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Russia's War On Ukraine; Extreme Weather; Monkeypox Outbreak; Uvalde School Shooting; Europe And Russia Work Together On ISS. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired July 24, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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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, missiles slammed into the Ukraine port of Odessa just hours after Russia signed a deal on grain exports. We are live in southeastern Ukraine and Istanbul with details on how the world is reacting.

Plus, for the second time in two years, the World Health Organization declares a global health emergency. Why experts say it is urgent to take monkeypox seriously.

And stifling heat on three continents. Many people are saying enough is enough. We will have the forecast from the World Weather Center.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM, with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: And we begin in Ukraine, which says its food export agreement is still on, despite a missile strike on its port city of Odessa by Russia. These strikes came just one day after Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement in Istanbul, which would allow Ukraine to resume grain exports, which much of the world desperately needs.

Condemnation of the attack has been swift with Britain saying Russia's word can't be taken at face value.

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LIZ TRUSS, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES: It is absolutely appalling that only a day after striking this deal, Vladimir Putin has launched a completely unwarranted attack on Odessa.

It shows that not a word he says can be trusted. And we need to urgently work with our international partners to find a better way of getting the grain out of Ukraine that doesn't involve Russia and their broken promises.

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BRUNHUBER: All right, for the latest, Ivan Watson is in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, and Nada Bashir is standing by in Istanbul.

Ivan, condemnation has come quickly and strongly. Take us through the fallout of this attack.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you just heard from the British foreign secretary, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, the U.S. secretary of state have all also denounced this and accused Russia of carrying out this attack on the Odessa port.

And there has also been a chorus of condemnation and basically "I told you so," coming from Ukrainian officials, across the gamut of regional and national government.

Take a listen to what the president of Ukraine had to say in his nightly address.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We see the absolute unanimity of the world's reaction to this strike. The occupiers can no longer deceive anyone.

Among other things, as a result of the strike, the building of the Odessa Art Museum was also damaged. The rockets hit very close to the historical objects of Odessa.

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WATSON: About a week ago, I was reporting in Odessa. You know, the port is around which this city is constructed. And there are a lot of security measures there.

For instance, all the security forces are very strict. You're not allowed to take any pictures, any video of the port facilities, because it is so sensitive, it is so precious to the Ukrainian economy.

And it's an integral part of this deal that was inked, signed just Friday evening, in Istanbul, mediated by Turkiye, the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia agreeing that this was going to be one of three ports that was going to be allowed to export grain to world markets that have seen the prices of wheat skyrocket, with the U.N. warning that some 40-50 million people will be pushed into acute hunger as a result of this around the world.

The U.N. secretary general called this a beacon of hope on the Black Sea, this deal. And then a strike on the port, where some of that grain would presumably be exported from, where a pump station was hit, according to the Ukrainian officials, we have heard from a deputy minister of infrastructure here in Ukraine that none of the actual grain exporting infrastructure was damaged by these strikes.

The foreign minister of Ukraine has put basically pressure now on Turkiye and the U.N. to say, look, we didn't sign this deal directly with Russia.

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WATSON: You guys mediated it. And now it is up to you to hold Russia to account, to make sure that this port, these ports and the infrastructure, are not further attacked by Russian cruise missiles, which I might add are being launched at Ukrainian cities and towns day and night. Back to you.

BRUNHUBER: Ivan, I just want to follow up with you, because Russia, after denying that they were behind these attacks, now we're getting word that Russians -- Russia's foreign ministry is saying that they indeed did attack what they are calling military infrastructure.

Do you know any more about this?

WATSON: I think this is attributed to the foreign ministry spokeswoman. It is interesting that in the first, kind of, 12 hours, 24 hours, there was very little commentary. And we were hearing a denial from the Turks, who were saying we heard from the Russians that the Russians didn't carry out an attack.

Now we're starting to get indications that the Russians are saying we hit a military target there.

