Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Occupied Regions to Vote on Becoming Part of Russia; Canada Bracing as Hurricane Fiona Approaches; Anti-Government Protests Spreading Across Iran; Britain's Lower-Income Families Bear the Brunt of Inflation; Russians Fleeing Abroad as Mobilization Gains Steam; Roger Federer to Play Final Match. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired September 23, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:35]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes, I appreciate the company. Coming up on the program, mass exodus Russians racing to the border as the threat of conscription looms.

Iranian outrage, the latest on the deadly protests and why the country's president refused to speak with CNN. And the end of an era, Roger Federer's reflections ahead of his final match.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: Set to begin in the coming out in four occupied regions of Ukraine on whether to become a part of the Russian Federation, a vote condemned by most of the rest of the world is a sham and with the outcome a foregone conclusion. The area's make up about 15% of Ukraine's territory if they join Russia, many believe that will provide Vladimir Putin the pretext to claim Russian territories under attack and escalate the war.

Mr. Putin and his top deputy Dmitry Medvedev both say Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend its territory. Russia back forces have controlled parts of Luhansk and Donetsk since before Putin's army invaded Ukraine in February. In fact, some parts of it back to 2014. Moscow is also looking to annex Kherson Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine, NATO and the U.S. all consider the votes illegitimate and refused to honor the results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Putin has doubled down, choosing not to end the war, but to expand it, not to ease tensions, but to escalate them through the threat of nuclear weapons, not to work toward a diplomatic solution but to render such a solution impossible by seeking to annex more Ukrainian territory through sham referendum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: During the U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with other allies lashing out at Russia for the referendum and Putin's efforts to draft hundreds of 1000s of new soldiers. But Moscow is representative at the U.N. while he wasn't there to hear any of it. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was absent for much of the meeting and left right after making his own comments accusing Kyiv of causing the invasion.

Before leaving Lavrov accused Ukraine of trampling on the rights of Russians and Russian speaking people inside Ukraine, conducting a, "assault on the Russian language" and taking quoting again, "racist actions against Russians inside Ukraine."

And when Lavrov left and underling took his place, and he listened to the litany of criticism from angry diplomats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLEVERLY, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY: I sat here in February, listening to the Russian representative, assuring this council that Russia had no intention of invading its neighbor. We now know that was a lie. He has left the chamber. I'm not surprised. I don't think Mr. Lavrov wants to hear the collective condemnation of this council.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: In Russia, more protests against Vladimir Putin's military mobilization planned for the days ahead, and Ukraine's president is urging Russians to turn out against the draft. Already more than 1300 people have been detained in demonstrations in at least 38 Russian cities. Until now most ordinary Russians haven't really felt much of an impact from the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Due to mobilization for most Russian citizens, Russia's war against Ukraine is not something on TV or the internet, but something that has entered every Russian home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Russia's military is also divided over the war in Ukraine. Sources familiar with U.S. intelligence tell CNN Russian field offices are arguing amongst themselves and bristling at direct orders coming from President Putin. CNN's Matthew Chance with more on the growing opposition to the war.

[01:05:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Suddenly an exodus across Russia's borders. Social media now filled with images like these near the country's southern frontiers of vehicles backed up, out of sight.

Everyone is on the run from Russia. The male voice says, endless cars. It's mind boggling. In the west towards Finland, border officials also reporting significantly higher traffic, nearly 5000 crossing in a single day, more expected by the weekend as Russians make for the exits.

Across Russia, there's a growing sense of alarm, even anger that the call up of reservists to fight in Ukraine. More than 1300 protesters have already been detained, many of them women, terrified their husbands and sons will be killed.

I've got two kids of conscription age says this protester. I brought them up alone, and I don't want to lose them, she cried. And for what? Asks her friend, they're just so they can kill the sons of other mothers, she answers.

But the mobilization is taking place regardless. Images of reservists like these boarding a military transporter in the Russian Far East show how many are heeding the call to arms.

At assembly points families are saying emotional goodbyes before their men, some apparently in middle age of bus their way, is what was always cast as a limited special military operation feels more and more like a full-blown war. Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: How much of a difference can these new recruits make on the front lines when they eventually get there? How long will it take to make them ready to fight? We'll talk about all of that with a military expert in about 20 minutes from now, do stay with us.

