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CNN International: Zelenskyy Visits International Criminal Court in the Hague; Pacwest Bank Shares Drop 50 Percent in After-Hours Trading; Russia Accuses U.S. of Being Behind Drone Attack on Kremlin; Serbia Mourns Nine People Killed in School Shooting; The Relevance of Monarchy in Modern-Day Britain. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 04, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN HOST: Russia is accusing the U.S. without any evidence of being behind a drone strike on the Kremlin that it's calling an attempt on Vladimir Putin's life. U.S. national security officials call the allegation ridiculous. There has been no independent verification for Wednesday's alleged strike which Kyiv vehemently denies. But overnight, Russia unleashed a barrage of attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv says that drone shot down over Odessa had the words for the Kremlin and for Moscow written on them. Let's go now to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us now from Dnipro, Ukraine. Nick, tell us more about the attacks that have happened overnight. Obviously, there's concern that the Kremlin could use this alleged attack as a pretext for escalated attacks.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we didn't last night see anything particularly worse than the previous ghastly four nights or so. Remember, Ukraine has been being hit heavily, pretty much every night with missiles drones trying to get through increasingly sophisticated air defense.

Now certainly Kyiv, its city officials are saying that this is the worst few days they've had since the beginning of the year. Odessa, it appears, I think about 15 out of 18 drones were taken down over there, so increasing success of anti-aircraft systems.

And no clear reading as to last night, whether any casualties were caused by that, that we do know that before Moscow had even made this unsubstantiated claim of an assassination attempt of Vladimir Putin we do know that people were being shelled civilians are being shelled in Kherson, recently liberated area from Russian occupation.

24, the last count there a railway station, a hypermarket, many lives lost. And this is important to point out has been the regular flow of life here over the past months possibly intensifying in these past days, the Kremlin coming out very clearly today and yet escalating yet further their claims, not just saying that Ukraine was behind the assassination attempt, saying and in fact, they were following the explicit instructions of Washington, Ukraine and Washington both denying that. Also saying the Kremlin spokesperson that the damage to the dome, the Senate dome in the Kremlin will be repaired imminently that only two copper sheets were in fact damaged, suggests a very minimal explosion if indeed, there was one there are some videos that seem to provide unverified evidence to back up the Kremlin's claim, but that's just about it.

And when pressed by reporters as to when we might see more details as to what kind of drone, who they think may have launched it, where it launched from, what explosive it was carrying, that was referred by the Kremlin for the investigative authorities for a later date.

So very tall, serious rhetoric from the Kremlin, you can't get much more serious than blaming two of your most serious enemies for trying to kill your head of state, little evidence to back up that particular idea. And here in Ukraine, yes, absolutely concerns continuing that this may be part of some broader or be used as a broader Russian pretext to escalate the war.

I should point out though; conventionally there seem to be throwing everything they can at this to limited success. So many deep concerns as to what really, Moscow might be looking at, Bianca.

NOBILO: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. Ukraine's president says Vladimir Putin deserves to be sentenced for his actions. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in The Hague where the International Criminal Court is located. He held a news conference a short time ago with the Dutch and Belgian Prime Ministers.

And he appealed for justice and the delivery of weapons to Ukraine as quickly as possible. CNN's Nic Robertson joins me now live from eastern Ukraine. And Nic, tell us more about President Zelenskyy's messaging in response to this alleged drone attack? And whether or not an attack like this would be at all consistent with the strategy that we've seen from Kyiv so far?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: President Zelenskyy was really quick when he was speaking from Helsinki yesterday meeting with Nordic allies saying that Ukraine merely defends its own towns and cities, that it has limited ammunition available to do that, and essentially struggles in that context.

He said they didn't attack Putin, didn't attack Moscow, other Ukrainian officials have described what the Kremlin is putting forward as trickery to be expected from this opponent, meaning Russia. From a Ukrainian perspective, there is of course concern about how Russia will use what it says is this attempted assassination of President Putin.

But the reality for you know, for government officials and Ukrainians in general, is that the offensive that's coming that they've talked about that's been characterized as an offensive or at times as a spring and summer campaign is perhaps the biggest thing on their agenda. And the thing that they will be thinking about most about how to execute that about how to take back territory from Russian forces.

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And that's really, I think, at the center of what President Zelenskyy was trying to communicate in Helsinki when he said that Ukraine was barely, you know, and barely had the weapons that it needs to defend its own territories. They need more air defense systems.

