Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Heavy Rainfall Expected Across The U.S.; Daughter Of Prominent Russian Supporter Killed When Vehicle Exploded; White House Announces New Measures To Stop Spread Of Monkeypox; London Steps Up Polio Vaccination Campaign; Former Mexican Attorney General Arrested Over 2014 Missing Students Case; Millions In California To Restrict Water Use; Pence Weighs In On Mar-A-Lago Search And Handling Of Classified Materials; Ukrainian Partisans Target Russians Behind Front Lines; Unmanned Artemis I Set To Launch End Of August. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired August 21, 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, more than 50 million people are currently under flood watches across the central and southwestern U.S. We'll bring you the latest from the CNN Weather Center.
A car explosion near Moscow kills the daughter of a key Putin ally. We'll have details in a live report.
And a siege of an upscale hotel in Somalia's capital is now over. We'll look at the toll and who is claiming responsibility for the deadly standoff.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin with the extreme weather threat across the central and southwestern U.S. where over 12 million people are under flood watches in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
The risk of flash flooding is high with these areas expecting heavy rain and thunderstorms throughout the day. In Utah, extreme weather forced a search and rescue mission at Zion National Park, as several hikers were swept off their feet by a flash flood. One person is still missing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BRUNHUBER: Russian state media report that the daughter of a prominent supporter of president Vladimir Putin was killed when the car she was driving exploded. And we're learning that Russians have opened a criminal investigation.
Our senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is joining us from Moscow with the details.
Still a developing story but what more do we know at this point?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly is a developing story. All of this happened late last night, when a car that was heading toward the outskirts of Moscow all of a sudden blew up and then crashed and burned out.
At the wheel of that car was Daria Dugina, the daughter of the prominent sort of pro Kremlin ideologue and philosopher Alexander Dugin.
[04:05:00]
PLEITGEN: Many credit him with laying the ideological groundwork for not only the invasion of Ukraine but in general for the sort of thinking toward Ukraine in some high circles in the Kremlin and elsewhere in Russia as well. Obviously a very expansionist theory of Russia.
But investigators have said that there was an explosive device placed inside the car. They say that they have launched an investigation. Daria Dugina, of course, died on the spot. Her father appears to be seen in some of the videos that have come in from the scene.
So obviously a big deal here in Russia as the sort of investigators have said that they launched the investigation. They have not placed blame yet.
But if you look around the sphere of a lot of the people prominent in pro Kremlin media, a lot are already blaming Ukraine for this, one calling it a terrorist attack by the Ukrainians, even though right now, of course, it is absolutely unclear who is behind this.
Again, Russians say they are still investigating. But certainly this is a massive deal here in Moscow, certainly a very prominent person who, by the way, was also coming from a sort of patriotic event inside Moscow as well.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, interesting to see what the ramifications of this will be. Fred Pleitgen joining us from Moscow, thank you so much.
And in Ukraine, there are warnings Russia may use the upcoming Independence Day holiday to launch its worst violence yet. On Wednesday Ukraine will mark 31 years since it declared independence from the Soviet Union.
Destroyed Russian tanks will be put on display in Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning Russia may try something particularly disgusting to derail the holiday. For more, David McKenzie is joining us from Kyiv.
What more do we know about the fears of violence tied to the celebrations?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very important week upcoming here in Ukraine. It is both the 31st anniversary of Ukraine gaining independence from the Soviet Union and the six months on from when this brutal war started.
So a lot of people here are reflecting on what they have lost in this fighting that has been stalled for several weeks, even months now, on those front lines but still seeing brutal acts of violence and shelling almost every single night.
President Zelenskyy has warned, given the significance of the moment, for people to be vigilant. He said they should not allow Russia to have people get despondent through its actions. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We should be aware that Russia may try to do something particularly disgusting and particularly violent next week. That is our enemy. But Russia was doing something disgusting and violent every week during those six months constantly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Kyiv itself has been spared from missile and rocket attacks for many weeks now. But I think people will be on edge as we approach this important milestone here in Ukraine.
