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Sunak Pledges Stability Amid Economic & Political Turmoil; Rishi Sunak Promises Continued Support For Ukraine; Ukraine Targets Russian Forces In Kherson Region; Russian Court Upholds Brittney Griner's Prison Sentence; WHO Tracking 300 Plus Omicron Sublineages Worldwide; IRC: Devastating Floods Putting Nigerians At Risk For Cholera, Acute Food Insecurity. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 26, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:31]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Wherever you are around the world, you're watching CNN Newsroom ahead this year -- ahead this hour, I should say. The Rishi Sunak. The Star Wars loving self-described geek now British Prime Minister. Is he really a new hope for the Tories?
Also this --
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have to get out of here as fast as possible because the Russians might target this position.
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VAUSE: On the ground in Ukraine, a front row seat and the battle for Kherson. And billionaire no more. The high cost of Kanye's mouth with Adidas finally cutting ties over his blatant antisemitism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Just feels like it's been a year. It's deja vu all over again. Britain's third Prime Minister this year about to begin his first full day at Number 10. Rishi Sunak was greeted by mostly cheers as he arrived at 10 Downing Street for the first time as prime minister. And just like the two prime ministers before him, his promise to end the political chaos and turmoil which has become a recent hallmark of the Conservative government and to bring an end to the worst economic crisis Britain has faced in a generation.
He's also spoken with world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden, both agreed on continued support for Ukraine and the need to hold Russia accountable. But in the hours ahead, Sunak will face his first Prime Minister's questions in Parliament, with opposition parties spilling blood in the water, it will likely be a knock him down, drag him out bare knuckle slinging match.
And earlier, Sunak admitted the government has made mistakes, just not by him. But his predecessor, Liz Truss.
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RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Some mistakes were made, and I have been elected as leader of my party and your Prime Minister, in part, to fix them. And that work begins immediately.
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VAUSE: So next promise of stability seem to be reflected in his new Cabinet, appointing a coalition of sorts from rival conservative factions. CNN's Scott McLean has all the lead details now from London.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Britain's new Prime Minister is one for the history books. Rishi Sunak is the first non-white Prime Minister and the youngest in some 200 years and yet in his first speech in office, he didn't dwell on either of those milestones, perhaps because there is far too much work to do. British Sunak has the difficult job of uniting his fractured party. So far though the appointments to his new Cabinet seem to show he is willing to extend an olive branch.
Roughly half of the Cabinet picks have been part of Liz Truss' Cabinet, others have served under Boris Johnson. He even brought back Truss' former home secretary who resigned less than one week ago. In his first speech as Prime Minister, he promised to get serious about paying down debt, bring compassion to challenges and focus on the basic campaign promises the Conservatives ran on in the 2019 election.
Sunak opted to keep in place Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt who had been brought in to clean up the economic mess brought by Liz trust, but Sunak will need to go even further to patch the huge hole in public finances and to try to tame inflation. Sunak says he is well aware of the challenges he faces and how tough things will be, but he insists he is not daunted.
Scott McLean, CNN, London.
VAUSE: Stay in London and joining us is Richard Johnson, a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Queen Mary University, London. Thanks for being with us. Thanks, (INAUDIBLE).
RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIV. OF LONDON: Good morning.
VAUSE: So here's a little more from Rishi Sunak after he was invited by King Charles to former government.
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SUNAK: It is only right to explain why I'm standing here as your new prime minister. Right now, our country is facing a profound economic crisis. The aftermath of COVID still lingers. Putin's war in Ukraine has destabilized energy markets and supply chains the world over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Not exactly the most accurate account of how he ended up there because the Tories are in total disarray, which is how he is there. Then I think each other in the back, they're eating their own young at the same time. Sure, he seems, only right to include that in any explanation rather than continuing to blame external factors.
[01:05:06]
JOHNSON: I think he's a better politician than that but I think you're right. I mean, this is a prime minister who's there because the previous two conservative leaders, ultimately were unable to manage their parties. I think we're seeing some signs from who he's appointed into his Cabinet, that he is going to strike a different tone.
He has, as was mentioned, he's brought back the Home Secretary Suella Braverman, that's a real concession to the right of the party. There's also brought back figures like Michael Gove, who'd been sacked by Boris Johnson, who's seen as more of that left one nation conservative. So I think he is trying to stabilize. He's in effect, directly, repudiating Liz Truss' wish in her final speech where she said, go bold. I think the motto of the Sunak premiership will be reassurance, stability, calm. I think that's what he's seeking, whether he gets that as a different thing.
VAUSE: Yes, the former Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, would often taunt the leader of a divided opposition party by saying if you can't govern your own party, you can't govern the country. In many ways, the same is true for Sunak. So apart from this coalition, this sort of rival factions within the Conservative Party, what does Sunak have to do that Truss failed to do?
JOHNSON: Well, they actually already began that work over the weekend in terms of the number of nominations that he was able to achieve. To get up to the 200-mark was quite significant. You know, he only needed 100, he could have got his 100 and stop there. But, you know, I think he wanted to be seen as someone who had confidence from a clear majority of Conservative MPs, which he was able to achieve.
