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Authorities Across Ukraine Report Missile and Rocket Attacks; Multiple Explosions in Kyiv; Kirby Tamps Down Biden's Armageddon Nuclear Remarks; State Media Says Kim Jong-un Guided Missile Tests, War Games; Critical U.S. Midterm Elections Less than a Month Away; Death Toll Rises as Protests Show No Sign of Stopping in Iran. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 10, 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]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world, I'm Max Foster.

We're following breaking news out of Ukraine for you. Authorities are reporting multiple missile and rocket attacks across the country, including in the capital Kyiv. A CNN team has heard at least six blasts in Kyiv so far. Officials are reporting at least five dead and 12 wounded in the capital so far, but a wave of attacks is being reported across Ukraine, including the cities of Lviv and Kharkiv.

One of the explosion in Kyiv appears to have destroy a children's playground. That's according to an Ukrainian official who posted this picture showing a large crater at the site.

All this comes after Russia suffered a humiliating blow over the weekend when an explosion damaged its bridge to Crimea. President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for that blast, calling it a terror attack. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is here in London but first we're going to go to first Fred Pleitgen who's live at the scene for us in Kyiv -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Max. Yes, the scene of one of these explosions -- we have quite a rude awakening here this morning in the Ukrainian capital when all of a sudden, we had some massive explosions that we heard, I would say at around 8:15 local time, which I think is about 1:15 on the East Coast of the United States. And you know, multiple places were obviously hit.

I'm at the scene of one of these explosions. You can see behind me there's people sort of working that scene over there. There's several buildings that were damaged around this area. You can see several cars there also severely damaged as well. Those cars burned out.

The latest that we have from the authorities here in Kyiv so far -- and it's always important to point out, Max, that this is an ongoing situation, the authorities say. They say that they expect further strikes could happen. They're urging people to stay indoors. They're urging people to get into shelters. The subway stations have been turned into shelters. We just got that a couple of seconds ago from the mayor of Kyiv, from Vitali Klitschko. But at the same time, of course, the Ukrainians are saying that they are going to stand strong.

However, these blasts are very powerful. There's a lot of destruction here around the area.

I want to show you -- I was just actually walking around here and I picked up some of the shrapnel pieces. And this was confirmed to me by the investigators here, these are shrapnel pieces. You can see they seem to be rockets or missile parts or something. But it's these things that are exceptionally dangerous. These have extremely sharp edges and those will just cut through obviously human flesh and bodies very easily. They also get very hot as well. And that's something that is literally littered around this entire area.

And if you look at some of the buildings here in this area, it's unclear what exactly the Russians were trying to hit here, but a lot of the windows have been blown out and there is a lot of damage pretty far circle around this area as well. So definitely some very powerful ordnance that was used.

We have heard several of those strikes -- you were mentioning it before -- we believe that we heard around six or seven detonations here in the city since the early morning hours. And again, the authorities here are saying this is an ongoing situation so they are urging people to be very, very careful. And having driven around the city, I can tell you there's not much traffic right now. People do seem to be heeding that warning -- Max.

FOSTER: Life has been pretty normal in the capital, hasn't it, in recent months. This is the first attack of its kind in months.

PLEITGEN: Yes, exactly. That's also one of the things that makes it so dangerous. You're absolutely right, Max, it has been fairly quiet here in the Ukrainian capital. I would say, yes, you are absolutely right. Over the past couple of months, it really has gotten a lot more quiet, of course, since the Ukrainians managed to push the Russian military back here in April. You know, before that they had obviously been literally on the doorsteps of Kyiv. But they managed to push them back. They've been pushing them back in other locations as well.

And so, strikes like these have become rare. And I think one of the other things that's also definitely contributed to that as well, has been the fact that the Ukrainians since then have gotten a massive upgrade in their air defense system. Obviously, they have some old soviet era systems but they've also gotten some new systems from the United States, from countries like Germany as well that has helped them to intercept a lot of rockets.

