Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Zelenskyy Gives Exclusive Interview To CNN; Palestinians Mourn 12 Killed In Israel Incursion; U.S. Navy: Iran Tried To Seize Two Oil Tankers; Global Average Temperature Breaks Record Two Days in a Row; U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen En Route to China; Joan Baez's New Project: Helping Ukrainian Kids; Scotland Celebrates the Coronation of King Charles III. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 06, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:30]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up this hour, a CNN exclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): They've been planning to annihilate us completely straight from the start. It's a fact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine explains in blunt terms, why there can be no victory over Russia without an end of the illegal Russian occupation of all of Crimea and the Donbass.
Palestinians bury their dead in the West Bank, Jenin refugee camp, as Israel ends what it calls an anti-terror operation, which may have committed war crimes according to the U.N. And the U.S. Navy prevents Iranian warships from seizing and boarding two oil tankers in international waters in the Gulf of Oman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Wherever you are around the world, thank you for being with us to CNN Newsroom. We begin in Ukraine and a deadly overnight attack on the western city of Lviv not far from the border with Poland. Ukrainian officials say at least four people have been killed in a Russian missile strike on an apartment building. As dawn breaks over the city rescue teams are working to find residents leave trapped beneath the rubble and debris from the badly damaged building.
At least eight people are reported to have been injured in the missile strike. Reacting to the attack in a telegram post President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there will definitely be a response to the enemy, a tangible one. In eastern Ukraine, Moscow-backed officials in occupied Donetsk say a Ukrainian missile strike set an oil depot on fire in the industrial city of Makiivka with 68 injured from Ukrainian shelling in the region on Tuesday, a sharp increase in recent days, according to officials there.
And Ukrainian military command says Russia continues to focus its firepower with dozens of Lyman, Makiivka, and Marinka in the past day. Fighting continues around the battle city of Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces feeling positive and optimistic about progress after claiming to have retaken territory from Russian occupation.
And according to the Ukrainian president, Russia is preparing to launch a possible attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He says Russian forces have been laying what appeared to be explosive devices on roofs in around the facility. But the International Atomic Energy Agency is not yet convinced. CNN's Scott McLean has details reporting in from London.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With Ukrainians insists that the only threat to the nuclear power plant is from Russia. President Zelenskyy's new allegation is very specific. And he says that it is based on Ukrainian intelligence. He said, and I quote, Russian troops have placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units, perhaps to simulate an attack on the plant. Perhaps they have some other scenario. He did not though provide any evidence to support his claim.
The Russians have denied that they are any threat at all. They have previously pointed out that they are our experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency which are working on site as we speak. They say that the real threat is from Ukraine. The Kremlin spokesperson said today that there is a great threat of sabotage by Kyiv. Now the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi also put out his own statement saying that his staff have been on site, they've been able to inspect large parts of the actual plant.
But he said this, and I quote, the IAEA experts have requested additional access that is necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives at the site. In particular access to the rooftops of reactor units three and four is essential, as well as access to parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant.
Now last week, Ukraine said that it began doing drills with its emergency services in a handful of regions to try to prepare for any kind of Russian terror attack in their words. The Russian say that they have also taken measures for a potential disaster at the site as well. The latest satellite images taken last week don't immediately show anything obvious or out of the ordinary on top of the roofs of any of the reactors. The reactors themselves are built inside of containment buildings, which are meant in theory to be able to withstand the force of an accidental plane crash.
How well they would hold up against the weapons of war, though, is another question. There are those some reassuring signals coming out of nuclear authorities on both of you Ukrainian side and the Russian occupied side as well. Ukrainian authorities say that the situation is stable at the moment at the plant. The Russian authorities say that the background radiation levels are normal. They call the claims coming out of Kyiv, quote, garbage.
[01:05:16]
Scott McLean, CNN, London.
VAUSE: And CNN's Erin Burnett sit out for an in-depth interview with the Ukrainian president, here's part of their conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: Mr. President, it is a great honor to be here with you. We are here of course today and Odessa. And across the Black Sea from where we are right now, Crimea. How does it feel to be here on a beautiful day like this? And to look out and know that Crimea, is there?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I've been to the hospital today where I saw our military, the Navy personnel, marines which have been injured. And they all talk about Crimea. Also the doctors who save lives of these guys, and I congratulated the doctors with the Ukrainian Navy Day. And all these doctors are from Sevastopol.
