Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Battle For Lysychansk Intensifies In Eastern Ukraine; International Effort To Document Russian War Crimes; U.S. Investigates Death Of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh; Inflation Hits Travel Industry; January 6 Hearings; Calls For Pete Arredondo To Resign As School Police Chief; Remains Of Former DRC Prime Minister Returned; Ukrainian Borscht Gets U.N. Protection. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired July 03, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a tough fight for Ukraine trying to hold on to a key city that Russia claims it now controls. We have a live report from Kyiv.
Plus the Palestinian Authority agrees to have U.S. officials examine the bullet that killed an Al Jazeera journalist.
And travel chaos for many, travelers facing cancellations and bad weather this holiday weekend in the U.S.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's president will be appealing for more international aid this week when the Ukraine recovery conference gets underway in Switzerland. He urged his fellow Ukrainians to stay optimistic. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): No matter how difficult it is for us today, we must remember that there will be tomorrow. And tomorrow should bring maximum benefit to Ukraine. Everyone should do absolutely everything possible for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Russia's relentless rampage in Ukraine is now most heavily focused on the key city of Lysychansk, one of the few places still under Ukrainian control in the Donbas. A local Ukrainian military official says the city is on fire. Meanwhile, days after Russian forces abandoned Snake Island in the
Black Sea, Ukraine's military is claiming it destroyed some of the equipment Russians left behind. As a commander put it, "Russian spirit does not stink there anymore."
Scott McLean joins us live from the Ukrainian capital.
Let's start with the latest from the front lines.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, two differing accounts of what is happening in the city of Lysychansk. This is the last major city in the Luhansk region.
If the Russians were to capture it, they would effectively control the entire administrative region because, between that city and the border, there is only a handful of settlements.
And so the Russians would be able to take those with a lot more ease than they have been able to take places like Sievierodonetsk and bigger cities.
The Ukrainians say that they were able to destroy a military convoy; they also say that the Russians have been taking heavy losses but they concede that, in their words, the Russians are stubbornly advancing and that the city is on fire and that it is far more destroyed than even Sievierodonetsk was.
And so the Russians really are not sparing any building in that city, in their efforts to gain control. They say that they have managed to surround the city and they are clearing the last remaining Ukrainians out of it and that they are in control.
The Ukrainians dispute that characterization, saying it is not surrounded and they also dispute that the Russians or the Russian- backed militias control it effectively.
I should also mention that the Belarusian president, just this morning, claims that Ukrainians fired missiles in its direction. They say these missiles were shot down by Belarusian forces.
Of course, they don't actually have troops on the ground but they have welcomed the Russians to use their territory to launch attacks on Ukraine, just last week allowing them to fire missiles at Ukraine from Belarusian airspace.
It also comes at the same time, again just this morning, the Russians claim that there were a series of explosions in the Belgorod region, just across the border in residential areas. At least three killed, four injured, including a child.
The Ukrainians have never claimed responsibility for any of the strikes that have taken place on Russian soil, usually against oil depots or military installations, though at least in one case, they have heavily hinted at least that they are behind them.
BRUNHUBER: So turning now to the reconstruction and the conference, they are billing it as a path to a Marshall Plan for Ukraine.
What is President Zelenskyy hoping to get from this?
MCLEAN: He needs a heck of a lot of help. This conference is usually held annually. It has been held I think the last four years, to try to help Ukraine with its political reforms, to get its democracy up to snuff, to cut down on corruption and to get it in line with the rest of Europe.
[04:05:00]
MCLEAN: This year it is going to be a lot different; obviously because of the Russian invasion, they are focused purely on the reconstruction efforts but, of course, there is still a war going on right now.
We were in Hostomel, a suburb of Kyiv, which was home to some of the most intense shelling, some of the most intense fighting, especially in the early days of war. And in this community, the Russians have been long gone for a couple months now.
But you'd be hard pressed to find even one building that doesn't bear at least some kind of damage from the war.
Another example, an apartment building, which has been mostly destroyed, the entire penthouse suite looks like the roof of the building. And I spoke to some of the residents who actually live there.