But you know, make no mistake, it's happening here now. But there have been long distance strikes on Ukrainian cities over the past couple of days as well. You look at the town of Zaporizhzhia over the weekend and the week before, where the authorities are saying 43 people were killed there alone. And now it seems as though there is a full on rocket and missile attack on this entire country. If you listen to what authorities are saying, talking about western

Ukrainian cities like Lviv, where there seem to be power outages as a result of strikes there.

[04:05:00]

Then you have the city of Dnipro in the center and other cities as well. So certainly, right now Ukraine is bracing for a full-on attack by the Russians. And you know, we had a statement this morning already from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of the country, saying the Russians are trying to annihilate the Ukrainians at this point in time -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Fred, thank you. Salma, of course this follows the attack on the bridge which the Ukrainians haven't claimed, but they haven't denied it either. So, what do we read into this from the Russian perspective? What are they responding to here?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a few things to notice here. First of all, as you heard from Fred, these are parts of the country that have not seen these types of attacks in months. And to hit those areas the Kremlin has to use its long range capabilities. And there's always a message in that. There's always a reminder in that which is that Moscow can hit Ukraine anywhere, any time. Right? They have air defense systems, but those are not foolproof. That means missiles will land on a playground in Kyiv.

And you can imagine how that sends shock waves through the families who have enjoyed this relative safety for so long who are now sheltering in metro stations, sheltering in bomb basements. Something that they haven't really seen in months. Again, reminiscent of the beginning of the conflict. So that reminder that the Kremlin can hit you anywhere, anytime in an indiscriminate attack. These are not according to Ukrainian officials, these are not military sites. And make no doubt about it, the attack on the Kerch bridge, that is a personal affront to President Putin. The bridge is already being restored. Traffic has resumed in some parts of it but that insult --

FOSTER: Because he opened it and it's a Russian project?

ABDELAZIZ: Exactly. It's a Russian project. This is President Putin's personal project, not just a Russian project. All the way down to the illegal annexation to Crimea, that bridge being built to connect to mainland Russia. One analyst described it as a wedding band. A wedding band between occupied Crimea and Russia. So, to strike at the heart of that.

And then the other part here to remember, there's a serious security gap here, Max, right. This is a Russian-controlled bridge. Access should have been tightly held. The saboteurs, whoever they are, Ukrainian again not claiming responsibility, have been able to show a security vulnerability for the Kremlin. And that is concerning.

President Putin today will be meeting with his security council. He already called this attack a terrorist attack. We already see missiles raining down on Ukraine. But you can expect that when that meeting takes place, they're still discussing how to respond to this. They're discussing how to secure this bridge. They're going to discussing how to save face -- Max.

OK, Salma, we also got Peter Zalmayev. He's the director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. He joining me now from Kyiv. Thank you for joining us. These security council meetings in Moscow do happen, but it's obviously a huge amount of attention on them today. How much concern is there in Ukraine about what might come out of it after these attacks?

PETER ZALMAYEV, DIRECTOR, EURASIA DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE: Well, obviously the Ukrainian president has appealed to all Ukrainians saying that, you know, more attacks are coming, just like your colleague just noted. The Crimean bridge had a lot of Putin's personal, political capital invested in it. It was his greatest propaganda project. He launched it in 2018. So, this was -- and it came a day after his 70th anniversary. So, this was a huge blow. And, you know, Putin, you know, he's in over his accolades started demanding that a response be severe, otherwise we'll lose face. Otherwise, people will see weakness in us.

So, with this, you know, 47 rockets so far, half an hour ago three rockets landed right behind my house, you know. The windows shook. I'm sitting here in my office away from windows, but you know, we are in for a very tough days or maybe weeks ahead of us.

FOSTER: Salma was talking how unsettling this is for Kyiv because it's been relatively stable there, hasn't it? And this image that we're looking at of a playground being bombed, just the messaging that comes out of it, away from all the casualties is very powerful, isn't it? And it's very unsettling.

ZALMAYEV: It's very unsettling. The Kremlin obviously is claiming that the bridge was itself a civilian object, so this would be fair game even though the bridge was a logistic -- I mean, that was the artery which connected Russia with the Crimea and all the military supplies traveled across that bridge to feed Russia's war against Ukraine. So, obviously it's not -- cannot be compared.