And when the occupation of Crimea in Sevastopol happen, they escaped to the Ukrainian controlled territories. They're all here. I also visited the Ukrainian Navy Institute, which used to be based in Crimea. So everyone shares the same feeling of definite victory. Definite returned to Crimea.
I will tell you not as a president but as a citizen. I used to adore Crimea, even before I have become a president of Ukraine. Every year we visited Crimea with my family. We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea. Well, Crimea is under the Russian occupation it means only one thing, war is not over yet.
BURNETT: To be clear, in victory in peace. Is there any scenario where Crimea is not part of Ukraine?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): It will not be victory then because this is what we're seeing right in the beginning. Even before the full scale invasion, we understood that it's purely a matter of time when the contact line in Donbass and Crimea would turn into a war. It could be anything. It could have been our deoccupation steps, or could have been a full scale invasion by the Russian Federation or which has happened. They have been planning to annihilate us completely straight from the start. It's a fact.
Thank God that now apart from ourselves, the majority of the world believes that too. That's why there cannot be any solution without Crimea. It could be the same frozen situation as in Donbass.
BURNETT: I know the U.S. CIA Chief Bill Burns has come and visited you regularly. He was here recently. What did you tell him about your plans to take back territory in the counter offensive?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): To be honest with you, I was surprised to see the information in some media, both in the U.S. and Ukrainian and European media. My communication with the CIA chief should always be behind the scenes and the media attention because we discuss important things, what Ukraine needs and how Ukraine is prepared to act. We don't have any secrets from CIA, because we have good relations and our intelligence services talk with each other.
The situation is pretty straightforward. We have good relations with the CIA chief and we are talking. I told him about all the important things related to the battlefield, which we need.
BURNETT: Do you feel, I know you've talked about some frustration about the pace of the counter offensive, how much pressure do you feel from the United States from other allies to try to give them dates or timelines of when gains may happen?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Our slowed down counter offensive is happening due to certain difficulties in the battlefield. Everything is heavily mined there. I wanted our counter offensive happening much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counter offensive will be unfolding later, then much bigger part of our territory will be mined.
Thus, we give our enemy time and possibilities in order to place more mines and prepare their defense lines. All our commanders who I talk with constantly were discussing this situation. The Russians have built three defense lines in some directions. I'm grateful to the U.S. as the leaders of our support, but I told them as well as European leaders that we would like to start our counter offensive earlier. And we will need all the weapons and material for that. Why?
Simply because if we start later, it will go slower and we will have also supplies because everything is heavily mined. And we will have to go through it all. The main thing which gives me a positive support is that we move forward. This is the main signal. When it comes to our partners, I didn't see any pressure to start the counter offense.
[01:10:20]
In some media, I heard the noises from this or that leader or the representatives that they expected our counter offensive happening much earlier. Yes, I've heard all of that. But we believe in our victory.
BURNETT: On the front lines, I saw Ukrainian infantry. They were dealing with the fields of mines, you know, that Russians would just throw them out not even hiding them. They're dealing with the little tiny trip wires for grenades that they lease all the way through the forest. You have human beings now going in to try to take 100 feet, 200 feet of land at a time. Is there anything that would change that speed dramatically? Is this something when you say F-16s are necessary or ATACMS are necessary, would that make a difference to those infantry walking through fields? ZELENSKYY (through translator): Today, we've got a different war, not only people die, first and foremost, we need material to save human lives and this material gives results. When we talk about ATACMS, they're very important because we can hit some long distance targets without losing our people. The fact that Russia has advantage on the ground and has more long range weaponry is one of the things but ATACMS are very important.
Will this accelerate our moving forward? Yes, 100 percent. Because in some directions that will give us opportunity to start the counter offensive. In some directions, we cannot even think of starting it as we don't have the relevant weapons, and throwing our people to be killed by Russian long range weapons would be simply inhumane. So we're not going to do it and ATACMS is definitely our priority.
