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Earthquake Rocks Central Italy; U.S. and South Korea in Joint Military Exercises; Turkish Forces Begin Assault on ISIS-Controlled Border Town; Trump Steps Up Demand for Investigation of Clinton Foundation. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 24, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

We are following breaking news this hour. A powerful earthquake rocked central Italy early Wednesday morning. The 6.2 magnitude quake collapsed buildings and trapped people in the rubble near the town of Norcia. We are now getting a daytime look at the damage.

Our affiliate RAI reports at least 14 people were killed. The mayor of Amatrice says his town is no more and access to the area is cut off.

Three helicopters and six vehicles are heading to the quake zone to set up mobile medical units. Facebook safety check is active for people to connect with each other in the affected areas.

And of course, as I'm talking to you we're looking at live pictures from the center of this quake. Now this, of course, it's daylight, so we're getting an idea of this damage. You can see the heavy lifting land equipment there in place.

But we want to get an update now. CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau joins us from Italy with more details. So, Barbie, as we take a look at those live pictures, of course it is critical. Now it's daytime, people can make a better assessment of the damage.

What are you learning about that and of course the casualties, and what assistance and support mechanisms have been put in place so far?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the first of these earthquakes started, it happened about five hours ago now, and so the emergency services have been doing everything they can to reach these effected areas.

And the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called the state of emergency almost immediately, which of course allows everybody to get into place. The army has been sent out too, as well, because they've got the kind of heavy equipment that's going to be needed to get into these areas.

One of the concerns of course is just access at this point. These towns are old, 200, 300-year-old towns. Villages are made of stones that is crumbling in situations like this, even though this is a seismic area, you know, these buildings weren't built for any sort of movement like we saw, you know, overnight.

You know, we've heard that many have been dead but there are really concerns that this number is going to go higher at this point. You know, the mayor of Amatrice, whose the town, who is the epicenter town of 2,000 people says half his town is gone.

And we've seen report after report in Italian media and through social networking of people just describing how they're digging through the rubble trying to find survivors. Stories of, you know, three generations of families they are spending their summer holidays together.

This is a very popular part of Italy where people come from all over Europe and the United States and even the bigger cities to spend their summers. Summer is still in full swing here. Schools don't start for another three or four weeks, so people are still in that holiday mode.

And people are in the mountains this time of the year to escape the heat, and so, you know, we don't -- we're not looking dead even at statistics in terms of how many people might be effected. But, you know, by some estimate about a million people could be in this area around this time of the year, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And, Barbie, as you mentioned, the big concern here is emergency vehicles not actually being able to access those most in need. Talk to us, too, about the aftershocks.

So many at this point and that is the real worry, isn't it, because of course, the first earthquake makes it unstable and then the following aftershocks make that damage all the more greater. So, talk to us about what you're hearing about that.

NADEAU: Well, you know, just to give you some perspective, 160 kilometers away in Rome where I was at 3.30 this morning, the earthquake really woke me up really did shake me out of bed, and one an hour after that was extremely strong in the city of Rome, 160 kilometers away. That means at the epicenter one can't even imagine how strong that earthquake must have been.

You know, but also making this more difficult is the fact that these buildings are so old and as you said, you know, the first earthquake may compromise structurally. And the second and third aftershock of what that really knocks them.

We saw this in 2009, in L'Aquila which was the similar size and scope earthquake where over 200 people died. And that city i L'Aquila in this area as well still hasn't been rebuilt because there's so much seismic activity in the area.

You know, it's going to be interesting I suppose as well to learn -- to see if anybody learned any lessons from that devastating earthquake. After that quake hit, you know, there were national regulations put into place that any building over 100 years old had to be reinforced with anti-seismic reinforcement and all sorts of precautions.

It's going to be interesting to see if anybody took that advice and if any lessons were learned in 2009.

[03:05:00] And I think authorities are going to be looking at that one they figure out, you know, what the death toll is in this devastating earthquake, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, that is most definitely critical. Our Barbie Nadeau on the line there. She is in fact, on her way now to the quake zone. We will talk to her a little later this hour. Many thanks to you, Barbie.

Well, Tommaso Della Longa, a national spokesman for the Italian Red Cross joins us now by phone from Rome. Now talk to us because Rome of course, being so far away, but yet, people did feel the effects of this and you're able to talk to us about what is happening there at the epicenter. How much information have you been able to ascertain at this point?

