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Battle For Lysychansk Intensifies In Eastern Ukraine; Lebanon- Israel Tensions; Afghanistan Under Taliban Rule; U.S. Abortion Ruling; Search Resumes For Crew From Sunken Ship; Extreme Weather Complicates Travel July 4 Weekend; Germany Returns First Benin Bronzes To Nigeria; Ukrainian Borscht Gets U.N. Protection. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 03, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers, all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes.

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Russian troops finally leave Ukraine's Snake Island, their equipment blown up as they go.

In the South China Sea, the fate of dozens of crew members remains unclear after their ship breaks apart in a typhoon.

And packed flights around the world but many airline passengers feeling the cancellation blues of a holiday travel boom.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.

Advancing Russian forces are bearing down on the city of Lysychansk in the eastern part of Ukraine in some of the fiercest battles so far in this war. It's one of the few key cities still under Ukrainian control in the Donbas region.

Pro Russian separatists have said that they have Lysychansk surrounded and have entered the city center. Ukraine disputes that and says it still controls the city.

The destruction across Eastern Ukraine is enormous. Rebuilding it, obviously, will take years, if and when it can begin. Ukraine's president will be appealing for more international aid this week when the Ukraine recovery conference gets underway in Switzerland. Here is what he had to say.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is necessary to not only restore everything that the occupiers destroyed but also to create a new basis for our life, for Ukraine -- safe, modern, convenient, barrier free.

This requires colossal investment. Billions, new technologies, best practices, new institutions and, of course, reform.

On Monday, Ukraine will present in Lugano a national view on how to implement all this. In fact, this is the largest economic project of our time in Europe.

But implementing such a large scale project across the country, providing new safety standards and the new quality of life is possible only by attracting international capabilities. Therefore, the conference in Lugano can become an important step for the reconstruction in Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, days after Russian forces abandon Snake Island in the Black Sea, Ukraine's military is claiming it's destroyed some of the equipment the Russians left behind.

As the Ukrainian commander put it, quote, "Russian spirit does not stink there anymore."

We get more now from CNN's Scott McLean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Snake Island has surely played an outsized role in this war ever since the very first day when Ukrainian troops stationed on this very small outpost in the Black Sea refused to surrender it to a Russian warship just off the coast.

It is militarily important because it has given the Russians a launch pad very close to the Odessa region, a region that they have not been able to reach by land and it is economically important because whoever controls that island -- well, they also control the shipping lanes in that area.

The Russians claim that they vacated the island as a goodwill gesture to the Ukrainians so that goodwill did not last long with this most recent batch of airstrikes. The Ukrainians claimed that the Russians struck the island using phosphorus bombs dropped from planes.

We haven't been able to verify that claim but if it's true, it is significant because phosphorus burns extremely bright and extremely hot as well. It can burn right through human flesh.

The Ukrainians are trying to clear that island of mines or potential booby traps before setting up a more permanent outpost there. Their official explanation for these Russian strikes is they believe that the Russians were trying to clear the island of their remaining equipment though the Ukrainians say that they failed to do even that -- Scott McLean, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Hezbollah claims responsibility for launching three unarmed

drones toward a part of the Mediterranean at the center of a dispute between Lebanon and Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces intercepted and shot down the drones near the Karish oil field, standing between the disputed maritime border lines dividing the south of Lebanon and north of Israel.

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HOLMES: Both countries are in the middle of indirect negotiations about that area. In recent, days Hezbollah warned could attack an Israeli ship nearby. An IDF spokesman says it appears the drone did not pose an imminent threat.

Israel's defense minister blaming Hezbollah for what he calls preventing Lebanon from reaching an agreement on those contested maritime borders.

Elsewhere in the region, the Palestinian Authority will allow the U.S. to examine the bullet which killed a Palestinian American journalist in May. Shireen Abu Akleh was reporting on an Israeli military win in the occupied West Bank when she was killed by gunfire.

Palestinian officials say they cannot trust Israel to conduct an impartial investigation, as they believe Israeli forces are responsible for her death. Israel's claims it's not clear who fired the fatal shot.

The bullet will be examined at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on the condition that the U.S. not hand it over to Israel.

