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America's Choice 2022; Russia's War on Ukraine; Biden in Asia for ASEAN and G20. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 12, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.

Democratic fortunes dramatically improved overnight, with incumbent Mark Kelly projected to retain his Senate seat in Arizona. Republicans and Democrats now have 49 Senate seats each. A win in Nevada would secure Democratic control of the upper chamber. That state Senate race is virtually tied.

Republican Adam Laxalt has watched his narrow lead slip away with Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto. Democrats are one seat closer to Senate control. With hundreds of thousands of ballots still to be counted, we spoke earlier with CNN's Manu Raju about what went wrong for Republicans.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Inflation has been obviously a huge issue throughout this campaign season. They thought tying him to the national environment would be enough to knock him down. But he played in what turned out to be an underperforming candidate in the election.

Blake Masters, someone who'd been endorsed by the former president, Donald Trump, who'd been propped up because of that Trump endorsement but someone who never got the full support of the Republican establishment.

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HARRAK: Let's get straight to Arizona with CNN's Kyung Lah in Phoenix.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The vote count here in Maricopa County is still continuing. But CNN is now projecting that senator Mark Kelly, the Democratic incumbent, will defeat a challenge from Republican Blake Masters. The vote count here is 82 percent complete, as workers, here you can

see, are still going through the ballots. About 265,000 to 275,000 votes still remain to be counted.

The Masters campaign had hoped that this latest vote result would be the turnaround, clearing a path, a possible path to victory, where he could catch up and overtake the Democratic senator. That simply did not materialize.

Senator Kelly released a statement after multiple news organizations projected that he would indeed win, saying, quote, "I'm humbled by the trust our state has placed in me to continue this work."

And we're also getting reaction from Republicans here in the state of Arizona. The party here increasingly has seen a divide between the moderate McCain Republicans and the Trump wing.

Republican analyst and operative Barrett Marson tweeted, quote, "Arizona is a conservative state but not a Trump state and voters keep telling us that." -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Phoenix.

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HARRAK: Well, a short time ago we spoke with Mary Jo Pitzl, who covers state politics for The Arizona Republic." Here's her takeaway.

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MARY JO PITZL, "THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC": They see this as making a statement about where Arizonans want common sense government.

They don't want fringe politics coming into their Senate representation. And, of course, on the Republican side, a lot of disappointment. This would have been a win for them. It would have helped to give the Republicans control of the Senate as you've noted. But now they're knotted up even Steven and all eyes turn to Nevada and Georgia.

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HARRAK: We want to take you to Nevada, where only about 800 votes now separate the two candidates in that crucial Senate contest. CNN's Gary Tuchman has our report.

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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Senate race here in the state of Nevada is so very close. Let us tell you where the mail-in ballots are that still need to be counted in this state.

First of all, in Washoe County, that's northern Nevada, where Reno is located, there's about 11,000 ballots still to be counted.

And Douglas County, a small county in Western Nevada, the county seat is Minden; the population is 50,000. It's very Republican.

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TUCHMAN: That county hasn't elected a president -- a Democratic president -- since before World War II. They have about 2,000 ballots outstanding.

But this is the big prize, this building behind me. This is the Clark County election department. Clark County is where Las Vegas is. About three-quarters of Nevadans live in this county. There's still 23,000 mail-in ballots to count inside this building.

And an additional 15,000 ballots are provisional ballots or ballots that need to be cured. What that means is some people don't put their signature on the ballot. As long as they put their signature on the ballot, it then gets counted.

So that's a total of 38,000 more ballots. So there's still a lot of counting to do in this race that's really tight -- this is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Las Vegas.

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HARRAK: Joining me now from Los Angeles is Jessica Levinson. She's a professor of law at Loyola Law School and host of the "Passing Judgment" podcast.

Jessica, interesting times. When you look at the midterm elections, so many intriguing results.

What is your main takeaway?

JESSICA LEVINSON, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: My main takeaway is that a lot of us, including myself, were wrong on Monday and leading up to Tuesday. And we underestimated the youth vote. And I think we underestimated the impact of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

A lot of people, a lot of women, a lot of Democrats, a lot of independents really understood how much it makes a difference who represents them and who makes decisions for them.

So I think it really was largely young people and people feeling the impact of the Dobbs decision. Of course, we'll know more as time goes by. But that red wave, even if Republicans end up controlling both houses, which at this point I don't think they will, it's not a wave; it's a little bit more of a trickle at this point.

