Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Flees Country; President Joe Biden To Meet With Israeli And Palestinian Leaders; Uvalde Surveillance Video Shows Police Response To Massacre; Latest January 6 Hearing Focused On Ties Between Donald Trump And Militia Groups. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 13, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:38]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Forced to flee, Sri Lanka's embattled president slips out of the country just hours before he was supposed to resign.

Plus, leaked video of a deadly school shooting in Texas raising new questions about the police response.

And another day of bombshell testimony as the January 6 committee digs into links between right-wing extremists and Donald Trump.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.

KINKADE: Sri Lanka's president has fled the country adding another twist to the political and economic turmoil gripping the nation. The country's Air Force confirms that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife flew to the Maldives on a military plane just hours before he was due to formally resign on Wednesday.

The move comes just days after thousands of protesters stormed the official residences of both the president and the prime minister, demanding their resignations over the growing economic crisis.

Before leaving the country, the president had agreed to step down under pressure. Sri Lanka's Parliament plans to elect a new president next week.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley is following the developments and joins us from Taipei. Good to see you, Will.

So, the 73-year-old Sri Lankan president now in a beautiful tropical island, while the rest of his country can barely get basic essentials.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, and he was living in a palatial residence with a swimming pool and the barbeque pit and the grand piano and the gym and all of those things that the protesters who stormed that residence over the weekend have been kind of, you know, enjoying and flaunting these videos of it on social media.

But they were -- they stormed in there because of outrage over truly, you know, almost two decades of financial mismanagement under the Rajapaksa dynasty because it wasn't just the current president, but his brother who was the president and prime minister previously, who have been accused of engaging in a number of horrible financial decisions, including a series of bad business deals with China that locked Sri Lanka in this downward debt spiral that has left it at a point where the country has more than $50 billion in debt, they can't pay their creditors.

The war in Ukraine drained their foreign reserves, so they can't get in the essentials that people need like food, and medicine and fuel, and, you know, even accessing their own money at the bank. So, I mean, it is a truly dire situation.

Now, we know that the president and his wife and his family had been trying since Monday to flee the country, they were actually at one point sitting in an airport lounge, and they were denied access to two different commercial flights that were headed to the UAE, one to Dubai, one to Abu Dhabi.

The reason why they couldn't get on is because the immigration officers wouldn't process their passports without them physically being present. And the president and his family did not want to have to stand in the immigration queue with regular people, presumably because of the anger and the outrage and out of fears that there would be some sort of a physical altercation. Perhaps, they didn't feel that their security would have been able to protect them.

Certainly, it was just moments before those protesters stormed the president's house that he was able to escape. For a time he was told -- for a time CNN was told that he was taking refuge on a naval vessel and then, was hiding out under the care of the military.

And eventually, it was this military plane that flew the president and his wife to the Maldives, where they initially were denied landing, Lynda. The Maldives didn't even want to take them in. But there was intervention on the part of some previous officials who were apparently friends with Sri Lanka's president.

The question now is the resignation officially in effect now that he's fled the country. What is his legal -- how exposed is he legally now? Could he actually face criminal charges for some of these bad financial decisions or other accused misdeeds now that he's no longer the president and enjoying presidential immunity?

And these are questions that we don't yet have the answers to, but we certainly have to watch the situation very closely. Because protesters have said that if the president isn't officially out, and of course, also the prime minister that they're calling for him to resign as well. He's saying he's going to stick around for another week or so until this new government is established.

[00:05:07] But if these two leaders don't get out, and if the public doesn't feel that the new leadership has their back and has a plan to help to pull Sri Lanka out of this mess and to improve the living standards for everyday people, these protests and this violence could really potentially continue for quite some time, Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes, the president and prime minister certainly dragging their feet when it comes to officially resigning. Will Ripley for us in Taipei. Thanks so much.

Well, for more on this, I want to welcome Bhavani Fonseka, human rights lawyer who has taken part in the mass protests. She joins us from the Sri Lankan capitol.

Thanks so much for your time.

