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Ukrainian Soldiers Inside Steel Plant Remain Defiant; Ukraine Alleges Russian Orders Given to Kill POWs; France's Presidential Candidates Make Final Push Ahead of Elections; Suspect Officially Declared in Case of British Girl; Civilians in Rubizhne Hide from Russian Bombardment; Ukrainians Look for Mines Left by Russian Troops; Anger Mounts in Locked- Down Shanghai with No End in Sight. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 22, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:23]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ILYA SAMOYLENKO, AZOV REGIMENT STAFF OFFICER: Most heartbreaking thing is we have limited supplies here and we're trying to share everything with
civilians. But Russia claims we use them as a human shield.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Mariupol is close to catastrophe. Still one of the Ukrainian fighters sheltering in the steel plant there strikes a
defiant tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to go home, she says. I've suffered too much. I've seen the fire and the smoke. I've seen
it all. I'm scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Nina is 89, and she is too frightened to flee. She prays for help but no one is coming. Ben Wedeman has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That was a single 500-pound bomb, and that's how you make it safe, according to this disposal team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The battle may have lasted only hours but collecting live munitions so Russian forces left behind will take a very long time.
I'm Becky Anderson in London, where it's 3:00 p.m. Hello, and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
Well, evidence of Russian war crimes and attempts to cover them up. That grim assessment from a Mariopul city official reacting to newly released
satellite photos but appear to show about 200 new graves in a village 20 kilometers from the southern port city. The official saying Russian trucks
collected the bodies then dumped them in mass graves in that village. Ukrainian officials estimate 20,000 people have been killed during the
siege in Mariupol. We'll hear from this city's mayor shortly.
There is no clear indication when or if the 120,000 people trapped in Mariupol will get out. Evacuations have been sputtering along. In fact
today no evacuation corridors are open in Ukraine. The deputy prime minister citing danger on the routes.
Russia continues to step up attacks across Donetsk and Luhansk. Dozens of settlements in Donetsk reportedly captured by Russian troops today. This
video showing the aftermath of attacks this week on Kramatorsk. A Russian general saying out loud what is being widely assumed since the start of the
war but Russia's president seeks, quote, "full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine to create a land corridor to Crimea.
And Britain's prime minister saying it's a realistic possibility that Vladimir Putin will win the war citing the size of Russia's army. Speaking
in India, Boris Johnson calls the current situation unpredictable.
Well, the European Council president Charles Michel says he strongly urged Putin to grant immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol
and other besieged cities in a phone call today with the Russian president.
Well, Mariupol mayor himself talked to CNN earlier about the tremendous struggle troops and residents are enduring there, and the sorrow that he is
feeling over his city's destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VADYM BOICHENKO, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE MAYOR (through translator): The truth is that the armed forces of Ukraine are defending Mariupol. Mariupol is the
beating heart of Ukraine today. Our guys are outnumbered 10, 15 times but they are defending, they are holding up. And they are remaining there. And
they are frustrating the enemy as much as possible.
According to our estimates, we have around 20,000 dead, civilian deaths, in Mariupol. And these were people who were buried by enemy shelling, by enemy
bombardment, buried under the rubble. And at the moment, we are witnessing the enemy trying to hide the evidence of their crimes. Using the instrument
of mass graves.
I feel as if my heart has been torn out, my life, my family, we live there, this was our life. And for me and tens of thousands of Mariupol residents,
it is extremely painful to see so many dead and the city destroyed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Mariupol's mayor there talking to CNN. Conditions inside that giant steel plant where Ukrainian troops along with women and kids are
hiding out said to be near catastrophic. Food and other necessities simply running out.
This video showing smoke outside the plant is from Reuters News Agency. CNN as we've been telling you this week is not in Mariupol.
[10:05:01]
As Matt Rivers now reports, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, soldiers inside the plant are showing no signs that they will surrender.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMOYLENKO: We destroyed one tank today, two armored fighting vehicles, one armored personnel carrier. The numbers of enemy losses are still
increasing.
