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Nearly 40 Million Expected to Travel Over Memorial Day Weekend. Holiday Travelers Hit With Soaring Gas Prices. Anxiety Among Children Post-Pandemic. Baby Formula Being Shipped to Retailers Right Now. Shelling At Donetsk Front Lines Does Not Stop. Zelenskyy Visit Soldiers on Front Lines in Eastern Ukraine. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 30, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

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ANDREW GROSS, SPOKESMAN, AAA: but we've never been trying to project in an environment like this.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Overall, travel on the airlines has been relatively smooth, about 2,800 cancellations in the U.S. over the last few days, but 100 today at Delta airlines, and it says it will cancel about 100 flights a day in the month of July to maintain predictability in this scheduling facing this big staffing shortages, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. One thing on top of the next. Pete, thanks very much for always being on top of it for us. Drivers seeing the highest inflation adjusted gas prices in a decade, also much higher costs for food. This holiday weekend, CNN Business Lead Reporter, Matt Egan, is with me. Matt, no sign also, right, from your reporting that these prices are going to ease up anytime soon?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes. Unfortunately, that's right, Poppy. You know, the problem is that supply just can't keep up with demand, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine has set off these global shockwaves in energy markets. And so, that's why we've seen the national average hit a fresh record high, $4.62 a gallon nationally according to AAA. That's up $0.44 in just the past month. For context, the average was $3.05 a gallon last Memorial Day. And even if you adjust for inflation this is the highest gas price that we've seen in Memorial Day weekend in a decade, and that is despite the fact that President Biden has released emergency oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, more than anyone has ever released before.

And we were invited by the white house to take a tour of the strategic petroleum reserve, and after the tour I asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about gas prices, and she said the president is, quote, "obsessed with high gas prices."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JENNIFER GRANHOLM, ENERGY SECRETARY: He is responding to the current situation. You know, he knows and he is obsessed with the fact that gas prices are so high and people are hurting, and this is a global issue, so what can he do. So you can exhort the oil and gas industry to increase supply. You have to at the same time accelerate our movement to clear energy. You can walk and chew gum. You can do both, but the fact that we are paying these outrageous prices almost is an exclamation point on the fact that we need to move to clean energy so that we are not in this position in the future.

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EGAN: For now we remain very much subject to the winds of the global energy market and relying on fossil fuels. It's about 30 percent more expensive to fill up your tank today than it was the day before Russia invaded Ukraine. And Granholm conceded to me that even the most powerful person on the planet only has so much influence here. As she put it, presidents don't control gas prices. Despite the fact that prices are very high, Poppy, an estimate 35 million people travelling by car this holiday weekend

HARLOW: Well airline prices are a lot, too. Matt Egan, thank you very much, and great interview. I know people can see a lot more of it on CNN Business. Thanks, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Ahead, a heartbreaking account from one of the children inside of Robb Elementary School as the gunman massacred small children and their teachers. His mother says he is dealing with night terrors. How can parents help their children cope with this trauma? That's what we'll talk about next.

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[09:37:53]

HARLOW: As services begin today for the 19 children and two teachers killed in the Uvalde mass shooting, we continue to hear more and more harrowing accounts from children who were there and survived it all. Our Dana Bash sat down with Daniel, a survivor of the shooting, and his mother Briana Ruiz. His cousin, Ellie Garcia, was one of the 19 children killed in the attack. Just listen to this.

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DANIEL, SURVIVOR OF ROBB ELEMENTARY: He just like shot like four bullets into our class, but like her nose broke and then our teacher got shot in her leg and her torso, but she's all right.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He was never in your classroom because your teacher - your teacher locked the door and broke the key? Did you see his face?

DANIEL: Yes.

BASH: Through the window? And then describe what happened when you finally saw Daniel.

BRIANA RUIZ, MOTHER OF ROBB ELEMNTARY SHOOTING SURVIVOR: When he came out, it was over an hour later. He was actually one of the last ones from the back of his class coming out. There was a student that was struck in his classroom, and when I saw her, I mean, she was just covered in blood because he had broken her nose with a stray bullet. When I saw that and I recognized the girl was in his class, it sent a more terrifying chill through my body because I saw all his friends running out and I still hadn't seen him. And then finally towards the end when him and another friend came running out together, it gave - it gave me bad - like I couldn't catch my breath, you know, but I ran straight to him and I just held him.

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HARLOW: Of course you ran straight to him and just held him.