HARRAK: Not a wave but a trickle.

What role has election denial played in these midterms?

Did it resonate at all with voters?

Are there candidates that are or will challenge results if they don't win this time around? Do we expect any recounts?

LEVINSON: So I think we do. I certainly think that, throughout the country, we will see some post-election litigation. What's interesting about the election deniers is that they tend to believe the results if they win, not if they lose.

And, of course, we saw that in the 2020 election as well, where Republicans who won on the same ballot as the former president lost said there was some problem with the ballot. There's some problem with the election.

In terms of this narrative of election deniers, I do wonder if it suppressed some of the votes. If some people felt, well, if I simply can't trust the system, then I'm not going to show up at all. That, of course, would backfire on a lot of Republicans.

HARRAK: Now the dust hasn't settled yet but the finger-pointing has already started within the GOP. The underwhelming performance by the Republicans is prompting now some soul searching. Talk to us a little bit about that.

LEVINSON: So obviously the Republicans didn't perform the way they wanted to but also they didn't perform the way history would indicate they should have. When there's one party that's in power -- obviously the president's a Democrat -- Democrats have controlled the Senate by a very slim margin and controlled the House.

Then typically, speaking in midterms, the minority party wins pretty big. We just didn't see any of that. So I think that there will be a real kind of internal dialogue as to what went wrong, frankly.

And there's obviously a lot of people blaming the former president, who is still the leader of that party. It's an interesting time for the Republican Party, because he likely will announce his candidacy for president on Tuesday.

And so one of the things to look at, with respect to this introspection, is how much support is there after he announces?

How much fund-raising support and how many people on the ground are excited about that announcement?

But we have seen that many members of the party and leadership in the party have stayed with him. So the real question, I think, is whether or not this lackluster midterm performance will be the thing that gets people to say, no, maybe this is the party of Trumpism. But it's not the party of Trump.

And I just don't know how that's going to break; again, because so many of us have thought so many times, well, this is it. They will abandon him.

HARRAK: Yes. It's probably too early to tell, as you rightly point out. But I'm wondering also -- I mean you referenced the Dobbs decision. What role did it play in these midterms?

LEVINSON: Really, really important decision -- or question. I think a lot of us maybe underestimated the importance in the sense that we kept hearing the narrative of people really have largely forgotten about the decision. They're more focused on inflation. They're more focused on criminal justice issues, on immigration issues.

But what we're hearing more and more is, I think, exactly what, frankly, we should have expected all along, which is that a decision that says the right to obtain an abortion is no longer protected in the federal Constitution.

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LEVINSON: That gives state lawmakers much, much, much more power over people's lives. And that is something that they vote on. People vote on what affects their daily lives. Sometimes it's how much you pay at the gas pump and sometimes it's your access to reproductive choice.

So I don't know that it was everybody's top issue in the Democratic Party for instance. But I do think particularly in states that were purple states, red states, where women felt a difference very quickly, that that was a key issue.

HARRAK: Jessica Levinson, thank you so much for joining us.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

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HARRAK: Former president Donald Trump is suing the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol in 2021. He's challenging their subpoena for his documents and testimony, saying he should be immune from testifying about his time as president.

He's also challenging the committee's legitimacy, which multiple courts have upheld. His attorneys argue, quote, "The subpoena's request for testimony and documents from president Trump is an unwarranted intrusion upon the institution of the presidency, because there are other sources of the requested information.

"Because of this obvious availability to obtain testimony and documents from other readily available sources, the subpoena is invalid," unquote.

A spokesperson for the January 6th committee declined to comment.

A day of freedom in the Ukrainian city of Kherson after months of Russian occupation.

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HARRAK (voice-over): Still ahead, Ukrainians rejoice after Russian troops leave their city.

Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden is on the next leg of his international diplomatic mission, preparing for a series of meetings with Asian leaders. We'll have the latest in a live report.

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HARRAK: Ukraine's foreign minister says there are no indications Russia is seriously looking for negotiations at this point. He spoke after Moscow suffered a major blow on Friday, pulling out of the city of Kherson and parts of the surrounding region.

Celebrations broke out in the city after the Russian departure. But before leaving, Ukraine says Russia destroyed some of the key infrastructure in the region, including at least seven bridges. Ukraine is also warning that some Russian troops may be staying behind, trying to blend in.

CNN's senior international correspondent Sam Kiley joins us now live from Kyiv.

Sam, the Ukrainian flag, I understand, flying once again over Kherson.

