confesses, he tries to keep inside. But it creeps out.
There's one more delivery that the police have got to make but every time we try to get out the front door of this building, there's another impact.
There's another one now.
They're saying that the hospital, which is nearby, is under heavy shelling. We were planning to go there. We can't get through nor indeed at the moment
can we even get out of this bunker.
The hospital was hit, images of the damage done that morning posted online by the local administration. Officials said that one civilian was killed,
others injured and several floors were badly damaged. The humanitarian effort goes on.
This woman asks only for the basics of existence. Water and candles for light.
Good job. You do this every day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
KILEY: Lukdon (ph) tells me most people left here now have nowhere else to go. They have lived here all their lives and don't want to abandon their
homes.
Do you think the Russians are going to take Sievierodonetsk?
Never, he says, we will stand our ground to the last man. No one will leave here. That may be a dangerous claim. It's likely that Ukrainians will
destroy this bridge to hold up the invasion. And anyone still here would then be trapped in Russian hands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Incredible reporting there by our Sam Kiley and he now joins me.
You are in Kramatorsk now, Sam. Thank you so much for bringing us that insight. You can, see it's a race against time. It's about survival for
Ukrainians and also to push back the Russians.
Listening to the U.S. Defense Secretary, saying that the Russian military has already been weakened to some extent and yet you see on the ground,
intensity coming through, specifically in the east.
What is your assessment, in terms of the Ukrainians' capabilities to be able to hold on and resist for much longer?
KILEY: Well, if we describe it or look at it from a defensive perspective, the Ukrainians have to react. They have to react to the movement of Russian
troops, who themselves are spread extremely thin. And their front line extends from Izyum in the north in a great big arc, all the way down to
Mykolaiv in the south.
That has got to be some 500 miles. No general would want to command a front line that dispersed. That, said they are concentrating their efforts very
clearly here in the northeast. They are trying to push down south from Izyum. They are trying to push along the Donetsk River. Their ultimate
prize is here in Kramatorsk.
Now if the Ukrainians can be resupplied with the sort of sophisticated weapons being offered by NATO, coordinated by the United Kingdom and the
United States, they may be able to take more of the initiative, to push back, to counterattack and to force some of their enemies' plans to change.
But this is, I think, in the view certainly of the mayor of Kramatorsk, something for discussion, perhaps over the next week or so because, in his
view, the Russians aren't yet showing their full hand. They are, in his view, building up more troops, more focus, likely to be here in the east.
And indeed, their efforts, he suggested, in the south, may be a feint to try to draw off Ukrainian troops. It's very finely balanced indeed. But
clearly the Russians are still trying to employ the sort of tactics, indeed strategy, that go back to the mid-1940s.
We're now nearly a century later or at least 60, 70, 80, 90 years later, from the days when the Soviets would run tanks across Ukraine, butcher
entire villages and try to dominate the population here. That is clearly what they are trying to do this time around. That's clearly what the
Ukrainians are trying to prevent.
GIOKOS: Sam, thank you so very much. Great to have you on.
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GIOKOS: Appreciate your reporting.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russia's leadership has launched a new series of energy blackmail efforts aimed at Europeans. In
the wake of that declaration, two European energy firms are in talks with Gazprom about how to pay for Russian natural gas, while complying with E.U.
sanctions.
As we've been reporting, Russia has cut off supplies to Poland as well as Bulgaria for rejecting Moscow's demands to pay for gas in its local
currency, rubles. But it is a different story for Hungary. Its foreign minister confirms to CNN that his country will use the Russian payment
scheme to pay for its oil and gas. He told us why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER SZIJJARTO, HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Now 85 percent of our gas supply comes from Russia and 65 percent of our oil supply comes from
Russia.
Why?
Because this is being determined by infrastructure. This is not for fun. We have not chosen this situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: We have Clare Sebastian joining me now live from London.
Clare, it was a really smart move by the Russians to demand payment in rubles. It would shore up the currency but also it is a way to put the
Europeans in a very difficult position. Take us through the stance of the Russians right now.
How difficult is it for the Europeans and whether this brings into question the very nature of the sanctions?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a complicated situation. It is a gray area when it comes to sanctions and perhaps pointedly so. When this
payment mechanism was first announced, experts were saying to me look, this is being designed so that both sides can essentially coexist.
