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CNN Projection: Democrats Keep Control Of Senate; U.S. Strongly Condemns Deadly Explosion In Istanbul; Russia's War On Ukraine. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired November 13, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: That's so funny.

All right, Tom Sater, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Oh, and a little birthday note -- a big birthday note. We want to wish a very special birthday to the oldest person in the United States. On Monday, Bessie Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday. Is that not remarkable or what? She was born in 1907. Her life has spanned 21 US Presidents, two World Wars, and the sinking of the Titanic.

Hendricks celebrated in her hometown of Lake City, Iowa alongside her three children, one of whom celebrated her 90th birthday the day before her mom's.

So happy birthday to Bessie, and to one of her daughters.

[15:00:46]

WHITFIELD: And hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, we begin this hour with Democrats celebrating a Senate Majority fending off Republicans and defying historical trends for a Midterm Election, but the House is still up for grabs five days after Election Day.

CNN now projecting that Democrats will maintain control of the US Senate following a close, but pivotal victory in Nevada. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto projected to narrowly win reelection, beating her Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt. She spoke about that victory earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-NV): We've known this was going to be a tough campaign, but like all of you, I'm a Nevadan and I know what it takes to deliver for my home state.

So, when the national pundits said I couldn't win, I knew Nevada would prove them wrong.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Republicans are still holding out hope to eke out a razor thin majority in the House. However several key races still yet to be decided, 20 in all as ballot counting continues.

So let's begin in Arizona. CNN's Kyung Lah is there with the very latest. So Kyung, it's the Governor's race that everyone is really zeroed in on there right now. It's still too early to call.

But today, Republican Kari Lake continues to question the whole process, because it's taking too long in her view?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, that's essentially what she is saying, but let us talk about exactly what the state of play is here on this vote count.

There are 34,000 votes -- approximately 34,000 votes separating Republican Kari Lake from Democrat Katie Hobbs. Right now, the vote count statewide is showing that Hobbs is just slightly ahead of Lake, but as you indicated, Fredricka, this is too early to call.

So what is taking place right now?

Here in Maricopa County, which is the most populous county in the State of Arizona, it is a diligent process. The count is taking place. It is a slower process because of the amount, the volume of mail-in ballots that were dropped off on Election Day.

We are anticipating that that will be a large part of what is released this evening. The county expecting about 75,000 to 80,000 votes to be included in tonight's election drop.

This is the Lake campaign's path. We are hearing this from sources within the Lake campaign saying they will be looking at this very closely.

Now, despite how important this all is, what you're still hearing from Kari Lake as she has made this claim a number of times, that there is something wrong with this process just because of how long it is taking. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R), ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We're waiting for the vote to be counted. You know, I consider someone's vote their voice. I think of it as a sacred vote and it is being trampled the way we run our elections in Arizona.

I've been sounding the alarm for two years. Nothing got done, very little got done last legislative session and we need to get in there and restore faith in our elections.

We can't be the laughingstock of elections anymore here in Arizona and when I'm Governor I will not allow it. I just won't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And there is no evidence that anything is wrong with the count or the 2020 election as Lake has implied -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

All right, once again, a Georgia Senate race is headed for a runoff election. Democratic senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker are stumping at events in the Atlanta area today after they failed to cross the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright in the midterms.

Two rallies two contenders. Walker is in Peachtree City while Warnock is at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and that is where we also find our Nadia Romero. So what's happening there?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. Back on the campaign trail, we are at Morehouse College in Atlanta, a Historically Black College for men in an area that has had some underprivileged children here.

[15:05:07]

ROMERO: And right now, we're seeing one of the most famous rappers in the world Lil Baby hold this Fall Festival, giving away free coats, and also giving Raphael Warnock an opportunity to address the crowd.

Take a look behind me. He should be coming up on this stage any minute now. That's what we're being told.

This arena full of people who may have voted for him, when you look at the demographics. So, let's take a look. Raphael Warnock: This is from an exit poll of the last election, 81 percent of Georgia voters of color voted for Raphael Warnock, 69 percent were between the ages of 18 and 29. So, he just hammered that youth vote; and 68 percent of urban voters. Now, that's when you look at Raphael Warnock.

