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Zelenskyy: Russia Seeks to Destroy All of Donbas; Pentagon Spokesperson Chokes Up during Briefing; Ukrainian Refugees Prepare for Long Stay Away from Home; U.S. Volunteer Killed While Fighting for Ukraine; Biden Calls for G20 to Eject Russia; Lake Powell Dangerously Low from Mega Drought; Prince's Trust Raises Funds to Fight Youth Unemployment. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 30, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers right around the world. I am Isa Soares live in Lviv, Ukraine.
The atrocities in Bucha becoming disturbing this hour. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says there is new evidence of yet another mass grave.
NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And I am Nick Watt in Los Angeles, where we are learning details about the first-known American killed fighting with Ukrainian forces, leaving behind a wife and a 7-month- old baby.
SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is 8:00 am here in Ukraine and Russia is pummeling Ukrainian rail hubs and supply lines as it ramps up its assault on the east.
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SOARES (voice-over): You are looking at a railway bridge that was blown up on Friday. We have geolocated and verified the authenticity of the video. It's near Slovyansk in the Donetsk region. A senior U.S. Defense official tells CNN that Russian forces are making incremental advances there.
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SOARES: Meantime, another mass gave was discovered Friday in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha; 900 civilians have already been found dead in the Kyiv region in the wake of Russian forces pulling out. Russia's focus is now on the eastern Donbas region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Moscow's aim is to kill everyone living there. Have a listen.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Only if Ukraine would stand, will they live. If the Russian invaders succeed in realizing their plan, at least in part, they will still have enough artillery and aircraft to destroy the entire Donbas, just as they destroyed Mariupol.
The city, which is one of the most developed in the region, is simply a Russian concentration camp in the middle of ruins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, the situation also growing ever more dire, of course, for Mariupol's last defenders holed up in a steel plant along with hundreds of civilians. President Zelenskyy referencing them there. A Ukrainian commander inside the plant tells of relentless Russians attack and scores of people injured. Our Jim Sciutto has the story for you.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of civilians including children still trapped in a Mariupol steel plant today after Russia blocked Ukraine's latest attempt to rescue them.
The plant is the last Ukrainian holdout in the embattled city and an official says that Russians have closed off an area near the complex for now.
DEPUTY MAYOR SERGEI ORLOV, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE: There is lack of everything, lack of water, food, lack of medicine, lack of any social help. So they need to be humanitarianly evacuated as soon as possible.
SCIUTTO: Mariupol's mayor claims more than 400 people were injured in a bombing Wednesday night, that hit a makeshift military hospital inside the complex. A military commander inside the plant spoke with CNN.
MAJ. SERHIY VOLYNA, COMMANDER, UKRAINE'S 36TH SEPARATE MARINE BRIGADE (through translator): The situation is critical. It is beyond a humanitarian catastrophe. We cannot tell you for sure how long we can hold on for. That all depends on the enemy movements and also on luck.
SCIUTTO: Humanitarian corridors from Mariupol were one of the items UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres lobbied for in his visits with Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy this week. But while he was meeting with Zelenskyy Thursday in Kyiv, several Russian missiles struck.
The attack shattered the relative calm in the capital. One blast killed a Ukrainian journalist in her apartment. Ukraine's foreign minister called it, quote, a heinous act of barbarism.
Russians are now making incremental progress in eastern Ukraine. This video shows extensive shelling of an important railway hub and supply line for Ukrainian troops, a key railroad bridge destroyed as well. U.S. intelligence sees Russia making improvements to fix some of the problems that plagued the military in the early weeks of the invasion. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: They are trying very hard to overcome the challenges they had in the north by making sure logistics and sustainment can keep up with the movement of troops. But the Ukrainians are fighting back hard and making it hard for them to make any progress.
SCIUTTO: A fuel depot was attacked overnight in the Donetsk region controlled by Russian backed forces. And the Ukrainian officials say a town in the northeast near Kharkiv has been recaptured -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: An emotional moment at the Pentagon Friday.
