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Ukraine Pushes To Reclaim Land Along Southern Front; New World Bank Report Warns Of Recession And Stagflation; U.K. Prime Minister Tries To Shift Focus To Popular Domestic Reforms; Several Key Leaders Boycott Event Over Exclusions On Summit Of The Americas; British Journalist And Brazilian Expert Missing In Amazon. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 08, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:51]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm John Vause, great to have you with us for this hour.

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, on the frontline to Ukraine's counter- offensive reclaiming territory in the south while Russian firepower focuses on the eastern city of Severodonetsk.

Warnings of a possible global recession from the World Bank with an increased risk of a return of stagflation.

And this was no act, Matthew McConaughey born and raised in Uvalde, Texas, holding back tears remembering young lives lost in a mass shooting while calling for gun control.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: In eastern Ukraine, the bloody and brutal battle for Severodonetsk is now being waged street to street. The city is one of Ukraine's last major footholds in the Donbas and has been targeted by Russian artillery for weeks, part of a much larger Russian push to control the entire Donbas region.

New satellite images reveal the trail of destruction caused by Russia across eastern Ukraine. A massive crater left behind after an explosion that ripped apart nearby buildings just northwest of the Donetsk region.

And in some areas now under Russian control, an even grimmer picture is starting to emerge. One Ukrainian official says the southern city of Mariupol is being quietly closed amid cholera fears. An advisor to Mariupol's mayor says dead bodies are piling up around the city.

Meantime, Russia says it's ready for humanitarian corridors in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. But Moscow says Ukraine must demine the waters to allow ships to pass.

It comes amid fears of a global food crisis. Russia's blockade of key ports has left millions of tons of grain stuck in Ukraine. Russia focus its attention on the battle in the East. Ukraine says

it's pushing back Russian advances in other areas.

CNN's Matthew Chance has exclusive access to the frontline of Russian -- of Ukraine's efforts rather through claim territory in the South.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where the Ukrainian military tells us they're seizing back their lands.

But on the battered southern front with Russia, the stalemate of trench warfare seems to be setting in.

The commanders privately admit that advances by either side here are small.

The Russians seem to be running out of ammunition and they're not as strong as they were, the platoon commander of this forward trench told me. But we need more weapons, too, he adds, if we're to push ahead.

I speak to Anton here and he is saying it's very loud at night.

Right. So in the morning, he's saying it's not so noisy, it's a bit quieter. So, it's interesting, because this is the place where the Ukrainian governments say there's a big counteroffensive that's been under way for some time and they're taking back territory. But we've not seen a great deal of evidence of that on the ground.

It seems that, you know, both sides dug in here heavily, have fought themselves to a standstill, neither side strong enough to win this war, but not weak enough to lose it either.

How's that going? Is it -- are you sure? You can hear the outgoing artillery shells streaming across our position here.

Ukrainian military escorts take us to what they say is a recently liberated zone where at least 30 Russians holed up inside this kindergarten were killed.

As Moscow focuses its forces on Donbas in the east, Ukrainian officials say conquered areas in the south like this are being left exposed.

[00:05:01]

CHANCE: All right. Well, they brought to this very forward location where as you can here, there are still artillery exchanges taking place. And this is the remnants of a battle from a couple of weeks ago, they say, where this Russian position was taken by Ukrainian forces at great cost, both to the Ukrainians and obviously, to the Russians as well. All of this debris on the ground is, we're told, Russian equipment, and obviously this is the remnants of a Russian- armored vehicle of some kind which has been, like so many we've seen, totally destroyed in this bitter conflict. The Russians thought that they were going to win easily. Didn't they?

LT. COL. "DANTE", UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES: Yes.

CHANCE: But that's not what's happening?

DANTE: Of course. Russian thought that a few days finished for Ukraine. In a few days.

CHANCE: We can hear it still going on there.

DANTE: Yes, it's shell, and we can hear the flight of shell.

