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Inside The Chaotic 36 Hours of Russia's Uprising; Biden And Zelenskyy Speak About Russian Insurrection; Three San Antonio Police Officers Face Murder Charges; U.S. Coast Guard To Prioritize Recovery Of Submersible Items From Sea Floor; The Impact Of Russia Chaos On Ukraine War; Russia's Duma Moves To Regulate Wagner Group; Interview With Mayor Ron Nirenberg About Heat Wave Impacting Millions In Texas. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 25, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:10]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

We begin this hour in Russia. Moscow has avoided an armed insurrection from its own mercenaries for now but faces a world keenly aware of major weaknesses that are now exposed. Today there is no word on where Yevgeny Prigozhin is the head of the ruthless mercenaries, the Wagner Group, abruptly turned around his troops when they were within just 125 miles of the capital.

Russia said Prigozhin would not be prosecuted and instead would be exiled. Prigozhin's news service, as they're calling it, tells CNN that he will answer questions when he has, quote, "proper communication."

You might remember these stunning scenes last night as mercenaries were greeted as heroes in some towns for confronting the government they feel has abandoned them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMITRY, RESIDENT OF ROSTOV REGION (through translator): There are very serious problems in the country and they need to be solved. People who can no longer tolerate it, they resort to such radical methods as Prigozhin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: It is the most serious threat to Vladimir Putin in his 23 years in power and Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells CNN he does not think the turmoil in Russia is over.

Our correspondents and analysts are standing by to bring you all of the angles of this unfolding drama but first let's go to CNN's Ivan Watson. He walks us through a whirlwind chain of events that have exposed shocking weaknesses in the Putin regime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A weekend of chaos and drama in Russia. Mercenaries declared a mutiny and then called it off in under 24 hours.

Yevgeny Prigozhin issued a call for rebellion. The head of the Wagner mercenary group accusing top Russian military commanders of gross mismanagement of the war in Ukraine. Then Prigozhin released video of an alleged Russian airstrike on a Wagner camp in Ukraine demanding revenge. Russia's Defense Ministry denied the attack. And soon Russia's top prosecutor announced criminal charges against Prigozhin.

Then in the early hours of Saturday, Prigozhin followed through on his threats, sending his fighters across the border from Ukraine back into Russia. Footage surfaced at dawn showing Wagner fighters surrounding the military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov. Some locals stood nearby watching.

At around 7:30 a.m., Prigozhin was then shown dressing down senior Russian military leaders and issuing demands.

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, WAGNER GROUP CHIEF (through translator): Again, we came here. We want to receive the chief of General Staff and Shoigu. Until they show up, until they show up, we are located here, blockading the city of Rostov and we'll go to Moscow.

WATSON: Video showed columns of Wagner troops heading north towards the capital. Along the way, claiming control of military installations in the Voronezh region. Footage later showed at least one Russian helicopter narrowly avoiding a missile.

At 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a televised address to the nation, calling the rebellion a stab in the back.

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): All those who deliberately chose the path of treachery, who prepared an armed mutiny, who chose the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will face inevitable punishment and will answer both to the law and to our people.

WATSON: The Kremlin announced counterterrorism measures, tightening security in Moscow. But by Saturday night, suddenly a Kremlin reversal. Putin's spokesman announced a deal.

Prigozhin released an audio message saying his troops would turn around and go back to field camps to avoid shedding Russian blood.

Supporters chanted Wagner as fighters drove out of Rostov, giving Prigozhin handshakes as he left in this SUV. The Kremlin says it's dropped charges and Prigozhin will go to Belarus while promising his fighters contracts with the Russian military.

For now, a crisis apparently averted. But this very public betrayal and the mercenary short but unimpeded march on Moscow reveals deep weakness at the heart of the Putin regime.

Ivan Watson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And now let's go over to the White House with CNN's Arlette Saenz.

Arlette, what can you tell us about this call between President Biden and Ukraine's President Zelenskyy?

[18:05:04]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, President Biden placed this call to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy while spending while spending the weekend out in Camp David, and the White House said that they discussed not only the United States' continued support for Ukraine but also that situation in Russia.