BRUNHUBER: And David, there has been a lot of celebration around the deal that has enabled the first shipments of grain to leave Ukraine's ports.
Is that leading to more optimism around a larger peace deal?
MCKENZIE: The secretary-general of the U.N. was in Odessa in the last few days celebrating the deal that was brokered by Turkiye and the U.N. for Russia and Ukraine to cooperate, to allow ships to leave with massive amounts of grain that had been held hostage by the Russians there because of the conflict; 27 ships have now left with millions of tons of grain.
I should say -- to correct myself there; 650,000 tons. Millions of tons was and is still waiting to be released.
But you've heard from particularly Turkish officials several times now in the last few days, hinting that perhaps the deal that was secured on grain can be made into a more significant discussion on the overall state of the war and possibly some kind of cease-fire or peace negotiations.
But from the top of the echelons of the Ukrainian leadership, they have several times said that there is no way that at the moment it is the right time for any kind of negotiations.
President Zelenskyy himself several days ago said that Russians must leave all of the territory that they have gained during this conflict to even start that conversation.
So I think that, at least at this stage, diplomatically, a long way from that point. But still the death toll and violence continues. Several more people announced dead in that devastating attack in the northeast of Ukraine that happened last Wednesday, according to Ukrainian officials.
[04:10:00]
MCKENZIE: The death toll mounts here even as Ukrainians work up to celebrate -- probably the wrong word -- but at least commemorate the anniversary of their liberation from the Soviet Union.
BRUNHUBER: David, thank you so much.
A deadly siege at a luxury hotel in Somalia is now over. At least 20 people were killed after gunmen stormed the Hyatt hotel in Mogadishu Friday evening. Dozens of others were injured. Larry Madowo is following this story from Nairobi.
So, Larry, what more can you tell us about the attack and who is behind it?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're waiting to hear more from Somali police. They told CNN a few hours ago that the siege was over. The siege took more than 30 hours at this hotel that is frequented by local politicians, senior government officials and even some journalists.
It began Friday night, when gunmen detonated three explosives outside the hotel. And then they made their way into the building and began to shoot at staff and guests there and took some hostages.
We have the confirmed number of 20 dead but the fear is that that death toll could be much higher as they go room by room and essentially sum up those would have been taken to hospitals.
One hospital at least said that they were receiving some people in critical condition and even some bodies. So still a ways to go here to get the full extent of the damage and the pain, the tragedy of what happened at this hotel.
But we heard from a police source, an elite counterterrorism force was inside the hotel engaging with the gunmen. Here is video from last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO (voice-over): So there was gunfire and some explosions into the night. That was more than 30 hours after the siege began. The Al- Shabaab has claimed responsibility. This is the first time that this group has attacked Mogadishu.
They seem to be sending a message with this attack. The U.S. redeployed troops to Somalia in May. But as President Biden decided to send back troops on the ground after president Trump withdrew troops at the end of 2020 and has carried out recent airstrikes against the Al-Shabaab, the most recent one last week killed 13 Al-Shabaab fighters.
But still a long battle to try to limit this group that has carried out attacks in Somalia, sometimes almost daily and even here in Kenya, at a mall, at a university and a hotel complex.
BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much, Larry Madowo. Appreciate it.
Another virus is spreading, monkeypox. After the break, we'll look at what health officials in the U.S. are doing to get ahead of the spread.
And repercussions in Mexico because of dozens of students who went missing eight years ago, details ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Monkeypox has caused officials to declare a local public health emergency in King County, Washington. An emergency proclamation was signed on Friday. Officials say it will give them the flexibility to respond effectively. There have been nearly 300 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the county.
The Biden administration has declared it to be a national public health emergency, with 14,000 cases confirmed by the CDC.
