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Ukraine Launches Major Military Push in Russia-Held Territory; Pakistan Pleads for Global Help as Floods Kill at Least a Thousand; Air Travel Complaints Up Above Pre-Pandemic Levels; Two Killed, One Injured in Oregon Grocery Store Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 29, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:31:44]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Ukrainian forces right now are going on the offensive in southern Ukraine in an attempt to claw back territory captured by Russia.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A military source tells CNN Ukrainian troops have just retaken four villages from Russian control. This is in the south, near Kherson.
CNN's Melissa Bell is in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Melissa, what more are you learning?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, this is a counteroffensive that's now been acknowledged by Moscow itself that has described it as having failed miserably. So at least an acknowledgment from the Russian side that it has been going on.
This is what the Ukrainians hope will mark a crucial turning point. It had been under preparation for some time, Victor, and what's been crucial to that preparation has been, according to Ukrainian military, the ability of Ukrainian forces to strike behind front lines and get deeper into Russian-held territory, namely hitting ammunition depots and bridges that had allowed them to provide supply route all the way to Kherson.
Have a listen to what the former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko had to tell CNN's Jim Sciutto earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We started today at 7:00 a.m. with the shelling and the missiles attack, and this is the first time since February 2022 when such a concentrated of Ukrainian troops with the Western artillery and with the Western HIMARS and Western missiles was collected together for this counterattack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Petro Poroshenko going on to explain that it's specifically those HIMARS, the high mobility artillery systems, provided -- rocket systems provided by the United States that have made such a difference, allowing them to cut off those supply, which now clearly this counteroffensive is just beginning, but it will be a crucial test for Ukrainian forces who are finally hoping to change the momentum and also to break that Russian line with those fears on the Ukrainian side that there might be some sort of stalemate along that line, allowing that whole land bridge that goes from Russian control in Crimea all the way to Russia to represent the sort of territory that Russia might have tried to claim for itself in an annexation -- Victor and Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Melissa, we also have these new images that show the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. As you know, it's been under constant shelling. And these images apparently show four holes in the roof of a building there, right there on your screen. These are near Russian armored vehicles. So what does all this tell us?
BELL: Well, first of all, we've managed to geolocate these pictures showing that they are indeed from the Zaporizhzhia power plant. But we don't know exactly what the building is, Alisyn. I think it's important to note that the fears that have been raised by that shelling, the fighting around the plant these last few days focuses not so much on a potential breach that would come from shelling, but rather to do with what we saw last Thursday, which would be the plant being cut off from the electricity grid because that would lead, in the words of the Ukrainian president last week, to a nuclear disaster, the likes of which Europe hasn't seen in a very long time.
But clearly of extreme concern, those holes. Now they have been, according to the Russian side has said that this is the result of Ukrainian shelling. Both sides have been blaming the other for the fighting and the shelling around the plant itself, and it's very difficult for us to verify exactly who's been responsible for what.
[14:35:06]
What you also see on those images as you say are those Russian armored vehicles and that's crucial because Russia has been claiming that this is not a part of the country that it's used for its military forces, for its military hardware. And yet neither side considering the option of a demilitarized zone. Now crucially that team from the IAEA now here in Kyiv and will be heading to the plant later this week to carry out its inspection. I think that will be of great reassurance to the whole of Europe -- Alisyn and Victor.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Really helpful information. Melissa Bell, thank you for being there for us.
So Pakistan is facing one of the worst climate disasters in recent history. More than 1,000 people have already died from record flooding. We have the latest ahead.
CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT:
[14:40:27]
CAMEROTA: Pakistan is pleading for international aid as the country faces one of its worst climate disasters ever. BLACKWELL: In just two months, heavy rain, widespread flooding has
left nearly 1100 people dead, more than 350 of them children. People there are bracing for more devastation. By the end of the monsoon season, floodwaters are expected to cover up to a third of the country, which has a population of 220 million.