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This his is Ilya Samoylenko, an officer in the Azov Battalion, currently fighting for his life and
others inside the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. The plant has taken constant bombardment for days on end, though he strikes a defiant
tone.
SAMOYLENKO: Right now Ukraine not just fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for the freedom.
RIVERS: And yet the reality in Mariupol is that Russia controls the vast majority of the city, apart from the last remaining pocket of Ukrainian
resistance, enough that Vladimir Putin felt compelled to declare victory in a city he first tried and failed to capture nearly 10 years ago.
Completing the military task of liberating Mariupol is a great achievement, he says. I congratulate you.
But Ukraine and its allies have rejected the notion that Mariupol has fallen. How could that be, the argument goes, when the Russians have yet to
force out the remaining Ukrainian fighters? Putin, seemingly aware of this, acknowledged that fighters remain in the steel plant and essentially said
no problem, just wait them out.
He says there is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial
area so a fly cannot get through.
For those inside the plant, this new blockade strategy, a sign of weakness of the Russian military, a force that has tried and failed for weeks to
force out remaining resistance.
SAMOYLENKO: Russia right now is cowardly hesitating with the assault, final assault, as they call this, of Azovstal Steelworks, because they know that
they will fail. And they will fail.
RIVERS: No matter whether the Russians cannot or will not fight their way into the steel complex, the end result is the same. Ukrainian fighters
inside are not only responsible for themselves, but for the hundreds of civilians they say are sheltering there, some seen here in unverified video
from Ukraine's government.
SAMOYLENKO: Most heartbreaking thing in this is that we have limited supplies here, and we are trying to share everything with civilians. But
Russia claims that we use them as a human shield. It's bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED). It's complete bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Because, you know, a real
military doesn't do this.
RIVERS: And even outside the steel plant, in areas firmly under Russian control, tens of thousands of civilians that need to be evacuated cannot.
Only a fraction managed to leave in the last few days, some seen here arriving in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Not thousands, not
hundreds, but mere dozens after Ukraine says Russian forces violated cease- fire agreements.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is more like not a war, but a terrorist operation by Russia against Mariupol and
the people of the city.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Matt Rivers reporting. He filed that report from Lviv in western Ukraine where he joins us now.
I know that you've been at the station there this morning. And as I understand it, you've actually met a number of people who have evacuated
Mariupol. Tell us what you know at this point.
RIVERS: Yes, so we got word, Becky, that there was going to be an evacuation train coming from Zaporizhzhia which is the end point of the
evacuation route for people leaving from Mariupol. And when we got to the train station, we did see a train pull up, but I have to tell you, not many
people got off of it. There are a handful of people from Mariupol got off of that train. And these are not the people that left yesterday.
We spoke to a couple of people who -- one person had left in late March and made their way eventually here. One person had left in mid-April but it was
a little disappointing I think for Ukrainian officials who have tried their best to get people out of Mariupol over the past couple of days and weeks
frankly. But the last couple of days extremely disappointing because there were two humanitarian corridors agreed to, not today, but yesterday and the
day before and hardly anybody made it out.
And we kind of saw the manifestation of that at the train station here in Lviv in a scene that you would hope to have seen hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of people spilling off that train having successfully evacuated from Mariupol. Simply put that did not happen. We saw just a handful of
people and I think it's very emblematic of what's going on right now.
ANDERSON: Matt, just remind us what it is that's holding up these evacuations along what we call these humanitarian corridors.
RIVERS: Yes, it's a very important question, Becky. And if you listen to the Ukrainians, what they're saying is that it's the Russians, it's the
Russians not adhering to cease-fires and safety requirements that would be required to allow people to leave safely.
[10:10:14]
There's also a level of disorganization according to Ukraine's government on the Russian side. Russia continues to say that it's offering free
passage, clear passage to anyone who wants to leave and they blame the Ukrainians for this, but I think you have to take all of this in context
and look at the body of evidence that is lined up against Russia for the entirety of this war where they are obviously targeting civilians all over
the place, and it appears that in and outside of Mariupol is no different.
