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Category 1 Storm Now Heading to South Carolina; Hurricane Ian Destroys Homes and Businesses in Cape Coral; Russia Set to Begin Annexation Process in Ukraine. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 30, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It isn't exclusive that you'll be affected by Ian even inland. The chances for flooding is certainly there.

Want to show you this because I've just noticed it in the last few frames of this. You could almost see this spin that is on this radar depiction, with some of the heavier bands now pushing in towards Beaufort and also a little bit further south in way cross and southern sections of South Carolina. And the wind has picked up here as well. We're seeing wind gusts up between 50 and 60 miles per hour.

This is only going to get worse. And we're going to see at the top of the hour another update from the National Hurricane Center to see if somehow that 85 mile an hour wind associated with Ian has increased. If anything has changed in its trajectory. And my colleague Chad Myers will be here at the top of the hour so he will give you the very latest from the National Hurricane Center.

All right. Here are some of the wind gusts. Myrtle Beach, 29, Hilton Head Island 52, an area that has become densely populated just over the last probably 15 to 20 years. But the rain field with this, and the wind field is enormous. It spans about 600 miles from coastal North Carolina all of the coast of South Carolina, and into Georgia. And it looks like as this is an atypical looking hurricane at this point, it wasn't 24 hours ago, but it just looks elongated, doesn't look very cohesive.

But its impact is really going to be tremendous. Not just with the wind but it's primarily the rainfall as we saw all day today and yesterday on CNN. Fort Myers so devastated. I don't want that to happen to you. We know there's going to be a storm surge. For the Charleston harbor just about midday, it's high tide. That could spell four to seven-foot surge across this region.

Well, what happens with Ian? Is it going to make landfall in Charleston? Is it going to be Myrtle Beach? Well, right now computer models are saying maybe somewhere in between. I'm seeing people, they make all kind of predictions and guesses. One suggested Georgetown, which is pretty much between Myrtle Beach and Charleston. That wouldn't be surprising but nonetheless it is still situated about 170 miles to the south, southeast of Charleston. And it is trekking towards the north. Not at a slow pace, and not at a

brisk pace. It's northeast, 10 miles an hour. It's category 1. But it does show some indications that there's a little bit of organization that is finally taking place here. So the entire state of South Carolina under a state of emergency, meaning that they will get their requisite help when things start to develop across this region.

So, Kim, a lot to focus on, a lot to tell people about. Top of the hour, the latest update arrives. Back to you.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll be waiting. Thanks so much, Karen Maginnis. Appreciate it.

And Hurricane Ian carved out a path of destruction in Cape Coral, tearing off roofs, ripping up trees, and flooding streets, houses, and businesses. Well, many residents are now returning to homes ruined by coastal flooding.

CNN's Bill Weir took a tour of the damage with one hard-hit resident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could (INAUDIBLE) out there.

WEIR: Well, it's your house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well -- and I told Pat there's no way I'm walking in that filthy water. I said there's snakes, there's fire ants, and alligators and alligators and alligators.

WEIR: But this is too important.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here now.

WEIR: You're here now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see this but it's absolutely amazing what that water did.

WEIR: My goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is disgusting. Well, I'd say it's done. What do you think?

[04:35:01]

WEIR: I think so, I hate to say. I know that you were so hopeful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess that there's people worse off than us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, Russia prepares to make a big move on annexing parts of Ukraine with President Putin taking a center stage of the ceremony in Moscow. That's ahead plus more on Hurricane Ian when we return, as the storm heads for a second landfall in the Carolinas after devastating parts of Florida. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Moscow is about to start making its final push on annexing parts of Ukraine. The Kremlin is set to hold a ceremony in the coming hours where President Putin is expected to speak.

Now the move comes after so-called referendums in four occupied territories in the east. According to pro-Russian officials voters overwhelmingly supported joining Russia but the referendums have been dismissed as illegal and a sham in much of the West. On Thursday U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned any annexation effort as a violation of everything the international community stands for. And the U.S. President Joe Biden made it clear it's a non-starter for Washington. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States will never, never, never recognize Russia's claims on Ukraine's sovereign territory. This so-called referendum was a sham. An absolute sham. The results were manufactured in Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. We go now to Nick Paton Walsh who is live from Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

Nick, obviously this annexation is hugely consequential. Take us through Putin's calculus here. Is this a means to an end or an end in and of itself?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, I mean, I think it's a bid to try and change the calculus of those Western nations supporting Ukraine, because it's quite clear that Kyiv's own motivations are absolutely unchanged by this annexation.

[04:40:04]

Yesterday Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, areas which for the most parts Russia has occupying forces in, well, they were declared as being part of Russia when Putin signed a decree and that decree was published. We're expecting today to see Donetsk and Luhansk, the two other areas occupied partially by Russia to be brought into that entirely fictitious foe.