The president has really been working the phones over the course of the weekend. We learned just moments ago that he also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today. Trudeau tweeted that they talked about the, quote, "evolving security situation in Russia." Yesterday the president spoke with other top allies including the leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

And one thing that was stressed in that call is trying to ensure that the leaders keep the temperature low, that they don't try to make any statements that would suggest or give any credence to any claims that the U.S. is trying to be involved in this matter. The White House has really taken a very quiet strategy after the rebellion that was waged by the mercenary Wagner Group over the course of the past 48 hours.

That a rebellion did seem to be quelled a bit in the past day but we did start to get the first reaction from the administration to the situation earlier today from Secretary of State Antony Blinken who called the situation extraordinary and said that it has shown that there are some cracks in Vladimir Putin's hold on power in Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's too soon to tell exactly where this is going to go. And I suspect that this is a moving picture and we haven't seen the last act yet, but we can say this. First of all, what we've seen is extraordinary and I think you've seen cracks emerge that weren't there before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now something that Blinken and top officials have been trying to stress over the course of the weekend is that this is a continually evolving situation and one thing that officials will try to ascertain in the coming days is what kind of impact this will have, a broader impact it has on both the war in Ukraine and also on Putin's hold on power within Russia. As Blinken noted there, he argued, that there are signs that there are some cracks beginning to emerge.

ACOSTA: I would say yes, that is the case. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.

Today we're learning more about exactly what U.S. officials knew and what they were expecting as the crisis erupted in Russia.

CNN senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt has the latest reporting.

Alex, what have you learned?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we've been watching over the past several months this anger by Prigozhin growing directed at the military leadership there. So there was widespread surprise when he actually took that next step and launched this march on Moscow.

You know, there was a sense that, you know, he was getting angry but to actually do this, it was massively surprising all across the administration and the military, in Congress, but at the same time, Jim, we're told that intelligence officials were tracking the buildup, the movement of Wagner forces, their troops, their equipment, their machinery. That there was an expectation among the intelligence community that something like this could take place and the fact that something like this was imminent, to the point where intelligence officials we're told briefed the so-called Gang of Eight, the leaders in Congress, both parties and both chambers, and also the leaders of the both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

And actually, we heard from the head of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Turner earlier today who said that something like this was expected. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): The intelligence community was very much aware of it. The conflict between Prigozhin and Putin was inevitable. This is not a weekend trip he's taking. Taking his convoy and his military convoy up to Moscow. There's a number of accomplices included as we saw some of the Russian people on the border with Ukraine who clearly support the Wagner Group, in contrast to their support for the Russian government. This is something that would have to have been planned for a significant amount of time to be executed in the manner which it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So Turner there saying that this must have been planned for a significant amount of time. One of the things that was most surprising, I'm told, that the U.S. did not expect was the lack of resistance by the Russian military. We didn't see any real resistance from the military, from the FSB, security services, from the border guards, as they made their march northwards.

I'm told that there was an assessment, that the U.S. expected a lot more violence, a lot more bloodshed. Of course that did not happen, and the big question now that the intelligence community and others are going to be trying to answer is why did Prigozhin suddenly when he seemed to have the upper hand just stopped his march, turned his forces around and head back to what he called the field camps?

ACOSTA: I think that's the most stunning question of the whole weekend. Why didn't he just keep going? Perhaps we'll learn that answer in the coming days.

Alex Marquardt, thank you very much.

There is a lot to discuss with CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner who is a former deputy director of National Intelligence and CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger.

Beth, you know, Alex raised a lot of interesting points in his report just now.

[18:10:03]

You know, one of the things that I guess that sticks out for me is, how did the U.S. intelligence community have a better sense of what Prigozhin might do than Vladimir Putin?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. That's a big coup for the U.S. intelligence agency. (INAUDIBLE) are my old friends. And -- but I think it shows, you know, a real weakness again. The FSB was in charge of informing Putin about the invasion and how the Russian invasion would go, complete fail, and now here, how is it that they didn't know that Prigozhin was planning this and didn't make preparations, again a complete fail. So we have judgment and capacity. You know, like really lack of capabilities being exposed by this event.

