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Today, Ukraine's Zelenskyy to Join G7 Leaders for Virtual Meeting; Florida Bees in Danger After Hurricane Ian's Destruction; L.A. Council Member Under More Scrutiny After Fight Caught on Camera. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired December 12, 2022 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:30:00]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to join G7 leaders for a virtual meeting where they European Union's energy concerns and immediate assistance for Ukraine will be key topics.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The meeting comes after Zelenskyy and President Biden spoke by phone overnight to discuss Russia's ongoing attacks, particularly on Ukrainian infrastructure, and recent ongoing U.S. efforts to strengthen -- further strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.
CNN's Will Ripley is live in Kyiv. Will, you spoke with Ukraine defense minister about these recent attacks. I wonder, and we will ask them frequently, do they feel they're getting enough help? Is there enough urgency on the side of the west in response to their requests?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the response from Defense Minister Oleskiy Reznikov probably pretty predictable. He said, look, when you are having a war, we never have enough. We always need more. But he said they're grateful for the tens of billions of dollars in assistance from the United States, which has been by far the largest contributor to Ukraine's war effort.
And when I was on the frontlines up in the north, where they're reinforcing ahead of a Russian buildup once again in Belarus, you know, they said to me pointblank that, yes, Ukrainian soldiers are bravely fighting, but without these weapons from the United States primarily and NATO, it would not be possible to fend off the much larger Russian army.
That said, they have a list of items that they say they pretty desperately need, and at the very top of the list are more advanced missile defense systems because of the ongoing attacks, these systematic Russian assault on Ukraine civilian infrastructure, the power, the water, essentially making life miserable and potentially very dangerous for millions of people as temperatures plunge. It is winter time here and there are people right now who don't have power, a lot of people right now who don't have power. I was in Odessa over the weekend. 1.5 million people were plunged into darkness after a strike from Iranian combat drones, but it was three days that they were without power last week when Russia lobbed all of those missiles.
So, I asked the defense minister is he being told anything about Patriots, is there any update on if and when they may get those systems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: Have you been given an explanation why the Patriot missile defense systems have not arrived yet?
OLESKIY REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: It is a long discussion with our partners because it is very sophisticated and expensive systems. Today, we have more than eight different systems.
[10:35:04]
And we have got HIMARS and we have M-270, we have MARS, we have LRU from France. So, I think the Patriot will also be in our battlefield but in the next stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: The frontlines to the east and the south are holding and it is really remarkable when I talk to people in Ukraine. The majority of people say they're not worried about the war coming to them. They're not worried about a Russian occupation anymore. They're number one concern is power. So, that says something in and of itself about how well the Ukrainian army is fending off the Russians, that people, while they are facing very legitimate concerns, still, they're not afraid at least for Russians to be taking over their homes like they did earlier this year.
SCIUTTO: Good point, an yet lots of suffering in the interim. Will Ripley, thanks so much.
Another story we're following closely, Iran has now executed a second protester in connection with demonstrations that have shaken that country, if you'll remember, inspired by the death of a woman taken into custody just for not wearing her hijab. Government affiliated news agencies say the man was publicly hanged overnight, convicted, said state T.V., of, quote, waging war against god.
HILL: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is joining us now with more. So, Salma, this latest execution this morning, what more do we know and about further concerns as well for other folks inside of Iran?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Iran's demonstrators today repeating the name of this man executed this morning, Majidreza Rahnavard.
I want to put out, this was a public execution. Iran's authorities hanged him in the early hours of this morning in the city of Mashhad. I bring up the public part because that means residents could have potentially seen his body hanging on streets this morning.
He was convicted of waging war against god. The allegation from Iran's authorities is that he stabbed two members of the security forces killing them and wounding several others.
Now, there is a very important detail here, Jim and Erica, that I want to point out. The authorities alleged this took place on November 17th. That means in less than a month, this man went from allegedly stabbing members of security forces to facing execution. And that is what rights groups are saying. They're saying these are speedy sham trials with very little due process, very little that is fair or right, and that their actual intention, the intention behind these executions, activists say, is to repress, is to silence, is to intimidate, is to keep people scared from going out and joining those demonstrations on the street.