In the days ahead, I think the most important thing for Sunak, in terms of stability within the party is for him to actually do some of the basic legwork of politics. That is to say that you need to be able to make the case for your policies within your party before you make these kinds of bold out of nowhere announcements. I mean, that was the big problem with the 45 percent -- the cut from the 45 percent top rate of tax was that, no -- there had been no preparation.
I mean, Conservative MPs apparently gasped in the House of Commons when it was announced because they had no expectation of it coming. I don't think that's going to be his style certainly -- shouldn't be his style, if he wants to stay on a bit longer than Liz Truss.
VAUSE: Well, yes, 45 days. The new British Prime Minister spoke of an ongoing commitment to supporting Ukraine. He also had that conversation with Joe Biden. This is all very welcome news for Ukraine's President. Here's Zelenskyy, listen to this.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): I believe that the partnership between our countries and the already traditional British leadership in the defense of democracy and freedom will be further strengthened.
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VAUSE: Clearly welcome news, but supporting Ukraine, it's relatively politically popular right now. But it is expensive. What happens to that support as Sunak has to make some hard budgetary choices in the weeks and months ahead?
JOHNSON: Well, his big first test is going to be his fiscal statement by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on Monday, the 31st. And that will probably include some announcement of budget cuts. I think it's difficult to see how they're planning to clog the fiscal gap without making cuts.
Now, sometimes it's been talked about as health and defense are often treated in a different category from other departments, although under David Cameron defense was cut. As you say, if Britain wants to be credible and the commitments that it's making to Ukraine, then it might be the case that Hunt would need to, you know, not make the same level of cuts or even make any cuts to the defense budget.
At this stage, we just don't know what they are planning to do. Perhaps in the days ahead, we might get some signal. As I said, if you're good at politics, you lay the groundwork for these sorts of things so that they're not a massive surprise when the actual statement comes.
VAUSE: In saying like punch -- tell them you are going to punch me in the nose and punch me in the nose, I think it's the same (INAUDIBLE). Mr. Johnson, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
VAUSE: At the United Nations, Russia is warning Ukraine may be developing a dirty bomb explosive place with radioactive material to be exploited on the battlefield. Moscow's Deputy Ambassador presented no evidence. Western leaders are dismissing the claims as misinformation.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister says it's a false flag operation, and it's Russia which could be preparing for such an attack. Ukraine has invited U.N. nuclear experts to visit two facilities implicated by Russia in the alleged quad. Command key says it has nothing to hide.
The Pentagon reports it's constantly monitoring for any evidence of a detonation which involves radioactive or nuclear material. So far, it has seen nothing.
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NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Whether you call it mirror imaging, whether you call it projection, we're concerned because Russia has demonstrated a pattern of accusing others of that which ultimately, itself is planning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ukrainian forces are fighting back against Russian troops in Kharkiv. Motor units fired preemptively on Russian armored personnel carriers, as well as infantry. And to the South, Ukraine says Russian forces have pulled elite military units and officers out of the Kherson region, maybe preparing for a potential retreat. CNN cannot confirm that. But CNN's Fred Pleitgen and his team were able to travel along with Ukrainian reconnaissance units. Here's his report.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): And moved to the front in one of the most active areas of the brutal war in Ukraine, with a rocket artillery team taking aim at Vladimir Putin's forces. They're called Carlson and use light trucks with missile pods mounted on the bed. The rockets carry a message of retribution. This one signed on behalf of a fallen soldier for a full year from the which it says.
"TARAS", UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES (through translation): Our vehicle is very effective because we can set up quickly fire and get away again.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Now they're aiming at Russian positions several miles away. But Russia's artillery is also dangerous and could fire back fast.
It's not safe, he scream.
(on-camera): We have to get out of here as fast -- we have to get out of here as fast as possible because the Russians might target this position after they got hit by the salvo from our rocket.
(voice-over): Their key to accuracy comes from the air. The drone scopes out the target and then watches as the artillery hits a Russian military repair shop, the unit says.
"JOHN", DRONE OPERATOR, UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCE (through translation): We are the eyes of the unit. We do reconnaissance and then make sure the target gets hit.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Russians are under such pressure, they've started evacuating tens of thousands of people from Kherson. And the Ukrainians believe Moscow is making its unfounded claims about Kyiv preparing to use a so-called dirty bomb, because Russia's troops are pinned down in this area.
(INAUDIBLE) commander believes it's only a matter of time before they oust Vladimir Putin's army from here.
"TARAS" (through translation): By the end of the year, we believe Kherson will be under Ukrainian flags.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And they hope their unit will make a small difference in the battle for Kherson.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN in the Kherson region, Ukraine.
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VAUSE: For many Ukrainians leaving regions like Kherson, which under Russian control is becoming increasingly difficult. According to officials, only 139 people were able to leave Russian occupied areas to reach Zaporizhzhia city on Monday. Some days, no one makes it out.