And as a result these humanitarian corridors that were agreed to yesterday and the day before, they didn't work. And we heard from the deputy prime
minister here in Ukraine that said that there was a couple hundred people that wanted to leave Mariupol yesterday but the buses couldn't even arrive
because there were shelling in and around that area. So that is what is holding this up.
People not being able to safely evacuate because of Russian continued shelling and also, Becky, I think it's worth noting that there are some
people who would choose not to leave Mariupol because they simply don't trust that even if the Russians say they will adhere to a ceasefire, they
won't actually do it.
ANDERSON: Yes. Absolutely. Matt Rivers is in Lviv. Matt, thank you.
Well, Ukraine's military intelligence has released purported communications of Russian forces referring to an alleged order to kill Ukrainian prisoners
of war in the eastern region of Luhansk. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What can I tell you, damn it? (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You keep the most senior among them and left the rest
go forever. Let them go forever, damn it, so that no one will ever see them again, including relatives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in CNN's Kylie Atwood live in Washington. Intelligence must have been pretty concerned when they heard this audio.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Incredibly disturbing to hear that. To sort of hear the conversations that are behind the actions
that we have seen reported on in Ukraine that Russian troops are carrying out.
Now, the Biden administration a few weeks ago declared that their assessment is that war crimes have been committed by the Russian armed
forces, but of course if this intercept is proved to be valid and legitimate by the U.S. government, that would be added to the examples of
war crimes that Russians have committed. And we should note that this sort of action is consistent with what Russian troops have been doing on the
ground throughout this war in Ukraine.
We saw what happened in Bucha. We have now in the last day or so seen the satellite images of these mass graves being dug outside of Mariupol. So
these orders are consistent with what our reporting has been on the ground and that has been the result what the Russian troops have been doing.
ANDERSON: Has the U.S. commented on these intercepts?
ATWOOD: Not yet. We haven't gotten a formal response from the U.S. government yet. I expect that we will, I expect they will likely condemn
what is being heard in this, but first and foremost, they will likely carry out some sort of effort to verify that these are actually legitimate
intercepts, likely that would go through the intelligence community here in the United States.
They would do their own review of it, prove its legitimacy and then of course that information would be shared with the State Department that is
collecting all of this information about Russia's horrific actions in Ukraine to make further cases for war crimes. I'm sure that information
would also be shared with the international community carrying out their own investigations -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Kylie Atwood at the State Department in Washington. Kylie, thank you.
Well, Russia's war on Ukraine is a key issue in France's presidential election. And as we look at live images of President Emmanuel Macron
campaigning. Up next, how this Sunday's vote may shape the conflict going forward.
Plus a major development in the case of missing British girl Madeleine McCann. Those stories and more after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:16:31]
ANDERSON: The two French presidential candidates are entering the final stretch in a rematch of their runoff five years ago. President Macron and
his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen are making their closing arguments to voters today. After that, campaigning is over and the country goes in to
a media blackout for Sunday's presidential election.
Mr. Macron beat Le Pen in 2017 by a wide margin, but this time around polls indicate that the race is or certainly was until now much closer.
Paris correspondent Melissa Bell joining me now live. How is each candidate choosing to spend their final hours campaigning, Melissa?
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. Macron is headed, Becky, to one of those constituencies that have voted massively for
him in 2017 really hoping to get his vote out there in southern France. Marine Le Pen for her part has been up in north of the country where she
had very strong support in the first round and where traditionally she's enjoyed a lot of support.
So each trying to make their final pitches, each trying to make their final arguments. And of course it's important to remember that this is not the
first time that the far right has made it to second round, in fact it's the third in the last 20 years. First time in 2002 in the shape of her father,
Jean-Marie Le Pen. This last few times, including this one, Marine Le Pen.