[09:40:00]

A huge question right now is how do you help children cope, children who have been through such a traumatic event like a school shooting or your own children who have seen it on television or read about it or heard about it from their friends.

My next guest, a psychologist who co-wrote the children's book "Something Happened in Our Park: Standing Together After Gun Violence". Dr. Ann Hazzard and Dr. Marietta Collins. Thank you both very much for being with me, and Dr. Hazzard, let me begin with you.

It's always important I know to tell our children the truth, right, even if it's the horrible truth.

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ANN HAZZARD, CO-AUTHOR, "SOMETHING HAPPENED IN OUR PARK: STANDING TOGETHER AFTER GUN VIOLENCE": Yes.

HARLOW: But how do you do that, especially for young children, you know, 7, 8, 9, 10, without terrifying them?

HAZZARD: That's a great question. I think one was is by letting your child give you a sense of where they're at. You can ask them, you know, have you heard about a school shooting that happened recently? What did you hear? What are your questions? And that way you can gauge the additional information you give them to what they're ready to hear.

HARLOW: Dr. Collins, the American School Counselor Association put together this list of tips to, you know, try to help parents because it think we often feel at a loss for words in what to say and how to help children most, and they say try to keep routines as normal as normal possible. Kids gain security from their predictability of a routine, including attending school. How important is it to keep their lives, whether it's these survivors or other children who are now scared to go to school, as routine as they were before? MARIETTA COLLINS, CO-AUTHOR, "SOMETHING HAPPENED IN OUR PARK: STANDING TOGETHER AFTER GUN VIOLENCE": Well I would certainly agree with those tips. What's also important is that you prepare your child for going back into an environment which has traditionally been a safe and happy place for them, but if they're going back into even a school setting where the shooting happened or even school in general, they're likely to have more fears, more anxiety. So certainly talking to them about their fears and what to expect that the adults in their lives, both at home and at school, are doing everything they can to make sure that they are going to be safe.

HARLOW: Dr. Hazzard, this may seem like a silly question, but, you know, when I look at the world through the eyes of my children who are 4 and 6, they don't know this happened, and they see the world as an utterly wonderful place, right? And from what I've been reading from other psychologists is that we still have to remind our children the world is a good place even when horrifying things like this happen. How do you advise parents do that?

HAZZARD: Yes, I think it is an important balancing act for all of us taking care of children. So we have to acknowledge that sometimes horrible things happen, and if children have heard about this incident as many have, allow them to express their feelings about it, but we do have to remind children that there are many good people who are taking care of them, that there's beautiful things in life, that there are positive things to look forward to in the future so that they don't get overwhelmed and lose hope.

HARLOW: And Dr. Collins, I think it's important to note the time that this is happening in. "The New York Times" has a really fascinating survey and graphic example this morning of 362 school counselors on anxiety among children through the pandemic, and they quote one counselor saying kids have the highest level of anxiety I have ever seen, anxiety about basic safety, fear of what could happen." Another in Oregon said, "I've seen more physical fights this year than in my 15 years combined." And again that was done, right, you know, just before the Uvalde mass shooting. How does that heightened anxiety already in our kids tie into this now?

COLLINS: I would say it certainly does tie into it. You know, during a pandemic, most children were not in the traditional school setting. And as you referenced early, routine is really important in children's lives. Now they're transitioning back into a school setting, so there are adjustments that have to - that are associated with that. You couple that with what's happening, you know, in our country with all of these school shootings, and we would certainly expect there to be these very high levels of anxiety that was recorded.

[09:45:00]

What's important, again, is to be aware of what's going on in terms of where the anxiety may be coming from, talking with children about what may be feeling - what they may be feeling, helping them to develop better skills, you know, skill set other than the fighting that you mentioned. How can they talk about things in a way that does not increase their anxiety or result in more fighting? HARLOW: Well thank you both very much, Dr. Hazzard and Dr. Collins, for being with us today. It's some comfort for parents trying to figure out how to help their children most. Thank you very much.

HAZZARD: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thank you for having us.

HARLOW: Of course. Ahead, President Biden just returned to the White House. He spoke about gun control on the South Lawn. You'll hear what the president said right after this.

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[09:50:00]

HARLOW: All right, well some good news, there is some relief soon for families impacted by this nationwide baby formula shortage. Thousands of pounds of formula headed to store shelves right now after being aero lifted from Germany to the United States.

It is promising news as retailers across the country are either low on supply or just out of formula. Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been following all of this. She joins me now, Elizabeth, yesterday in a pharmacy in Florida I saw one -- I was one container of baby formula.

