hello, everybody, and welcome to our viewers all around the world and also in the united states this hour, i'm hala gorani reporting line from lviv, ukraine, we are following breaking developments in russia's war on this country. an adviser to ukrainian president volodomyr zelenskyy accusing russia of quote, trying to wipe ukraine off the face of the earth as it steps up and continues to step up missile strikes across the country. this, as we're seeing new images of widespread destruction and devastation left behind by the brutal russian assault in cities like mariupol. russia's attacks from the air are coming as ukrainian forces launched counterattacks on the ground and even managing to gain

back some territory. on tuesday, russia and ukraine are set for another round of talks, this time in turkey, and ahead of that, president zelenskyy says his country is now ready to accept neutral nonnuclear status and even shared some hopes for the latest negotiations. listen. >> our priorities and negotiations are known. ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt. effective security guarantees for our state are mandatory. our goal is obvious. peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible. >> well, ukraine in the mean time says there will be an immediate investigation after video surfaced, you may have seen it online, showing what appears to be ukrainian soldiers shooting russian prisoners in the knees. this was said to have been, taken place during an operation in the kharkiv region. now, ukrainian forces have

pushed back the russian military in some rural areas outside of kyiv, but intense fighting all already taken a heavy toll on homes and villages there. itv's heath kashru has this town b obliterated from russian strikes not far from the capitol. >> chef tenko survived but not much else did, a statue of the ukrainian poet still stands after most of everything else taken out by a russian air strike. library was hit, residethe shoc kids, the pharmacy, beshiev is a village one hour from kyiv and it tells two stories. the crater reveals the force of russian might, but there's a

story of failure too. more than a month into this war, life of sorts, carry on. the russian troops never arrived, although plans were laid to stop them getting in. it looks like an earthquake hit. there is complete destruction, absolutely everywhere, but mainly the most interesting thing to see is not the fact this place was flattened, but the fact it wasn't flattened into submission. in the capitol, monuments had been protected as history is rewritten, because, met with a fierce resistance, moscow now says it no longer wants to focus on the capitol, but the ukrainians don't believe that. >> translator: we cannot trust them. at the moment, we don't see any withdrawal of russian troops from certain areas of kyiv.

>> because you needn't go far from kyiv to see the area around it was in russia's sights until not long ago, and the strategists protecting the capitol believe nothing has changed. rahit, itv news. >> joining me now, mick ryan retired general with the australian army and former commander of australia defense college, also the author of "war transformed" integrate power and competition and conflict. thank you for being with us, the russians say they are now focusing on eastern ukraine yet continue to batter parts of the country including where we are now in western ukraine. do you think they're just plain lying and if so, what's the ultimate goal here? >> hi, hala, well i don't think we can ever take at face value the briefing by a russian

general that gives us an update on the situation. the political value of kyiv is still high to both the russians an and the ukrainians so the russians aren't going to give up on taking kyiv, but would probably seek to batter it into submission from a long distance using artillery and rockets rather than direct attack. east is a different proposition, i think the russians will reinforce troops there and seek to make more gains on the ground in the donbas region. >> yeah. are they trying to sort of split this country in two as some have sort of, some have come to that conclusion based on their actions? that they couldn't take kyiv? they couldn't take the whole country and blitz their way into the capitol so they'll try to have an occupied and nonoccupied situation on the ground? do you believe that maybe is the aim here? >> that is an interesting proposition, and it looks like

the russians might be able to achieve that. particularly if they're able to take all of ukrainian territory to the east of the nepa. certainly, if they are able to seize nepro and the areas east of that, we are set up for a potential future where there's an east and west ukraine like a north and south korea. and that would be really a disaster for the civilians living in those areas. is there, do you have any hope for these talks that are talking place in turkey because we're starting to hear rumbling from president zelenskyy himself that perhaps there is an acceptance that in order to bring this carnage to an end, there, you know, there has to be some pronouncement to the effect of yes, we will accept a neutral status. what do you think of that? >> well, i think if both sides are still talking i'm still encouraged. the only solution to this war is a political one so they have to keep talking. the fact that president