TOMMASO DELLA LONGA, ITALIAN RED CROSS NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Hi, hello. Good morning, and thank you, first of all. Actually, we got information right after the earthquake because we have local branches of our volunteers in the -- in the small cities that were hit by the earthquake like Amatrice.

One of our delegates sent out several pictures and they're really terrible. More than half of the city is not anymore there and our volunteers were even hurt themselves by the earthquakes. So, first of all, they help their own family and then they start working to support the effected people.

But the situation is still very difficult and the main challenge now is to send there as much as possible search and rescue teams.

CHURCH: Now we were talking of course with Barbie, about the problem associated with getting heavy lifting equipment in there. The access is really difficult a at this point, and so the concern here of course, the number of people that may be under this rubble.

And we're talking about very old buildings here. So, the structures are not good at this point. So, talk to us about how you're working with other organizations to gain access to these worst-hit areas.

LONGA: Actually as Italian Red Cross we're part of the Italian field production system. We are following the situation with our president in the national situation room. And since the beginning we mobilize all our emergency centers.

So, Italians Red Cross but we can see as Italian emergency response systems that were several helicopters that brought there, search and rescue teams. Then we are, I mean, thanking God until now. The biggest road are still there.

So, all our men are going now with ambulances and search and rescue teams because the first priority now they need to find people under the building that collapsed. And so to find the survival, you have to understand that this area is very rural, it's in the middle of mountains and valleys.

So, there is not only the problem of the small cities like Amatrice, for instance, but also really the problem were villages and then also houses that there completely alone in the middle of a valley. So, they need to have help as soon as possible. So, this is the main challenge.

CHURCH: And so, as we have been talking to you, we have been looking at these live pictures and perhaps if we can go back to Amatrice where we saw rescue efforts there. We saw people gathered around an area, presumably in an effort to pull somebody from the rubble, the collapsed building there and of course, you get a real idea of just how difficult this task is.

We've got these men on hand to hopefully be able to retrieve somebody safely from under all of that rubble. And this is the big concern of course. And the other concern, sir, is once this rescue and recovery operation is completed, then of course there will be so many people that won't have homes. We've already learned that Amatrice, for the most part, is a destroyed town.

LONGA: Yes. Obviously, there's another priority but at this stage we are really working around the clock to find survivors. I heard news like 15 minutes ago that one of our search and rescue team, I mean, Apostolic of Leticia province they found two guys -- I mean, two person alive under a building that collapsed. (TECHNICAL PROBLEM).

[03:10:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

(TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

[00:02:26] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: ... the 6 a.m. the vulnerability of structures, very high here. And what were people doing? Sleeping.

So, it is the worst-case scenario when you look at the one, two, three of those important elements at play here.

So, we're going to show you exactly what's occurred here and of course, how many aftershocks you should expect with a quake of this magnitude.

And again, the intensity, the shaking out of this there is a fascinating conversion where you can take a magnitude and put it into a calculator and it will tell you the equivalent energy distribution across in this area.

Which in this case, it would be upwards of 60 million tons of dynamite, sticks of dynamite I should say, being released in one particular spot to rupture the ground beneath your feet which is what occurred across this region of central Italy.

So, there is 6.2 at 3.36 in the morning. And just incredibly similar to what occurred in April of 2009 with a 6.3. that took almost 300 lives in Italy.

Now, not just the .1 difference in magnitude. The one in 2009 occurred at 1.32 in the morning, at 3.32 in the morning, the one a few hours ago at 3.36 in the morning, the depths both at 10 kilometers, of course the magnitude is almost identical as well, almost similar of the fault lines.

So, here's the estimated population that felt shaking and that's upwards of 20 million people. And notice, moderate shaking felt over 12 million, strong shaking felt over for over 6 million people and you work your way into a very strong shaking, which is right near the epicenter of course over 230,000 people felt very strong shaking.

So, now this is what we know as far as again, the depth of the quake and its proximity and location. The intensity is pretty widely distributed. If you take a look at the intensity of that area, that's about a 500 square kilometer area of land where people felt pretty violent shaking at times across this region that lasted upwards of 30 to 45 seconds.

So, the USGS has gone through and based on historical data, look at economic losses potential with this particular quake. Highest probability sits at 35 percent, for over $1 billion in losses potentially, that's U.S. dollars they're estimating with structural damage left in place here.

