hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. i'm christina mcfarland in the

newsroom. dangerous winter storms, pummeling the united states coast-to-coast. how the storms are disrupting travel. and bracing for possible escalation, ahead of the anniversary of the invasion, as russia and china reaffirm their ties in moscow. plus -- rying tensions in the northeast after a raid by the palestinians leave 11 dead. we're live with the latest. millions of americans are feeling the chill from the maive winter storm system coast-to-coast. snow, winds and ice have knocked out power to 850,000 customers. parts of california are reporting snow with los angeles

county issuing a blizzard warning for the first time since the 1980s. flight tracking website flight aware shows 700 flights have been canceled on thursday so far b because of the weather. let's go to atlanta. this is serious disruption. any idea how long the conditions are going to last? >> unfortunately for days. some of the areas have picked up two feet of snow. 60 million people under some sort of winter alert, including southern california, where two to five feet of snow in some of the higher elevations there. and again, the first time since 1989, for a blizzard warning coming out of the national weather service office of l.a. and that starts for friday into saturday. the whole system itself taking its track up into new england, now under winter weathered a vieries, as well, as winter storm warnings, with several

inches of snow expecting to fall, including ice. we're dealing with that in the upper midwest, great lakes and new england, and the southern part of the country. thunderstorms are expected, because of much warmer record heat. the snow moving through green bay and minneapolis. some of the heaviest snow in the early morning hours. moving into new england, watching the snowfall as of this morning. and again through the afternoon and tomorrow. preliminary snowfall totals, over the last few days, battle lake, wyoming, got 48 inches of snowfall. ice, crippling, and numerous outages. ann arbor has picked up 0.6 inches of ice and more falling. the pink is popping on future cast, through the rest of thursday. and it tapers back through the

upper midwest and the great lakes and pushes into new england thursday night into friday. freezing rain on top of the snow. it will be crunchy. and travel is not advised in the upcoming days. as for snowfall totals on top of what we have experienced in minneapolis, the u.p. of michigan and green bay included in that, where we could pick up 6 to 8 inches of snowfall and another half inch of ice in the locations, up to a quarter of an inch as we move into new england. >> goodness me. stay indoors, keep off the roads where possible. britley rich, thank you for the update. we're now approaching the one-year mark of russia's invasion of ukraine. as the fierce fighting continues to rage on the battlefield and as world leaders on both sides of the conflict held discussions to strengthen their alliances. on wednesday, russian president vladimir putin met in moscow

with china's top diplomat. he said relations between the two countries are reaching new milestones. >> translator: international relations today are complex. they have not improved after the collapse of the bipolar system. on the contrary, they have become more tense and in this regard, corporation between russia and the china people's republic on the international arena are very important for the stabilization of international situations, as we have said many times. >> meantime, u.s. president joe biden is back in washington, after wrapping a trip to warsaw and kyiv, intended to build support for ukraine. he met with the bucharest nine. mr. biden made clear that the u.s. is committed to defending

every inch of nato territory, as the leaders reaffirm their support for ukraine. >> as nato's eastern flank, you're the front lines of our western defense and you know what is at stake in this conflict. not just for ukraine, but the freedom of democracies throughout europe and around the world. >> cnn correspondents are standing by for all developments. i want to go to kyiv and melissa first. we're on the eve of the one-year anniversary. what is the mood like in kyiv? and what are authorities expecting as the additional safety measures are being prepared? >> there are differing points of view on what may follow in the coming days. whether or not russia has the ability to mount the kind of substantial upping of its situation as predicted.

ukraine authorities have been saying for weeks they expect some sort of symbolic attack to mark that first year anniversary of the war. other analysts suggested it's difficult to see at a time when ukrainian defenses have so improved and russian offensive systems so decreased they would have the ability to carry out anything substantial. still, ukrainians are preparing for that possibility, specifically around the kherson region, which continues to be attacks from the river. there's measures being taken and up by the russian border, suggesting that people can stay at home if they feel unsafe and preparing for what they expect might be the worse. we heard from president joe biden. the efforts to beef up ukraine's counteroffensive on the part of western leaders. we have meetings with president

zelensky, where madrid expects to send six tanks of its own, to arrive here by february or march, when the training periods have been completed. as we look ahead to the one-year anniversary, it's a case of hoping for the best. as ever, in the course of the last year, preparing for the worst. >> absolutely. melissa, thanks. on wednesday, we saw russia suspend its participation of the arms treaty. now, there's reports that putin is moving to strengthen russia's arms forces. what are we learning about the comments from the kremlin. >> we're seeing an uptick in the saber rattling, that has been a mark in the lead-up of the war, which parliament confirmed in the new start treaty, the