Are the Ukrainians now in full control of the city?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as I understand, they are in full control. So far as the Russians themselves have said they've completely evacuated all of their military forces from the western bank of the Dnipro River.

Now that is a substantial part of Kherson province and it is all of Kherson city. Of course the Russians on the other side of the bank remain in the province of the same name and are now assumed to be digging in and preparing artillery positions to defend that location and potentially to attack advancing Ukrainian forces.

For now, they have not sent large numbers of forces into the city but they have sent out public address systems and on Telegram channels and circulating a number for Russian troops who have been left behind, perhaps as guerrilla fighters, many allegedly potentially in civilian clothes, telling them to give themselves up.

And they will be respected as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. What the Ukrainians don't want to face is a situation in which they're trying to regain control of Kherson city while having a lot of violent disruption from elements left behind by the Russian army, on top of which, of course, they are now easily within range of the Russian guns. The Russian war effort, of course, is not over. It is being prosecuted

very violently elsewhere in the country. And the anticipation is there will be some kind of effort by the Russians to at least fix Ukrainian troops in Kherson city as they send more and more soldiers into that location. Laila.

HARRAK: So would you say that the Dnipro River is now the de facto new front line in the south?

KILEY: It is the new front line on that part of the south. There's no question about that. It's a very useful defensive line now for the Russians.

But as they go north along the Dnipro River, they will be coming into contact in the Zaporizhzhya front line, for example, over an extended amount of territory. Remember, this is a front line that's more than 1,000 miles long. So there are lots of other locations where they don't have that defensive line of the river.

But it does mean that they are -- the Russians will be feeling a little bit more secure because they have got that Dnipro River now between them and the Ukrainians. So getting infantry, getting armor across that river, for the Ukrainians to continue to pursue the Russians along that front line, will be much harder.

But that doesn't mean they won't hit them from elsewhere. Laila.

HARRAK: Sam Kiley reporting, thank you so much.

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HARRAK: Well, for a look now at how the military picture has changed after the Russian pullback, I'm joined by Malcolm Davis. He's a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and he joins us now from Canberra.

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HARRAK: Good to see you again, Malcolm. A dramatic turn of events, weeks, months in the making.

What does the loss of such a big, strategically important city tell you about the Russian army on the ground in Ukraine?

MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Look, it is a huge victory for Ukraine and a massive, crushing defeat for Russia with Ukraine taking back Kherson.

And I think it highlights the fact that the Russians are fighting this war extremely badly. They essentially deployed forces into Kherson without being able to secure the city. They then couldn't effectively stop Ukrainians from advancing toward Kherson and so they had to do this humiliating withdrawal across the Dnipro.

So I think where the Russians are now is, as your reporter said just before, essentially digging in behind the Dnipro River and trying to make that a natural defensive line.

But as he said, the further north you go along the river, the less defensive it becomes. And so the Ukrainians probably will be able to push along that river toward Zaporizhzhya and potentially encircle the Russians along that -- across that river.

HARRAK: There is this paradox. This territory was annexed by Russia not so long ago to great fanfare. And now they just packed up and left. It seems too good to be true.

What's your read on their strategy here?

DAVIS: Well, their strategy is very much for a long war. So they are trying to hold out through the winter. They are hoping that the partial mobilization that occurred in Russia can deliver enough new recruits and new reinforcements to the front lines in the northern spring and summer to make a difference.

I have no doubt that the Russians will continue to use their long- range striking capabilities to hit at Ukraine's infrastructure, including its electricity-generating infrastructure.

And the concern there is that the Russians are going to get access to more advanced Iranian ballistic missiles that will be able to be far more precise and more difficult for the Ukrainians to stop. So there's that aspect.

There's the pressure on Europe to essentially stop supporting Ukraine. And there's some concern that there are growing stressors and fractures within Europe in that regard.

And I think also the Russians are watching what's happening with Congress, because, if you have a GOP-dominated Congress, as is possible, then you could have an undermining of U.S. support as a result of that.

So the Russians are playing the long game. The Ukrainians, I think, are moving much more rapidly and I think it's a case of which strategy wins out.

HARRAK: So to continue on that point, in this phase of war, how do you assess Ukraine's position?

DAVIS: Look, Ukraine is very well placed, I think. They have the momentum. They have demonstrated their skill in terms of their ability to fight against the Russians and exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses where they are identified.