CHANCE: Yes, months later.

DANE: Russian government planned to have victory in a few days. I think we must be ready to a lot more.

CHANCE: A long artillery war with heavy weapons like this Ukrainian battle tank positioned in tree lines towards an unseen enemy. These firing points quickly become vulnerable and the troops here need to be mobile.

OK. We're being brought to this frontline position where they're going to fire on Russian forces a short distance away. It's a secret location, we can only stay for one round, we're told. After that, there's going to be return fire and we got to get out of here, but this is what we've been brought to see. Goodness, me.

OK. Guys, what now? Another one. I thought we had to go after one. One more again.

Seconds later, another bone-shaking round hurdles toward Russian positions.

OK. We're going to go now, come on.

And we quickly leave Ukraine's grinding frontlines behind.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in Southern Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: To Washington now and David Sanger is CNN Political and National Security Analyst as well as White House and National Security Correspondent for The New York Times. He's also author of the perfect weapon. And David, it is good to have you with us.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be back with you, John.

I said, yeah, there is this ebbed flow to war right now, what little momentum there is seems to be with the Russians in the East who's with Ukrainians a week or so ago, is it becoming increasingly obvious that an end to the fighting will only come through some kind of negotiated settlement, essentially, when Vladimir Putin decides to which version of defeat he prefers?

SANGER: Well, all wars come to an end, usually in a diplomatic fashion, unless there's a blitzkrieg win, and Putin lost his opportunity for that.

But the problem right now, John, is that we are in that sort of ugly middle, where President Zelenskyy does not want to acknowledge losing any territory. President Putin has a narrow area of territory, that appears to be very difficult to dislodge him from in the Donbas and the beginnings of on land bridge over to Crimea, while he has lost in the broader sense, which is to say that his vision of taking over the whole country seems to be shot, he could well end up out of this with more land than he went into it. And that's a real problem for the West.

VAUSE: And the French president, who's sort of playing this role of honest broker, if you like, made a comment over the weekend. We must not humiliate Russia, so that the day when the fighting stops, we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means.

And this idea of an exit ramp has been floating around for a while, I think since the conflict began. But those comments did not sit very well with Ukraine's president. Here he is speaking to the Financial Times on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What kind of humiliation are we talking about? I do not even believe that they are humiliating Ukraine. That would be a weak position. No one is humiliating us. They are killing us.

So, in response, we are not going to humiliate anyone. We are going to response in kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Given how this war has shifted with the Ukrainians at times having the upper hand something that was never thought possible before the conflict. What is the incentive here for Zelenskyy to give Putin a lifeline from this war of choice? I mean, can he actually force a total capitulation by the Russians?

SANGER: I don't think he enforced the total capitulation because I don't think that he's got the power right now in this very narrow area around the Donbas where the war is basically concentrated.

[00:10:11]

SANGER: But there's a fascinating split we are seeing develop. If you think about the first hundred days of this conflict, John, there was pretty much unity throughout the west on the strategy including trying to get Putin to pull back to the pre-February 24 pre-invasion orders.

Now it's clear that's going to be a pretty hard thing to do in the south and the east, particularly around the Donbas. So, there's a split that's developing, there's a position that

President Macron has taken, backed up by others like Henry Kissinger, who basically said at the end of the day, you should be prepared to give something to Putin here.

And there's the British and American argument, which is that Putin has to exit this conflict greatly weakened from where he entered it.

Otherwise, he'll use the time of peace to basically rebuild and attack a new, hoping that he can correct the mistakes they made.

VAUSE: And there's also the position taken by many Eastern European countries. The prime minister of Estonia was talking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER: I don't think that there -- you know, it's right to have any premature calls for peace or ceasefire. And why because even if there is peace, it doesn't mean that the atrocities or human suffering will end for the occupied territories. This is the experience from our own history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And yes, this is an obvious link between Eastern European and the former Soviet republics like Estonia, which are in favor of Ukrainian victory and Western European countries like France, which won this negotiated settlement. So, what's driving that divide?