It is, however, Becky, the first time that the far-right candidate going into a second round has been as close in the polls. Now they have been
widening in the French president's favor, but nonetheless this is closer than it's been before and I think this is why it's such an important
election because of the vast differences between those two candidates.
ANDERSON: Yes. Well, there have been a lot of hot-button issues that they brought up in Wednesday night's debate of course from how to protect
family's rising prices to a proposal to control what Muslim women can and can't wear in public.
I just wonder how might this election shape what is going on with regard to Ukraine at this point. Is it clear?
BELL: Well, it happens in such an extraordinary context where when you look back over the course of the last few weeks, Becky, what's been so striking
is the role that France has played because of its position at the heart of NATO, because of its position at the helm as one of the two biggest
economies of the European Union, because of all the unity and determination shown by both NATO and Europe.
France really has played this very crucial role. And of course because Emmanuel Macron has chosen to place himself at the forefront of the fight
to try and prevent and then deal with what was happening in Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BELL (voice-over): Two candidates, two visions for France, two possible outcomes for Ukraine with Russia taking center stage in France's
presidential race.
PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, FRANCE (through translator): You depend on Russian power, you depend on Mr. Putin.
MARINE LE PEN, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): I am an absolutely and totally free woman.
BELL: As one the few Western leaders with a line open to both Moscow and Kyiv, Macron led efforts to avoid the war, missing the start of the
campaign back home and leading to accusations that he was disconnected from the concerns of ordinary French voters.
His rival, the far-right's Marine Le Pen, may have gotten a head start on the stump, but the war also cast her campaign in a different light. An
early flyer reminded voters of her 2017 visit to the Kremlin where she'd called for an end to sanctions imposed against Russia after it annexed
Crimea.
[10:20:04]
LE PEN (through translator): There was no invasion of Crimea.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But they annexed Crimea. It was part of Ukraine.
LE PEN (through translator): Crimea was Russian. It has always been Russian.
BELL: At the time Ukraine had threatened to ban her from its soil. On Wednesday, President Zelenskyy seemed to offer an olive branch.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): If that candidate for the presidency will realize that she was wrong, then it will be a different issue.
BELL: Russia's jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny also weighing into France's election on Wednesday, urging the French to back Macron tweeting
about the bank from which Le Pen's party took a nearly $10 million loan in 2014 saying, "It's a well-known money laundering agency created at the
instigation of Putin."
Hours after Navalny's treat, the candidates sat down for their first and only debate this election cycle.
MACRON (through translator): When you talk about Russia, you're not talking to other world leaders, you're talking to your banker. That's a problem,
Madame Le Pen.
BELL: Marine Le Pen insists the loan was strictly a financial arrangement that her party is reimbursing in full. And the war has changed some of her
positions. She now backs some sanctions, although she's wary about sanctions on energy.
LE PEN (through translator): To pretend that the French or our European peoples could absorb the consequences of a total cutoff of Russian gas, oil
or raw materials is simply irresponsible.
BELL: France, though, has gone much further than just sanctions sending 100 million euros worth of weaponry to Kyiv. Something Le Pen says she would be
prudent about. She also announced last week that after the war she would seek a strategic reproachment between NATO and Russia. Like so often in
this campaign, the war found its way into her press conference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELL: Perhaps most importantly for the impacts that this race may have on the war in Ukraine, Becky, Marine Le Pen as part of her program wants
France to lead the integrative command of NATO, but she also wants to change the European Union from within so that it becomes a much looser
alliance of sovereign nations.
Now, again, when you consider the importance that the unity of both of those had in the run-up to what's happened in Ukraine, what's happened over
the course of the last few weeks during the war, you get a sense of the impact that that could have going forward -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Melissa Bell is in Paris. Big weekend there coming up, to be sure. Thank you, Melissa.
Do join us Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Paris time, that is 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time if you are on the East Coast of America, for special live coverage of the
French election right here on CNN.
Well, let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. New clashes have broken out between Israeli police and
Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Palestinian medics have reported 27 people wounded. The site known to Jews as the
Temple Mount has been a flash point over the past few weeks. Today's clashes come during the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim holiday
holy month of Ramadan.
Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have wrapped up their meeting in New Delhi, reiterating their commitment to reach a free trade
deal by the end of the year. After his two-day trip to India, the British prime minister heads back to London where he faces a fresh party-gate
investigation as to whether he misled parliament.
Portuguese prosecutors say a suspect is officially being declared in the case of missing British girl Madeleine McCann. The man has not yet been
charged. Madeleine disappeared from a resort in Portugal in 2007 sparking an international hunt for the 3-year-old she was then child.
CNN's Nina dos Santos joins me now here in London. I can't believe it's that long ago. It seems remarkable. What more can you tell us about this
latest development?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Well, there haven't been many developments here. The crucial thing, though, is that the Portuguese
authorities have said that they have now named a suspect. They haven't specifically released the name of the suspect, but they have obviously been
they say liaising with Herman authorities to relay the fact that this person, this suspect, and we know that in Germany, they have in custody a
man who is now 45 years old who in 2020 authorities said they believed had either information or could have been connected to Madeleine McCann's
disappearance.
That man's name was released as Christian B. So the assumption is that this is the same individual. But the sadness is that there isn't huge amount of
new information on this particular case. One of the reasons why Portuguese authorities may have done this now is because of the statute of limitations
that's about to run out. She disappeared on May 3 in 2007, that means that on May 3rd of this year, it's going to be 15 years and if they haven't
declared him a suspect, this person, they wouldn't have been able to carry on investigating the case.
[10:25:04]
ANDERSON: It has been 15 years since Madeleine McCann went missing. From what we know about this case, and we know it's sort of gone quiet, it's
sort of picked up speed and then it's gone quiet again. Why has it taken so long?
DOS SANTOS: Yes, this is a big question many people have had. And also it's continued to intensify the interest in this case. It is every parent's
worst nightmare, their child disappearing and never knowing what happened to them. Indeed Madeleine McCann's two parents at one point were named as
suspects by the Portuguese authority as was another citizen who lived nearby in Praia da Luz, which is the resort, the Algarve, that she
disappeared from.
Obviously they were then no longer named suspects. And then there was this great hiatus in the case until obviously in 2020 Germany said that they
actually believed that this particular suspect they have may well have killed Madeleine McCann, but they just couldn't get enough evidence to ever
charge this person or prove that. German authorities also sadly said two years ago that they believe that Madeleine McCann may well be dead at this
point -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Nina dos Santos, on the story which as you say every parent's nightmare. (INAUDIBLE). Thank you very much indeed.
All right. The Russians have left the Kyiv region, but the danger isn't over. Ahead, we look at the precarious job of destroying weapons left
behind.
Plus prayers and tears, living under ground for weeks as bombs rain down all day every day. CNN's Ben Wedeman takes us to the heart of the Russian
offensive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in London. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. It is half past (INAUDIBLE) here in London.
Hope may be dwindling in the southern Ukraine city of Mariupol. The horrors there are not. These satellite images are said to provide evidence of mass
graves outside of the city. Meantime the owner of this steel plant where hundreds are sheltering says the situation is, and I quote him here, close
to catastrophe, as food and water run low.
Russia claims it has captured the rest of Mariupol. The Ukrainian official says Russia has made gains in the Donetsk region as Moscow forges ahead
with its eastern offensive. And that offensive now playing out in one town in the Luhansk region. Russia controls part of the town and is bombarding
the rest.
CNN's Ben Wedeman and his team visited a makeshift underground shelter where people are just trying to stay alive from one terrifying moment to
the next. This is Ben's report.
[10:30:10]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): And it begins again. Hell rains down. A dozen people are hiding in the basement of a bombed-out theatre in the town of Rubizhne.
Let it stop, oh, Lord, he says. Now there's incoming.
A white flag hangs outside to no effect. The theatre above has been bombed and bombed again and again. Yet they stay. Too poor, too old, too
frightened to flee.