Meanwhile, earlier this week the Biden administration announced new measures to address the outbreak. They are making nearly 2 million more vaccine doses available. And they are working to get the word out to those at increased risk, including a plan to make thousands of doses available during pride events. Jacqueline Howard has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: This weekend appears to be the start of the Biden administration's new monkeypox response strategy. And that includes ramping up vaccinations.
So some states are already participating in these efforts. In North Carolina, a pilot program from the White House and CDC is underway to distribute monkeypox vaccines at Charlotte pride events this weekend.
This comes at a time when United States is home to about a third of the monkeypox cases in the world.
There are more than 14,000 cases in the U.S. and more than 40,000 in the world. When you think about it, the U.S. makes up 4 percent of the world's population but, based on these numbers, about 35 percent of the world's monkeypox cases. And the hope among health officials for the new U.S. response strategy
to get the virus under control -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The polio virus may be spreading in New York state. Last month, one case was diagnosed in Rockland County. Just a few weeks later, the virus was found in wastewater in New York City. The CDC says further testing shows that it was in state wastewater as early as April.
A former CDC official says vaccinations are more important than ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: We're always at risk of new infectious agents or infectious agents that we thought were in our history, of them coming back to our country.
And what it says to me as a pediatrician and a parent is it is so important to ensure that our children are vaccinated fully and on time so that, if and when things like polio are reintroduced to our country, our children are fully safe and protected.
And there a lot of children out there who are not fully vaccinated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: New York health officials say the Rockland County case is just the tip of the iceberg and expect there are several hundred cases in the community.
And in London, another metropolitan area, the polio virus has been detected in wastewater. Health officials are now scrambling to protect the most vulnerable and get them vaccinated.
[04:20:00]
BRUNHUBER: Salma Abdelaziz has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a disease once eradicated from the U.K. But after decades of zero cases, polio appears to be spreading again.
A total of 116 instances of the virus were identified in 19 sewage samples collected in London between February and July this year, officials say. No cases of the virus have been reported in the U.K. so far. And the risk to the public is considered low. But this doctor says officials have reason for concern.
DR. NATALIE ROUT, U.K. NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE: It has come as quite a surprise that we've seen so many cases identified in sewage, which suggests that there may be some transmission between people.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In response, the U.K. announced a vaccination drive for children aged 1 to 9 in London.
ROUT: There are many children who haven't had their usual course of immunizations, which is why there is a real concern that that opens up people to potentially contracting polio.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Polio was once one of the world's most feared diseases, striking children younger than 5 the hardest. The worst form of the virus can lead to permanent paralysis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long have you been here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): There is no cure for polio. Vaccination is the only prevention.
ABDELAZIZ: Polio was first detected in sewage samples from this facility. Afterwards, more samples were taken from other sewage facilities across London and more polio was found.
What is concerning for officials is that these areas, these neighborhoods, have lower vaccination rates.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In London, nearly 14 percent of infants under 12 months have not received a primary course of polio immunization. The shortfall is significant, says Professor David Heymann.
ABDELAZIZ: Is this an overreaction in any way by public health officials?
DR. DAVID HEYMANN, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Absolutely not. This is what needs to be done in all countries because we live in a world where people travel very much and can carry infections with them.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But with vaccine hesitancy and fatigue soaring, doctors will face a challenge.
ROUT: There is a real drive for us to reach the communities where vaccination isn't really done, isn't really encouraged and just try and myth-bust a little bit about why vaccination is important.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The government aims to complete the polio vaccine drive by September 26, a major feat for an overstretched health service but, it says, a necessary response to protect the city's youngest -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: A Mexican court has issued arrest warrants for 83 people in connection with the disappearance of dozens of students back in 2014. The suspects, mainly military personnel and police, are accused of organized crime, forced disappearance, torture and homicide. The warrants were issued just hours after a former attorney general
was arrested in connection with the case. The disappearance of 43 students on their way to a protest eight years ago sparked international outrage. Rafael Romo has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): "Where are our children?"