SANGER: Well, the first is that the Eastern European former Soviet Bloc states all think that if Putin has some success in Ukraine, they're next. Some of them are NATO members, others, like Moldova, for example, are not.

So, they're fearful that if you get into Putin in any way, he will say, well, you know, at the end of the day, I didn't get everything I wanted, but I got some what I wanted. So, what's next to consume?

The traditional Western European countries, with the exception, of course, as I said before, Britain, are of a different view. And their view was more driven by the memories of the humiliation of Germany after World War I, which led to Hitler's rise and then to the decision by Nazi Germany to then roll through Europe again. And their view is you don't want to repeat the mistake made in the post-World War I era.

The problem with this is we tried 30 years of integration with Russia. Or some would say we didn't try it seriously enough, but the concept was bring them into Europe economically, so that they -- it modifies their behavior. And I think we've got to come to the conclusion, that didn't work.

VAUSE: Absolutely. It looks as if that is the case. And David, thanks so much for being with us, David Sanger there.

SANGER: Always great to be with you. VAUSE: Now, the warning of potential global economic downturn with the World Bank forecasting some countries will struggle to avoid recession this year. The bank has downgraded its outlook for global growth from just over four percent to less than three percent.

Officials weighing the pandemic, supply chain issues and Russia's invasion of Ukraine say it's been compounded by stagflation, a combination of rising inflation and stagnating economic growth. The bank's President cautions it's the worst economic slowdown in years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MALPASS, PRESIDENT, WORLD BANK: The sharpness of the slowdown is really concerning. We think it's the biggest slowdown of the global economy in 80 years. I think many countries will see a recession in this cycle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us this hour from New York is Rana Foroohar CNN Global Economic Analyst, as well as Columnist and Associate Editor for The Financial Times, and it's good to see you.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Nice to see you.

VAUSE: OK, so along with that gloomy economic forecasts, the World Bank had this warning, compounding the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has magnified the slowdown in the global economy, which is entering what could become a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation.

And adding there is now increased risk of stagflation, which was a hallmark of the 1970s. And nothing good came from the 70s. So, the breakup of the Beatles, The Death of Elvis, there was an energy crisis. And there was a stagflation, which is this mix of a stagnant economy, high inflation, high unemployment.

Explain why just the possibility of stagflation strikes fear into the hearts of policymakers everywhere.

[00:15:07]

FOROOHAR: Oh, boy. Well, you know, first of all, John, I got to argue, there's a few good things from the 70s. music film, but we'll talk about that in a different hit.

VAUSE: OK.

FOROOHAR: I think that really this is about the worst possible economic mix you could have. Stagflation means you've got growth, at the same time that you have higher inflation.

Now, usually high inflation can mean high growth. You know, when inflation is booming, when prices are going up, that tends to mean there's a lot of demand, there's a lot of action in the economy.

But in this particular period that we're in, we could be pumping up interest rates at the same time that growth is about to slow.

So, you get this sort of volatile mix of really bad things happening all at once. Prices going up at the same time that people might be losing their jobs, not something that any country or any policymaker wants to deal with.

VAUSE: Well, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warn -- has warned the U.S. senators, said inflation is likely to remain high. And she was asked about one possible factor in all of this, greed, here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does corporate greed explain the broad base price increases consumers are currently facing?

JANET YELLEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Well, I guess I see the bulk of inflation as reflecting demand and supply factors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It was a fairly dry answer to what seemed to be a fairly, you know, legitimate question in light of recent reporting with what the -- by this analysis by The Guardian, for example, which found top corporations financials and earnings calls have revealed most are enjoying profit increases, even as they pass on costs to consumers.

The Guardians findings are in line with recent U.S. Commerce Department data showing corporate profits rose 35 percent during the last year, at the highest level, since 1950.