Nina, 89-years-old, has been here for five weeks. I want to go home, she says. I've suffered too much. I've seen the fire and the smoke. I've seen
it all. I'm scared. Nina's plea, simple. Help us. Help us.
Her daughter Lyudmila struggles to comfort her. We're praying to God to stop it, she says. To hear us.
Ina says, I have nowhere to go. I have no friends, no relatives.
With the shelling intensifying, volunteers are finding it hard to deliver food. As Russian and Ukrainian forces fight for control of Rubizhne, there
are people down there praying as hell rains down.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rubizhne, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, the fighting is over in Kyiv, but Russian forces there left a hideous calling card. Forensic experts are examining the remains of more
than 1,000 civilians. Authorities say at least half were killed by machine guns or by sniper fire.
Phil Black tells us the dangers from Russians' foray into the region still are no over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLACK (voice-over): Weaving through the trees, this brave stretch of crew is carrying a delicate cargo. Not the wounded but something with the
potential to seriously wound or worse. They're collecting the active munitions Russian forces left behind.
(On-camera): This forest is scarred by battle. This blackened earth and splintered trees pretty much everywhere. The Ukrainians say they are
rockets rained down on Russian positions here. This is what's left of a Russian weapon system. They say the battle may have lasted hours but the
cleanup will take much longer.
(Voice-over): Here among the natural debris lies the dangerous end of a Russian Uragan rocket. This soldier says it's filled with cluster
munitions. Those weapons are banned by more than 100 countries. This one standing proud shows why they must work quickly. When the soldiers last saw
this damaged rocket, it was lying horizontally. Someone foolish, lucky and unqualified, has lifted the warhead so it now points to the sky. The
professionals carefully stretcher it away and add it to their growing collection.
That was a single 500-pound bomb and that's how you make it safe according to this disposal team. They've got two more to go. They're air delivered
bombs recovered from a downed Russian aircraft and they're going to destroy both at the same time.
The big ones are easy to find and you get the feeling fun to destroy. Most of the effort hunting down mines and other abandoned ordinance is painfully
thorough, careful work, scanning and prodding the earth with intense focus for hours at a time. But there is urgency too because discarded and
deliberately planted weapons are harming people weeks after the Russians left this territory.
This truck hit a mine north of Kyiv incinerating the driver. This emergency vehicle also ran over something explosive injuring eight on board. There
are many painful legacies to Russia's brief presence in this part of the country. Ukrainians are working to ensure this one doesn't endure.
Phil Black, CNN, in Ukraine's Kyiv region.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And we'll take a very short break. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:37:10]
ANDERSON: Well, frustrations are boiling over in Shanghai where people have been on lockdown for weeks, thanks to China's zero COVID policy. It is now
taking a massive toll on residents and expats with no clear sign that there is an end to all of this.
David Culver with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Test positive for COVID-19 in Shanghai, and Chinese officials want you out of your home and sent to a
government quarantine facility assuming there is space.
JOSH VAUGHN, TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID IN SHANGHAI: There is nowhere for them to send me. I am not allowed to go in the hospital. And I have to stay
here.
CULVER: American Josh Vaughn taken in early April to a pop-up tent outside a Shanghai hospital.
VAUGHN: This is supposed to be like a nice hospital, and this is where I'm sleeping tonight.
CULVER: China's zero COVID policy requires every positive case and close contact to be isolated. In a city inundated with an Omicron-fueled surge
that began in early March, there's been a scramble to build makeshift isolation centers.
The government evicting some residents from their homes so their apartments can be turned into quarantine facilities. People living in mainland China's
most international city frustrated by the city's admittedly mangled and chaotic execution of a harsh lockdown and mass quarantine efforts. For
expats, it's even more difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was positive about 12 days ago. There's no way I'm still positive.
CULVER: This recording widely shared on Chinese social media appearing to capture the agitation one German resident experienced with a Shanghai local
official who called to apparently take him to quarantine for a second time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been in the camp already. They didn't want me. They sent me back home. It's ridiculous. It's a disgrace for you, for the
government, for Shanghai, for China. It's a really big joke. Forget the CDC, come here to take a test, I'll be negative and then we can talk.