zelenskyy has said they will be a nonnuclear potentially neutral is some kind of progress, although ukraine gave up all the nuclear weapons it had after the cold war. being neutral and also having security gauarantees will be an interesting balancing act for ukraine and how ukraine and russia are able to achieve that out of these negotiations remains to be seen. >> right, and also, how do you trust russia, i mean obviously the security guarantees were supposed to be in place before russia launched this unprovoked attack. what about the staying power of the russian military here? this is taking a lot longer than they had hoped. we're hearing reports of them taking huge losses in terms of troops. hearing reports of low morale, even in some cases of soldiers and troops deserting their posts. we've seen all these images of ukrainian farmers dragging russian tanks across their

fields. can they sustain this in the longer term? >> well the fact is, some of these things we're hearing and seeing, features of every war, every conflict features these kind of behaviors from soldiers on all sides. but i think the unique dimension we're seeing from the russians here is a large proportion of the russian soldiers were lead , lied to. weren't told they were going to ukraine and didn't have a solid purpose for going in, that has a massive effect on morale, on cohesion of units and a trust in obeying their orders so it will take some time to gather the thousands of soldiers they may need. >> and finally, the ukrainians and many members of parliament and other officials told me over the last several weeks, look, if nato is not willing to enforce

no-fly zone, allow us to enforce our own no-fly zone, we need antiaircraft weaponry, fighter jets, how much of a difference would it make if western countries supplied those weapons to the ukrainians? >> well the ukrainians proved themselves to be a very professional military and it's hard to see how a few extra aircraft is going to escalate the situation. my sense if they've asked for a few extra aircraft and few air defense systems we should be providing it to them. nato has thousands and thousands of these systems sitting there, not being used at the moment. if they can help ukraine hold on and get a better position at the bargaining table, perhaps that's something nato should consider. >> major general mick ryan, thank you as always for joining us live from brisbaine, australia. domestic officials trying to walk back biden's fiery remarks when he said, quote, the russian president cannot remain in

power. cnn arlette signs with the details from the white house. >> reporter: the white house continued to try to clarify his comments that russian president vladimir putin cannot remain in power, those comments which the president made in a speech in poland on saturday caught many of his aides by surprise. they were not part of his prepared speech and seems to suggest he wanted to see regime change in russia which would mark a significant change in u.s. foreign policy but president biden was asked directly by reporters here in washington on sunday whether he meant that he wanted regime change in russia and he said no. secretary of state antony blinken further elaborated on what the white house's view on the matter is. >> the president, the white house, made the point last night that, quite simply, president putin cannot be empowered to

wage war or engage in aggression against ukraine or anyone else. as you know and you heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in russia or anywhere else for that matter. in this case, as in any case, it's up to the people of the country in question. it's up to the russian people . >> reporter: now that moment marketed the third time the white house had to clarify something the president said regarding russia and ukraine in his trip abroad. the white house very aware of the tense situation and how every word matters at this moment. now, while the president was abroad, he really was trying to shore up support and signal western unity against russian president vladimir putin amid his invasion of ukraine. but the white house is also fully aware that the work is not complete, simply because that foreign trip is over and they will continue to look for ways to hold russia, and punish russian president vladimir putin for his invasion, as well as further offer support to the

ukrainian people as they continue to defend themselves. arlette saenz, cnn, the white house. >> meanwhile, some european leaders seem to be distancing themselves from biden's remarks calling vladimir putin a butcher, french president macron suggested the comments could escalate the situation. >> translator: i think we must keep to the facts and do everything to not escalate things. i wouldn't use this type of wording because i continue to hold discussions with president putin. what do we want to do collectively? we want to stop the war that russia has launched in ukraine without waging war, without escalation. and through diplomatic means, the objective is to obtain a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of troops. if this is what we want to do, we should not escalate things, neither with words nor actions. >> well, british officials are also reacting to president biden's comments. a member of prime minister boris