I do have to caution our viewers that, in this war, both sides are hitting targets, both sides are trying to hide their military deployments from attacks. And they are not admitting when their soldiers are hit.

And you know, that is part of the psychological operations of this war.

Could it be possible that they would have hit some military object in the port?

I can't say, I can't confirm or deny that. It is also interesting that it has taken the Russian government more than 24 hours to figure out how to respond to the chorus of condemnation in these apparent missile strikes, carried out on a port that was part of a multinational deal that the Russians had just signed onto.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, Ukraine saying that the port was hit; Russia's foreign ministry saying that a Ukrainian naval vessel had been destroyed. So a lot of confusion about what is happening here.

I want to turn now for more on the response from Russia and from Turkiye, which helped to broker the deal.

Nada, what more can you tell us about all of this?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, there are some uncertainty still around this. The pressure is mounting on the Turkish government to continue its role as a mediator, to continue those talks with the Russian Federation and to ensure that not only is Russia held accountable but that the deal can be implemented.

We heard from the U.N. secretary general and he responded to the attack, saying that the U.N. is concerned and that it remains integral that Turkiye, Russia and Ukraine and of course the United Nations too, remain committed to this agreement.

There is so much urgency around getting this grain out of Ukraine and getting this operation off the ground and running.

We have heard from the Turkish government. They are continuing their technical talks and preparations alongside Ukraine to get this operation going. We have heard from Ukrainian officials, saying that they are still prepared to export this grain.

But the pressure is on Turkiye and the responsibility is on the Turkish government to ensure that this is going to happen safely. Under the terms of the agreement, Turkiye will be establishing a joint coordination center here in Istanbul, which will be charged with the responsibility of overseeing the passage of these vessels from the Black Sea port through the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus safely, through the safe corridors.

It is up to Turkiye now to prove that this deal can work safely and that we won't see any further attacks from the Russian Federation.

BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you so much. Nada Bashir in Istanbul and Ivan Watson in Zaporizhzhya.

All right, for more on this from Kharkiv, Ukraine security expert Maria Avdeeva.

Thank you so much for joining us. Just more on this attack on Odessa late in the wake of this grain agreement. It is hard to get into the mind of Vladimir Putin, of course.

What do you think is behind this sort of seesaw of agreeing to let the grain go through and then attacking the port?

MARIA AVDEEVA, UKRAINE SECURITY EXPERT: That is a usual Russian tactics. Russia wants to show that it can attack Ukraine anywhere, anytime. That is what has been done by the Russian troops throughout the war.

And Putin shows that he will not be committed to any agreement Russia makes and he can do what he wants, on the one hand. On the other hand, it shows that it threatens the security of the whole Black Sea region. And it means that, even if this grain deal will be in place and the convoys of ships --

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AVDEEVA: -- exporting grain will have a safe passage through the Black Sea, then it doesn't mean that Russia will guarantee their security.

And on the other hand, it means that the companies that are actually doing this, that are exporting the grain, they will have a lot of problems about the insurance and general security issues, because they will not be willing to enter the zone where the rockets fly and where their ships can be hit by the rockets.

BRUNHUBER: But you know, Vladimir Putin would surely be aware of the optics. I mean, I can't see how that would be worth it, just to send the message that he could attack Ukraine at anytime. He does that every day.

AVDEEVA: Right, absolutely. But this grain deal was a political agreement between the four sides. And as the Ukrainian officials put it, Russia has done with this missile attack was as spit on the face of the United Nations and Turkiye, who are the guarantees (sic) in this deal.

That means that Putin wants to show that he is fully control of the situation and he can do with he wants. That means that other parties in this deal now have to show (INAUDIBLE) -- now have to show (INAUDIBLE) -- sorry?

BRUNHUBER: I think we're just getting bleedthrough from some other audio. You can go ahead.

AVDEEVA: Yes, sorry.

I was saying that it means that Russia wants to show that it completely occupies the Black Sea and it spits in the face of Turkiye and the United Nations.