I think the hope Moscow has is that it may deter Western allies possibly thinking that Russia will make good on its apocalyptic threats to use nuclear weapon to defend parts of Russian territory. But it does under Russia sort of slightly warped legal perception give Russia extra in their mind say and means in terms of what it can do to defend these particular areas.

We're expecting to see a ceremony in Russia later on today in Red Square. Very similar to the pageantry we saw after the annexation of Crimea. Well, what it essentially is not doing at all is altering the situation here on the battlefield which is entirely at this point but few exceptions in Ukraine's favor. But we are expecting the U.S. and the E.U. to come forward with more economic sanctions because of this annexation.

The unanswerable question here is, does it actually change what Vladimir Putin is willing to do or can do on the battlefield? His conventional forces are still not up to the fight and are losing to a better equipped and higher morale Ukraine force. And he is also making significant nuclear threats but they do not in themselves appear to be changing what's happening here. And his partial mobilization, well, the biggest impact that seems to have had is domestically in terms of dissent. We haven't seen a change on the battlefield for the mobilization of those ill-equipped, poorly trained and often conscripted forces at this stage -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Nick, so you mentioned the battlefield a couple of times there. So let's talk more about that. There's news of more Ukrainian advances which you've touched on, and we're also getting more details about that horrific attack on a convoy in Zaporizhzhia. What are the latest developments?

WALSH: Yes, I mean, it's important to sort of pause and just think of the horror of what we've seen on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia just this morning. A rocket attack possibly an S-300 according to Ukrainian officials. You've normally used that to shoot aircraft down but it does appear to have been used to attack land targets as Russia's inventories of weapons deplete.

And an auto market, a car market where it appears to have been a convoy of civilian cars intending to move into occupied Zaporizhzhia, an area which as of yesterday Russia said was its territory, falsely, this was attacked by rockets. Twenty-three lives lost, 28 injured. These are people it seems, according to Ukrainian officials, trying to go into those occupied areas to deliver aid, to deliver food, and take people out afterwards.

And so I think it's pretty telling frankly of how Russia functions in territories that it claims as part of its own. That rocket attacks is its first act whilst claiming to have expanded its own sovereignty.

I should point out we are seeing, Kim, very important developments near where I'm standing here in Kramatorsk. There's been a persistent Ukrainian push towards a railway hub called Lyman. Now, you know, that is essentially just a big railway station to some degree, but the Ukrainians have been trying to encircle it now for a matter of weeks and there are indications this morning from actually pro-Russian sources they may be nearing that goal.

And also video released from Ukrainian soldiers showing them in a very key town to the east of Lyman that suggests Russia may have pulled back some of its forces leaving some in Lyman who are beginning to be encircled. The point of why that's so important is if Lyman does fall it could like we saw around Kharkiv have a knock-on effect to all of the Russian positions behind it. Potentially causing, not a rout, far too early to say that but a complete reassessment of Russia's defensive lines in the area of Luhansk, the very area which this afternoon Russia will say falsely is now part of Russia.

And so we have this extraordinary dynamic on the battlefield where Russia on paper says well, this is all part of Russia, whereas Ukraine, day by day, takes more of it back undermining that Russian pageantry and fundamentally showing that Ukraine continues to move forward on the battlefield here -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, excellent point. Really appreciate the update. Nick Paton Walsh, thanks so much.

All right. I want to bring in CNN Russian affairs contributor and the former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty, and she is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us here. So I want to go back with what we started with which is the annexation. It's basically following Putin's playbook we've seen already in Crimea. Is that fair?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I think it's definitely fair. But even now, if you look at these annexations, they are far more serious in the sense that they are being carried out literally in the middle of a war.

[04:45:07]

And many of the people who live in those areas that are supposedly joining Russia have fled. So even the numbers of people who are there supposedly voting are very minimal. So again the word sham has been used. That's definitely true and you really could argue very much that it's illegal, although if you look at the way the Kremlin is presenting it, you know, this issue will be brought to the Russian Supreme Court to get its blessing, and then it goes to the parliament, et cetera. The Kremlin is trying to kind of fig leaf this as a legal process whereas by any international standards it is illegal.

BRUNHUBER: So you talk about the spin there. I mean it will be presented later today to the Russian public as a victory, as you say. Will it be enough to generate more support for the war among Russians especially in the context of the mobilization which seems to have been widely unpopular and drawn widespread protests?

DOUGHERTY: You know, I think you have to look deeply at what Russians are actually thinking about all of this, and it's impossible to do real polling at this point, but there are indications that Russians are extremely concerned about what is happening with that mobilization because they have actually been shocked into reaction to something that many of them weren't paying that much attention to.

