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The Global Brief with Bianca Nobilo

Russian Missile And Russian Attacks Hit Cities Across Ukraine; North Korea's Missile Tests; Iranian Protests. Aired 5-5:30p ET

Aired October 10, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:30]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. This is THE GLOBAL BRIEF.

Russia has launched its heaviest wave of attacks across Ukraine since the beginning of the war. We'll have a live report from Kyiv.

And North Korea breaks its silence over its recent missile tests. It says they were practice to show its readiness to fire nuclear warheads at

targets in South Korea.

Then, protesters in Iran are not giving up. That as human rights groups accused authorities of using live fire to disperse crowds.

U.S. President Joe Biden is promising to send Ukraine new security assistance, including advanced air defense systems. That promise comes on

the same day Russia bombarded Ukraine with dozens of missiles and drone strikes.

It was the biggest attack since they started the war, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens more. The missiles landed in densely populated

cities across the UK, including Kyiv and Lviv, damaging civilian areas and civil infrastructure. Ukrainian military officials say Russia is lashing

out against its failures on the eastern front lines, and using terror tactics against innocent people. A top Russian official says Moscow should

now aim for the complete dismantling of the Ukrainian government.

Former President Dimitri Medvedev who's also a deputy head of Russia's security council, says Russia will destroy the, quote, terrorists

responsible for the attack on the Kerch Bridge. His views were echoed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin who is promising a harsh response from

Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If attempts to carry out acts of terrorism on the territory continue, Russia's response

will be harsh and its scale will correspond to that of the threat made against the Russian Federation. No one should be in any doubt about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Our Fred Pleitgen is joining me live from Kyiv. And, Fred, it's not since the earliest days of the war that the capital has been

besieged like this with civilians and civilian infrastructure targeted. What is the mood there in Kyiv tonight? How much on eases there that there

could be more of this to come?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I would say, Christina, there is a great deal of unease. There could be more to

come in the coming hours, possibly in the coming days. It certainly was a very tense day here in the Ukrainian capital. You know, what we saw,

obviously in the early morning hours, when those barrage of missiles have started hitting the Ukrainian capital, a lot of people obviously saw

shelter in the local mayor here, the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, he told people to seek shelter and not to come to work if they don't have to.

Not to come to Kyiv if they didn't have to.

That order was later not in effect anymore, but throughout the entire course of the day, they're really worried many people who are out and

about. Nevertheless, you do you sense -- a sense of defiance here on the ground and on the part of the people who said that now more than ever

before they want to fight on. Here is what we learned today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): It was in the middle of Monday morning rush hour that waves of Russian missile started hitting Ukraine's capital and other

cities across the country, sending people scampering for their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My hands are trembling. I have seen how the missile was flying overhead. I heard that sounds.

PLEITGEN: Ukraine says, Russia has launched more than 80 missiles and more than 20 attack drones at targets in Ukraine, while the air defenses took

many out, they couldn't stop them all. Ukraine's president quick to condemn the attacks.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are dealing with terrorists. They want panic and chaos.

PLEITGEN: Ukrainian cities like Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and multiple others reported power outages after Russia's attacks. The deputy head of Ukraine's

presidential administration telling me they are working to get the electricity grid back up and running.

KYRYLO TYMOSHENKO, DEPUTY HEAD, UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION: Of course, critically, for us, it's critical infrastructure. It's like

electricity infrastructure.

PLEITGEN: But Russian missiles also struck sites that were anything but critical. Several cars were destroyed at this busy intersection outside a

museum.

Even hours after attacks by the Russian military, the air raid sirens are still going off here in the Ukrainian capital. Look over here, this is just

one site where there was impact of a Russian rocket. It absolutely ripped through the tarmac of this road on this intersection.

[17:05:06]

And Ukrainians say, here, five people were killed.

The attacks come just days after a major Russian logistics route, the Crimean bridge, was heavily damaged by an explosion. Moscow blames Ukraine

for the blast, though Kyiv has not taken responsibility for the attack.

The Russian army showed video of ships launching missiles towards Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged he is taking revenge.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): A massive strike was carried out with high precision long-range air weapons of air, sea, and

land-based systems on energy, military and communications facilities of Ukraine.

PLEITGEN: But this clearly was not a command facility. In Central Kyiv, a playground took a direct hit leaving a giant crater. The capital's mayor,

former heavyweight boxing champ Vitaly Klitschko, vowing to stand strong.