They can avoid looking like they are capitulating to the other side. Because the way this works is that countries are not actually being asked
to pay in rubles. What they do is they open two accounts at Gazprombank, which is the bank that funnels transactions into Gazprom, one in euros,
one in rubles.
They pay that money for gas in the currency that their contract stipulates. And then Gazprombank carries out a conversion into rubles and completes
that transaction. So the E.U. system might be a way to comply with the method without violating sanctions.
Two companies in Europe have confirmed to us they are in talks with Gazprom, saying that they suspect there is also a sanctions compliant way
to do that. I think a big question rests on when the transaction ends.
If it ends when they deposit money into the dollar or euro account or if it ends when it completes via the ruble account. So it is a complicated
mechanism.
But as you say, it is immensely fortuitous for the Russian side because they are not only using their leverage, demonstrating their leverage,
weaponizing their energy exports but they are also revealing divisions within Europe, which is straight out of the Russian playbook.
We have a clear lack of consensus. If you look at what Hungary said, we just can't do this, we're going to pay in rubles, now we have companies
saying they are in talks with Gazprom. So Europe says unity, solidarity that you can see on this, I think what is being revealed is they are not
there yet.
GIOKOS: Yes, some creative accounting going on and as you say, it is very complex. Thank you so much, Clare Sebastian, great to have you on.
Right ahead on the show, fear is growing Beijing that the city may be moving toward a nightly COVID lockdown, like the one that we saw in
Shanghai. There are already some new restrictions, which we will tell you all about right after this. Stay with us.
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GIOKOS: China's zero COVID strategy is struggling to contain its latest outbreak, according to the flight tracking app VeriFLY. More than 1,000
flights have been canceled at China's busiest airport.
That is after regular screening of airport staff on Wednesday, which found, quote, "an abnormal COVID test result." The idea that Beijing is moving
toward a more stringent lockdown like we saw in Shanghai. And that is where nearly all 25 million people are confined to their homes or neighborhoods.
Already Beijing has already launched mass testing, has shut down some of those schools as well as imposed targets and lockdowns on some residential
areas. Our Selina Wang is in southwestern China.
Selina, the big question here is, is this zero COVID strategy actually working?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the early days of the pandemic, it appeared to be effective in containing the spread. But, Eleni, now we are
in year three. And the Omicron variant is proving to be a much bigger challenge.
We are seeing COVID outbreaks across China. At least 27 Chinese cities have rolled out either full or partial lockdowns, which have impacted up to 165
million people. And while we are seeing a relatively small number coming from these places, very stringent lockdown measures are going in place.
For, example just yesterday after just one person tested positive for COVID-19, an entire city of 1 million people went into full lockdown. This
is as Beijing, as you say, are dealing with a nascent outbreak. And officials are rushing to quash it as early as possible to avoid the
failures and chaos that we saw in Shanghai.
So far since Friday, as a result of rounds of mass testing, they've only reported less than 200 COVID-19 cases. But already we are seeing parts of
the city going into lockdown, closing several major hospitals. Many schools are closing, down and they are urging people to work from home and not to
travel.
So far we have seen some panic buying at the supermarkets. People are stocking up on dry, foods daily essentials. Because there is a fear that
this could turn into a wider citywide lockdown.
Residents of Beijing have seen the horrors of what people went through in Shanghai. The lack of, food the lack of medical care. The poor conditions
at these quarantine facilities. And meanwhile in Shanghai, still, many of those 25 million residents of the city have been under lockdown. Sealed in
their homes for more than a month now.
That is fueling further anger and frustration. The city is even putting up some steel fences and barriers to cordon off COVID hit areas. It is
important to mention, here, Eleni, that while officials are saying they are starting to ease some of these restrictions in Shanghai, for neighborhoods
where there have been no new COVID cases for 14 days, that is an extremely tenuous freedom.
If even one COVID case is found, that clock for 14 days resets. So for Shanghai there is still no clear end in sight.
GIOKOS: Selina, Wang great to have you on. Thank you so much for that insight. We will be keeping a very close watch to see what plays out in
Beijing. Much appreciated.