CNN's Sophia Saifi is in Karachi, Pakistan for us. What's the situation there now?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Victor, we've been told by Pakistan's Climate Change Ministry and other officials that 33 million Pakistanis have been affected by these floods. There's also already been a financial crisis within the country, so Pakistan's government has been asking for humanitarian and financial assistance. Just this afternoon, Miftah Ismail, Pakistan's finance minister, held an important press conference in which he said that the National Disaster Management Authority had asked him for $450 million U.S. to continue their relief efforts across these floods that have spanned from the north to the south of the country, and he said that Pakistan simply doesn't have that kind of money.
There is a giant IMF fund loan that's spending that has finally come through, so that will provide some sort of relief. But administrators and government officials have been scrambling to assist the people on the ground. This is an unprecedented level of flooding. It's been called a monster monsoon this year. And we'll just have to wait to see how Pakistan and its people are going to pick up the pieces after this crisis -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Sophia, the images are just incredible to see what they're going through. Thank you very much for reporting from Karachi for us.
Let's bring in meteorologist Tom Sater. He joins us from the CNN Weather Center.
So you want to talk about that that's happening, as well as this tropical storm system that could affect the U.S. What are you seeing?
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, there's a lot going on, Alisyn. This is video back behind me from July in Pakistan. What many may not realize is that when the monsoon rains move into India, it's like clockwork. Pakistan, the northwest border there, and just like in the counter, it begins around June 1st and we watch it move northward. A flurry of activity. Millions are planting to try to get, you know, their seeds down before the rain moves in.
But what's happened here is typically now that Pakistan that sees the rain this time of year, they get three or four waves of rainfall. They're on their eighth right now. So you got areas here. Here's Pakistan. Everything in that yellow is over a foot of the 60 inches, departure from normal, 20 inches above. 130 bridges have been wiped out, nearly 500,000 homes, 1800 miles of roads wiped out.
Now when you see this image, this is from one year ago. This is the Indus River, and you can just see the massive amount of flooding. So they live and die by the monsoon rains, unfortunately it is destroying all the agricultural benefits that they're going to have in the days ahead. So there will be some drying. It looks like it's going to dry out for the next several days. The monsoon then, as it moves northward, also retreats, beginning in September, so that will start sliding back southward across India as well.
Other subjects here, where have the hurricanes been? I mean, who's complaining? The peak is the second week of September, around September 10th. This is when the activity really starts to pick up and exactly that is happening. We watched the waves come off the coast of Africa, got one, you know, around the Caribbean, too. That's an area of concern. 80 percent chance.
Now I know Labor Day plans, water is warm enough for these systems to really pick up. But if you look at the forecast models, this moves it north of the Bahamas toward southeast U.S. but then curves it back toward Bermuda. Doesn't mean that necessarily will happen but again the models are kind of hinting that could be the story. So right now we're going to have to watch it for a few more days. The next name will be Danielle. We haven't even had our fourth named storm yet. But who's complaining, right?
BLACKWELL: Nobody. Tom Sater, thank you very much.
Air travel complaints, they soared at the beginning of this summer. Of course you know thousands of flights were canceled. We'll look ahead to this last major test of the summer travel season and that potential for a storm out there could have something to do with it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:48:51]
CAMEROTA: New data from the Department of Transportation shows air traveler complaints soaring in June. Nearly 270 percent above their pre-pandemic levels.
BLACKWELL: And CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now. So tell us about this surge. What's behind it?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Victor, this really represents the pain that passengers have been experiencing during this summer of air travel struggles. 45,000 flight cancellations by U.S. carriers since the 1st of June.
Look at the breakdown of the new numbers from the Department of Transportation. 5860 complaints in total. 28 percent of them, no big surprise here, over cancellations and delays, 25 percent of those complaints about getting refunds from the airlines. On a normal year, June 2019, you would have seen that number about 1500 complaints during that month. Now it's up to 5800. So that's a 270 percent increase.
This really reflects this huge problem from passengers, also this huge problem for the airlines as they're under so much pressure from the Biden administration to perform.
[14:50:02]
Airlines say their staffing struggles aren't all on them, and really put some of the blame back on the federal government. They say that shortages are at every level of the aviation system, not just pilots and flight attendants, but also for air traffic controllers even for baggage handlers. Every possible step of the process.