The playground that you mentioned, my kids played there from itty bitty, you know, all their lives. This is a very, very disturbing and emotional and personal situation.

[04:10:00]

And that whole area where the craters are, it's a few minutes away from me. It was an intersection, the busiest time of day when people were going to work. To my knowledge, there were no military installations, objects, buildings or anything.

FOSTER: Salma, we've heard a lot about how the Russians are really on the back foot and running out of resources and morale is low, according to intelligence coming out from the West and from Ukraine. But this is also a very clear message that they still have strength?

ABDELAZIZ: They do still have strength, but I think it's an indication also of just how cornered President Putin feels at this time. I mean, just think of that list of pressures he has on him. Thousands of square miles of territory lost to a Ukrainian counterstrike offensive in recent weeks. Pressure at home after the call of a partial mobilization sent tens of thousands of Russians literally fleeing for the border, getting out of the country as fast as they can.

Pressure from within from his own allies, from his own strong men, from people within his inner circle saying how are we facing these battlefield losses on the ground? What are we going to do about them? And then of course, this humiliating strike over the weekend on the bridge -- that is a President Putin who is on the back foot. That is a President Putin who is in the corner. And analysts will tell you, that is when you are supposed to be most scared of President Putin.

And I'll bring this up, the threat of nuclear disaster that is nowhere on the agenda, Western officials say Russia is not preparing for that. But remember President Putin has threatened that time and time again. I will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. How far will he take this? What does it look like to save face?

FOSTER: And Peter, when we look back at a lot of Putin's pronunciations throughout this whole process, he said he's not going to do one thing and he does. How concerned should we be about these tactical nuclear weapons being activated at some point?

ZALMAYEV: Well, this is the ironic situation when he says something, he will not do and he does it, you know. He is, in fact, saying that he will use the nuclear weapons. So, I mean the logic would be that he is for now considering them to be more useful to himself as ways to pressure first of all the West, Western countries, the Biden administration from, you know, pressure to stop, to quit its support to Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials are arguing quite the opposite. Our main general, Mr. Zaluzhnyi, the commander of the troops has appealed to the West to provide Ukraine with long range attack missiles, army tactical missiles systems that can strike deep into the territory of Russia. Because for now, even despite the mobilization and the fleeing of hundreds of thousands of Russians, Russians, ordinary Russians are not feeling the brunt of the war the way Ukrainians are.

And so, our military brass, our officials are arguing that, you know, for that to change, Russians need to feel what this war is all about. And for now, it's a very lopsided situation. And so, the Ukrainians are arguing that that has to change.

Peter Zalmayev and also Salma, thank you both very much indeed for your perspectives. We'll keep an eye on all the further developments. More attacks happening really as we speak.

A top White House official is trying to down play fear of a nuclear attack from Russia, though, just days ago. President Joe Biden warned of a potential nuclear Armageddon at a Democratic fundraising event, but John Kirby said those remarks were not based on new intelligence. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House continues to face questions about President Biden's recent comments on the prospect of nuclear Armageddon. In a fundraiser earlier last week, the president said that the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons is at its highest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago.

Now, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked once again about the president's comments on Sunday morning. And he said while there is no imminent threat, no new intelligence that suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to use nuclear weapons, the president's comments, he argued, simply speak to the reality and the gravity with which they're viewing the situation.

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: His comments were not based on new or fresh intelligence or new indications that Mr. Putin has made a decision to use nuclear weapons. And quite frankly, we don't have any indication that he has made that kind of decision.

The president was reflecting was that the stakes are high right now given what's going on, on the battlefield in Ukraine. And given the very irresponsible and reckless comments made by Vladimir Putin in just the last few days. Now, look, he's also said we're not going to be intimidated, neither we nor our allies are going to be intimidated by this. And we're going to continue to provide support and security assistance to Ukraine as is necessary.

SAENZ: In that same Democratic fundraiser earlier in the week, President Biden also publicly mused about whether there's an off ramp for Putin.