johnson's cabinet says downing street believes it's up to the russian people to decide who leads them. now, on sunday, cnn spoke with a ukrainian lawmaker to get her reaction to biden's comments. listen. >> the general perception of a democratic world, and such person who is trying to invade other independent states, we witnessed in georgia in the 90s was moldova, we had so many other military exercises and military, et cetera. which are proving that the -- this is a playground of geopolitics for putin and i think, you know, this war has to be taken straight forward. putin does not represent the whole russian people. we do believe there has to be an internal protest which can become bigger and bigger only,

which will lead to the change of the literature, and, of course, this is not the only thing we rely on. we rely on the help of the u.s., dedicated 2 billion which are now as allowance for military support and now, other defenses, 1 billion for humanitarian aid, and many other problems which are joint efforts will lead to the win of ukraine for the whole world. >> well, just ahead on cnn, millions of terrified people on the move. why the hardest part for some refugees doesn't start until after they make it out of the war zone.

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the continued heavy fighting in the city of mariupol is devastating the lives of those who remain. many who've taken shelter in basements during the russian bombardment are returning to find their homes destroyed. >> translator: i've lived here since my birth, my husband, as well, we got married here and had babies, what now? what is left for us? i don't want to go anywhere from mariupol, but there's nowhere to live here. >> this comes as ukrainian officials say humanitarian aid is beginning to wane, adding that more support is desperately needed and needed now. according to the u.n., more than

3.8 million people have fled ukraine to nearby countries and another 6 1/2 million more have been displaced inside ukraine. crossing the border, just one stop on a long journey for many refugees, and there's no telling where it might end. cnn's ed lavendera with more on lviv near the border of poland. >> we are now more than a month into the war here in ukraine and the refugee crisis continues. i've spent a great deal of time in the last few weeks reporting from the polish border city of shemetzil, city officials tell us they're still getting about a thousand refugees a day coming through the train station in that city, at one point in the early days of the war, getting 50 to 60,000 refugee as day in that region so even though the numbers have declined dramatically, there is still a steady stream of people

arriving, not only just there the thousand or so at the train station everyday, but still several thousand crossing at foot, several miles away from there. so the need for humanitarian care, for housing for many of these refugees, still moving into much of europe is still very much needed and right now, the focus on helping those refugees is to get them away from the border region, putting them on buses and heading to cities like warsaw, krakao, deeper into poland and from there, assessing where they want to go and of course the big question many of these people are facing now is how long are they going to be gone, where do they set up? where do they find a place to live for what could be weeks, if not months? those are the questions that are facing so many of these families and it's a question that just continues to happen as this refugee crisis continues, folks leaving ukraine, trying to find safe haven in other parts of europe.

ed lavandera, cnn, ukraine. >> well, thousands of people who fled the terror are finding peace and security in an unlikely place. cnn's salma abdelaziz talked to some of them in a mountain site sanctuary they now call home. >> reporter: nestled deep in the karpathian mountains far from bombs and bullets lies the idylic ski report of slavska, with plenty of room for those fleeing violence finding solace in the slopes, many homes opened doors to families, guests stacy and ramir found refuge here after russian forces invaded their town of kharkiv. >> you understand, we had like shells blowing up, lots of bombardment. >> how did you fell when you arrived? >> when you look at these mountains and into the news, it

seems like not real. >> and you are here, you see, it feel kind of beauty because in the beginning, i left all my family there. >> reporter: after a terrifying week, mom and daughter finally squeezed on to a train out of embattled kyiv but where to go? then they remembered a special family trip. >> we loved this place because our summer time, we provide here. >> reporter: so you had good memories here? >> we had good memories of this place. >> i feel safe here. but i hope that this war ends soon, we can go home. because living at home is much better. >> reporter: this tiny mountain community of slavsko taken in 3,400 displaced people, nearly doubling their population but they say it's not a burden. they want to share this sanctuary. some have chosen less traditional accommodations, osa

found peace for her two children in this pod. my daughter wakes up every morning, opens the curtains, wipes the dew from the windows and looks out at the view, she tells me, yes, she loves it here. it's calming. i feel lighter, and i start to believe everything is going to be okay. for these families, this feels like the safest place in a country where it seems everywhere is a frontline. salma abdelaziz, cnn, slavsko, ukraine. >> in recent days, russia's push on kyiv has stalled but ukraine's capitol still enduring the brutal realities of war. we got the latest on the conflict in ukraine after the break.

