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Russia Suspended From U.N.'s Human Rights Council; Deadly Attack In Tel Aviv; Axiom Space To Launch Inaugural Mission; Atrocities and Destruction in Ukraine Cities; Ukraine Demands Weapons, Weapons, Weapons from NATO; Turkish Drone has Ukrainians Singing Its Praises; Russian Forces Beaten Back at Strategic Crossroads. Aired 2- 3a ET

Aired April 08, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hello. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine.

Russia's military retreat from areas in Northern Ukraine around the capital, Kyiv, now revealing more horrors with each passing day. In Borodianka, emergency workers digging through the rubble of two homes destroyed by Russian forces have now found 26 bodies.

Ukraine's prosecutor general says scenes like this are examples of war crimes. And Ukraine's president compared Borodianka to the nearby city of Bucha, where Ukrainian civilians were shot at close range, and then buried in a mass grave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): After Bucha, this is already obvious. And the work on dismantling the debris in Borodianka has begun. It's much worse there. Even more victims of the Russian occupiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): In the meantime, Russian forces stepping up their offensive in the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the battle still to come will be like World War II, thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, planes, and artilleries, and a warn of what would happen without more military shipments from the west.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Many people will die, many civilians will lose their homes, many villages will be destroyed, exactly because this help came too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): Ukrainian authorities claim Russian shelling has destroyed all the hospitals and medical facilities in the Luhansk region, and a Russian strike on a railway link has led hundreds of evacuees stranded.

The American defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, now saying publicly for the first time the U.S. is providing intelligence to Ukrainian forces to conduct operations in the Donbas region.

Further north, Kharkiv's regional governor says Russian troops shelled a bread factory, killing one person, wounding 14 others. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Russia denies it is targeting civilians.

Now, to word of radio chatter between Russian troops, it could bolster evidence of possible war crimes. According to one source, Germany's intelligence service has intercepted audio of Russian soldiers talking about shooting civilians. To be clear, these are radio comms that could link Russian forces with the killings in the key suburb of Bucha that have horrified the world.

CNN's Matthew Chance has details. And again, a warning, his report contains graphic details and graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These are potentially very significant because it -- some of these have been picked up by German intelligence. They've been briefing a parliamentary committee inside Germany about what exactly they have picked up.

But what it seems to be from report, some from the sources that we've spoken to about the content of the intercepts, is that they are radio communications linking Russian forces with specific killings that took place in Bucha over the past -- that place north of Kyiv, of course, where there have been atrocities taking place -- that took place at the hands of Russian forces.

Now, there is no evidence, of course, video evidence of the atrocities that took place there, the mass graves, the video we have all seen of the twisted corpses that have been filmed by soldiers and by passersby and by people in that community.

But, you know, video of bodies and pictures of bodies does not equate to evidence of war crimes. And that is why, potentially, these German intercepts are so important because that linkage between Russian forces and actual killings of people who can be identified appears to have been from the reports we are seeing have been made.

Not maybe important in the future when it comes to any possible prosecutions for war crimes that may or may not -- may take place. The question of whether it will take place and whether the Russia would, you know, comply with anything like that is another discussion altogether.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): And earlier, I spoke with John Spencer, the chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Madison Policy Forum. I asked him if the radio intercepts by German intelligence proves the Russian military had a premeditated plan for the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians as opposed to just a few disciplined rouge soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SPENCER, CHAIRMAN OF URBAN WARFARE STUDIES, MADISON POLICY FORUM: In my opinion, as an old soldier and a leader of man in combat, I absolutely think this was an organized genocide in places like Bucha.

[02:04:57]

SPENCER: I mean, you fight disinformation with facts. And that is what the world is doing. And what happened this morning at the United Nations was amazing. You fight disinformation. I wouldn't even call it war crimes. There is a world of difference. This is just evil, pre- meditated, you know, call it what you will. It was -- it is wrong and -- again, it's clear what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: "The Washington Post" also reporting on this, that the radio traffic suggests that members of the Wagner Group, the private military unit with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies, have played a role in these attacks on civilians.