Russian attacks have also destroyed much of Ukraine's power grid, Ukraine's Prime Minister now asking for billions of dollars in foreign aid to help the country make it through winter. According to the U.N., there are more than 7 million Ukrainian refugees spread out across Europe. Ukrainian Deputy Minister has asked them not to return this winter, to do so would further strain the electrical grid.
For now, Ukrainians are doing what they can to prepare these volunteers and making woodstoves residents of the village not far from the frontlines.
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KIRA ZHYLKINA, VOLUNTEER HELPING WITH STOVES (through translation): Since August, we had more than 17 villages in Mykolaiv without electricity, gas and practically no means for existence. We understood that when the cold comes, there will be a need not only in water and food, but people who need something to prepare their food on to stay alive. Many people don't want to evacuate, they don't want to leave their homes. Our goal as volunteers is to help them.
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VAUSE: For the very latest on the war in Ukraine and find out how you can help the people of Ukraine, please visit us online, cnn.com/impact.
Russian court has upheld the nine-year prison sentence of American basketball style Brittney Griner. U.S. says it's working to free the Olympic gold medalist but if nothing changes, Griner could be on her way to a penal colony. CNN's Kylie Atwood has the very latest reporting in from the State Department.
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BRITTNEY GRINER, U.S. CITIZEN DETAINED IN RUSSIA: I've been here almost eight months.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From behind bars in a Russian prison, Brittney Griner made her final plea in court today.
GRINER: People with more severe crimes but definitely less than what I was given.
ATWOOD (voice-over): The American basketball star also apologized once again for what she called a mistake accidentally bringing Cannabis oil into Russia.
[01:15:01]
GRINER: I did not intend to do this but I understand the charges brought against me. And I just hope that is also taken into account too as well, that I did plead guilty.
ATWOOD (voice-over): But the Moscow court upheld her conviction, leaving her guilty of smuggling drugs into the country only slightly reducing her nine-year prison sentence by only a few months. U.S. officials responded swiftly, calling the Russian judicial system a sham.
ELIZABETH ROOD, U.S. CHARGE D' AFFAIRES, MOSCOW: Nothing in the result of today's appeal changes the fact that the United States government considers Ms. Griner to be wrongfully detained.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in constant contact with Russian authorities to get Britney and others out. And so far, we're not meeting with much positive response.
ATWOOD (voice-over): White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden administration officials are working, quote, through every available channel to get Griner and Paul Whelan another American wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly four years, back home.
PAUL WHELAN, U.S. CITIZEN DETAINED IN RUSSIA: I'm a victim of political kidnap and ransom.
ATWOOD (voice-over): The Biden administration has worked on this effort at a persistent pace in recent months, following the initial proposal from the United States for a prisoner swap that included Viktor Bout, a convicted arms trafficker serving a 25-year-prison sentence in the United States.
But so far, U.S. officials say that Russia has repeatedly responded with a demand that is not feasible for the United States to deliver on.
BIDEN: We're not stopping.
ATWOOD (voice-over): And today, Griner's lawyers had a somber outlook for the two-time Olympic gold medalist future in Russia.
MARIA BLAGOVOLINA, BRITTNEY GRINER'S ATTORNEY: She had some hopes and these hopes vanished today. So I think that's why she is doomed.
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ATWOOD: Now Brittney Griner's agent Lindsay Colas said that what happened today was disappointing, yet unsurprising, said it further validated the fact that Brittney Griner is being held as a political pawn in Russia, and she really sought to rally support for the need to get Brittney Griner out of Russia quickly pointing to what has happened to other Americans who have been wrongfully detained abroad and saying that something might happen at any time.
Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.
VAUSE: Well, just ahead, winter is coming. And so to hundreds of new evading variants of the coronavirus. Where, when and how bad this way it could be? That's next. Also ahead --
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have built a weapons system that nobody's ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven't even seen or heard about.
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VAUSE: Remember Donald Trump's describing America's nuclear arsenal to journalist Bob Woodward? Details of what else he told the veteran journalist ahead.
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VAUSE: U.S. President Joe Biden rolling up his sleeves on Tuesday for an updated COVID booster shot. The President is urging eligible Americans to follow his example as an Asian heritage (ph) or potential winner case surge.
[01:20:08]
So far less than 10 percent of the eligible population has received the update booster. So 20 million Americans.
Whitehouse is concerned about a triple threat posed by COVID-19, RSV and the flu is coming winter, encouraging Americans to get vaccinated for both COVID and the flu. President Biden's COVID Response Coordinator also says he's hopeful there'll be an RSV vaccine by next fall.
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DR. ASHISH JHA, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: The good news here is that we're not powerless against this. For two of them, we have very high-quality vaccines, both influenza and COVID. So the first and most important thing people can do is go out and get vaccinated because that will keep people kids, adults, everybody out of the hospital at very high rates. So that is probably the most important thing.
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VAUSE: At least six new COVID-19 variants have been discovered recently in the U.S. and in Europe, while a variant called XBB is fairly a new wave of infections in Singapore. A prominent infectious disease doctor has started referring to the new group of the strains as scrabble variants, since they incorporate some of the highest scoring letters in the game. So far, it's unclear if one strain will become stronger than the other or more dominant. Experts say it's clear the coronavirus is evolving.