In Afghanistan, a Taliban run conference has ended with calls for the world to recognize their government as legitimate. The conference also called on the international community to remove sanctions put in place after the Taliban seized power last year and unfreeze Afghan assets abroad.

The gathering comes on the heels of recent talks between the U.S. and Taliban leaders about humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.

The Taliban's takeover last year prompted the U.S. and its allies to cut off funding, which helped to cripple the Afghan economy and send millions into a severe hunger crisis. A deadly earthquake last month only compounding those problems.

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HOLMES: Graeme Smith is a senior consultant on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group. He joins me now from Italy.

I know you spent a lot of time in Afghanistan. In many ways, I guess globally, the oxygen is being sucked up by Ukraine in terms of the world's attention. But Afghanistan's direction and stability is still crucial. I want to start with the U.S.-Taliban negotiations in Doha.

Briefly, if you will, what is the Taliban asking for? How likely are those demands to be met?

GRAEME SMITH, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Yes, I've been in touch in recent days with participants on both sides of those U.S.-Taliban talks in Doha. They tell me that the Taliban are making a big ask. They are asking for all of the money that America seized in central banking assets to be returned to Afghanistan, to assist with bringing the economy back to life.

And the American side is maybe willing to put about half of it -- $3.5 billion U.S. -- into some form of a trust fund. It's a little bit unclear what form that might take. It may be based in Europe.

And that could trickle back into Afghanistan but to provide macroeconomic stability at a time when the country faces, as you said, just a terrible humanitarian crisis.

HOLMES: I want to ask you about another meeting too. It would seem that the reclusive Taliban leader attended an all male gathering, I think some 3,000 leaders of various stature. No women, no discussion of women's rights or education for women and girls.

What does that suggest about the country's direction from a leadership standpoint?

SMITH: Well, it's a very reclusive and secretive leadership. There were no news cameras allowed inside those meetings. And I'm told that women's rights was actually discussed at that meeting. But of course, it's not very well documented.

There is a split within the Taliban on what direction to go on girls' schooling especially. Right now, in about half the provinces, teenage girls are shut out of secondary school. And not all the Taliban are satisfied with that.

So I think behind closed doors there are these discussions going on. But in public, all we got was a bland statement saying, that in principle, women of all ages should be allowed to be educated. But I think there is still disagreement within the Taliban on that.

HOLMES: Absolutely. It's still absolutely not happening on the ground, the high schools and so on. I wanted to ask you as well, there are splits within the Taliban itself. It's not monolithic.

But what about anti-Taliban forces?

How effective or united are they?

Groups like Amit Michaud's National Resistance Front and others, are they organized?

Are they a threat?

SMITH: Yes, it's really a good question. The short answer is no. They are not very well organized. They are very, very factionalized. And they are still comparatively small. The United Nations just released a report, saying that violence is

down considerably, to only 18 percent in the last five months of what it had been year on year previously. We are talking about, really, a trickle of attacks in what had previously been the deadliest war on planet Earth.

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SMITH: But watch this space because, yes, as you say, those northern factions are growing in strength, even if they are still very, very small.

HOLMES: Yes. Going back to the Taliban and governance, winning power, of course, is different to an ability to govern. To that point, how has a lack of governance -- a lack of a cohesive security structure as well -- along with economic mismanagement and so on all factored into where Afghanistan is now and where it is headed with the security issues?

But also the issues that you mentioned -- drought, hunger and so on.

SMITH: Yes, you just mentioned the terrible earthquake that struck. The Taliban are only able to put four or five helicopters in the sky to respond to that crisis. The previous government had had an official roster of 200 aircraft.

So you are talking about a state that has really taken a beating. And the Taliban are very slowly trying to put it back together. I will say, they are doing pretty well on revenue collections. They have cleaned up the corruption to some extent, from the previous regime.

And so at least in terms of getting their finances in order, they are starting to do that.

HOLMES: Yes. I am curious.

What would a collapsing Afghanistan -- and some groups have said that it is on the verge of collapse -- mean regionally and for the rest of the world in terms of geopolitical instability?

I mean, it's in everyone's interest to act, isn't it?

Because failure to do so will have far-reaching security ramifications outside its own borders.

SMITH: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. I mean, Afghanistan, unfortunately, is still a danger to the outside world. And that's partly why you are seeing now American diplomats in Doha, trying to hash something out with the Taliban.