Let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol will begin his presidency with a summit
with U.S. President Joe Biden. A spokesperson for Yoon said that the visit will be a historic turning point.
Mr. Biden heads to Seoul and Japan next month, amid tensions with North Korea and China.
The world's tropical forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. More than 11 million hectares of forest were destroyed last year, mostly from
logging and fires. According to a new report, it says 2.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere, imperiling efforts to
fight global warming.
The family of the woman killed on the set of the movie "Rust" last year --
[10:25:00]
GIOKOS: -- is demanding local police remove the video it released of her dying. That is according to a letter written by the family's attorney that
CNN obtained. The video is among several files investigators in Newt Mexico released Monday from its ongoing probe in October.
The cinematographer was killed and the director injured when a gun that was being handled by actor Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD from CNN's Middle East broadcasting headquarters in Abu Dhabi. I am Eleni Giokos. And still ahead, we hear
heartrending accounts from residents in Mariupol, watching helplessly as the city they live in and love is destroyed by Russian fire.
And U.S. President Joe Biden is set to talk about American support for Ukraine at the White House. We will bring you a live report just ahead.
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GIOKOS: Welcome, back I am Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi and you are watching CONNECT THE WORLD.
Just two days after meeting Russia's president in Moscow, the U.N. secretary-general will sit today with the Ukrainian president in Kyiv.
Ahead of his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Antonio Guterres toured Bucha, where Russia is accused of war crimes. He told CNN that the war will
continue until Russia decides to end it.
He offered scathing criticism of the war in a village not far from Bucha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: There is no way a war can be acceptable in the 21st century. Look at that.
GIOKOS: Ukraine's military says that Russian forces are intensifying fire across Eastern parts of the country, as they stage a multipronged
offensive. Officials in a village in the Donetsk region posted photos showing dozens of houses damaged by Russian shelling.
A Russian appointed official in occupied Kherson said that a referendum on the region's future is no longer under consideration because a return to
Ukrainian control is impossible. A Russian state news agency reports that Kherson will start using rubles as currency on Sunday.
An official in Mariupol tells CNN that the besieged city of Azovstal's steel plant complex has endured its heaviest Russian attacks since the
start of the war, with more than 50 airstrikes overnight. He says there are dead and wounded in the rubble of hospitals.
CNN can't confirm that. Ukrainian forces remain holed up inside the giant complex, Mariupol's last line of defense. Their fate and the women and
children also said to be living there uncertain.
[10:30:00]
GIOKOS: Isa Soares has more on the horrific toll that Putin's war has taken on the city and its residents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES (voice-over): Ivan (ph) used to live on Mariupol Peace Avenue.
You want your city to remain the same as it was in your memory, he tells me. That city now lies in ruins, a shell of what it once was.
And the steel plant his family has dedicated three generations to suddenly finds itself as Mariupol's last line of defense.
Seeing your city being destroyed is horrible, he tells me, you could compare it to a relative dying in your arms and seeing him or her dying
gradually organ after organ failing and you could do nothing.
For his colleague, Alexei (ph), it's also personal. He has lost not just friends but his mother-in-law to shelling when they first tried to flee
Mariupol.
How does this make you feel?
You must be so angry.
My emotions disappeared already there in Mariupol, he says, that's why there's nothing but hate.
Alexei (ph) has worked at the steel plant for 26 years. He's one of 11,000 employees who have kept the iron furnaces turning here. A major player in
the metals industry, Azovstal produces four million tons of steel a year. It's metal shining brightly in Manhattan's Hudson Yards and London shard.
Now as Russia pummels its plant and production jolts to a halt, the CEO of the company behind Azovstal steel, tells me at least 150 of his employees
have been killed and thousands are still unaccounted for.
YURIY RYZHENKOV, CEO, METINVEST: Out of the 11,000 employees of Azovstal, only about 4.5 thousand people get out of Mariupol and get in contact with
us.
SOARES: This is our plant, as Metapa (ph) says. He works here, says his little girl in a promotional video. Built in 1933 under Soviet rule,
Azovstal was partially demolished during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s.
Now it faces the wrath of a president who says he's denazifying it, attacking the very foundation that this country helped build.
Holed up inside a thought to be around a thousand civilians hiding in shelters. Women, children and the elderly, who haven't seen sunlight in
more than 50 days. And then, there's the injured in field hospitals like this one.