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this phone? more concert tickets. and not just for my shows. switch to xfinity mobile for half the price of verizon. new and existing customers get amazing value with our everyday pricing. switch today. welcome back, i'm hala gorani live in lviv, ukraine. ukraine's president says his country is ready to accept a neutral, nonnuclear status as part of a peace deal with russia. it comes as both sides are expected to meet this week for another round of negotiations in turkey. on the ground, though, a different story. ukrainian officials say russia is launching more and more missile strikes across the

country, especially in mariupol. the city has been the target of russian attacks for weeks now and the near constant fighting has trapped thousands of civilians inside, and killed so many people in the last several weeks. and ukrainian troops, meanwhile, have gained some ground, launching counter offensives to take back territory from russian forces but the military intelligence chief suggested sunday, that russia is now changing its focus to the south and east, attempting to carve ukraine in two after failing to take the capitol, kyiv. so as we've been reporting, the russian push for ukraine's capitol has stalled on the ground with ukrainian forces pretty valiantly defending the city. our fred pleitgen is in kyiv with more. >> still very much a city on a war footing. people here do remained very concerned for their safety. however, i do believe that today may have been more quiet than

what we've seen in the past couple days pretty much this entire week. however, we are still hearing those air raid sirens, still hearing automatic weapons fire. still hearing shelling that, as well, a lot of that could be due to the fact that the ukrainians are saying that they're pressing that counter offensive toward the north of the city, sort of northwest and northeast of the city where they say they've gained back some ground from the russian military, but of course the going up there is still pretty tough for them. we managed to get up to a village today to the north of kyiv, a small town where people who live there, the few that actually still remain, they tell us that the russian military really hasn't managed to gain any sort of ground over the past couple of weeks but what they're doing is they are heavily shelling that area, a lot of that, of course, indiscriminate shelling and it's really unsafe for the people who still remain there. nevertheless, the ukrainian forces, they say they are pretty confident that they're further going to be able to push the russians back but their leadership, they understand these gains that the ukrainians

are making, still pretty fragile and of course the russian army has a huge force here outside of kyiv and does remain very dangerous. >> that was fred pleitgen in kyiv, joining me now to talk about the latest developments is asami tarajami, political reporter with the kyiv independent, thanks for joining us, telling our viewers about some of these counterattacks that the ukrainian ground forces are able to mount, pushing back in some cases the russian military forces on the ground. how significant are those counter offensives? >> so the situation hasn't changed dramatically, but at the same time, ukrainians forces have been, you know, having contacts on several fronts, including also outskirts of kyiv where battle has been really fierce. yes, however russia continues to shell different cities including near mykolayiv which is a strategic town which, you know, prevents russia from encircling kyiv from the west, so this is good but russia still continues

to, you know, shell the cities and civilians still can't return there because, you know, rush oz continues to bombard them. >> what about mariupol? this poor city, besieged and encircled for weeks, they're continuing their assault, the russians. >> yes, according to city counsel, 170,000 people still left in mariupol and the situation is getting worse every single day because humanitarian convoys haven't been able to get in mariupol, so food and drinkable water ask running out, medical equipment is running out, and russia continues to shell the city almost all the buildings are destroyed or, you know, damaged because, you know, because of continuous russian shelling and according to estimates between 20,000 to 40,000 people in mariupol have been forcibly moved to other parts of unknown location. >> right, we've heard that, potentially russian-controlled territory. we're here in lviv, western ukraine, and in the last few weeks a few strikes, one significant a couple of days ago