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SOARES: Pentagon spokesman John Kirby choked up when speaking about the atrocities in Ukraine. Kirby was asked if he believes Russian president Vladimir Putin was a rational actor. For his part, listen to what he said.
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KIRBY: It's difficult to look at the -- sorry -- it's difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So I can't talk to his psychology, but I think we can all speak to his depravity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, Kirby also spoke of Putin trying to justify the war as protecting Russians in Ukraine, defending Russian national interests and rooting out Nazism in Ukraine. Kirby called it, BS, let's just say that.
I want to bring in Stuart Crawford. He's a defense analyst joining us from Edinburgh.
Stuart, a very good morning to you. Thanks for taking the time to speak to us this morning. Let me get your thoughts right there on what we heard from John Kirby. Seeing John Kirby, you know, choke up, is not something we are used to seeing.
But understandable, given the atrocities we have been reporting on, day in and day out.
STUART CRAWFORD, DEFENSE ANALYST: No absolutely. And some of the images coming out from Ukraine, particularly of the civilian casualties, are very upsetting. I am not really surprised that he has found it difficult to deal with. We all have our moments where words don't suffice, I'm afraid.
SOARES: Yes. And you put it very well and he explained it very well. And I think many people around the world would understand that emotion. So let's start talk -- let's talk about the developments in the
battlefield, on the front lines. We have seen Russian forces driving southeast from Izyum to the offensive in the Donbas area.
What is your assessment of Russian progress so far?
CRAWFORD: Well, a general assessment would be that Russia isn't winning and Ukraine isn't losing. That is an overall strategic position but I think it is clear that the Russians have sorted out some of the problems they had in their drive to Kyiv and are making slow but steady progress. However, it is not easy. And we are coming into some artillery war, a battle of attrition, where, whoever could last longest will prevail.
SOARES: Yes. So Russians -- what you are saying is -- are starting to get their ducks in a row, so to speak. We have also been seeing and hearing -- and I am wondering if you can explain to me, actually and to our viewers because it's something I find quite fascinating. they've been attacking railway bridges.
What role does this play tactically?
CRAWFORD: Well, it's pretty standard for a part of this sort of conventional warfare, where you seek to disrupt your enemies' communications and, therefore, their logistics. Knocking down bridges and rail stations and railway arches prevents supplies and troops and materiel being brought up to the front line if you'd like.
So it's a standard part. I think the Russians call it the deep battle (ph) but they reach back into the hinterland of the enemy they are facing -- in this case, the Ukrainians -- and try and disrupt their movements people coming to reinforce people on the front line.
SOARES: Does that benefit -- does that give Ukrainians an upper hand?
CRAWFORD: There are major obstacles even to modern armies, armored armies, if you would like. There also some means whereby you can cross these rivers with pontoon bridges, et cetera, et cetera.
But defending across them is very difficult and defending along river lines and dropping bridges is a standard practice when it comes to defending against an oncoming enemy.
SOARES: Where do you see the biggest risk in the next couple weeks or so?
We were talking how May the 9th is a key date for Russia. The Russian generals will, no doubt, be looking for a victory for Putin.
Where are the risks for the Ukrainians here?
CRAWFORD: Well, I do not think the Russians have sufficient combat power to cut off the Donbas region as I think they would like to do nor do I think they have combat power to take Odessa and link up with the bricklayer (ph) area in Moldova, Transnistria. So they have got too salvage something before May the 9th. [01:10:00]
CRAWFORD: And it would seem to me that if they are able to, for example, completely capture Mariupol, that would be sufficient for Putin to be able to claim a victory in time for the May 9 parade. However, the Ukranian defenders are proving very resilient. And I don't know if the Russians will be able to achieve that in time.
SOARES: The situation in the steel plant is very dire, where we are expecting some sort of operation to evacuate civilians but that still hasn't happened. And I suspect that those Ukrainian forces inside wouldn't turn themselves in. So maybe a victory isn't a given, right, Stuart?