They don't want to see a full collapse of the state. They don't want to see millions of refugees streaming across borders. They don't want to see huge amounts of arms and militants flooding the region. So, yes, there is still, unfortunately, a real danger emanating from Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Great to get your analysis. Graeme Smith, with the International Crisis Group, appreciate your time, thank you.

SMITH: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for a nearly 100 year old abortion ban to take effect. The Friday ruling reversed a lower court order that had temporarily blocked that law.

All this coming a week after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a nearly 50 year old precedent, that gave women the right to an abortion nationwide. Earlier, CNN spoke to the president of the Texas National Organization of Women and asked her if she was surprised by the ruling and how women in Texas were going to react.

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POPPY NORTHCUTT, PRESIDENT, TEXAS NOW: It is extraordinary but I wasn't really surprised. I wouldn't expect anything good on abortion rights or civil rights of any kind to come out of the Texas Supreme Court. It's dominated 9 to 0 by Republicans.

And the chief judge himself is well known as a very vocal opponent of abortion rights for a long time.

Some people are very angry and some people are very sad and some people are in clear distress at the moment. For months now, we have had women having to leave the state to go elsewhere because of a six- week ban that was put in place by the legislature.

So you know, it's been very, very hard on women in Texas. And the people that are the most adversely affected of all our undocumented women, because they cannot get on a plane and travel. And then also teenagers, who feel like they cannot involve their parents in this decision. So it's a devastating blow to women.

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HOLMES: Abortion rights will be a factor during the U.S. midterm elections in November. And the White House isn't letting up on the politics that ultimately led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more now on how the president and vice president are driving that topic home.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House is trying to keep abortion front and center just one week after the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. Vice President Kamala Harris was the latest messenger waging that fight this weekend as she spoke at the Essence Festival, one of the largest annual gatherings of Black women in the country.

She talked about the serious implications of this ruling and told Americans not to become disheartened by this decision. Harris also talked further about the implications that this ruling will have in the country.

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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What essentially has happened is the statement has been made that the government has a right to come in your home and tell you, as a woman and as a family, what you should do with your body.

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HARRIS: We also know that we have had a history in this country of government trying to claim ownership over human bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly. Yes, that is right.

HARRIS: And we have supposedly evolved from that time and that way of thinking. So this is very problematic on so many levels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: For his part, President Biden hosted a virtual meeting of nine Democratic governors here at the White House on Friday, to talk about the steps those states are taking to try to protect access to abortion in their states.

The Biden administration has talked about the steps they are trying to take on the federal level, including trying to ensure that women are protected and able to cross state lines to obtain an abortion as well as trying to expand access to medication abortion.

The White House has not outlined any executive actions that President Biden himself might take. But he did have a significant change in rhetoric when he called for the elimination of the filibuster. That's a threshold that requires 60 votes in order to pass legislation up on Capitol Hill.

President Biden has now said that he believes there should be a carveout specifically when it comes to abortion and other privacy rights. But he has also been clear-eyed in acknowledging that they don't have the votes up on Capitol Hill to do exactly that.

So what he has now urged voters to do is to head to the polls in November and elect Democrats, who would vote to codify Roe v. Wade into law.

But one big question going forward is how big of an impact abortion will have in those November elections, as so many Americans have the economy and inflation at the top of their minds heading to the ballot box this coming fall -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

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HOLMES: The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling has sparked outrage not just in the U.S. but indeed around the world. Have a look at the scene in Paris on Saturday.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Hundreds of abortion rights supporters holding signs and chanting as they marched toward the Eiffel Tower. One group, carrying a banner that read, "Abortion is a fundamental right."

Similar scenes in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday, thousands of men and women taking to the streets to protest the U.S. Supreme Court decision. Like the U.S., Australia's abortion laws are decided by the states. While the procedure is legal across Australia, some states only just decriminalized abortions in the last few years.

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HOLMES: Search and rescue operations are underway in the South China Sea after a ship broke in half and sank. More than 2 dozen people are missing. We will have that coming up.

Also, it's been a chaotic weekend for travel so far. Why thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed not just in the U.S. but around the world. We will be right back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

A search is underway for more than 2 dozen crew members after their ship broke in half and sank in the South China Sea on Saturday.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Have a look at this footage of the rescue operation from Hong Kong authorities, showing a crew member being pulled up a rope into a helicopter from the sinking ship. Most of his shipmates are still missing. Let's go to Selina Wang in Beijing for that.