recommenmnants of the war. that confirmed the status quo. and russia wasn't allowing inspections. and u.s. officials telling us that russia tested an icbm earlier in the week. that test apparently failed, all part of the same theme. now, on the defender of the father land day, every 23rd of february, russia saying they will give particular attention to strengthening what he called the nuclear triad. the sea, land and air based weapons. they have been modernizing their weapons for decades. this doesn't change anything. but it shows a posturing. listen to what president biden told abc about how he views this threat. >> whaet's your message to puti on that? >> it's a big mistake to do that, and not very responsible. but i don't think he's thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that. >> there's no real intelligence

or any sense that nuclear use by russia would be imminent. it comes after affirming of support for ukraine. and clear evidence that its nuclear threats have not proved a deterrent when it comes to the west supplying weapons to ukraine. that's why you see the uptick. >> yeah. it's coming as we talk on the eve of this anniversary. thank you for now. joining me now to discuss more, live from amsterdam, is the romanian minister of public affairs. thank you for joining us. i wanted to pick up with you on the comments from the kremlin as we've been discussing. we know over the past year, putin has repeatedly hinted that russia could use nuclear weapons if threatened. now, we're seeing some escalation to the threats. russia withdrawing from the arms treaty and threatening to strengthen russia's nuclear t tr triad. how seriously are you taking the

threats? is this posturing from putin? >> thank you so much for having me. indeed, these are not new threats. as you remember, russia, already in the beginning of the war of ukraine, was mentioning such kind of possibilities of use of n nuclear weapons. every time they were met with condemnation and this is what we have to do. russia, in war against ukraine, it is a permanent member of the security council. it has special responsibilities as the owner of nuclear weapons. these kind of threats have to be condemned. we've seen before the threats that were not followed by any kind of action. we should know and we are able to know as an alliance, that we can spot whenever there is a certain preparation for the use of nuclear weapons.

this comes at the marking of one year of the start of the war in ukraine and russia has no results whatever to the contrary. it's a need for the russian officials, including for president putin and other allies of many mr. putin to mention such things that create emotion at the international level. >> yeah. >> elsewhere, meanwhile, we've seen movement of china this week. and china's claims of neutrality have faded after the top diplomat went to moscow yesterday. how concerned are you that the bilateral relationship will go beyond economic corporation and move to delivery of arms and munitions for russia's war effort? >> i think it's important that china and any other actor in the

world, stay neutral and do not help the aggressor, russia. we mentioned, amsterdam, heading towards new york for the events dedicated to the one-year commemoration for the start of the war in ukraine, the security council debates and the general assembly debate, where we are supposed to adopt with a large majority resolution regarding the comprehensive and lasting and just peace in ukraine. it is important that all member states of the united nations of the international community condemn strongly what russia is doing in ukraine and ask for an immediate stop of hostilities and immediate withdraw of russian troops from ukraine and the start of the peace process. this depends on ukraine.

this is what we were discussing yesterday in warsaw together with president biden and the nato secretary general. and i think it's important that we support ukraine to win this war. >> on that meeting in warsaw, as you mentioned the bucharest nine. we know romania is part of the bucharest nine. we heard the u.s.'s commitment to stand by as the war approaches the anniversary. how important is that commitment to nations like yourself who border ukraine? >> romania is one of the initiators of the bucharest nine. and it is a successful format. it allows for transatlantic coordination. we have used this format during

the last year since the beginning of the war and even before that. it was a timely discussion. and the reassurance that president biden will -- has given us all, that the united states is fully committed to protect and to defend any inch of allied territory, including the allies in distance, because it's extremely important. the troops have increased since the beginning of the war. 3,800 american troops on our soil. this is an important reassurance. at the same time, in complete solidarity to the security of romania and other allies on the eastern flank. we have full implementation of the madrid summit decisions of june last year, especially in terms of designation of reinforcement for the battle groups on the eastern flank, including for the battle group in romania.

more positioning of equipment and air defense capabilities to negate russia's measures. and other measures related to the better access to fuel for troops on the eastern flank. >> can i ask quickly, if you plan to increase the presence of u.s. troops in romania. you mentioned a number you already had. is there plans to increase that? >> any increase of allied presence and i would stress the word presence, is important. and the u.s. presence on the territory of the eastern flank is important to build a consolidated deterrence and defense posture and to go forward defense that we have been discussing for quite some time in the madrid summit. this is not just an increasing number of troops, but the

positioning of equipment, which is necessary, if needed, for the defended territory and assignment of reinforcement forces for the battle groups that are already in the eastern flank territory. all this represents a combined set of measures. command and control aspect, which is very important. all this creates a smart defense and a smart forward defense, which is important. the stronger the defense is, the stronger the deterrence is. >> we have to leave it there. but we really appreciate your time. thank you for coming on and giving us your thoughts for the anniversary of this war. >> thank you for having me. air strikes, rocket fire, and a lethal raid in the west bank. we're live in jerusalem with the latest on escalating violence. also, three weeks after a toxic train wreck u.s. transportation security pete buttigieg will travel there today to see it firsthand.