The Wagner Group are notorious mercenaries. Would their involvement in these atrocities and just simply being here come from the direct orders of Vladimir Putin?

SPENCER: Yeah, absolutely. They are not going to just walk themselves into the Ukraine war. They are actively fighting for Russia. Absolutely.

VAUSE: And they are here because Putin would want them to be here? I mean, it goes that high up the food chain?

SPENCER: Yeah, absolutely. And we saw that, right? So, we saw Russia in chaos talking about trying to recruit Syrians, bringing Wagner Group from places like Africa. They are still in a really bad state. Although, we are in a dangerous point -- yeah, it would definitely come from the top.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): And there has been a surprising admission from the Kremlin spokesperson that Russia has suffered significant troop losses in Ukraine. He called it a huge tragedy. This is a notable departure from late March when Russia said only about 1,300 troops have been killed. Dmitry Peskov also said the Russian retreat from Kyiv and Chernihiv regions was -- quote -- "an act of goodwill to help with negotiations and to ease tension."

CNN's Clarissa Ward visited Chernihiv and shows us the destruction left behind. And again, a warning, her report includes images many viewers will find disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks, Chernihiv was completely cut off from the rest of the country. Once a vibrant city of 300,000 people, now parts of it a wasteland. Just 45 miles from the Belarusian border, it was quickly surrounded by Russian forces. There was no power, no water, and little food.

Seventy-one-year-old Ivan Yvanovich (ph) survived the relentless bombardment. But his struggles are far from over.

(On camera): He is saying that he is hungry. He needs something to eat. He has asked us if we have any groceries.

(Voice-over): Less than one week after Russian forces left this area, Chernihiv is reeling and the true scale of its loss is only starting to emerge.

Outside the morgue, makeshift coffins stand ready for the dead. Authorities say at least 350 civilians were killed in the bombardment, and they expect to find more.

Overwhelmed, morgue director Sergei Andriv (ph) is now using a refrigerator truck to store the bodies of those who have yet to be identified. Their relatives likely fled the fighting or were killed in it. He tells us hundreds more died because they simply couldn't reach the hospital.

There was a constant flow of dead people like this in our morgue. The main reason was heart attacks, pneumonia, diabetes, he says, and I believe all of this was because they didn't get medical treatment on time.

Cut off from the main cemetery by constant shelling, the city was forced to clear a wood to make room for the dead. Buried in large trenches, their names signposted for relatives to find.

(On camera): It is so heartbreaking to see as people here looking, desperately trying to find their loved ones among this mass of new graves.

(Voice-over): Did you find him, this woman asks. She is looking for her husband, Vladimir Shulga (ph). I can't find him, her daughter tells us. I need to keep searching.

Those who are lucky enough to find their family members can at least say good-bye. The farewell brings little solace. At one grave, relatives mourn the death of Vladimir Atchuchenko (ph), a Ukrainian soldier who was ambushed by Russian forces as he tried to recover the bodies of his fallen comrades. His father, Leonid (ph), says it was 17 days before the Russians left that he could finally reach the place where his son was killed.

[02:10:00]

WARD (voice-over): I dug the ground with my own hands. I uncovered his face, he says, and I recognized him. We waited for him, and then we lost him, Vladimir's (ph) wife says. They took him and we lost him.

Russia's war has taken so many from Chernihiv, and while its forces may have retreated, the grief will long remain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE (on camera): NATO foreign ministers have promised to strengthen and sustain their support for Ukraine. That includes humanitarian and financial aid. But as CNN's Nic Robertson reports, the Ukrainian government says it needs one thing above all else.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): Ukraine's foreign minister arrived here saying he wanted three things: weapons, weapons, weapons. And that he needs them urgently, the reason being Ukraine fears that Russia is building up for a big, new offensive in the east of Ukraine.

KULEBA: Either you help us now, and I'm speaking about days, not weeks, or your help will come too late. And many people will die.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Just a few days ago, NATO officials were talking about sending tanks, about sending armored vehicle. But when the meeting with the foreign minister wrapped up here, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wasn't specific when he was asked the question, so what will you be sending?