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HOLMES: What is the latest on those not yet found?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Michael, three crew members we know, were rescued but the fate of the remaining 27 people on board still remains unclear.

Authorities are saying the ship sank around 185 miles southwest of Hong Kong after being caught near the center of Typhoon Chaba on Saturday. We've also learned from authorities that, as of last night, there were three casual casualties from the shipwreck. Three men, ages 32 to 47, were receiving treatment and are in stable condition. Multiple helicopters were deployed to the scene. But authorities say

that harsh weather conditions and very, very strong winds were hampering the search and rescue operations.

I just want to bring up that dramatic video again that you can see next to me. You can see this crew member, being pulled up on a rope into the helicopter, literally as the sink is shipping (sic) below.

This storm has caused major disruptions across the region and we have learned that, as of 3 pm local time yesterday, that Typhoon Chaba had made landfall in Guangdong province in China.

And we learned from the Guangdong maritime search and rescue operation center that, in a statement, it said it had coordinated seven rescue vessels as part of the operations as well as salvage, merchant and Coast Guard ships. But still waiting for more details on the rest of the crew members.

We know that, across the region, because of the storm, there were flights, canceled some businesses closed, because of the strong winds and heavy downpours. Hong Kong authorities on Thursday also had issued a strong warning over this typhoon.

And Thursday was a very important day, because that was the day of the highly anticipated visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This was his first trip out of the mainland since the pandemic started.

And on that day, the grand opening of the new Hong Kong palace museum was supposed to happen, coinciding with the day Xi Jinping was there, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the handover. But that was postponed because of the storm. Michael.

HOLMES: All right, Selina, thanks for the update. Selina Wang there for. Us

On top of all of that, parts of Asia are still dealing with a brutal heat wave, while a tropical system continues to impact the region.

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HOLMES: Congo's independence leader is laid to rest more than six decades after his death. Now two countries are hoping to bury a painful past. We will have that when we come back.

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HOLMES: A busy holiday travel weekend is turning into a chaotic one as well, as flights get canceled and delayed, not just in the U.S. but all around the world. Weather, staffing shortages, inflation and the July 4th holiday in the U.S. all playing a role. CNN's Anna Stewart explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pilots on strike, airline staff protesting and walking off the job. Long queues of passengers trying to make their flights, some camping out in terminals, as delays and cancellations pile on.

At several airports across Europe and the U.S., staff shortages, fuel prices and weather are causing chaos on one of the year's busiest travel weekends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They canceled my flight as I'm boarding the plane. And now I'm still trying to find a way to get home right now. And I cannot even get home. I've been here since yesterday, since 3:05.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a flight issue. And now I'm trying to re- book but the price is ridiculously super high.

STEWART (voice-over): In the U.S., travel ahead of the July 4th holiday has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. But air transportation is still struggling to keep up. On Friday, more than 500 flights were canceled and more than 7,800 delayed across the country, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.

Thousand more were delayed or canceled Saturday and it follows a trend of travel woes this year. So far in 2022, most major U.S. airlines have canceled far more flights compared to averages in the same period between 2017 and 2019.

Airlines straining to meet surging post-pandemic demand, with resources and staff stretched thin. On Thursday, Delta pilots picketed at major hubs over schedules and pay. While the protests weren't expected to affect operations, discontent among airline staff was felt across continents.

Demonstrations by airport personnel at France's Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris disrupted travel this weekend.

FABRICE CRIQUET, SECRETARY, FOURCE OUVRIERE LABOUR UNION (through translator): They slashed thousands of jobs at Paris airports in the pandemic. But air traffic is coming back now.

We are stretched so thin and, on top of, that they refused to increase salaries or they're giving us ridiculous pay increases, compared to the wages they cut during the pandemic.

STEWART (voice-over): Amid peak travel season in Europe, crews of major airliners easyJet and Ryanair are also staging strikes this weekend after cabin crew unions in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy led walkouts last weekend.

In both the U.S. and Europe, air transport workers are demanding better working conditions and higher wages as soaring inflation causes steep prices in the cost of living. For travelers, that inflation is also driving up the cost of flights. Fares for some routes this weekend have more than tripled, compared to the same weekend last year.