And these two parties, now, have to show Russia that, until it fully obliges to the deal, the export of the Ukrainian grain won't be made safely. So they have to push on Russia so that it gives more guarantees that the ships entering this safe corridor will not be targeted by Russian missiles.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean, surely that is part of the agreement. But the parties, according to our reporter there in Ukraine, saying that they're meeting today and this attack is going to be part of the discussions.

Will they have to widen the terms here to make sure that nothing in the port is attacked, to sort of guarantee that?

Because the U.N. was saying, well, technically they lived up to the agreement so far because they didn't attack the ships. They just attacked the port, which wasn't part of it.

AVDEEVA: That is only the excuse which Russia always makes while attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. We have seen numerous lies like that. There is not only one port; there's not only Odessa seaport but also the ports of Yuzhne and Chornomorsk (ph).

And this excuse can be made by Russia all the time. They can always lie that they were attacking some military targets, which is not the case.

Of course ad that shouldn't be -- or that shouldn't give grounds for Russia to continue its malign missile terrorist attacks on Ukraine. And that should be stopped.

And the other parties should put it very directly, not allowing Russia to use this excuse that it targets military objects, that it cannot any target any scene (ph), any target in Ukraine ports and Ukrainian Black Sea ports. That should be put very directly into the agreement and made part of it.

BRUNHUBER: What I want to ask you about, another obstacle, here there are hundreds of mines along the Black Sea, laid by both sides. Obviously, those mines would have to be swept and Russia will have to be involved in that, providing either intelligence as to the location of those mines, if not actually helping to sweep those mines themselves.

So all of that involves a great deal of trust that they will actually do this.

So is that a worry?

Because if a ship carrying grain hits a mine, you know, Russia can say, well, there's no way of knowing who put it there.

AVDEEVA: There is no trust to Russia that is absolutely assured. And about the safe passage, that was discussed here in Ukraine, that the Ukrainian coastline, the Ukrainian Sea will not be the mind because if it will be demined, it will open the seashore for possible Russian landing operations.

So Ukraine will not demine the sea. But Ukrainian armed forces know where the safe passage lies.

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AVDEEVA: And so does Russian forces for their side. So what will be done, there will be a safe corridor, made by a special ship. And this convoy of ships exporting grain will take this safe corridor.

It has to be, for now, made so it is not yet here. So we don't know where the safe corridor will go and probably it will go, for example, to the west of the sea line near yasmine (ph), near the Danube delta. We still don't know.

But it has to be made and the part of this deal was that Ukraine will not demine its coastline to make it fully protected against Russian landing operations.

Yes. Listen. We'll have to leave it there. So much at stake. Food for millions of people here. Thank you so much for your expertise, Maria Avdeeva. Appreciate it.

AVDEEVA: Thank you.

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BRUNHUBER: Flames are tearing through trees and sending massive plumes of smoke into the sky near Yosemite National Park. It is the largest of six active wildfires burning in California right. Now we will have the latest conditions when we return. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: California's governor has declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County due to the fast moving wildfire near Yosemite National Park. Hundreds of firefighters and emergency personnel are working to evacuate people and stop the flames from damaging the thousands of structures under threat.

The fire has already destroyed some homes as it burned nearly 12,000 acres or nearly 5,000 hectares since Friday.

A massive plume of smoke from the Oak fire towered into the sky on Saturday. A passenger on a flight from San Francisco snapped these pictures from his window seat, absolutely amazing there.

And another day of blistering temperatures is expected across parts of the U.S. Some 80 million Americans are under heat alerts today, mostly in the Central Plains, stretching into the Northeast.

Forecasters say some cities could see record breaking temperatures. And it could feel as hot as 107 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. Temperatures have been reaching into the triple digits in Oklahoma this week. Officials in Tulsa have opened cooling centers around the city to help people beat the heat.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get out here and I get a little -- you know, I need to stop. It's hot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't even look at the temperature because, if I knew how hot it was, I probably wouldn't even get out to do anything. I like going fast but not going so fast to where I'm just going to pass out on the road.