We also have shortages in artillery. We cannot hit all the targets because of the absence of the quantity in our own artillery. We gather some units in the priority directions, but we cannot divide it between many. We lack quantity. This is a fact.
As to F-16s, I emphasized on it many times. It's not even about the Ukrainian advantage in the sky over the Russians. This is only about being equal, F-16s helped not only those on the battlefield to move forward, it's simply very difficult without a cover from the air. We've got losses of lives and slowing down. However, let's look at F- 16s a very important humanitarian mission. We've talked about it many times the Green Initiative.
Erin, we are today in Odessa, the grain corridor extremely important for the whole world is happening just here. It's important for Africa, Asia, for the countries of Europe, et cetera. Today, if the Russians beginning to block this corridor, we don't have anything to answer this. F-16s give us a possibility to build a defense of this corridor.
BURNETT: Mr. President, you know, you recently said that you have dealt and I'll quote you the way the way it quoted with different Putin's, it's a completely different set of traits in different periods. Now, of course, he's faced a rebellion and attempted coup from Yevgeny Prigozhin. Have you seen any changes in how you think he's acting in his behavior since the attempted coup?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Yes, we see the reaction after certain Wagner steps. We see Putin's reaction, it's weak. Firstly, we see he doesn't control everything. Wagner is moving deep into Russia and taking certain regions shows how easy it is to do. Putin doesn't control the situation in the regions. He doesn't control the security situation.
All of us understand that his whole army is in Ukraine. Almost entire army is there. That's why it's so easy for the Wagner troops to march through Russia, who could have stopped him? We understand that Putin doesn't control the regional policy, and he doesn't control all those people in the regions. So all that vertical of power he used to have just got crumbling down.
Further down, we see very interesting analytics. Half of Russia supported Prigozhin, half of Russia supported Putin. We know from our intelligence reports that Kremlin was conducting all those surveys 18 or 19 regions of Russia firmly supported Prigozhin's actions, 21 regions of Russia firmly supporting Puitin. Some of the Russian regions where and balancing in the meantime without knowing for sure who to support.
[01:15:04]
We all see this process that shows half of the Russian population is in serious doubt. All those stories that he controls everything, these are feeble stories now. So this is a different Putin. And I don't mean a different person. This is a different Putin when it comes to his power. It's an old person, not a perky person. This is someone who doesn't control what is happening.
When he is so weak now and he made his historic mistake by invading Ukraine. This invasion created all the rest, the power of Wagner, Prigozhin's feign, uncontrolled situation in his own country. This is what his full scale invasion brought upon him. In this moment, when he is weak, the world needs to put pressure on him.
BURNETT: But you're saying, half of the Russian regions did not support Putin would support Prigozhin. So does that mean there will be another challenge to Putin's power? I mean, that's dramatic split.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I think that Putin will make an attempt to consolidate his society. He will make everything in order to break and nullify the Wagner rights fame and everything they were doing. He will be distancing himself from all that. And will be communicating extensively in order to unify the society. This society is on unified. Pay attention to this interesting example. After all these events, where did Putin go?
I can tell you, he rarely comes out to the street. We see him in his offices, et cetera. But we never see him out and about. Where did he go? He leaves his bunker only when it's extremely needed. He went to the town of Durban and the Dagestan Republic, if I'm not mistaken. The stats show that Putin's popularity is the lowest in Dagestan. A lot of locals died whom he sent to the war to die. And Prigozhin is very popular there.
So he's behaving like a political animal. He goes to Dagestan. They filmed a stage video showing certain people applauding him in order to show this region as a pro-Putin one.
BURNETT: And they were surrounding him and yes.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): He just goes to difficult regions, and performs his one man show.
BURNETT: Do you believe he's fully in charge of the military right now when it comes to your front line and this counter offensive? Do you believe Putin is fully in charge of the Russian military?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I don't think he fully controls all the processes. He gives orders to the commanders. It's understood. They are scared to lose their jobs. But he doesn't understand and doesn't control the middle layer of the Russian military, nor the lower rank officers and soldiers. Sometimes we see it quite clearly, when he's talking about some towns or villages that they are under the Russian flag. But in reality, all of them are under the Ukrainian control.