Your message to Putin?

MAYOR VITALY KLITSCHKO, KYIV, UKRAINE: We'll never come back to the Russian Empire. We see our future, part of European democratic family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): Those are some pretty strong words there from Kyiv's mayor, Vitaly Klitschko, when we interviewed him earlier today.

And we saw -- we heard similar things from other top Ukrainian officials, all of them also saying that they are going to remain defiant in the face

of all of this. If anything, it will make the Ukrainian people and certainly it's official is more likely to defend this country.

One of the other interesting things that happened, the president of the country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he went out to one of the sites that were

struck by a rocket. He said Ukraine is working on getting the infrastructure back up and running. There are issues with power supply, not

just here in Kyiv but in several other Ukrainian cities that were hit today as well, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, incredible show of defiance from the president.

Fred, it's important to have you there. Thanks very much for your reporting.

Earlier, CNN's Christiane Amanpour spoke to Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba even though his own family was close enough to witness the

strikes in Kyiv, he says Ukraine will not give up. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Everything literally happens in the front of eyes of my family and some people who I know in Kyiv. My kids

were literally 800 meters away from the breach when the Russian missile hit in the downtown Kyiv.

I know a woman who was killed by Russian missiles at the crossroad, leaving her child or friends, because her husband has been killed six months ago.

So, these are the stories, this is what happened. This is civilians, it's a threat to civilian, it is a massive, massive destruction of energy

infrastructure across the country, to make the life of civilians as difficult as it can be.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Do you agree there is an escalator a ladder on the way right now? What will happen around your

country today and cause you to rethink your offensives and your counter offensives to liberate the territories that have been occupied and seized?

KULEBA: No way, nothing. Whatever he does, whatever he does, we will continue to liberate the territory.

I want you to understand a very simple thing. This is the war for the existence of Ukraine. This is the war for the existence of rule-based

order. He may escalate and do whatever he wants. We are going to continue fighting, we will win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

The Ukrainian foreign minister there.

Now, North Korea is breaking its silence over its recent missile launches.

According to state media, the leader Kim Jong-un personally guided the wave of military drills and ballistic missile tests. Pyongyang has completed 25

launches this year, which state media say were deliberately intended to show the country is ready to respond possibly with nuclear weapons if

regional tensions kept rising.

Now, to another top story tonight, the escalating situation in Iran. Students at a university in North Tehran, you can see them singing an old

picture patriotic song. Their palms are painted red to show solidarity. The are in there for three and there are alarming new reports of violence.

As human rights gives us a security forces launched live ammunition and Kurdish cities early on Monday. Tehran is blaming armed gangs. The U.K. is

now joining the U.S. and opposing sanctions on senior officials as well as Iran's morality police.

[17:10:06]

Our Jomana Karadsheh is following the story for us live in Istanbul tonight.

Jomana, despite what seems to be the biggest weekend of protests in Iran so, far it is still very hard to predict which way this uprising is going

to go given these reports of violence. What more are you hearing about that? How much harsher do we expect these government crackdowns to become?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Christina, I spent the day speaking with Iranians outside the country, and experts who watch the

country closely for years now. And no one can predict where this is going. It is so hard to see where this goes next because you are looking at this

leaderless spontaneous movements, these protests that are spreading like a wild fire across the country.

And, you know, it's not only hard for us to predict what's going to happen, it's also very hard for us to really judge be hard to judge and assess

what's on the ground right now, because of the communications, restrictions that are in place, the internet shutdowns in many parts of the country that

the government has imposed. So, we really have to rely on the video and information that does emerge from the country.

And this weekend, I did watch closely what we were getting. Yes, you are still seeing these determined crowds you are seeing large protests taking

place across the country. But at the same time, you are seeing a lot of security forces out on the streets, a lot of acts of sheer brutality the

way protesters are being beaten up, people on the streets are being forcefully detained.

In one area, Christina, a lot of concern about it tonight is the northwestern part of the country, as you mentioned earlier in your

introduction. The Kurdistan province of Iran, the city of Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdistan province, there is a lot of concern about what is

happening right now as it's got this internet disruption, making it very difficult for anyone to find out what's happening, and we began seeing the

signs of a bloody crackdown in Sanandaj over the weekend.