So long as the U.S. and Europe continue to support Ukraine with advanced military capabilities and ideally expand that support to give them longer-range firepower, then I think the Ukrainians will be very well placed, come the northern spring and the northern summer, to extend their control of their territory and take back their territory.

Including areas such as Zaporizhzhya, the Donbas and more of the Kherson region. Ultimately, I think the Ukrainians would like to isolate and take back Crimea. That could emerge in 2023.

Then we have the question of, how do the Russians respond to that?

There is that concern that Putin, at some point -- or someone that potentially replaces Putin -- could then reach for tactical nuclear weapons. And that would be the major concern going into 2023.

HARRAK: All right. Malcolm Davis, thank you so much for joining us. Greatly appreciate it.

DAVIS: Thank you.

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HARRAK: Still ahead, an election within an election; as Republicans fight for control of Congress, they're also fighting an internal battle for party leadership. The details after a quick break.

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HARRAK: Welcome to our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.

A reminder of our top story this hour, Democrats are one seat away from controlling the U.S. Senate after claiming a key victory in Arizona. CNN projects that the state's incumbent senator, Mark Kelly, will beat his Republican challenger, Blake Masters. This gives both parties 49 seats, each with two races remaining.

One of them is in Nevada. Right now that contest remains too close to call with the Democratic incumbent trailing slightly to her Republican opponent.

Meantime, in the House, Democrats have picked up a few more seats but Republicans only need seven more to control that chamber.

Even if Republicans claim a majority in the House or Senate, they'll still have another hurdle to climb. The party will need to pick its leaders in both chambers of Congress and right now there's no consensus over which lawmakers should lead them. CNN's Manu Raju reports.

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RAJU: After the Republicans' disappointing performance in the midterms, there has been a lot of soul searching, finger-pointing, blame about exactly what went wrong. And also some dissension within the ranks of the Senate Republican conference, as it appears they may not get back in the majority, even though they had such high hopes heading into Tuesday.

Now there had been plans by the Republican leadership to have a leadership election scheduled for next week, in which Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, would ascend.

He would become, after winning the election, would presumably win that election and then become the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

Some Republicans say not so fast. A handful of conservative members have been lobbying their leadership to delay that election, saying they need to have a debate about exactly what went wrong in order to determine whether or not McConnell and others deserve to continue in that leadership role.

The leadership, however, has pushed back on that idea. They are moving ahead for this leadership election to happen next Wednesday.

Now this all comes as Donald Trump is maneuvering himself behind the scenes, calling individual Republican senators, people who he is close with, and urging them to train their fire on Mitch McConnell, as Trump himself tries to skirt blame for the problems from Tuesday.

A lot of Republicans believe it was Donald Trump, who appeared late on the campaign trail in a number of these key swing states and hurt their candidates late, and blame him for costing their party not just the Senate majority potentially but also not getting bigger gains in the House.

Now the House side is another issue. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, believes they will get back in the majority ultimately when all the races are finally called. Behind the scenes, he has been lobbying individual member after individual member, trying to get commitments to become the next Speaker of the House.

In order to do that, he needs to have 218 Republicans voting for him on the House floor in January.

But first, there's an election next week, the leadership election in the House Republican conference, where he needs to get a majority of support of the House Republicans in order to be nominated for speaker.

Right now he's trying to convince his members to support him. But the hardline conservatives, members of the House Freedom Caucus, are demanding he make some concessions in order to make them more powerful and weaken the Speakership, try to get more leverage over Kevin McCarthy if he were to become speaker.

McCarthy has not yet agreed to those demands. Those negotiations are ongoing and McCarthy allies tell me they believe they will ultimately get enough support to become the next Speaker of the House.

But this is the challenge for Kevin McCarthy. Because of the majority they may have, it will be very narrow if they are in the majority. That means only a handful of Republicans who defect could make his life very difficult, not just in gaining the support to become speaker but also advancing his agenda.

Which is why the McCarthy team had pushed for what they called a governing majority, hoping they could get 20 seats.

It appears they will not get that much if they do end up in the majority, all of which points to a very drama-filled next couple of years if Republicans do take back the House, as Republicans themselves are starting to question what went wrong and trying to avoid it happening again -- Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.

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HARRAK: There is much more to come on CNN. We'll go live to Cambodia, where U.S. President Joe Biden is attending the ASEAN summit and preparing for a series of meetings with Asian leaders. Stay with us.