Airlines are reporting record earnings, gas prices on the way up, Chevron saw profits increased by 240 percent. How much of this is just profit? How much of it is profiteering?

FOROOHAR: Great question. You know, you got to pull the lens back a little bit, look at the fact that corporate profits have been high for over a decade now. So, this isn't something that's happened just at the same time that we've been having higher inflation.

That said, higher inflation does create evermore cover for companies that want to take higher profits. And, you know, you've probably heard, we've all heard some of the earnings calls with CEOs saying, you know, this is actually a good time for us to be raising prices, everybody's raising prices, you know, it's an easy time to do that.

So, there's a confluence of factors here. I think the big picture point really is that even before the last couple of years, COVID, war in Ukraine, rising inflation, corporate profits were rising. And that's something that policymakers everywhere worried about, that divide between corporations and average citizens and consumers.

VAUSE: And then there's a divide between CEOs and their workers. Our most workers have seen any pay increase eaten away by inflation. (INAUDIBLE) another chance. A report from the Institute for Policy Studies have found that last year, CEO pay at the 300 companies cited in their report soared 31 percent, driving the average pay gap to 670 to one, put it another way CEOs at these firms got a $2.5 million raise, low wage workers got $3,500 raise.

So, these are companies notable for paying very low wages. There's nothing new about overpaid CEOs. But is there a point where CEOs are earning so much, it can actually harm the company, can harm the economy?

Because a year earlier though, earning 371 times more than the average workers, some are doubled.

FOROOHAR: No, absolutely. And again, I think that the CEO pay issue is actually part of a broader issue, which is the fact that asset prices of all kinds have been going up for many years now. Really, ever since the financial crisis. You know, we had lower interest rates, we had central banks trying to goose the economy, but essentially what they did was raised the value of stock prices.

Now, CEOs are paid between 30 and 80 percent of their salaries and stock. So, no wonder they're getting richer.

Meanwhile, average people who are not invested in the stock market, maybe don't own a home, they haven't seen their wages, their income, that money in their pocket, go up for, you know, 20 years, in some cases, 40 years depending on what kind of job you're working.

So, the CEO pay is just a very striking part of a larger issue, the divide between Wall Street and Main Street.

VAUSE: Rana, thanks for being with us. We appreciate your insights, as always.

FOROOHAR: Thanks so much for having me, John.

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, question time for Boris and the first chance to see how members of parliament will treat the barely damaged Prime Minister since Monday's confidence vote.

Also ahead, we'll have the latest on the search for a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous advocate who have disappeared in the Amazon, details in a moment.

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[00:22:01]

VAUSE: A day after surviving a closer than expected confidence vote in Parliament, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is receiving support and praise from Ukraine's President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Yes, I'm happy. I'm happy, really. I think Boris Johnson is a real friend of Ukraine. I think he is our ally. I think Britain is a great friend of ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he cannot comment on Johnson's political situation, but he did thank the Prime Minister for his very concrete support of Ukraine. Johnson is popular in Ukraine thanks to his quick decision to supply weapons to Kyiv's military in January, a month before Russia invaded.

Members of the British Parliament had some questions for the prime minister in the coming hours. The confidence vote has left him badly damaged and searching for a way to save his political life.

CNN's Phil Black has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Boris Johnson and his supporters are trying very hard to be positive about all this. Johnson has said the outcome of the no confidence vote is a good result. His allies have used words like decisive, clear, comfortable, even handsome when talking about the fact that he secured the support of 59 percent of sitting Conservative MPs.

Johnson told his cabinet during a meeting here in Downing Street on Tuesday that he should now be allowed to get on with the job of fixing the problems that he says are important to the British people. He says a line should be drawn.

But he can't be confident that this is all behind him. And that's because 41 percent of Conservative MPs voted to try and eject him from his home and office here on Downing Street.