And the estimated fatalities based on previous quakes, the highest likelihood comes in between 100 to 1,000. People just shy of that likelihood between 10 to 100 people. So, you see the 31 to 33 percent, which is the biggest gap they put in.

So, it gives you an idea of how much damage and how much loss of life potential to areas in this region. And again, the timing of the data occurred does not help, Rosemary. But at least we know the weather pattern going to help with what is left now which is search and recovery efforts.

CHURCH: And those figures that you were showing us, the estimated fatalities, how do they work that out?

[03:14:58] JAVAHERI: Yes, so, the USGS looks at previous earthquakes similar magnitude, similar location and based on that surrounding area in previous quakes, they come up with a statistics there that gives you the breakdown of how many people they think would lose their lives.

And we know that 295 lost their lives in 2009 which was almost an identical quake. That's why they're giving that 100 to 1,000 as the highest likelihood and we're hoping it's closer to 100.

CHURCH: Absolutely. But a loss for those families nonetheless.

JAVAHERI: Certainly.

CHURCH: Thank you so much, Pedram Javaheri joning us. I appreciate it.

Well, coming up, more on the deadly earthquake that struck central Italy. And the damage that's been called devastating. Our breaking news coverage continues after this.

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[03:20:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)[00:00:43]

CHURCH: ... will only (AUDIO GAP) its self-destruction.

Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe called the launch a grave threat to Japanese security and an unforgivable act.

Now this comes as the U.S. and South Korea are involved in joint military exercises. And China's Xinhua News Agency calls the exercises a dangerous game.

Will Ripley joins us from Seoul with more on this. So, Will, what more are we learning about this ballistic missile and what do we know about possible progress made by North Korea when it comes to this type of technology?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, think of it this way, Rosemary, back in April when North Korea broadcast those images and the dramatic image of what they were heralding as a successful launch of a submarine launch ballistic missile.

That particular missile according to U.S. Strategic Command forces, South Korea, and Japan, everybody who is tracking it, they said it went about 30 kilometers and fell apart essentially. That also was the case last month when they attended to launch one of these things it fell apart shortly after takeoff.

But in this case, this particular missile travelled and this has been confirmed now by multiple countries, 500 kilometers. More than 300 miles. So, that's 16 times the previous so-called successful North Korean test.

And this progress that they've made just in a matter of months. It's clear that North Korea is no longer concerned about the international community watching these missile tests, even if they're failures.

They're continuing to push forward no matter what the perception is because frankly, the leader Kim Jong-un has made it clear that investments in their missile technology and nuclear program are going to be their strategy moving forward.

North Korea has a very large standing army but more and more we're seeing them invest in these submarine missiles where they can actually get a submarine close to any of these shores and launch a surprise attacks.

They're investing in these Musudan missiles that can be launched from mobile launchers which are much more difficult to trace. And then of course there's the continued focus on intercontinental ballistic missiles and miniaturize nuclear warheads that someday might be capable of striking among other places the mainland United States.

Already North Korea's capacity continues to grow and the submarine technology allows them to conduct the attacks farther away from the Korean Peninsula. So, certainly a troubling development that the foreign ministers of Japan, South Korea, and China in a meeting today, called this the greatest security threat facing this part of the world right now, Rosemary.

CHURCH: This progress indeed a great concern. We would expect to hear more condemnation from across the globe as the day progresses. It's 4.22 in the afternoon there in Seoul, South Korea. Many thanks to you, Will, for joining us.

Well, Turkish armed forces have begun an assault on an ISIS-controlled border town. Turkey's official news agency, Anadolu says they are using artillery fire against ISIS in Jarablus.

CNN partner, CNN Turk says military sources tell them land operations have not started. Other sources say this is in retaliation after mortars landed in a residential Turkish neighborhood on Tuesday.

Senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman joins me now from Ankara, Turkey to talk more on this. What more are you learning, ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we understand, Rosemary, that this operation began at 4 a.m., local time, that's about seven hours ago. When Turkish artillery, tanks and F-16s struck targets in Jarablus, which is on the other side of the border on the Euphrates River.

After an hour and a hour bulldozers cleared entrance since or rather passage ways through the berm that separates the two countries. Now we've been in touch with a Syrian rebel commander. Their forces have been concentrated on the border on the Turkish side in preparation for this operation and he says indeed they have not gone across the border yet.