They successfully defended all those potential strikes over Kyiv last night, but in Odessa, some got through and that's the narrative writ large across the country. Kyiv is relatively safe. Some of the frontline areas are relatively safe, but many areas are still exposed to Russian missiles.

So I think that's part of what President Zelenskyy is saying, and of course, the need to sustain the counter offensive when it happens. And that is something of a concern that they want this strong supply and flow of ammunition, which was a guarantee that President Zelenskyy got when he was in Helsinki. It's something that European Union officials have been talking about that that supply of ammunition will be there. We've heard it from the United States reaffirming that as well. These are Ukraine's big concerns at the moment.

NOBILO: Nic Robertson for us in eastern Ukraine. Thank you. Israel says it has killed two gunmen behind a deadly attack on a British Israeli mother and her two daughters in the occupied West Bank last month. The IDF say that they were among the three men killed in a raid Thursday in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Hamas said their militants had killed the three settlers praising them as heroes of the Jordan Valley operation. CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now from Jerusalem with more on this story. Hadas, we understand that this raid took place in the early hours of this morning what more can you tell us and has there been a response from the DD -- family?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this raid took place morning time daytime, such raids are such daytime rather rare for the Israeli military. They tend to prefer to do these during the night or in the early morning hours. But we received word this morning that in Nablus, the Israeli military was raiding the old the Cosmo, the old city of Nablus.

And that is afterwards we learned that they Israeli military saying that they had killed who they believe to be the two gunmen responsible for the death of those British Israeli women, Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee. Lucy Dee, the mother and Maia and Rina, her two daughters were killed in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank last month, while they were driving in their car during the Passover holiday.

And the gunmen had been essentially on the run now for almost a month. The Israeli military saying some 200 forces were used in this, they say that when they surrounded the house where they believe the two gunmen to be hiding, they engage in exchange of fire and kill them as well as a third person who they said they believe what's helping the two men hide over the past few weeks.

Now, as you noted, Hamas, the militant organization that runs Gaza, did claim the three as their members calling them they said heroes of the Jordan Valley and acknowledging that at least the two of them were responsible for the Dee women's death.

We are hearing from Leo Dee, the father and husband, he says that he and the rest of his kids are delighted he says to hear that the tariffs were eliminated today. He said most of all; he says that it was done in a way that did not endanger the lives of Israeli soldiers because that was one of the most important things from their family's perspective.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister also issued a statement saying our message to those who harm us and those who want to harm us is that whether it takes a day, a week or a month, you can be certain that we will settle accounts with you. Bianca, it's already been a very deadly opening to 2022 to this year, potentially on track to be the deadliest year for both Palestinians and Israelis in two decades.

Last year was already a record year, we are already on path, on the path to beat that record. It seems almost every day there is some sort of incident usually in the occupied West Bank or else elsewhere, Palestinian on Israeli, Israeli forces on Palestinian and so forth, very, very concerning as this sort of cycle of violence just seems to continue with no end in sight, Bianca.

NOBILO: Hadas Gold, thank you so much for your reporting. And one more note from the region, a Palestinian woman was shot and killed after she stabbed an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says the 26 year old woman was shot by Israeli soldiers. Israel says the stabbing victim was mildly injured.

Now to another American bank that could be on the brink. Investors fear that California based PacWest may be the next regional lender to fail. It shares fell by more than 50 percent in after-hours trading. And that plunge came after Bloomberg reported the PacWest is looking to raise money, break itself up or find a buyer.

This comes after another regional bank; First Republic failed and was sold off on Monday. CNN's Christine Romans is following this story from New York. As PacWest confirms that it's considering all options, so Christine, tell us it's not exactly going to put people's minds at rest of a concern that were watching the beginnings of a banking crisis.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, what's so interesting about this is that community banks are so important in the United States. And community banks are the ones that seem to be looking the weakest here right now. And don't have the kind of cushion at least from the, from the investor's standpoint as some of the big bank, so you're seeing quite a shame here, the stock was at $26, just before the failure of SVB.

And then has really, really stumbled along with other community banks. It's down by another half overnight here. And the company saying its exploring strategic options as you reported, and that is sort of Wall Street lingo for SOS, you know, we need some help here. So watching this one, as investors punish it, it's down again, in the pre-market, we'll see if we can find some footing. But the company issuing a statement yesterday saying nothing has materially changed. That's what's so confusing about, this is almost like Wall Street hunting around for the weakest players here, and nothing has changed.