Christina, we have to warn our viewers that some of the video in our piece is very graphic and disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): This is how the fourth week of Iran's uprising started -- the wails of one more family forever farewell, and another young

life taken too soon, one of several lives lost in a day of rage, a day of carnage in Iran's Kurdish region.

These are the images the region does not want the people to see. They cut off the internet in Sanandaj, making it hard for us to tell the stories of

the dead and those left to mourn.

The little video trickling out, only a glimpse into the repressive republic and its vicious force to squash the growing dissent. The savagery caught on

camera in scenes like this in Tehran.

And this. A man pleading with police to leave his wife alone, were not protesting, she's pregnant, he says. But to no avail. Both have agreed and

unfortunately dragged away.

It is that tyranny that feeds the anger that those on the streets, defiant and determined, seemingly unstoppable, are chasing the riot police.

And in an all women's university this weekend, President Ebrahim Raisi who's dismissed the thousands on the streets pray students for seeing

through what he claims as a foreign conspiracy to weaken Iran.

At that same university, an extraordinary moment of rebellion, as young women chanted, Raisi get lost.

Unclear if this happened while he was there, it is clear that the wall of fear in Iran has come down.

Even the regime's attempt to control the narrative also briefly disrupted - - hackers interrupted state TV Saturday evening newscast with this video, target super imposed on the supreme leader's face, and at the bottom of the

screen, the face of Mahsa Gina Amini and the three of the young women who died in the protests, Nika Shahkarami, Hadis Najafi, and Sarina

Esmaeilzadeh, with a message that reads, join us, and rise up.

The streets of Tehran were already rising up that night with some of the largest protests in the capital so far, scenes replicated across the

country, as the government claims calm has been restored and the so-called riots are mostly over.

Daytime brought more students back out in force, protesting on campuses across the country, and young schoolgirls waving their forced head scarves

joining in the daring chants.

[17:15:04]

Their fearless cries for women, life, freedom reverberating louder than ever in the streets of Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH (on camera): And, Christina, we are really trying to find out what's happening in the city as we mentioned earlier and as you can see in

a report the crackdown really seems to intensify this weekend.

Again, very difficult to reach people on the ground, but we are also, you know, hearing the government saying it is armed groups that have carried

out attacks against security . You've got a human rights monitor saying it's the security forces that opened fire on peaceful protesters in the

city and that seems to have escalated into what they're describing as this fierce attack right now and we're hearing concerns tonight from Amnesty

International in their statement saying they're alarmed, security forces according to reports are using firearms and firing tear gas

indiscriminately into peoples homes.

And they're warning that this disruption to the mobile and internet in Sanandaj is being used by the regime to hide their crimes.

MACFARLANE: That's truly concerning, Jomana. Important, though, for us to keep pushing for details as much as we can in this current situation.

Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much for your reporting.

All right. Coming up, just hours after celebrating their national day, residents in Taipei have been brought by substantial earthquake. What we

know after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Now to what could be a now to what could be a significant change on the battlefield in Ukraine.

U.S. president says he will be sending the country advanced air defense systems. Ukraine's deputy commander-in-chief says they were able to destroy

a majority of the missiles Russia fired at the country, on Monday, but he says they rely on Soviet era Washington's weapons to protect themselves and

they don't have enough.

Well, MJ Lee is joining me now live from the White House.

And, MJ, President Biden pledging more military assistance, including, crucially, air defense systems -- something Ukraine has been pleading for

four months.

Do we know anything more about what kind or type of weapon systems the U.S. will be supplying?

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we obviously now know that this was a major topic of discussion when President Biden, and President

Zelenskyy spoke on the phone earlier today. If you take a look at how both sides of that phone call, characterized what the two leaders discussed.

You'll notice that both emphasized the need for, and sort of acknowledge the importance of Ukraine having these air defense systems.

The White House readout for example, says that President Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with advance air defense systems, whereas

President Zelenskyy tweeted within the last hour or so, that air defenses as the number one priority in our defense cooperation.

Now, so far, there's not been any kind of announcement or more detailed readout on whether they -- the two leaders, specifically discussed,

specific defenses -- that would be important, and necessary for Ukraine, whether Zelenskyy asked President Biden for something particular. But, of

course, it's no surprise that this would come up because as you mentioned, President Zelenskyy has made no secret in his public remarks, in various

conversations he has had with world leaders, that this is going to be so key as Ukraine continues to defend itself from the Russian attacks.