CRAWFORD: Yes, absolutely correct. I mean, I think the reason that the Russians are preventing the civilians leaving is that civilians consume food and water, much as the defenders will be doing. And therefore, the fewer -- the fewer civilians who are there, the better for the defenders.
But someone -- something is getting supplies in; albeit just a dribble. I don't know how it's being achieved because if that had not been the case, unless there are vast stores of food and ammunition and water in the tunnels, the defenders would have been forced out before now.
So I'm not really quite sure what is going on there. The Russian can't get in and the Ukrainians can't get out so it is stalemate.
SOARES: Yes. And we know from -- from my conversation I had with the owner, the CEO of the steel plant, that they had supplies for about two, three weeks, so the point you make there, Stuart, very important indeed. Thanks very much, Stuart.
CRAWFORD: Thank you.
SOARES: Now the mayor of Kyiv says he is not surprised that Russia chose to strike the capital during the U.N. chief's visit on Thursday. He shared with CNN's Anderson Cooper, the message he thinks Moscow is trying to send.
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VITALI KLITSCHKO, KYIV MAYOR: The message is, I guess, it is a middle finger from Russia.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: It's a middle finger?
KLITSCHKO: Yes.
COOPER: They did it when Secretaries Austin and Blinken left on the train. They bombed the trains in the West. Secretary-General the U.N. was here yesterday. They bombed when he was still here.
KLITSCHKO: Yes. A signal. My opinion is no respect. It is a middle finger for everybody. COOPER: You went to the scene of the blast. What was it like?
KLITSCHKO: It's actually dramatic to see the destroyed building, kids and depressed people.
COOPER: It is a 25-story residential building. The first two floors they say were damaged by fire.
KLITSCHKO: We were very happy. It's a brand new building. It's not -- people doesn't have a time to move but if it is 20 meters to the right, it can kill hundreds of people and that is why we are lucky just -- what has been lucky -- they destroyed these apartment buildings, they destroyed -- just one people has died, 10 injured.
But we are lucky because there can be much more damages. I mean, much more people dead.
COOPER: A few weeks ago you had said that people shouldn't rush back. People who had moved away shouldn't rush back necessarily. Is that still the case?
Are you are -- are you cautious about people returning?
KLITSCHKO: We can't forbid them to come, yes,, of course, I understand everyone wants to come back to hometown and the last week was pretty quiet and people moved back but my proposal, my advice to anyone to stay in much more safety place because we are responsible for life of the people, for safety.
And it is any second, any minute, any hour, the Russian air raids can launch at every place in our hometown and it's not secret. Kyiv was target and still target from Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: The mayor went on to say he thinks Ukraine will be victorious because the people have a strong will to fight.
Well, as the war drags on, so does the exodus of Ukrainian refugees to other countries. According to the U.N., more than 5.4 million refugees have fled since the fighting began. More than 7.7 million others are internally displaced.
The organization also says an estimated 13 million Ukrainians are stranded near war zones and are unable to leave.
Well, almost 3 million of those refugees fled to Poland. But now, they are safe from the war.
The big question is what next?
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SOARES: As Erica Hill now reports, both refugees and their hosts are preparing to be in it for the long haul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): From coffee to clothes, laundry to day care, two months into this crisis, refugee shelters like this one outside Warsaw have found their rhythm, offering a place to rest and regroup, while people try to determine what and where is next.
We will go back to our home of Melitopol, this dad tells me, if it is under the Ukrainian flag. They left two weeks ago, making their way to Warsaw, to Crimea and Russia.
You were able to leave with your family. Do you want to go fight for Ukraine?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I left with my family but to fight?
I don't know. It's a difficult question for me. I can't answer.
HILL: There is so much that can't be answered, including how long this will last. The need is massive. There are volunteers working in this space 24/7 to deal with all the donations but if needed, they could push all this back to accommodate more beds and as many as 6,000 refugees.
Currently, they're averaging 3,000 people a night but officials say there is no way to know what the numbers will be from one day to the next.