That figure was not enough to force him out. But it is more than enough to expose a deep rift within the Conservative Party to show very clearly how much his authority has already diminished.

As it stands, Johnson can't be challenged with a no confidence vote like this for another year. So, say the rules of the parliamentary Conservative Party, but those rules can be changed.

Johnson has some big challenges in the near future, an ongoing investigation into whether he lied to Parliament over parties that were held here in Downing Street during lockdown and two imminent by elections that have now taken on great importance as instruments to try and determine and get some insight into Johnson's popularity and indeed his electability among British voters.

Phil Black, CNN, London

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A turbulent start to the U.S. host of Summit of the Americas with no shows from several key leaders now in the spotlight, just hours ahead of President Joe Biden's arrival in Los Angeles.

The boycott toward the White House decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Stefano Pozzebon joins us now live from Caracas. So, Stefano, the Biden administration been working on the summit since last year, and still, it's now become all about a lack of U.S. influence in its own backyard.

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, John, one could paraphrase perhaps, the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez here saying that this summit has been the chronicle of a mess foretold, we have been waiting for weeks to know who we are eventually who the White House would have invited to Los Angeles where the representatives from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba would have been invited even after Mexico, which is one of the largest partners of the United States in the region, the country that borders the United States had already seen that they will not participate in person.

[00:25:35]

POZZEBON: The Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he will not participate in person if those three countries, Guatemala and Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, were not invited. Eventually, those were not invited. Mexico is not going but also a whole plethora of other countries, key countries for the Biden administration in this region. I'm talking of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, which are countries that have the root causes of migration, the country where the migrants are coming from to get to the southern border are also not going.

So frankly, it really seems that the agenda that the Biden administration is trying to push here in South America is limited to the usual ones to Chile, to Colombia, to Peru, to Ecuador, those who were the reliable ones.

Meanwhile, here where I am in Caracas, Nicolas Maduro took a flight and went to Turkey to meet with the Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, which kind of like gives the idea very clearly of what are the priorities of Maduro himself, John, of course, Russia ahead of the United States.

VAUSE: Stefano, thank you, Stefano Pozzebon there, live in Caracas for the very latest. We appreciate that.

A British journalist and an advocate for Brazil's indigenous population have gone missing in a remote valley in western Brazil. It's believed they'd received death threats before disappearing.

CNN's Shasta Darlington has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Fear and anger were on the rise Tuesday as search and rescue teams failed to come up with any sign of the British journalist and indigenous affairs expert who went missing in the Amazon on Sunday. They were last seen in the Javari valley in the far western part of the Brazilian Amazon near the Peruvian border. Now, they were headed out for what was supposed to be a two hour boat

ride to Atalaia do Norte but they never arrived. Local indigenous organizations quickly sent out search and rescue teams on Sunday. Well, on Tuesday, troops joined in using boats and a helicopter in the search efforts.

But experts say it all came a bit late, speed was absolutely crucial. And that's because this protected territory has been under attack from different groups involved in illegal activities for a few years now.

I'm talking about illegal loggers, miners, poachers and fishermen as well as drug traffickers in a territory that's supposed to be reserved for indigenous communities including several uncontacted tribes.

Now, these land invasions have heightened conflict and in 2019, an Indigenous Affairs, a representative actually a colleague of Pereira is was murdered in the same area. Both Phillips and Pereira had recently received death threats themselves.

So, the concern now is that they may have had a run in with a person or persons involved in some of the illegal activities.

A major source of frustration has been the slow response by officials. They didn't join the search and rescue efforts until Monday, and they didn't put a helicopter in the air until Tuesday.

Their families have published desperate messages urging a more efficient response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIAN PHILLIPS, MISSING JOURNALISTS'S SISTER: He loves the country and cares deeply about the Amazon and the people there. We knew it was a dangerous place but don't really believe it's possible to safeguard the nature and the livelihood of the indigenous people. We're really worried about him and urged the authorities in Brazil to do all they can search the routes he was following.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro also weighed in on Tuesday. Illegal activity in the Amazon has soared during his administration while the agencies tasked with fighting it have been stripped of funding and personnel.