It means he just doesn't get all the understanding what's happening, as he's only being fed some positive information. He doesn't want to hear bad news. I reiterate the aging autocrats don't want to process negative emotions. We are dealing with reality.
They are in a bad situation. That's why their commander started supporting Prigozhin. For us, he's a terrorist, whereas for them, he's someone who is with them on the battlefield. And he was with the Wagner rights with those murders, but he came to the frontline sat in the trenches and so on. That's where he got his support from.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: That was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking exclusively with CNN's Erin Burnett.
Well mission accomplished for now. The Israeli military says its goals of a recent counter terror operation in the West Bank refugee camp Jenin had been achieved, but as there will be further rates if and when needed. Twelve Palestinians were killed during the two day incursion, the largest in the West Bank city in more than two decades. Israel claims all of the dead combatants involved in terrorist attacks that may still show the camp is sprawling with homes destroyed, roads dug up by bulldozers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says anyone who attacks Israelis will be killed or sent to prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The widespread operation in Jenin is an expression of a change in policy and a change in the equation instead of reaction we act, instead of waiting we surprise. Our forces will continue to operate at any moment when they are needed with for freedom of action in Jenin in all of Judea and Samaria.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:20:06]
VAUSE: U.N. human rights experts have been highly critical of the latest incursion releasing this statement. Israeli forces occupations in the occupied West Bank, killing and seriously injuring the occupied population, destroying their homes and infrastructure and arbitrarily displacing thousands amount of egregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime.
Those killed by Israel were given a hero's farewell with hundreds of Palestinians turning up for their funerals. And while the Israeli military says the raid was successful, many feared the cycle of violence and retribution is now set to become increasingly violent. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chants of anger and defiance ring out in the city of Jenin. The morning after Israel's military withdrew, thousands filled the streets to bury the dead. The Israeli military says that all 12 killed in its incursion were combatants, and that its operation aimed to dismantle terror networks here. But this father said he is proud. His 19-year-old is what he calls a martyr and was a fighter for one of the Palestinian armed factions killed in the incursion.
My son told me he didn't want to get married or have a family, he says. He said all he wanted to do was to dedicate his life to Palestine, to fighting the occupation.
(on camera): This funeral is quickly turning into a demonstration of resistance. Many of the armed Palestinian factions are here to show that they are unbound, unbroken by Israel's reign.
(voice-over): For many Palestinians, Jenin is a name and place synonymous with suffering and resistance. But this battle has come at a heavy cost. In the aftermath, the camp's residents were left without running water, electricity, or basic services, and families returned to destroyed homes. Hanaa Shalaby says she and her three daughters were caught in the crossfire. Our home, all these material things, they can be replaced, she says. But how can I rebuild the psyche of my little girls? How will they ever feel safe again?
She takes me upstairs to show me what's left of her daughter's room. My youngest, she's only seven years old, she tells me. She says she wishes she was never born. She says I should never have birthed her into this horror. Israel's military says it's achieved its operational goals, wiping out weapons depots and command centers in Jenin. But it has also deepened the hatred and motivated the resistance in a city notorious for always fighting back.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Jenin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Tel Aviv are new protests against the Israeli government with hundreds blocking the city's main highway on Wednesday in support of the police chief who was forced to resign accused by a senior government official of going easy on demonstrators.
Israel's far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir initially tried to demote the commander claiming earlier this year his response to anti-government demonstrations was too lenient. The police chief says he could have used unreasonable force at the time but he was trying to avoid bloodshed.
