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Biden To Meet With Japanese PM On Monday; Russian Missile Damaged 1,000 Apartments In Kharkiv Region, Many Schools; Operation Fly Formula To Deliver Baby Formula To U.S. From Germany; Sri Lanka Fuel Crisis; Countless Ukrainians Left Homeless; U.S. East Coast Faces Record Heat Wave. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired May 22, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States and Canada, all around the world I'm Kim Brunhuber live at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Republic of Korea is strong, thriving, innovating democracy and our alliance grow stronger every single day.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The war in Ukraine and provocations from North Korea looming large over President Biden's trip to Asia. We are live in Tokyo for the president's second stop in the region.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus, Ukraine's president remains defiant amid Russian advances. We will show you how new vehicles are helping fight the war.
And baby formula is now being flown into the U.S. from Germany where mothers are facing a shortage across the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden is sent to land in Japan soon after wrapping up a three-day visit to South Korea. He left Osan Air Base just outside Seoul a short time ago, the president marks his first trip to Asia as commander-in-chief.
Now before leaving South Korea, Biden met with military families and American troops stationed there. Biden also met with the chairman of Hyundai, where he toured the automakers plant to build a new electric vehicle plant in the U.S. state of Georgia. And while he's trying to put the focus on bolstering America's
economic insecurity ties in the region the shadow of potential conflict is never far away. On Saturday, the U.S. and South Korea announced plans to expand joint military drills in response to North Korea's growing nuclear threat.
U.S. officials have also warned that North Korea could stage a missile or nuclear test while Biden is in the region. Earlier, he said the U.S. was prepared for that possibility, here he is.
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BIDEN: We are prepared for anything North Korea does. We have had -- we've thought through how we would respond to whatever they do. And so I'm not concerned, if that's what you're suggesting.
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All right, for more, let's bring in CNN's Blake Essig and Kevin Liptak, live in Tokyo.
Kevin, first to you. Take us through the president's schedule and what he is hoping to get out of this meeting with Japan's prime minister.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he is due to arrive here in Japan in a matter of minutes, the president leaving Seoul about an hour ago. What the president will do when he arrives, he will go to bed tonight. But tomorrow he plans to pay a visit to Japan's emperor before meeting with the prime minister Kishida. He was elected last year.
Really the goals of that bilateral meeting are very similar to what the president was doing in Seoul, to reaffirm this key U.S. alliance in the Asia-Pacific. Just like South Korea, Japan hosts thousands of American troops. The president will want to reiterate the security components of the alliance as well as the economic components.
That is the second major big factor that the president will be doing tomorrow, unveiling this economic framework that is highly anticipated among countries in Asia. It is not a trade deal; it is more of a trade plan with many other components, things like reducing carbon, bolstering supply chains.
So that is something that the president will do tomorrow. And then on Tuesday the president will convene the summit of the Quad. That is the United States, Japan, India and Australia. That is really seen as a collective that is meant to counter China in the region.
So this will be a very critical summit. Something interesting, of course, Australia has just elected a new prime minister. That prime minister, his first order of business will be coming here to Japan to meet with President Biden and these other leaders.
Now while he is in Japan, he will also have a chance to meet individually with the new prime minister from Australia but also the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Of course, India has been somewhat reluctant to follow the United States' lead when it comes to the war in Ukraine.
It is still importing Russian oil; it has been hesitant to apply sanctions on Moscow. And so that is something that the president and prime minister Modi will discuss when they sit down Tuesday. So certainly, it is a stacked agenda here in Japan.
The issue that is still overriding all of this is, as you were saying, North Korea. Japan, just like South Korea, is anxious about those provocations that you have seen coming from Pyongyang. When President Biden was leaving Seoul, he was asked what his message would be for the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un.
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He just said simply, "Hello. Period."
BRUNHUBER: And just as you were finishing up there, we are seeing Air Force One landing in the picture behind you. Now it is covered up by that helicopter but we are seeing it at the air base in Japan. President Biden aboard and he will be meeting with the Japanese prime minister later in his trip. So I want to pivot now to Blake.
