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Standoff Of The Azovstal Plant In Ukraine May Be Coming To An End; Severe Weather Reported In Past 24 Hours Across Northeast U.S.; FDA Expected To Authorize Pfizer COVID Booster For Kids Age 5 to 11 As Early As Tuesday; First Congressional UFO Hearing In Five Decades Scheduled For Tuesday. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 17, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We so far away from where we were pre-2011, when Al-Shabaab controlled large sections of the capital, in fact, they were pushed out but there is a fear that these gangs need to be consolidated before a slip further into insecurity. Max?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: OK, David McKenzie, thank you. Coming up, the cost of treason in Ukraine. What happens to alleged spies suspected of helping Russia target Ukrainian forces? Our exclusive report just ahead.

And Europe's top diplomats met in Brussels, but failed to get another round of sanctions against Russia. We'll explain why.

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FOSTER: Russia's invasion has left Mariupol in ruins. But after 82 days of fighting, the long standoff of the city's steel plant may finally be coming to an end. Ukraine says more than 260 people at the Azovstal plant have been evacuated. The country's been declared the combat -- have declared the combat mission fulfilled and commanders have been ordered to save the lives of their troops.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the authorities say there have been casualties from Russian missile strikes in areas north of Kyiv. And there are reports that Russian troops have tried to cross the border with heavy fighting in Sumy, east of the capital. Missile attacks were also reported near Lviv, to the west. Russia's gains in Mariupol belie its losses in other parts of Ukraine. It's been repelled from Kharkiv and facing stiff resistance as it pours more troops back into Eastern Ukraine.

And near Kramatorsk, Ukrainian agents are hard at work rescuing (ph) out people they allege are Russian spies.

[04:35:00]

CNN's Sam Kiley has more in this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the former headquarters of the SBU. That's the secret police, effectively, of Ukraine. Now, it was hit right at the beginning of the war with an airstrike. Clearly, from the Russian perspective, this is an immediate necessity to knock out the SBU's capacity here in Kramatorsk, because it is from this location that the counterintelligence operation would have been run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language).

KILEY (voice-over): We've been working on him for about four days. We have a complete picture of his actions, said Sergey (ph).

This is Ukraine's most secretive force, the equivalent of the FBI and then some.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language).

KILEY (voice-over): Sergey (ph) says, we have identified a person who, according to our intelligence, is committing a crime. Simply put, this is a person who transmits to the Russian side, the Russian military, information about the locations of our units. They're a snatch team with orders to grab an alleged Russian spy.

The SBU says that spies feed a stream of information on troop movements and details of targets to Russia's aircraft and artillery. In this region, the SBU says it catches one or two agents run by Russia every day.

And today's suspect is being watched.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He's ours. There he goes, having a smoke. All units, green pants, black sweatshirt, 1,000.

KILEY: Special Forces sweep in, resistance (ph). Two Ukrainians are asked to witness the interrogation. With our camera present, protocols are followed to the letter. He's told why he's arrested, for high treason during marshal law and confesses on the spot to spying.

He says that he was allegedly recruited online, gets orders via a messaging app from someone called Nikolai. The suspect says that he got about $10 for his alleged spying, which included the locations of Ukrainian military units in the town. According to an alleged exchange between him and his handler, the suspect was arrested mid-mission.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). I'll need your help for the same thing tomorrow. Stay in touch. We'll need information on military housing. More details in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles) Got it. Got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). Good day. You did a good job yesterday. The same information is needed today. Photos, video, geodata of the military on the CNIL. How long does it take to get the information?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). And here I am walking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). Right there you went to get that information, didn't you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). Got it. Got it. I will text you back. One and a half to two hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). That was today, wasn't it? At 11:29?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Spoken in foreign language, translated through subtitles). Approximately, I didn't watch the time.

KILEY (voice-over): There's no death penalty for traders here, but as he's driven through these gates he'll know that if tried and convicted he could spend a lifetime behind bars.

Sergey's (ph) hometown is under constant Russian bombardment, so for him, this is no small victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Russia's hitting us with missiles, rockets and air raids. These missiles hit the coordinates, which are transmitted by these criminals. People die in these attacks. Soldiers and civilians.