BHAVANI FONSEKA, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER PARTICIPATING IN PROTESTS: Thank you, Lynda.

KINKADE: So, in the capitol right now, people are expecting an official resignation. But the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while he remains president. Is there a chance that he won't officially resign? Or do you think he'll now do it that he's out of the country?

FONSEKA: Well, these are extremely uncertain and fluid times, Lynda and one thing we need to understand is that nothing is guaranteed till we see a letter of resignation. That has not come.

The speaker's office just moments before has confirmed to media that there was no letter of resignation handed over when the president left Sri Lanka yesterday night.

So, Gotabaya Rajapaksa remains the executive president of Sri Lanka. And looks like he's going to be executive president of Sri Lanka in exile till that resignation letter follows through.

But while that happens, he -- while the resignation letter is to happen, he enjoys immunities of the office. So, he enjoys diplomatic immunity while he remains the executive president.

So, we are yet to see a resignation. And if the resignation follows, we'll have to see what happens next.

KINKADE: And Bhavani, they were quite extraordinary things when we saw the protesters storming the residences of the president and the prime minister.

I understand you were part of that at some stage, where were you as this all unfolded? And what did you see?

FONSEKA: Well, Lynda, one needs to remember these protests commenced in March and many of us have been involved in the protests which started very small and then expanded because the anger, the frustration of the citizens is very, very real. So, since March we've been on the streets, we've been protesting,

peacefully protesting. What happened on Saturday is quite remarkable, because thousands -- I mean, a massive crowd. You've seen the images converged in Colombo, and they walked for hours to get there because there is really no fuel in Sri Lanka to travelling vehicles.

And that's the context, people just came out to the streets, demanding for the resignation of the president, demanding for the resignation of the prime minister and a system change.

Unfortunately, today's Wednesday in Sri Lanka, Wednesday morning, those resignations haven't happened yet. So, the president still remains in office. The prime minister still remains in office, though the president now seems to be in exile.

So, not much has changed in terms of that situation, but it extremely fluid on the ground.

KINKADE: Yes, so the president currently in a tropical paradise, while people in Sri Lanka are struggling to get food, to get fuel, to get medicine, also, that schools have also been shut.

This economic crisis is not going to end anytime soon even if a new president is named next week, what needs to happen?

FONSEKA: Well, the situation is very, very dire on the ground. It's been very worrying in terms of the last few months where essential items have been scarce. There's been long queues to get these essential items. Long queues are evident across Sri Lanka in terms of people standing in line for days to get fuel, and there is growing unrest in parts of Sri Lanka.

So, there is extremely volatile situation but also a looming humanitarian situation. This is what the U.N. has now indicated that we are heading for very difficult times ahead.

So, in terms of ensuring economic stability and political stability, we need a clear path, a peaceful transition and clear political leadership.

We cannot have a president governing from outside the country. We need a government that the people trust and have confidence but also a government that is able to initiate urgent reforms as well as ensuring the economic recovery happens soon.

[00:10:06]

So, there's multiple things that need attention as soon as possible. But the most urgent is a peaceful transition of power and that people's demands are met.

KINKADE: Bhavani Fonseka, we really appreciate your perspective and your time. Thanks very much.

FONSEKA: Thank you. KINKADE: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden is on his way to Israel for

the first time to visit the Middle East since becoming president. He plans to visit a holocaust memorial and get a briefing on the Iron Dome missile defense system, as well as meet with the new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

The president is scheduled to spend two days in Israel and then on Friday, he meets with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

After that, Mr. Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia for the most controversial leg of this trip. As a candidate for president, he pledged to make Saudi Arabia a pariah for its involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

I want to go now to Jerusalem and journalist Elliott Gotkine joins us now live. Good to have you with us, Elliott. So, a very few busy days ahead for the U.S. president. Let's start with the first leg of this trip. Take us through what we can expect during his visit to Israel.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST (on camera): Lynda, they'll be putting out all the stops this afternoon when U.S. President Joe Biden touches down to Ben Gurion Airport, they've commandeered half the airport for the occasion. He'll be met with newly minted Prime Minister Yair Lapid and also President Isaac Herzog.