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BRUNHUBER: In Boston, the extreme heat forced organizers to postpone today's triathlon until late August.

Now it's not just the U.S. sweltering under scorching hot temperatures. Europe is also facing record breaking heat. But as you can see, that didn't stop thousands of people from coming out for the annual pride march in Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday. Meanwhile, soaring temperatures are also fueling wildfires in several

European countries. On Saturday, firefighters in Greece worked to contain a fire that broke out inside a national park.

Let's go to CNN's Barbie Nadeau in Rome.

Barbie, more than 1,000 heat deaths in Europe and raging fires. as I said. Take us through how Europe is being hit by all of this.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's just relentless. It just won't let up. We're not seeing these temperatures cool out, even at night, which makes it difficult.

Not a lot of people in southern Europe have air conditioning, so they're trying to find sorts of ways to keep cool, staying inside, going to shopping malls where there are air conditioning, swimming pools, going to the beach. People are really curtailing their daily activities to try to stay cool, try to not overheat.

That's expectedly important for the elderly and people with vulnerable health conditions, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Obviously, this extends beyond just discomfort and even danger. This extreme heat and all the fires as well, they are taking a toll on the European economy as well.

NADEAU: That's right. When you look at the economic effects, these wildfires have been rampant in Italy, Spain, Portugal and France. You're looking at a lot of different things, basic incomes of people who make money off of this.

Beekeepers in Greece are facing a lot of difficulties. People who are used to making violins in northern Italy are vulnerable as well. It costs a lot of money to fight these fires.

We're seeing a lot of reports now about the economic impact that these firefighters are having on local economies, at a time where gas is expensive, it takes a lot to fuel these trucks and airplanes that they're using to douse these flames.

So it's going far beyond than just the human cost; it's becoming an economic factor as well. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Barbie Nadeau in, Rome, thank you so much for that.

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BRUNHUBER: Pope Francis is on his way to Canada, where he is expected to make amends for historical transgressions by the Catholic Church. He was in a wheelchair as he boarded his flight in Rome a short time ago.

He will visit Edmonton and Quebec City and Iqaluit in Quebec's north, known for traditional Inuit culture.

During his six-day tour, he is expected to apologize for the church's role in the forced assimilation of thousands of Indigenous children, in so-called residential schools, over many decades. He is expected to meet Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors.

The White House says President Joe Biden continues to improve after his COVID diagnosis. Just ahead we will get the latest on the president's condition as he remains in isolation. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States and Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Joe Biden's doctor says the president's COVID symptoms continue to improve. Despite being in isolation, Biden's participating in virtual meetings. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from the White House.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, released this letter on Saturday, saying that the president's symptoms are improving. He detailed some of those primary symptoms the president is experiencing, including a sore throat and body aches.

So the president continues to respond well to that Paxlovid treatment, that antiviral drug and he will continue taking that medication.

Additionally, the president has been using an albuterol inhaler as needed for a cough. Dr. Kevin O'Connor saying he's doing that about 2- 3 times a day. The doctor noted that the president is not experiencing shortness of breath and that his oxygen saturation levels remain excellent and his lungs are clear.

Now White House chief of staff Ron Klain told reporters on Saturday that the president is feeling pretty well and he is spending the day on the phone, including some virtual conference calls.

And here is how Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, detailed the president's condition on Saturday.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: I spoke to Dr. O'Connor last night at 10 o'clock to get an update. And just as you said and you heard, the president continues to improve. And we have every reason to believe that he will do very well. Having

a runny nose, having someone who -- he has a history when he does get colds, that have nothing to do with COVID. He has a history of asthma and he uses a bronchodilator to make sure that he breathes well.

He has no trouble breathing at all right now.

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SAENZ: Additionally, Dr. Kevin O'Connor says the early sequencing results of the president's COVID-19 tests have come in and it indicates that he will most likely has the highly contagious BA.5 variant.