But when you look at Herschel Walker, his number is completely different and it really just shows why this election was so close and why we are on our way to a runoff election in less than four weeks.

Take a look at the numbers we have for Walker voters from the exit poll from just a week ago now, 70 percent of White voters voted for Herschel Walker, 58 percent were 65 and older, and he got the majority of rural voters as well. That's why we will see Herschel Walker later today in Peachtree Georgia, just South of Atlanta, where you're going to have a much more rural population and a much wider demographic than you would have in the City of Atlanta.

I want you to hear from Raphael Warnock and also from a congressperson who is supporting Herschel Walker. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. AUSTIN SCOTT (R-GA): I absolutely hope that Donald Trump is making robocalls to all of his supporters, asking Herschel Walker -- asking them to go support Herschel Walker.

Now, let's be honest about what happened in Georgia. You know, the Democratic Party spent a couple of hundred million dollars talking about Herschel Walker and Herschel's experiences in life.

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): You are the church tradition that gave birth to the Civil Rights Movement and the Voting Rights Law. So, I'm telling you to go vote.

It is more than your civic duty, it is your sacred obligation to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: "It is your sacred obligation to vote," again is what the incumbent Senator is saying because people just voted for either him or walker, or for that third-party candidate. Now, they're being asked to vote again on December 6th and it is only less than four weeks away, Fred because that timeframe has been shortened -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nadia Romero, thank you so much.

December 6th, that run off in Georgia. I want to bring in now, Ron Brownstein. He is a CNN senior political analyst and a senior editor at "The Atlantic."

So good to see you, Ron.

So we now know that Democrats will hold the majority in the Senate regardless of what happens in the Georgia runoff, so how important is that race, especially when you consider how it might impact Committee assignments?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, yes, the 51/49 Senate is much easier to manage. You don't have issues with discharge petitions on judicial nominations. There's a lot of practical advantages.

Also, you know, Democrats are facing a tougher Senate map in '24 than they did this year, when you'll have more States that lean toward Republicans, especially in a presidential year. So, every bit of cushion that they can develop, they can put down at this point is critical for them.

And you have to say that given the personal doubts about Walker that we saw in polling and in the exit polls, the fact that he could no longer be the 50th Republican vote in the Senate could make this much tougher for him.

WHITFIELD: And then you heard that soundbite from Georgia Representative Austin Scott in Nadia's reporting there saying that he wants Trump to carry out some robocalls on behalf of Herschel Walker, which is the antithesis of what we have been hearing from a lot of other Republicans who are saying they don't want Trump to come into Georgia, let alone campaign for Herschel Walker, if anything they want the more popular Republican Governor Kemp, who just won his reelection in the Midterms. So, how do you square you know that with some Georgia Republicans who

say they do think that Trump will be influential?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, this is the conundrum Republicans have faced over Trump really since 2018, which is that he has enormous capacity to turn out non-college and non-urban White voters who are irregular voters. But as we saw again, this year, he is enormously repellent to previously Republican leaning swing voters in the suburbs.

I mean, the big story of this election, was that the same coalition that came out in 2018 and 2020 in opposition to Trump's vision for America held together just enough to allow Democrats to put down a remarkable, by historic standards, a remarkably strong performance.

You know, Fred, there are very few first term midterms in American history that have gone this well for the party in power and almost -- and I think it is unprecedented for the party in power to have a Midterm this good when the President himself was looking at an approval rating under 50 percent.

[15:10:16]

BROWNSTEIN: The other examples: Roosevelt in '34, Kennedy in '62, Clinton in '98, George W. Bush in 2000, all of them were extremely popular.

WHITFIELD: So what do we think is behind that? What's the explanation?

BROWNSTEIN: Biden was only about 45 percent, and the reason Democrats were able to do this, have a surprisingly good Midterm despite that, is because there are so many voters resistant to what the Trump era Republican Party stands for. They view it as a threat to their rights, their values and democracy itself.

So, having Trump come to Georgia or be visible in Georgia in any way is something I think at this point, Democrats would welcome more than Republicans.