The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, also opaque as well, but saying that they are working with the Ukrainians and giving them what they think the Ukrainians need.

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: We are looking at day in, day out, what we believe they most need to include the systems that have not here to for been provided. We are listening to them in terms of their assessment of what they need. We are putting it all together, and we are proceeding.

ROBERTSON (on camera): And Ukraine's foreign minister saying that they are still committed to negotiations with the Russians, but saying how those talks go, how the negotiations go depend essentially on two things, how the armies fight and how Russia feels the pressure of the sanctions. And, of course, what he is saying there is, how the Ukrainian army fights depends on the support they get from right here.

Nic Robertson, CNN, NATO headquarters, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE (on camera): Last hour, I spoke with CNN European affairs commentator, Dominic Thomas. I asked him, if the west is working on an outdated assessment of Vladimir Putin, does it mean that he is actually rational? Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think that certainly, historically, dealing with Russia has meant appease in managing. Let us not forget, former President Trump was pushing to have Russian federation back into the group of the G7, G8. Those days are clearly over.

I would say that on the country, there is a clear awareness that they are dealing now with a nonrational actor. And that there has been tremendous restraint, therefore, because of the real risk of escalation being presented here by President Putin.

Having said that, the recent coverage, the incredible work that has been done by correspondence, by journalists, and by reporters are uncovering war crimes, genocide, and a clear link between the language of the Russian leadership and the intentionality and the actions that have taken place on the ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE (voice-over): Dominic Thomas there. We will take a short break. When we come back, though, here on CNN Newsroom, we will have more on the Turkish drone that is so effective Ukrainian soldiers are quite literally singing its praises.

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[02:15:00]

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VAUSE: Well, of all the military hardware being supplied to the Ukrainians by the west, drones are playing a key role in those counteroffensives against this Russian invasion. One so effective that Ukrainian forces are singing its praises literally.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This Ukrainian song has gone viral in Ukraine and beyond. It's an ode to a drone.

(MUSIC PLAYING) KARADSHEH (voice-over): The Bayraktar, the Turkish-made weapon Ukrainian officials are touting as one of the most effective in their arsenal, that has played a part in slowing down the Russian advance.

The Bayraktar TB2 has been operational for years, described as a game changer in recent conflicts line Libya (INAUDIBLE). But it is Ukraine that has catapulted it to worldwide fame. Its success, not only on the battlefield.

Videos of strikes against Russian military targets like this one released by Ukraine's ministry of defense on social media have also made it a key part of Ukraine's information war.

(On camera): We have gotten rare access to this production facility here in Turkey, but because of the nature of this industry, we are very restricted in what we can film and what we can show.

(Voice-over): Selcuk Bayraktar, the drone's creator, gives us a mostly off-camera tour of the Baykar defense company's headquarters in Istanbul. The company's pride, Kizilelma, Turkey's first unmanned fighter jet, has just hit the production line. But the centerpiece here is the drone everyone is talking about.

SELCUK BAYRAKTAR, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, BAYKAR: Bayraktar TB2 is a tactical MALE-class UAV, and it's doing what it was designed to do and what it was operated to do.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): In this exclusive CNN interview, Bayraktar measures his words carefully. He is also the son-in-law of the Turkish president, who maintains close ties with both Russia and Ukraine, and has emerged as a key mediator.

BAYRAKTAR: I don't want to brag about the technology. People are giving their lives up. People are risking and defending their homeland from an illegal occupation. That's what brave people of Ukraine and its leadership has done.

[02:20:02]

BAYRAKTAR: Just at the same time, of course, you need technology. You need, you know, high tech and you need your own indigenous defense capacity. But when people's lives are on the line and when children are -- even children are dying and civilians are dying, I don't want to compare that to any sort of technology.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Turkey's drone sales to Kyiv has been a major irritant for Russia long before this war. Ukraine got its first Bayraktar TB2 in 2019. It has ordered at least 36 of those drones so far. But it is not only a client. It produces engines for the more advanced Akinci drone and was about to begin co-producing Turkish drones, plans that were disrupted by the invasion.