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smoke hovered over the gaza skyline following a new round of air strikes. israeli forces say they hit a weapon manufacturing site. it came after six rockets that were towards israel. there were no reports of casualties or responsibility. it's likely retaliation for a west bank raid. palestinian officials say 11 people were killed and hundreds of others wounded in what they call a massacre. let's go to jerusalem. this raid was unusual. why was it carried out at this time? and we're hearing over 00 people injured there.

>> it is not unusual but it is rare. they say this was carried out in the daytime because there was an imneminent attack. people were shopping in the open market in the old city. israeli security forces went in to arrest three militants they say was responsible for killing an israeli soldier. they invited the detainees to come. 11 prisons were killed after this raid by security forces. some of them were civilians. more than 100 injured. according to the palestinian red crescent, some of the injuries were the result of live

ammunition. and there were bullets, that were flying everywhere. the spokesperson concedes that th things did get very messy. there's been condemnation of the raid. the united states state department has said it's concerned in its words by levels of violence in israel and the west bank. we heard from the special coordinator for the peace process, saying he is disturbed by the continuing cycle of violence and is appalled by a loss of civilian lives. palestinian islamic jihad, two of his commanders were killed in that raid yesterday, has come out and warned of explosion of violence and escalation. as of now, it doesn't seem that either militants or the israeli security forces are keen on escalation.

but this can change quickly. >> absolutely. a spiral -- escalation of violence. thanks so much. now, u.s. transportation secretary pete buttigieg heads to east palestinian, ohio, to see for himself, the toxic train derailment that has upended this community. this will coincide with a release of a report from the national transportation safety board. the train was carrying hazardous chemicals. the norfolk southern ceo alan shah talked on a cnn town hall. >> we're going to be here a year

from now and five years from now. i want to see this through. and each and every day, i'm going to do the next right thing. >> it's been nearly three weeks since the derailment. many residents are worried whether it's safe to be there. h we look at how the disaster unfolded and what's happened since. >> friday, february 3rd, flames light up the night sky. a norfolk southern freight train with 100 cars partially detrailed, including cars with hazardous materials, including a cancer causing chemical. the blaze rages through the weekend. firefighters unable to get close, due to the toxic chemicals and the possibility of an explosion. >> we had to weigh different risk with no great choices. >> february 6th, the decision is

made to do a controlled release. >> this would allow us to control the reaction. >> a large, black plume can be seen for miles. >> the detonation is perfect and the cars are safe. >> reporter: but residents are wondering when it's safe to be home. >> we're all worried, honestly. you can't get direct answers because nobody knows. >> reporter: epa testing shows air and municipal drinking water do not have dangerous levels of contaminate. the evacuation order is lifted and the railroad is reopened. when they return, some residents complain of headaches, rashes and nausea. >> watch this. you see that chemical pop out of the creek. this is disgusting. >> reporter: thousands of dead fish in local creeks like this one, behind kathy reese's home.

>> air-wise, i feel okay. water-wise, no. there's too many chemicals they don't want to identify completely. official >> reporter: officials say daily tests show the air and municipal drinking water are safe. but residents have little trust in them. >> are my kids safe? are the people safe? >> reporter: anxious residents demand answers. >> so far, they are working with us and fixing it. if that stops, i guarantee you i will be the first one in line to fight them. >> reporter: the epa ordered norfolk southern to complete all of the cleanup or the agency will immediately take over the cleanup and compel to make the company pay triple the cost. >> in no, way, shape or form, will norfolk southern get off the hook. >> reporter: the governor of

pennsylvania made a move to investigate the company. >> norfolk southern's greed and lack of care for residents is unacceptable. >> reporter: and norfolk southern continues to vow to do what is right. >> we're going to see this through. and we're going to invest in this community . on tuesday, officials were drinking from the tap to show it is safe. but this is to say who will be around for years from now to make sure no one has gotten sick. >> we will be with the citizens of this process with east palestinian as long as it takes. >> we will continue to do what needs to be done. >> reporter: jason caroll, cnn, east palestine, ohio. a 19-year-old man is charged

with murder in florida after allegedly going on a shooting spree wednesday, resulting in the deaths of three people. the first victim was a woman killed inside a vehicle who may have known the suspect. two journalists were shot at the same spot while reporting on the incident. one of them died. the suspect entered a nearby home and shot a mother and her young daughter. the child later died in the hospital. the president of the radio news association tweeted his condolences regarding the tragedy. still ahead, a job that no one wants but someone has to do it. we'll meet the man who is taking the bodies from the battlefields of ukraine back to their families. first, vladimir putin russia's relationship with china is hitting new milestones. the meeting with the top diplomat, next..