Of course, Biden has been to Israel many times before, this will be his 10th visit. He's met with every president and prime minister of Israel since Golda Meir.

And in fact, he's met with Yair Lapid as well when Lapid was a finance minister. They met in Washington. Biden was then Vice President. Biden said to Lapid, if I had your hair, I'd be president. And Lapid said to Biden, if I had your height, I'd be Prime Minister. Of course, now they both occupy those positions.

So, when they meet at Ben Gurion Airport this afternoon, they will also be shown -- Biden will also be showing a demonstration as you say of Israel's missile defense capabilities, that's the Iron Dome. And also the new Iron Beam, a kind of laser missile defense system, which Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced was operational just a few weeks ago.

This is something that could potentially be a regional missile defense shield for Israel, and its new allies in the region such as Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

Not yet Saudi Arabia, but there are expected to be more baby steps in what senior Israeli officials describe as a fragile and delicate relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, perhaps baby steps at some point towards normalization.

One of the announcements expected out of this trip will be that Israeli flights will be allowed to fly over -- all Israeli flights will be allowed to fly over Saudi airspace and that Muslims in Israel will be able to fly directly to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage. Now, in addition to the missile defense capabilities, Biden will also

visit Yad Vashem, a Holocaust Memorial this afternoon. He'll also received the Presidential Medal of Honor from Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, something that's also been bestowed on previous U.S. presidents such as Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as well.

Biden will have also, as you say, be visiting the Palestinians. And interestingly, they've been a few developments here. Over the last few days, just yesterday, confidence-building measures were announced by the Israeli government such as rare building permits being issued for the West Bank, and also more work permits for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

Just a few days ago, Prime Minister Yair Lapid for the first time in five years from an Israeli prime minister had a phone conversation with Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority.

But I think that in terms of any peace process, no one expects any developments on that front. Indeed, according to U.S. officials -- administration officials, had they launched a peace process, there would have been no one sitting at the table according to these officials.

So, what we can expect is a focus on improving the economic lot of the Palestinians, the Biden administration in contrast to the Trump administration already restarting aid to the Palestinians to the tune of half a billion dollars, but we don't expect moves to reopen the U.S. Consulate that were serving the Palestinians, something that the Palestinians want, but the Israelis don't.

And just finally, of course, Iran will very much be a part of these discussions, both in the context of the Israeli-Saudi relationship and also, Israel-U.S. relations. Israel's position it remains that this is not a good deal.

And indeed, senior Israeli officials yesterday telling journalists that time has run out on the JCPOA as it is known. The Israelis do appreciate, they say the Biden administration's approach and happy, for example, that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were not removed from the U.S. as terrorist blacklist as the Iranians had wanted.

There is -- they are still not exactly on the same page as far as Iran goes, the Israel still they say reserves the right to use all the tools at its disposal to prevent Iran gaining a nuclear bomb.

[00:15:06]

But for now, certainly this will be part of the discussions and so long as -- and, of course, the Israeli approach, very different in terms of trying to do things more diplomatically, let's say with the U.S. administration, compared with how former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to Congress if you'd like over the head of them, President Barack Obama to try to get the U.S. not to sign up to that agreement.

So, Saudis, Iran, and also Palestinians, those will be the three main things on the agenda here in Israel during President Biden's visit, Lynda.

KINKADE: Certainly, a lot of ground to cover, you're staying across it all for us, thanks so much Elliott Gotkine in Jerusalem.

Chilling surveillance video from inside a Texas elementary school as a mass shooting unfolded has been made public for the first time. The Austin American-Statesman newspaper published edited portions of that video that reveal what police in Uvalde did, rather did not do during that May massacre that killed 19 students and two teachers.

CNN's Rosa Flores has the story. We need to warn you, some of the footage is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An edited version of surveillance video, one of two videos released Tuesday by the Austin American-Statesman shows that at 11:32 on May 24th. The first shots were fired outside Robb Elementary School, an audio of a teacher calling 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids are running. Oh, my God. Get down! Get in your rooms! Get in your rooms!