With all, joining us live now for Hawaii, Dr. Scott Miscovich, President and CEO of Premium Medical Group, USA, as well as a National Consultant for COVID 19 testing. Welcome back. It's been a while.
DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PREMIER MEDICAL GROUP, USA: Thank you, John. How are you today?
VAUSE: I'm good and thank you. Now, a few days ag, the head of the Health Emergencies Program at the WHO tweeted this, "Bottom line, more than 300 sublineages of Omicron are circulating globally right now."
Went on to warn of the need for ongoing surveillance, testing, sequencing and now this, "The WHO and our expert networks need to be able to rapidly assess these variants, and advise on any changes needed for the response. We currently cannot do this as effectively as we need to." Is that as bad as it sounds?
MISCOVICH: The only thing that I would challenge him with is he missed about 200 more variants that we now know that are circulating. So there's over 500 right now in this what we call variants stew (ph) or Scrabble. And no, it's not quite as bad as as it sounds. And here's the reason why.
Right now, the majority of those variants that he's referring to are all taking off of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron, which we all know what those were. And the good news is, for example, in the United States, we have the bivalent vaccine, which is incorporating a component to help fight those. So right now, those are not really bothering us.
What we're -- we would really be worried about if something all of a sudden came and it was up here and it was totally away from what we're studying. If you talk about those variants that the WHO has just mentioned and the overall 500, they're changing about them four, five, six, seven of the spike variants, and there's mutations. So it's not a major change right now. So it's not as bad as it sounds.
VAUSE: OK. Well, with that in mind, here's a little more from the WHO that speaking last week with regards to transmissibility, vaccines, and immune escape. Here we are.
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DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We do know that this recombinant has a significant growth advantage. All of these are variants of Omicron are showing increased transmissibility, and properties of immune escape. And this is of concern for us, because we need to ensure that the vaccines that are in use worldwide remain effective at preventing severe disease and death.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: So you're saying the current round of boosters are still effective in dealing with these various 500 user variants which are out there. But for them to be effective, people actually have to get the shot in the first place, right, and that's not happening.
MISCOVICH: Yes, yes, absolutely. I mean, that's the caveat here. If you do get the shot, you are in a wonderful position. You know, we have data that basically shows if you get the shot, the chances in the first three months that you're going to contract, even these new immune invasive variants is almost nil. And then as you go on four, five, six, seven months, it will drop.
And, you know, once you hit a year, it's gone. And that's the problem we're having in the United States and across the world. There's all this COVID fatigue. And the bottom line is that right now, as you stated earlier, we have what 8.5 percent of Americans, only 20 million have gotten vaccinations. Well, we have a lot of Americans right now, who essentially think they're vaccinated and people around the world and they're walking around with zero protection. That's serious right now.
VAUSE: You know, the splintering of the coronavirus family tree which is kind of what we're seeing right now, it was expected. Also the pattern of mutation which is described as convergent evolution.
MISCOVICH: Yes.
[01:25:03]
VAUSE: So from your point of view, where is all this heading? What are your concerns? You mentioned that the variant which is totally out of the box, between the out of box variant and where we are right now, what are your concerns?
MISCOVICH: Well, right now, you know, we're just seeing mostly variants of BA.4, BA.5, as you stated in the earlier piece. You know, we have the BQ, one BQ -- 1.1, and the XPD, which really devastated Singapore. But here's the good news, John, the spikes that we've seen with those in Singapore, and the ones that we've just seen go through Europe, have been much shorter, and not as high, all right?
So if we go back now as you and I are talking for the third year, hard to believe it's been that long, we're seeing the spikes, each one is getting a little bit lower. And it's also getting a little narrower. So that is the path to endemicity right now. So as long as we keep on this path, and we're predicting that we will have a significant spike that we'll be hitting in December, we'll really go through January, February after our holidays, but we will expect that hopefully, because of the prior immunity that we have, and people getting the vaccination, it's not going to be as high.
John, let me do highlight. If you take all the data from around the world, the over 70-year-old age group is dying. They are the ones that are suffering. They are being hospitalized. Immune, depressed people are the ones that are suffering. So we have to be really careful with those groups. VAUSE: So there are people out there who are still very vulnerable to this admission. Keep that in mind as we move forward. It's a good point. Scott, thanks so much. Good to see you.
MISCOVICH: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: Weeks of devastating flooding have put the people in Nigeria at greater risk of cholera and other serious health dangers. The International Rescue Committee warns more than a million children in northern Nigeria could suffer from acute food insecurity this year. This country faces its worst flooding in a decade.
CNN's Larry Madowo has details.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our communities still submerged nearly a month after the flooding began with no end in sight. Boats have become the only way to get around much of Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria. The streets of Tonto River's driving entire communities away from their homes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mama OB (ph) takes us to what is left over her home. The water is still waist high. We have really suffered, she says. Tell the government to help us.
(on-camera): Everything you own is here under the water and this is your house?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, a lot of everything.