ACOSTA: And David, from what you know of Prigozhin, is it likely that he will just go quietly to Belarus along with his military units? And I guess we have to say, we don't know for certain where Prigozhin is at this hour. We haven't been told. The world hasn't been told. But, you know, I can't imagine that this is over.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I can't either. Look, everybody was acting out of character this weekend. Right? Putin went out and declared he would crush this and then as you said early in the reporting, they got within 125 miles of Moscow and didn't seem to run into very much resistance. Prigozhin, as you pointed out, is not the kind of person to give up fairly quickly, so there must have been a deal, the dimensions of which we don't understand.

We assume, but only assume that it may include the resignations at some point soon of the Defense Secretary Shoigu, who Prigozhin hates, and Shoigu returns the favor. We assume that there are some other elements to that deal. But we're not certain what they are. What we do know is that our view of the stability of Putin and his entire regime is dramatically different on Sunday evening, then it was on Thursday evening. And we don't know where Prigozhin is. We also don't know where Putin is.

ACOSTA: Well, that's also a very good point. And Beth, we are hearing that Putin is somewhat wounded by all of this among the elite and the general population inside Russia. I mean, we were just playing some anecdotal, you know, soundbites from people on regular Russians on the street. They were openly criticizing the government in ways that I guess we just don't hear very often as well. I mean, that is also quite interesting.

When you analyze what just happened, how deeply in trouble is Vladimir Putin right now? How deep would you say his troubles run?

SANNER: Well, I think that there are just many dimensions to this. Right? There is how the Russian people are thinking about this. I'm actually thinking that might not be a major issue at this moment. How are Russian soldiers going to behave on the battlefield? Are they going to feel like they want to follow in Prigozhin's footsteps? How do the elites feel?

Maybe that's something that's important but I think -- I'm going to say I think in terms of the military elite, I think it's actually unlikely that he gets rid of Shoigu and Gerasimov because that would be really completely capitulating to Prigozhin, and I don't think he wants to do that. I think he picked his battle and picked the military. So I think he had that a little bit in the box. But geopolitically, you know, these things are going to reverberate for some time.

Wagner, we think about in terms of Ukraine, but we should not forget that Wagner is actually the most powerful instrument that Putin has in projecting power and influence in the Middle East and Africa, and he uses it incredibly. He doesn't want to lose that. But yet, with the loss of stature and maybe with the loss of Prigozhin now, all of that is up in the air. So there is -- as Sun Tzu would say, where there is chaos, there is also opportunity. So a lot of this is going to play out.

ACOSTA: Yes. There seems to be perhaps a lot of both of those things.

And David, can Putin continue to hold on to power in the way that he has without the Wagner Group. without Prigozhin? I find that some of the things that we saw over the weekend, well, all is forgiven with Prigozhin, he can go off to Belarus now, charges dropped. The Wagner military forces, they can just be folded into the Russian military. You know, I guess, one aside I might have to that is perhaps it should be the other way around.

[18:15:04]

But both of those things don't sound like they strengthened Putin a whole lot.

SANGER: They don't, and you know, this sort of gets at the American dilemma right now. On the one hand, I think there was a bit of a temptation for the United States to sit back and sort of enjoy watching this entire thing unfold. You know, they had some advance notice. We've reported as has CNN, but we've reported in "The Times," that as early as Wednesday, maybe before, they had a pretty good sense of what was going to go on. It's interesting that the administration chose not in any way to get

involved. For a couple of reasons. First, they didn't want to be seen backing Prigozhin, I mean, he's sanctioned by the United States. They certainly didn't want to be helping Putin, so this was a fight between two pretty unsavory characters. But second, if you listen carefully to President Biden over the past year, he always wants to make sure that Putin has an offramp because a desperate Putin, a Putin who is fearful that he would lose power, is also one much more likely to trigger his nuclear arsenal.

ACOSTA: And Beth, what do you make of that prospect? I mean, we were talking about this with Congressman Jason Crow in the previous hour that, you know, often what we've seen in Russian history and in Soviet history is that things can happen very quickly. Generational change in Russia can happen very quickly. Seemingly sometimes out of nowhere.

Does the administration -- does the United States and its allies have to be gaming out those kinds of possibilities should something like that happen in the coming weeks or perhaps months, given what we know about Putin's hold on power right now?