FLORES: Then, at 11:33, school surveillance video shows the gunman entering an empty hallway unhindered. Walking casually with his gun hanging down.

He slows down, peaks around a corner, a boy sees him as he starts shooting and the boy runs.

According to the statesman, the gunman fired his weapon, an AR-15 inside two classrooms for 2-1/2 minutes, stopping and starting multiple times.

The statesman saying they edited out the most disturbing sounds including screams. The surveillance video shows seven police officers arriving armed, some with rifles.

They entered the hallway. Weapons drawn at 11:36, just three minutes after the gunman arrived while shots are being fired.

In total, the material revealing just over two of the more than 70 minutes police were in the hallway before killing the gunman. Some rushing towards the classrooms. Other officers hanging back.

Within one minute, shots are heard, 16 rounds in total and police can be seen retreating, running back down the hallway to take cover.

Then, at 11:52, 90 minutes after the gunman enters the school, the timestamp on the video shows more officers arriving, heavily armed, some with ballistic shields.

Still, they wait.

At 12:04, the video jumps 31 minutes after the gunman enters the school and law enforcement is still waiting. At least 19 officers are now in the hallway according to the official timeline.

At 12:21, 45 minutes after police arrived. The gunman fires another four shots and police start to move down the hallway again, remaining outside the classrooms.

At 12:30, one officer uses the hand sanitizer dispenser in the school. At 12:43 and 12:47, more 911 calls to send police and the caller says children are aware the police are outside the door.

Then at 12:50, 74 minutes after police first arrived, officers breached the classroom door and killed the gunman.

At this point, the video shows officers in the hallway pushing to go in.

The Texas DPS director expressed his disappointment, the video was released before the victim's families were given access to it, releasing a statement saying: Those most affected should have been among the first to see it.

The Statesman defending their decision to publish the material saying "we have to bear witness to history and transparency and unrelenting reporting is a way to bring change".

As for the families of the 19 students and two teachers who were massacred at Robb Elementary, some say the video's early release just adds to their pain.

JAVIER CAZARES, FATHER OF UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM: You got to leak, you got to show him all over the world. And we are pissed. These families didn't deserve it, I don't deserve it. That's a slap to our baby's faces. And we're tired of this. You know, we can't trust anybody anymore.

FLORES: Rosa Flores, CNN, San Antonio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:06]

KINKADE: Still ahead, dramatic new revelations from Tuesday, January 6th committee hearing including testimony from a writer who says he would have gone home sooner and the situation might not have got as bad had Donald Trump told them to do so. We'll have a report from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. The race to replace Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister is down to eight candidates. Conservative lawmakers will cast their first ballots in the leadership contest in the day ahead.

Successive votes will whittle the field down to the final two. And then, the new leader is expected to be announced on September 5th. But the opposition Labor Party wants Johnson out as soon as possible. They're planning a confidence vote in the hours ahead. Downing Street spokesperson says it can go forward if it removes references to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and mentions only the British government.

New bombshells from the January 6th committee's latest hearing, it focused on ties between the Trump team and far right militia groups. It also revealed a series of private messages from a former campaign manager who said Donald Trump's rhetoric on the day of the insurrection "killed someone".

Well, some of the testimony include a profane language, CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT CIPOLLONE, FORMER DONALD TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: I was not happy to see the people in the Oval Office.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Four days after all 50 states certify the electoral results, Donald Trump convened a Pence meeting in the White House, where several top aides engaged in a screaming match over the effort to install him into a second term in office.

CIPOLLONE: I don't think any of these people are providing the president with good advice.

RAJU: Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, telling the January 6 committee about the December 18th meeting. One of the aides called it unhinged. It involved Trump and election deniers, including Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): What ensued was a heated and profane clash between this group and President Trump's White House advisors who traded personal insults, accusations of disloyalty to the president, and even challenges to physically fight.