MADOWO (voice-over): Some are living rough on the streets, washing with this water, cooking with it and bathing in it.
(on-camera): Even though people's homes and businesses and livelihoods are already submerged, it's still raining. And there's more expected. The Nigerian government is warning, this could go on through November, so even more of it.
(voice-over): This is Nigeria's worst flooding in a decade. Aniso Handy has remained in his house through it all.
ANISO HANDY, FLOOD VICTIM: Nigerians I used to manage if not, would have all died. We have not seen a situation where people are not cared for. But Nigerians care for themselves. We are just like infants that had no father, no mother.
MADOWO (voice-over): The feeling of abandonment runs deep here. Victims are disappointed with the Nigerian government's response, which hasn't declared the flood a national emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not that comfortable, another fear for (INAUDIBLE) sick.
MADOWO (on-camera): We were next to a local cemetery and residents have reported seeing bodies floating here in this water. This flood has displaced not just the living, also the dead.
(voice-over): The floods have affected 33 of Nigeria's 36 states, partly due to well above average rainfall. Bayelsa is among those cut off from the nation with major highways underwater. The situation has been exacerbated by poor drainage infrastructure, and an overflowing dam in neighboring Cameroon.
But with a warmer climate, causing more intense rainfall. Authorities have also blamed it on climate change, angering some Nigerians. In this community, though, there are more short term consequences.
(on-camera): So you're worried about the children mostly?
NDIA OKAZI, FLOOD VICTIM: Yes. My children, they're not (INAUDIBLE) again. No when, and that's pin me.
MADOWO (voice-over): It's a tough life to navigate for humans and animals alike. But life must go one.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:29:58]
VAUSE: When we come back, a CNN exclusive. Images of Russian soldiers in the early days of the war, in pain, suffering, and ugly unprepared. Images the kremlin does not want the Russian public to see.
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VAUSE: Eight months on since Russian troops and tanks rolled into Ukraine, we are now learning of the chaos, trauma and lack of preparation among the Russian military. These images are of Russian soldiers losing jaws, fingers, legs as commanders deceived them.
In the early days of the war, Moscow it seems had no plans to care for the injured. Many ended up in the hospital just across the border in Belarus. One doctor who treated the soldiers said later escaped fleeing with evidence of what Putin's brutal war has cost his own soldiers.
CNN's Melissa Bell has details and this exclusive report.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For Andre, it was the hardest of goodbyes. "I love you", he tells his daughters as he prepares to swim for his life.
"Is daddy leaving," asks one.
"Yes," he replies.
The young doctor from southern Belarus had just driven his family across the country from their home near the Ukrainian border. Andre then swam into the safety of neighboring Lithuania running from a war that wasn't his. Fleeing with x-rays of some of the Russian soldiers he treated as the war began -- the ghosts of Vladimir Putin's war machine.
ANDRE, BELARUSIAN DOCTOR (through translator): I wanted to tell their stories. I just took some evidence to confirm it. But what I took with me could make me liable. They can charge me with espionage.
BELL: With the state of the Russian army, it's defeats and its casualties a closely-guarded secrets, these images are a rare window on to Russia's catastrophic invasion.
On February 24th, the first day of the war, Russian forces landed at this airport on the outskirts of Kyiv. The fight that ensued was brutal. Ukrainian counter offensive inflicted devastating casualties on the Russian paratroopers. Many wound up in Mazyr City Hospital in southern Belarus.
ANDRE: Most had blast injuries, injured heads, face, lacerations to the torso area, head, brain injuries, several had damage to their jaws.
BELL: Andre says that many of the injuries he treated were consistent with soldiers coming under unexpected and chaotic firepower.
[01:34:50]
ANDRE: They saw a lot of explosions and couldn't even see who was firing on them. Some of them told us they had gone through hell. They didn't expect what was waiting for them in Ukraine. They thought they were going in for military exercises.
They were mainly angry at the commander who had deceived them, most already were resigned to their new reality of losing a finger or a leg.
BELL: The trucks used to transport the wounded shared at the time on social media. Andre says they arrived at night bringing 30 soldiers on the second day of the war, 90 on the third.
ANDRE: They came from Borodianka, some from (INAUDIBLE), others from Bucha, a number was written on the forehead of each to direct them to the right departments. At least the ones who were admitted had a good chance of surviving. There was one guy who is missing his entire lower jaw and he was only complaining that he hadn't eaten or drank anything for three days.
BELL: But the soldiers kept arriving. Andre says about 40 a day on average. The wounds easy for him to remember than the names. Although one in particular does stand out.
One of the early narratives of the start of the war was a number of commanders who were being lost on the Russian side. Several wound up in Mazyr district hospital including General Sergei Nerkov (ph).
ANDRE: He suffered abdominal trauma from a mine explosion in Chernobyl so we treated him and then after he was stabilized he was taken away with the other officers.
I felt disgust towards these officers. Mainly the feeling was that they were war criminals.