SANNER: Right, I think the potential for surprise here is quite high. You know, so, it might be weeks, it might be months, it might be much, much longer. There are, though, you know, real implications here. I think ironically both China and the United States share these concerns about instability in Russia and what chaos could bring in Russia. And I -- you know, so I think neither of us actually benefits from a complete -- the place falls apart without, you know, a clear path of succession and stability there.

ACOSTA: And very quickly, David, do you think something like that could unfold as well, something fast and furious?

SANGER: Certainly, as Beth points out, Russian history has shown that that has happened. But, you know, think back to the Cuban missile crisis. It took Khruschev a couple of years to really lose power enough that he was ultimately ousted. It happened peacefully. You have to think that Putin is in much better (INAUDIBLE) and much better shape than Khruschev did. So this could go on for quite some time, as could the war in Ukraine.

ACOSTA: And we know how he fashions himself, a student, a scholar of Russian history as well.

All right, Beth Sanner, David Sanger, thanks to both of you very much. We really appreciate it.

Just ahead, we'll take a look at the impact the chaos in Russia is having on the way in Ukraine. Can Kyiv capitalize in their counteroffensive?

But first, three San Antonio police officers charged with murder after they shot and killed a woman appearing to have a mental health crisis. The incident caught on video, and the department is now responding to the officers' actions. Plus new information first on CNN about the effort to recover debris

from the sub that imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic. That's coming up as well.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:51]

ACOSTA: Three San Antonio police officers are facing murder charges after officials say they responded to a call on Friday, fatally shooting a woman who appeared to be in distress. Bodycam footage shows the officers standing outside an apartment urging the woman to come out. Moments later as the exchange escalates they opened fire multiple times.

We want to warn you this video may be disturbing to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we have all this evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get out. Get out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. Hold on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You ain't got no warrant.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out.

(Gunshots)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey!

(Gunshots)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up.

(Gunshots)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The police chief there named the officers as 27-year-old Nathaniel Villalobos, 28-year-old Eleazar Alejandro, and 45-year-old Sergeant Alfred Flores.

CNN's Mike Valerio joins us now with the latest.

Mike, what more do we know?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, I think we saw this sorrowful crescendo of this incident right there, but we need to begin with the mother who is at the center of this case. That is Melissa Perez, 46 years old, and she was having a mental health crisis as you mentioned.

So we're going to take you back to Friday just after midnight in San Antonio and she's cutting the wires of her apartment fire alarm system. So you see firefighters who are there. The red flashing lights. And they ask her, hey, what's going on? What are you doing cutting the wires of the fire system, and she tells them, Jim, I'm cutting the wires because I think the FBI is listening to me. So it is apparent that she needs help. She's having a mental health episode.

Officers eventually show up to the scene and they determined that they are going to charge her with criminal mischief for cutting those wires. So they tried to talk to her but she's scared. She goes into her apartment. She locks the doors and eventually she grabs a hammer, comes to the back patio window, looking at these three officers. And in both of the times that she comes close to that window, the officers opened fire.

Jim, it's a volley of about 20 gunshots, and those volleys of gunfire eventually take her life.

[18:25:05]

So I think it's notable what a detective from the San Antonio Police Force wrote about this case, saying, quote, "The defendants were not in clear danger of death or serious bodily injury at the time the defendants use deadly force." So clear admonishing language on this affidavit that was used to charge the three officers with murder. Their preliminary hearing is set for a month from today, but this community is certainly reeling.

You know, so many law enforcement agencies are trying to use de- escalation of force tactics. It doesn't seem from the video we watched that there was a lot of that happening here -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. Such an awful situation. You can see it in that video.

Mike Valerio, thank you very much.

We should note, the mayor of San Antonio will join us live in just a few minutes so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, a multinational investigation is now underway a week after a submersible carrying five passengers imploded in the deep waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Investigators are now searching for clues to find out what led to the sub's tragic end. The answers could lie in Titan's mothership which reportedly holds voice recordings and text messages from the submersible.

A press conference with the U.S. Coast Guard just wrapped up a short time ago. And CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us live from St. John's, Newfoundland, with more details.

Gloria, any success in these recovery efforts? What can you tell us?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, first to this Marine Board of Investigation which is the highest level of investigation that the U.S. Coast Guard can conduct, and what it's going to do is allow the Coast Guard to leverage all of its resources including working with international partners.