ERIC HERSCHMANN, FORMER DONALD TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ATTORNEY: What they were proposing, I thought was nuts.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER PERSONAL LAWYER TO DONALD TRUMP: I'm going to categorically describe it as you guys are not tough enough. Or maybe put I'll it another way, you're a bunch of pussies.

HERSCHMANN: Flynn screamed at me that I was a quitter, and he kept on standing up and turning around screaming at me.

And then at a certain point, I had it with him. So, now you're back. Either come over or sit your effing ass back down.

RAJU: And during the six hour meeting that ended after midnight, Trump even suggested naming Sidney Powell a special counsel, even though he was told repeatedly, there was no widespread fraud to investigate.

SIDNEY POWELL, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAWYER: The president said OK, you know, I'm naming her of that and I'm giving her a security clearance and then, shortly before we left and it totally blew up.

CIPOLLONE: I was vehemently opposed. I didn't think she should be appointed to anything.

RAJU: The meeting resulted in this draft Executive Order, commanding the secretary of defense to seize the voting machines.

CIPOLLONE: The federal government seize voting machines is a terrible idea but that's not how we do things in the United States.

[00:25:09]

RAJU: And within hours after the meeting ended at 1:42 a.m., Trump tweeted big protests in D.C. on January 6th, be there, will be wild.

The committee revealing this led to a rallying cry for right-wing extremist groups to converge on Washington.

ALEX JONES, CONSPIRACY THEORIST: He is now calling on we the people to take action and to show our numbers.

RAJU: Behind the scenes, Trump's longtime associate Roger Stone was in touch with these groups who provided him security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will be back in January.

RAJU: And was included in an encrypted chats with the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was also in communications with these groups according to the committee.

And three days after the heated White House meeting, a group of house conservatives met at the White House to discuss how to get Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results while presiding over a joint session of Congress on January 6th. Cipollone was excluded.

CIPOLLONE: My view was the vice president didn't had the legal authority to do anything except what he did.

RAJU: The committee also revealing that before Trump's former aide Steve Bannon recorded a podcast on January 5th saying this:

STEVE BANNON, FORMER DONALD TRUMP AIDE: All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.

RAJU: He spoke with Trump for 11 minutes according to White House phone logs. Bannon and Trump spoke again later that evening.

Lawmakers also presented evidence showing Trump plan days before January 6th to order supporters to march to the Capitol after his speech at the rally that day, including a draft tweet that was never posted and rally organizers who said POTUS is going to just call for it unexpectedly.

Stop the Steal Organizer Ali Alexander knew of Trump's plan.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.

RAJU: Trump even adlib in his speech he'd be joining the rally goers at the Capitol. While he didn't go, his supporters did and the deadly riot ensued.

In the wake of the attack, Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale said that Trump's rhetoric may have killed someone. Katrina Pierson responded, it wasn't the rhetoric. Parscale said, Katrina, yes, it was.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Jessica Levinson is a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and the host of the Passing Judgment podcast. She joins us now live. Good to have you with us.

JESSICA LEVINSON, LAW PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Good to be here.

KINKADE: So, Donald Trump lost the election in 2020. And as we've since heard in testimony, summoned supporters to do anything possible to overturn the results. What stood out to you? And what stood out to you today?

LEVINSON: I think what stood out to me was, again, this evidence that the committee keeps bringing forward that is so consistent, which is one, President Trump was told over and over again by his advisors, there's no evidence of widespread election fraud. If you claim that the election was stolen, that is a lie.

That he acted anyway, two, as a result of that, that he kept saying the election was stolen, we have to fight we have to get back this election, they're going to take it from us.

Three, that he then spoke really directly, explicitly, and implicitly to these fringe right-wing groups like the Proud Boys, like the Oath Keepers. And he said to them, go to the Capitol, that he knew that some of them were armed and that he said they're not trying to hurt me. Understanding that they were in fact potentially going to be violent against other people, that he directly then sent them to the Capitol saying we have to take back this country.

And then, finally, that he did nothing, and we're going to hear more about that next week. That he did nothing for those long hours where our Capitol was under threat.