But, he adds, the more atrocities the Russians commit the harder it's getting for the Kremlin to recruit local spies.

Sam Kiley, CNN, in Sloviansk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, the European Union couldn't agree on the sixth round of sanctions against Russia during a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday. The E.U.'s top diplomat says the proposed ban on Russian oil is still the main obstacle and the objections from Hungary are preventing the unanimous consent needed for approval.

Meanwhile, the E.U. is cutting its economic growth forecast and bracing for higher inflation. The war in Ukraine is cited as the reason for both. Clare Sebastian joins me now with more on this. It does -- this is a problem with the Unanimity Policy within the Union, which, you know, the head of the -- the president of the commissions talked about recently.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She actually mentioned that they might consider relaxing that unanimity rule on certain issues. But still, it stands for this particular six package of sanctions and that's why Hungary is able to hold up the whole thing.

They continue to say that they are not seeing enough assurances for their energy security in this latest package. The -- you know -- the Prime Minister Viktor Orban was actually sworn in for his fourth time in office yesterday and at the same time accused Brussels of abusing its power, continues to take this pretty hard line towards the European Union.

So, right now they're asking for things like an extension to the -- to the deadline to phase out -- to phase out oil imports from Russia.

[04:40:00]

Hungary is also suggesting that they might want quite a lot of money from the E.U. to help modernize their energy infrastructure, sort of by way of compensation. But it's now been almost two weeks, Max, since this sixth package was first --

FOSTER: Yes.

SEBASTIAN: -- first rooted and still no agreement.

FOSTER: The other impact from the war in Ukraine is obviously Eurovision. We're going to actually cross to the Kalush Orchestra back in their home country after winning the Eurovision song contest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glory to Ukraine. Glory to our heroes. Now, ladies and gentlemen, you're free to ask questions. Please wait till you receive the microphone. Greetings, it's (inaudible). Are you planning to sell your hat at an auction to help Ukraine? We know that you are planning to sell the crystal microphone. Tell us more about it.

OLEG PSYUK, LEAD SINGER UKRAINIAN GROUP KALUSH ORCHESTRA (through translator): We are planning to sell the important [ph] statue. We are planning to sell it to raise funds for Ukraine. Meaning that there are so many people who can't afford donating a lot of money to help Ukraine, and this statue will be an additional motivation to donate money to help support Ukraine and Ukrainian Army.

So, you can take picture of this statue. It will be placed at an auction soon. Please follow us on Instagram. We are planning to announce the venue, the auction details, et cetera.

More questions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) TV channel, Ukraine. Immediately after the revision, many started saying that perhaps it's worth relocating the revision and hosting it in Poland instead. What would you say about it? That's my first question.

And secondly, how do you feel about Ukrainians apologizing before the Polish people in mass (ph) that (inaudible) raided Poland --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: So, the Kalush Orchestra is back in Lviv, Ukraine. They were given special dispensation as men to leave the country to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest and they won that contest. I think it's broadly viewed as a, you know, a vocal sport for Ukraine as opposed to necessarily being the best performance there. They have widespread support for Ukraine and against Russia, frankly expressed in the Eurovision Song Contest.

And that award you saw there, they are selling off, auctioning in support of Ukraine and the military. We'll be monitoring that press conference for you, bringing you other highlights.

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[04:45:55]

FOSTER: We're getting word that Israeli police have arrested at least 20 people in Jerusalem after clashes broke out alongside a funeral. The Palestinian Red Crescent says some 70 Palestinians were wounded and Israeli police say six officers were injured during the confrontations.

Let's bring in Atika Shubert, who's covering this, live for us from Jerusalem, because this is the second time we've had violence break out at funerals in the last week.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the second time in less than a week now. That Israeli police have used this kind of violent force against Palestinian mourners here in Jerusalem.

Yesterday it was the funeral of Walid a-Sharift. This is a young Palestinian man who at -- was injured quite severely in an unrest last month at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's old city. And he died as a result of those injuries.

So the funeral was yesterday and Israeli police blocked mourners from attending that mosque during the funeral. And that seems to have triggered this unrest. Israeli police used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. Palestinians used the rocks, bottles and also some fireworks were seen. The clashes lasted for almost an hour. And there were a number of injuries.

