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Kharkiv Mayor Reports Explosions, Says City "Under Fire"; Train Hits Empty Bus At Railway Crossing; Kurdish Women Flee Crackdowns In Iran, Take Up Weapons; Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 18, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church, just ahead here on "CNN NEWSROOM."

(voiceover): The world can and must stop this terror. The Ukrainian president's rebuke of Russia's deadly drone strikes on Kyiv. An Iranian teen risking her life to protests dragged by her hair past dead bodies on the street speaks to CNN. Plus, the end of Trussonomics as UK's new finance minister rips up the prime minister's mini-budget and warns of more difficult decisions ahead.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN NEWSROOM" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: And we begin with new developments out of Ukraine where the mayor of Kharkiv says the city is now under fire. He reports a series of explosions, but so far no word on any damage or casualties. And this comes one day after Russia launched a wave of deadly kamikaze drone strikes in Ukrainian cities far from the frontlines.

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CHURCH (voiceover): Police on the ground in Kyiv taking aim at the drones as they flew overhead on Monday. Ukraine says dozens of drones were shot down, but several struck the Capitol killing at least four people. The attacks appear to be part of a wider assault that took aim at critical infrastructure and civilian targets across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted Russia for the attacks.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout the day, the demolition of rubble continues in those places where Russian terrorists managed to hit today. In Kyiv, they killed a young family, targeting an apartment building with an Iranian drone, a man, and a woman six months pregnant. Vladimir Putin can record yet another achievement. He killed another pregnant woman.

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CHURCH (on camera): At least 13 people are dead including three children after a Russian fighter jet crashed into a nine-story residential building in the southwestern city of Yeysk on Monday. Citing Russia's Defense Ministry, state media reported the jet was doing a training exercise when one of the engines caught fire during takeoff and the pilots ejected safely. The Kremlin says President Putin has instructed authorities to provide assistance to the victims. Russian investigators have opened a criminal case into the crash.

And CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by with the latest in Kyiv. And our Salma Abdelaziz is tracking developments for us from London. Good to see you both. Nic, let's start with you. I want to get the latest on those kamikaze drone strikes around Kyiv, but also what we're hearing these explosions and that we understand happening in parts of Kharkiv.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. There are at the moment, air raid warnings in some parts of the country. In Kharkiv, as you say, there were a series of strikes, two sets of strikes within five minutes according to the city's mayor. And he says that the strikes appear to be in an industrial area. We don't have any more details about what was hit there but it does seem -- (AUDIO GAP).

CHURCH: All right, we appear to have lost Nic. We will try to reestablish contact with him. But let's go to Salma now. Salma, what more are you learning about that Russian fighter jet crash in Yeysk?

SALMA ABELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's quite an extraordinary accident that happened there yesterday. I know you're playing some of those social media images of the aftermath of this crash, so serious that President Putin responded within hours instructing authorities to provide all emergency assistance to those victims. And we know, of course, that local prosecutors have opened an investigation to find out exactly what happened. But what we know so far is that this Russian fighter jet, it's an SU-34 supersonic fighter bomber jet something of high value was taking off from a military training site part of a training flight.

And as that jet was taking off, it suffered engine malfunctions, one of those engines set on fire. At least one pilot had to eject himself from that jet and then that jet crashing into a residential quarters in the courtyard of this residential area, setting off this huge explosion, 2000 square meters of fires burning. Emergency services of course rushed to the scene. Several people killed, dozens others wounded in rounding up in hospital, dozens more evacuated from their homes, all of this taking place in the port city of Yeysk in southern Russia. That's the city that's just across the water from Mariupol, just across the water from Ukraine itself.

[02:05:04]

And yes, again, this was a training exercise, but I think it reveals some of the challenges that the Kremlin is facing when it comes to Russia's military right now. First of all, you cannot overemphasize how big of a loss it is to lose an important jet like this when already. Russia's arsenal has been dwindled by this battle in Ukraine. And then there's that question about the training of the men on the ground, the soldiers, and the pilots that are fighting for Russia. And I will tell you tens of thousands of Russian troops have been killed in the battlefield in Ukraine. That means the Kremlin is turning evermore, Rosemary, to less experienced, less trained fighters and rushing them to those frontlines where President Putin continues to face major losses.

CHURCH: All right, Salma, just stand by because we have reestablished contact with Nic Robertson now. Let's go back to him. And Nic, you were talking to us about these strikes in Kyiv and Kharkiv, just if you could pick up where we left off there.