You have been looking a bit closer into that meeting that is coming up with the Quad, especially how China will figure so huge in the discussions.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Kim, look, China will never be directly mentioned throughout this Quad summit. But you can bet that China is the point of the Quad.
It is going to be part of, whether it is the economic and security discussions that take place, China will be a big part of that discussion. But first, of course, the bilateral meeting between President Biden and prime minister Kishida, it is always a big deal when the sitting president from the United States visits a foreign country.
And from the Japanese perspective, this really is a huge opportunity, both internationally and domestically. For Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, who only took office last October and has an upper house election set for the summer, there is a chance to show the country at this point that he is a respected international statesman and is capable of taking relations with Japan's most important ally to that next level.
From the U.S. perspective, President Joe Biden's first trip to Asia is also incredibly important, especially after four years of the former president, a period that many experts say undermined the faith, trust and confidence that key allies had in the United States.
More recently of, course there is chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. That being said, there are a lot of people in this part of the world that question the political will of the United States to deploy troops abroad. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLEO PASKAL, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: You may not be able to count on the U.S. in that kind of a situation for whatever reason. Who knows what is going to happen in the rest of the U.S.
But regardless, I think that Japan has a very strong section of the population who don't want to be reliant on outside powers in order to be able to make its decisions that might or may not risk its serenity (ph).
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ESSIG: And President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida meet on Sunday for the bilateral meeting. But we expect the two sides are going to release a joint statement, pledging to deter and respond to China's increasingly active military in the region.
For President Biden to make it clear that the United States will defend Japan, including with the use of nuclear weapons if attacked, it is worth noting that a big part of that pledge to deter and respond to China falls on Japan as a result of the rise of China territorial disputes with China and Russia, potential war in Taiwan and a nuclear armed North Korean.
Members of Japan's ruling party realize they must do more to protect themselves and take a more proactive stance.
Domestically here in Japan, Kim, there has been a push to increase defense spending from 1 percent to 2 percent of its GDP and improve its defensive capabilities within the frameworks of its pacifist constitution by developing counterstrike capability, as opposed to waiting for the fight to come to them.
BRUNHUBER: All right. And we are seeing the big picture there of Air Force One, as President Biden just having touched down in Japan mere moments ago. Blake Essig, Kevin Liptak, live in Tokyo for us. Thank you so much, really appreciate it.
The president of Poland reportedly has arrived in Ukraine, he will address the nation's parliament later today. He will be the first foreign head of state to speak to lawmakers since the war began.
Elsewhere, the Russian military is claiming it destroyed a large shipment of U.S. and weapons in Western Ukraine on Saturday. Now there has been no confirmation of that but Ukrainian military officials in the city of Ravina say missiles struck military infrastructure.
And in Eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military says the Russians destroyed a bridge between Sievierodonetsk and a neighboring town. Ukraine's president, marking his third anniversary in office, was as defiant as ever in his nightly address.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The armed forces of Ukraine are deterring this offensive. Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans in Russia, disrupting them, is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main date, the desired date that we are all looking forward to and fighting for, Victory Day.
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BRUNHUBER: And we are learning that Friday's missile strike on a town near Kharkiv was even more damaging than this video shows.
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BRUNHUBER: Besides destroying the newly renovated cultural center, the mayor says the blast damaged more than 1,000 apartments and many schools.
A $40 billion aid package to Ukraine that Congress approved last week has now been signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. Besides providing large amounts of humanitarian aid, it aims to ensure an uninterrupted flow of American weapons, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine's military.
Turkey's leaders spoke by phone on Saturday with both the president of Finland and the prime minister of Sweden. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the lone NATO member to publicly oppose Finland and Sweden joining NATO and has accused both countries of harboring Kurdish terrorists.
There is no indication that Erdogan softened his position after those calls. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is standing by in Lviv, Ukraine, with the latest.
And, Suzanne, with these latest attacks on schools and cultural institutions, how are Ukrainians responding?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainians, as you can imagine, are very, very concerned about this. And they are very emotional about it as. Well President Zelenskyy saying that the Russians not only want to kill the Ukrainian people but they want to destroy their educational institutions and destroy the very fabric of society, their culture.