The island of Bermuda is bracing as Hurricane Fiona is approaching fast bringing high winds coastal flooding and dangerous storm surge. Fiona already left its mark on the Caribbean, leaving hundreds of 1000s in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic without clean water or power. And eastern Canada also preparing for Fiona in what could be the strongest storm to ever hit that region. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Western Newfoundland are expected to be the hardest hit. Let's bring in CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, unexpected up there. What are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, Michael. Residents of eastern Canadian Atlantic are bracing themselves for what could be a once in a generation storm as Fiona races towards this region. What was tropical storm and hurricane watches roughly three hours ago have now been upgraded to hurricane warnings. That means the Canadian Meteorological Agency understanding that this storm means business and these particular areas Nova Scotia, Western Newfoundland, Prince Edward Islands need to be on high alert. And they are. This is the storm, hurricane Fiona, 215 kilometer per hour winds slashing into Bermuda as we speak out a rain bands, category for right near the center of the storm. That's where we find our most powerful winds with any tropical system. And this storm is massive. We're talking about over 1300 kilometers inside or 740 miles in width. I mean that is from one end to the other. But you track the history of the storm and it has caused some serious problems. It's already impacted two different territories. One being a U.S. territory of course, Puerto Rico, knocking out power completely as the storm ravaged through the region with heavy rain and strong fierce winds.

In fact, right now about 63% of this U.S. territory without power still from Fiona. Then, it moves to the Turks and Caicos. It's a British territory. And it's now impacting Bermuda which is also British territory. So, this storm means business. Category four, just west of Bermuda, but again, it is racing northward. And it's got its eyes set on the eastern Atlantic of Canada.

And just look at these wind forecasts gusts, in excess of 150 kilometers per hour into Nova Scotia, Western Newfoundland as well as Prince Edward Island. And then you cannot forget about the factor that this has on the winds and the waves and the open ocean of the Atlantic. Some of our computer models here across the Gulf of St. Lawrence show wave heights in excess of 15 meters, that's open ocean swell, certainly crashing into the shoreline there causing some coastal erosion and storm surge issues as well associated with the influx of wind and ocean just moving into this particular area.

[01:10:08]

You can see the rain and snow that will actually be impacted from the storm. It's far enough north, Michael, to create snowfall. It is becoming very active with the tropics across the Atlantic. We're also watching another system in the Eastern Caribbean. Back to you.

HOLMES: Yeah, and that's a busy map.

VAN DAM: It is.

HOLMES: All right, Derek, thanks for that. Derek Van Dam there.

Public outrage in Iran over the death of a young woman in police custody has now spread to dozens of cities. Video obtained by CNN from the pro-reform activist outlet Iran wire shows protesters tearing down symbols of the regime in brazen act of defiance not seen in years.

The government's response has been predictably harsh with reports of at least seven theme deaths. That's according to Iranian media. But public theory over Mahsa Amini's death show no signs of cooling off. The 22 years old, she died last week in the custody of Iran's morality police after they arrested her because of how she was dressed. Iran's president in New York for the U.N. General Assembly complained that Amini's death is being blown out of proportion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EBRAHIM RAISI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): When these incidents occur all over the world, the same standard must be applied to that, calling for investigations only on this issue. Why not call for the exact same thing for those who lose their lives at the hands of law enforcement and other agents throughout the West, Europe, North America, the United States of America, those who suffer unjust beatings, why are there no investigations that follow?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Let's talk more about this with Shervin Malekzadeh, he's a visiting scholar at Colgate University's Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies program. He joins me now from Los Angeles. And thanks for doing so. Let's start with this, when it comes to how the regime has handled these protests, you tweeted, "I hope I'm wrong -- God do I hope I'm wrong -- but it's likely to get worse, much worse. How so, why?

SHERVIN MALEKZADEH, VISITING SCHOLAR, COLGATE UNIVERSITY: First of all, thank you, Michael, for having me on, I really appreciate having this opportunity to speak about these incredible events. I think what we're seeing right now is the awful inverse of what we've seen in Iran between 2009 and 2021. We've had a decade of basically a kind of political cat and mouse between state and society, which has taken place mainly at the ballot box through the vote, through elections.

You know, in the context of Iran, I think it's good to think of protests and voting as a kind of continuum in the political sphere. And so long as the public, particularly after the Green Movement, felt that they had an opportunity to create some sort of peaceful and incremental change through voting for some sort of opposition figure in presidential and parliamentary elections, you know, that went for it, right? It's much easier, it's less costly to certainly much less violent. And that's been the case again, for about a decade now, I think. So now you have these protests, right? You already have the logic of the Islamic Republic rooted in a kind of opposition to injustice. So, it's not surprising that the public, and this goes back to my comment about the continuum would take advantage of those protests, right? But I think for me, the they're -- you know, two major questions here -- two or three major questions, to what end, right? If this system on his arm has to end, what will replace it?