ROBERTSON: Yes. I mean, look what happened here, it seems that the power went down where we're standing, and I can hear through the open window here that generators are kicked on in buildings around me. This is what Russia is trying to do, at the moment. It's trying to hit the utility services, the heating, the electricity services. No indication for sure that we know that our parent power outage is connected to that. But this is what Russia is trying to do.

I was just saying before the power went down that 20 -- 24 of the 28 drones that were fired at Kyiv yesterday failed to impact. There were a further round of attempted drone strikes in Kyiv last night. They all seem to have been intercepted. There were air raid sirens here through the night as well and no indications of impacts that we're aware of it in Kyiv at the moment.

But the strikes in Kharkiv show that there are still holes in Russia -- in Ukraine's air defense systems. Clearly, there's a major effort to protect the capital. But it does leave that Ukrainian forces stretched to protect the rest of the country. And Russia seems to be probing for those weaknesses to take down, particularly heating, particularly electricity, ahead of winter to try to impose tough and harsh conditions on the people here.

CHURCH: All right, out thanks to Nic Robertson and Salma Abdelaziz, both of you bringing us up to date on the situation. Appreciate that.

And joining me now is Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst of defense strategy and capability at the Australian strategic policy institute. Thank you so much for being with us.

So I do want to pick up from what Nic Robertson was saying, you know, the military strategy behind President Putin's increased use of Kamikaze drones on Ukrainian civilians, or what is he trying to achieve here? And do you think he's going to achieve it if it is to break the will of the people across Ukraine?

All right, we're having some audio problems there with our guest. We will attempt to reestablish contact with him on the other side of the break, but coming up here on CNN. As nationwide protests against Iran's authoritarian regime keep growing, so to the list of sanctions against Tehran. Plus, we will learn more about a group of female fighters who are ready to take on the Iranian regime. Back in just a moment.

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[02:10:42]

CHURCH: A scary scene in The Netherlands as a train slammed into a bus on Monday, slicing it in two. Thankfully, the bus was empty and no one was injured. The train's driver and conductor were OK too. A witness says the bus driver was standing by the tracks waving his arms to try to warn the train that the bus was stuck. Both the police and the bus company are investigating.

Iran has been slapped with more sanctions amid a brutal crackdown against anti-government protests. The EU is freezing the assets of 11 people and four entities including Iran's morality police and information minister for their role in the crackdown. Nationwide, demonstrations erupted after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. And a human rights group says scores of people have been killed since the protests began. The EU says it will always act against serious human rights violations.

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JOSEP BORRELL, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: I want to use this opportunity to call on the Iranian government to immediately end the violence to release those detained and to allow normal internet services and flow of information.

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CHURCH: The Iranian foreign minister says the sanctions are based on widespread disinformation.

The Kurdish community is among the hardest hit in Iran's recent crackdown. Many are fleeing to Iraq where some are joining armed opposition groups to support protesters inside Iran. CNN's Nima Elbagir reports from Northern Iraq. And we do need to warn you some of the video in her report may be disturbing to watch.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In a remote area in northern Iraq's Kurdish region, an all-female fighting unit belonging to the armed Kurdish Iranian opposition party, PAK, continues to train. These women have been pulled back from the frontline. For the last three weeks, the area they patrolled in the northeast of Iraq has been hit by a shell sent from across the border by Iran. This unit is part of a larger fighting force. For every single one of these women, this war is personal history.

REZAN: Speaking in a foreign language.

ELBAGIR: Rezan (PH), not her real name, cross the border from Iran with the help of smugglers just over a week ago. The city of Sanandaj, which she calls home, is in Iran's Kurdish-majority western region. And in recent weeks has been likened to herbalism according to its residents as protests have erupted here and across Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian. Rezan just a teenager joined these protests.

REZAN: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were treating casualties but we were also like most people participating in the revolution in the uprising. Everyone who suffered from the oppression of the Iranian regime came down to the streets and markets and defied the government. I was also participating and I had no fear of death.

ELBAGIR: Rezan says that while she was dragged by her uncovered hair, she passed prone lifeless bodies. And even after she left she says she's continued to receive information about people she knows who have died. Like this man, Yajia Rahini, (PH) a newly married 27-year-old, murdered by Iranian regime forces for sounding his horn in solidarity with protesters.