on a fuel depot not too far from there. i mean, i hasn't even noticed the mood had changed, yesterday was out and about on a sunday, feels people are getting used to the tragic kind of war, air raid sirens, the rest of it. >> yes, people, mostly the people have been ignoring air raid sirens in lviv because so far even if the sirens go off were outside and, you know, just sitting on a bench, but now most people are aware of it the air raid sirens do work because missiles hit right after the air raid sirens went out but overall i think people knew some day, lviv would be attacked so people were expecting this so it's not a big surprise, but we didn't expect it on that day. >> yeah, and also, it was really close do a populated area which was different, for instance from the attack on that aircraft repair facility at the airport which was quite, clearly on the

outskirts. that makes a difference, in peoples morale? >> yes, i think that, you know, because every single week it's just closer so we don't know what could happen and also, because lviv is one of the few harbor center in ukraine where it has been spared of significant direct attacks on the city but we don't know what will happen in the future because russia shelled other major cities like kyiv and kharkiv so hopefully things stay calm but we don't know for sure. >> yeah, yo you don't know for . what about the idea that the russians are trying to carve the country into two, an occupied zone and nonoccupied zone and would look like a north/south korea situation? is that of concern here? >> it's a concern, but at the same time, russia shelling other parts, you know, launching missiles in other parts of ukraine, so we don't exactly know what russia is after because initially, russia was after kyiv and we don't know if, you know, it was centered for

anything less so we'll see what happens but we will not accept this anyway because, you know, donbas and crimea both ukrainian territories. >> sure, and i was speaking with a, just ordinary ukrainian civilian who told me that despite the really huge amount of support that president zelenskyy benefits from, that there may be some concern that he, in order to stop the war, will give too much away to the russians. have you heard anything along those lines, among the people you are speaking to? >> zelenskyy has said that, for any, he is saying he will hold them to decide the final concessions. so i think that right now, what he's after is, you know, trying to save as many people as possible because as long as this war continues, more civilians are dying and this is his main concern. >> sure asami terajimi, reporter

with the kyiv independent, always great to have you on the show. a quick break, but first, back to lynda kinkade. >> hello hala, great job you and the team are doing there in ukraine. we'll catch up with you very soon. for now, a world away from ukraine. here in the united states, an unscripted moment at the oscars. a smack-down on stage. the controversies surrounding best actor will smith, coming up next. oh man. ♪ come on. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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it was the biggest night in hollywood, the academy award show and had an unscripted fight that stunned the audience. it started when chris rock made a joke on stage about ja jayda pinkett's smith's shaved head, she has an autoimmune disorder which causes hair loss. will smith then took to the stage and punched rock in the face. take a look. >> uh-oh. oh, wow. >> although it appeared to be a joke at first, smith returned to his seat and to rock using some pretty foul language. i'm joined by rebecca out of the hollywood reporter, good to have

you with us, rebecca, so i have to say, when that happened my phone lit up with messages saying was that scripted, was that meant to be a piece of the comedy? explain for us what went down. >> yeah, i think as your viewers just saw, chris rock made a little joke about jayda smith's appearance as part of the general celebrity roasting that comes with the oscars but, you know, she didn't think it was funny, you could tell by the expression on her face but then when will smith kind of got up there there was still a chance maybe this was a bit, maybe they were going to kind of pretend to be fighting, but chris rock was very visibly shaken and, you know, abc had to mute the sound for quite a long time as viewers at home could clearly read will smith's lips and he clearly said and i'll leave out the profanity but basically said keep my wife's name out of your mouth and it was not a joke.