That is the variant that the majority of Americans currently contracting COVID-19 here in the country are experiencing at this moment.

Now while the president is isolating here at the White House, his wife, first lady Jill Biden, is spending the weekend up in Wilmington, Delaware. Her spokesperson tells me she tested negative for COVID-19 on Saturday and is not expecting any symptoms.

She is expected to remain there in Delaware until at least Tuesday, which would mark day five of President Biden's isolation. Dr. O'Connor said that the president will continue to isolate according to CDC guidelines but he will leave isolation once he tests negative -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

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BRUNHUBER: The World Health Organization is declaring the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. According to the agency, there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries with five deaths in Africa. The director general explained why the WHO is making the designation.

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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: WHO's assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region, where we assess the risk is high.

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BRUNHUBER: While public health officials are focusing their prevention efforts on men who have sex with men, experts have said that everyone is at risk of getting monkeypox.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I've seen projections that are, depending on estimates, that go from very high to very low. So I don't think that we have a stable estimate now to see what those protections will be. What I can say is that with the scale-up of testing, the scale-up of

information that we are getting out to providers, we anticipate that there will be more cases before there are less cases.

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BRUNHUBER: For more on this, I want to bring in Dr. Scott Miscovich. He is the president and CEO of Premier Medical Group USA. He's also a national consultant in the U.S. for COVID 19 testing. He joins me now from Hawaii.

Thanks so much for being here with us, Doctor. So I just want to start with the importance of this declaration.

How does it help?

DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, FAMILY PHYSICIAN AND NATIONAL CONSULTANT: Well, it brings public awareness, Kim. That is very important right now across the world.

Now we know that, for example, 80 percent of the cases or so are concentrated in Europe. But we are seeing a significant surge of cases across the United States in certain regions.

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MISCOVICH: And people with COVID haven't been paying attention to it as much and I think it needs to be brought to the forefront, for the medical community and the rest of the world.

BRUNHUBER: Just to be on flagging it, does it also sort of release money and certain mechanisms that could help fight this?

MISCOVICH: Well, every country is going to be different. And again two days ago, the White House put out an announcement that they're going to be moving forward with some more funding to do some testing and some research associated with monkeypox.

So, yes, there is no question that it should push it. But again, my concern with this, Kim, is that it's probably a little late. We're already 2.5 months into this. And now we're starting to put this up on the front burner.

BRUNHUBER: That's exactly what I want to ask you. Here in the past weeks, ever since monkeypox was spreading seriously around the world, I've had some members of the WHO Committee on monkeypox.

And I asked them directly why aren't they making this declaration now?

It is clear it is spreading quickly worldwide. They said, well, essentially it doesn't meet the criteria but they will keep monitoring the situation.

Well, here we are. I'd argue we knew all along that this declaration would have to be made.

So have we lost valuable time here?

MISCOVICH: Oh, we absolutely have lost valuable time. When you look at the incubation period and you look at the timing of this disease, I talked to a team of epidemiologists that I have working with us.

And we probably have nearly doubled the number of cases across the world because this is a little more asymptomatic and lower detected in certain groups. It is presenting a little differently. And we have waited too long, no doubt.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so we want to stress, no one is immune from this. Anyone would get the virus. But it is worth highlighting that overwhelmingly the cases have been among men who have sex with men.

We in the media and health officials, we don't want to stigmatize any communities. But if we do shy away from stressing who's at most risk and how this disease seems to be transmitting, which seems to be through sex, at least right now, aren't we doing the public a disservice here?

MISCOVICH: I mean, we do need to highlight that. There's no question about it. But let's look at the United States. We have an infant and a toddler who have contracted the disease. There are approximately, I think, eight women that have contracted the disease.

So what we are concerned about is this can be spread through contact droplets. So it can be spread through towels, it can be spread through sheets. And in the medical community, we are worried if this gets into the community of sex workers. And that can broaden the spread.