The bank has not experienced out of the ordinary deposit flows following the sale of first Republic Bank and other news. And goes on to point out that even since you know that in recent weeks, its deposits have even risen a little bit. So that's sort of a little bit of the mystery here. It seems as though Wall Street investors are trying to find weak links here in the banking system.

Yesterday, we heard from the Fed Chief Jerome Powell, who basically said that the successful and calm sale of first republic drew a line under this recent period of banking, banking uncertainty. And Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase earlier this week told investors and journalists that the worst was behind us and the banking system was still strong.

So you're hearing from, you know, top voices in banking, that this is a healthy moment overall, for U.S. banks, even though they've had these spots of weakness and now, three big bank failures. But Wall Street's kind of now listening and still watching some of these community banks and punishing them, quite frankly, Bianca.

NOBILO: Christine, Romans, thank you so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

NOBILO: Still to come, Russia accuses the U.S. of being behind what it claims were a drone attack on the Kremlin. The U.S. calls the allegation ridiculous. We'll take a closer look at the incident and what it all means.

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NOBILO: Russia is now accusing the U.S. of being behind what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin early Wednesday. Videos like this one is circulating on social media purporting to show the alleged attack. The Kremlin claims the drone strike was an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.

On Wednesday, the Russian government blamed Ukraine for the alleged attack. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denies any involvement. A former Russian lawmaker now in exile told CNN's Matthew Chance, that the attack on the Kremlin is the work of what he calls Russian partisans.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILYA PONOMAREV, FORMER RUSSIAN LAWMAKER: Some of them are focused on railroad sabotage or some of them doing arsons off military recruitment posts, some of them doing attacks on activists, pro war activists, some of them doing faking attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: And CNN's Matthew Chance joins me now live from London. Matthew, we're still getting fresh denials from the United States. In fact, I'd just like to play for you and our viewers what we've just heard from John Kirby Speaking to CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: I mean, as obviously, it's a ludicrous claim; the United States had nothing to do with this. We don't even know exactly what happened here, Kaitlan, but I can assure you United States had no role in it whatsoever. And again, just to be clear and I think you've covered this at the beginning, we neither encourage nor do we enable Ukraine to strike outside Ukraine's borders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Nevertheless, Matthew that is what we're hearing from Dmitry Peskov that this may have been Ukraine acting at the behest of the Americans might sound rudimentary, but why would Russia say that?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right, yes, John Kirby there reacting to the statements from this morning from Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, basically saying that it's Washington that orchestrates these kinds of attacks gives it's, I'm paraphrasing him a little bit here.

But basically orchestrates these, this sort of targeting that gives its instructions to Kyiv gives the means to carry out operations like this to Kyiv and Kyiv, merely sort of does what it's told essentially by Washington. I mean, this is sort of part of the narrative that we've been hearing from the Kremlin from the outset, to explain perhaps why it is suffering such setbacks in this war against Ukraine.

And also to add justification to why it launched the war in the first place, you know, basically saying that this is all intended to prevent Ukraine falling into the grip even further of the United States and the Western nations in general. And this is a, you know, a further example of that, that the Russians are seeking to, you know, shift responsibility for this drone attack towards the United States.

And of course, it doesn't do anything at all to improve relations, which already very patchy, indeed, between the two countries. In fact, you know, it reiterates that idea that this is really a battle. And this is something that Kremlin wants to perpetuate. This is really a battle between Russia and the United States and its allies, not just a battle between Russia and Ukraine.

NOBILO: And when we're looking at this alleged attack, which you know, the footage is, is sensational, because of the location above the Kremlin, there's a lot of speculation as to whether or not this could have been a false flag attack or perhaps a formative strike from supporters of Ukraine to say, yes, you know, we have the capacity to reach you.

But in either scenario, it seems like there's a lot to lose, because, you know, a false flag attack. Well, that also is embarrassing for the Kremlin, that it would be able to take place right over the Kremlin. But then if it was supporters of Ukraine that's potentially leading to a really inflammatory situation, what is the impact of this confusion and blame on the current conflict?

CHANCE: Well, I think right, it's very difficult to know which theory to go with. And the truth is we don't know what's behind this. Obviously, the Russians are blaming Ukraine, for this, the Ukraine, Ukrainians are categorically denying it. There is that other theory that this is a false flag operation. Basically, the Russians are doing it in order to allow them to, you know, in some way step up their military operations in Ukraine as a response.