>> and of course his wife does have alopecia which is this autoimmune disorder which causes hair loss. smith went on to win best actor for king richard and then apologized. you're still with us, rebecca? >> oh yes, i am. sorry, i thought you were going to roll the clip. [ laughter ] but we should be clear he apologized to the academy and apologized to his fellow nominees i would assume for sort of causing a disturbance. he did not apologize to chris rock, the man that he hit, on stage, on television, you know, and he sort of alluded to the incident by talking about richard williams, the real life man that he played in "king richard" and about how richard williams was a man that fiercely defended his family and sort of you could easily read between the lines and kind of interpret

that as will smith's explanation why he took those actions. >> yeah, so tried to bring it all back to the film and protecting his family. i want to talk about some of the other awards now. james campyan now the third man in histor-- >> she was also the first, this was a full circle moment for jane campyan, a woman has never repeated as best director so that's hugely significant -- sorry, as a nominee -- you know, this was not the first time she was nominated, back in 1994 for the piano so that was in my of not a surprise, that she had been picking up a lot of the best director accolades throughout this award season so

certainly back-to-back female winners, i think we're a long way away from some sort of sustainable parody but certainly amazing to have chloe last year and jane this year being awarded best director by the academy awards. >> and in terms of best picture, rebecca, many thought it would go to "power of the dog". >> yeah, i think by this weekend, coda and "power of the dog "running neck and neck, "coda" picked up a lot of key wins in other award shows late in the season like the sag awards winning best ensemble so wasn't a total surprise, especially when "coda" won adapted screenplay earlier tonight, something uoscars will know is that screen play win is often a great predictor of best picture and it's incredible milestone for inclusion. we can't even say that, you know, there have been many films

that have spotlighted deaf or disabled communities at all so for this one to go all the way to the end and win best picture is actually a really significant achievement. >> yeah, exactly, in terms of best supporting actress, ariana dubois from west side story, of course, judy demp from bellfast, and making history. >> yeah, ariana dobose, first afro- a afrolatina to win oscar, and out lgbtq and she out lined that in the speech showing that clearly, women of color, there's a place for us. a famous reference to a leerk in westside story and i believe this is maybe the first time that actresses, that the same,

one character has yielded multiple oscars from different actresses, leida morano winning an oscar for playing her in the 1960s. >> so was there any stand-out surprise for you, apart from the will smith punch? >> you know, i mean we were going into this thinking this was going to be a pretty predictable night. and in fact, i wouldn't say there was any real surprises in terms of the awards that were handed out, you know, even the ones we weren't sure about, you know, best actress, you know, j jessica chastain, no one was surprised to have win, although she wasn't as much of a run-away front winner like ariana dubose but it's all about the slap, i don't think a single person could have predicted that, especially where the conversation this year was about how fewer and fewer people have been whoppiatching the oscars a

producers were trying to come up of exciting ways to get the audience back, inviting instagram influencers, controversially, excluding many of the below the line categories to nontelevised events, just trying to get as many people in and at the end of the day, all you had to do was have will smith hit chris rock on stage. >> [ laughter ] a moment that will go down in oscars history for sure. thank you so much for joining us from the hollywood reporter. >> thank you. >> america's top diplomat turning the middle east and north africa, russia's war is on the agenda, but it's not the only issue for antony blinken. we'll explain, coming up.

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welcome back. israeli prime minister naftali bennett has tested positive for covid-19. his office said a short time ago. it comes a day after he met with u.s. secretary of state antony blinken during his tour of the middle east and north africa over the weekend. journalist elliott godkin is following the high-stakes diplomatic trip from jerusalem. >> reporter: for once the main

conflict being discussed by a u.s. secretary of state and israeli foreign and prime ministers wasn't the one between israel and the palestinians. it was on the agenda. just that russia's invasion of ukraine and the iran nuclear deal were at least on sunday more pressing concerns. secretary blinken lauding israel's denunciation of the war, the field hospital it set up in western ukraine, and its diplomatic efforts to end the fighting as well as israel's promise not to become a back door for russian sanctions evasion. he also went back on president biden's apparent call for toppling putin saying the u.s. doesn't advocate regime change in russia or anywhere else. the other big issue he discussed was the u.s.'s desire to rejoin the iran nuclear deal, something that would reportedly include delisting of the country's revolutionary guards as a terrorist organization. prime minister naftali bennett repeated israel's objection, saying it hoped the united states will hear the concerned voices from the region. after meetings in jerusalem secretary blinken headed to ramallah to meet with mahmoud abbas. the palestinian authority president said the situation with russia showed a flagrant