[04:15:00]

Kirby was asked about those comments, and he did not outline any exact options that the U.S. is considering to try to diffuse the situation but argued that it is ultimately up to Putin to deescalate and end this war.

Now, while Russia and Ukraine remain top of mind for President Biden, he is also preparing to travel out West this week. First, he'll be making a stop in Colorado on Wednesday where he's expected to announce a new national monument. The president will designate Camp Hale which was a World War II training ground high up in the Rocky Mountains as a national monument which would essentially protect it from development. After Colorado, the president will also be making stops out in California and also in Oregon.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Let's bring you the breaking news out of Ukraine. An update where president Zelenskyy says Russia is trying to annihilate the country with a wave of attacks in city after city. This powerful blast destroyed a roadway in Kyiv. But attacks have been

reported from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the south as well. One of the explosions in Kyiv appears to have destroyed a children's playground -- that's according to a Ukrainian official who posted this picture showing a large crater at the site.

An official says at least five civilians are dead and 12 injured in the capital. The city says train traffic on all subway lines has been suspended as underground stations are being used as shelters.

Anti-government protests continue in Iran, meanwhile, despite a rising death toll. We'll have the latest on the fight for women's rights there.

And just ahead, former President Donald Trump takes to the campaign trail, showing support for some of his favorite candidates in the midterm elections in Arizona.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: We want to recap the breaking news out of Ukraine where President Zelenskyy says Russia is trying to annihilate the country with a wave of attacks in city after city. This powerful blast destroyed a bridge in Kyiv. But attacks have been reported from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the south. One of the explosions in Kyiv appears to have destroyed a children's playground. That's according to a Ukrainian official who posted this picture showing a large crater at the site.

An official says at least five civilians are dead and 12 injured in the capital. Train traffic on all subway lines has been suspended as underground stations are being used as shelter. We're going to continue to bring you breaking developments on this story as they come in.

Now North Korea claims the missile it launched over Japan last week was a new type of intermediate range ballistic weapon. This as Japan and South Korea say the hermit kingdom fired off a pair of ballistic missiles on Sunday, the late nest a spade of launches in the past two weeks. We're joined by Kristie Lu Stout who is live for us in Hong Kong. What do you make of the latest movements there -- Kristie?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and also the latest comments that we're hearing from North Korean state run media, KCNA, now reporting that the leader himself, Kim Jong-un, personally guided these recent weeks of missile tests and military drills all in response to the large scale military drills conducted by the U.S. and its ally in the region South Korea.

We want to show you these photographs that were released earlier today by North Korean newspaper. In these photographs you see -- and they apparently chronicled the last two weeks of missile tests -- and Kim Jong-un is in charge. He is pointing. He is providing field guidance. He is viewing these missile launches from a distance. And according KCNA, they say that North Korea is very confident about its capabilities right now. I want to bring up a quote from KCNA.

They said this, quote, the effectiveness and practical combat capability of our nuclear combat force were fully demonstrated as it stands completely ready to hit and destroy targets at any time from any location, unquote.

And KCNA also added what we believe is a very chilling detail saying that during a military drill that took place on September 28th, they were practicing how to, quote, neutralize some airports in South Korea. KCNA quoted the leader himself saying that Kim Jong-un is in no mood for negotiations or talks. Let's bring up the quote for you.

According to Kim Jong-un, he said this: Even though the enemy continues to talk about dialogue and negotiations, we do not have anything to talk about nor do we feel the need to do so, unquote.

As we have been reporting, North Korea has been carrying out a flurry of missile tests over the last two weeks, seven missile tests including yesterday's early morning missile test in which they fired two missiles. Last Tuesday they fired a missile over Japan, the first such test since 2017. This year North Korea has fired more missiles than most -- the highest number of missiles since 2011, that was when Kim Jong-un assumed power.

We continue to watch the situation especially as concern grows about whether or not North Korea will conduct a nuclear test. If so, that would be the first since 2017 and we remember what happened then. Back to you.

FOSTER: Absolutely, Kristie, thank you.