So that is something that a lot of people are very passionate about. We heard from Zelenskyy as, well very candid about what is happening in the Donbas region, the escalation of Russia's attacks there, saying it is extremely difficult.
And that situation on the front line really motivating a lot of Ukrainians to do whatever they can to do their part to help. I met such a woman, a young woman, who is now donating cars and driving them to the front lines herself.
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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Down a quiet dirt road in Lviv, this small auto repair shop looks like any other. But it is playing a vital role in Ukraine's civilian resistance.
It is backbreaking work, souping up this run-of-the-mill truck to head to the front lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
Uliana Hileta, who normally works as a graphic designer, is planning to drive it to the front lines herself.
ULIANA HILETA, GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND VOLUNTEER DRIVER (through translator): Every trip is filled with emotions, full of hard work and also full of joy that I can be part of something bigger. I can bring at least some things that will make us closer to victory.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Uliana has been organizing car donations to the Ukrainian military since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. Now her efforts have been increased with five trips so far this year.
MALVEAUX: So you're by yourself for 17 hours in this big vehicle?
Petite as you are, are you afraid, are you concerned?
You are going close to the front lines by yourself.
HILETA (through translator): It would be strange if I wasn't scared, because everyone is scared about their lives. But apart from the fear, there is also love, which is always stronger. It is the love of our motherland.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Civilians here are desperate to help the army however they can, donating money to import as many cars as possible.
This truck, now painted and ready, is destined for Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine where Russian troops have been shelling relentlessly for more than a month, injuring and killing thousands of civilians and battering the Ukrainian forces.
Soldiers say donations like this have been invaluable, as they brace for a long conflict.
It is really unpredictable. Sometimes the car might survive for one or two months. But sometimes on the next day it can be under enemy fire and get destroyed.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): It is an 800-mile journey from Lviv to Slovyansk. And it is not just the car that Uliana will give to those fighting. The truck is filled with new uniforms, military equipment and lots of fuel.
As she packs, she imagines these supplies will help soldiers like her brother-in-law and other close friends, loved ones now fighting in the east.
HILETA (through translator): We had coffee two days before the war began. Now they are on the front lines. But the fact that I can help the soldiers makes me less worried.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Her treacherous journey hopefully paving the way to a free Ukraine. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And we've been touch with her. She's just a few hours away from Slovyansk. The Ukrainian military saying that the Russians will continue to escalate their attacks there. So we've been in touch with her and certainly wishing her the best.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Let us know how things go. Suzanne Malveaux in Lviv, Ukraine. Thank you so much.
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BRUNHUBER: A critical shipment of baby formula is on its way to the U.S. while families cope with a nationwide shortage. As Operation Fly Formula gets underway, we'll have more on that when we return. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: We're seeing live pictures right now of U.S. President Joe Biden, who has arrived in Japan. You are seeing him at the air base, meeting people, shaking hands and so on. Air Force One landed maybe 10 minutes ago.
This is his second stop on his Asian tour after being in South Korea the last couple days. He has a new Indo-Pacific economic framework to unveil and he is expected to meet Japan's emperor and prime minister to reaffirm America's support and intensifying provocations from North Korea in the region.
A U.S. military flight is en route from Germany to Indiana, carrying more than 130 pallets of baby formula.
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BRUNHUBER: It's the first shipment under the Biden administration's Operation Fly Formula. Americans are dealing with a nationwide shortage. Underscoring the operation's importance to the White House, the Agriculture Secretary will greet the flight when it lands in Indianapolis later today.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is in Germany.
The need is so huge but one shipment, I don't imagine, will make too much of a dent.
Is there more on its way?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is supposed to be more on its way. We're told to expect more of these shipments, importing baby formula into the United States. They might not be military planes this time. They might be commercial flights that are contracted by the military.
We're told the next flight could be the middle of next week. Now we don't know numbers for those flights. We do know that this flight that is currently en route to Indiana is 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of infant formula. It is infant formula specifically for infants who have allergies.