Now this is a multistep process and right now they are in the first phase of it, which is the evidence gathering process. So to answer your question, we know that they have been able to recover pieces of the submersible in the last several days, but today we heard that they're still out there. In fact, there is this remote operating vehicle known as the Odysseus 6K that is still scanning the bottom of the ocean floor, looking for pieces of evidence.

Now there is a whole process that will also include a public hearing, where they will hear testimony and collect more evidence. I want you to hear from the officials talking about what's next in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JASON NEUBAUER, CHIEF INVESTIGATOR, U.S. COAST GUARD: During the course of the MBI, the board will first and primarily work to determine the cause of this marine casualty and the five associated deaths. The MBI however is also responsible for accountability aspects of the incident and it can make recommendations to the proper authorities to pursue civil or criminal sanctions as necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now the board is working with U.S., U.K. and French partners which of course reflects the nationalities of the five people who were aboard the vessel. So you can see that there is now a multinational effort to try and bring some sort of closure to these families at the end of the investigation. The board will issue a report and the idea here is to prevent any more of these tragedies from happening again -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you very much.

Coming up, the Wagner mercenary group has played a key role in Russia's war in Ukraine. After the group's failed insurrection Ukraine may have an opening to find success in its counteroffensive. We'll discuss that next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:33:01]

ACOSTA: This just into CNN, the FAA has issued ground stops at 4 D.C. area airports including Reagan National Airport, Dulles, Baltimore and Richmond. The FAA says it's all in an effort to make repairs at the Potomac terminal radar approach control facility in Virginia. The FAA says that facility has now switched to a backup system but it is unclear when normal operations will resume at those airports.

In the meantime, now to Russia and what we know at this hour. One day after Wagner fighters marched toward Moscow threatening armed insurrection. All the major players in the most serious threat to Vladimir Putin in his 23-year rule remained out of sight. Armed insurrectionists are no longer marching toward Moscow but a threat to a weakened Putin regime remains. A former Russian official is calling this Putin's biggest humiliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR MILOV, FORMER RUSSIAN DEPUTY MINISTRY OF ENERGY: I think this was the biggest mess so far, since the beginning of Vladimir Putin's rule nearly a quarter of a century ago because actually Russia lost control of two major cities, Rostov and Voronezh, over one million residents each. And that was extremely embarrassing for Putin because he could not do anything about it.

He had to ask for help from Belarus dictator Lukashenko to get Prigozhin out of the country and make the Wagner Group retreat. That's the number one humiliation for Putin across the history of his rule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Despite the president's internal power struggle, Russian troops launched attacks along Ukraine's eastern and southern fronts. And joining us to talk about this, break it down, is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, a short time ago we learned that Ukraine is claiming to have made military gains around Bakhmut. That sounds like a very big development.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it is, Jim, and, you know, of course this is early in this but, you know, (INAUDIBLE), the way that we are looking at this, I think you can do a lot with the way in which the Ukrainians have actually put their forces together and they've been able to take advantage of some of the things that the Russians, you know, have left behind in essence.

[18:35:17]

They've even been able to take a town, the town of Krasnohorivka, which was occupied by the Russians and Russian sympathizers back in 2014. So they were able to do some things that you know the Russians I think are finding it difficult to respond to, and that means that there is at least a possibility that they can achieve some success here on the Ukrainian side.

ACOSTA: And what impact do you feel this has on the morale of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine? And I mean, I guess we have to make the point, don't we, Colonel Leighton, that it wasn't all that high to begin with? There have been some anecdotal reports of a lot of problems inside Russia's military and we would hear from time to time from Russian soldiers who would talk to reporters and tell them that things aren't going well. So I mean, pile this on top of that, that can't be good.

LEIGHTON: No, it can't. And, you know, when you think about it, you know, to say the morale is in the toilet, you know, to use a military euphemism for it, but the real problem that the Russians have is that they never really established the command and control mechanisms to allow morale to grow. The troops have no faith in their officers. They have very little faith in their political leadership.

And these types of actions and the fact that the Ukrainians are achieving apparently some successes this year, that makes a huge difference. And of course, the big thing is this. The Russian side has no real reason to fight, especially when they find out that the basis for this war is really not a basis in fact. That it's all basically fantasy and the fantasy of one man. And that is something that is not worth dying for in any way.