I want you to listen now to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who says that airlines really need to step it up with the Labor Day travel rush on the horizon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I'm calling on the airlines to step up their game before we have to do even more. There's always going to be a storm somewhere, a surprise somewhere, an issue somewhere, but we need a stronger system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: The Department of Transportation is about to roll out a new Web site ahead of this travel rush ranking airlines by the rights that they offer to passengers when they cancel or delay a flight. A lot of pressure from the federal government as airlines are still struggling to perform. This will be their last big salvo of the summer time. We'll see if it works out for them -- Victor and Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: And Pete, now we have to worry about our pilots fighting each other mid-flight, so Air France suspended these two pilots who got into a fight in the cockpit during a flight. What were they fighting about? I'm just curious.
MUNTEAN: Well, it's interesting here because there are two different versions of the story. One from Air France, one from the French language newspaper that initially broke this story. The "Geneva Tribune" says that these pilots on this Air France flight from Geneva to Paris were essentially at each other's throats, holding each other by the collar, and trading blows. Air France says this was all over inappropriate gestures that one pilot made to another one.
This incident happened back in June. It's only now coming to light. Air France says it's under investigation. And in a statement, the airline says the safety of the flight was never compromised, and the flight continued normally after this incident was resolved.
We will see as this comes out because there has been a lot of bad press for Air France recently, in fact, the Bureau of Aviation in France recently said there might be a systemic problem in the culture of the pilot corps at Air France, and that pilots may be purposefully or otherwise just not doing normal safety procedures as also happened back during an incident in December of 2020, when there was a fuel leak. They didn't do the right thing according to these investigators.
CAMEROTA: Well, if they're in fistfights I would say something is going wrong with the protocol.
Pete Muntean, thank you for that reporting.
So House Republicans are growing pessimistic about their chances of winning a significant majority in the midterms. What this means for Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's hopes to secure the speaker's gavel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:57:25]
CAMEROTA: The U.S. had another weekend of gun violence. 11 mass shootings since Friday. Two of those in New York. In Manhattan alone, 16 people were shot, five of them fatally. In Houston, at least three people were killed and two others injured. Police said a gunman started several fires at a rental property early Sunday, and then opened fire at residents as they fled the building. The suspect was killed by police near the scene.
BLACKWELL: In Washington, D.C., NFL rookie, Brian Robinson Jr. was shot twice in the leg Sunday night. He plays for the Washington Commanders. Police say that he may have been the victim of an attempted robbery or carjacking. His coach gave an update on his recovery this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON RIVERA, WASHINGTON COMMANDERS HEAD COACH: We had an opportunity to visit with him last night which was really a relief, and kind of cool because he was in a really good place. You know, the doctors were very positive with him, and he was very positive as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: A 4-year-old boy was shot inside a barbershop in Philadelphia on Sunday. He was waiting to get his haircut for the first day of school. Police say a man fired three shots after an argument between two people escalated. The boy was struck once in the shoulder but he is in stable condition.
In Indianapolis, one Dutch soldier was killed, two other soldiers were injured outside their hotel. This was late Friday night. The men were in Indiana for training. Police said that the incident likely stemmed from a disturbance between the victims and the suspect.
Now to Bend, Oregon, at least two people were killed. One injured after a man started shooting at a grocery store yesterday. This suspected gunman was found dead at the scene.
CAMEROTA: CNN's Chris Nguyen is following this story. So what more do we know, Chris?
CHRIS NGUYEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Alisyn, witnesses say they were scrambling for safety as that gunfire began. The shooting happening in the city of Bend, a small community in central Oregon about three hours away from Portland. Police say the shooter was able to enter the shopping center area from a residential area. He crossed into the parking lot, began firing from there then made his way to the entrance of the Safeway, shot at a person there as he made his way inside. Take a listen to what witnesses had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER THOMPSON, WITNESS: All of a sudden I heard anywhere from five to eight shots. I thought it sounded like backfire, of course you're a little stunned, and then less than a minute later, there were 10 to 20 shots and then another 10 to 20 shots, and by that time I went inside and told my dad to get away from the window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was loud enough to make me and three other employees run into a walk in.
