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White House: Putin Meeting is a listening Exercise for Trump; Zelenskyy Rejects Idea of Ceding Ukrainian Land to Russia; New Technology Airs to Detect Possible Drone Attacks; Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Just days before the high-stakes Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, today, the White House is characterizing the Putin meeting as a, quote, listening exercise.

Now, it comes as CNN has learned that Russian troops have intensified their push along the Eastern Front and pierced parts of Ukraine's defenses in the Donetsk region.

Now, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who has not been invited to the talks, had warned earlier the Kremlin was mounting a new military offensive and says Russia has no interest in peace.

Zelenskyy also continues to say his country will not cede any land after President Trump said Ukraine may have to swap land with Russia for a ceasefire deal. Well, today, he says abandoning the Donbas region would open the door for Putin to, quote, start a third war in Ukraine.

I'm joined now by retired Army General Wesley Clark. He's the former NATO Allied -- Supreme Allied Commander. Thank you so much for joining us today. Let's start here.

We now know the meeting is going to be in Anchorage, Alaska, and it's being called a listening exercise or framed that way. What are your major concerns, if any, going into this meeting?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, I think there's nothing wrong with a listening exercise.

[14:35:00]

Some people don't want it to be in Alaska. Fine, I don't think that's really relevant. I think what's important is whether the United States agrees with any of the points Putin makes, or whether we sort of -- we indicate concessions can be made on behalf of Ukraine without Ukraine being there.

So if you're just listening and Putin says, I want what I want and that's it.

Fine, you've heard it. You've heard it directly from him. Now, maybe you believe it. I think we have to take him at his word.

I think Zelenskyy is correct, they are preparing for more offensive operations, but they would do that anyway as a means of pressuring for the negotiations.

So the question is what happens next, really. As long as the United States gives no concessions, as long as it refers back to the Europeans and Zelenskyy and Ukraine, I don't see any problem with a listening exercise other than the fact that it seems to prolong the period before there's any sanctions on Russia or any renewed sanctions, and it stalls any further effort by the United States to change its policy to provide more direct military assistance to Ukraine.

The diplomatic game that Putin's playing is part of the military program. As far as I can read, and I've watched Putin and been part of this since 1999 when I was NATO commander, he wants the Soviet Union restored. He wants all of those territories back under Soviet or Russian control.

And so this is part of a diplomatic dance that is, from his perspective, I don't think he's planning to give away anything, but if it stalls and creates uncertainty and confusion in the West and weakens Ukraine's morale and drives a wedge between the United States and Ukraine, it's just a real win for him. So I think the president has to be careful.

It's a listening exercise only. Go ahead and do it. But understand what you're dealing with.

FREEMAN: OK, but when you talk about the concept of concessions, listen, President Zelenskyy has said over and over again, Ukraine won't give up territory. President Trump this week keeps saying there will be land swapping today at the White House. His press secretary wouldn't get into the details of the negotiations. I understand that.

But with these two players, the president Trump saying there will be land swapping and Zelenskyy saying it's a nonstarter, is that -- how do they move forward from there even during the listening exercise?

CLARK: Well, first of all, this is diplomacy. So Zelenskyy is going to say there are going to be no concessions. It doesn't mean ultimately there might not be.

I hope there won't be. Russia is an aggressor nation. Putin's a war criminal.

My condition for dealing with him is he should get out of Ukraine entirely, return the abducted children, pay reparations and people should go to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. That's probably not going to happen out of this. But I think in these negotiations, you have to start from a tough, strong position.

I don't agree that it's possible to charm Putin into giving up his objectives. His objectives have been long held. And so this is going to be just one more step along the way. And what's critical is our European allies, Ukraine and the United States have to stay united and strong in resisting Russian aggression.

FREEMAN: Just one quick -- just a short answer if that's all right, General. We just have new CNN reporting today about residents of eastern Ukraine panicking, frankly, over the discussions of land swapping. What would land swapping mean for the Ukrainians who live in these spots?