And they say that they are trying desperately to try to get that roof repaired in some kind of way before winter comes because, obviously, that brings water, it brings mold and that kind of thing.
Home insurance is not all that common in this country. Building materials are hard to come by as well. And so this community will need a lot of help getting back on its feet, even without the Russians present. And this is only, you know, one small fraction of the total damage in a country that still has potentially months to go in this war or longer.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. Scott McLean, thanks so much.
And the death toll is climbing and Ukrainian officials say at least 21 people and a child were killed when an attack hit a housing block. Ukraine's president says Russia is conducting terrorism against his country by targeting cities and civilians. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Three missiles hit an ordinary residential building, a nine-story building in which no one hid any weapons, military equipment or ammunition as Russian propagandists and officials always tell about such strikes.
I emphasize: this is a deliberate, purposeful Russian terror, not some mistake or an accidental missile strike. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The Kremlin denies targeting civilian areas in Ukraine but the attacks near Odessa come just days after Ukraine says Russia launched attacks on a mall, killing at least 18 people. The regional prosecutor says the attacks have all the signs of a war crime. Salma Abdelaziz spoke with him near the site earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (through translator): "We're investigating the site of the blast," he says.
"We have removed fragments of the rocket and we will examine its trajectory. We created a group of investigators that include the police and security service. And we, as prosecutors, coordinate their activities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Oleksandra Matviichuk is a human rights attorney and head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine and she joins us live from Kyiv.
So focusing here on these war crimes.
How many Russian soldiers do you think have been charged with war crimes so far?
And can you give us a sense of what specific crimes they are alleged to have committed?
OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK, KYIV-BASED HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: First trial was conducted on the Russian soldiers in Kyiv. And now such crimes of individual cases we observe in different regions of Ukraine.
And the most cases is accusation in deliberate destroying objects. For example, in Chernihiv, a member of Russian tank brigade, he is accused of deliberate shelling on residential buildings. Or they are accused in deliberate offenses against civilians.
BRUNHUBER: Now sometimes war crimes come as a result of, let's say, a rogue soldier or a rogue unit operating outside of their orders. But you've said that Russia is using war crimes as a method of warfare.
Can you explain what you mean?
MATVIICHUK: Yes, we united several dozen regional organizations after the Russian invasion started. And we have 11,231 criminal case, like the case which showed that Russian used some kinds of war crimes, either crimes against humanity or war crimes.
It is enormous amount. It is only evidence which is collected by our human rights initiative.
[04:10:00] MATVIICHUK: So we have clearly stated it is a pattern of behavior because the number shows for a systemic and large scale character of such actions.
BRUNHUBER: So then if it is, you know, being ordered from above, how hard is to get at those who are making those orders sort of higher up on the chain of command?
MATVIICHUK: And it is very important question which is difficult to deliver at the current moment because, when we speak about investigation, it needs time. And first of all it needs resources.
And now we have a situation when each Ukrainian prosecutor have to investigate more than 200 cases. And this is a clear indicator that we urgently need assistance from international community.
Any, even the most efficient investigative bodies of the world couldn't cope with such challenge and to investigate effectively and properly to the whole chain of command, such enormous amount of crimes.
BRUNHUBER: So you need help?
Specifically what are you asking for?
MATVIICHUK: We are asking for strengthening the ability of the national system to investigate and to prosecute war perpetrators. And it can be done in the model of international hybrid tribunal.
In this model, national investigator will work jointly with international investigators and national judges will work jointly with international judges.
BRUNHUBER: Now it is such a huge task as you outlined, with the number of cases that you are investigating, the volunteers who have to go there with a war still going on.
What are you hearing from the people that you are talking to, who are leaving the areas that have been most recently taken in the east?
I'm thinking particularly of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
MATVIICHUK: You know that in Lysychansk the heavy battle is still going on. And the town is totally destroyed. I see that Russia use the same tactics, like how they tried to occupy the city.