Now on Tuesday, he called the disappearance of the pair and a "on recommended adventure" and said they could have been the victims of an execution or an accident.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Still to come Russia is blockade of Ukrainian grain and the country is now most at risk with the latest efforts to open a C corridor to resume exports. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Russia's foreign minister is in Turkey for negotiations to open a sea corridor for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products. He's expected to meet with his Turkish counterpart in the coming hours.

[00:32:25]

A Russian naval blockade is preventing millions of tons of Ukrainian grain from reaching dozens of countries, raising fears that millions will soon be at risk of famine. Details now from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his Istanbul terrace, Yoruk Isik has watched part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine play out in Turkey's Bosporus Strait.

First, it was the military buildup. Now the ship watcher and founder of the Bosporus Observer has been documenting Russia's theft of Ukrainian grain.

With the help of satellite images and Ukrainian activists, he tracked and filmed this Russian ship transiting the Bosporus. The ship appeared in Maxar Technology's images obtained by CNN last month. It was smuggling stolen Ukrainian wheat.

YORUK ISIK, NON-RESIDENT SCHOLAR, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: This is a battle, next part. And there are so many next parts. This is easy to monitor. We almost miss nothing coming out of the Black Sea from here.

Only in the last two or three weeks, we have witnessed at least ten journeys of ten different ships carrying wheat from occupied Ukrainian ports into mostly to Syria. Because people are worried about the sanctions, et cetera. They are usually carrying first to Syria, and it's getting distributed to the other Middle Eastern customers from Syria, so far.

KARADSHEH: Turkey straits are governed by the 1936 Montreux Convention. It's already restricted access to Russian naval vessels under that agreement. But when it comes to commercial traffic, it's limited in what it can do.

But Russia is not only accused of theft. Ukraine, the U.S. and the E.U. have all accused it of holding the world to ransom, blockading Ukraine ports and stopping the export of more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain that dozens of countries rely on.

Russia blames Ukraine for the blockade and says it's Western sanctions that are causing a global food crisis.

KARADSHEH: Turkey is trying to use its strategical location and its close ties with both its Black Sea neighbors, Russia and Ukraine, to try and broker a deal that would establish a sea corridor for Ukrainian grain exports.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): That potential grain corridor through the Turkish straits will top the agenda when the Russian foreign minister meets his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday, a meeting Turkish officials are hoping will lay the groundwork for talks soon between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations.

YUSUF ERIM, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TRT WORLD: Turkey can definitely provide services and an auditor to make sure that grain is being sent out from both Ukraine and Russia. Being one of the Black Sea powers, it has the capacity to provide security inside the Black Sea, as well.

[00:35:05]

So it can be a player that provides security, that provides observation, provides auditing that could be acceptable and considered legitimate by both Kyiv and Moscow.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): But the Russians will have their own demands, likely unacceptable to Western powers. They've already indicated they want sanctions lifted.

ERIM: I expect the Russians to want a waiver on their grain sales, as well. And they feel that they have the leverage right now.

Turkey's going to be very important in being able to negotiate between Russia and the West to be able to get a sanctions waiver for the Russians for their grain sales, as well.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): And few will trust what Russia promises. There's no easy path out of this, but Turkey's hoping it can at least begin the complex process of trying to end the blockade and avert a crisis the U.N. has warned will lead to famine and instability around the world.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, he was born and raised in Uvalde, Texas. Now actor Matthew McConaughey is nonetheless calling for tougher gun laws after last month's deadly school shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ACTOR: Can both sides rise above? Can both sides see beyond the political problem at hand and admit that we have a life preservation problem on our hands?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Monkeypox has now been detected in 29 countries around the world, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The CDC has now issued an alert level two advisory for travelers to practice enhanced precautions, now that the disease usually associated with tropical Africa has gone global.