Although it strikes me as very odd that first of all, I'm not sure the Russians would really need to do that. I mean, they've already leveled entire cities in Ukraine, I'm not sure they need something like this to further escalate, if they wanted to do so. And secondly, I mean, whoever did this, whether it was the Russians or an outside player, it clearly has exposed, the Kremlin shattered the myth around the Kremlin, that it's invincible, that it's not vulnerable, that it's secure.

I mean, this is quite a potent image, I think that we're seeing now on our screens of the vulnerability of Russia with these drone attacks, really striking at the heart of the Russian state.

NOBILO: Matthew Chance, thank you so much. It's really great to have your input on such a complex situation, really appreciate it. And we're now counting down to the coronation of King Charles. After the break, we'll look at whether the monarchy is still relevant in modern day Britain.

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NOBILO: Serbia is in shock and mourning after Wednesday's deadly school shooting in Belgrade. Across the country, schools held a moment of silence to remember the victims and people have been leaving flowers at the scene of the attack. Eight students and a security guard were killed. When police say a 13 year old, open fire, police have detained both of the boy's parents and placing him in a psychiatric facility. Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Belgrade.

And Fred, we were speaking earlier and you were surrounded by people who were paying their respects and showing solidarity. What has it been like? What have you heard from those who are just reeling from the shock? And we're having some communication issues with Fred, so we will get back to him in a later program.

In the meantime, in just two days, King Charles will fulfill a duty that he's prepared for longer than anyone his whole life. His coronation, in the seven decades since England's last coronation, attitudes towards the monarchy have changed. Now some of His Majesty subjects are questioning whether or not they still need a monarchy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have you indeed by the rebels who welcome Britain's coronation in Piccadilly.

NOBILO (voice over): The longest interlude between two coronations in British history. Decades of demographic, religious and societal change is raising questions about the relevance of the monarchy today. 1953 was full of postwar -- Aviv and excitement about a new young queen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've come to seek work in Britain.

NOBILO (voice over): Despite waves of historic migration, Britain in the 1950s was overwhelmingly white, Christian and divided a long cross lines in society and the halls of power. Today, three of the four great offices of state including the prime minister are from minority backgrounds. 20 percent of the population today is from ethnic minority backgrounds too and rising, many from countries subject to exploitation in the former British Empire.

BIDISHA MAMATA, COLUMNIST: The monarchy itself has to find a respectful and humble place for itself without pretending that it doesn't have all of its privilege, all of its history and all of its baggage.

NOBILO (voice over): Though crumbling slowly after the Second World War, Britain was still stratified a long cross lines in the 1950s.

NOBILO (on camera): Modern in Britain is in many ways allergic to the idea of inherited privilege. Society at least strives to be egalitarian. But a recent poll commissioned by the BBC Britain's National broadcast, it suggests that King Charles might have a problem appealing to young people, 38 percent of whom said that they would support an elected head of state. And indifference might be a problem too. 78 percent said they weren't interested in the royal family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's definitely time to rethink and I know a lot of people loved Queen Elizabeth. And I don't think that same oneness is there for King Charles.

NOBILO (on camera): The Monarch since the 16th century is also titular head of the Church of England. In 1953, the majority of the country was Christian.

NOBILO (voice over): Today, it is half that with the number of non- religious and non-Christian faiths rising each year with multi faith leaders playing a role in the coronation for the first time.

NOBILO (on camera): King Charles, who has declared he to be defender of all faiths, was honored here at Britain's largest mosque ahead of the coronation. So could this be an opportunity for all communities in Britain to come together?

SABAH AHMEDI, IMAM: Within Islam, we're taught that part of your faith is loyalty to your nation. And we also know that the coronation is part history of this nation. And as citizens we respect that history.

[08:25:00]

NOBILO (voice over): The coronation is a litmus test for how King Charles will be received by 2023 Britain and whether enthusiasm, apathy or opposition to the monarchy will shape his reign.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: And be sure to join our Max Foster, Christiane Amanpour and Anderson Cooper for a special live coverage of the coronation of King Charles the third. That will be this Saturday, May 6, starting at 10 am in London, 5 am -- early birds in New York. Thank you for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "World Sport" with Amanda Davies is up next.

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