Bayraktar heard the song dedicated to his namesake drone. He knows very well the phenomenon it has become in Ukraine.

BAYRAKTAR: I think it is one of the symbols of resistance. it gives them hope, I think.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Hope in a battle Ukrainians is fighting on all fronts.

SAMUEL BENDETT, ADVISER, CNA RUSSIA STUDIES PROGRAM: The Bayraktar drones are part of the larger social media campaign that is executed very well by the Ukrainian military and civilians, and they are creating the impression that the Russian military is, in fact, losing, that the Russian military is vulnerable.

Again, Bayraktar is not the only solution out there, and it isn't necessarily a solution that is going to save the Ukrainian military because, after all, this is a ground war. But having a drone like Bayraktar in the sky that can conduct surveillance, that can launch strikes, and having the videos of those strikes multiply in social media is a great morale booster. It is also a great tactical victory as well.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): This social media video shows civilians in the city of Kherson protesting against Russian forces. They play them the Bayraktar song.

UNKNOWN: Bayraktar!

KARADSHEH (voice-over): One of the countless moments of resistance by a nation, using all it has got to stand up to the invader.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: It is 23 minutes past the hour. We will take a short break here on CNN. But when we come back, we will head to the small town in Southern Ukraine that took on the might of the Russian army. Outnumbered, outgunned, they managed to beat back the larger Russian force.

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[02:25:00]

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine. The prosecutor general says search crews have now found 26 bodies under the rubble of two houses in Borodianka. The town northwest of the capital, Kyiv, has been left in ruins by Russian forces.

Ukraine's president says he expects more atrocities will be discovered there, proving Russia is the greatest threat on the planet to freedom and security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translator): But so far, the Russian state and the Russian military are the greatest threat on the planet to freedom, to human security, to the concept of human rights as such. After Bucha, this is already obvious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): And there are disturbing reports of Ukrainian troops executing a wounded Russian shoulder. This is a still shot from that scene. The video itself is too gruesome to show you, but it does appear to show uniformed Ukrainians who come across four Russian casualties after a firefight. Three appear to be dead, but one badly wounded, gasping for air. Three shots are then fired into the body of the Russian soldier, which then stops moving.

When asked about this, Ukraine's foreign minister said the Ukrainian military adheres to accepted rules of warfare, but he did add this may be an isolated violation, which would be investigated.

When Russian forces launched the invasion here, one of their key objectives was this small but strategic city in Southern Ukraine. And against all odds, against all the fact that they are outnumbered, outgunned, Ukrainian troops and civilians managed to stop the Russian army.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has this remarkable story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sign into town reads, Russian soldier, you will die here. The Russians didn't listen.

This is the story of how this small city of Voznesensk fought off the Russian invasion in early March.

Yevgeniy Velychko is the mayor of the city of 30,000 people. He took us to the bridge, at least, where the bridge used to be, where Ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters and a fearlessly creative cast of civilians stared down the Russians.

(on camera): How close did the Russians get to taking over the city?

You can see over here on the other side of the bridge in the distance there, just on the other side of the bridge, a row of tires, and that is as close as the Russian tanks came.

(Voice-over): The mayor says the Ukrainians blew it up so that the Russians couldn't cross into the heart of the city. That sparked a two-day confrontation.

[02:29:58]

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But thousands of residents were trapped on the other side of the bridge, the only section of the city Russian forces invaded.

This man named Evan (PH) lives in a house along the main road into town. Several homes and cars around him were scorched in the firefight. He hid inside with his elderly mother, as the Russian tanks swarmed his neighborhood.

LAVANDERA (on camera): He describes how terrifying it was. Several homes blown up around him, constant barrage of gunfire, but he tells us he actually didn't see it, he had to hide inside his home, but just the sound of it was terrifying.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Various cameras captured the images of the Russian military vehicles with the letter Z emblazoned on the side. The mayor says three columns of Russian soldiers moved into the city. One military official says the Russians invaded with at least 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers and as many as 500 soldiers.