HOLMES: Yeah.

MALEKZADEH: I think more importantly, Michael, for me, the question is how, particularly when you have some at least 30% of the population who are vested in preserving the Islamic Republic in its current form.

HOLMES: For people watching who are unfamiliar with life in Iran, just how courageous are these protesters, these women, they're taking off their headscarves, they're burning them, they're cutting their hair. How, how brave is that?

MALEKZADEH: Oh, absolutely. I mean, to me, even voting his grave in Iran, but to go out in the street and engage in this sort of civil disobedience or direct action in the manner that we're seeing now, that's one thing of one lady does it here, another lady does it there, but we're seeing on mass, men and women side by side, but in particular, as always, the women are at the forefront of this. It can't be under -- overstated how incredibly brave they are, because many are going forth, not necessarily with numbers behind them, right? So, you know, this sort of speaks to just a kind of lack of patience, a complete at the end of the rope kind of situation in Iran. HOLMES: What my "success," look like for these protesters?

MALEKZADEH: Yeah, I think at this point, you know, the sort of, without any kind of avenue, as I said, for a kind of resolution -- a peaceful resolution, the best thing we can hope for right now is either the state under the direction (inaudible) and those around him to stand down and find a kind of more conciliatory path, which at this moment probably is not going to happen at least not immediately barring that, you know, this is where we rely on the Poli Sci research and sociology research elite defection, particularly in security forces, you know men, and they tend to be men or there are some women, there on the state frontlines who are unwilling to shoot at the public or to repress in a fashion that's demanded of them.

[01:15:20]

This is more likely to happen with nonviolent protests when you have grandmothers in the streets, which we're also seeing presently, right? Unexpected protesters, not just young people, but if what we're seeing continues where there's this amazing attack against state forces by the public, my concern, again, is that the state will respond in kind and in a way that will be just unprecedented in Iran. So hopefully, these elite defections, the shaming of cops on the ground, and their superiors would bring about a resolution at least to this phase of the protests.

HOLMES: Well, hopefully it has an effect. Shervin Malekzadeh, we've got to leave it there. Thanks so much. I really appreciate your time.

MALEKZADEH: I appreciate it, Michael, thank you so much. Cheers.

HOLMES: Now, CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour was supposed to interview the Iranian president on Thursday in New York, it would have been Ebrahim Raisi's first interview on U.S. soil, but it didn't happen. At the last-minute a, Raisi aide told Christiane that the President wanted her to wear a headscarf during the conversation. She declined and the interview was canceled. And a conversation on CNN, Christiane explained why, she said no, and how it all went down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It's very unsettling because we were going to have the first exclusive here in New York. We'd already done an interview in Iran with 60 minutes where the headscarf was also an issue, but there because it is the custom, one always does wear the headscarf, when one's there, that's just otherwise you couldn't operate as journalists. Here in New York or anywhere else outside of Iran, I have never been asked by any Iranian President and I have interviewed every single one of them since 1995, either inside or outside, you're on never been asked to wear a headscarf. After hours of getting this interview ready, having pre talks with the President's officials, giving them sort of an idea of what we wanted to ask about. Not questions, obviously, but an idea. They knew exactly we want to talk about, the nuclear deal. We want to talk about Iran support for Russia, against Ukraine, and most importantly, we want to talk about the violation of human rights. At the very end they come up with this, you know, it's a religious month of mourning, and we need you to wear a headscarf and I very politely declined on behalf of myself and CNN and female journalists everywhere because it is not a requirement and it was lobbed at us at the very last minute and very unfortunately, they decided to pull, you know, pull the interview.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Iran state news agency said President Raisi refused to conduct the interview because Christiane, "refused to accept protocol."

Quick break here on the program. When we come back British officials are set to reveal the highly anticipated mini budget but will it give enough help to the average Britain or just drive-up debt? And soaring inflation is hitting low-income earners hard how some families in the U.K. of struggling just to get five. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:30]

HOLMES: A major financial announcement by the British government in the coming hours, Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, it will deliver a much-anticipated mini budget. Major tax cuts are expected in the economic plan, in line with Prime Minister Liz Truss' promises as part of her campaign for the Conservative Party leadership. The mini budget announcement follows the Bank of England raising interest rates on Thursday, the cost of borrowing money in the U.K. rose by half a percentage point marking the key interest rate now two and a quarter percent. The central bank is hoping it will help tame soaring inflation without driving the economy into recession. But some economists believe a recession has already begun.