WHITFIELD: Oh, all right. Let's talk about the House now. You've got 20 races that are still undecided, but what does this new Democratic Majority in the US Senate mean for President Biden and his agenda moving forward?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, I mean, you know, as again, it is extraordinary for Democrats to do as well as they did in the House, especially given that a majority of the country said they disapprove of Biden's performance and three-quarters of voters said the economy was in bad shape.

I mean, it's just -- there are very -- I'm not sure if there is any precedent, as I said, in American history, for the President's party to do this well, amid that level of economic discontent, and that is a statement of their success at focusing voters on the issue of not only what Democrats had done with power, but what Trump era Republican Party would do with power. Now, having said that, they still need a couple of races where they

are behind to break their way to possibly get to 218. But even if they don't, certainly having the Senate is important, because it prevents Republicans from passing through Congress message bills that they believe would be difficult for Biden to veto.

The most tangible impact is it allows them to continue confirming Judges, which has been one of their big under the radar successes in his first two years, and it also gives them more leverage in the standoffs that are to come on things like the debt ceiling next fall.

So, there are big practical implications, but certainly, by historic standards, if you look at the backdrop of what people said, you know, kind of their views about the state of the country, Democrats just dodged an -- avoided an outcome that could have been vastly worse.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and you just mentioned, I mean, at least within the GOP, you know, former President Trump obviously doesn't have the pool that he once did, but here we are just a couple of days away from what is being dubbed a special announcement by him.

I mean, his folks are saying he is going to say that he is, you know, seeking the nomination for the presidency. This will be his third time running for the presidency, do you see him taking being taken seriously?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, he has to be taken seriously. I mean, there are two challenges Republican face with a Trump candidacy. Even if a majority of the party is now resistant to the idea of nominating him, again, which may be the case after Tuesday's results, the Republican primary rules, Fred, really -- presidential nominating primary rules -- really favor whoever has the largest bloc.

The Democratic rules are much more proportional, the Republican rules are much more winner take all. People forget that in 2016, Trump was already the presumptive nominee before he had won 50 percent of the vote in any State, and what that means is if he still has the biggest single piece of the party, he is going to be tough to beat, especially if the side of the party which tends to be the college-educated Republicans splinter among various alternatives, which is what happened in 2016. It could happen again, with candidates like Glenn Youngkin and Ron DeSantis, and some of the others.

And the other problem is, does anybody think Trump is just going to go away quietly, if he is defeated for the nomination? I mean, there's a little bit in his language already, like, you know, nice party you have there, it would be a shame if anything happens to it.

And so I think, managing a process in which Trump does not win, but does not effectively burn down the Republican Party, if he doesn't, is going to be very difficult and require a lot more dexterity than Republican leaders have shown over the last six years, when essentially, however much they have grumbled in private. They have gone along with Trump, whatever he has done in public for fear of alienating his base.

WHITFIELD: All right, so much to watch and look out for this week and beyond.

Ron Brownstein, thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, we continue to follow the developments out of Istanbul where a large explosion in a popular tourist area has killed at least six people and injured more than 80, the latest details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:55]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

We're learning new details about a deadly explosion at a popular tourist area of Central Istanbul, Turkey.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

WHITFIELD: The blast captured in this video posted to social media, terrified people on the busy street immediately running. At least six people are dead, 81 more injured in what the Turkish Vice President calls a terrorist attack. The US and other world leaders are strongly condemning the violent attacks.

CNN's Scott McLean is following the latest developments for us -- Scott.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Fredricka, yes, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that authorities would identify and punish whoever was responsible for this. Not long after that, the Vice President came out and said that he believes that this is an act of terror because the attacker whom they believe is a woman detonated a bomb. That was the thinking at least then.

This is obviously shifting as we get more information because we have just learned that the Justice Ministers speaking to local media said that in closed circuit television footage, you can see there is a woman who sits on a bench for more than 40 minutes.

[15:20:06]

MCLEAN: She gets up, and one or two minutes later, that is when that bomb goes off. Her name is unknown. Officials are trying to track her down, see where she is. It is not clear though whether this woman is in fact, the attacker or whether she detonated this device or whether someone else could have done it remotely. It's also not clear what exactly this device looked like or what it was contained in.