LAVANDERA (on camera): So, this is Ghost. He's asked that we not use his full name. And he is the head of a reconnaissance unit here in this town that was instrumental in fighting back the Russians. And this was the spot. This was the spot where you fought the Russians. He says he thinks that's a blood stain there. Wow. The remnants of a Russian meal?

GHOST, UKRAINIAN RECONNAISSANCE UNIT COMMANDER (through translator): Wednesday we're advancing towards the breach thanks to the Ukrainian military forces. The Air Assault Brigade, the territorial defense and our recon squad. We fought them off. Here we showered them with artillery, and we destroyed them.

LAVANDERA: The Ukrainians blew up multiple bridges in the city to keep the Russians from moving into this town that sits at a strategic crossroads in southern Ukraine and kept Vladimir Putin's army from invading deeper into the country.

LAVANDERA (on camera): In this spot just on the edge of the city, multiple Russian tanks were taken out here. We're actually standing in the ashes of one of those tanks. And there were at least two Russian soldiers that were killed in this very spot.

GHOST: We are strong. Our city is strong. Our spirit is strong. When the enemy came, everyone rose up from kids to the elderly.

LAVANDERA: Hiding residents called in the locations of Russian soldiers. Others ran ammunition and supplies wherever it was needed.

LAVANDERA (on camera): The Russians had more firepower had more weapons than you guys had.

GHOST: They were powerful. They had tanks, they had APCs, a lot of wheeled vehicles, but we stronger, smarter and more tactical.

LAVANDERA: Are you worried that they're going to come back for revenge after you guys embarrass them?

GHOST: No. It's them who should be afraid. They should know if they come here they will remain here as cargo 200. We already o have refrigerators for their bodies, and we can bring more.

LAVANDERA (voice over): But the Russian soldiers weren't ready to face the grandmothers of Stepova (PH) Street. In a small village on the edge of Voznesensk, 88-year-old Vira walked out armed with her canes and fired off an epic tirade of verbal artillery.

VIRA PARASENYK RAKOVE, UKRAINE RESIDENT (TEXT): I come out from the kitchen, and I tell him, sorry for the language, fuck your mother. Has your Putin gone made firing at kids? Fuck, is he mad? He is a bitch. He must die.

LAVANDERA: They say they were chased out of their homes and robbed. But the women relish telling this story with laughter. I asked if they're worried the Russians will return to seek revenge. They tell me they're not going anywhere.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Voznesensk, Ukraine.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Always listen to the grandmothers. So, if you would like to help the people of Ukraine who are in need of shelter, food, water, please go to cnn.com/impact. There you'll find a number of ways to help and you be guaranteed that these are the aid organizations that will make sure that your donations reach those who are most in need. That does it here from Ukraine for the time being.

Let's head back to Lynda Kinkade in CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta. Lynda?

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Our thanks to you, John Vause. We will speak to you at the top of the hour. Thanks so much. Well, still to come. Does diplomacy still have a chance in Ukraine, especially given the brutality we're seeing? We're going to talk to a journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Russia when we come back. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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[02:39:06]

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. You're watching CNN. Moscow's brutal military offensive has now led to Russia suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Thursday's vote by the U.N. General Assembly was overwhelming. 93 to 24, with 58 abstentions. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. called the move important and historic. China notably voted against the resolution and warned that it would set a dangerous precedent.

After the void, Russia's ambassador lashed out saying Moscow had decided to end its membership on the Human Rights Council. So, can diplomatic pressure and the long list of economic sanctions change Russia's behavior? Well, for that, we're joined by Steven Erlanger. The chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for the New York Times. He joins us live from Brussels. Good to have you with us, Steven.

STEVEN ERLANGER, THE NEW YORK TIMES CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT IN EUROPE: Thank you.

KINKADE: So, with more sanctions piling on and In Russia expelled from the U.N. Human Rights Council, the pressure is building.

[02:40:04]

KINKADE: But Russia seems undeterred at least at this point. So, is this strictly right now a war that will end on the battlefield?