This is an operation that proceeds the attack -- the suicide attack in Gaziantep over the weekend and it proceeds the two days, Monday, Tuesday of cross by fire -- cross-border fire from Syria. This is something that's been cooking for quite some time.

[03:25:02] Now the Turkish Interior Ministry has just appeared live on Turkish TV in a press conference. And he said this operation, which has been dubbed Euphrates shield will go on until the terrorist threat against Turkey is eliminated. So, that could be quite some time.

Now, Turkish officials say the purpose of this operation is to destroy ISIS in Jarablus itself to provide humanitarian support for people inside Syria, in that area and to prevent the flow of refugees from Syria into Turkey.

Now a few days ago, we were in Ankara speaking to analyst and they said there's much thinking within the Turkish government and the military of creating some sort of buffer zone inside Syria.

Ninety kilometers long along the border, 40 kilometers deep. This is something that Turks have been trying to encourage other coalition partners to buy into. It may appear that the Turks decided to do it themselves.

Now, we understand that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is just minutes away from landing here in the Turkish capital. Obviously, they'll be discussing the situation in Syria in addition to some rather other pressing matters in bilateral relations. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to you, Ben Wedeman joining us there from Ankara, Turkey. I appreciate that update on the situation.

And when we return more breaking news on the powerful earthquake in central Italy. We're back in a moment.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on our breaking news from Italy.

CNN affiliate RAI reports at least 14 people are dead as an overnight earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday. Now workers are trying to clear the damage the 6.2 magnitude quake hit near the town of Norcia.

And a strong aftershock followed an hour after that.

Now people in Rome could feel the tremors 160 kilometers or 100 miles away. And Angela Giuffrida joins me now from Rome. She's a journalist with the English news web site the Local Italy. Thank you so much for talking with us.

Now despite Rome's distance from the epicenter of that 6.2 magnitude quake, as we said people felt the effects of this. What did you and others experience there in Rome, and talk to us about what more you're learning about the epicenter.

ANGELA GIUFFRIDA, THE LOCAL EDITOR: Well, the latest death toll being reported is at least 14. Rescuers are still working to either try and find people buried beneath the rubble, victims. We know that the major damage has affected three small towns. Two in Latvia and one in the Marche region. These are two regions which straddle where the epicenter of the quake was.

CHURCH: And of course, Amatrice from what we're hearing from the men there he says essentially it doesn't exist anymore.

GIUFFRIDA: Yes, soon, very soon after the quake, he said that, you know, half the town has gone. And if you can imagine, you know, that there are many small towns, many thinly populated towns in Italy, especially in central Italy.

So, it's hard to give an idea, you know, the intense of the population -- of the extent of that damage just yet. But yes, you know, the mayors who have spoken out are talking about a severity of the damage and the potential loss. And Italy civil protection agency who also said that the damage will be severe.

CHURCH: And talk to us, Angela, about what mechanisms have been put in place to help people and also, you know, we're looking at this heavy lifting equipment there on the ground. What sort of access are they getting? And what do they have access to in term of the number of heavy lifting equipment available in that particular region?

GIUFFRIDA: Well, I think from what -- from what -- you know, from the scenes that we can see here in Rome as well, you know, the rescue services, although some of these places -- you know, would be that being in mountainous areas, you know, would be very challenging to reach.

But it seems that they were fairly quickly at the scenes and everything is being down now to try and rescue people.

CHURCH: And how does this compare to past years when earthquakes have hit in terms of getting these rescue operations and mobilized for these areas?

GIUFFRIDA: Well, the second (Inaudible) been the L'Aquila earthquake back in 2009. You know, for now, the death toll is at least 14. You know, L'Aquila, there were over 300 people who died. Italy is in a seismic area. So, the country is, you know, prepared, to some extent, for this. And all we can hope is that the death toll will be as limited as possible. That's all I can say for now.

CHURCH: yes. Absolutely. Our journalist Angela Giuffrida joining us there from Rome. Many thanks to you.

And earlier, my colleague Sara Sidner spoke with Eve Read, she's a Britain traveling with her family north of Rome and she felt the ground move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVE READ, EARTHQUAKE WITNESS: It was just after 3.30. We were all asleep in bed. There are 10 of us here, three generations of family. So, my husband and I woke up from being shaken from side to side. It was it felt like. And it probably continued for six or seven seconds after we'd woken up.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, you feel the shaking. What did you do after that? Because those are the moments that are extremely dangerous. And were you in an older home or in something newer construction?