Now, what we're going to see potentially in the coming days and weeks, is whether the attacks that have been so widely condemned by world leaders,

over the last 24 hours from Russia, whether they could end up having any kind of change in calculus, as these world leaders think about the kinds of

security assistance that these countries can continue providing Ukraine.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, it'll be very interesting to see if other international allies follow suit, especially with the G7 summit do tomorrow. MJ Lee,

thank you very much.

Now to Taiwan, where just minutes ago, the capital Taipei was hit by 5.9 magnitude earthquake. There have been no immediate reports of damage or

casualties, we'll keep you updated that story develops.

Just hours ago, Taiwan celebrated its national day, marking the end of over 100 years of mainland Chinese rule. Relations with Beijing, while always

tense, have deteriorated in recent weeks. During her speech Taiwan's president said there was no room for compromise on the island's democratic

values ,but that she is open to working with Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TSA ING-WIN, TAIWANESE PRESIDENT (through translator): The broadest consensus among the Taiwanese people, and our various political parties, is

that we must defend our national sovereignty, and our free and democratic way of life. On this point, we have no room for compromise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Taiwan is now known as a thriving democracy, but it hasn't always been that way. CNN's Will Ripley takes a look at Taiwan's

troubled past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are on the boat to Green Island, a tiny Pacific paradise off of Taiwan's east

coast -- remote, rugged and time seems to slow down here, torturously slow. Former political prisoners say that they never got to see Green Island's

natural beauty, just a cage of concrete.

Oasis villa that is what they actually call this place that is carved on a rock outside. This is no oasis.

More like a living hell, says Fred Chen (ph), walked away, beaten, humiliated.

It is almost like you were made to feel less than human.

FRED CHEN, TERROR SURVIVOR: Yes. I always said they treated us like animals.

RIPLEY: A college student in the early 1970s, wrongfully accused of plotting against the governments, he served 12 years.

What evidence today --

CHEN: No evidence at all! Nothing at all, nothing, no evidence.

RIPLEY: A dark chapter in Taiwan's history. Seventy-five years ago, a popular uprising triggered almost four decades of martial law, under

Taiwan's late leader Chiang Kai-shek.

For nearly half a century, he ruled with an iron fist, purging political opponents, presiding over their trials, personally ordering thousands of

executions.

His party, the KMT, slowly embraced democratic reforms. Taiwan held its first direct presidential election just 26 years ago, in 1996. In 2000, the

KMT's 55 years of continuous rule ended, defeated by former political prisoners like Taiwan's first female vice president, Annette Lu, arrested

in 1979 for an impromptu speech criticizing the government.

How long was that be?

ANNETTE LU, FORMER TAIWAN'S VICE PRESIDENT: Twenty minutes.

RIPLEY: The 20-minute speech led to almost six years in prison. She survived that, plus cancer and attempted assassination to become a two-term

vice president.

LU: What was very important is that people like me, who are courageous, we knew that we might be put into jail, but we still feel that it's our

obligation to fight to the last -- end.

RIPLEY: A fight many fear may not be over. Amid rising tensions with China, Taiwan's hard won freedom came at a heavy price. For those who never

left Green Island, these walls, a silent reminder of the hardship so many endured, a silent warning of what could lie ahead if democracy dies.

Will Ripley, CNN, Green Island, TTaiwan.

(END VIDEOTAP)

MACFARLANE: All right. Let's take a look at the key stories making international headlines today.

Hurricane Julia has killed at least three people in Honduras after making landfall as a category one storm, as well as three more in El Salvador and

one person in Panama. The Honduras National Disaster Management body says more than 9,000 people are in shelters. The National Hurricane Center

predicts Julia could bring life-threatening floods and mudslides to the region in the next coming days.

One of those deadly mudslides hit Venezuela on Sunday, killing at least 25 people. Search and rescue efforts continue for more than 50 people who are

still missing in the area, of Las Tejerias. The region south of the capital Caracas has been pounded with heavy rainfall for the last few days, spurred

by Hurricane Julia.

Three economists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in understanding the role banks play in financial crisis. Among the recipients

is Ben Bernanke, who led the U.S. Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis. Very useful right now.

Thanks for watching. That was THE GLOBAL BRIEF.

Please stay with us. "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next.

END