What is happening with your family?

REZAN: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My family told them that no matter how many members of my family they arrest, and for as long as they oppress my people, I will not surrender to the invading Iranian government. We are ready to die.

ELBAGIR: When Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini died in police custody, her name became a symbol of the oppression of women across Iran. But Mahsa is not her true name. Her Kurdish name is Zhina, a name Iranian authorities barred her family like many other ethnic minority groups from using.

[02:15:01]

The regime only legally registers Persian names. Yet in her last recorded moments, Zhina resorted to begging her captors in her Kurdish mother tongue, and treaties which were ignored. We enforcing the fears of Iran's Kurdish minority, hundreds of Iranian Kurdish families have crossed the border to Iraq seeking refuge from the most recent regime crackdown. But even here, they're not safe. This family fears the long arm of the Iranian regime after what they saw inside Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I left after I saw one of my friends killed during the demonstration in Saqqez near of the mosque, right in front of the mosque. They say they are Islamic but how can they claim to be an Islamic Republic when I saw them murdering my friend outside a mosque?

ELBAGIR: He and his family have every reason to be afraid. Iran's reach to oppress the protests within its borders is stretching far beyond. Over the last few weeks, Iranian missiles have fallen into the Kurdish region of Iraq almost every day. The onslaught is relentless. This map shows where Iranian strikes have hit killing at least 18 and injuring at least 63 to date. This video filmed by a local television channel shows the moment just after an Iranian drone and several missiles struck one of the Kurdish Iranian opposition party bases, killing eight soldiers and injuring more. On a day on which 70 missiles Kurdish authorities say rained down in the space of just four hours.

This base only two years ago was on the front line in the fight against ISIS after PAK received U.S. training. It isn't far from U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM forces. Just one day after the attack on the PAK base, CENTCOM shut down another Iranian drone, which appeared they say as a threat to CENTCOM forces stationed in the area. And as the U.S. anti-ISIS presence in Iraq is set to continue, so is the threat Iran poses.

These female fighters have vowed to fight until there is a regime change in Iran. They say they share Zhina's pain. Called by a name forced on her by a repressive regime, all of them have a Kurdish name just like her not spoken outside their homes. All of them say it's hard to imagine going back to how life was before.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Iraqi Kurdistan.

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CHURCH: Sussan Tahmasebi is an Iranian women's rights activist. She joins me now from Washington, DC. Thank you so much for being with us.

SUSSAN TAHMASEBI, IRANIAN WOMEN'S RIGHT ACTIVIST: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So one month after the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, protests are not only continuing despite the deadly government crackdown, but they're increasing in size across the country and clearly have Iran's President alarmed. He's now blaming the U.S. for what he calls inciting chaos, and now, of course, this prison fire. We're even seeing protests spread to conservative cities. How significant is that in terms of what might happen next?

TAHMASEBI: Well, as you said, this is the fifth week of protests, nationwide protests and they're very significant. There are national protests that were announced for Saturday and protests were held in multiple cities, including many conservative cities or cities that hadn't experienced mass protests in the -- in the past. We had protests -- we saw protests in Tehran, in Rasht, in Mashhad, which is very conservative city, but also in other places such as Ardabil.

The presence of protesters in Ardabil was extremely significant. There was a large protest that was met with great violence. And people were angry because high school students -- female students had been attacked by police a few days earlier. 10 of them injured, seven arrested, and one reportedly killed. So I think the protests seem to be continuing. And you know, despite the incredible violence that protesters are facing, they seem determined to continue to express their frustration and their anger. CHURCH: And given that apparent deep level of dissatisfaction with the current status quo in Iran, do you think these protests could perhaps, trigger a social revolution or even expand to a political revolution? Do you see that as a possibility?

TAHMASEBI: Well, these protests started out demanding justice for the wrongful death of Mahsa Amini in custody, and they centered initially around the demand for women's rights.

[02:20:07]

They've clearly expanded to have much greater demands, political demands, even demands for change in regime. So I think that you know -- and many people are calling it a revolution. But it's also being met with incredible violence. So it's difficult to speculate what will happen.

But what has happened is significant because now we see protests across the country that have last -- this is the last -- longest- lasting, continuous protests. And people seem determined to continue expressing their frustration and their demand. And we're seeing things about these protests that are very different. First of all, we see women's demands still continue to be central to these protests, but women are participating in great -- in great numbers. And we also see a much younger generation of Iranians participating.