Russian forces continue to encircle the plant and they are not patching.
RYZHENKOV: I don't think it's the plant that he wants. I think he's about symbolism.
SOARES: A win in the port city of Mariupol will provide President Putin with a land bridge to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in
2014.
If fully taken, Rinat Akhmetov one of Ukraine's richest men and the main shareholder of the group behind Azovstal steel tells me via e- mail, under
no circumstances will these plants operate under the Russian occupation.
Alexei (ph) agrees, telling me after what they did, never. A wall of steel defending to the bitter end, the place they have called home -- Isa Soares,
CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: The U.N. secretary general toured Bucha today. He called devastation in and around the city a horrific scenario. Images of the
carnage left by Russian troops shocked the world. CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke with a Ukrainian prosecutor, who is gathering evidence of the crimes
in Bucha.
We must warn you, the images in this report are immediate and graphic.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: In Bucha, blood still stains the streets. When Russian troops pulled out, this is what they left behind on Yablonska
Street. The bodies of several men shot to death, hands tied behind their backs.
Further down, this person was shot to death on their bicycle and another and another and another and another and another.
What happened here?
RUSLAN KRAVCHENKO, BUCHA PROFESSOR (through translator): Local residents were killed on the street by the Russian military. They were shot and
killed anyone just going out to the street around their business or going to pick up humanitarian aid.
COOPER: Ruslan Kravchenko was Bucha's prosecutor. He's now collecting evidence of war crimes.
KRAVCHENKO (through translator): People were killed at this point. There was a woman killed here. They were bodies here and there, where the road is
starting left.
[10:35:00]
KRAVCHENKO (through translator): There were people riding bicycles who were killed by the Russian military.
COOPER: Russia denies it all. They say that more than 300 bodies found in Bucha after Russian troops withdrew were staged.
As for these satellite images taken in mid-March when Russia was occupying Bucha would show bodies in the exact same locations they were later found
on Yablonska Street. Russia says they too are fake. But the evidence already overwhelming continues to grow.
Prosecutors have been gathering evidence for weeks and have now revealed to us that they have photographs and videos taken over the course of several
days as the killings occurred here. They say the images were captured by a person in this house on their cell phone camera.
It was through these windows he saw the slaughter. This is one of his first pictures taken on March 5th. Two bodies reportedly killed that day were
visible outside his window.
On March 6th when this picture was taken, a third body is visible on the street. This video taken on March 7th, shows at least two more bodies.
Ruslan Kravchenko says these images and the data in the camera phone they were taken with provides important proof of exactly who was killed and
when.
KRAVCHENKO: It will prove that it was a particular phone that the pictures were taken with and also, the time and the location that they were taken.
The Russian Federation will not be able to continue saying that this was set up with the effects.
COOPER: We tracked down the man who risked his life to take these photos and video, we agreed not to show his face.
Were you scared to take pictures?
I mean, if they had seen you're taking pictures, you could have been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course there was fear. But I had to prove that was them that they killed people who were civilians. I had to do something.
COOPER: Do you remember the first person killed on your street?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first one to get killed was the man on the bicycle to the left of my house. On March 6th, there were more dead people. There
was seven people dead on the street on March 6th, seven dead people. I couldn't capture all the bodies from the window. There was a wall in the
way.
COOPER: What do you want to see happen to those Russians, to everybody in the chain of command?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They must be punished. There was a young guy who was bringing potatoes in a bag, maybe for his family. The stores were closed.
There was no power, no heating, no water. He wanted to help and he was killed or does he deserve only punishment.
COOPER: But punishing the guilty won't be easy. There were a number of different Russian units as I understand who were stationed here at one time
or another, you need to try to identify which unit it was and what the chain of command was.
KRAVCHENKO: And it's very important to identify not only the commanders but concrete troops who committed the crimes and have them held
accountable.
COOPER: Kravchenko says 10 Russian soldiers in Bucha have already been identified using eyewitness accounts along with drone footage and images
like this one taken by a traffic surveillance camera not far from the Yablonska Street.