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u.s. president joe biden is back in the u.s. after his trip to ukraine and poland. before leaving warsaw on wednesday, he describe d russias decision to withdraw from the nuclear treaty as a big mistake. he also met with the bucharest nine. he says the u.s. will never falter in its commitment to nato and nato will always protect them. in moscow, vladimir putin addressed a cheering crowd, for defender of the father lland da. he says that the soldiers are fighting heroically in ukraine.

as biden met with nato allies, putin welcomed china's top diplomat to warsaw. where does this leave the china-russia relationship right now? >> the top diplomat told putin that the china-russia relationship is resilient and rock-solid as he wrapped up his visit to moscow. wednesday, we heard from vladimir putin, saying that the relationship was reaching new milestones. we have some of the remarks for you. he said, china-russia relations stand the test of changes in the international climate. it is mature, resilient and rock-solid, unquote. but the relationship has been under intense scrutiny. on wednesday, the pentagon warned china if china proceeds

to give lethal support for the ongoing war in ukraine. take a listen to this. >> we haven't seen them give lethal aid to russia at this time for the war. they also haven't taken that off the table. we've been consistent from here. i believe that secondary blinken met with his counterpart in germany last week. there will be consequences for china, should the partnership with russia further deepen. >> and china has pushed back on the allegation. back to you. >> watch this space, i guess for now. now, to a side of the war in ukraine you've never seen before. you're about to meet a man doing a job who provides comfort to the families of the fallen. he drives back and forth across ukraine bringing the dead home for burial. carissa ward has this story.

>> reporter: on most days, he sets out before dawn. part of a volunteer group that transports the remains of ukraine's soldiers back to their families. at a morgue, a group of servicemen, are waiting to meet this private's body. it's somber work and the men move quickly. at the moment, we have 18 bodies, he tells us. each family wants to get them as soon as possible. why do you do this work? few people are willing to do this work for free, he says. and not everyone has the psyche for it.

they are lonely, seemingly endless hours on the road, as he crisscrosses the country. emblazoned across his truck, is the number 200, a transport of bodies that dates back to soviet bodice. on occasions, processions of people line up on their knees to greet the truck, a mark of respect for the dead. at a morgue, he stops to pick up more bodies. overwhelmed by the number of casualties, the hospital has taken to storing them in a shipping container in the parking lot. ukraine does not release information on how many of the soldiers have been killed in action. but his daily load has soared in

recent weeks, as fighting rages on in ukraine. do you have any idea how many bodies you have taken to their hometowns at this stage? in this van, he says around 1,000. now, we're at a stage in the war where more and more soldiers are being killed. are you seeing that? at the moment, yes, he tells us. right now, it's a large amount. 36 hours after he drops off the body, this private is given a proper funeral. killed on february 11th, his mother can say good-bye to her son. how important was it to you to have his body returned to give him this beautiful funeral

today? the main thing is to have him at home. not laying somewhere eaten by birds. you understand how awful it is when people just disappear. we cannot change anything. but thank god i can visit him. this is the reason he does the wok. and seeing the families' grief, is painful. hardest part is when you drop them off, and there's relatives present to look them in the eye. there's so much emotion. so many tears. but there's no time for tears tonight. he has more bodies to deliver. and across ukraine, more families are waiting.

still ahead, turkey reveals new relief plans and cracks down on unsafe housing in the wake of the deadly earthquake. a live report from turkey when we return. i will use rid-x monthly to help prevent a backup. oo h

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and banned layoffs in ten provinces. the justice ministry says 160 people out of 600 suspects have been arrested and many more detained over unsafe construction. this appears to be an effort for accountability by the government, given the understandable anger that's followed such a tragic loss of life. how much is government involved in what they are seeking to arrest? this is a big focus now. and questions whether the government has done enough. if a country like this is safe. there has been mounting pressure on the government. more than 500 people identified

as suspects. 160 so far arrested over allegations of construction negligence. some contractors were offered amnesty when it came to buildings that didn't adhere to safety requirements. there's questions if the government can enforce that. >> i don't want to deflect the responsibility here in any way. we're in a position of responsibility. we have to take action. it's also a matter of a culture of understanding. and everybody, you know, following the guidelines and regulations. individuals, private sector, central government, we're all learning great lessons.

costly and sad but great lessons. >> these lessons may not be enough for those who have lost loved ones and lost everything. take a look at the construction behind me. some of the buildings are completely collapsed. lives gone following the earthquake. this is just one neighborhood. particularly damaged following the aftershock on monday. there's 900,000 people living in tents across southeast turkey. some that we've been speaking to, in one of the camps across the street, three weeks on, don't have a tent. they are sleeping in the street. those that have lost loved ones, those questions where the accountability lies, the lessons and the plans to rebuild, for some feel like empty promises.

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