Any child could take it but it is specifically hypoallergenic. That is because a lot of the children that have been having some of the most dire problems have been children with medical issues.
So this flight is expected to land around 11:30 Indianapolis time. And this help couldn't come anytime -- this is just -- people need this help so, so much. Now Abbott labs says that they hope to be opening up their shuttered manufacturing plant by the first week of June.
They said it will take 6 to 8 weeks before they can ramp up and get stuff out onto shelves. And so parents will be seeing a difference -- or should be seeing a difference in the short term but perhaps not much of a difference.
For really seeing a big difference, really making things easier on parents that are for babies, that could take many weeks.
BRUNHUBER: With the help needed right now, as you say. Elizabeth Cohen at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, thank you so much.
Switzerland and Israel are reporting their first cases of monkeypox. The Swiss case has also reported in Bern and the Israeli health ministry says a man admitted to the Tel Aviv hospital on Friday tested positive for the disease on Saturday.
The man had recently returned from Western Europe. He has been quarantined and remains in good condition. The World Health Organization said on Saturday that there were more than 90 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide and at least 28 potential cases under investigation.
There seems to be no end to the economic turmoil plaguing Sri Lanka. The country defaulted this week on its foreign debt and citizens have been forced to adjust to chronic shortages of everyday essentials. Vedika Sud has the story.
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VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A 36 year old man and driver has spent two nights at this gas station in central Colombo. It's been an endless wait to refuel his three wheeler. Petrol pumps are all but dry across the city.
THUWAN HAMEED, AUTO RICKSHAW DRIVER (through translator): At every petrol station we go ,to they tell us they have run out of gas. Our day goes in lining up at petrol pumps.
SUD (voice-over): With no fuel, Thuwan has been out of work. He leaves his rickshaw in the care of friends and heads home to meet family, where the situation is equally dire. There has been a crippling shortage of cooking gas across the island nation.
Thuwan's wife, Fathima, has been cooking on a kerosene stove for the last three months.
FATHIMA HAMEED, THUWAN'S WIFE (through translator): I only have this one bottle of kerosene left. It will finish after I heat the food tonight.
SUD (voice-over): This family of five has no choice but to skip meals.
F. HAMEED (through translator): We do not eat in the mornings. We eat rice for lunch and dinner.
SUD (voice-over): About five kilometers or three miles away from their home, Sagarika Samanthi can barely sit in this 30-inch white balcony, where she cooks the day's meals. She uses coconut husk, paper and kerosene to get the firewood stalks started.
SAGARIKA SAMANTHI, COLOMBO RESIDENT (through translator): Since the 30th of April, there has been no cooking gas. We're now using a firewood stove.
SUD (voice-over): Earlier, she would cook three meals a day on a gas stove. It's now down to one.
SAMANTHI (through translator): My husband and my children have never let me down. This country has. It makes me sad and angry. I don't foresee things getting better anytime soon.
SUD (voice-over): Weeks of protests forced all the Rajapaksas except the president to step down from senior government posts. On Monday, Sri Lanka's new prime minister, Wickremesinghe, warned that things would only get worse before getting any better.
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SUD (voice-over): Four days later and, for the first time in its history, the country defaulted on its debt.
MICK MOORE, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, U.K.: Unless the government reaches an agreement with the IMF or future resources and simultaneously an agreement with its foreign creditors about rescheduling, then the situation looks frankly impossible.
SUD (voice-over): Where talks with the International Monetary Fund aren't away, landmans (ph) like Thuwan are losing patience and hope. He says he voted for the Rajapaksas in the last election. He now, not only wants them out of power but out of the country -- Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
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BRUNHUBER: Away for months, as the Russians shelled Kharkiv, a mother and daughter finally get to return home.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): You will meet one young woman, as she visits her apartment to see what is left of her former life. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
President Biden has arrived in Japan a short time ago. Japan is his second stop in Asia. And while in Tokyo, he is expected to meet with Japan's emperor and prime minister before joining the meeting of the Quad alliance.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. seeks to bolster its economic and security ties in Asia amid rising nuclear threats from North Korea and growing Chinese influence in the region.
Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive around Kharkiv has made that city much safer than it was just a few weeks ago. And now, some residents who have evacuated have ventured back to reunite with loved ones and see what's left of their homes. Dan Rivers has the story.
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DAN RIVERS, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The siege of Kharkiv was documented for us in March in this video diary.
ANASTASIYA PARASKEVOVA, KHARKIV RESIDENT: Last night was probably the most terrifying night of my life. Kharkiv was terribly bombarded.
Anastasiya Paraskevova filmed the destruction and her emotions, giving harrowing insight into this war.
PARASKEVOVA: Airstrikes all over the city, dozens of buildings destroyed. Sitting in buildings where people live.
RIVERS (voice-over): Today she's returned to her home city for the first time. She is with her mother after staying with friends in the relative safety of Poltava, two hours away from Kharkiv.
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PARASKEVOVA: I'm crying again. I'm sorry.
RIVERS (voice-over): They haven't seen her father for almost two months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
PARASKEVOVA: He says it is time come back.
RIVERS (voice-over): In her video diary, she showed where she took refuge in her flat, a home she was forced to leave without knowing if she would ever see it again.
PARASKEVOVA: This is our hiding place. It is a vestibule area between two walls with no windows. I don't know why but being bombarded is easier to live in your home.
RIVERS (voice-over): But today, Kharkiv is much safer. She has come back to check on her apartment.
RIVERS: Does it feel strange coming back?
PARASKEVOVA: Yes. Oh, my room. It just feels odd because it is so not usual like it is supposed to be, you know. I just for some reason thought that I would return and all the furniture would be standing the right way. Sorry. My bed is superior to most other beds.
RIVERS (voice-over): Her flat is undamaged but you don't have to go far to see the consequences of Russia's bombing.
PARASKEVOVA: When we were still in Kharkiv, this was the closest large explosion. We heard an incredibly loud noise and also the windows and the doors in the house were shaken and this was it.
RIVERS (voice-over): Walls peeled off by the blast, which have laid bare lives ruined in an instant. The random nature of what survived and what didn't is on display like an exhibit in a museum.
But this war is not in the past. Around the edge of the city, it is very much in the present. The attack on the city's town hall marked the beginning of the siege. Today, almost in an act of defiance, flowers have been planted in front of it.
For Anastasiya, it is a sign Kharkiv will recover.
RIVERS: This building was the heart of Kharkiv.
Would you say Kharkiv's heart has been broken?
PARASKEVOVA: Yes, I would say so for sure. It was the most excruciating thing to see this building rocketed.
RIVERS (voice-over): Anastasiya has returned to a city scarred by this war but one in which its citizens are beginning to glimpse normality again. And in the warm spring sunshine, there is something that has been absent for the people of Kharkiv and Anastasiya for so long: hope -- Dan Rivers, ITV News, Kharkiv.
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BRUNHUBER: As we just saw there, so many Ukrainians have lost their homes and possessions in this war and have little to come back to. With more on this is Vitaliy Sych, the chief editor at the newspaper "Novoye Vremya."
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BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much for being with us. Yes, some stories are unhappy but many people are coming home happy just to be home, as we saw. You yourself just returned home a few days ago after leaving with your family.
So what did it feel like, crossing the threshold of your home again?
VITALIY SYCH, CHIEF EDITOR, "NOVOYE VREMYA": Well, we were anxious to see how the city looks like. It definitely doesn't look the way it looked before the war. You can feel the city was on the brink of the war or in the middle of the war in a lot of areas, because there was a lot of fighting and street fighting going on in Kyiv.
You can still see lots of fortifications, lots of checkpoints, lots of anti-tank hedgehogs and huge lines at the gas stations, because Russians hit the major oil refinery in Ukraine with a missile and major oil storages.
So diesel and gas are precious commodities these days. But at the same time life is definitely coming back to the city. I have my own measurement system here in the building. We have 120 apartments in my residential complex.