The CDC says risks to the general public are low but recommends immediate medical treatment if an unexplained rash or lesions appear.

A U.S. Senate Republican says she was taken by surprise by a flood of calls from voters urging action on gun reform. Cynthia Lummis is now really thinking her position on new legislation.

The Wyoming Republican, who represents a very pro-gun state, is considering voting for a package that would include restrictions on those who can buy guns.

But as CNN's Manu Raju reports, most of her conservative colleagues remain opposed to gun reform.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After his mother was murdered in the Buffalo grocery store massacre, Garnell Whitfield made this appeal to senators today: Do something.

GARNELL WHITFIELD JR., SON OF BUFFALO SHOOTING VICTIM RUTH WHITFIELD: Because if there is nothing, then, respectfully senators, you should yield your positions of authority and influence to others that are willing to lead on this issue. The urgency of the moment demands no less. My mother's life mattered.

RAJU (voice-over): But in the halls of Senate, a deal to help stem the rising tide of mass shootings across the country is still elusive, even as negotiators race to find an agreement as soon as this week.

[00:40:03]

RAJU: What are the sticking points right now?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-T): I think it's just different people have different ideas. And you know, this is a big, diverse country. And so -- and so I think that it just takes time to build consensus.

RAJU (voice-over): A small bipartisan group of senators looking at new changes to come laws, including encouraging states to enact red flag laws, allowing juvenile records to be reviewed during background checks, and pumping money into school security and mental health programs.

What's not on the table? Banning semi-automatic rifles used in many mass shootings, and raising the age to 21 to purchase those weapons, even though the killer in Uvalde, Texas, was only 18 years old and wielded an AR-15 style rifle.

RAJU: Senator, why not it raise the age of 21 for people buying semi- automatic rifles?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about a lot of things. And what we're talking about most are background checks, juvenile records, the areas where we can get consensus. RAJU: Why don't we have agreement on that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's -- you know, we've got a lot of people in the discussion. We've got to get 60 votes. Hopefully, we get 75 votes on this.

RAJU: Why do people need to own AR-15s?

THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Well, the challenge you have on that is there's 20 million of them in the country already. They are a sporting rifle. And it's something that a lot of people, for purposes of going out target shooting. In my state, they use them to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints. And so I think that there are legitimate reasons why people would want to have them.

RAJU (voice-over): What also might not be included: expanding background checks on gun show sales and over the Internet.

RAJU: Why's it been so hard to get Republicans on board behind this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should ask Republicans who are not on board behind it.

RAJU: You've been working on this issue for a decade, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very frustrating.

RAJU: Sources tell us that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed an openness to backing an increase to the age of 21 to purchase those semiautomatic rifles. Current law is the age of 18. But privately, he has expressed an openness to backing that.

But even so, that is unlikely to get into a final deal, because Republicans are opposed to this for the most part. And Mitch McConnell, as the top Republican in the Senate, often aligns himself with the rest of the members of his conference.

So that key issue unlikely to get resolved. How will the other issues get resolved? A major question, as negotiators meet in the days ahead and try to get a deal on the floor as soon as next week.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, he's best known as an Academy Award-winning actor, but on Tuesday, Matthew McConaughey was just another angry and grieving American, adding his voice to a growing cause of gun reform after a mass shooting left his home town in mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONAUGHEY: Responsible gun owners are fed up with the Second Amendment being abused and hijacked by some deranged individuals. These regulations are not a step back. They're a step forward for a civil society and -- and -- the Second Amendment. Look, is this a cure-all? Hell no. The people are hurting. Families

are, parents are. And look, as divided as our country is, this gun responsibility issue is one that we agree on more than we don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary in a mass shooting last month. He spent most of the past week with families of the victims.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after a very short break. I'll see you at the top of the hour.

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