Alla, fled with her mother and two young daughters at the start of the war. Now she is one of several psychologists volunteering to help those who just arrived. Increasingly, they are from the hardest-hit areas.
ALLA LYKOVA, PSYCHOLOGIST, UKRAINIAN REFUGEES: There are no easy stories here. Either, you spent a month in the basement or ran from shelling or don't know when you can go back. You don't have anything here.
HILL (voice-over): Making simple moments all the more important. The goal is to make this space as comfortable as possible. Yet the truth is no matter how warm or welcoming, no one wants to be here. They'd rather be back home.
HILL: The reality is that this refugee center will likely be needed for some time. And just to keep it running is truly an incredible undertaking. You saw the washing machines they brought in, portable showers as well. In one month that facility goes through six tons of toilet paper and half a million coffee cups -- in Warsaw, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And we are learning more about a U.S. citizen killed in Ukraine while fighting against Russian invaders. When we return, we will tell you about the 22-year old and why he joined the battle. That is next. You are watching CNN.
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WATT: U.S. officials are once again warning Americans not to travel to Ukraine, while expressing condolences for the death of a U.S. citizen there. The family of Willy Joseph Cancel tells CNN the 22-year old died fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. Brian Todd has more.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He is a 22-year-old American and leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old baby. Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel killed on the battlefield in Ukraine. That is according to Cancel's mother, who spoke to CNN.
Neither Cancel's mother nor U.S. officials could provide information on how or where Cancel was killed.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We know a family is mourning. A wife is mourning. And our hearts are with them.
TODD: Cancel's mother tells CNN he was working a full-time job as a corrections officer in Tennessee when he signed up to work for a private military contracting company shortly before the Ukraine war broke out.
When the conflict began, she says, Cancel agreed to go. He flew to Poland on March 12th and crossed into Ukraine shortly thereafter. She says he was being paid while he was fighting there.
DOUGLAS OLLIVANT, FORMER AFGHANISTAN ARMS CONTRACTOR: That is a horse of a different color than his being directly in some kind of Ukrainian foreign legion.
And that begs the question, who is the client of this private contracting company?
Is it for the government of Ukraine?
TODD: No immediate answers to those questions tonight. And U.S. officials say they don't have an exact count of how many Americans are fighting in Ukraine. A Ukrainian defense official told CNN in early March that, at that time, more than 20,000 people from more than 50 countries had expressed a desire to join the fight.
CNN has interviewed some Americans who volunteered. Former TV Analyst Malcolm Nance described fighting in a special Ukrainian unit called the International Legion.
MALCOLM NANCE, UKRAINE ARMED FORCES VOLUNTEER: It is not just people running around, grabbing rifles and going on the battlefield. It is a unified force that is a component of the Ukrainian army that is deployed on the battle front.
TODD: But another American fighting there, James Vasquez, told CNN he was moving around loosely.
JAMES VASQUEZ, UKRAINE ARMED FORCES VOLUNTEER: Right now, I am pretty much a ghost. Me and a British soldier, him and I (sic) have been kind of like going unit to unit, where we are needed the most.
TODD: U.S. officials are again warning Americans, don't go to Ukraine to fight.
KIRBY: This is an active war zone. This is not the place to be traveling to.
TODD: State Department officials say Russian forces could single out Americans fighting in Ukraine. One official warning that captured Americans could be subject to, quote, "heightened risk of mistreatment."
OLLIVANT: And it is not hard to imagine a situation in which a captured American is tortured, is executed on the battlefield or is just sent back to Moscow to be some type of pawn for political exchange.
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TODD: At the time she spoke to CNN, Willy Cancel's mother said the people who notified her of his death said his body had not yet been found. She said the men who were with him were trying to recover Cancel's body but that it was simply too dangerous -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Some stunning video coming into CNN following a building collapse in a city in southern China. State media reports five people have been rescued but it's unknown how many more may be trapped in the rubble. The structure is described as a resident's, quote, "self-built house."