What we do know for sure, though, is that this was an otherwise unremarkable day on the busiest street, one of the busiest -- certainly, the most vibrant Street in Istanbul, Istiklal Street. This is very famous, if you're a tourist, you've certainly been on this street. It is lined with restaurants, cafes, bars, and the weather was gorgeous as well.

So you had families out with their kids. You had young people sitting outside on terraces along the street, and a Lebanese freelance journalist, spoke to CNN about his experience. He was mere yards away from where this blast went off, but he was inside of a store, and when he came out of that store, he said that he saw people missing limbs, people bleeding from their ears and just mass chaos.

This is how he said he felt in that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARIQ KEBLAOUI, FREELANCE JOURNALIST AND WITNESS: It was really hard to emotionally process what was going on. It was hard to tell that what was happening was real. But you know, when your survival instinct kicks in, all you want to do is protect people closest to you, make sure everyone around you is okay and just try to get an understanding of the situation. And the more time passed, it became clear that this was an attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So Fredricka, that witness there, that journalist, he is Lebanese as I said, and he was also there for the Beirut blast. He says that it feels like it's difficult to escape these kinds of incidents. And one other thing to mention quickly, we just have an update from Turkey's Health Minister who says that 81 people injured, 39 of them thankfully had been discharged. There are 42 still hospitalized, five in intensive care, two of them in serious condition -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. All right, Scott McLean, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:49]

WHITFIELD: All right, well, control of the US Senate is sealed, the fate of the US House remains a question mark with 20 seats still to be called.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to CNN "State of the Union" today. She talked about the Midterms, her political future, and her husband Paul's recovery from that violent attack in their home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to of course ask about all -- everything having to do with the election, but I want to start by asking you about your husband, Paul, how is he doing?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Well, thank you for asking. Good morning.

Each day takes us closer to recovery. It's a long haul, but he is doing well, comforted by the good wishes, and especially the prayers of so many people throughout the country. We thank them all for that.

And again, so many have said, be sure to vote because this has gone too far. But anyway, he is surrounded by our children and grandchildren and the rest the doctor said, a little less activity and more rest, but thank you.

BASH: Let me ask you about the fact that right now, as we speak, the Democrats need 14 seats to win control. Republicans need seven. Half of the 20 seats are outstanding. Many of them -- half of them, I should say are in your home State of California. Will Democrats keep the House?

PELOSI: Well, we will see when the people have finished speaking and the votes have been counted as cast. I'm very proud of our Democratic candidates, both the incumbents seeking reelection, and our red to blue, our challengers. They never took any guidance from those who would say this is over, Democrats can't win because history says -- that's conventional wisdom. What's conventional? And it certainly wasn't wisdom.

And they knew their purpose. They knew why they were running to protect our democracy, save our planet, protect our values and the rest. And they did not heed any guidance of you should change your message.

They knew their districts. They related to their constituents. And they had produced a great result. Who would have thought two months ago that this red wave would turn into a little tiny trickle, if that, at all.

But we never believed that. We believed -- I think the leaving is one of the most important pieces of it, believe -- they believed in themselves, they believed in our country, they believed in our plan, their plan to win.

So, we'll see.

BASH: Madam Speaker, you said that they knew their districts, you know all the districts, especially when it comes to the votes still out in California. Where are you right now? How confident are you about potentially keeping control of the House?

PELOSI: Well, our purpose -- my purpose in all of this is to first and foremost, protect our incumbents and that is what we have done in California and where we have seen opportunity to grow our majority, that has been our priority both in California and elsewhere.

[15:30:01]

PELOSI: We're disappointed as to what happened in New York because that is a setback in terms of our calculations before, but we'll see. There are so many votes still out.

I've said this is like the Olympics, and half of second, you can be gold, silver, bronze, and honored to be an Olympian. So, we'll see where this takes us. But I think you see a path to the future that is much brighter than what was predicted by the punditry and those who want us to change our message.

BASH: You mentioned New York. In fact, four of your losses came from a very, very blue State in New York, including your colleague, Sean Patrick Maloney, your fellow leader. It might make the difference between winning and losing control.

