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CNN International: Biden Angers China By Calling Xi A Dictator; Ukraine: The "Main Strike" Still Ahead; Banging Sounds Detected In Search For Missing Sub; Pretrial Hearing In Romania For Tate Brothers; Palestinian Gunmen Kill Four Israelis Tuesday; Ukrainian Pilot Says Forces Try To Trip Up Russians "Day By Day We Try To Fly Not The Same As Yesterday". Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 21, 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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[08:00:15]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, a glimmer of hope as banging sounds are detected in the Atlantic Ocean, where rescuers are searching for a missing submersible. What that could mean coming up.

U.S. President Joe Biden angers China by calling Xi Jinping a dictator, just a day after his top diplomat visited Beijing to try to improve relations. And Andrew Tate and his brother appear in a Romanian court today on charges of human trafficking and rape.

Just hours after Joe Biden's top diplomats seem to bring the U.S. and China closer together, an offhand comment by the American President has put new strain on the superpower relationship. At a fundraiser on Tuesday night, Mr. Biden made this apparently unscripted comment about his Chinese counterpart.

"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it, he didn't know it was there. No, I'm serious. That's what a great embarrassment for dictators when they didn't know what happened".

China's Foreign Ministry is furious, saying that comparing Mr. Xi to a dictator is absurd and irresponsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The remarks seriously contradict basic facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, and seriously infringe on China's political dignity, which is an open political provocation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Nic Robinson is here. You're a diplomatic expert. What do you think about the diplomacy here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They're angry. They're very upset. You know, I think they will probably be guessing what is the message we're supposed to read? On the one hand, President Biden said Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made progress in China, and yet the following day, here he is calling our leader a dictator.

You know, the background is, this was a political fundraising event. These were off script remarks. President Biden has made mistakes like this before, where he has caused concern and consternation because of things that weren't on script that he's gone on to say.

But I think when you look at the strength of what the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said there, I mean, there's a whole long list. Extremely observed, irresponsible, contradicts basic facts, violates diplomatic, seriously infringes China's dignity, open political provocation, strongly dissatisfied.

I mean, if you look in terms of diplomatic language, that's -- that is about everything thrown in there. This is not just a one line remark. They've doubled down, triple down, quadrupled down on it. So there's anger. But I think that the bigger blow here is United States through this overture, by sending Secretary Blinken, who, you know, met with the top foreign policy adviser, met with the foreign minister as well, before he got to meet President Xi.

This was all sort of building towards, would he meet President Xi? There's a lot in China's calculation here, and he achieved that. So Secretary Blinken did make progress. Now, is that going to be set back again?

We know from what President Biden said, that he's thinking of sending his climate -- top climate person, John Kerry, to China as well. So let's see, you know, if that goes ahead as hope.

FOSTER: Yes, let's see. I mean, he's a very experienced president, President Biden, isn't he? Sad to say, it was just a fundraiser, like a lot of people are. Not --

ROBERTSON: It's not an excuse. And I think that's the problem for the Chinese, because it's a big forum --

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: -- and and he was in California, and there's a big, you know, Chinese-American population --

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: -- in California as well. These were remarks that would never going to go unheard.

FOSTER: OK. Nic, thank you very much indeed.

This hour, the Ukraine recovery conference is underway here in London. The focus is on reconstruction, what comes after Russia's war on Ukraine. The British Prime Minister announced the U.K. will guarantee $3 billion of World Bank loans to Ukraine. And the U.S. Secretary of State pledged more than $1 billion in financial assistance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the conference via video link. He was appreciative, but blunt, telling attendees that Kyiv needs concrete commitments.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine, the focus is on the hard fought battles that are unfolding right now. Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister says troops are gnawing their way forward meter by meter, while claiming the main strike of the counteroffensive is still ahead. Kyiv adds that its forces are entrenching them cells on the front line in the south, while inching towards cities located deep into Russian controls territory.

[08:05:06]

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins me live in Kyiv. How do we rate the success of their current movements, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL: Well, I think it's certainly going fairly slowly for the Ukrainians but they certainly still seem to be confident that they can turn all this into a success. I think one of the words that you just used, Max, is pretty accurate in describing all this.

They are gnawing their way forward, which means it's a tough grind and it's definitely some very hard resistance that they're facing as well. But the Ukrainians are saying that they are continuing to try to make forward -- to try to move forward.

And that same official that you were talking about, the deputy defense minister, she also said that so far the Ukrainians are having partial success, as they put it, which obviously means that they're facing some pretty tough defenses there as well.

What we were also looking at was in some of that wording was the fact that Ukrainians are now saying that they are entrenching themselves also as they are trying to move forward. And that really tells us two things that we've also seen unfold on the battlefield as well, was that at the same time the Ukrainians are trying to punch through those Russian defenses are trying to get to those places deep inside Russian-held territory, as you put it.