They deliberately destroyed critical civilian infrastructures and they deliberately destroyed civil objects. So they burn the Earth in order to occupy the city. And so I can say that (INAUDIBLE) court of human people, the pure human pain, pain of people whose relatives were killed, pain of people whose loved ones were tortured, pain of people who lost their homes, so your pain.
BRUNHUBER: So much suffering out there. And hopefully some of those responsible will be made to feel -- to be taken, you know, made responsible, I guess I'm trying to say, with your investigators. Oleksandra Matviichuk, thanks very much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The Palestinian Authority has turned over the bullet which killed the Palestinian American journalist in May to the U.S. so that it can be examined. Shireen Abu Akleh was reporting on an Israeli military raid in the West Bank when she was killed.
She covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was two decades and was beloved across the region for her fearless reporting. Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem.
What more can you tell us about the examination?
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nearly two months after Shireen Abu Akleh was killed, we may be getting closer to a final answer on who killed her.
The Palestinian Authority until now had refused to hand over the bullet that was extracted from her, saying they didn't want to participate in a joint investigation because they didn't trust the Israelis.
Yesterday, the Palestinian Authority attorney general announced that they had agreed to give the bullet to the Americans for an examination. But now there is a bit of a discrepancy about who exactly is examining the bullets.
Palestinian Authority said that the Americans would be examining it at the U.S. embassy here in Jerusalem and that they were given many guarantees that the bullet would not be given to the Israelis.
But this morning the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said in several interviews that the Israelis will actually be examining the bullet themselves in the presence of the Americans, being overseen by a three star general.
But the Israelis will be examining the bullet and that they might even be expecting the results to be released as soon as today.
We've been asking the U.S. embassy here as well as the State Department for any sort of comment about this discrepancy. So far they have said that they have no comment to add to this.
But we should also note the timing of when this is all happening, potentially maybe something behind why this was being handed over this weekend. First of all, there is a new prime minister in Israel. Yair Lapid became prime minister last week.
[04:15:00]
GOLD: And in less than two weeks, President Biden will be arriving here for meetings with both Israelis and Palestinian leaders. So interesting timing. And we'll, of course, be following any developments about the results of this investigation if they come today.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Thanks for your reporting on this, Hadas Gold live in Jerusalem.
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.
Both countries are in the middle of indirect negotiations about that area. In recent, days Hezbollah warned it 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.
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 sent millions into a severe hunger crisis. A deadly earthquake last month has only compounded those problems.
It has been a chaotic weekend for travel so far. Coming up, why thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed in the U.S. over the nation's birthday weekend.
And search and rescue operations are resuming this the South China Sea after a ship broke in half and sank. More than 2 dozen are missing. That's ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: A search and rescue operation has resumed after a ship sank in the South China Sea. Three crew members have been rescued. But the fate of the remaining 27 people who were on board is unclear.
The ship was caught in a typhoon and broke in half before it sank. The typhoon has been downgraded now to a tropical storm after making landfall, battering parts of the mainland. A tornado associated with its outer band spun through one city, ripping off roofs and uprooting trees.
From Asia to the U.S., where it is the start of the 4th of July holiday weekend, heavy rain could dampen some celebrations.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BRUNHUBER: And weather is one of the many factors making travel over the holiday weekend a nightmare for many. Inflation is another. According to AAA, some 42 million Americans are hitting the road, as gas averages about $4.81 per gallon. And drivers are feeling the pain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is getting crazy. My car used to be $40 to fill up and now it is $69.45. I'm over it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Staying home this holiday, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did the gas prices play into that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess the entire economy played into that, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And gas prices aren't the only thing pinching consumer wallets this holiday weekend. CNN's Nadia Romero takes a look at how inflation is hitting every corner of the travel industry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Despite plenty of flight cancellations and delays, TSA saw about 2.5 million Americans going through security checkpoints on Friday alone. That is the highest amount of travelers they have seen since before the pandemic, since February 2020.
[04:25:00]
ROMERO: And those travelers are doing so, despite rising costs in just about every travel category.