Across the U.S. and Europe, the rising prices, combined with personnel shortages and staff discontent, are creating a weekend of travel mayhem as the air industry stumbles to keep up in a post pandemic world -- Anna Stewart, CNN.

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HOLMES: In Texas, embattled Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo has resigned from his city council post. He's faced intense public scrutiny and criticism over the delayed police response to the school shooting in May that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Arredondo had been elected to the city council just weeks before the massacre.

Arredondo wrote this in his resignation letter, quote, "It is in the best interest of the community to step down as a member of the city council, to minimize further distractions."

There were also growing calls for him to resign from his position, of course, as the school district police chief. Earlier, a reporter for "The Texas Tribune" spoke to CNN about the public's negative view of Arredondo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH DESPART, "THE TEXAS TRIBUNE": In our conversations with residents of Uvalde, the past month, really since the shooting, many of them had expressed disappointment in Arredondo's conduct during the shooting and expressed disappointment that the city has not been forthcoming and releasing records about what happened.

So many of them today were grateful that finally chief Arredondo had stepped down from his position on city council. Of course, many of them also want him to step down from his actual full-time, job which is the police chief of the schools police department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It was just last week that Arredondo was placed on leave from that job but he does still officially hold the position. CNN has reached out to Arredondo's attorney for comment.

Sixty-one years after his brutal murder, the remains of the Democratic Republic of Congo's first democratically elected prime minister are heading back home. Patrice Lumumba was taken down in a Belgium supported coup. As CNN's Zain Asher reports, both nations hope to close the book now on a painful chapter in history.

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ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Without dignity, there is no liberty," Patrice Lumumba once wrote. Now more than six decades after his assassination, the stolen remains of the Congolese hero are home, finally receiving the dignity they deserve.

Last, week Belgian leaders returned all that was left of the independence hero at a ceremony in Brussels, a single gold-capped tooth, a biting reminder of a nation's anguish.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo, an entire continent, Africa, is celebrating the return of one of its worthy sons.

ASHER (voice-over): The Democratic Republic of Congo held three days of national mourning for the independence leader, now buried in the capital, Kinshasa. Lumumba fought for the independence of the Congolese people from their Belgian colonizers, become the country's first democratically elected prime minister in 1960.

Three months later, he was murdered in a Belgian supported operation, his body dismembered and dissolved in acid. Lumumba's tooth become another morbid trophy of colonialism, when a Belgian police officer brought it home as loot. Belgium's prime minister expressed his nation's shame.

ALEXANDER DE CROO, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I would like to reiterate here, in the presence of his family, the apology of the Belgian government for the way it influenced the decision to end the life of the country's first prime minister.

ASHER (voice-over): But for many Congolese, an overwhelming conflict of emotion.

YVONNE LUTLA, BRUSSELS RESIDENT (through translator): I'm feeling all kinds of emotions. I'm feeling sad. I am feeling happy. It is everything.

FRANCK BUNYUNGU, KINSHASA RESIDENT (through translator): What of the repercussions of Lumumba's assassination?

What are the conclusions?

We don't know. And Lumumba was not murdered alone. There are two more people.

Where are their bodies?

We don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have cultivating feelings in our hearts. But after seeing the remains arrive here, we are reassured that our son has indeed passed away. That's why the morning of our son begins today. Today, we take communion.

ASHER (voice-over): The return of Lumumba's remains, just part of a larger effort to build a relationship between the two nations, one that Congo's prime minister says is dependent upon the recognition of the past and a common effort to overcome it. Lumumba's son agrees.

ROLAND LUMUMBA, PATRICE'S SON (through translator): People see how we can build a new era, a time where we talk with respect. You need us, we may need you. Let's make it that way and build bridges between us.

ASHER (voice-over): Two nations reconciling the past with a hope for a better future -- Zain Asher, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Some of Nigeria's historic and looted artifacts are now finally back home. German authorities returned the first two of more than 1,000 priceless sculptures known as the Benin bronzes.

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HOLMES: The intricate artifacts date from the 13th century onwards and are considered some of Africa's greatest treasures. Thousands were stolen by Europeans in the late 1800s. German authorities say this is only the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER: This is a story of European colonialism. We should not forget that Germany played an active role in this chapter of history.