It reportedly had six stories, including a restaurant, cinema and a hotel, in addition to private living quarters. No word yet on the cause.
I am Nick Watt. For our international viewers, "QUEST'S WORLD OF WONDER" is next. For viewers in the U.S. and Canada, the news continues after a break.
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SOARES: Welcome back. I am Isa Soares, coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine.
As Russia continues its march in Eastern Ukraine, but according to a senior U.S. Defense official, the advances are slow, incremental as well as uneven. There has been extensive shelling of railway and supply line infrastructure, like these railway cars in flames.
Well, in a town nearby, this bridge was destroyed. The head of the Donetsk regional military administration said Russians were trying to, quote, "advance from the north" and that Russian troops are using artillery and airstrikes to get out settlements -- to wipe out settlements -- excuse me.
That comes as another mass grave is found in the town of Bucha near Kyiv, the site of so many other horrendous atrocities. Details on this latest discovery are scarce. But Russian troops withdrew from the area a few weeks ago. More than 900 bodies have been discovered since then.
Meanwhile, another journalist has been killed in Ukraine. Vira Hyrych worked with a great deal of liberty (ph) in Kyiv and she died in a missile attack on the factory on Thursday. Her body, found Friday in her apartment in a building nearby. She is the 23rd journalist killed in the war so far.
And that attack happening, of course, around the same time the U.N. secretary general was meeting with the Ukrainian president. Whether intentional or not, it is yet another example of civilians becoming casualties of war. Our Matt Rivers reports now from Kyiv.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It had been weeks of relative quiet in Kyiv but a couple of bangs and a plume of black smoke quickly changed that.
Ukraine and Russia both confirming cruise missiles were fired into a central district of Kyiv on Thursday evening, mere miles away from where the U.N. secretary-general had just wrapped up a meeting with President Zelenskyy.
Rescuers worked through the night and in the morning, a clearer picture emerged about what happened with this apartment complex shredded by shrapnel, leaving those in the neighborhood shaken.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): "This wall saved my life," She says, "Otherwise, it would have been the end. There was a lot of fire. I could see everything was burning. I was so scared. It was horror."
She says she only survived because she wasn't sitting next to the window.
Her son, Alexiy's (ph) hands, bloodied.
RIVERS (voice-over): He says, "A clap and a blast, then panic. That's it. I didn't see it until later, I saw my hand was covered in blood." Mother and son survived while others affected by the strike did not, 54-year-old Vira Hyrych, a Ukrainian journalist lived here, having just returned to her home about a week ago.
No one had heard from her all night, so friends kept trying to call her. Her ringing cell phone led rescuers to her body this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): "I have no words," says this friend. "No tears left. I have no energy to cry. Only a few days ago she was asking how she could help me because my house burned down and now no one can help her."
RIVERS: Russia's ministry of defense says they were aiming for a factory right nearby here that is one of Ukraine's top producers of air-to-air guided missiles, as well as aircraft parts. We can't show you that factory due to Ukrainian law.
The factory was damaged in the strike but so was that apartment complex just behind me.
RIVERS (voice-over): Yet another example of Russia targeting places with supposed military relevance but killing ordinary civilians in the process.
Vira's body was taken out of the building midday on Friday, the victim of an attack President Zelenskyy said proves, quote, "That one cannot relax yet, one cannot think that the war is over. We still need to fight" -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, the G20 summit in Bali won't take place until November -- half a year from now. But a potential diplomatic showdown is already brewing, after Russia accepted Indonesia's invitation to participate. CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee has that story for you.
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MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Vladimir Putin confirming that he intends to attend the G20 summit coming up in November, creating a diplomatic headache for this White House.
But President Biden has, previously, said that he believes Russia should be kicked out of the G20 because of its invasion into Ukraine.
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LEE: He made these comments back in March, when he was in Belgium attending a series of emergency summits to discuss this war.
Now White House press secretary Jen Psaki reacted to this news and CNN asked her if anything could change between now and six months from now, when that summit is supposed to take place to make the U.S. believe that it would be productive for Russia to attend that summit.