And during the days of war, only 10 were inhabited. Everybody else was gone. And my home is on the ground floor and I ask how many people were back. And today we now have 62 apartments where people live.
So we crossed the equator in my residential building.
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SYCH: And Vitali Klitschko, the city mayor, the famous boxing fighter, he has his own measurement system, which is SIM cards, which is a pretty accurate way to measure the population, because almost everybody has a smartphone except for kids to 10 years old.
So before the war, there were 3.6 million SIM cards staying in Kyiv overnight every day. And during the peak days, the figure was down to 1 million. And now it is back to 2.4 million. So a lot of people are coming back.
BRUNHUBER: Now many people come home; they find their homes either destroyed or even looted by soldiers.
For you, for instance, what state was everything in?
SYCH: Well, my apartment is fine completely. But I have a summer house north of Kyiv and where the front line was for about a month. And the Russians looted all the houses there, including mine.
So they broke into the door, they turned everything upside down. I don't know what they were looking for. They found an empty box from an iPhone 10, so sorry guys, I have my iPhone so they couldn't find it. And they just opened a bottle of liquor that they found and just left
there. Probably expected something sweet but it wasn't. It wasn't vodka. And many houses they left human excrement, which we joke is a trademark signature of the Russian army. We have no idea why they do that. But it looks like using toilet is much more comfortable.
BRUNHUBER: Gosh, I guess they are trying to make some kind of statement. You talked about your unofficial statistics there. But according to the border authorities in Ukraine, more people are coming back to Ukraine than leaving the country.
Why now?
Is there a sense of renewed optimism?
SYCH: First of all, it has become safer in central Ukraine, particularly here. I just heard a report from Kharkiv before me, Kharkiv is obviously in much bigger danger than Kyiv. We all figure, if you don't have artillery and aviation next to your city, you are relatively safe. You are all in the same conditions because missiles come and leave, or Odessa or Kyiv, it is all the same.
If you don't have Russians right next by your city, you are relatively OK. So first of all, that is a reason for people coming back. And people get exhausted and running out of money and not always living in comfortable conditions in Germany, England, France.
We have quite a lot of women coming back. I think major thing that keeps mothers with children from coming back is the danger for children. We still get air raid sirens about three times a day. And everybody has gone through a really lengthy, stressful, emotional evacuation.
People don't want to go through that the second time. So they want to make sure that the city is safe for children and they won't have to go through that another time.
If you look at the city, I mean, it is almost back to normal. There are fewer cars of course, fewer people. But the restaurants are opening up and there is one thing distinctly that is missing from a healthy urban landscape and that is children. There are very few children.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Some people who have returned, they have said that they are happy.
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BRUNHUBER: But also disappointed because, you know, not just because things were broken or out of place and so on but just because they can't really feel like home basically until the war ends.
Do you get that sense a lot?
SYCH: Yes, we had a conversation with a friend of I mean. We were co- hosts of a radio show because we had seven journalists joining the army and two well-known anchors. So we had to fill in for them daily. So my co-hosts would return to Kyiv.
And we both shared the same feeling, that it is kind of more depressing here in Kyiv than it was in Lviv. We were in Lviv for three months. In Lviv, it felt like it was not forever. It was kind of a holiday. It's not a holiday, of course, but you are not home and you are there temporarily.
And then suddenly you come back and you realize this is your home. And it's definitely not the way it was and you are here forever probably. But hopefully forever we don't have to do another escape. So it does feel a little grim and slightly depressing.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
Quickly before we go, if the bombs do start falling again, will you leave or are you staying for good?
SYCH: Well, if the missiles come, then I'll probably stay here unless they start hitting our residential areas like they did in Kharkiv. I lived in Lviv for 2.5 months and missiles were coming regularly. Luckily they were hitting mostly railway, because Russians are trying to disrupt heavy weaponry coming from the west to the east of the country.
And military objects -- but sometimes they hit residential areas, too. If something like that happens here, I'll probably stay. But if the Russian artillery is within the range of 20-40 kilometers, then you probably have to go.
BRUNHUBER: We wish you and all of the people there and all the people coming back all the best. Thanks so much for joining us.