CULVER: Others left in COVID limbo.
GABRIELLE, SHANGHAI RESIDENT: The only way I can open my door is that I need to call my community and tell them I've received food because actually
there is no other way I can get food from outside.
CULVER: Gabriel who asked we only use his first name fearing repercussions spoke to us from his sealed apartment. He says officials told him his
results were abnormal. Never confirming he actually had COVID. Still they've kept him inside for days. A COVID guard posted to keep him from
leaving.
GABRIELLE: It's just like they don't know what to do with foreigners or like their system is not really working with foreigners.
CULVER: China's gateway to the world, Shanghai, was widely viewed as a foreign-friendly metropolis. Hundreds of global companies have a
significant footprint here and even now the financial hub trying to promote itself as a leading destination for foreign talent.
[10:40:01]
But after nearly a month of harsh lockdown measures and more than two years of relentless border controls, more and more foreign nationals are
desperate to get out.
GABRIELLE: The city (INAUDIBLE) China will say I don't know if we'd ever recover especially for us international people. Like it feels like a
completely different city. It's like we're going backwards in time basically.
CULVER: In online chat groups, we've found dozens of other expats now trying to leave. One person writing, China used to really have it all, it's
just not the expat friendly place it used to be. And this person saying, the first 4 1/2 years were just incredible, Shanghai just isn't the same
anymore. But some like Josh Vaughn eager to hang on. He's got too much invested in his company.
VAUGHN: I've worked so hard on this. I've put everything I have preparing myself for this season. And it's almost like a make us or break us moment.
CULVER: With each passing day, the impact of this lockdown is reshaping Shanghai's future, leaving locals increasingly frustrated and fatigued. And
expats preparing their exit.
David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, alarming text messages revealed actor Johnny Depp's first day of being cross-examined in what is his $50 million defamation trial
against ex-wife Amber Heard. Some of the exchanges read in court showed Depp texting to friends about his drug use. The messages also included
references to violence towards her during their relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say, let's drown her before we burn her, three exclamation points. Did I read that right?
JOHNNY DEPP, ACTOR: Yes, it's referring to the text prior to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't stop when you said let's drown her before we burn her. After that you made another comment. After you said, let's drown
her before we burn her, Mr. Depp, you said I will (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead. That's what you said that
you would do after you burned her and after you drowned her. Did I read that right?
DEPP: You certainly did. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you wrote that about the woman who would later become your wife?
DEPP: Yes, I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, recordings were also played of Depp threatening self-harm. Cross-examination continues next Monday.
Well, the crew of the first all private mission to the International Space station will be splashing back down to earth this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go Falcon, go Dragon. God's speed. Axiom one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The four-member Axiom One crew launched two weeks ago and it includes a former NASA astronaut and three paying customers. Those three
spots reportedly cost a cool $55 million each. They will leave the station tomorrow evening U.S. coast time and land off the coast of Florida on
Sunday. Good luck to them.
It's been a devastating week for Cristiano Ronaldo and his family following the devastating loss of their baby son. But today the Manchester United
star posted this picture on Instagram to thank millions of fans who shared his grief.
"WORLD SPORT" anchor Christina MacFarlane joins me now. A picture tinned with grief, I'm sure, but a beautiful shot.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Yes, and this really was the picture, the news we needed to see today after what has no doubt been the
most horrendous week for the Ronaldo family. You can see in that picture the tiny, tiny baby daughter that he's holding in his arms there, of course
the twin of his baby son who we heard, you know, devastatingly died on Tuesday. And there has been so much outpouring of love of course for this
family. And he thanked everyone for that in his tweet saying now we're just focusing on this tiny life that they brought into the world.
ANDERSON: Christina MacFarlane has "WORLD SPORT" up after this short break. I am back with you top of the hour. Stay with us.
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