Still ahead here on CNN, a message of determination and resilience in the face of an insurmountable challenge. How legendary folk singer and civil rights activist Joan Baez is bringing comfort to Ukrainian children. Also ahead, the planet reaches record high temperatures twice in back to back days. Expert warns it's likely to happen again. The latest wake up call to the climate crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:26:12]
VAUSE: U.S. Navy says it prevented Iranian warships from seizing two commercial oil tankers in international waters in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday. Patrols in the region have been stepped up by the Navy and allies because of ongoing Iranian threat to commercial traffic. CNN's Oren Liebermann has details reporting in from the Pentagon.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A series of tense military encounters in the Middle East underscoring the volatility of the region. It starts early Wednesday morning when the U.S. Navy says at about 1:00 a.m. local time, an Iranian Navy vessel approached a commercial oil tanker, the U.S. saw this happening and even before that tanker called for help or issued any sort of distress. A U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS McFaul intervene getting close to the incident. And according to the U.S. Navy, that's when that Iranian Navy vessel changed course and headed away from the scene.
But that wasn't the end of these encounters. Only several hours later in international waters in the Gulf of Oman, so very near where this first incident happened, another Iranian Navy vessel approaches another commercial oil tanker. This time that Navy vessel drew even closer, hailing on that oil tanker to stop so it could be boarded or seized, according to the U.S. Navy, the oil tanker issued a distress signal and that same U.S. destroyer, USS McFaul, responded at full speed.
Before it got there, personnel on board that Iranian Navy vessel opened fire with small arms, hitting the oil tanker and doing damage to the ship. No personnel were injured onboard that oil tanker. But according to the U.S. Navy, some of those shots landed very close to the crew living quarters. And in fact, you can even see some of these pictures where those shots hit and some of the shrapnel from those bullets in these images from the Defense Department.
As the USS McFaul that destroyer approached once again the Iranian Navy vessel changed its heading and left that incident. The U.S. has seen these sorts of encounters and attempts at seizures before in fact, it was in late April early May after Iran sees to commercial vessels within days of each other that the U.S. and its partner nations increased maritime and military patrols in the area specifically to avoid incidents like this.
But even after all of this, the Middle East wasn't done yet. Several hours later in the skies over Syria, three U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones were conducting a mission against ISIS targets when according to U.S. Air Force Central Command, three Russian fighter jets came in and you can see video of this encounter released from U.S. Air Force Central.
The Russian fighters got in the way of the MQ-9 Reaper drones dropped parachute flares and even opened up full afterburner in front of the MQ-9 Reapers forcing the U.S. drones to take evasive action against the heavier, more powerful and faster Russian fighters. The U.S. called it unsafe and unprofessional, warning Russia not to continue in this sort of behavior.
But we have seen Russia continue down this path according to the U.S. military, ignoring the deconfliction protocols, getting close to U.S. aircraft even in one case several weeks or months ago trying to dogfight a U.S. aircraft. And of course it was several months ago that Russian military aircraft actually hit a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea forcing it down.
Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.
[01:29:29]
VAUSE: When we come back, Janet Yellen goes to China. The U.S. Treasury Secretary is hoping to set a new normal for the two world's largest economies. Will she be successful? We'll find out in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:32:06]
VAUSE: Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Europe can expect more severe weather on Thursday, a day after strong gusty winds and heavy rains disrupted air and rail services. More than 350 high wind gusts were recorded in the region Wednesday while parts of Bulgaria received 185 millimeters of rain, more than seven inches.
The severe weather turned deadly with two people killed in the Netherlands and in Germany. Storms are forecast to bring more heavy rain, strong winds and hail to Spain, France, Italy, eastern Europe in the coming hours.
Twice this week the world set new record highs for global average temperatures. First on Monday which was the warmest day on record for all of one day because Tuesday was even hotter. Climate scientists say this is more evidence the planet is warming much faster than expected.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Behind me here from 1850 to 2022, whether it was blue and below normal or red and above normal, obviously you can see that most of the latest years have been well above normal.
And in fact, the past nine of nine are the warmest on record since we have been keeping records. 2021, 2022, and likely now 2023 with the latest revelation here that we broke a new temperature record overall.
Now, this is the entire globe -- water, land and the like. This is the number here from July 4th, 17.18 rounded up 17.2. The old record high is here, that was August 13th 2016. So what that tells me is that if we are already warmer than this August temperature back in 2016 -- another El Nino year, by the way -- that this number and this chart may still continue to go up even higher before it falls back down. We likely will be breaking more and more daily records.