I'm going to point to another bit of material that protestors are speaking about today, this is some CCTV footage. Now, I want to start by explaining that CNN has blurred part of it because it shows a very violent act. But it is this surveillance footage that Iranian authorities used to convict this man. It shows apparently the stabbing incident taking place. But we have seen the original footage, and even in that footage, Jim and Erica, it is unclear who the individuals are in the video.
And, again, that is what protesters are saying. That is what rights groups are saying. They're saying these are not trials. These are kangaroo courts that are just meant to give Iran yet another tool of repression to silence dissent.
HILL: There is so much in there that is so important. Salma, I really appreciate the reporting and I'm glad you're staying on top of this. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Well, back home, in Florida, hundreds of thousands of bee colonies destroyed by Hurricane Ian. How beekeepers are fighting to recover and the impact it could have on the nation's agriculture. We need bees to pollinate. That is coming up.
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SCIUTTO: Hurricane Ian caused more than $50 billion in damage to Central Florida after sweeping through the state just this past September. There has also been another devastating impact you might not know about on a vital element to our nation's ecosystem and food chain, bees.
HILL: That is right. Hundreds of thousands of bee colonies, which are used to pollinate agriculture across the United States, were destroyed. And beekeepers are now desperate for supplies and equipment to help those surviving bees recuperate.
CNN's Bill Weir spoke with some of the beekeepers.
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KEITH COUNCELL, OWNER/BEEKEEPER, COUNCIL FARMS: Now, you have to get a handful of bees.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Really?
COUNCELL: Yes.
WEIR: Okay.
I'm not in the habit of accepting a handful of stinging insects but Keith Councell has a 40-year professional relationship with honeybees.
And you never rarely wear a veil or gloves or anything?
COUNCELL: Don't really need to.
WEIR (voice over): And these days, they need all of the love they could get.
Hurricane Ian arrived at the worst possible time for this business, just as beekeepers from around the country were set up to catch the autumn bloom of the Brazilian pepper tree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole yard went under.
WEIR: The storm drowned and crushed hundreds of thousands hives, killing countless millions of bees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's gone. We'll have to come back. There ain't nothing left.
HAM: You could actually see a water line where it came up to here.
And because Ian blew away so much vegetation, those that survive are starving.
JEREMY HAM, OWNER/BEEKEEPER, OLD FLORIDA BEES: Some of these bees have gotten three shots of feed, and that's a gallon. So, you're talking about 36 pounds of feed already and you could still go back after they sucked the feed down and it looks like they were never fed at all.
WEIR: They're just starving.
HAM: They're starving.
[10:45:00]
It is nonstop. So, it is just an added cost. And you're just trying to do the best. You have to make that tough decision of, really, is it worth the money, the financial cost to try to save it, or do you just have to walk away and take your medicine?
WEIR: This is all bee food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will be used for liquid bee food, yes.
WEIR: At Mann Lake Bee and Ag Supply, they're mixing sugar water as fast as they can. And while some bee farmers file for federal relief, the Greater Good Charity is giving away a quarter ton of pollen substitute.
CASEY PAHOLSKI, SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER, GREATER GOOD CHARITIES: Where we have donated meals to food pantries for humans, we've donated animal supplies to animal shelters and now we're donating this bee pollen substitute to these farmers here.
WEIR: You can't forget the bottom of the food chain, right?
PAHOLSKI: You can't forget what helps get all of the other food to the table as well.
WEIR: But even if the bees recover, the whole business depends on the health of the almond crop in California, now shrinking under mega drought.
If the drought takes out the almond drop in California, that --
ANDREW WAGNER, MANN LAKE BEE AND AG SUPPLY: The whole beekeeping industry is going to be in trouble. And there is no feral bees. There's no -- wild bees can't survive on their own.
WEIR: He explains that pesticides, development and invasive pests have made it impossible for bees to survive without deliberate human care.
WAGNER: And if all the beekeepers released all of their bees, every beekeeper in the country, if they just released all their into the wild, we estimate about two to three years before bees would just collapse. Bees are the most important farmer. They're the most forgotten as well. And that is why we just need the entire public to really continue to get involved in bees and a little -- two beehives makes a big impact.
They went totally under water, somehow made it.
WEIR: In the meantime, all Keith can do is pick up the pieces and focus on the survivors, like the hive he found drowned inside air water meter box near Fort Myers Beach.