Take a look. Hotels are now up 23 percent more than last year. Gas prices up 52 percent more expensive than just a year ago. Car rentals have decreased 34 percent of those daily rates compared to last year.
But if you haven't traveled since before the pandemic, you are looking at rates that are about $40 more a day on average. And airfare is up about 14 percent more than last year.
We expect to see so many more people flooding the airports this weekend, along with all the travel costs. We spoke with some passengers about the obstacles that they would face this weekend and how they tried to overcome them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did stop and we missed it and we're glad to be out and just enjoy our family. We missed being around them and everything. So now we get a chance to go back in California.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just left half an hour earlier than we normally do. So we're here about 2.5 hours early and we're planning to getting on our flight on time.
JODI BURN, PASSENGER: We left some spare time and we parked nearby and took the MARTA train in. So yes, we just left enough time to get here and we're super excited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMERO: According to AAA, the majority of Americans will travel by car; 88 percent of Americans are expected to hit the road this holiday weekend; 42 million Americans will take a road trip of 50 miles or more.
And the highest congestion expected in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.
And here, back at the airport in Atlanta, we saw really a busy early morning start and then things started to get quieter during the late morning/early afternoon. But TSA says that they expect that to pick up again, especially as we head closer to Monday, when people return from the holiday as well -- Nadia Romero, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And this weekend, remember you can catch CNN's 4th of July concert special, "The Fourth in America," with fireworks from across the country and incredible music from some of the biggest stars. That is Monday night at 7:00 Eastern.
Still ahead, why the most explosive testimony we've heard from the January 6 committee hearing so far is holding up, despite Donald Trump's heated denials.
And the Supreme Court abortion ruling is polarizing Americans. A look at how the White House is taking the abortion fight to the polls this November.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Welcome back. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
In Washington, more fallout from this week's blockbuster hearing before the January 6 committee. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson was testifying about Donald
Trump's actions in the leadup to and during the attack on the Capitol. And new information appears to corroborate some of the most stunning revelations she shared. Katelyn Polantz has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: We are almost a week out from this bombshell testimony that Cassidy Hutchinson delivered on Capitol Hill about Donald Trump on January 6 and the bottom line here is that testimony is holding up.
So I want to walk through how this played out over the past week. So Hutchinson testified in one of the instances that she spoke about that a White House deputy chief of staff named Tony Ornato told her that, on January 6, Donald Trump was so irate about not being able to go to Capitol Hill with his supporters, whom he knew could be violent, were armed, that he grabbed at the steering wheel inside the presidential SUV and lunged at a Secret Service agent there.
So that is what Hutchinson says she was told. She said this under oath. And when she was testifying this past week, she also said that she learned this story in front of the agent who was lunged at and that he didn't correct it. He even was a little bit discombobulated at the time because of this episode with Trump.
After her testimony, there was a bit of this that was disputed, not the part about Donald Trump wanting to go to Capitol Hill and being angry that he couldn't but there was a Secret Service official, who denied that Trump had lunged in the SUV and that Tony Ornato had told Cassidy Hutchinson this story.
And there has been an effort to discredit her, including by Donald Trump himself, following her testimony.
But now, we have two Secret Service sources telling my colleague, Noah Gray, that this story that Cassidy Hutchinson recounted, it indeed was a story circulating among the Secret Service after January 6, that Trump was so angry about not being able to go to the Capitol that he was parading the Secret Service agents protecting him. And he did lunge over the seat.
So here we have this corroboration that this story was out there. And Cassidy Hutchinson is going on Capitol Hill, explaining that under oath to the House Select Committee -- Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And there was outrage in Boston after dozens of people marched through the city on Saturday, holding flags associated with the white nationalist group Patriot Front.
Boston's mayor condemned the march, writing, "The disgusting hate of white supremacists has no place here, especially when so many of our rights are under attack." This is after weeks after Idaho police arrested 31 alleged Patriot
Front members during a pride event. Police say that the men were planning to riot.