This is unprecedented. These are children -- of the children of the revolution. And, you know, they are demanding very peacefully, they are dissenting their people -- have peacefully dissenting and making demands for their own freedom. And they have a clearly a very different vision of their own future, what they want for the future, than the Islamic Republic of Iran does.

So regardless of what happens, I think that these protests are significant. And what they're calling for is significant. And I think things will never ever be the same.

CHURCH: Yes. And clearly, these younger generation in Iran are saying enough is enough and they're willing to take incredible risks. So how surprised are you that these protests are still ongoing, given so many young people have died for the cause seeking freedom for Iranian women, and of course, the level of violence, as you've pointed out, has increased to this incredible level?

TAHMASEBI: Well, I'm amazed by the protesters and I'm amazed by the fact that these protests are still continuing because initially, we expected that they would be crushed with a lot of violence. And we see still a lot of violence that's being used, but people despite all of this and all of that violence, they are continuing. So and I think this younger generation has something to say that no one has ever heard. No one has ever paid attention to this younger generation. No one -- no one's even counted them in in terms of political calculation. So it's a very unique situation. And I think that we all have to listen very closely to what they want.

And they're what they're asking for is freedom. They want freedom of -- you know, they want bodily autonomy, but they want freedom. They're asking for fundamental freedoms. They're asking for democracy. They're asking to be able to live with dignity, but also to make decisions about their own lives and their own futures.

CHURCH: Sussan Tahmasebi, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

TAHMASEBI: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: New developments out of Ukraine where the mayor of Kharkiv says the city is now under fire. He reports a series of explosions but so far no word on any damage or casualties. In the port city of Mykolaiv, the mayor says a two-story residential building was destroyed, leaving one man dead following a night of shelling. And in Dnipro, severe damage after two strikes hit a power facility according to a Ukrainian official, warning that some areas may experience a loss of electricity and water supply.

And joining me now is Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst of defense strategy and capability at the Australian strategic policy institute. Thank you so much for being with us.

MALCOLM DAVIS, MILITARY ANALYST: It's my pleasure.

CHURCH: So what is the military strategy behind President Putin's increased use of Kamikaze drones on Ukraine's civilian population in Kyiv? But also these attacks today on Dnipro and in Kharkiv, what is he trying to achieve here?

DAVIS: Look, he's trying to break the will of the Ukrainian people to essentially get them to give up and accept a negotiated settlement that is on his terms. In other words, he's trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But it's not going to work because the more he attacks the Ukrainian people, the more resolve and brave determination they'll show to actually fight back. So, these sorts of terror attacks and the same sorts of things that the Nazis did in World War Two with the London Blitz, and the British people never buckled then, the Ukrainian people will not buckle now.

CHURCH: So -- OK. So if his strategy is to break the Ukrainian people and put pressure on the government to back down, make a settlement, perhaps, how likely is it that his strategy will work given it's going to be a very cold winter, isn't it? So what needs to be done to make sure his strategy doesn't work and not just relying on the Ukrainian people that they've had to put up with so much at this point, haven't they?

[02:25:10]

DAVIS: Yes. And I think that's a valid point. So it's more than just bravery and resolves. It's actually there has to be practical steps taken by the Ukrainian government, and also Western Europe in order to support Ukraine, as you say it is going to be a cold, bitter winter. But I do think that the very fact that the Ukrainians have the upper hand militarily on the -- on the ground, that the flow of weapons from the West continues to arrive, will reinforce the determination of the Ukrainians to keep going. After all, they are fighting for their very survival.

They know full well that if they do undertake a negotiated settlement with the Russians, the Russians will demand that they hang on to the supposed annexed territories in the Donbass, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, and the Ukrainian people in those territories will suffer horrendously under Russian brutality. So the Ukrainians can't give it as simple as that. They have to continue to fight because they're fighting for the literal survival.

CHURCH: They certainly are. But how desperate do you think Putin is right now with his use of these kamikaze drones on civilians, and of course, the failure of his partial mobilization of untrained Russian fighters, it seems to be about to come to an end, as well as his attempt to use energy to pressure Western Europe, and now what we're seeing in this effort to attack Dnipro and Kharkiv?

DAVIS: Look, everything is going wrong for Putin. You know, there's nothing positive coming in terms of news from the Ukraine battlefront in terms of military activities. As you say the mobilization has failed to deliver effective fighting forces. These attacks using the Kamikaze drones are not going to deliver the result that he wants.