ACOSTA: And let me ask you this, Colonel. The Wagner mercenaries came within 125 miles of Moscow virtually unchallenged. I'm wondering if you've spent any time over the last 24 hours just contemplating that fact. I mean, talk about the mighty Russian bear being on its knees momentarily. How vulnerable is the regime right now?

LEIGHTON: Yes. Putin's regime is vulnerable. There's no question about it. There are a lot of things within Russia, you know, where you think the facade of a strong weapon system or a strong force but the fact of the matter is, is that facade is just that, it's only the face of it. Once you go beneath the surface, you find there are a lot of weaknesses there. And that has been characteristic of the Russian military for a long time.

We thought that they had overcome some of those weaknesses. The war in Ukraine has really brought those weaknesses back to the forefront, and we realized that in spite of military reforms, despite of efforts by Russian leadership to change the way they are doing things, they have not achieved success in that regard. That facade is basically a very weak, weak military structure, a military structure that can't withstand a lot of pressures.

You know, we have the evidence of course now with Putin's forces being able to get that close to Moscow. That is something that shouldn't have happened by any stretch of the imagination but it did, and we know that they really have difficulty defending their homeland.

ACOSTA: I mean, it's such an embarrassment for Putin that I don't know if we've really wrapped our minds around it as much as we will in the coming days. It's just -- it's mind-boggling to think that they got that close.

Colonel Leighton, thanks so much. Really great to talk to you. Appreciate it.

Here's another question at this hour. Where is Yevgeny Prigozhin? The Wagner mercenary chief hasn't been heard from since calling off his march to Moscow and agreed to go to Belarus. We'll discuss what's next for him and his organization.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:18]

ACOSTA: Russia's parliament is working on new laws to regulate the Wagner Group after yesterday's near mutiny in Russia.

CNN's senior international correspondent Sam Kiley is following that part of the story.

Sam, this is a combat ready private army that's been instrumental to Russia's military objectives for nearly a decade especially in Ukraine in recent months as we know. Now Moscow wants these mercenaries to join its army? That sounds a little far-fetched but how likely is that to happen?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think now that they have been in open mutiny, an open insurrection inside Russian territory, and they could face prosecution unless they agreed to sign up. They don't really have much choice, Jim. I think that the Wagner Group was able to reject that idea before they turned their guns against their own people -- their own military but now that they've attempted to sort of storm Moscow, they captured a military base in Rostov-on-Don, have been accused of potentially downing to aircraft recent. Social media showing that they may have shut down two aircrafts.

This is very serious stuff. The Kremlin or Vladimir Putin accused them of treason. They've done a deal now that allows Prigozhin to get out of the country and the guys to get back to their camps. I think they'd be very wise to sign up for the military.

ACOSTA: Yes. They may have no choice as you said. And Sam, it's unclear where Yevgeny Prigozhin is right now. Should we find that to be a baffling development? I mean, we were talking about this last night that we didn't know his whereabouts. He hasn't been seen in public since late yesterday after this deal was brokered. And as press service, as they're calling it, tells CNN he'll answer those questions when he can. What is going on?

[18:45:07]

KILEY: Well, if we -- officially, the deal allows for him to go to Belarus in a deal negotiated by Lukashenko, the leader there who's always been seen as a kind of mini-me to Vladimir Putin, authoritarian leader there, offering sanctuary to the man that threatened to topple at least the military establishment of Russia, if not the man in the Kremlin himself. But he might be considering that very unwise location to go to that doesn't put him beyond the reach at all of Russia's secret services.

He could easily suffer, you know, an unpleasant encounter with the Novichok nerve agent or similar. He might be much safer to try to go to some of the African locations that Wagner has very strong links with, and Libya, Central African Republic and similar. That may indeed be why we haven't heard from him for a while. I think he's got to go and find somewhere safe to start talking from, if indeed he does do that. ACOSTA: Yes. Belarus does not sound like the safest destination for

Prigozhin at this point. And I wanted to ask you about this, Sam. Many of the images that we've seen of this insurrection have come from the platform, Telegram. Prigozhin has embraced this social media tool to share Wagner's exploits in Bakhmut. It's to mock Russia's military leaders. He was putting out these messages yesterday about, you know, we are going to call this off, I don't want to have any bloodshed and so on. Do you think he's going to keep this up?