Donald Trump may announce a 2024 presidential run later this month, according to CNN sources. He is apparently trying to capitalize on President Biden's sinking poll numbers and wants to deflect attention away from the January 6 committee's investigation. CNN's Gabby Orr has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABBY ORR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump has spent the last few months weighing the best time for him to announce a third presidential campaign.
And our sources tell us that he is leaning toward sooner rather than later. And when I say soon, I mean potentially this month.
Trump's allies have told my colleagues and me that he is closer than ever to taking that step. And he has put his aides and advisers on notice that he may want to launch a campaign before the end of July.
Now Trump had previously considered waiting until after the midterms to toss has hat into the 2024 primary. But there are three reasons that timeline has been pushed up over the past week.
For starters, he wants to divert attention away from the January 6th committee, its recent public hearings and bombshell revelations, which some of his allies tell us have been more damaging than they anticipated.
[04:35:00]
ORR (voice-over): As one source put it, quote, "He knows that if he announces a run for president, he will be center stage again," end quote.
Trump also wants to put his potential Republican rivals on notice by beating them to the punch with an early 2024 announcement. And there's no one that applies to more than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who would likely be Trump's top rival in a Republican primary.
And third, Trump wants to capitalize on this moment where President Biden's approval ratings have reached new lows and Americans are concerned about the current direction of the country.
Of course, voters would also likely have serious concerns about Donald Trump's personality and his prior behavior while in office. But he seems to think that economic concerns will triumph and drive a desire for change -- Gabby Orr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Protests continue to erupt around the world on the Supreme Court decision to roll back constitutional protections for abortion.
This was the scene in Paris on Saturday, hundreds of abortion rights supporters, holding signs and chanting as they marched toward the Eiffel Tower.
A similar scene was in Melbourne where thousands took to the streets to protest the court's decision.
And abortion activists in the U.S. aren't letting up. They are still making their voices heard a week after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Protesters turned out in Arizona, Georgia and Ohio, among other places, to protest the high court's decision, carrying signs saying "Bans off our bodies" and "We won't go back."
They are also criticizing their own state's attempt to pass laws designed to ban or severely restrict a woman's right to abortion.
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 on how the president and vice president are driving the topic home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In Texas, embattled Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo has resigned from his city council post. He has faced intense criticism over the delayed police response at the school shooting in May that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Arredondo had been elected to the city council just week before the massacre and there are also growing calls for him to resign from his position as the school's police chief. Earlier a reporter for "The Texas Tribune" spoke to CNN about the public's negative view of Arredondo.
[04:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACH DESPART, "THE TEXAS TRIBUNE": From 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.
They had expressed disappointment that the city has not been forthcoming in releasing records about what happened.
Many of them today were grateful that finally chief Arredondo had stepped down from his position on the 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)
BRUNHUBER: And last week, Arredondo was placed on leave from that job. But he still holds the position. CNN has reached out to Arredondo's attorney for comment.
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. That is ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Sixty-one years after his brutal murder, the remains of the Democratic Republic of Congo's first democratically elected prime minister are back home. Patrice Lumumba was taken down in a Belgium supported coup. As Zain Asher reports, both nations are now hoping to close the book on this painful chapter in history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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.
[04:45:00]
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)
BRUNHUBER: Some of Nigeria's historic and looted artifacts are now going back home. German authorities returned the first two of more than 1,000 priceless sculptures known as the Benin bronzes.
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 and plan to return more relics.
Still to come, a beet-based soup is at the center of a culinary dispute between Russia and Ukraine. And now a U.N. declaration has one country seeing red. That is ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Thousands of people took to the streets of central London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the U.K.'s first pride parade. It was the first pride march since the COVID pandemic began two years ago. People expressed solidarity with the local LGBTQ community as well as their counterparts in Ukraine.
Now there is another less serious conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a culture war over soup. Borscht is common in both countries and they each claim that their own version is the most authentic. So now the U.N. has officially weighed in. Michael Holmes has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (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, 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:55:00]
(SPORTS)
BRUNHUBER: Thanks for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back in a moment with more news. Please stay with us.