PELOSI: That's right. Well, let me first say Sean Patrick Maloney did an outstanding job as the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He and the team that he assembled deserve a great deal of credit for keeping us with a path.

I'm sorry about his loss. It's a big loss to the Congress and the country. But I do want to salute President Biden for his campaigning; President Obama, all of it raising the urgency of the election, and the awareness that people must vote, and that they shouldn't listen to those who say this is a foregone conclusion because of history, but it's about the future and get out there and vote.

BASH: What happened in New York, do you think?

PELOSI: Well, here is what I always say, you know, as a former Chair of the California Democratic Party. You have to take every district -- you cannot make sweeping overviews the day after the election within the time of the voting -- take every district at a time.

Our message, people over politics, lower cost, bigger paychecks safer community served us well in the rest of the country. Every race has to be analyzed about what happened in that race. You really are going to learn anything rather than draw a conclusion.

In the course of the campaigns, when people would ask me about a particular race, I'll say, "I don't know, I haven't been on the ground there." I've been on the ground or many of the races, and so I was confident, but it was interesting to me that people would talk about these races, didn't really know what they were talking about and I think the results are evidence of that.

We're still alive, but again, the races are close. And we just -- you know, we don't pray for a victory, I grew up in a political family, you don't pray for the victory, but you pray that God's will, will be done and on this Sunday, that is what we pray on this Sunday.

BASH: Madam Speaker, you alluded to this when I asked about your husband, but I just want to ask specifically and kind of point blank, about the fact that there has been such extremism, such political violence. And what happened to your husband was horrific. Do you think that that had an impact on voters as they cast their ballots?

PELOSI: I don't -- I know that what people tell me, that's anecdotal and we always say that the plural of anecdote is not data, necessarily, but it is a trend in what I'm hearing.

But it wasn't just the attack, it was the Republican reaction to it, which was disgraceful. And that I think, really, the attack is horrible. I mean, imagine what I feel as the one who was the target, and my husband paying the price and the traumatic effect on our family. But that trauma is intensified by the ridiculous, disrespectful attitude that the Republicans and there is nobody disassociating themselves from the horrible response that they gave to it and went further into that.

BASH: So you think that turned voters off?

PELOSI: They tell me so.

BASH: You've talked about the need for a vibrant Republican Party.

PELOSI: Yes.

BASH: House GOP leader, Kevin McCarthy, he is working the phones probably as we speak, trying to firm up the votes he needs to become Speaker if Republicans do in fact take the House. As somebody who has been Speaker for a combined eight years, do you think Kevin McCarthy has what it takes to be Speaker of the House.

PELOSI: Let's just get through the election, okay? They haven't won yet. They've been measuring for draperies. They've been putting forth an agenda that haven't won it yet.

After the election is concluded, depending on who was in the majority, there will be judgments made within their own party, in our own parties as to how we go forward. It's not up to me to make any valuation of what their possibilities are.

BASH: You are uniquely qualified to understand what it takes to be Speaker of the House.

[15:25:10]

PELOSI: Yes, I do. I do.

BASH: Does he have it?

PELOSI: Now, why would I make a judgement about something that may or may not ever happen? No, I don't think he has it, but that is up to his own people to make a decision as to how they want to be led or otherwise. What is important, though, is that this election has been a victory for the people, for the candidates who had the courage to run in the face of any predictions, for the grassroots people, VIPs that are volunteers in politics, knocking on millions of doors to get out the vote.

Don't ever underestimate -- now see, I'm a former party chair. So, I'm on the ground, you have to own the ground, and owning the ground took us to the place that we are now much closer to victory than anyone would have predicted. And, of course, our President, President Biden and President Obama being out there to make people aware of the importance of this election, and that the prospects were that we could win to offset some of the punditry that were wedded to the past where we know elections are about the future.

But I don't-- I don't really get into Republican caucus politics, that's up to them. But nonetheless, we still think we have a chance to win this, but nobody would have ever expected that we would be this -- well, we expected it, but shall we say, conventional wisdom, however, conventional of us, how unwise it was.