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HARRAK: The ASEAN summit of Southeast Asian leaders is underway in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. U.S. President Joe Biden is there, preparing to meet with the country's prime minister and other Asian leaders on the sidelines of the conference. Senior international correspondent Will Ripley is in Phnom Penh as well and joins us now live.

Will, what's expected to come from these meetings?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Laila. Certainly there are no major breakthroughs or deliverables expected from meetings with some of America's most important allies here in Asia, including the leaders of Japan and South Korea.

But there are big issues on the table and cooperation, coordination need to be discussed. And President Biden has always felt that face- to-face meetings are the best way to gain a deeper and better understanding.

Direct communication that has been lacking during the first half of his presidency largely because of pandemic restrictions.

So those meetings with Japan and South Korean leaders will largely focus on the issue of North Korea, the nuclear threat, the possibility of a seventh underground nuclear test but also the big meeting, the big bilateral next week, face to face for the first time in the Biden presidency with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

There certainly is a lot for those two to talk about, given the escalating tensions in the region, the dispute over everything from the self governing democracy of Taiwan to cooperation on issues like climate change and North Korea as well.

So a busy agenda, Laila, for President Biden as he arrives here. He'll be speaking in the coming hours and also meeting with the Cambodian prime minister, as you mentioned, in about less than an hour or so.

HARRAK: U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken is also there.

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HARRAK: Who is he meeting with?

RIPLEY: So we just a few minutes ago actually were watching the footage of that meeting between the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Ukrainian foreign minister, where Blinken reaffirmed essentially United States support for Ukraine as long as it takes.

This, of course, coming on the heels of a major Ukrainian victory in the city of Kherson, which is near Crimea. You know, there were congratulations offered to the Ukrainians for what they describe as a major, major victory, with citizens welcoming them back to that city that had been occupied by Russian forces.

Of course, the issue of funding for Ukraine, which is billions of dollars, mostly contributed by the U.S., continues to be questioning whether, post-midterms, President Biden would be able to deliver on that financial support.

Given his better than expected showing in the U.S. for Democrats on the heels of his very pro urgent message that will be important to defending democracy, he really does come in here with a lot more power domestically in terms of getting his agenda moved forward.

That many expected and that is certainly great news for the Ukrainians, who are hoping the United States' financial support will continue, because they certainly need it to keep holding down the fort against Russia with the winter months approaching -- Laila.

HARRAK: Will, thank you so much for your reporting.

Now an exclusive interview with Ukraine's first couple just ahead. President Zelenskyy speaks about how much longer the war could last. And Ukraine's first lady explains what motivates her to keep fighting.

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HARRAK: We're almost nine months into the war in Ukraine with no end in sight. CNN's Christiane Amanpour sat down with Ukraine's president and first lady for an exclusive interview. They spoke about the state of the war and the motivation to keep fighting. Here's part of that conversation. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Zelenskyy, First Lady, welcome to the program.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you so much.

AMANPOUR: Mr. President, it has been nearly nine months of this war now, did you expect it to last this long?

Do you have any idea of how long it might last?

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Thank you for the question and thank you for the meeting. You asked whether I thought this war would last so long.

No, because I didn't start this war and I'm sure there isn't a single Ukrainian who knew what this will be and what tragedy this would bring to every home in our country. Because, I repeat, we did not start this war.

But Ukrainian society united and showed that it was ready for what, unfortunately, was such a tragedy showed that it was ready for these challenges.

I was really impressed by the power of one nation. And was impressed by the swiftness of the response of Europe, the whole world and the whole international community that rallied around Ukraine for this challenge.

AMANPOUR: First Lady, what motivates you to get up in the morning?

How do you feel that you have endured this war?

OLENA ZELENSKA, UKRAINIAN FIRST LADY (through translator): Well, thank you. It's a big question. It covers many spheres of my life. And what helps me get up in the morning, surely as you said, is my husband's example.

I know that if he endures then I have to endure. If the day has begun, then we have to keep fighting. That keeps me going.

It's not easy every day but you know, you need to keep running. You cannot stop. As Alastair (ph) said, in order to stay in place, you have to run even faster. That is why we run and I get some inspiration from the kids, from the children.

First and foremost, there are some ordinary things that every family is doing. You need to get your son ready for school, you need to make sure he has had breakfast. Well, unfortunately I don't have the assurance that my child would go to school every day because of those strikes with missiles and drones.

There is a lot of work. A lot of humanitarian projects that we will continue after the war. That helps a lot. AMANPOUR: Mr. President, I wanted to ask you how you react. And I know that you all monitor Russian casualties and Russian activity on the Ukrainian battlefield.