BELL: Mostly Andre says, the men were ordinary soldiers, very young and inexperienced. 18, 19, 20-year-olds who would spend a couple of days in his hospital before being sent back to Russia. Their lives saved but changed forever.
ANDRE: I had the impression that only a small portion of the soldiers since actually made it out alive and to our hospital. I had a feeling that some of the living envied those who had died.
BELL: Andre is now rebuilding his own life with his family in a European city with what little they could bring. Mainly, the x-rays hidden in one of his daughters toys to be brought to safety and now to light.
Melissa Bell, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN reached out to the Russian ministry of defense and a chief physician at Mazyr City Hospital for a response to our report. So far, there is none.
It has been a year since the military coup in Sudan. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters back on the streets Tuesday, meeting (ph) tear gas and stun grenades as they march towards the presidential palace in Khartoum. Human rights groups says more than 100 people have been killed in protests over the past year.
Military takeover has halted Sudan's (INAUDIBLE) to democracy, plunged an economy already in crisis into further turmoil.
Tuesday marked a new level of violence for the West Bank, the highest number of Palestinians killed so far this year. This comes as a new armed militant group emerges, raising concerns among both Israelis and Palestinians.
CNN's Hadas Gold has our report from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gunshots echo through the narrow streets of the old city of Nablus as (INAUDIBLE) Israel military raids targeting militants in the West Bank reached new heights in the early hours of Tuesday.
It became the deadliest day for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank this year. Five killed and about 20 injured in this raid according to Palestinian officials and another dead in a clash north of Ramallah.
Israeli Defense Force says they raided Nablus to target the Lions Den, a new militant group that has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks against Israeli security forces.
Israel says it's planning to target civilians in Israel. According to Israeli officials, soldiers raided an explosives manufacturing site for the group and killed one of their leaders.
Palestinians claiming this man was killed in a targeted drone strike, suggesting the Israelis are using new lethal escalations in this latest fight, that so far had been focused on ground incursions.
This new armed Palestinian militant group, does not belong to any of the traditional Palestinian factions. They are mostly young male members, bounded by the lost faith in their own Palestinian leadership to stand up against the occupation and Israeli settlers. A red ribbon around their weapons as a symbol that the blood of their martyrs won't go to waste.
Their popularity skyrocketing among Palestinians already with more than 200,000 followers on Telegram. Supporters heeding the call to flood the streets, chanting "Den" (ph) in the streets of Nablus after the raid as 2022 now remains the deadliest year for Palestinians and Israelis since 2015, with no end in sight.
Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:39:59]
VAUSE: Still to come here, remember how Donald Trump publicly described his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as kind of a love affair? What did he say about the relationship to veteran journalist Bob Woodward?
That is next.
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VAUSE: In less than two weeks, key battleground states like Pennsylvania will begin counting votes in this year's U.S. Midterm elections. The state is likely to be crucial in deciding who controls the U.S. Senate. And the two major candidates, Republican celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman held their one and only debate just a few hours ago.
Much of the focus was on Fetterman's ongoing recovering from a stroke back in May. At times his delivery was halting and repetitive. Polls show the top issue for voters in Pennsylvania is the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MEHMET OZ (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: I can make the difficult decisions, as you do in the operating room as a surgeon. I will make some cutting our budget as well, to make sure that we do not have to raise taxes on a population already desperately in pain from the high inflation rate. JOHN FETTERMAN (D), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: He has never met an
oil company that he does not swipe right about, you know. He has never been able to stand up for working families across Pennsylvania. You know, we must push back.
Inflation has hurt Americans and Pennsylvania's families, and it has given the oil companies record profits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Voters have until November 8th to cast ballots, and early turnout has been strong. According to election officials and research companies, more than 9.2 million Americans have taken advantage of early and absentee voting. That's on pace with the midterms of 2018. It set the highest voter turnout in recent history for a midterm election.
California, Florida, and Georgia have each received and registered more than a million ballots already.
As the midterms near, Donald Trump might just announce plans for a political comeback in 2024. Perhaps no one knows Trump's political mindset better than veteran journalist Bob Woodward. He did 20 interviews with Trump during his days at the White House. It seems no topics are off limits.
Woodward has since released the Trump tapes, and said the former president is unparalleled danger to the country. An unparalleled danger. Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Woodward, the president.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hi Bob.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The calls came at all hours on all subjects.
TRUMP: Nobody's tougher than me. You asked me about impeachment, I'm under impeachment. And you said, you know you just act like you just won the (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
FOREMAN: Sometimes full of profanity, bitterness and bragging.
TRUMP: You know, I have this reputation of not being willing to apologize. It's wrong.
BOB WOODWARD, JOURNALIST: Yes.
TRUMP: I will apologize if I'm wrong. This conversation.
WOODWARD: When was last time you apologized?
TRUMP: Oh, I don't know. Bu I think -- here's the thing. I am never wrong. FOREMAN: Then relaxed, entertaining, and occasionally alarming.
TRUMP: I have built a weapon system that nobody has ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven't even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before.
[01:45:01]
FOREMAN: Unsurprisingly, just as he has in public, Trump praised the Russian president --
TRUMP: I respect Putin. I think Putin likes me. I think I like him.