And this is what she said.
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JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have conveyed our view that we don't think they should be a part of it publicly and privately as well. There's a lot that could happen between now and then but we certainly haven't seen an indication to date of Russia's plan to participate in diplomatic talks constructively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: It is unlikely at this moment in time that Russia would be kicked out of the G20 because not every member country agrees that this should happen, including China. And then, there is also the question of the host country, Indonesia.
Jen Psaki said her understanding is Indonesia invited Russia to the summit before the invasion began. But Indonesian president said that Indonesia wants to unite the G20, that he doesn't want there to be a split.
So this certainly doesn't sound like a host country that is eager to see Russia kicked out of the summit -- MJ Lee, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And I will be back at the top of the hour with more from the war in Ukraine.
After the break, meanwhile, the latest from the weather center as a swarm of tornadoes hit Kansas and Nebraska. Plus, a mega drought hitting the other side of the U.S., what this could mean for water as well as energy supplies. You are watching CNN.
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WATT (voice-over): That is a massive tornado passing Andover, Kansas, late Friday. The Wichita fire chief says at least 12 people have suffered minor injuries, while the Wichita director of communications says 50 to 100 structures have been damaged.
The National Weather Service says there were more than a dozen tornadoes reported, most of them in Kansas and Nebraska. Kansas is also reporting hail. This is all part of a severe storm system passing through the region this weekend.
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WATT: Meanwhile, the American West is now in the grip of a climate change induced mega drought and Lake Mead and Lake Powell, lifelines for tens of millions of people, are in danger of drying up. CNN's Rene Marsh visited Lake Powell and found state and federal officials taking drastic measures to keep the water flowing and the lights on.
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RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Lake Powell, the country's second largest reservoir and it's drying up. Satellite images and CNN video from 2015 versus now shows just how much water has vanished. Miles of rock also tell the story.
BOB MARTIN, DEPUTY POWER MANAGER, GLEN CANYON DAM: This ring we see on the canyon walls, they call it the bathtub ring. That's where the water is leached out the iron from the rock.
MARSH (on-camera): And that's how high the water --
MARTIN: That's how high the water was, at one point.
MARSH (on-camera): You said just in September, the water was just 4 feet above this ledge that we're looking at here. And that's just September.
MARTIN: Right.
MARSH (on-camera): So the water is dropping quite dramatically quite quickly.
MARTIN: It has.
MARSH (voice-over): As water levels declined, so does power production at the Glen Canyon Dam.
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MARSH (voice-over): Which harnesses the force and volume of the Colorado River and Lake Powell to generate power for as many as 5.8 million homes and businesses in seven states.
BRYAN HILL, GENERAL MANAGER, PAGE UTILITY: Worth knocking on the door a judgment day, I think. And judgment day being when we don't have any water to give anybody.
MARSH (voice-over): Bryan Hill runs the public power utility in Page, Arizona where the federal dam is located. 40 percent of the town's power comes from the dam. Without it, they'll be forced to rely on dirtier energy sources like fossil fuels, which are seeing skyrocketing prices and customers will pay the price.
HILL: We're probably looking at an additional 25 to 30 percent in their power costs.
MARSH (voice-over): In a worst-case scenario, the Interior Department projects the dam could stop producing power by January. The agency is now weighing an emergency action that would buy more time.
In a letter to seven western states, the agency calls for holding back the equivalent of 42.6 billion gallons of water in Lake Powell. That means deeper cuts to the amount of water people can use in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
114 billion gallons of water have already been held back this year. This as new images show Lake Mead, the country's largest reservoir that gets its fill (ph) from Lake Powell has dropped to such historically low levels that the lakes water intake valve is now exposed.
MARTIN: So this is the power plant floor.
MARSH (voice-over): Inside the dam, current water levels still produce power.
MARTIN: These are the generators and that spinning is a result of the water that's coming from the forebay, from the reservoir side.