But whether he can learn the identities of the Russian stationed on Yablonska Street is unclear. The man killed on March 5th on his bike was
68-year-old Vladimir (ph) Brovchenko. His wife, Svetlana, lives not far away. They were married for 45 years and have two kids and three
grandchildren.
SVITLANA BROVCHENKO, HUSBAND WAS KILLED IN BUCHA (through translator): We told him not to go to work because there were tanks on Yablonska Street. We
told him not to go. He said no, I have to go to work. I have work to do.
I didn't know what to tell you. It's awful. It's awful.
COOPER: It is all so awful. The bicycle her husband rode is still on Yablonska Street, near the spot where he died. She doesn't want it back.
The horror of what happened is just too terrible to face -- Anderson Cooper, CNN, Bucha, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Horrifying accounts of experiences in Ukraine.
The U.S. President Joe Biden is now scheduled to speak from the White House shortly, on providing further American support for Ukraine. Mr. Biden
previously announced two military assistance packages totaling around $800 million each. The aid includes weapons, artillery as well as field
equipment.
We will bring in Mr. Biden when he starts speaking at the White House. We are monitoring that.
In the meantime, we have White House reporter Natasha Bertrand joining us now, to give us an idea on what we can be expecting.
Natasha, just hitting the news as well is that the Biden administration wants to request a further $33 billion in aid for Ukraine. Most of that
money is going to be for weapons. Give us a sense of this package and whether it can pass through Congress.
[10:40:00]
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's, right $33 billion worth of new assistance to Ukraine, a massive proposal there from the Biden
administration to help them in this new phase of the conflict in the eastern part of Ukraine, where some Biden administration officials have
been saying that Russians do seem to be gaining some ground there.
So this is an attempt to shore up the Ukrainians in their battle against the Russians, provide them new weaponry, more advanced weaponry, heavier
equipment, that they will need in this new terrain because, the fighting was more urban in the earlier part of the conflict. Now it's going to be
different, more rural terrain.
They will be fighting on to the weaponry and their requirements are going to be different there as well. Now along with this $33 billion package that
the president is proposing is also a legislative proposal that he is providing to Congress to see whether they can get something passed that
will allow the administration to more efficiently seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.
And then, use those assets to increase the funding to the Ukrainians and help them keep fighting the war. So essentially using the profits that they
get from seizing the assets of these oligarchs, who are sanctioned, in order to support the Ukrainians.
Now they believe that the Justice Department has the capability and the legal right to do this. And so, they are looking for a way to do it, so
that it can be congressionally mandated essentially.
So a lot of new, kind of, proposals that the president is going to be outlining in his remarks here. But it all really points in one direction
here, which is that the administration does believe that we are reaching a very pivotal moment in this conflict between Russia and Ukraine and that
the West needs to provide all of the support that it can to the Ukrainians, so that they can decisively defeat them on the battlefield, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Absolutely. And you made such a good point. This is a massive package, $33 billion. That's a really substantial amount of money. From
some of the numbers I've been reading, is that Congress has appropriated, as you alluded to, $15 billion, which is really quite a significant amount.
How is this money going to be raised?
Where is it going to come from, mostly from the U.S. coffers?
And as you, say some of the money that has been appropriated from the oligarchs?
BERTRAND: That's exactly right. So it will be congressionally appropriated and that is why he is proposing this bill to Congress right now. They are
going to have to find the money, right?
They are going to get it from seizing oligarchs' assets. They are going to be repositioning money and kind of shuffling things around.
But the fact that this is a priority for the Biden administration, for this massive package this massive amount of money to go to the Ukrainians at
this moment when the president and his team have also been, you know, very concerned with domestic issues, like rising gas prices, new ramifications
of the war domestically.
It just shows how important they feel it is for the Ukrainians to win this battle, not only for Ukrainian sovereignty, Ukrainian territorial
integrity, but also for the stability of the international order and of European security. So this is going to be a major proposal by the Biden
administration.
GIOKOS: Absolutely, the macro picture, massive here. But interestingly, we also have to, as you mentioned, take note of the issues, the domestic
issues at hand. The U.S. has contracted by 1.4 percent in the first quarter. So Joe Biden and his administration have a lot of issues to deal
with.
Natasha, we will get back to you as soon as we hear from President Biden. He is going to be speaking at the White House shortly and we will bring you
those live pictures as they happen.