FOREMAN: -- but he was equally effusive about North Korea's leader.
WOODWARD: The CIA says about Kim Jong-un that he is cunning, crafty, but ultimately stupid.
TRUMP: I disagree. He is cunning, he is crafty, and he is very smart.
WOODWARD: Why does the CIA say that?
TRUMP: Because they do not know, ok. They do not know. They have no idea. I'm the only one that knows.
FOREMAN: As for the danger of Kim launching missiles at the U.S. or American allies --
TRUMP: If he shoots he shoots. If he shoots, he shoots. He's got big problems, let me put it that way. Big, big problems.
FOREMAN: Underlying it all, Trump's seemingly unshakable faith in his ability to judge people.
TRUMP: The word chemistry, you meet somebody, and you have a good chemistry. You meet a woman, in one second you know whether or not it's all going to happen.
FOREMAN: Trump went on at length about his power, popularity with his base, and ability to run rings around old Washington.
TRUMP: The history of politics has never been fundraising like I am doing.
FOREMAN: About the COVID-19 pandemic and the conversation about it with his youngest son.
TRUMP: So he was 13 in the White House upstairs, in his bedroom, he said "Dad, what is going on?" I said, it came out of China, Barron, pure and simple. It came out of China.
It should have been stopped. And to be honest with you Barron, they should have let it be known it was a problem two months earlier and we wouldn't -- the world wouldn't -- now we have 141 countries have it, now. And I said the world wouldn't have a problem. We could've stopped it easily. FOREMAN: But there was one topic that seemed to stop him. At the time,
the upcoming 2020 election and his real chance of losing. As he did.
WOODWARD: Everyone says Trump is going to stay in the White House, if it is contested. Have you --
TRUMP: Well, I'm not -- I don't want to even comment on that. I do not want to comment on that at this time. Hey Bob, I have all these people. I will talk to you later on tonight.
FOREMAN: Trump has since jumped on his Truth Social, to claim Woodward never had a right to release this audio and to express his outrage about it. But the former president has previously complained publicly about things, but privately has let people know he likes the attention.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: It could be a case or finally doing the right thing, after every other option is well and truly exhausted. Adidas, finally cutting all ties with Kanye West at his anti-Semitic comments. When we come back, why Adidas, why did it take so long?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Bit of good morning there from the artist formerly known as Kanye West. But it's been anything but a good morning or good day or even a good week for the artist now known Ye.
It's been a race to the exit for the corporate world cutting ties with the performer in droves as he doubled down on anti-Semitic comments made online. And that includes Adidas, who struck a deal nearly a decade ago with West. Forbes now describing Kanye as just a person of hundred millionaire, losing about a billion dollars of his personal wealth so far.
CNN's Brian Todd has more of the controversy, reporting from Washington.
[01:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In recent days, Kanye West said this on a podcast.
KANYE WEST, ENTERTAINER: The thing about with me and Adidas is like, I could literally say anti-Semitic (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and they could not drop me.
TODD: Now the German sportswear giant has indeed dropped West who now goes by the name Ye. Adidas has partnered with him for nine years. His line of sneakers with them was hugely successful, and Adidas says it will take a hit of more than $240 million to its fourth quarter sales by cutting ties.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: I wish it had happened sooner, but this does send a strong statement that there are consequences when you express anti-Semitism and any form of hate.
TODD: On October 8th, West tweeted he was quote, "Going death con 3 on Jewish people." His Twitter and Instagram accounts were locked. He has since abandoned by The Gap, Vogue, the fashion house Balenciaga and his powerful agents CAA.
For a man who has won 24 Grammy Awards and has been a trend setting fashion mogul, how big a fall from grace is this?
DAN BAUM, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: Year 10, this is 11 -- it's as extreme as it gets, and the real problem is that he has crossed over more lines through hate speech and anti-Semitism.
TODD: Observers say one danger with West's public remarks is that his audience is young and impressionable. Another is the current political and social climate in America.
LZ GRANDERSON, OP-ED COLUMNIST, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Choosing this platform in the context of a pos--2020 America, with everything that we know that's going on in terms of hate crimes, in terms of anti- Semitism, in terms of racism. So we are in a climate right now that is very, very tense.
TODD: In recent days, a group of demonstrators appeared to show support for West's anti-Semitic support, by hanging banners from a freeway overpass near L.A.
GREENBLATT: This was a dangerous thing for Kanye to do at a time when the danger facing Jewish people is all too real.
This post by Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica, getting hundreds of thousands of likes and shares online.
But West's actions go beyond upsetting the Jewish community. He recently wore a "White Lives Matter" T-shirt at a Paris runway show. He suggested that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, rather than police brutality.
Can West reverse any of this and make a comeback? The apology tour hasn't been convincing. He recently told an interviewer he was sorry for the hurt that the death con tweet caused but wasn't sorry he said it.
His ex-wife Kim Kardashian just issued a statement criticizing hate speech but only after she was called out for not addressing West's behavior earlier.
One damage control expert says this.