KINKADE: Jessica, we also heard from a former member of the far-right paramilitary group known as the Oath Keepers, who testified that the group wanted an armed revolution and that he thought it could have sparked a new civil war. Let's just play a little bit of that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JASON VAN TATENHOVE, FORMER OATH KEEPERS SPOKESPERSON: I think we need to quit mincing words and just talk about truths and what it was going to be was an armed revolution.

I mean, people died that day. Law enforcement officers died that day, there was a gallows set up in front of the Capitol. This could have been the spark that started a new civil war, and no one would have won there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Certainly an extraordinary testimony. How much weight is a testimony like that carry?

LEVINSON: Well, this is not a court of law. So, of course, it comes down to opinion and emotion and impact. And I think that does carry a lot of weight.

And actually, it's something that he said right before and again right after that that I also thought had great impact, which was that people stopped when the president said, Go home, stop, and that people would have stopped, if he had said something earlier.

[00:30:14]

And I think it is important, as you played that video, that he said, We were on the brink. And this was a group that wasn't a ragtag group of tourists that just organically coalesced. This was an organization that kind of looks like a paramilitary organization, and they were there for a very specific purpose. And they felt that they were directed there by the former president of the United States.

KINKADE: And there was another rioter who gave a similar testimony, who pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol and explained how he was only there because Trump urged his supporters to go to the Capitol.

And Stephen Ayres testified that, if Trump had called on supporters to leave sooner, the situation would not have gotten as bad.

What does this say about Trump's role in all of this, when we hear testimony from these supporters?

LEVINSON: I think that he had a very direct one. And all of the hearings, in my mind, have been about drawing lines between the president and actions that were taken or actions that he failed to take.

What I think Stephen Ayres is saying here is that the president had control. He had control in terms of sending this group, this angry mob that turned violent, very predictably, into the Capitol. And he had control in terms of the idea that he could have brought them back.

And so this is both obviously politically very important, but it's legally important, as well. Because we are looking at whether or not the president's actions could amount to a federal criminal charge. And I think a lot of what we heard today, again, this idea that the president sent them and the president could have pulled them back, and that he should be responsible for the foreseeable consequences of his actions. These are things that the attorney general's going to look at.

KINKADE: Yes. Certainly a lot of evidence building right now. Jessica Levinson in Los Angeles, thanks so much for your time.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, still ahead, as Ukraine ramps up counter attacks on Russian-held territory to the South, the death toll is still rising from a brutal Russian attack in the East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Ukraine is claiming a victory in the South, even as Russian forces continue hammering the country's East.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military announced that it had destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in an occupied part of the Kherson region. But it comes as more Russian attacks had been reported in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and the Donbas region.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There has been renewed aggression by Russian forces against Kharkiv on Tuesday, with Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian military, trying to mount a new, smaller offensive from the North of the city, about 12 miles or 20 kilometers away.

They were pushed back, the Ukrainian military says. But there was a flurry of rocket strikes earlier on Tuesday on at least two districts in the city. One of those districts saw a large fire break out and at least four people were wounded, according to local officials.

[00:35:14]

And then in the South, where Ukrainian forces have been focusing much of their energy, there has been repeated attacks on the Kherson region, which is occupied by Russian forces.

Overnight, from Monday into Tuesday, there was a massive strike by Ukrainian forces on what Ukraine says was a Russian ammunitions depot. All that is left is a massive crater.

Now, Russia-backed officials in Kherson denied that any ammunition was there, but they do acknowledge that it was an incredibly big strike, leaving damage as much as two kilometers away.

There were dozens of people wounded, they say, as well as seven dead. The Russians are accusing Ukraine of using the recently-arrived HIMARS systems. Those are those more advanced, more precise, longer-range American rocket systems.

And while the Ukrainians do not acknowledge that HIMARS was used in this attack or any others in the past few days, we have heard from President Zelenskyy, who said this, in part: "The occupiers" -- meaning the Russians -- "have already felt very well what modern artillery is and will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land."