In the meantime, plenty happening up at the International Space Station, just hours after new crew members arrive. The second spacewalk for this
month is getting underway. It will be checking on NASA's live pictures -- up next.
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[10:45:00]
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GIOKOS: This week's CNN brings you the stories of trailblazers pressing the limits of science in health care. Once, just the stuff of comic books
and Hollywood blockbusters, holograms are now being used to help surgeons to do more operations and do them better. CNN's Rachel Crane reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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RACHEL CRANE, CNN BUSINESS INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): In this hospital in Israel, Elchanan Bruckheimer is mending a
heart, using tools that with a pencil points, called catheters. But he can't see the heart with his own eyes.
DR. ELCHANAN BRUCKHEIMER, SCHNEIDER CHILDREN'S MEDICAL DIRECTOR: Imaging is how we understand what is inside the patient, what's going on and where
we need to move our catheters. My depth perception has to be down to the submillimeter.
CRANE (voice-over): In recent decades, advances in imaging technologies like X-rays and ultrasound have helped make this process more accurate and
commonplace. But Bruckheimer believes mixed reality technology can give surgeons an even clearer picture. He is developing a system that turns
medical images into holograms.
That might sound ike something out of a movie, like the three-dimensional projections you find inside Iron Man's suit. But Bruckheimer says his
company, RealView, has been working a telescope eye for almost 15 years. You need a specialized overhead device to see these holograms, though.
SHAUL GELMAN, COFOUNDER AND CEO, REALVIEW IMAGING: Like a 3d printer of points of light. So it allows the position to see a hologram. If it is in
front of him, he can visualize information and he can interact with it.
CRANE (voice-over): And as Bruckheimer sees it, that benefits both patients and hospitals.
BRUCKHEIMER: We can do complex procedures, quicker, easier and you can do more of those.
CRANE (voice-over): Some bigger players in technology agree. Microsoft is partnering with hospitals and startups like New York-based Medivis to
adapt its HoloLens to a device for surgery.
How does Microsoft's cloud platform interact with this technology?
DAVID RHEW, MICROSOFT (voice-over): The ability for us to be able to hold the data from the different sources, like electronic health records, that
is how it enables technology.
CRANE (voice-over): One issue that could arise: slow bandwidth. This is according to Ngiam Kee Yuan, from the National University Health System in
Singapore. His team is collaborating with Microsoft to try out the technology for live operations.
NGIAM KEE YUAN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM: We are trying to test our use, the use of 5G technology to improve our bandwidth and reduce our
latency.
CRANE (voice-over): Some are already working in what they see as the next milestone, projecting holograms right onto the patient's body. Microsoft
believes that collaboration across the industry could help speed up progress. For Bruckheimer, it is all about what is best for the patient.
BRUCKHEIMER: Any improvement we could have that could reduce suffering for our patients is my mission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: The second spacewalk this month is getting underway at the International Space Station.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS (voice-over): These are live pictures from NASA. Now two cosmonauts are checking a new robotic arm. NASA says the spacewalk will take more than
six hours. This is just hours after Wednesday's arrival of four new crew members, including NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, who will be the first
Black woman to complete a long duration space mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: CNN space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher is watching all of this from Washington, D.C.
Super exciting. Tell us what the cosmonauts are up to and why this mission is exciting.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: They should be beginning this spacewalk any minute now, if they have not already. Like you
said, Eleni, these spacewalks take a bit of time. They are going to be out there in a vacuum for about 6.5 hours.
So this takes quite a bit of time. And what they are going to be doing is activating this.
[10:50:00]
CRANE: You can kind of see it there on the screen, they are going to be activating what is called a robotic arm outside the Russian module, which
was installed at the International Space Station back in July of 2021.
What this robotic arm will do is help move cargo and perhaps even astronauts and cosmonauts as they work outside the International Space
Station. So it is kind of a slow-moving thing.
If you've ever watched a spacewalk before, because these cosmonauts are going to be operating weightlessly, floating around in space, it is kind of
like watching somebody repair a car, only they have so many more complications to deal with, because, again, they are in this vacuum of
space.
And Eleni, they have so many more crew members at the International Space Station, which just arrived late last night.