KILEY: I think that will depend on whether or not his survival could be guaranteed if he does do that kind of thing. But I think, ultimately, he has done some very serious damage on that platform by launching attacks not just against the military establishment which have become almost routine from him, Jim, but when he said that the premises laid out by Vladimir Putin for the whole Russian campaign in Ukraine, in particular the threat as they perceived it in the Kremlin, that Ukraine would park NATO missiles on Russia's border, and so on, and that these were fallacious. In other words the central motivation for the invasion of in Ukraine, he said, was false. I think that's very, very damaging. He might want to keep a low profile after saying that.

ACOSTA: Yes. Absolutely. Of all the things that he's done over the past 48 hours, that might be at the top of Putin's list of things that can't be forgiven.

Sam Kiley, thank you very much. Really appreciate that analysis as always. Thanks.

Coming up, it's been a summer scorcher down in Texas. Millions of people across the south facing temperatures above 100 degrees. We'll speak live with the mayor of one city feeling that heat. We'll talk to him next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:52:19]

ACOSTA: In Texas, a brutal heat wave is testing the state's electric grid as scorching temperatures have much of the state under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory. The National Weather Service says temperatures are expected to top 100 degrees in several areas over the next few days. And here with us now to talk about this is San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

Mayor, great to see you. Thanks so much for being with us. How is your city coping right now? How are you holding up?

MAYOR RON NIRENBERG, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Well, it's pretty brutal heat wave that we're going through and it's been -- it hasn't let up for the last couple of weeks, Jim. So it's gone into danger territory. So we have launched our "Beat the Heat" campaign and making sure that people know the resources that are available. If they need to get into a cool place, you know, libraries and community centers, senior centers are all open, and encouraging folks obviously to be advised about the signs of heat-related illness. But this is a very dangerous sort of heat wave and with the humidity mixed in, there's really not even any relief in the evening period as well.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, it just looks brutal. Even the five-day forecast. You know, you're looking at not much relief. And there's always the concern about the state's power grid running into trouble with extreme temperatures like this. Could that be an issue?

NIRENBERG: Well, ERCOT which has had its challenges over the last couple of years, and you probably remember we --

ACOSTA: Yes.

NIRENBERG: Our state was brought to its knees by the mismanagement of the energy grid at the state level through the winter storm here in 2021. But there has been really little substantive change. There's been a lot of discussion about changing the energy market and there's been some legislation passed, but essentially for the last 20 years, the state of Texas has seen its capacity really dwindle. And there's really no capacity market here that would guard against extreme demand.

So we've seen in successive days over the last few weeks that the energy demand has hit record levels. The state's energy grid and of course San Antonio is part of that. We have our own energy utility here, and we're in good shape if it's just local. But, you know, the energy grid is such that if there are other challenges in the state, we've got to make sure that we provide some onto the grid itself.

So there's some challenges and there have been advisories already issued by ERCOT. Please encourage people to reduce energy use as much as possible. So, you know, we are still living through the results of lack of regulation and the things that we dealt with in the winter storm.

ACOSTA: And I want to ask you about an ongoing investigation at the police department in your city.

[18:55:05]

Three police officers are facing murder charges for fatally shooting a woman during a police call on Friday. The body camera footage is very disturbing. It shows the officers firing multiple shots into the women's apartment. Police says she swung a hammer at one of the officers but hit the window instead breaking it. What do you know about the incident? What's going to happen next, do you think?

NIRENBERG: Well, like you said, there's multiple investigations under way. I will tell you that the body cam footage was very disturbing. It disturbed the police chief enough that he's already fired those police officers or placed them on leave. And so again, off the streets. But with regard to the investigation, I'll tell you that it is very disturbing. Murder charges have already been filed. So those police officers, while they still are obviously given due process, they're no longer on the job in terms of controlling the streets of San Antonio. ACOSTA: All right, Mayor Nirenberg, thank you very much for your time.

We appreciate it. Hope you get a break from the heat soon. Thanks for your time.

NIRENBERG: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: And in the next few days, it will be critical for Russia's Vladimir Putin after the biggest challenge to his rule in decades. We'll ask a former KGB officer what may lie ahead for Vladimir Putin. That's next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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