Now the U.S. is now less than a month away from critical midterm election. Hot topic issues like abortion rights and the economy will be top of mind for voters though they decide who to pick in the state and local elections.

This time of year is also a test to see where President Joe Biden stands with voters even though he's not officially on the ballot. In CNN's Poll of Polls which tracks five mayor national polls, Mr. Biden's approval rating is low. As you can see it stands at 39 percent. Whilst 52 percent disapprove of the job he's doing as president.

This is not a strong position for the Democratic Party obviously. And that has some Democratic candidates distancing themselves from the president as they campaign.

Former President Donald Trump was in Arizona on Sunday, which is already shaping up to be a key battleground state for the next presidential election. Arizona is also the state where Trump's 2020 election deniers have been gaining momentum. One of the more hotly- contested races in Arizona is the race for the Senate. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly is narrowly leading Trump-backed Republican candidate Blake Masters in the polls. [04:25:02]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKE MASTERS, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR SENATOR: We the people are waking up. We saw what successful leadership looks like. Looks a lot like President Trump.

And now we see every day what failed Democrat leadership looks like. And so, the choice is clear, President Trump saved this country once, I can't wait to see him do it again. What do you think?

KARI LAKE, ARIZONA REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: Record low inflation, our 401(k)s looked great. I talked to a neighbor who lost a third of his retirement savings since Joe Biden took office. We were doing great. Our kids were safe because our streets were safe. He supported the police. We had great times under President Trump. For those no-nothing consultants and the media I want to show you what it looks like when I step away from President Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: That was another Trump favorite candidate Kari Lake running for governor of Arizona against Democrat Katie Hobbs, the current Arizona Secretary of State. Lake is a former news anchor who often repeats the Trump lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Protesters filled the streets of Iran this weekend calling for change. Those are students in northern Iran on Sunday chanting freedom, freedom. Just one of many demonstrations across the country. Iranians are demanding justice for the death of four young women over recent weeks.

And people around the world have been demonstrating solidarity with the protesters. This as human rights groups report multiple depths over the weekend. CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now. Again, this incredible sign of strength from these young people, willing to risk their lives. So, shows how this just isn't going away for the regime, though.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Yes, absolutely, and the regime really has been trying to crack down to these protesters to no avail. We are continuing to see these demonstrations taking place up and down the country, gaining momentum.

And just over the weekend, I mean, we saw in the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Saqez, demonstrations there particularly in Sanandaj where social media video has emerged showing what appears to be quite heavy clashes in this city.

We have heard from one human rights organization Hengaw, based in Iran, which it says has documented at least four people being killed across those two cities at the hands of the Iranian security forces. After they alleged the security forces opened fire on demonstrators.

And that is the concern now because as we see these protests gain momentum and continue across the country, we are seeing that crackdown intensify. We've heard from Human Rights Watch, we've heard from Amnesty International detailing what they've described as the use of excessive and lethal force against protesters. This is, you know, tear gas, metal pellets, beatings and of course, as we've seen now live fire ammunition being used against peaceful protesters.

And while you know, it is quite difficult to verify the total death toll at this stage, we heard one rights group based in Norway an Iran human rights organization, they say that the death toll that they've tallied has now reached at least 185 people, including 19 children got killed over the course of these protests.

And that is the key because, of course, we are seeing young people taking part in these demonstrations. University students, even schoolgirls taking that defiant approach. These are schoolgirls who have lived their entire lives under this restrictive measures placed by the Iranian regime on women's rights including the mandatory hijab or head scarf. And yet they are bravely defying those restrictions, removing their scarves, chanting opposition to the supreme leader, to the Iranian president, to the authorities. So, this is gaining momentum. And it is actually broadening now while still being driven by women and girls across the country and the issue of women's rights. It's also now encompassing wide reaching grievances held by the Iranian people and state TV being hacked momentarily over the weekend. So clearly, that defiance is only building up.

FOSTER: And as long as we get the videos the story is being told but they're trying to cap down on that as well, aren't they. Thank you, Nada.

We are following developments out of Ukraine, meanwhile, a series of attacks across the country. We'll bring you the very latest next.

[04:30:00]