The question has been asked thousands of times but the answer remains elusive.
For the last eight years, the parents of 43 missing college students have been asking the same question. They have marched around Mexico. They have met with top Mexican government officials, even with president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who welcomed them at Mexico's national palace, the presidential mansion.
At one point they even commandeered whole plazas in a desperate effort to remind the forgetting nation that their children were still missing.
It has been almost eight years since 43 students from a rural teacher's college in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero went missing and the whereabouts of most of them remains a mystery, except three who were confirmed dead after small bone fragments were identified, thanks to DNA testing.
A report unveiled by Mexico's undersecretary for human rights, who led a truth commission on the case, provided more details but no definitive answer. He said the disappearance constitutes a crime of the state, in which members of a criminal gang and Mexican security forces were involved and complicit.
He also said that federal and state authorities at the highest level looked the other way and were negligent, even when they had knowledge of what was happening.
Yet no answer for the only question that matters to the parents, "Where are our children?"
Through a human rights group, the parents only said --
[04:25:00]
ROMO (voice-over): -- that they "have decided to deeply analyze the commission's report before making their reaction public."
A month after the students went missing, Emiliano Navarrete told us that his son, Jose Angel, called him the night he disappeared to let him know the students were being shot at by police.
By the time we met him again a year later, the government's version that the students were killed and their bodies burnt at a landfill had been discredited by an independent group of forensic experts.
When we met again, he was still clinging to the hope of finding his son alive.
"Believe me, I will bring him back," he said.
Other parents have told us over the years that they aren't even hoping for justice to be done anymore. A parent once told me, "We just want to be able to give our children a proper burial" -- Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In Turkiye, at least 34 people have been killed in separate traffic accidents. We want to warn you, the first video is graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): It captures the terrifying moment a truck carrying fertilizer lost control and plowed into pedestrians and cars in southeastern Turkiye. At least 19 people were killed and 26 others injured.
Turkiye's health minister says the failure of the truck's brakes was to blame.
And to the east of the first accident, at least 15 people died when a bus veered off the highway and crashed in to an unrelated traffic crash. Among the dead were three firemen, two paramedics, two journalists and eight bus passengers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Millions in California are being asked to restrict their water use. We'll get what some people are doing to help save the valuable resource.
Plus what one school district in Virginia is doing to solve a big teacher shortage problem.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
More than 12 million people across southwestern and central U.S. are under flood watches. Heavy rains have pummeled part of Arizona, flooding streets in Phoenix and elsewhere. In New Mexico and West Texas, the risk of flash flooding is also high, with some areas expecting heavy rain and thunderstorms throughout the day.
Millions in southern California are looking at more water restrictions amid an extreme drought. Residents have been asked to suspend outdoor watering for 15 days next month, as officials work to fix a leak in a 36-mile water pipeline from the Colorado River. CNN's Mike Valerio has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This critical repair is expected to happen between September 6th and the 20th. And one of the reasons that we picked this backdrop is to show you just part of the expanse that will be affected by this.
As we zoom in right in front of us, this is Culver City, California, just about 40,000 people. And as we zoom in a little farther, just to the right of the Century City skyscrapers, that is Beverly Hills, which is just about 30,000 people.
Both of these communities within the several dozen that will be without Colorado River water for the middle of next month. So as we have more and more of these shortages and you look at this green expanse, more people are tearing out their green lawns, replacing them with native plants that use far less water.
You'll hear from a homeowner who is doing that exact thing, in addition to a potential vision of the future. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOREEN JANSEN, HOMEOWNER: Although I didn't want to say goodbye to my beautiful lawn -- it was like a park -- I realized that the grass wasn't going to make it. So I decided to change the landscape and put in some arid plants.