So much of the focus by the Ukrainian forces has been on that southern front, where Kherson, the city, is controlled by Russian forces, and Mykolaiv, which is still under Ukrainian control, has been coming under increasing attack by Russian troops.

The Russians do appear to be prioritizing whatever gains they can make in the Eastern part of the country after solidifying their gains in the Luhansk province. They are trying to do the same by increasing their attacks next door in Donetsk.

And over the weekend, we saw a horrible attack on an apartment building, and in the past three days, the death toll from that strike has only grown, as rescue workers have dug through the rubble, pulling out bodies from that destruction. They have also, thankfully, managed to save at least nine people.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, in Kharkiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: A search for answers in Japan following the assassination of the country's longest-serving prime minister. Earlier, Japanese police were back at the site of Shinzo Abe's murder, conducting a large-scale search for any new evidence.

Police wouldn't say exactly what they were looking for but said they're using a metal detector to assist in the search.

The former leader was fatally shot last week during a campaign rally. According to Japanese media, the suspect targeted Abe because of a grudge against a religious group that he thought Abe's grandfather allowed to expand decades ago.

Ahead, stunning new images taken by the most powerful space telescope ever built. What secrets they could reveal about the cosmos, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. A new study puts an actual dollar figure on the economic harm caused by the countries most responsible for climate change.

Researchers at Dartmouth College say the world's top five emitters of greenhouse gases -- that is the U.S., China, Russia, India and Brazil -- caused losses of $6 trillion from the global economy between 1990 and 2014. That's about 11 percent of global GDP.

And the U.S. and China alone caused more than half of those losses.

Scholars said the data could someday open up the potential for legal action against the world's wealthiest nations.

Well, we're getting a spectacular new look at the universe. Baby stars in ancient galaxies. Incredible images coming from NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope.

But it's much more than pretty pictures. The world's premiere space observatory hopes to unlock the mysteries of the Big Bang that shaped the universe and uncover clues in the search for life beyond Earth.

More now from CNN's Rachel Crane.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A portal to a universe 13 billion years ago. Colliding galaxies giving birth to new star formation. Stellar and planetary nebulae in all their glory. And the first glimpse inside the cloudy atmosphere of an exoplanet. An extraordinary milestone for the James Webb Space Telescope, as NASA finally revealed the breathtaking first set of images, including the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the universe to date.

ERIC SMITH, PROGRAM SCIENTIST, JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE PROGRAM: We're making discoveries, and we really haven't even started trying yet. So the promise of this telescope is amazing.

CRANE: More than two decades in the making, and the result of a $10 billion investment, Webb is the largest and most advanced telescope ever to orbit the sun and sends back its groundbreaking data from one million miles away.

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Every image is a new discovery, and each will give humanity a view of the universe that we've never seen before.

CRANE (voice-over): But it's more than just a telescope. It's a time machine.

THOMAS ZURBUCHEN, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, NASA SCIENCE VISION DIRECTORATE: The way I think about it is a portal to the ancient times of the universe. A telescope is way more than just a way to look at nature. It's a way to unlock nature in new ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And lift off.

CRANE (voice-over): Launched on Christmas day of 2021, James Webb is 100 times more powerful than its predecessor, Hubble, and makes the mysteries of the universe observable using new technologies never before launched into space.

Webb transforms the invisible infrared light of the cosmos into something the human eye can see, study and investigate.

ZURBUCHEN: It's really our Apollo moment in science. It's -- it's -- we bet everything on it, and we got there.

CRANE (voice-over): Scientists see a once-in-a-generation chance to chase the big questions about our existence: How did we get here and are we alone?

And while we don't yet have the answers, as it's just the beginning, scientists are already blown away by the results.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is going to be revolutionary. These are incredible capabilities that we've never had before.

CRANE: Rachel Crane, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Truly incredible.

Well, thanks so much for joining me for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. WORLD SPORT starts after a short break, and we'll have much more news at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:30]

(WORLD SPORT)

[00:58:06]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)