Specifically, meaning the town of Melitopol and the city of Berdyansk as well. That's extremely important for the Ukrainians. Because if the Ukrainians make it down to that area, they will have reached the sea of Azov and with that they will have cut off the Russians from their land route to Crimea.

That's what the Ukrainians are trying to succeed -- trying to achieve and that's the sort of direction that they're trying to get into. But when they say they're entrenching themselves, that also means while they're trying to punch through, they are also making lateral moves to try and widen the territory that they control further north and to try and obviously entrench that to make sure that the Russians don't get it back. One of the things that we've been seeing over the past couple of days in some of these towns that the Ukrainians have been taking from the Russians is that they've remained contested. They've remained in what many people would call a gray zone where the Ukrainians would hold it, the Russians would then shell it, would try and take it back and there would be a big back and forth going on there.

That is certainly something that is happening there. So we can see the Ukrainians now saying that they are trying to solidify the gains that they've made, entrench themselves there while at the same time also continue to push forward. It was quite interesting because there was an interview the president of this country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave earlier today where he was saying that the going is somewhat slow and Ukraine's counteroffensive.

But he also said, look, this is not a Hollywood movie that we're looking here. These are real people conducting some very dangerous operations. And that really is the vibe that we also got when we were in the frontline area as well. The Ukrainians moving forward, the Ukrainians continuously trying to move forward, but also facing some very stiff Russian resistance, Russian air power, Russian artillery.

So certainly, the going is tough for them. But they also say that these are still the very early stages of the counteroffensive and there is still a lot more to come as far as the Ukrainians say and as far as they're concerned, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Fred Pleitgen in Kyiv, thank you.

Sony devices have picked up banging sounds in North Atlantic where crews are racing against time to find a missing submersible with five people on board. The noises were first heard on Tuesday, but it's not clear what's causing them and if they're signs of life from the vessel. The Torus sub operated by OceanGate Expeditions went missing on Sunday on its way to view the Titanic wreckage.

As you can see, the search area is vast. It's remote as well. According to a U.S. government memo obtained by CNN, the banging sound was picked up every 30 minutes. Crews use that information to relocate their search. Time is running out. As of this hour, the vessel may have just 22 hours of breathable air left.

Paula Newton joins us from Ottawa, Canada with more details. I mean, it's good news to hear that there is this possible sign of life, but also horrific to imagine what they might be going through.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Max. I mean, as you say, this is hopeful news, but also incredibly chilling. Imagine if it was them trying to basically ask for help every 30 minutes. Most officials that I speak to say, look, this is in keeping with what you would try and do, especially given the expertise that we know is on that submergeable.

It was a Canadian aircraft that had launched these sonar buoys on the surface of the water, Max. And that's when they started to get the noises. It was very clear, it was very distinct. At certain points in time, as you say, it was about 30 minutes intervals.

Now, they had launched, in fact, a -- what they call a remote controlled vehicle to that area to try and investigate. They still, at this hour, have not disclosed that they've found anything at all. But certainly, the tracking of these noises has helped. What they need now, though, is even if they find this submersible somewhere close to the seabed or even up above, hopefully higher to the surface, is they are prepositioning equipment at the this hour both in St. John's and also in that very remote area in the North Atlantic.

[08:10:06]

What they need to do, Max, is if they do find that, they then need to try and bring it to the surface. Again, hopeful news here, Max, but still a lot of questions. And when we talk about how much oxygen is left, officials do caution us, look, this isn't precise, right?

They're saying about a day's worth, but given the expertise on board there, the CEO of OceanGate Expedition, Stockton Rush is there as well, with, you know, a man who's done so many deep dives, and that is the French mariner Paul Nargeolet, they both would know what to do.

They would actually be able to surmise the kind of search and rescue equipment that they would have sent out to try and find them. And for that reason, that's why they are pretty hopeful now that they have heard these noises. And yet I have to caution, still a long way to go before they can rescue these five passengers.

FOSTER: Paula Newton, thank you.

Online influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are in a Romanian court today, one day after being charged with human trafficking and rape. Tate, a self-described misogynist, told the media he believes in God and the justice system and insists he will be exonerated.

The judge is expected to set a trial date and rule on the brother's house arrest at today's hearing. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is tracking the story for us. So what is the court process here, Salma?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So this was a preliminary hearing, Max, today, and all it was supposed to do was to, a, determine their detention, their preventative detention. You will remember, of course, that Andrew Tate and his brother and two of their associates, two female Romanians, were arrested in December of last year. They were then released onto house arrest by a judge's order in March of this year.