Everything he's doing is failing and falling apart. The deployment of Russian forces into Belarus isn't going to give him an option to somehow seize Kyiv from the Belarus border. So I think that he is getting desperate. And that makes him dangerous because the more desperate he becomes, the more dangerous he becomes, the greater the risk, in my opinion, is that he will start thinking about escalation, further escalation, and that could include the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

CHURCH: Yes, that's a big concern, isn't it? Because we know, of course, that he could perhaps do that, turn to nuclear weapons when he undergoes the long-planned exercises of nuclear forces. Do you think he could use that as a -- as a possible mask to use those weapons on Ukraine?

DAVIS: Look, he's undertaken those exercises now. They're called grim -- or sorry, Grom exercises. Look, we're watching very closely what he's doing with those exercises. We'll be watching his nuclear warhead storage sites with a great deal of attention to make sure that he doesn't use the exercises as cover to move warheads from those storage sites to the delivery systems on the front line.

I don't think that he's ready to use nuclear weapons immediately. I think we would have seen indications and warning that he was going to do that if that were the case. But I think the longer this goes on and the more he realizes that he's got no good outcomes coming from this conflict, the greater the risk. So I worry more about the northern spring than I do about the -- going into the winter period.

CHURCH: All right, Malcolm Davis, thank you as always for your analysis. We do appreciate it.

DAVIS: My pleasure. CHURCH: A full retreat, Britain's new finance minister ditches most of the prime minister's economic plan and the markets welcome the new message from Downing Street. Plus, China's leaders are touting the country's economic progress, but it's a very different story for many ordinary people just trying to get by. We're back with that and more after the break.

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[02:31:40]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Britain's embattled Prime Minister admitted she's made mistakes with a controversial economic plan that tanked the pound and jolted the markets. But Liz Truss told the BBC she will write the ship and lead the Conservatives into the next election.

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LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Now I recognize we have made mistakes. I'm sorry for those mistakes. But I've fixed mistakes. I've appointed a new chancellor. We have restored economic stability and fiscal discipline. And what I now want to do is go on and deliver for the public.

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CHURCH: She was on the ropes though and the opposition mocked her for having the House of Commons leader answer their questions which is not unusual when the Prime Minister has another commitment.

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PENNY MORDAUNT, LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: The Prime Minister is not under a desk, it's the (INAUDIBLE). I can assure the House. I can assure the House. I can assure the House that she is -- that -- with regrets. She is not here for a very good reason.

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CHURCH: She went on to say the Prime Minister had been detained on urgent business. Liz Truss eventually did appear. Earlier, her newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer revealed a new strategy to restore economic stability. Jeremy Hunt wasted no time reversing almost all of the tax cuts announced three weeks ago.

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JEREMY HUNT, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: We need to do more more quickly, to give certainty to the markets about our fiscal plans and show through action and not just words that the United Kingdom can and always will pay our way in the world. But at a time when mass markets are asking serious questions about our commitment to sound public finances, we cannot afford a permanent discretionary increase in borrowing worth 6 billion pounds a year.

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CHURCH: And the markets liked that U-turn, it fueled a surge in London's footsie which ended the day up nearly 1 percent.

Well, China is delaying the release of highly anticipated economic data including its third quarter GDP. The delay comes as China's Communist Party Congress is underway in Beijing this week. Inside the party Congress, China's leaders may be touting the country's economic progress over the past decade. But outside the gathering on the streets of Beijing, ordinary people say they feel frustrated and hopeless as China's economy falters.

CNN Selina Wang has our report.

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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Migrant workers like Mr. Hu (ph), move from Chinese villages to Beijing in search for better job prospects. On the lucky day, he can make the equivalent of a few dozen U.S. dollars from construction work. Anything leftover, he sends home to his kids in the village.

He says, the pandemic has made it harder to find work and China's economy is in bad shape because of all the COVID restrictions. The world's growth engine is sputtering. After decades of unstoppable growth, China's economy is cracking. Constant COVID lockdowns wrecking businesses and lives.

[02:35:07]

He shows us his rental home in Beijing, just 4 square meters. It's really small, he says. Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he's pledged to reduce income inequality. But workers like Hu (ph) aren't seeing the benefits. He says, I don't think it's a good idea for him to continue to serve.