SYCH: Thank you so much.
BRUNHUBER: Ahead, a major power shift in Australia. A look at why voters delivered a sharp rebuke to prime minister Scott Morrison's conservative coalition and who will be leading the country next.
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BRUNHUBER: Australian voters have ended nine years of conservative rule by ousting Scott Morrison's coalition. Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese will be the next prime minister. He and the new government will be sworn in on Monday. CNN's Anna Coren takes a closer look at Australia's new leader and explains why Morrison's coalition lost.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Anthony Albanese, Australia's 31st prime minister. ANTHONY ALBANESE, INCOMING AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for
this extraordinary honor. Tonight, the Australian people have voted for change. I'm humbled by this victory. And I'm honored to be given the opportunity to serve as the 31st prime minister of Australia.
COREN (voice-over): Many down under were fed up with Scott Morrison, a leader many see as lacking empathy and integrity.
GRACE TAME, 2021 AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR: All Anthony would have to do is none of the things that Scott has done.
COREN (voice-over): With such a low bar, Albanese presented an option for safe change instead of appealing to traditional Labor values, like big spending on health and education or higher taxes on the wealthy, values that Albanese himself has long campaigned for.
ALBANESE: My whole life I believe that Labor governments make a positive --
(CROSSTALK)
COREN (voice-over): Raised by single mother in public housing, Albanese is a working class stalwart of the party's Left faction. Many expected him to announce bold strategies on climate but instead he is keeping to what he says is economical: a 43 percent emissions drop by 2030.
That perceived lack of ambition has driven many voters to environmentally minded independents, who may still hold the balance of power after Saturday's vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the essence of democracy. This is -- a lot of people are moving toward independents, probably due to dissatisfaction with the current political system.
COREN (voice-over): As Australians get to know their new government, there is not long for the world to wait to find out more about Anthony Albanese. His first diplomatic test comes Tuesday at the Quad meeting in Tokyo, when he meets U.S. President Joe Biden and other allies -- Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Here in the U.S., Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary is still too close to call. Votes from Tuesday's contests are still being counted. Mehmet Oz holds a narrow lead over David McCormick. A recount will be triggered if the race is within half a percentage point.
McCormick's team is pushing for undated mail-in ballots to be counted. But it's not clear if that will happen.
Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia are next on the primary calendar. Georgia will get the most attention because of two statewide races. In the Republican primary for governor, the former president is backing challenger David Perdue, while former vice president Mike Pence is supporting Brian Kemp's bid for a second term.
Georgia also has a U.S. Senate race this fall, Raphael Warnock will face off in November against the winner of a crowded Republican primary. And one name to watch on the Republican side is former American football player, Herschel Walker, who is endorsed by the former president.
From heat waves to freak snowstorms, extreme weather is battering the U.S. this weekend. Derek Van Dam will explain what is causing the trouble, just ahead.
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[04:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: A town and homes reduced to rubble, this is the small community of Gaylord in northern Michigan after a tornado ripped through it on Friday; 95 percent of this mobile home park was destroyed, according to the local fire chief.
Two people were killed in the storm and more than 40 are injured. One resident described what happened.
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DECLAN CLAYTON, TORNADO WITNESS: I was actually right up the road at the gas station when I saw the cloud start swirling. And I called him because he was back in the house with our dogs. And I was like get your stuff, get ready.
And as soon as I hung up the phone, it touched down and ripped through before I could even blink. And I called him, made sure he was all right and, by the time I got back to Nottingham, the whole neighborhood was already gone, people being pulled out of rubble.
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BRUNHUBER: Extreme weather incidents like these are becoming more common in the U.S. Around 170 million people will face temperatures of 90 degrees Fahrenheit and above in the coming days, more than 32 degrees Celsius.
And in New Mexico, the largest wildfire in state history is burning into its sixth week, more than 300,000 acres have burned, around 120,000 hectares. The U.S. Forest Service says it's pausing prescribed fire operations because of the extreme risk.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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(WORLD SPORT) BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in a
moment with more news. Please stay with us.