READ: Yes. We're in a 200-year old converted farm house. A holiday rental and we spent in a couple of times before, so quite an old property.

[03:35:03] Fully renovated obviously but not built with modern, you know, shock-proof technology or anything. Our children were in the bedroom next door to us. So, our immediate reaction was to wait until the shaking to stop and then go and check on them to make sure they were OK. SIDNER: Did the home that you were renting did it experience any

damage, have you seen any damage around and is everybody OK? Did anyone receive any injuries during all this?

READ: Yes. No injuries. Everybody is fine. The ceiling, the cost of the ceilings in the one of the bathrooms collapsed. And just with things just after coming away that it caused damage in the bathroom.

Fortunately no one was there at the time. We're in a very rural area so I can literally only see one house from where we are. That appears to be OK. We've spoken to the neighbors and they're OK.

SIDNER: Can you tell me exactly where you are, the name of the village that you're in.

READ: We're outside of a village called San Fernando near Monte San Martino.

SIDNER: OK.

READ: So, I think we're around 20 kilometers...

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: So, we're looking at pictures...

READ: Sorry.

SIDNER: No, fine. We're looking at pictures that I think you've sent us. We are looking at that damage you talked about the bathroom having quite extensive damage and we can see that now we're looking at some of the cracks in the walls it appears. And I'm assuming those were not there when you got there, correct?

READ: Correct. So, I don't -- I don't think that anything is structural. I think it's all internal cracking this after the external of the building appears to be fine.

SIDNER: We're not seeing huge chunks of stone or anything like that, but, and we are seeing some of the plaster and we are seeing the cracks there.

READ: Correct.

SIDNER: Do you have any other friends, family that are in the area that you have tried to contact or have heard from anybody who is closer to the epicenter?

READ: We have spoken to the lady who looks after the property, so the owner. She dressed down to make sure we were OK. I believe they have a little more damage than we do. But they're not far from where we are, so not much closer to the epicenter is I believe.

SIDNER: I'm sure this is extremely scary for the family. Has the family ever been through an earthquake before, you don't get these really in Britain. READ: No. I'm obviously in the U.K., so it's not something we

experience very often until. So, I think the family probably more shaken than people who would live in this area or, you know, parts of America where it's quite frequent.

But, we're all OK. We're a little bit shaken. They were still, they're after looking to aftershock that's happening. We had one that around half an hour ago. And so, just being careful and making sure we're close to open space.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Now, Sara Sidner talking there to an earthquake witness. We will of course have more on this earthquake in Italy in just a moment. But first now to the U.S. presidential race.

Donald Trump is stepping up his demands that the Clinton Foundation be investigated and shut down. His latest salvo comes after an Associated Press report found that more than half of the private individuals Hillary Clinton met with as Secretary of State donated to her family's foundation.

Trump says this finding proves she uses pay-for-play tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is impossible to figure out where the Clinton Foundation ends and the State Department begins. It is now abundantly clear that the Clintons set up a business to profit from public office. They sold access and specific actions by and really for -- I guess -- the making of large amounts of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Now the Clinton campaign rejects the A.P. report saying in part "the story relies on utterly flawed data. It cherry picked a limited subset of Secretary Clinton's schedule to give a distorted portrayal."

Well, Donald trump is also slamming Clinton's immigration policy. He used a campaign stop in Texas Tuesday to highlight what he says are problems with her plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And Hillary Clinton wants a totally open border.

(CROWD BOOING)

She wants catch and release. She wants Obamacare and other things for illegal immigrants, in many cases more than our great veterans get.

(CROWD BOOING)

She has said she's going to give massive amnesty in her first 100 days. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:39:57] So, let's get more on all of this now from Philip Bump, he's a political reporter for the Washington Post. Philip, great to talk with you as always.

So, let's start with immigration and Donald Trump says he's open to softening on immigration laws, but just weeks before the presidential election, we're not seeing any details just yet. His campaign manager says his position on deportation is yet to be determined.

So, what's his new plan likely to look like and will though destruct any changes so late in the game do you think.

PHILIP BUMP, WASHINGTON POST POLITICAL REPORTER: Right. I think that's the key. The question is, whether or not people will actually take him at his word that he's a change Donald Trump on the subject of immigration.