GIOKOS: It is also quite exciting, with the first Black woman to complete a long duration space mission as well. That is new.
FISHER: Yes, her name is Jessica Watkins. She is very interesting, because she is somebody who, like in the '50s and '60s when NASA first started,
would have never been able to become an astronaut.
Now she is on the International Space Station and she is going to become the very first Black woman to do a long duration space flight, one of these
extended stays. The reason this is so important is because it is critical training for NASA's next big program, the Artemis program.
So Jessica Watkins and her crewmates are going to be in contention, in the running to be named to NASA's Artemis missions, which is going to return
American astronauts to the moon and land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon's surface.
That is why there has been so much attention around Jessica Watkins and also just her background, Eleni. She is so interesting in the sense that
she is not a military test pilot, like you would have seen from those Apollo astronauts who landed on the moon back in the '60s and '70s.
She is a geologist, who studies rocks and has studied the rocks on the surface of Mars. And so it is that unique skill set that one will want for
these future missions, when you land on the surface of the moon -- or someday Mars.
GIOKOS: These firsts should have happened many decades ago. But it's good they're happening now, nevertheless. Thank you so much for those updates.
FISHER: Of course.
GIOKOS: A Lviv church is now a haven for people escaping war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You started with eight and now how many do you have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hundred.
You want to keep enough of the (INAUDIBLE) breakfast (ph), (INAUDIBLE) food.
SCIUTTO: You give them a home?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Home.
GIOKOS (voice-over): Why more Ukrainians are now making the choice to stay in their homeland. Up next.
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GIOKOS: After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, the western city of Lviv quickly transformed into a temporary hub for thousands of Ukrainian
civilians fleeing their homes. Now more people are choosing to stay inside Ukraine, in Lviv. CNN's Jim Sciutto visited a church that is becoming a
shelter for many people making that hard choice.
[10:55:00]
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Since the Russian invasion, Father Gregory Draus has transformed the church of St. John Paul II from place of worship to a home
for refugees of war.
So you started with eight and now how many do you have?
FATHER GREGORY DRAUS, HOSTS UKRAINIAN REFUGEES: Two hundred.
SCIUTTO: But over the last few weeks, something has changed among the refugees he cares for. In the early days, Lviv was mostly a way station for
people fleeing Ukraine for safety abroad. More than 5 million people have fled the country.
Now though, many prefer to stay, which Father Gregory welcomes.
DRAUS: It is awful Ukraine was destroyed by the war, people are killed and also a kind of destroying of Ukraine would be also immigrations.
If the number of people are killed and the same number or bigger number of people go abroad, for the situation of society of Ukraine, it's the same.
SCIUTTO: Ethnic cleansing, right?
Ethnic cleansing, you know this term?
DRAUS: Yes. That's why we want to support to stay here.
SCIUTTO: Lada (ph) left Kharkiv in the midst of heavy Russian bombing, including one strike that destroyed a school near her home. She is now
eight months pregnant but wants her baby to be born in Ukraine.
Boy or girl?
Do we know?
A girl. Do you have a name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melana (ph).
SCIUTTO: Alezia (ph) from Zaporizhzhya, who prefers to stay while her husband performs his military service, thought her autistic daughter could
receive better treatment in Germany.
So you don't want to leave as long as your husband is fighting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
SCIUTTO: Father Gregory offers them more than just a place to sleep, it's a community. Children play and take online classes. Families get clothes
and medical care.
DRAUS: We want to give them not only bed and breakfast, not only bed and food but also give them help psychologists help. There was a group that
came for psychologists, a special meeting for children, meeting for adults.
SCIUTTO: You give them a home.
DRAUS: Home.
SCIUTTO: It's not Kyiv or Kryvyi Rih, where Oksana (ph) and Olena (ph) were from but it is Ukraine.
We are at home here, Oksana (ph) told us. We have our people around us.
Even though we're in a different city, said Olena (ph), we're still in Ukraine. We're still at home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: That was my colleague Jim Sciutto, reporting from Lviv in Western Ukraine.
We are keeping a close watch on the White House. We are expecting President Biden to speak shortly about more aid for Ukraine and assistance for
Ukraine. We will be back right after this short break, with another hour of CONNECT THE WORLD.
END