But the Pentagon, actually, its very senior defense official said and I'm going to quote to get it right, that "Russia has probably lost half of its main battle tanks. Used up most of its precision guided weapons in this war. That 80 percent of their land force is bogged down here, is stuck here in Ukraine."

Does that match your figures?

And what is your answer to that?

ZELENSKYY (through translator): I think this, more or less, corresponds to reality. Although, frankly speaking, nobody knows the full reality, especially as regards personnel.

Because nobody can tell you precisely how many people died. Nevertheless, we clearly understand that the artillery that was provided as assistance to us for the United States and Europe, it definitely had to break this initiative which Russia launched to us 24th of February.

And we did break this military initiative. We stopped them. We de- occupied a large part of our territory. And, this indeed, was helped by the artillery and the new technologies.

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ZELENSKYY (through translator): We never resorted to any of the lies that the Russian Federation produces about dirty bombs or nuclear challenges and so on.

And I'm very pleased that we're working jointly and responding quickly to that. Straight after Russia's allegations we invited the IAEA and they verified everything and said it is just another lie from Russia. So I cannot confirm those numbers for sure. But I can say for sure that it is a stunning number, both in terms of heavy weapons and personnel.

AMANPOUR: Their loss is heavier than your losses?

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Yes, 10 times. I think so. Approximately. I can't give you the exact numbers but there's a very significant difference. Because our war tactic is not to throw people. Because people are most important. Not to use people as cannon fodder.

And that's why it is very important to us. Whenever we asked our partners for artillery or armored vehicles, that it is not just about the weapons but first of all protection for our military.

AMANPOUR: Madam First Lady, you just returned from a major tech conference in Lisbon. And I think the world has noted that Ukraine has used technology in a really innovative and effective way.

What was your message there and what do you want the tech world to do for this country?

ZELENSKA (through translator): Well, my message was pretty simple and I hope it was heard. The people gathered there were people who pushed technology forward. These people have an impact on which direction technology and the whole world will move in the future.

So my appeal to them is to choose a side what technology they will invent or design.

Will this be a technology that kills or a technology that defends?

Because we have a wonderful and vivid example. For example, Bellingcat recently conducted their latest investigation and they found a group of IT experts from Russia, young people aged 23, 25. Before the war they worked in private 90 companies. And now, they're targeting missiles at our buildings.

And this is a choice. A conscious choice made by people who know this technology, who have the expertise, are narrow specialists. They chose to be murderers and terrorists.

So my appeal to all those thousands of people gathered at the web summit was to make their choice from a moral and ethical standpoint as to what they will do in the future. And really the technologies help.

AMANPOUR: Mr. President, you've obviously heard there are all these articles being written.

There are these foreign policy analysts, who are saying, isn't enough already for you?

Do you -- should you go to the negotiating table?

Some of these countries with economic pressures on their own who are supporting you now, are they -- are you feeling any pressure to go to the negotiation table?

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Look, they don't want this war to be finished. Now before having any fatigue, everyone has to understand that it's only the Kremlin and only one person, the head of the Russian Federation, who's not tired of the war.

He might be tired of life, in principle because of his age but he's definitely not tired of the war. Now this person and the Russian political and military leadership need a pause.

Believe me, they can feel it. They've begun to feel the effect of the sanctions. They have begun to feel dissatisfaction in their society. This person and all of them are afraid only of our society. These people, unfortunately, have no voice.

Because if they weren't afraid of going to the streets, they would exert pressure. And this is what the Russian leadership is afraid of.

And then for our part, we say, please respect our principles of the U.N. charter. Please respect our territorial integrity. Please respect our people, our rights, our freedom, our land and our choice. That's it.

So this word fatigue is a big word. You can't get fatigued. So it's too early for all of us to get fatigued. But when Russia truly wants peace, we will definitely feel it and see it.

But you know, you can't wish for peace with words alone. Words are not enough. Stop the war, withdraw from the territory, stop killing people.

Start reimbursing the damages inflicted on our country. Criminals must be prosecuted. So words are not enough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: You'll hear some more of Christiane's conversation with Ukraine's first couple in the next hour.

For now, thanks so much for joining us this hour. I'm Laila Harrak. The latest on the U.S. midterm election results.

[03:55:00]

HARRAK: Including Nevada, where it is, still too close to call, is coming up right after a quick break.