CLARK: It would mean hundreds of thousands of people would flee their homes because they know if Russia comes in and there's a Russian occupation, there'll be, let's call it filtered. That is to say, anybody who's got any relation to the government, the military or feels democracy is a good idea, they'll be purged, liquidated, killed, possessions taken away, children abducted, et cetera. No, they're not going to stay there and permit that.

Definitely they're panicked. And the Ukrainian sentiment, unfortunately, has been the majority of Ukrainians in the West believe that Mr. Trump, President Trump is siding with Putin based on his public statements and the approach. I hope it's not true.

FREEMAN: Well, incredibly high stakes going into this meeting in Alaska at the end of the week. General Wesley Clark, thank you very much for your perspective as always. Appreciate it.

CLARK: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Still to come, how new technology can protect against the growing threat of drone attacks by creating no drone zones. We have that story.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The Department of Transportation is now clearing the way for more drones to operate in the skies. But as drone technology advances, security concerns are growing as well, especially with major events on the horizon, like the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.

CNN's Pete Muntean has more on a new system that aims to prevent drone threats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're good to go. You can launch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is what it looks like when drones are flying where they shouldn't and are about to be taken over. This demonstration by Israeli company D-Fend Solutions comes as drones are taking off as a tool of war.

ZOHAR HALACHMI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, D-FEND SOLUTIONS: They are a threat for airports. They are a threat for critical infrastructure.

MUNTEAN (voice over): CEO Zohar Halachmi says even off the shelf drones can now be easily outfitted to drop grenades or carry explosives, like during the Ukrainian attack on Russian air bases in June. It is the latest concern of lawmakers on Capitol Hill as they're calling for greater coordination from federal agencies to protect large events, like the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

[14:45:00]

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): With minimal skill, bad actors can use these drones to launch attacks or create chaos.

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Potential for a coordinated drone attack on our -- on an airport, seaport or mass gathering is a credible and growing threat.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Here D-fend's system uses an antenna to detect radio signals emitted by drones from the moment they take off, feeding information back to a command center in real time.

MUNTEAN: You essentially just create your own no drone zone.

HALACHMI: Correct. It's a no-fly zone.

MUNTEAN (voice over): First, a demonstration of a lone, unfriendly drone flying into our airspace. The system detects the drone. Then, with the push of a button, takes control, sending the drone to land in a predetermined spot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, this is our unfriendly drone here.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Next, a demonstration of multiple hostile drones in the air at one time, what's called a drone swarm.

MUNTEAN: It looks like they're all coming towards us now.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Once again, the system pulls the drones into its metaphorical tractor beam, setting them down in a safe zone and providing the location of the drone operator whose controls have gone dark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pilot has no idea that we're doing this.

MUNTEAN (voice over): D-Fend says this is based on the science of attacking computer viruses, filtering out good and legal drone users from malicious ones. Even the Federal Aviation Administration has tried the system and similar technology from other companies during a series of tests this spring.

BRYAN BEDFORD, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: I can assure you that government's focused on making sure that we get the technology right and we get the security right.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The cost to buy this system, hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. D-Fend calls it a small price to pay to protect against a growing threat in our skies.

MUNTEAN: Why not just shoot it down?

HALACHMI: Because it's really dangerous. What you would like to do is to take that in the safest and controlled way as possible.

MUNTEAN: Drones are such a new threat that there is another problem, rules and laws are struggling to keep up. Members of Congress say the federal government has limited authority to disable malicious drones, leaving what they call a glaring gap in our national preparedness. Major sports leagues are also pushing Congress to give them more authority over drones. In June, a Maryland man pled guilty to flying his drone near an NFL playoff game when he knew he shouldn't have.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Thanks to Pete for that report.

Still to come, a night to make as many wishes as you can. We're going to tell you how to enjoy one of the best meteor showers of the year.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: It's the time of year again when dozens of dozens of meteors light up the sky as part of the Perseid meteor shower. And tonight through tomorrow may be your best chance to see it in its full glory.