So we have a lot to stop right now because it can start breaking out of just the men having sex with men community very quickly.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, as we've seen with other diseases. Have to leave it there. But I really appreciate your expertise, Dr. Scott Miscovich, thanks so much for joining us.

MISCOVICH: Thank you, Kim.

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BRUNHUBER: Families in Uvalde, Texas, are now waiting even longer for some accountability over the botched law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. We will have details on the latest obstacle delaying justice when we return.

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BRUNHUBER: A man suspected of attacking U.S. House Republican Lee Zeldin has been arrested again, this time on a federal assault charge.

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REP. LEE ZELDIN (R-NY): And there is only one option.

DAVID JAKUBONIS, ASSAULT SUSPECT: You're done, you're done, you're done.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): What you're seeing there, that video shows 43-year-old David Jakubonis, walking on stage and grabbing Zeldin, who is running for New York governor, during a campaign event on Thursday.

Court documents describe the suspect using a self-defense keychain as a weapon. He was tackled by others and Zeldin, who was unharmed, Jakubonis was arrested and charged by state authorities after the attack and released shortly afterwards.

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BRUNHUBER: Families in Uvalde, Texas, who want the school district police chief fired, will have to wait. The superintendent says a meeting on the issue will be rescheduled quote, "in the very near future."

The school board called the meeting off -- Saturday's planned meeting after the attorney for Pete Arredondo gave notice of his due process rights. The police chief is on administrative leave and facing intense criticism over his handling of the law enforcement response of the massacre at Robb Elementary.

But as CNN's Rosa Flores reports, Uvalde families also want the superintendent and the whole school board to step down.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): That door I bet you is unlocked. I bet you it's unlocked.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's moments like these that have the families of the victims of the Uvalde school massacre outraged...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): We tell them and we tell them and we tell them.

FLORES (voice-over): -- and demanding that disgraced Uvalde Schools police chief Pete Arredondo lose his job. After surveillance video in a Texas house report showed he and hundreds of law enforcement officers responded to the scene, with some waiting for 77 minutes to stop the shooter.

Arredondo told "The Texas Tribune" that he didn't instruct officers not to breach the classrooms.

Uziyah Garcia, who went by Uzi, was among the 19 students and two teachers massacred. BRETT CROSS, UZIYAH GARCIA'S UNCLE: Spider-Man was his favorite

superhero.

FLORES (voice-over): His uncle, Brett Cross, who was raising him like a son, carries his ashes on a bracelet.

CROSS: It's a part of him but it's not his laugh, it's not his smile. It's not his energy.

FLORES (voice-over): This photo of Uzi was taken in Room 111 earlier this year, the same classroom where he and his classmates were slaughtered.

CROSS: You miss the love. You missed the interactions, the -- the hugs, the -- everything.

FLORES: How do you do it every day?

CROSS: I have to. I have kids. I have Uzi's brothers and sisters that are devastated, that are terrified to go to school, to go out and do things.

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CROSS: Those are our students. Those are our teachers. And they are no longer here.

FLORES (voice-over): With a new school year fast approaching, Cross went before the school board and gave them a deadline to fire Arredondo, who was placed on administrative leave last month.

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CROSS: If he's not fired by noon tomorrow, then I want a resignation and every single one of you board members, because y'all do not give a damn about our children or us.

FLORES (voice-over): That was Cross on Monday. So the school board missed its deadline. The school board was scheduled to meet Saturday regarding Arredondo's termination. But at his attorney's request, the meeting will be held at a later date.

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CROSS: It's too little, too late. So, therefore, we are going to start at the top and clean house.

FLORES (voice-over): Cross and many in the community are calling for the superintendent, the school board and the entire School Police department to be replaced.

CROSS: My kids are terrified to go to school. They are hurt. They are devastated. They pose questions that I can't answer.

FLORES: What do they ask you?

CROSS: Why?

I mean, they ask me, why.

Why?

My other son said, because he wasn't there at school that day, said he wished he would have gone and could have traded him places. No kid should have to feel that way.