BILL MCDONNE, WATER EFFICIENCY MANAGER, METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT: What we want is, in the future, people to be walking down the street, taking their dog or kids for a walk and, when you do see a yard that is turf, that is not the normal. That is the Abby Normal. So we want something a little different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: So many of us can sympathize with Doreen Jansen right there. But what we found through our reporting is that there are now a multitude of localities throughout southern California that are paying people between $2 and $6 per square foot to tear out their lawns, put in native desert plants that use far less water -- Mike Valerio, CNN, Culver City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Turning now to the FBI search of Donald Trump's Florida home, we expect to learn this week whether a federal judge will unseal all or part of the affidavit seeking the warrant. The FBI agents seized nearly a dozen sets of sensitive materials at
the location, including some marked with the highest secrecy. The Biden administration is not commenting publicly. But some officials are privately expressing concern over how and why Trump had them. Ex- Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen offered his opinion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP PERSONAL ATTORNEY AND FIXER: I believe that Donald was going to use it as a get out of jail free card, I think he was going to look to ultimately extort America in order to prevent them from incarcerating him or at least indicting him.
If you put me in handcuffs, this goes out to China, North Korea, it goes out to Russia.
Would he use information to blackmail the country in order to keep him free?
Absolutely, 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Trump and his defenders claim he had a standing order to declassify the materials. But 18 ex-Trump officials dispute any such order was ever given. The latest from Arlette Saenz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House has largely refrained from weighing in on the FBI search of Mar-a-lago. But CNN has learned that a U.S. official has expressed concern over the classified documents taken by former president Trump, especially when it comes to what it could mean for the intelligence community moving forward.
Now the White House does not have any window into what exactly was contained in that material. But officials are concerned that it could put the sources and methods that the intelligence community uses to gather information at risk.
There are also some diplomatic concerns as well and whether there might be any tensions with allies over some of those documents that were taken by the former president.
Now the White House has really adopted this very tight lipped strategy when it comes to addressing that FBI search, trying to maintain some distance from the Justice Department's investigation.
The White House has said that President Biden has not been briefed on the probe and that they are simply learning of the latest developments as they have emerged through the press.
Now meanwhile, the man who served alongside former president Donald Trump, former vice president Mike Pence --
[04:35:00]
SAENZ: -- said that he took a different approach to classified documents when he left office.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Pence was directly asked whether he retained any classified information when he left the White House.
And he responded, quote, "No, not to my knowledge."
He also declined to weigh in any further on the FBI search and the documents that the former president might have taken saying, quote, "I honestly don't want to pre-judge it before, until we know all the facts."
So far no further comment from the former vice president as to the way that president Trump handled those documents. But the current White House, behind closed doors, is expressing concern about how this all played out -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Just over a week before public schools are scheduled to open for the new school year in Philadelphia. And a union representing about 2,000 bus drivers, attendants, mechanics and others have voted to go on strike if they don't have a new contract by the end of this month.
The union is asking for higher wages, better training programs, like active shooter training. School district officials say they are hoping to security a new contract as soon as possible.
In Virginia, the Richmond school district is offering financial incentives to fix a big teacher shortage. Experienced teachers would get a $10,000 payout and new teachers $8,000.
They need to fill about 120 classroom vacancies before the school year starts in about a week. School officials say this is the most widespread teacher shortage in decades. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON KAMRAS, SUPERINTENDENT, RICHMOND PUBLIC SCHOOLS: This is the worst I have seen it in about 25 years in education. And I think that it is the accumulated stress, exhaustion, feelings of disrespect that many teachers experienced over the last two, three years throughout the pandemic.
And so it is not just localities struggling to find folks. The entire field has contracted over the last year or two.
And so I think really going forward, we're going to need much greater investment and teacher preparation and support, once teachers come into the classroom. That is certainly pay.
But it is so much more than that. It is better professional training, better support for principals so they can cultivate teacher leadership in their buildings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The district is also trying to find long-term substitutes to fill some of the vacancies.
All across the country, parents of students are feeling the pressure from yet another shortage: bus drivers. Nadia Romero has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a nationwide shortage of school bus drivers. And we're seeing it in places like Tempe, Arizona, and right here in the Atlanta area. We're outside of one of the bus depots for Fulton County schools here.