Now, the impacts of inflation and increases in energy cost means millions of people in the U.K. could be forced to choose between putting food on their table and heating their homes this winter. CNN's Isa Soares spoke with a mother struggling to make ends meet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKA: It's become so stressful. I can't sort of cope with it. So, I've just been sort of burying my head in the sand and just trying to do day by day, by day.

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becka is at breaking point, months into a growing cost of living crisis that is only expected to get worse. She's struggling with mounting costs.

BECKA: Now, I go shopping with my phone out. Everything that goes in, I add it up. And then I have to think and then we start putting it to a certain amount. And then if we haven't got what we needed to put stuff back.

SOARES: How does that make you feel?

BECKA: Almost like a bit of a failure, right?

SOARES: A burden no parent should ever feel. But as a single parent, Becka tells me she's doing her best for a nine-year-old daughter, juggling five jobs, keeping budgets on track, yet still struggling to put food on the table.

BECKA: I used to plan out my meals every week, because we could do that. But now I'm not doing it because who knows what I can afford, you know.

SOARES: For families like Becka's this month has meant even more spending, kids are back at school. And parents have tough decisions to make.

BECKA: For the shirts and for the summer dresses, I bought them like size 12, you know ridiculously like as high up as I could think I could manage, which doesn't lead to shoes, because it's more cost effective if I just buy her boots, then she can be dry in the winter and just deliver sweat it out in the summer.

SOARES: It's a dilemma that is felt across the U.K., including here in London, where one head teacher tells me families have already started asking the school for support.

EMYR FAIRBURN, HEADTEACHER, KING'S CROSS ACADEMY: And really, what can they do when bills are going to go up so much? How are they going to afford for food and that's what the parents are asking us. And the impact on children's learning could be as great as it was during the pandemic during lockdown.

SOARES: There's no escaping the worst financial squeeze in 60 years. But the poorest will bear the brunt of this crisis.

BECKA: Down to our last thing a pesto.

SOARES: The hunger, hardship, the mental anguish and the stigma of poverty.

BECKA: It's really shocking how difficult it is just to have the very basics. I just want to be able to eat real food, hitch my house and wear good clothes. That's what I want to have, you know.

SOARES: Isa Soares, CNN, Norfolk, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Japan has intervened to prop up the value of the Yen for the first time in 24 years. Tokyo taking action in the foreign exchange market on Thursday after the yen fell passed the 145 marked against the U.S. dollar. Following the Bank of Japan's decision to keep the interest rates low. The Yen has lost more than 20% of its value against the dollar so far this year. Japan also once again opening its doors to visitors beginning next month. Independent tourists will be able to come back to the country and all caps and pandemic related visa requirements will be lifted. The move marks a major policy shift after nearly two and a half years of strict COVID requirements. New policies begin October 11.

Some potential military recruits in Russia make a decision with their feet rushing out of the country as a military mobilization gets underway. We'll have more on that story after the break.

Also, a soul crushing experience for Ukrainians returning home for the first time in months finding out there is little left of their homes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:27:27]

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN Newsroom. And it gets you up to speed now on the latest developments in Ukraine in the hours ahead four occupied regions begin their referendums on whether they want to unite with Russia. The vote, supported by Moscow but by condemned by pretty much the rest of the world as a sham. Moscow is moving ahead with its partial military mobilization. Meanwhile, social media videos showing tearful goodbyes between purported recruits and their families.

While a new proposal looks to impose military service on immigrants from Central Asia. But many Russians are not waiting for draft letters opting instead to head to the border. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy calling on Russians to protest that mobilization. For more on all of this, Ivan Watson joins me now live from Hong Kong. Extraordinary things, Ivan, I know you've been looking into it.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, Michael since Vladimir Putin made this announcement of trying to mobilize some 300,000 men into the military to fight in Ukraine, we haven't seen examples of outpourings of nationalism and patriotism supporting this decision. Instead, we're seeing Russians fleeing for the borders, the borders of Finland, of Georgia, of Kazakhstan, all reporting a surge of traffic of people trying to leave.