global double standard saying that despite its occupation, ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination no one was holding irlds to account. secretary blinken said the u.s. was focused on concrete ways to help the palestinian people and reiterated the u.s.'s commitment to the principle of of a two state solution. he then flew by helicopter to southern israel for a summit with foreign ministers from israel, egypt, the uae, bahrain and morocco. on the menu discussions on regional security, the iran nuclear deal, and other shared opportunities and concerns. elliott godkin, cnn, jerusalem. china's financial hub is going into lockdown for mass covid-19 testing. the shanghai government says half the city begins four days of lockdown on monday. the other half will follow on friday. shanghai is roughly 25 million residents must get tested to maintain a green health code status, which allows them into grocery stores and other public areas. china reported more than 6,200 new cases sunday. more than half of them were in shanghai. the city now has seen more than

16,000 infections since the latest outbreak began march 1st. cnn's beijing bureau chief joins us now. steven, much of the world dropping restrictions, opening up. but shanghai locking down in two stages this week. >> reporter: that's right, linda. this really follows days of confusion or even chaos on the streets and online in terms of what the authorities would do to shanghai, which is experiencing its biggest surge of covid infections since the pandemic began. now, for days officials actually have been denying there would be a citywide lockdown with police even launching investigations against so-called rumor mongers about the city's imminent closure. when you look at remember 16,000 since march as we mentioned, this obviously is a huge deal in china. but the overwhelming majority, over 97% of these cases, have been asymptomatic, which does not really require much hospital care according to most experts. that's why before this latest wave of cases shanghai had

prided itself on its less disruptive approach to covid containment. there were never any citywide mass testing, and their quarantine measures were considered more lenient. so there was a lot of hope this would inspire other cities in china to do the same thing, eventually leading to the country being reopened to the outside world. but instead the opposite is now happening in shanghai, with this citywide lockdown all but in name happening to a lot of people. millions confined to their homes. the city's public transportation including the world's biggest metro network, a large portion of it being shut down, and then of course growing concerns with the city's health care system, especially with a lot of people trying to seek medical attention for non-covid illnesses being turned away. at least one case of somebody dying because of this. and also remember, shanghai has the country's oldest population among all the major cities. so this is a major concern among the elderly population, especially those who are not vaccinated.

so all of this of course is leading to a lot of fatigue, frustration, and anger online. but ultimately, this is something being decided here in beijing. for the leadership here it seems their most important item on the agenda for the year is the communist party national congress to be held later this year. before that happens it's very unlikely they're going to loosen this zero covid policy because they simply do not want to tolerate the prospect of covid cases raging across china as president xi jinping is expected to take his third term in office. linda? >> all right. steven jiang staying on it all from beijing. good to have you with us. thank you. and finally, take a listen to this. ♪ you're listening to choirs in spain leading a global livestreamed sing-along in support of peace in ukraine. many gathered in madrid on sunday wearing blue and yellow ribbons with some holding signs

urging peace. ♪ the organization choirs for peace created the event. and we're joined by choirs from portugal and eight other countries. singers also observed a minute of silence before the event to honor the victims of the world. well, that does it for this hour. i'm linda kincaid. thanks for your company. our breaking news continues after a short break. you're watching cnn. stuff. we love stuff. and there's some really great stuff out there. but i doubt that any of us will look baback on our lives and think, "i wish i'd bought an even thinner tv, found a lighter light beer,, or had an eveven smarter smartphone." do you think any of us will look back on our lives and regret the things we didn't buy?

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the united states this hour. i'm hala gorani reporting live from lviv in ukraine. let's bring you up to date with our breaking news. we are following developments in russia's war on ukraine. just hours ago cnn teams on the ground in kyiv, the capital, heard a loud explosion followed by sirens as an adviser to president volodymyr zelenskyy says russia is stepping up its missile strikes across the country. now, he named several cities that were targeted on sunday night including three to the