So right now if you look at the mood, and again it's a little difficult to judge, but it appears that there is high level of concern and a high level actually of horror about the fact that more people who never expected to be drawn into this could be sent to the front and probably will be sent to the front. So I think overall it undermines support for the war. Potentially, and we can't be sure about this, potentially it could lead more Russians to think we ought to have some type of, you know, peace agreement and get out of this.

Now will it affect the support for Putin? That's very hard to say because the Kremlin is absolutely focused on removing the blame from Putin and putting it on others, even putting it on Joe Biden.

BRUNHUBER: Well, speaking of blame, I mean, we saw Putin was forced to sort of apologize for the way the mobilization was carried out, which is a rare move from him in admitting any mistakes even though he did, as you say, sort of pawning off on those underneath him. So as he tries to turn the narrative of this war from an offensive operation into one of self-defense, you know, defending these annexed territories, what consequences could this have for the U.S. and the rest of the world?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, I think if you were sitting in the Kremlin right now, what you'd hope is that this idea of annexation and the idea that if it's Russian land we can -- Russia, we can defend our land with nuclear weapons. That's what President Putin has been saying. If you're sitting in the Kremlin, that's what you're hoping, that it will scare the West and the West will kind of pull back and say, hey, let's end this war or stop providing weapons to Ukraine.

Judging by what President Biden is saying is that's not going to happen. This war is going to continue. So, you know, what the Kremlin hopes is that it will help Russia. I think in the end it is going to exacerbate tensions as if they could get even worse with the West, with the United States. And I think Ukraine is going to go full speed ahead as much as they can with as many weapons as they can get from the United States.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Well, exactly on that. I mean, we heard President Biden say they wouldn't recognize the annexation. Meanwhile, they've been sort of giving them more weapons. The Pentagon is working to form a new command to coordinate arming and training Ukraine. You know, we've seen them as I say give them so many more weapons and train them. But creating this formalized command infrastructure as it were in the Armed Forces, I mean, Putin has already said the U.S. is coming closer to becoming a combatants as it were in this war. So does this take us one step further down that path, do you think?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, that's how the Kremlin is going to depict it. But certainly, you know, this has become a major operation. The United States is putting huge amounts of money into arming Ukraine. So I can see the logic that the Kremlin has in terms of how do you -- you know, what kind of weapons do you supply, how do you train people to use those weapons, et cetera.

But the Kremlin, I think it's important to remember, Kim, that the Kremlin is trying to depict this as a war with the West. You know, knock down drag out conflict with the West at which the survival of Russia is at stake.

[04:50:06] And I think that's what they want to do. And the West is trying to say, Ukraine, let's get back to the reality of this. Ukraine is defending itself from an invasion by Russia. So there are two very different concepts of this. And I think it's important, at least for the West, to look at this very objectively and not to even answer these complaints by Russia because they really are untrue. Russia invaded Ukraine. And Ukraine is defending itself. And that is simply the fact.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. That's what all it comes down to. Really appreciate all of your analysis. Thanks for taking the time, Jill Dougherty. I really appreciate it.

Well, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from its west coast Thursday just hours after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris toured the demilitarized zone which divides the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang launched two missiles from the East Coast the day before Harris' visit. South Korea was the U.S. vice president's last stop during a four-day trip to Asia. The U.S. and South Korea have been conducting joint naval exercises since Monday.

All right. An update on Hurricane Ian is just ahead. We'll tell you where and when the deadly storm is headed next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:19]

BRUNHUBER: All right. Before we go a quick update from Florida. The state's death toll from Hurricane Ian has risen to at least 19 people, and that figure could rise as authorities begin assessing the full scope of the damage. From Fort Myers to Orlando, entire communities have been devastated. Countless cars and homes are sitting in lakes of stagnant water. Live power lines are down everywhere. Tap water isn't safe to drink.

Ian has been gathering strength out in the Atlantic and is again a category 1 hurricane. It's expected to make landfall near Charleston, South Carolina, in the coming hours with a storm surge up to seven feet in places.

Well, Tampa Bay star quarterback Tom Brady along with Buccaneers team owners announced they'll be making donations towards Hurricane Ian relief. The Glazer family is giving $1 million. Brady tweeted Thursday the team was happy to be able to head home to play Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday as scheduled but he said so many people in Florida won't be able to do the same. Now earlier Brady spoke about the role sports play during times of crisis. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: Sports has an amazing way of kind of healing wounds and bringing people together and bringing communities together, and start to cheer for a common interest and a common good. So I think any time you can participate in things like that it's a great feeling. And, you know, I know it means a lot for us to have the opportunity to go out and play for our fans always. But, you know, after what so many people have gone through in the state, you know, it's great to go out there and give them something to cheer about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now with hurricane bearing down on Sunday's game potentially moved to Minneapolis. The Bucs left the Tampa Bay area earlier this week and held practices in Miami.

All right, thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "NEW DAYS" continues our coverage of Hurricane Ian next. Please do stay with us.

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