We're hearing about plane tickets being sold out and the prices skyrocketing. We've been looking at the Georgian border where from Wednesday's announcement to Thursday, people describing and people working on the Georgian side of the border describing 12, 10 hour waits for people trying to get across that border. And the police reportedly in Russia, stopping vehicular traffic from the Russian city of Vladikavkaz and pedestrians trying to reach the border. We're watching social media chats on the popular social media site telegram with people trying to ask how can I get myself to Georgia? And we've spoken with some of the people the Russians were arriving in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, for example. This young man we're going to hear from 29 years old who says half his family's Ukrainian, his grandmother died in Ukraine, nine days ago. He couldn't go to the funeral. And he's worried about being mobilized to fight. Take a listen.

[01:29:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to discover the world. And this situation with Ukraine and Russia, it is -- I don't believe that in 22 century you need to fight with someone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Men that we are talking to cannot identify themselves because they are basically evading the draft. One man that CNN has spoken with, a Russian who was an officer in the reserves, fled by train to Minsk, and is trying to move forward into the Caucuses because all the tickets are sold out. He says he does not support the war and he risked mobilization so he's running for it. Turning to Kazakhstan, the government there has said, according to state media, that there's a 20 percent increase of passenger train cars coming from Russia since Wednesday.

That already the flow of Russians leaving, since the war began in Ukraine, has driven up rental prices in the commercial capital, Almaty, for example. And we are hearing anecdotally of Russians reaching out, trying to get advice, how can I get out? Can I travel through another former Soviet Central Asian republic, Kyrgyzstan, to then reach Kazakhstan?

Again, these do not bode well for Russia's draft for Putin's draft, for fighting in this war, Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: I'm looking at that video, Extraordinary. Those are not short lines. Ivan, appreciate the reporting. Ivan Watson there for us.

Matthew Schmidt is the director of international affairs at the University of New Haven. He joins me now from New Haven. Good to see you again, Professor. Now, let's talk about this. While those being mobilized have, at some point, completed some training, they are far from being well trained. And it could take months to get them ready.

Would you agree with that? And how dysfunctional is the Russian military right now?

MATTHEW SCHMIDT, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: Well, Putin has called officially to -- for 300,000 conscripts. But the real issue here is not that number, it is several thousand well trained young officers. If he can get those into the field in the next, say, 60 or 90 days, then he has a chance to move back on the offensive. If he can't do that, then he is in real trouble.

And I don't think he can do that. I think he's going to have a hard time raising 300,000. And he's going to have a very hard time training young officers in that sort of time period.

For us -- here in the United States, it will take a year or more to be able to do that. So, he is not going to have competent people in the field.

HOLMES: It is interesting that Putin has kept a lid on dissent. But you know, despite the threat of 15-year jail sentences, you've had Russians on the street, hundreds of them who were arrested, reportedly, immediately conscripted. Can you see these protests growing despite the Kremlin's control of the media narrative?

SCHMIDT: Yes. I think that Putin is facing his crisis of legitimacy now. It is right here, it's right in front of him. If we look at the anecdotal video and things like that, of conscription sites and people protesting -- there is a lot.

And the other thing we have to do is step back and say, people keep shooting those videos and sending them to us, to be put out on western social media or on networks like CNN.

So, there are a lot of people who are taking a lot of risks to get this information out there, which means that the Russian public is getting more and more of a sense of what is really going on in Ukraine. And more and more of a sense that other Russians are opposed to it, are opposed to conscription. So, I think this is a very unstable moment for the regime.

HOLMES: I wanted to ask you too about these referenda. Voting begins Friday in occupied parts of Ukraine on joining Russia. It's condemned, obviously, as a sham in Kyiv and the west because it is.

I mean what effect, though, will those votes have? I mean presumably it then gives Putin the opening to say, Ukraine is attacking Russian soil even if that is nonsense.

SCHMIDT: Those votes are directed back towards his domestic audience. He is trying to say to the domestic audience, right, the reason we are mobilizing 300,000 men or more is because these places, which are now going to be part of Russia, are under attack, not so much by Ukraine, but by NATO and the United States.

And the magnitude of facing NATO or the United States justifies the magnitude of mobilization. They are really information operations directed to its own population.

HOLMES: Yes. And overall, big picture, battlefield, all of the stuff we just talked about. Are you surprised at the pace of change? You know, the battlefield? The Russian street people leaving the country. And so on, queues at the border -- it's been striking how fast these things have developed. Do you agree?

[01:34:51]

SCHMIDT: I do. I think Ukraine doesn't change and do as well as it does, as fast as it has, without incredible western support, without Europe staying united on this, which I think was a big question and we forget about that.