COUNCELL It is a different feeling when you have bees walking all over you.
WEIR: It really is. It really is.
COUNCELL: And nobody is getting stung.
WEIR: No.
COUNCELL: They're doing their thing.
WEIR: Maybe they could sense we're rooting for them, you know? COUNCELL: And that is --
WEIR: We appreciate them.
COUNCELL: That is part of the thing. You have to treat them with respect. When you get down to it, the bees are the pillars to all ag culture and they're the pillars to our whole civilization.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (on camera): If you want a quick read on the state of American agriculture, talk to a Florida beekeeper. These guys pollinate 130 different vegetables and fruits all around the country and talking to them is so sobering and you realize how vulnerable we are with this colliding. So, a hurricane and a drought at different parts of the country could affect this bee industry, which really feeds, gives us one every three bites of foods is thanks to a bee or a butterfly.
HILL: That's amazing. I know we're out of time, but really quickly, they in Florida. Do they move these bees around the country, sort of bring them to California for the almonds?
WEIR: Exactly. You truck them across the country and then you follow the crops. Some guys go to Maine to do blueberries, some do cherries in Washington State. And now there're fewer bees. They have to grow them. It will take years both for the ecosystem to come back to feed these bees, and in the meantime, this animal, this little insect that used to feed us for free, we're now feeding them desperately to keep them alive because this partnership is -- we depend on each other.
HILL: I was fascinated, they were talking about the bee food, this impression that I have. That was not it. Jim has a question for you too, I think.
WEIR: Yes, Jim?
SCIUTTO: I was going to say, has it always been the case that bees only survive with the help of human beekeepers? Is that a recent thing?
WEIR: No. That is the result of just human sprawl, pollution. Yes, the guy in the piece, Keith, there, he said when he was a boy, 14 years old, you could put hives out in the woods and leave them, now they wouldn't survive a couple of months.
HILL: Wow.
SCIUTTO: That's too bad.
HILL: We could talk about this all day long but we are out of time. But I'm going to pester Bill Weir with questions in the break. Bill, thank you.
SCIUTTO: Please do.
All right, another story that we're following, the L.A. councilman, Kevin de Leon, is facing scrutiny once again after this video surfaced online of him in a physical altercation with an activist. Why he says he was acting in self-defense.
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[10:50:00]
HILL: A member of the Los Angeles City Council facing renewed scrutiny after video surfaced that reportedly shows the council member in a physical altercation with a community activist.
SCIUTTO: This happened during a holiday event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (BLEEP). What are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing? (BLEEP).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't (BLEEP) touch it, damn it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Lord. Not really in the holiday spirit.
CNN's Nick Watt joins us now. So, Nick, the activist was part of a crowd already calling for de Leon to resign, and it is not first run- in we've had with de Leon. Tell us what we know.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first thing to know, Jim, is Kevin de Leon is a pretty big deal here in Los Angeles. He is a major mover and shaker in the local Democratic Party, ran for mayor this year, contested a primary for U.S. Senate seat, so to see him wearing a Santa hat apparently wrestling with a constituent is pretty shocking for the people of L.A. and many say just one more indication of how low politics in Los Angeles have gotten.
[10:55:16]
Now, Jason Reedy is the activist seen grappling with de Leon. Reedy has given this video to the LAPD. Each side is saying that the other is the aggressor. So, Kevin de Leon says that reedy came at him with a pelvic thrust and a head butt, de Leon says that he was just acting in self-defense, trying to push Reedy off him.
Now, Reedy's lawyers say that he did not initiate anything, that it was de Leon's supporters who started shoving and that de Leon then got involved.
Now, there is background to all of this. A couple of months ago, year- old audio leaked that was secretly recorded at a meeting about redistricting. And in that meeting, a number of council members were saying some pretty terrible things about a fellow council member and his son.
So, Nury Martinez, who is the president of the council, she apologized and resigned. De Leon expressed regret but refused to resign. He was dipping his toes back into public waters and this is what happened, didn't go well. Guys?
SCIUTTO: Well, can safely say not people behaving at their best. Nick Watt, thanks so much for bring us the story.
WATT: Thanks.
HILL: Thanks to all of you for joining us today, I'm Erica Hill.
SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto.
At This Hour with Kate Bolduan will start right after a short break.
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