SUSAN SHIRK, CHAIR, 21ST CENTURY CHINA CENTER: I think there are a lot of people in China who have lost confidence in the pragmatic judgment of their leader. It could become a big challenge to Xi Jinping.

WANG (voice-over): Unemployment is skyrocketing, not just because of the pandemic. China's once vibrant private sector, suffocating under Xi Jinping's cracked out to bring companies under tighter communist party control. Beijing insists the moves protect consumers and reduce economic inequality. But instead, mass layoffs are sending youth unemployment to a record high of nearly 20 percent.

Protests also erupted this summer in central China. Thousands of depositors lost access to their savings at several banks in the region. As police violently quashed the protesters, Beijing arrested hundreds of suspects, allegedly involved in the scandal, and promised that depositors would start to get their money back. But many still have not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): This is my family's hard- earned money over the last 20 years, he says. Our lives depend on it. WANG (on-camera): How has this whole experience changed your perception of your country, of China's leaders?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I'm like an ant that they can trample on. I have no hope, he says. Another crisis is unfolding in China's all important property sector. Giant developers have defaulted. Home sales are dropping. Homebuyers across the country are boycotting mortgage payments on unfinished homes, fearful that their properties will never get built. These protesters chant, "evil developer, give back my property."

KERRY BROWN, LAU CHINA INSTITUTE DIRECTOR, KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: So the Chinese property market is probably the world's greatest economic asset, single economic asset. If it does collapse, then we have a full-blown recession, maybe even depression.

WANG (voice-over): Xi Jinping is preparing to be ruler for life, claiming that his brand of authoritarianism will realize the China dream of strength and prosperity. But for people like Hu (ph), only wants is to make ends meet. And even that is a dream out of reach.

Selina Wang, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: New developments now on our top story. The Russian air attacks on Ukraine several cities hit today, including Kyiv, where a senior Ukrainian official says there have been at least three hits on an energy facility in the capital. Attacks have also been reported in Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv.

Well, just ahead, spilled milk, orange paint and tomato soup. It is the perfect recipe for getting attention, but will it lead to change? We will have the latest on the U.K.'s crackdown on disruptive public protests after a week of shock and oil (ph) activism.

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[02:40:38]

CHURCH: Protests in the U.K. making headlines as some groups have defaced property and even priceless pieces of art to get their message out. The stunts have caught the eye of the British government which is expected to announce new measures to cut down on the disruptive demonstrations. CNN's Isa Soares has our report.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Milk, the latest pantry item to be used by protesters in the U.K., to call attention to a cause they say is being ignored. On Sunday, activists poured milk on the floors of shops around the country, even dousing the meat counter at Harrods with it. The group, Animal Rebellion, says it organized the stunt to protest the lack of support for farmers and fishing communities from the U.K. government in transitioning to a plant-based future. In recent weeks, climate and environmental protesters have stepped up their shock tactics across the U.K. to get their message out. On Friday, anti-fossil fuel protesters from the Just Stop Oil campaign stunned museum goers at London's National Gallery by throwing tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting and gluing their hands to the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet?

SOARES (voice-over): London Police said the protesters were arrested on charges of criminal damage. The museum says a painting is now back on display with only minor damage to the frame. And though the act grabbed plenty of headlines, it's caused mixed reactions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But then, obviously, I was relieved, very relieved that it was protected. And I just think that they need to choose which things to highlight their causes more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could do something a bit more positive thing, rather than maybe more educational and just make a massive already.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's getting people talking about it, which I guess is what they want. But then how are you going to get people to listen, you know, unless you do something drastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have climbed up this cable of the Kew (ph) Bridge.

SOARES (voice-over): Just Stop Oil activists have been staging disruptive protests in London for weeks. On Monday, police had to shut down a major bridge because protesters were scaling it. Over the weekend, protesters blocked traffic by laying in the road and at least one activist spray painted an Aston Martin showroom.

U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman says protests like these drain police resources and says she's bringing forward a Public Order Bill that will give authorities more powers to prevent these types of disruptions that are favored by some environmental groups.

It plan climate march by activist group Extinction Rebellion also took place in London. And while there was no soup or milk spilled here, the crowd had a similar message about the urgent need for action on climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so simple to get us off the streets. It's just to act on the climate nature crisis.

SOARES (voice-over): Isa Soares, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. World Sport is up next, then I'll be back in 15 minutes with more CNN Newsroom. Do stay with us.

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