And you can see behind me there are plenty of buses but not enough drivers. The school district says they are short about 200 drivers to start the school year.
And take a look at the numbers. Just Saturday morning, there were two recruiting fairs to try to lure in more people who would want to drive a school bus. They are offering more than $20 an hour, a six-hour workday and paid training, amongst other bonuses and incentives to try to get people do the job.
I want you to hear from one Georgia school bus driver, who says that it has been so difficult with just having staffing shortages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUANITA JACKSON, SCHOOL BUS DRIVER: We just work harder and longer and double back and try our best to get them all home as safely and fast as we can. It is an important job and people don't realize we really do need you. We need them out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMERO: It is not just happening in Georgia; in St. Louis, the public schools there, they are having to cancel about 35 routes. The superintendent says they are giving away weekly gas cards, $75 gas cards and metro passes, to parents and students, who are impacted.
But they hope to have that issue resolved in the first two weeks. They start school on Monday -- Nadia Romero, CNN, Fulton County, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: A different type of fighter goes after Russian targets in Ukraine. Still ahead, how Russian troops and critical infrastructure are coming under partisan attack.
And NASA is taking its first steps to return men and women to the moon. The Artemis program is about to launch. Details coming up.
(MUSIC PLAYING) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: A sophisticated piece of Russian military hardware, blown to smithereens by Ukrainian forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Ukraine says this video shows a strike on a Russian counter artillery radar on Friday, followed by a massive explosion that reportedly also destroyed a number of Russian military vehicles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones are keeping Russian air defenses busy in Crimea. This video reportedly of them trying to intercept a drone in Western Crimea on Saturday. Earlier in the day Russia said it shot down another drone that ended up crashing on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So while Russia and Ukraine trade fire on the battlefield, some Ukrainians are putting up stiff resistance behind enemy lines. They are partisans, waging clandestine war in occupied parts of Ukraine.
They go after anything from infrastructure to suspected Russia collaborators. And Ukraine says they blew up a key railway bridge near Melitopol that Russia used to transport military equipment.
And the director of U.S. National Intelligence said in June, partisan activity in southern Ukraine was rising.
Alya Shandra is the editor-in-chief of the "Euromaidan Press," a site that recently covered the work of partisans and she is joining me from Kyiv.
Thank you so much for being here with us. So talk to us about these partisans.
Who are they?
Describe the profile of a typical resistance fighter.
ALYA SHANDRA, "EUROMAIDAN PRESS": In the first days of Russia's occupation of southern Ukraine, there was really a huge resistance movement. People were coming out into the streets, protesting.
Very quickly because Russians used force against them and wounded many, it died down. But the resistance did not. So basically many of those people who were against the occupation, who participated in those rallies now self organized and have become the partisan movement.
And this movement is coordinated by a division called the special operations forces. And it was actually in 2016 this division was created. And so the profile of a typical fighter, it could be really anybody. It could be somebody who has military training and can do some complicated tasks.
[04:45:00]
SHANDRA: It could be somebody who just wants to resist in a smaller way and participates in a sticker war and just goes out every night and plasters occupied cities with stickers and posters, saying that the Ukrainian army will come soon, that the Ukrainian army is close and collaborators will not survive. So both of these --
(CROSSTALK)
BRUNHUBER: So let me jump in because I want to ask you, we gave sort of two recent examples of their work in destroying certain things. Take us through sort of what effect they are having.
SHANDRA: They are having a huge effect. Many analysts think that, because the resistance movement is so strong, it is preventing Russia from absorbing those regions. As you know, they -- Russian occupiers -- want to hold a sham referendum in southern Ukraine and justify the absorption of these occupied regions into Russia.
They have postponed it so many times. And this is because of the active resistance movement. They see that they have no support. They cannot find the people willing to carry out the referendum. So partisans are working within the occupied territory while the Ukrainian armed forces are bouncing (ph) from the site of Mykolaiv.