ERLANGER: Well, we don't know, of course, but I don't think this kind of pressure, as you just suggested will deter Vladimir Putin right now. His situation is difficult. There's nothing to present at home. That sounds anything like victory. So, from his point of view, the war will go on. And the Ukrainians also, you know, maybe are over optimistic, but they're feeling like we've driven them out of Kiev.

So, let's keep going. They're not ready to talk. And frankly, negotiations only succeed if one side wins, or if both sides are utterly exhausted. And I think we're very far from either case. I -- I'm sorry to say this, but I think this is going to grind on for months to come.

KINKADE: Yes. We saw this week, the foreign ministers -- NATO's foreign ministers meeting to discuss what other help they can offer Ukraine. Ukraine's Foreign Minister put it pretty bluntly saying weapons, weapons, weapons. What is NATO willing to do? How far are various countries willing to go?

ERLANGER: Well, they're going pretty far. There is this slight nervousness because the line between what's a defensive weapon and an offensive weapon is quickly disappearing. And, you know, Russia knows all these weapons are aimed at killing Russian soldiers. So, it's not a neutral affair NATO's engaged in. And of course, NATO as NATO doesn't provide weapons, it's different countries inside NATO. There are 30 of them.

About two-thirds of them have already been supplying lethal weapons to Ukrainian fighters. And as the war changes, it's the war shifts to the east to become a much more difficult kind of war. The need for different kinds of weapons comes up. And that's part of what NATO was discussing. The Ukrainians, you know, will need longer range artillery, for instance, that's computer guided.

And they will need more armed drones and these are serious weapons. And then also some of what's worked so well, like the anti-tank javelins, stocks are running low. So, it's not like people don't want to give them to Ukraine, but they have to start making more of them. And then there are other kinds of really important issues like so far, Western countries have not given Ukraine surface to surface missiles, and they've not given them air to surface missiles.

And those would be a distinct escalation of the kinds of weapons supplies. The checks have given some Soviet tanks. But it'll be a very different grinding kind of infantry war. That's not like what we saw around Kiev. It's more like what we've seen since 2015. And the Russians are pretty dug in. So, can the Ukrainians drive Russia entirely out of Ukraine? Very difficult question. Some people want Russia driven to its knees.

Well, can you drive Russia to its knees? Not if NATO countries aren't willing to fight and they're obviously not willing to fight. So, I think this really is going to go on a while, but we're going to have a bit of a break for a couple of weeks while the Russians resupply, they move troops out of Kiev, they bring them to Belarus and to Russia. They resupply them, reorganize them, reequip them, ship them to the east. And then I think things will -- I'm sorry to say again, pick up again.

KINKADE: Steven, the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is expected to meet with the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the capital of Ukraine today. What message is she sending and what is Zelenskyy hoping to hear?

ERLANGER: Well, she's sending solidarity. That's all she can send. I mean, she runs the European Commission, which is the bureaucracy. I mean, it's the Council of the European Union countries that have more to do with actually what happens in this war. But the commission is the one that draws up sanctions for countries to approve. The commission is involved with humanitarian aid, it deals with refugees.

So, I think it is a very important gesture of solidarity. Now Zelenskyy will welcome that. He has a safer place now than it was a few weeks ago, but at the same time, it is a brave thing to do. But he -- I must say you can hear it in his speeches what he said to the U.N.

[02:45:04]

ERLANGER: He's a little bit fed up with nice words of support and the situation is difficult. We've seen various horrible scenes in Bucha and other places. There will be more of those. So, the sense that, you know, as Kuleba says, we want weapons, weapons, weapons, and we want them now, now, now. Now they're getting tons of weapons, but they're not going to get them from Ursula von der Leyen.

KINKADE: All right. We'll have to leave it there for now. Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for the New York Times. Good to have you with us. Thanks so much for your time.

ERLANGER: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, still to come on CNN NEWSROOM. A shooting in Tel Aviv leaves two dead. Israeli security forces say they've now killed the gunman. We're going to go live to Tel Aviv. Stay with us.