BAUM: These are his real thoughts. There's really no coming back from this. If his thoughts were the result of a mental health condition, I think that is a mitigating factor. TODD: There is speculation that West's behavior could be related to
mental illness. He himself has previously acknowledged the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, but he's also cast some doubt on that.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With us now is Peter Shankman, one of the world's leading consultants on branding, marketing, and PR. Good have you with us Peter.
PETER SHANKMAN, PR CONSULTANT: Good to be back.
VAUSE: Now, grandmother would always say, pride comes before A fall. So once again, here is the pride. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEST: The thing about with me and Adidas is like, I can literally say anti-Semitic (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and they couldn't drop me. I can say anti-Semitic things and Adidas cannot drop me. Now what?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The fall is the "now what" part. And this has cost Kanye a fortune. But what was truly stunning was not the arrogance of what he said just then but the fact that Adidas, a company with its own class ties to the Nazis took longer than a nanosecond to cut all ties after he said that.
It is a series of screw-ups by Adidas. How bad was that last one?
SHANKMAN: It was not great. I mean there are two types of companies when -- when they are exposed to craziness of that magnitude. When they're exposed to, oh my God I can't believe he just said that.
The first time they cut ties immediately, they say that is not who we are. That's not what we're doing (INAUDIBLE). An example of that would be Peloton. Peloton made an announcement several days ago that said they are no longer playing any of Kanye's music in any of their classes, nor will they promote any past classes that had Kanye's music in it.
The second type of company is the one that says, well, we are not going to say anything just yet, until our financial analysts tell us what to say. And Adidas fell into that category. Not a really good look for them.
The fact of the matter is, they were looking at multi million, if not billion dollar losses, and so their question was, do we take a loss now, or will it be a much greater loss coming down the pipe. And all the analysts said to them, it will be a much greater loss. It's the equivalent of, you either cut off your arm or the cancer spreads and kills the body. VAUSE: So with those numbers in mind from the German-owned Adidas,
Yeezy products generated nearly $2 billion in sales last year, accounting for 8 percent of the company's total sales, that is according to Morgan Stanley.
[01:54:50]
VAUSE: And according to Yahoo News, the company has warned profits will be 60 percent lower this year than expectations. It is great to have a cash cow, but there are dangers when the cash cow gets mad cow disease and just goes off the rails like this.
SHANKMAN: Well that is the other interesting thing. I do not believe that that profit loss is going to be strictly from them dumping Kanye. I believe that a lot of it is going to be from people who are no longer going to go back to Adidas because they took so long to dump Kanye.
At the end of the day, had they come out and said this is not who we are, we don't believe in this, goodbye, it would've been a hit and they would've taken that loss this year and I do not think that their loss would've been as great moving forward.
VAUSE: So, with that in mind, here's part of a statement announcing an end to their relationship with Ye.
"Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any of this sort of hate speech. Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."
The comments were unacceptable, hateful and dangerous when they were made weeks ago.
SHANKMAN: Exactly.
VAUSE: So you know, were they hoping that this would all blow over?
SHANKMAN: Most public relations firms work really, really slowly. And it took them that long to write that statement. No one -- there is no difference between what the comments mean today versus what they meant three weeks ago or a month ago.
You know, this is the classic -- I try to explain what I was talking about to my nine-year-old daughter. And I said, remember that meme that you saw that you should not have seen that said F around and find out. This is the find out part, right. And it is hurting them because they did not move as quickly.
I said when you do something wrong, what do you -- what did I tell -- what have I taught you to do? You tell me, right. You admit to it, and you fess up, and you move on.
They did not do that, and now they're paying the price.
VAUSE: Adidas made this deal with Kanye West in 2013, and when it was first made, the revenue flooded in. The money was coming in like no one knew. And three years later, Adidas expanded the relationship with him, touting it is the most significant partnership ever created between an athletic brand and a non-athlete.
Is this now potentially the most destructive partnership ever created between a brand and a non-athlete?
SHANKMAN: I think it is very possible. you know, one of the things you have to remember is that, when they made this deal, this was the Kanye of old. This was the Kanye who said George Bush does not like black people, this is the Kanye who pushed Taylor Swift off the stage and said I'm going to let you finish, right.
We looked at those things and said, that is just funny. That wasn't this. And unfortunately when you create such a brand like that, such a ridiculously expensive partnership, you do not want to see the new stuff. You want to keep looking back at the old stuff and say, maybe he'll go back to that smaller level of crazy, right.
But you get to the point where that is just not possible. And again, they waited until six, seven, eight, ten analysts said hey, you are going to lose a lot of money, every second you do not cut ties you're losing more.
VAUSE: We will leave it there, but the good news is Kanye has fallen out of the billionaires' list. It did cost him a ton of money as well. So that is the upshot.
SHANKMAN: He'll argue that -- he'll argue that tomorrow.
VAUSE: Well, whatever. Peter, good to see you. Thank you so much.
SHANKMAN: Thanks so much.
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
The news continues with my friend and colleague Anna Coren.
I will see you right back here tomorrow.
[01:57:59]
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