He said, "I am bigger than him."

He can't -- I mean, he is broken. He's broken. And I can't take away his heartache. I can't take away his pain.

FLORES (voice-over): Murals of Uzi and the other victims are going up around town, as the community tried to find ways to heal, cope and remember.

CROSS: It's Spider-Man saying, "I love you" in sign language.

FLORES (voice-over): Cross got a tattoo in Uzi's honor, with 21 birds in the sky, one for each of the victims.

CROSS: Hug your kids a little extra longer. You never know when the last time you're going to get to see them.

FLORES: CNN has reached out to Arredondo's attorney and to the school district about this story. It has not heard back. The school district has previously said that they were waiting for the Texas house investigative report to make a determination on Arredondo -- Rosa Flores, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.

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BRUNHUBER: Before 10-year-old Alithia Haven Ramirez was gunned down with her classmates, she wanted to be an artist, who shared her creations with the world. Google is now helping.

The site opted to highlight her work, displaying her drawing on a special Doodle Search page, created for her and other Uvalde victims. Alithia entered her artwork in March as part of a competition. It depicts a girl on a sofa with two balls of yarn and a pet, with the obligatory Google spelled out in the art on the wall over the couch.

In her entry, she said, quote, "I want the world to see my art and show the world what I can do. I want people to be happy when they see my passion in art."

We will be right back.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Chinese).

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): China has successfully launched the second module for the Tiangong space station. Beijing is one step closer to its goal of completing construction of the space station by the end of the year.

The laboratory module was launched from a site on Hainan Island earlier today. It will dock with the space station's core module some 13 hours after launch.

The war in Ukraine has been raging for five months. But Russian and European astronauts are still working together on the International Space Station. In spite of personal feelings about the ongoing conflict, there is work that needs to be done. CNN's Kristin Fisher has the story.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Mission Control Houston. The hatch to the airlock is open.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's rare for a European astronaut to put on a Russian spacesuit and do a spacewalk with a cosmonaut outside the International Space Station.

But it's even more unusual, given the war in Ukraine raging a few hundred miles below, especially since this cosmonaut, Oleg Artemyev, is one of the three pictured here photographed a few weeks ago with the flags of two Russian occupied regions in Ukraine.

The other spacewalker is Samantha Cristoforetti with the European Space Agency or ESA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Samantha, it is your time to shine.

SCOTT KELLY, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I think Samantha doing that spacewalk with Oleg, the optics aren't the greatest, but they're in space. It's work that needs to get done.

FISHER: Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent nearly three months in space with Cristoforetti back in 2015.

Her mission on this spacewalk is to continue activating the European robotic arm that's attached to the Russian segment of the station.

It's the same robotic arm that the former head of Russia's space agency instructed cosmonauts to stop using earlier this month after Europe killed a separate space project with Russia over objections to the war in Ukraine. Dmitry Rogozin was removed as the head of Roscosmos just days later.

KELLY: I was really, really happy to see him go. FISHER: Kelly was one of Rogozin' most vocal critics, even getting into a few twitter fights before Rogozin blocked him. Rogozin repeatedly threatened to pull Russia out of the space station in response to U.S. sanctions. Now Kelly's hopeful that Rogozin's replacement, Yuri Borisov, will improve Roscosmos' relationship with NASA.

Borisov will now be in charge of overseeing a newly agreed upon seat swap. Starting in September, two Russian cosmonauts will launch on U.S. spacecrafts from Florida while two American astronauts will ride Russian rockets into space. It's a practice that's been done in the past but never with tensions this high.

KELLY: I have mixed feelings about it.

FISHER: The International Space Station has survived every conflict on earth for more than two decades and despite the war in Ukraine, this unlikely partnership continues in space, a European and Russian working side by side for seven hours to finish the job.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much for your hard work.

FISHER: Kristin Fisher, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: BRUNHUBER: And I will be back in just a moment with more news. Please stay with us. I from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.