BRUNHUBER: As you point out, not all of these activities are violent. As you said, some of them spray graffiti, others distribute leaflets and so on. In Kherson they even launched a newspaper.
How important are communications and psychological warfare in this war?
SHANDRA: Communications are hugely important. Of course, we don't know exactly how the resistance movement works, because the details are scarce because, from the few entries that we're given by its participants, a huge role is played by messengers and DPNs (ph), by which they communicate and plan their operations.
As well there is a special chatbot that was organized by the special operations forces, where anybody can submit information on the movement of Russian troops, the movement of Russian equipment.
So I'm sure that there are secure means of communication of these partisans with the Ukrainian military for more sensitive operations, such as monitoring the equipment and personnel. BRUNHUBER: On the flip side, I mean, they are targeting so-called
collaborators, who they deem as traitors.
But is there a danger that they could get it wrong, that without sort of proper high-level intelligence and coordination, that they could target innocent civilians or enact sort of a form of mob justice?
SHANDRA: Well, you know, I think the last thing on their minds is mob justice. Basically they are living in an occupied territory, where they could be killed any moment, anytime that they are going out on these operations. I don't think that they would want to risk their lives for some mob justice really.
And, of course, like where do they get these lists of collaborators?
Well, it is fairly obvious. A person in Kherson agrees to collaborate with Russian occupiers and takes up a position. There's really no room for a mistake there. They have taken up a position, they are in command. They are collaborating with the Russians. So there is really very few chances of any mob justice in this case.
BRUNHUBER: Let me ask you before we go; I mean, there has been plenty of reporting that Vladimir Putin overestimated the amount of support that he could count on in Ukraine.
On the flip side, do you think that they have also underestimated the ferocity of the resistance behind the lines as well?
SHANDRA: I think definitely. I think that they have definitely underestimated the resistance. They thought that they would march in here and be greeted with flowers.
That is not happening. Ukrainians are resisting behind the lines and the Ukrainian army just needs more equipment, more weapons to finish off the job, to drive Russian occupiers off our land.
BRUNHUBER: We'll have to leave it there. Alya Shandra, thanks so much, I appreciate your time.
SHANDRA: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(SPORTS)
[04:50:00]
(SPORTS)
BRUNHUBER: Just ahead, a small plane makes an emergency landing and winds up at the end of a driveway. We'll have the amazing details coming up.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (MUSIC PLAYING)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): You're looking at a video of a small plane after it made an emergency landing on a residential street in Orlando, Florida. It came to rest at the foot of a driveway. According to Florida Highway Patrol, the pilot sustained minor injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: For the first time in 50 years, NASA plans to send humans to the moon. A giant step toward that goal takes place later this month with the launch of an unmanned rocket in the beginning of the Artemis program. CNN's Christina Macfarlane reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mega moon rocket on a slow 6.4 kilometer ride aboard a giant NASA crawler before reaching its launch pad this week.
One of the final steps before the unmanned Artemis I begins a mission set to journey farther than any spacecraft built for humans before.
It is the first time in about half a century that a NASA-built rocket is set for a lunar-bound liftoff. On August 29th, the Artemis I mission is set to begin a 42-day journey that travels around the moon before returning to Earth.
Sitting atop its rocket is NASA's Orion astronaut capsule, designed to separate from the rocket in space. It carries 54 kilograms of cargo, including a commander Moonikin, a suited mannequin that can collect data on what a human crew might experience.
Two other Phantoms, Helga and Zohar, will be aboard, made of material that mimics the soft tissue of organs and bones of a woman.
This time the mission is unmanned but the launch of the most powerful rocket ever built kicks off a more ambitious plan. This is the start of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025. Eventually build a lunar base and make way for further exploration to Mars and maybe even beyond -- Christina Macfarlane, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Please do stay with us.