FREEMAN: So let's discuss this with Scott Harris. He is a planetary geologist at the University of Georgia. Hey, Scott.

Very exciting. Happens every year. We understand late July through early August. What can we expect to see?

R. SCOTT HARRIS, PLANETARY GEOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: Well, in the early morning hours, if you want to stay up very late or get up very early, either way you look at it, you'll see little greenish blue streaks of light across the sky from our atmosphere heating up as tiny dust and ice grains streak through at very high speeds. And these are left over from a comet that comes around our vicinity about every 133 years called Comet Swift-Tuttle.

SANCHEZ: And so is it as simple as just like stepping outside and looking up? Do you need any kind of special equipment? And also, how is the moon and the light from the moon, which has been somewhat bright the last few nights, going to interact with the light from the meteor shower?

HARRIS: Well, any light, whether the moon or city lights, is going to mean that you see less of them because many of them are fairly dim. But this is one where at least a few are going to be bright enough that even in a city you might see one or two or a few per hour. But if you get out away from city lights, you know, what you want is to be looking at a broad sky, looking in the direction of the constellation Perseus, looks like a big K in the sky.

And we always tell people, you don't want telescopes, you don't want binoculars, you just want to sit back and enjoy the whole sky and watch for these streaks as they go by.

FREEMAN: All right, so now we know we can put the telescope away. That's fantastic. Good to know.

Scott, I want to ask you a question that has been on all of our minds because we saw that video of that fireball, right, that streaked across the South on June 26 and slammed into a Georgia home. You're one of the researchers who actually examined this meteorite.

And as I understand this found, it's four and a half billion years old. Why does that matter? And what does it tell you?

HARRIS: Well, you know, most meteorites are very ancient. The bits and pieces that make them up, the little melt droplets and the dust go back to the very beginning of our solar system. And we we love it when these actually hit harmlessly because they're our window into understanding the early times of our solar system and the formation of our own planet.

SANCHEZ: I do want to ask, Scott, I -- somebody asked me yesterday in the studio how we know that this meteorite is older than planet Earth. And I very quickly responded, carbon dating, trying to sound smart. I don't actually know what that entails or what that really means. Can you help us understand how it is that we go about determining the age of objects like this?

HARRIS: Well, carbon dating, everybody says that, but carbon dating depends on things that have been alive with with carbon in them. And it only goes -- that's only helpful back to around 60,000 years of time.

[14:55:00]

For things very ancient, we use other types of radioactive materials like uranium, decays to stable lead over time. So we can look in these ancient minerals in the rocks. And, you know, we use different what we call isotope systems to determine that.

And the better we get at measuring tiny amounts of things, the more precise those ages get. But we get these space rocks. Most of them are very, very ancient, going back to around 4.5, 6 billion years old.

FREEMAN: Scott, can I quickly ask you, what was your emotion when you realized that you would be able to get your hands on this multibillion year old space rock? Like what went through your mind at that moment?

HARRIS: Well, I was actually out of state, I was out west and some of my colleagues alerted me pretty quickly that this has happened because I'm sort of one of the go to people to examine these, particularly of interest to me. I work on asteroid and comet impacts. And so while I'm familiar and can do studies on the materials, what really what my interest was, was the report of this going through a house and being able to examine that piece and the dynamics of it going through that house.

And that was that I couldn't wait to get back. And then the property owner was been who's also a scientist, has been incredible in helping us examine those dynamics.

FREEMAN: Man, I love that. I love that when, you know, your research falls out of the sky, that's kind of what I think about.

SANCHEZ: And when the property owner is generous about access, yes.

FREEMAN: Scott Harris, thank you so much for breaking all that down. And be sure to look up at the sky tonight.

All right, still to come, the segment Boris, the Boris Sanchez has been waiting for all day. It is the beginning of a new era. We'll tell you why the announcement from Taylor Swift could mean you'll be seeing a lot more orange.

You're a Swifty, right, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Can't wait.