The Palestinian Red Cross said 71 people were injured, including one man who was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet, so quite a serious injury there. Now, Israeli police out a statement saying a number of their officers were lightly injured, but they accused mourners of, quote, turning a funeral ceremony into a violent march.

And as you point out, Max, this is the second time in less than a week that this has happened. And it's just part of the rising tensions, not just here in Jerusalem, but in Israel and across the West Bank.

There have been a spate of attacks recently against Israeli citizens by Palestinians and in return -- in exchange for that Israeli police have actually moved in and sealed off access to parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and have also conducted a number of raids in the West Bank, particularly in the area of Janin. And it was during one of those raids that the Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akley was killed in Janin. And so, what you're seeing is this cycle of violent -- violence -- excuse me -- going on and on and, unfortunately, escalating tensions even further, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Atika in Jerusalem, thank you.

Still ahead, a wildfire raging in the western U.S. is breaking records. Meanwhile, other parts of the country are facing severe weather threats.

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[04:52:48]

FOSTER: Monday night really was a great night for major league baseball fans. First, Travis Shaw made this brilliant defensive play from his knees. He would later hit out -- later hit one out of Fenway Park. And the Boston Red Sox defeated the Houston Astros 6 to 3.

Meanwhile, it was another slugfest at Coors Field in Denver, as both the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies hit home runs. The Giants hit three, including a go-ahead home run with two outs in the ninth inning. San Francisco beat Colorado 7 to 6.

And in Los Angeles, the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks scored the first two runs, one on a home run from Christian Walker, the L.A. Dodgers answered with a five-run rally, including a home run from Chris Taylor. Now, the Diamondbacks homed again in the ninth before falling to the Dodgers 4 to 5.

Now, conditions are calming down in the eastern United States after a day of severe weather. But, now a new storm system is threatening the Plains in the Midwest. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has a look at what's in store.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Max. We had some severe weather in the past 24 hours to tell you about around portions of the Northeast.

A couple of reports of tornadoes, but a lot of wind reports and large hail reports, some of which that got to as large as hen egg size there in diameter, about two plus inches, and you'll notice rainfall in that similar range there, up to about 2 inches, portions of New York, portions of Vermont getting in some flooding out of this.

But again, the hail reports pretty impressive in a few spots of Maryland and Delaware, where we see these hailstones at 2.25" in diameter as well. But, severe weather concern now all but over around the Northeast.

High pressure tries to build more on the heat in store across parts of the southern U.S. But the central U.S. gets back in on the severe weather action here with large hail and some damaging winds potentially back in the forecast. There's even an enhanced risk there across the central portion of the U.S. near Omaha and near Kansas City. That's the highest threats out here for some of the stronger storms that could possibly produce a couple of tornadoes.

[04:55:00]

Now, when it comes to the western U.S. we've talked to the drought situation. Unfortunately, the Hermits Peak, Calf Canyon fire in Northern New Mexico continues to range, now entering the record books as the largest fire in state history, upwards of almost 300,000 of acres of land now consumed, besting a 2012 fire that consumed about the same amount across the state.

But notice, it doesn't get much better when it comes to the north. It really expands farther towards the east over the next couple of days. As many as 100 plus record temperatures could be seen, mainly across the southern United States, temperatures in spots climbing up to the upper 80, upper 90s even the 100s around western Texas.

Max?

FOSTER: Thanks, Pedram.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize a booster dose of Pfizer's COVID vaccine for kids age 5 to 11 as early as Tuesday. This comes as the number of new cases amongst children in the U.S. grew nearly 76 percent last week from two weeks prior, that's according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. This is the fifth consecutive week in which child cases have increased. But now kids make up about 18 percent of all the weekly reported cases in the country.

The U.S. Congressional Subcommittee will hold the first public hearing on UFOs in more than five decades on Tuesday. It will focus on a Pentagon program established last year, after the U.S. Intelligence Community released a preliminary assessment on 144 reports of, quote, "Unidentified areal pheromone since 2004 and could only explain one of them. There will be two witnesses testifying in the defense intelligence community.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN. I'm Max Foster. And now (ph) "Early Start" with Christine Romans and Laura Jarrett is up next. You're watching CNN.

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