So this hearing today, they determine if that house arrest continues and for how long and what that would look like, and then also to set an actual trial date. You have to remember, yes, they have been indicted of rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang, but this is a case that could take many years.

You do have video that I know that's playing right now, and I just want to point that video out of those two brothers strolling into court. You can see Tristan smoking a cigarette. I mean, they are walking with such bravado, Max. I mean, really disregarding the seriousness of the allegations.

You'd look at that video and think they're about to walk into a club, not into a courthouse. But that is part of the carefully curated image that has attracted and horrified so many. Andrew Tate, once he stepped out of that court, was defiant, again, nodding to his supporters. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW TATE, INFLUENCER: I would like to say a massive thank you to all the supporters we have around the world, regardless of what the mainstream media keeps saying and the lies they try and purport. We get tens of thousands of messages from people every single day supporting us. And they understand that we're not the first affluent, wealthy men who have been unfairly attacked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, as you heard there, the brothers have, throughout this legal debacle, maintained their innocence. These are very serious allegations against them, ones that date back to accusations that took place in 2021. But what is so concerning for families, for those who criticize Andrew Tate, for those who are worried about his influence, is every time he's in the headlines, more attention, more eyeballs are pulled to his Twitter account.

FOSTER: Salma, thank you.

A new cycle of violence erupting in the West Bank as tensions soar between Israelis and Palestinians. A Palestinian official says Israeli settlers attacked villages in the occupied West Bank overnight, burning farm fields and vehicles.

Dozens of villages, or villagers rather, were injured. This comes after two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Tuesday near an Israeli settlement and a gas station. Four Israelis were killed. Hamas is claiming responsibility.

Hadas Gold joins us now from Jerusalem. And you've been out to see the damage there?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and the violence is continuing as we speak. Just in the last few minutes, receiving reports of further clashes with Israeli settlers and Palestinians in towns near -- just next down the road to where that settlement is, where that attack happened that killed those four Israelis. The worst attack against Israelis since January.

All this, of course, coming just days, just two days after that massive firefight erupted in Jenin between Israeli military and militants there, where we saw the use of things like IEDs by the militants in an Apache helicopter gunship by the Israeli military.

But we were just there, just there this -- just there at the site of the settlement and of the villages nearby to see what happened, to speak to the locals there. And both Israelis and Palestinians there told us that they had not seen or felt violence and danger like this in several decades. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:15:03]

GOLD: The attack started here at this hummus restaurant that's part of a gas station complex just outside the borders of the Eli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The attackers came to this restaurant, shooting through to the restaurant, killing the first of the three victims, including two teenagers. The fourth victim was killed at the gas station that's just in front of us.

Israeli officials saying that another, other four people were injured. And so it was the work of two Hamas operatives who came here in a car. The first of the gunmen was shot and killed by an armed civilian who happened to be on site. And the second gunman managed to get away, steal a car. That triggered an hourslong manhunt by Israeli forces before he was cornered and shot and killed as well, just north of here.

But here at the scene, we are still seeing evidence of the bloody scene from the night before. We're seeing bullet casings on the ground, medical gloves, medical equipment, as well as bloodstains. And here on the restaurant itself, you can still see it is riddled with bullet holes, including this one bullet hole that managed to make its way through and smash this window.

Hours after those attacks on the gas station and restaurant that killed those four Israelis, Israeli settlers rampaged through Palestinian villages like this one of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, burning. As you can see, dozens of cars, parts of these cars just completely melting off.

In fact, we're here the morning after, and there is still smoke smoldering from the fires. We've been speaking to villagers here that say their homes were damaged. Palestinian officials say that at least 37 Palestinians were injured, mostly as a result of stone throwing.

Villagers we're talking to here saying they haven't seen violence like this against their property, against their homes, since the days of the second intifada, and that they now live in fear of what can come.

There's now a big push, especially on the rightwing of the Israeli political spectrum and the rightwing of this current government for a much bigger and broader military operation in the occupied West Bank than what we've seen in the past, that could lead people here fear, to even more violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: Now, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in just the last few minutes, announcing the approval of 1,000 new homes to be built in that settlement that's adjacent to where that attack took place, saying our answer to terrorism is to strike it forcefully and buildup our country, he said. Max?

FOSTER: OK. Hadas, thank you for joining us from Jerusalem.

Still to come, fresh hope in the search for a missing submersible. But can it be found before oxygen on board runs out? We'll look at the rescue efforts. Stay tuned.

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FOSTER: International crews are scouring the North Atlantic trying to find a tourist submersible that went missing on Sunday. But the oxygen supply inside is dwindling, so can it be found in time to save those on board? Banging sounds have raised some hope, but nothing has come from that just yet.

And this possible may only have a day's worth of breathable air left. A desperate rescue mission is happening right now from the sea and the air, and there are efforts to get more specialized deep sea and salvage equipment on site.