And I thought, I mean, hope, I guess but it's --

ELIZABETH COHEN, SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: One?

HARLOW: -- just one and what if, you know, my children were of that age. So it's been just terrifying for so many parents. But it's getting better now?

COHEN: That is terrifying, just one. Poppy, I wish I could tell you that it's getting better. I will say that help is on its way.

HARLOW: OK.

COHEN: But parents are not going to see the results of this super, super quickly. So let's go over what help is on its way. So as you mentioned, tens of thousands of formula from Nestle was sent to stores this weekend. We've been asking, all right, when are parents going to see that formula? We have not gotten an answer yet.

Also, the FDA has allowed an Australian company called Bubs to export enough for 27.5 million eight-ounce bottles, that's huge. That's much more than has been shipped already. But just giving the permission doesn't mean it's going to happen any time soon.

Also, the French company Danone, half a million cans of their formula is expected to reach U.S. parents in the first half of July. So none of this help is coming from what we can see, you know, today. So let's take a look at what some incredible moms are doing, Poppy. I don't know if you remember back when your kids were babies --

HARLOW: Yes.

COHEN: -- the nursing and the pumping, it's a lot of work.

HARLOW: Yes.

COHEN: It's a lot work.

HARLOW: It's a lot.

COHEN: So I want to re-introduce you to -- it's a lot. So these ladies are amazing, I want to introduce you to Maria Millan, she is a nurse in Oregon, she has a six-month-old and she is donating pumped milk to a bank. She posted on Instagram that in one day she donated more than a gallon of milk, that's a huge amount to donate in just one day.

Also, Hilary Demmon, she's a filmmaker and a professor in Pittsburgh. She's mom to one-year-old Remi (ph). Now she's done nursing, Poppy, she was going to be just done and finished but she is going to keep pumping for six months just so she can donate that milk to parents --

HARLOW: Wow.

COHEN: -- who can't find formula. And then Cori Callahan, this one is really amazing, I think a lot of people didn't even know this was possible. She's got three daughters and she stopped nursing the youngest of those three daughters a year and a half ago.

She hasn't had milk for a year and a half, but with the help of folks at La Leche League, she's trying to re-establish her milk supply just so she can pump and give that milk to women near her -- near her home in Missouri. So this is a woman who's not even lactating as we speak. She's trying to re-lactate so that she can donate milk.

So incredible time, incredible effort. Pumping is no fun, nobody loves pumping but these mothers are doing the time and the effort, literally giving of their bodies --

HARLOW: Yes.

COHEN: -- to help other families. Poppy.

HARLOW: A reminder of the good that does exist still in the world. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for that. And thanks to those mothers as well. Well, Ukraine's president visits the frontlines of the war for the first time since the Russian invasion. We have a live report ahead from Kyiv.

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[09:55:00]

HARLOW: Right now Russian forces are trying to surround Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine. In the south Ukrainian military officials say they have made significant advancements as they target Russian forces with counteroffensive operations towards Kherson.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now traveled outside of the Kyiv region for the first time since the invasion began. Let's go to our colleague Matthew Chance, he joins me live from Kyiv, Ukraine. What more can you tell us about what is a very significant trip for the president?

MATTHEW CHANCE, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, very significant. And it's not the first time, of course, it's in acts of defiance from President Zelenskyy's sort of characterize his whole presidency by sort of doing things like this.

But this is the first time that since this conflict began back in February that President Zelenskyy has ventured outside Kyiv. You've seen him in the streets around the city, he does a lot of interviews, of course, and speeches from his bunker inside the city center.

But this time right to the other side of the country, right to the place where the fighting -- close to where the fighting is taking place, the city of Kharkiv, which has been the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting of this conflict.

And Ukrainian forces have managed over the past several weeks to push the Russians back from there, reclaiming some of the territory that'd been conquered by Russia in a very significant counteroffensive. And so, that's something that President Zelenskyy, obviously, want -- wanted to acknowledge.

And he spent significant amounts of time speaking to the soldiers on the ground, visiting we're told the actual frontline positions, very close to where Russian forces are still active. And of course, thanking the individual soldiers that continue to pay such a heavy sacrifice on the ground there on the frontlines.

Take a listen to what President Zelenskyy had to say.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I would like to thank each one of you for your service. You risk your lives for all of us and our country. Thank you for defending Ukraine's independence. Stay safe.

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