On the Russian side of things, it seems to be falling apart faster than we could have imagined earlier. But you have a lot of Russians who would dissent against the regime who have left, who were essentially allowed to leave earlier in the war.

You have seen pictures already of people queuing up at the Georgia border and other places, right. Buying flights to anywhere, in order to get out.

So, you see the Russian population moving in that way. But then you also see pictures of people loading on to buses, right. You see people who are not really excited about the war but are not going to push against the regime, especially where he is recruiting in the rural areas, in the far east, where the money that he is paying to recruits is really pushing them to agree with a war that they don't really want, or don't have strong feelings about, instead of dissent. And we do not know where that is going to go yet. We have to watch.

HOLMES: Great analysis, as always, Professor Matthew Schmidt, really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

SCHMIDT: My pleasure.

HOLMES: Some Ukrainians are returning home where many homes are simply not there anymore. They are coming back to the newly-liberated areas in the east, which had been under Russian control for months.

AS Ben Wedeman now reports, many people are finding out, there is not much left to come back to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anatoly is trying to make his demolished house a home again, one nail at a time. But without a roof, plastic sheeting on the windows won't make much of a difference. This is all they could salvage. Anatoly is overwhelmed by what he and his wife, Svetlana found when they returned to their village of Prudyanka (ph).

"What can I say," he asks, "you can see for yourself."

Svetlana was born in this house 53 years ago. Her reaction? "Pain," she says. "Shock, pain, terrible pain and bitterness. The fruits of a life's labor, withered on the vine."

This is what happened to many of the towns and villages caught in the front lines in this war. They were totally destroyed.

Up the road, residents and local relief supplies trucked in to the town of Kozacha Lopan.

Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko is back in his office after months away. He says, these armbands were handed out to the workers at the local Russian installed administration. Food provided to collaborators and newspapers.

About 100 people were collaborators, he tells me. When the Russians left, most left with them.

Oleksandr from the mayor's office shows us where town residents were brought for interrogation and torture in a dark basement. As many as 30 people to a cell. Prisoners, he says, were seated in this chair and subjected to electric shocks.

Vadim spent a few days there. He recalled his interrogator beat him first, then asked questions.

"They beat me on my back, my head, and shoved me on the floor and kicked me," he says. "Then they gave me a cigarette and started the interrogation. They asked me if I was pro Ukrainian. I'm Ukrainian, I said, of course I am pro Ukrainian."

He was released. But his son Vladimir was taken by the Russians. He is still missing.

Vitaly draws water from the neighborhood well. He recalls when Russian soldiers asked if he and his wife had any Nazis at home.

"This is a normal village," he chuckles into his telling. We are farmers and workers.

Kozacha Lopan is the last stop on the train line before Russian border. Soldiers took over the railway station.

These are all letters and pictures sent by Russian schoolchildren to the soldiers here at the railway station. You have things like this -- pictures you. And here is a letter from Alexander in the Fifth Grade, who says, you are heroes. Thank you for guaranteeing our safe future. Misguided, discarded messages of support for a disastrous war.

Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Kozacha Lopan, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:39:41]

HOLMES: Two former senior Chinese officials convicted of bribery have just been sentenced to life behind bars. According to state media, a court first sentenced the former justice minister to death after he was found guilty of accepting close to $16.5 million in bribes from 2005 to 2021.

And we are getting word China's former deputy minister of public security has been sentenced to life as well, also on bribery charges, as well as manipulating the securities market and illegal possession of firearms.

Now the sentences come amid a government crackdown ahead of a key Communist Party Congress, where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented term.

Roger Federer is preparing to call it a day but not before one final epic match Friday night, and doing it alongside his friend and biggest rival. We will have details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hear that welcome. Longtime friendly rivals, now partners, Roger Federer will play the final match of his career alongside his good friend, Rafael Nadal. The pair, with 42 Grand Slam titles between them will play doubles together at the Leyva Cup in London on Friday night. Federer will hang up his racket after that match, calling it a career.

He says teaming up with Nadal is the perfect finish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER FEDERER, PRO TENNIS PLAYER: Just walking out on court and having the chance to play with the likes of Rafa and Novak also in the past, it's been an amazing experience for me. So, to be able to do that one more time, I am sure it's going to be wonderful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Federer and Nadal have faced off against each other 40 times over their careers. This is the second time they will play together in doubles.

He's a legend.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN.

Do stick around. "INSIDE AFRICA" after the break then Kim Brunhuber with more news.

[01:43:53]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

("INSIDE AFRICA")