But let me just salute the Senate. This is so -- such a cause for a celebration. Chuck Schumer was so correct when he said it was a victory for the people and for the country. I personally know that it is a joy to Harry Reid, in heaven as he is that his State came through with the victory that gave us the majority in the Senate.

BASH: Madam Speaker, you told my colleague, Anderson Cooper, that your decision about whether to stay in the House leadership will be affected by the attack on your husband, Paul.

As a human, anybody could understand that comment to mean that you are a wife who is dealing with trauma in your family after that unbelievable attack. Another way to look at it, as somebody who has covered you for a long time, is that maybe you're emboldened and you feel more of a responsibility to stay, which is it?

PELOSI: Well, the fact is any decision to run is about family, and also my colleagues, and what we want to do is go forward in a very unified way as we go forward to prepare for the Congress at hand. And then after some respite, get ready for the next election.

I don't want to be -- I don't -- I say to the members recreate and recreate are the same word. People have to recreate, they have to rest they have to get ready, but nonetheless, a great deal is at stake, because we'll be in a presidential election.

So my decision will then be rooted in what the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus, but none of it will be very much considered until we see what the outcome of all of this is.

There are all kinds of ways to exert your destiny. The Speaker has awesome power, but I will always have influence.

BASH: Do you intend to make your decision by the time the leadership elections are scheduled to take place, which is November 30?

PELOSI: Yes, we have a couple more weeks before that.

BASH: But you'll make a decision before that?

PELOSI: Of course. Well, you know what? I'm not asking anybody for anything -- people are campaigning and that's a beautiful thing and I'm not asking anyone for anything. My members are asking me to consider doing that.

But again, let's just get through the election.

BASH: Your members are asking you.

PELOSI: There are only so many hours in a day. There are only so many hours in the day, and we are so completely focused on our political time, our official time on making sure that we win and prepare for the lame duck, whether it's debt ceiling, or whether it's other legislation that is necessary for the people as we go forward.

So, I have a day job.

BASH: Yes, you do.

PELOSI: I do, and again, a part of it is to be the political leader and to get us the best possible victory, and then not worrying about my future, but for the future for the America People.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:40:03]

WHITFIELD: Coming up, after being liberated from Russian control, residents in Kherson City are now facing severe shortages of food, water, and medical supplies. We're live in Ukraine, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: As the Ukrainian City of Kherson celebrates liberation from Russian occupation, an adviser to the Mayor says restoring electricity is a top priority. He said Russia "completely destroyed all infrastructure and life support in the city" and warned some of the facilities that they are restoring could be armed with Russian mines.

CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson joining me live from Kherson with the very latest.

So Nic, what's ahead for the residents there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, they are hoping to get out of this situation that we have here right now, which is no electricity and as you were just saying, the government has made that a priority. The Russians pretty much took down every part of useful infrastructure here in the city before they left.

[15:45:05]

ROBERTSON: We were down where people were trying to get water from a well and a pump just by the river. Of course, the river is not clean, it's not drinking water, the people there turning up with plastic bottles to fill them up. They told us, you know, this had happened just four days ago, when the Russians were leaving.

There is no internet and phone service in the city here. So, when we were in the Central Square earlier on today, we saw people clustered around some of the army vehicles, because they've got satellite links, and they were trying to get on the Wi-Fi, so they could be in touch with loved ones and the rest of the country to tell them they were okay.

By late in the day, the government had set up a mobile cellphone service. It wasn't actually quite broadcasting, but the equipment was there in place, but this whole city is in a desperate situation.

The TV tower here was blown up by the Russians just before the left, just because they could. We went to the hospital today, we talked to a doctor there and he told us they don't have electricity. A lot of equipment had been looted by the Russians.

When they do surgery, he said, they do surgery by the light of their cell phones. So it is a very, very tough situation.

The booby traps and possibility of mines, the government is concerned about that. There are an increasing number of soldiers here. But again, it's a big job. This was a city of a quarter million people until a few months ago. So it is a big city for them to go through and check out all the facilities but electricity will make a huge difference here. It is cold, and people don't have heating.