[08:20:12]

Crews are up against incredibly difficult depths. This chart puts into context really just how deep the lost vessel might be.

CNN's Miguel Marquez following the story from St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, where this operation is being coordinated and they're trying to get the right kit in place.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. And we saw a Coast Guard ship just a short time ago, ship out toward that area and overnight. A few hours before that, the Horizon Arctic, which is a private ship that also went out. So both of them now en route to the area that they are searching. That followed three U.S. military C- 17s landing here at St. John's small airport.

These massive U.S. military planes unloading tons of gear, everything from submersibles to mobile decompression chambers, everything that they might need if they can find them alive. Max?

FOSTER: What do you make of these sounds, because obviously, we saw this internal memo that suggested it was banging, but the sound changed over the course of the day. And it was all yesterday as well, wasn't it?

MARQUEZ: Yes. So this was all the course of yesterday. It was over about four hours, maybe a little longer. A Poseidon aircraft, these are sub-hunter aircrafts, drop buoys. It heard banging sounds every half hour, bang, bang, bang. Every half hour or so.

They put more sonar in. They heard more sounds about four hours later. But then sometime after that, they didn't hear banging, but they heard other sounds. They put remote operated vehicles down to the area where they thought the banging was coming from, but that turned up nothing.

They're moving ships now around on the surface and then analyzing those sonar signals even more to figure out if they can locate precisely where those sound -- what it was and where those sounds are coming from. Max?

FOSTER: And in terms of the oxygen, people are making a lot about this, but it's guesswork really, isn't it, about how much oxygen was on there, how much is being used up, and also the effects of carbon dioxide, which people have been talking about as well, involved.

MARQUEZ: Yes. You know, look, it is very hard to say five people on there, you don't know how they are breathing or what is happening down there, but you have to assume, I think, the best conditions and keep hope alive for as long as possible. You know, it is an excruciating wait, because people, everybody we talk to here in St. John's, they talk about, you know, what is happening there, you are in pitch black, it is freezing cold.

If they have lost power, it is going to be very hard to survive, the oxygen aside. But if they don't have oxygen, obviously, they're not going to survive. But just very great concerns about the conditions down there and what the people may be thinking and suffering and waiting. It must be excruciating. Max?

FOSTER: Yes. It's thoughts with everyone involved. Miguel, thank you.

Still ahead, it looks like a scene straight out of top gun that these are Ukrainian pilots fighting to keep their skies clear. More on their mission just ahead.

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FOSTER: Ukrainian troops are fighting intense battles to takeback territory in the south and the east. Some of the most perilous battles in Russia's war in Ukraine are being fought in the sky, though.

Fred Pleitgen shows us what's at stake for the fighter pilots behind the controls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Ukrainian SU-25 attack aircraft, given the go to assault Russian positions. Against all the odds, Ukraine's Air Force is still very much in the fight, pilot Oleksiy tells me.

(on-camera): Are you helping the ground forces now a lot in the south with a counteroffensive operation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The mission's extremely dangerous, especially for frontline attack aircraft. Ukraine's aces trying to keep Russian air defenses off balance.

OLEKSIY, UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE: We lost many young pilots from our brigade. This taught us to change something. And day by day, we try to fly not the same as yesterday.

[08:25:12]

PLEITGEN (voice-over): While Kyiv says its counteroffensive is progressing, the battles are tough and gains hard to come by. The biggest threat, Ukraine says, Russian air power. This video purporting to show a Russian combat helicopter taking out a Ukrainian vehicle.

The Ukrainians say Russian interceptor aircraft like the advanced SU- 35 often stop their old MiG-29 jets from operating near the front lines. This MiG-29 pilot, who asks us to hide his face and use only his call sign juice, tells me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can be like a maverick, but without a proper hardware, you can't win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here they go. There goes one.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Ukrainians say they need F-16s from the U.S. and its allies to level the playing field and to fully utilize the air launched missiles the U.S. has already given them. In between the taxing wartime missions, pilots are already learning the basics of the F-16, hoping they'll be able to fly them in the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are trying to improve our English skills. We are flying simulators. So at the moment, we have improvised simulators of F-16 almost on all the basis.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The pilots say, for them, it's a matter of life and death. The attrition rate among combat aviators extremely high.

Both Oleksiy, squadron leader and his wingman killed in combat, he says.

OLEKSIY: When you see the explosion of your colleague by your eyes in real time, it's a shocked -- it's a shocking picture, yes. And the really big difficulty in this situation, it's how to sit in aircraft again, again, and again and again.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But when the call comes, they say they will be ready and back in the seat, taking the fight to the Russians.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London.

World Sport with Amanda Davies is up next.

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