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[02:50:18]

KINKADE: Welcome back. Israeli officials say the government who carried out a deadly attack at a popular Tel Aviv dining area has been killed. At least two people died and several others were wounded in Thursday's mass shooting in Tel Aviv. It's the latest in a series of violent incidents that have put Israel and the Palestinian territories on edge. Well, joining me now for more from Tel Aviv is journalist Lauren Izso. Good to have you with us, Lauren.

So, hundreds of Israeli police officers, canine units, even the Army Special Forces were caught in to conduct a massive manhunt to search for the gunman. What do we know about the suspect and what do authorities believe it? Do authorities believe there were others involved?

LAUREN IZSO, JOURNALIST: Right, Linda. So, as far as we know, that was the only gunmen involved in this shooting attack. And like you said after an overnight manhunt, Israel's security forces say they located the shooter responsible for that attack that took place last night in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street right in the center of the city where two were killed, and several more were injured.

Security services located the assailant very, very close to where I'm standing just a few meters to my right. And if you look right here, there's some damage to a car as a result of that shootout between the attacker and security forces. Now they are naming the suspect as 28- year-old Raed Hazem, a Palestinian from Jenin in the West Bank. They say he has no affiliations to any terrorist organizations or any security background, any previous arrests whatsoever.

Now it's important to note that militant groups in Gaza and the West Bank have indeed praised this attack but haven't gone so far as to claim responsibility for it. Israeli security officials say this investigation is ongoing.

KINKADE: All right. Lauren Izso in Tel Aviv. Good to have you on the story for us. Thank you very much.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan will face a no confidence vote Saturday. That's after the Pakistani Supreme Court unanimously ruled that efforts to block that vote were unconstitutional. The top court also revoked Mr. Khan's order to dissolve parliament and hold early elections in an attempt to cling it to power. The opposition has accused him of economic mismanagement, poor governance and treason. The Prime Minister has also lost the backing of key allies and the military.

New Era of the U.S. Supreme Court has just begun. For the first time a black female justice will sit on the bench. This after sent the Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination on Thursday. CNN's Lauren Fox reports on this milestone.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A historic day in the U.S. Senate with the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first black woman on the Supreme Court. Judge Jackson will take her seat on the bench after Stephen Breyer retires following the summer session of the Supreme Court. Democrats were joined by three Republicans in supporting her nomination.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Susan Collins of Maine all joined together with Democrats to support her confirmation. Citing not just judge Jackson's qualifications, but also the fact that they wanted to move beyond the partisan battles that have dominated confirmation hearings of the past in the Senate Judiciary Committee. There were a couple of hiccups however.

Senator Rand Paul was late to this historic vote, with many senators seated in their desk for this momentous occasion. It was a moment where lawmakers were milling about waiting for one last senator to vote. Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Jim Inhofe also had to vote from the cloak room instead of their desk because they weren't dressed for the occasion. Senate rules require ties and jackets to be on the well of the Senate.

Senator Lindsey Graham, not wearing a tie for this momentous occasion in the U.S. Senate. Still, several Democrats said that they were not going to let a couple of Republicans actions dominate or overshadow the joy that they felt confirming Judge Jackson on this day. For CNN on Capitol Hill, I'm Lauren Fox.

KINKADE: We're just hours away from the launch of the Axiom 1 which will carry four civilians to the International Space Station. It's the inaugural mission for the commercial spaceflight company Axiom Space send the first time and all private crew will go to the ISS. They're expected to dock with the orbiter on Saturday and spent eight days working on experiments alongside American and European astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.

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KINKADE: Axiom plans to build its own space station.

Tiger Woods served notice. He's back to play following that harrowing car crash last year that almost cost him his leg and his career. Walking with a slight limp, he shot a one under par in the first round of the Masters tournament and almost got a hole in one. Currently he's tied for 10th Place, four shots behind the leader. He hopes to win his six Korea green jacket. Woods was seriously injured in a single vehicle crash in February 2021.

I'm Linda Kinkade, thanks for spending part of your day with me. Our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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