It was wrong to take the bronzes. It was wrong to keep them, to keep them, for 120 years. We want it to usher in an era of new cooperation between our two countries because looking back is one thing. But we are here, as politicians, as society, to build together the future.

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HOLMES: A beet-based soup is at the center of a culinary dispute between Russia and Ukraine, now a U.N. declaration has one country seeing red. That's when we come back.

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HOLMES: There's another conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a culture war over soup. Borscht is common in both countries and both Russia and Ukraine claim ownership. Well now the U.N. has officially weighed in and added the Ukrainian version to its list of heritage traditions in urgent need of safeguarding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): A soup made of beets, potatoes and vegetables, borscht is served on dinner tables throughout Eastern Europe and Russia. But where it originated has been a bone of contention between Ukraine and Russia, long before this war between the two countries ever began.

On Friday, that debate got even more heated when UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, added the cooking of Ukrainian borscht to the list of intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of safeguarding.

The U.N. says Ukraine asked for the consideration to be fast-tracked because of Russia's invasion of the country. The agency explaining that, in many parts of Ukraine, the traditional meal is unable to be prepared or shared like it used to be, because there are few safe places for families to gather for a meal.

And some ingredients may be hard to find. Officials in Kyiv, where it is considered a national dish, relish the move. Ukraine's minister of culture and information exclaiming, "Victory in the war for borscht is ours."

Though the U.N.'s move doesn't imply ownership of the dish.

[02:40:00]

HOLMES (voice-over): The announcement hit a sour note in Russia, which also has traditional ties to the soup. One Russian official ridiculed the U.N. for singling out one nationality's version of the soup.

MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): That borscht can be common -- each city, each region, each housewife prepares it in her own way. Well, it's not. They don't want compromise and that is xenophobia, Nazism, extremism in all of its forms.

HOLMES (voice-over): Some cooks in both countries say it's a dish they will continue to make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Borscht has no nationality, just like bread, potatoes, cabbage.

Are they national?

What nationality can it have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Of course, borscht is Ukrainian heritage. To prepare tasty borscht, the main thing one needs is a real Ukrainian to prepare it.

HOLMES (voice-over): A simmering feud involving national pride and identity that runs much deeper than a bowl of soup.

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HOLMES: When you think of the world's most famous city parks, perhaps Hyde Park in London might come to mind or Central Park in New York. And Mill Ends Park in downtown Portland, Oregon. But if you've never heard of it, you are not alone.

It claims a unique global distinction, though, that it's now in danger of losing to a cross state rival. What does all this mean?

Reporter Kellee Azar affiliate KATU explains for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KELLEE AZAR, KATU CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a highlight and a tourist attraction or sometimes a disappointment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate to say it but the very premise is just ridiculous. I mean, it's not a park.

AZAR (voice-over): But for most Portlanders, it's a point of pride. Mill Ends Park is a Portland staple and its title could soon be in jeopardy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the world's smallest park and it's always going to be the world's coolest park.

AZAR (voice-over): But coming in at a whopping 78 inches smaller, Talent, Oregon, is vowing to take the title.

You know, those are fighting words up here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can imagine. It's actually funny.

AZAR (voice-over): Gerlinde Smith was one of the minds behind the tiny park in Talent. When she was approached by the mayor about making their own tiny park, she says she was excited for the task but says they aren't maliciously taking the title.

GERLINDE SMITH, TINY PARK CREATOR: We did not do it spitefully. I want you to know this, Kellee. This was not, oh, well, we'll have one on Portland, not at all.

AZAR (voice-over): But Portland, whose world's smallest park was called into question nearly a decade ago, surely won't take this title lying down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do, however, applaud the city of Talent's endeavor to create a pollinator habitat. We need more of that. And we do give them kudos for that effort. But there's no way a parks farther than this (ph) could be viable for a leprechaun habitat. That's what's Mill Ends Park is.

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HOLMES: Oh, boy.

Thank you, Kellee Azar, for that report. By the way, the town of Talent has not yet contacted "The Guinness Book of World Records" to review its park size or be embarrassed.

I'm Michael Holmes. Kim Brunhuber takes over here in about 15 minutes. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is next.

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