MARSH (voice-over): But if water levels drop just another 32 feet, the spinning stops. The climate crisis forcing federal and state governments to make tough choices and take drastic measures just to keep water and power flowing to the Southwest.
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WATT: The Glen Canyon dam has lost 16 percent of its capacity to generate power and early next month, we expect a final decision from the Interior Department on how to handle the situation so that both water and power keep flowing to the millions of people in the Southwest who rely on it.
Investors on Wall Street bid adieu to a brutal month. The Dow finished the week down nearly 3 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 4 percent, ending its worst month in 14 years. And the S&P 500 was down nearly 4 percent, after its worst month since 2008.
In Britain, the one-time German tennis phenom, Boris Becker, has been sentenced by a court to 2.5 years in jail. The former world number one was convicted on four charges under Britain's Insolvency Act. He hid hundreds of thousands of pounds of assets after he declared bankruptcy.
Becker was found guilty of transferring money to two former partners after his 2017 bankruptcy. The six-time grand slam champ lives in Britain. Scene of his first major Wimbledon, age just 17. He won 49 titles during his career. And after retiring from the sport, became, among other things, a coach to Novak Djokovic.
Coming up, it was a black tie affair at the Prince of Wales' Gala Trust and our Richard Quest covered it like only he can.
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WATT: The stars were out to support the Prince of Wales on Thursday night. The Prince's Trust Gala helps young people find employment and start their own businesses. Our Richard Quest attended the event.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST (voice-over): A touch of stardust was sprinkled on Thursday night as the celebrities came out for the Prince's Trust global gala in New York City.
It's all to benefit the Prince of Wales' charity, which is dedicated to helping young people build their futures at a time when the pandemic has pushed youth unemployment to crisis levels.
MARTINA MILBURN, GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE, PRINCE'S TRUST: We are a bridge that helps them get jobs and helps them with training and education and enterprise.
QUEST (voice-over): The trust launched in the United States last year and now it operates in 20 countries around the world.
EMMA WADE-SMITH, BRITISH COUNCIL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: I think this is a terrific time for them to come to America, get the support here to really
help disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.
EDWARD ENNINFUL, PRINCE'S TRUST, GLOBAL AMBASSADOR: Whether you're in London, whether in Africa, you still face the same challenges. You need a helping hand when you come from a background where they say you can't do it.
QUEST (voice-over): The singer Lionel Richie is a global ambassador.
QUEST: Why are you involved with this?
LIONEL RICHIE, PRINCE'S TRUST GLOBAL AMBASSADOR: You know, what I found something years ago I've known -- I've known Prince Charles now for a long time. And so, what makes it so fabulous is when we first met, I discovered two things. One, we're the same age.
And secondly, most importantly, we have the same heart. He was so fascinated in kids and what can we do to help kids. Since then, he has asked me to be the global ambassador.
QUEST: What makes the Prince's Trust fly better, in a sense?
RICHIE: I'm so happy you said. Not only will you be mentored but the mentor will help you establish your job or give you a job, figure out how banking is done, how to set up your business and watch you fly.
QUEST (voice-over): Alongside the celebrities, there was the Trust's own success stories, the best advert for the Trust's success.
DYLAN ENGLAND, TEACHER: I've done a course with the Prince's Trust and it just gave me the confidence to see my self-worth.
[01:55:00]
SHANA EDWARDS, REAL ESTATE EXECUTIVE AND JEWELRY DESIGNER: It literally changed my life forever. I've made a career. I started a business and I have to thank the Prince's Trust.
QUEST (voice-over): Their personal stories receiving the night's biggest round of applause -- Richard Quest, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: And finally, beer lovers will be toasting again en masse in Munich Germany later this year. Oktoberfest is coming back and will run from September 17th to October 3rd. The annual brewfest was cancelled for two years due to the pandemic.
But this year, it's hope that the boozing celebration will be restriction free. But Munich's mayor warned it could be cancelled again if pandemic measures are reinstated.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Nick Watt, stay with us on CNN.