WHITFIELD: And Nic, what now for the Ukrainian military offensive? Where is it? And what is the situation?

ROBERTSON: Well, the Russians fell back across the river, that was a strategic move, because it's hard for the Ukrainians to cross the river. There has been periods of outgoing shelling from here, from the Ukrainian side on to the Russian side. And I think a big question on people's minds now is, they have become a frontline town, a frontline in this war and other places where that happens. Towns get shelled, they get heavily damaged.

And I think there's a real concern now that people in this city will have to contend not just with no phones, no electricity, no water, but they might have to contend with shelling as well. So, that's a worry.

The military offensive, it is clear that the Ukrainians are still trying to push and probe the Russian forces on the other side of the river. Quite how that is progressing isn't clear. It's going to be tough, but I don't think that they are not stopping at this city. That's very clear. The war is far, far from over.

WHITFIELD: Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

Coming up, why billionaire Jeff Bezos is giving country icon, Dolly Parton $100 million. Stay with us.

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WHITFIELD: Dolly Parton is being honored not just for her many musical talents. The country music legend and longtime philanthropist is the latest recipient of the Jeff Bezos Courage and Civility Award. It comes with $100 million with no strings attached.

Parton has donated various causes for decades and she donated $1 million, in fact toward vaccine research during the pandemic. The singer also has a library initiative and scholarship program.

Bezos spoke with CNN's Chloe Melas about the decision.

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CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Talk to me about choosing Dolly Parton.

JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER, AMAZON: Well, look at what she has done and how she has led her life and the way she's done it, is bold things, always with civility and kindness. She's a unifier.

You know, we have big problems in the world and the way to get big problems done is you have to work together.

We have too many examples in the world of conflict and people using ad hominem attacks on social media, and so on and so on. You won't find Dolly Parton doing that.

LAUREN SANCHEZ, JEFF BEZOS' PARTNER: And when you think of Dolly, look, everyone smiles, right, and all she wants to do is bring light into other people's world. That's all.

And so we couldn't have thought of someone better than to give this award to Dolly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And we'll have more of the exclusive interview airing tomorrow on "CNN This Morning."

In this week's "Mission Ahead," one company is on a mission to lower the airline industry's carbon footprint.

CNN's Clare Duffy has the story.

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CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER (voice over): What if I told you that it's possible to pull the fuel that powers our airplanes right out of thin air? Well, a startup known as Air Company would tell you it is.

GREGORY CONSTANTINE, CEO AND COFOUNDER, AIR COMPANY: What we're doing is actually taking carbon dioxide combining with hydrogen and turning it into our fuel which then becomes the feedstock for many other things as well.

DR. STAFFORD SHEEHAN, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, SHEEHAN AIR COMPANY: So what we're looking at is a water electrolysis system.

DUFFY (voice over): Pulling carbon from the air and converting it into jet fuel sounded a bit complicated, so we asked Dr. Stafford Sheehan to walk us through the process. He is the company CTO, who also has a Doctorate in Chemical Physics from Yale.

SHEEHAN: In this reactor is where we put our catalysts. That's our proprietary materials. That's kind of our secret sauce at Air Company. The hydrogen is produced from the water. So, we start with water here.

So we take that water we split it into hydrogen and oxygen, the oxygens are only emission. The hydrogen mixes with the carbon dioxide, and then that's turned into the product of our catalytic reaction.

So this is our distillation -- it looks a little bit, I guess, techy than like a typical whiskey distillery.

DUFFY (voice over): By the time a plane burns this jet fuel, Air Company claims the entire process will be carbon neutral. That means the amount of CO2 it uses to produce the fuel will be roughly the same amount of CO2 that's put back into the atmosphere during the flight, so unlike traditional jet fuel, this process isn't adding more harmful carbon pollution into our atmosphere.

[15:55:06]

DUFFY (on camera): How soon do you expect that this kind of fuel is going to be used on a regular commercial flight that you or I might be on?

CONSTANTINE: We're working with one of our partners to actually test on a commercial plane next year. By the time our next facility is up and running in 2024, we anticipate flying the first ever actual commercial flight on fuel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Sky is the limit.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jim Acosta in just a moment.

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