Quite frankly, I have no idea what he might propose given that he has proposed one thing and now appears to be walking away from it. It seems that what he is likely to propose will probably be the thing that he thinks will do the best and really means some of the republicans who are if he's on his candidacy of which there are a lot that's why he's behind in the polls and that's who is really the target here.

He really wants to show them, show republicans that he is OK to go vote for and this is one step on that path.

CHURCH: And what about Donald Trump's attention to the Clinton Foundation, how likely is it that those attacks will gain any fraction?

BUMP: I think it's probably pretty likely. I mean, he has repeatedly gone after Hillary Clinton. I'm not sure he's going to gain any new followers simply because people have suddenly new concerns about Hillary Clinton. They've had concerns about Hillary Clinton for a while.

I think that what this could if nothing else is make some of Hillary's support a little bit softer in the same way that his support got softer after the conventions. You know, I mean, I think we are early in this phase of the story. It's the story that's been going on for a long time.

But I think that, you know, of the tools he has at his disposal, this is one the better ones.

CHURCH: Washington Post reporter Philip Bump talking to me earlier.

Now after the break, we'll have more of our breaking news coverage on the earthquake in central Italy. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. We are covering breaking news out of

central Italy where a powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocked that area just a few hours ago.

[03:45:05] The quake has left terrified residents huddled outside collapsed buildings and others trapped beneath the rubble.

Now our affiliate RAI reports at least 22 people have been killed now. A spokesman with the Red Cross said the priority right now of course is to find survivors.

We'll keep an eye on that story. But I want to cover this for a moment.

Ukraine is marking 25 years since it gained independence from the Soviet Union. But even after a quarter century, Ukrainian soldiers say they're still fighting to escape Moscow's dominance.

Our Phil Black got an up close and personal insight into Europe's forgotten war. Here is his exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Through this gate is one frontline of a war still ravaging a country and destroying lives, a year and a half after all sides promised to ceasefire. Where were the Ukrainian soldiers near (Inaudible) in the country's east as they try to hold a position against pro-Russian forces.

That's incoming fire slamming into the walls of this shed, the people here say that this is what it's like every single day. They're not just lobbing stuff at each other. They're trying to move forward and take each other's territory. And the captain Andrei Skorupski (Ph) tell us we must now run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quickly, quickly, quickly.

BLACK: This short dash for cover draws fire. We shelter in the remains of another devastated building. The source of the incoming fire is very close. So your enemy is out that way?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's that way. It's on the way at 100 meters.

BLACK: One hundred meters away?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

BLACK: A pause in the shooting allows us to move forward. We cross more open ground between old buildings. This industrial site is a fiercely contested prize. The Ukrainian forces say they've lost 10 men here in the last month and there are casualties every day.

Captain Skorupski (Ph) wants to show us one of the positions they're being attacked from. Yes, just there. A tall tower-like building so close we could stroll there in less than a minute. We're going to go there. At that moment the fighting picks up. There's

incoming fire from several directions. There is now fighting during the day every day, and so this is there.

But more than that it's in the evening at 4 o'clock. (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

[03:50:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

BLACK: ... sanctions released. We know that Russia has been talking to the leaders of Germany and France. They are the other key partners that have negotiated what really a pretty shaky peace plan so far.

And they will be talking about that more when they all get together at the upcoming Beijing G-20 summit that they are going to be talking about Ukraine on the sidelines of that early next month, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to our Phil Black. Again, incredible report that -- there on your embed and a live report there from Kharkiv in Ukraine. It is nearly 11 o'clock in the morning there. Many thanks, Phil.

Well, our Clarissa Ward sat down for an exclusive interview with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Our international viewers can watch that Wednesday on Amanpour, that is 7 p.m. in London, 10 p.m. in Abu Dhabi.

And our breaking news coverage continues after the short break with the latest on a deadly earthquake in central Italy.

[03:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: We do want to update you now on the strong earthquake in central Italy. It's still early but our affiliate RAI reports at least 21 people are dead following the 6.2 magnitude earthquake.

The mayor of Amatrice says his town is no more and access to the area is cut off. Helicopters and rescue vehicles are heading to the quake zone to set up mobile medical units.

We'll continue to cover this story of course. I'm Rosemary Church. For our viewers in North America Early Start is next. And for the rest of our viewers our breaking news coverage of the earthquake in central Italy continues after the short break with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London.

Thanks for your company.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)