Why is it cooler in February, March, November, December? It is cooler because there is less land in the southern hemisphere's summer down here. Land heats up a lot quicker than water. And because we do not have a lot of land in the southern hemisphere, that is why it does not warm up as quickly.
Look at all the land in the northern hemisphere, heating up, baking the ground -- that is how we get up to this 17.2. The old record being 16.9.
Although, technically, July 3rd beat this too so 17.2 only beats the record that was one day old. But after that, you are back again here seven years ago before we can even approach that.
So what is causing all this. Well, there are a number of theories.
[01:34:50]
MYERS: El Nino, La Nina, and also the big volcano that sent so much water vapor into the atmosphere when it exploded under the ocean. Now water vapor is not warming the gas that is in our atmosphere right now. Probably be a long time before all of that water vapor comes out.
But El Nino, what does it do? On a normal year, some cool water gets pushed off and we don't have warm water along the west coast of the Americas. When El Nino comes in, all of a sudden, that water -- that warm water spreads out. So there is more warm surface area under the satellite as it rotates around and around and around measures all of those temperatures.
Obviously it has been warm across the Northern Isles, British Isles, all the way across the North Sea. Temperatures from 1 to 2 degrees above normal here. We have the warmest June on record for the U.K. by almost a degree. Obviously it's been very hot in China, 41.1, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Beijing on any given day.
So, what do we know about climate change? Well, we know little whether it really affects tornadoes and hurricanes, we think it probably does or hurricanes a little bit because the water would be warmer. But we certainly know that we're going to have more coastal flooding, more flash floods, and of course, heat waves. And that's where we are now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Earlier I spoke with Kristina Dahl. She's the principal climate scientist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. I asked her about how much El Nino is to blame for this week's record heat versus humanity's role in the climate crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KRISTINA DAHL, PRINCIPAL CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: What happened this week with breaking global temperature records two days in a row, is really due to a combination of factors.
First off, it is northern hemisphere summer so this is typically the hottest time of year for the planet. We then have the El Nino weather pattern, which we know causes global temperatures generally to be higher than average. But those are two natural factors.
And the real unnatural factor here, is the human caused climate change that decade over decade, is driving our temperatures up. So it is really that human caused climate change that is causing us to smash all these temperature records.
That said, we know that the last hottest year on record was an El Ninon year. So it does have a significant impact on our temperatures. But without that human factor, it is unlikely we will be setting the records that we're seeing this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Thanks to Kristina Dahl for her time, also her expertise.
Well for the second time in less than a month, a high ranking member of the Biden administration is heading to China. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit is aimed at lowering the temperature between these two superpowers.
She's scheduled to meet with a Chinese counterpart and other officials, but notably not with President Xi Jinping who U.S. President Joe Biden labeled a dictator at a political fund-raiser last month.
Bert Hofman is a professor in practice at the National University, Singapore and the director of the East Asian Institute and he is this hour in Singapore. Thank you for being with us.
BERT HOFMAN, DIRECTOR, EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: Thanks for having me back.
VAUSE: Ok. Now, treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her to do list seems to be growing by the day with Reuters and others reporting on Wednesday, "China's chip making export curbs just a start, Beijing advisor warns before Yellen visit".
So these export controls were imposed on two strategic raw materials critical to the global chip making industry. But according to the foreign minister in Beijing, nothing to see here. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): It is an international common practice for the Chinese government to implement export control on relevant items in accordance with the law. And it does not target any specific country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, it is common practice by China, maybe according to some kind of obscure meaningless Chinese law because the reality, is these export controls are simply a part of geopolitics 99 times out of 100.
So this is not really a welcome message for Janet Yellen. What is the message that China is sending specifically with these export restrictions?
HOFMAN: Well, China sends a message that they also have means to affect the global economy, and it's particularly in chip making. If you want to reply to the measures that the United States has announced and implemented since last October.
Interestingly, the country's most effective -- Japan and the Netherland (ph), two of the U.S. partners that were convinced to join the United States in restricting exports of machine tools that make the chips and the (INAUDIBLE) that make the chip to China. So, it is clearly a signal if you wanted a chip war.
VAUSE: Janet Yellen laid out what seems to be her approach to some kind of future relations with China. Here she is speaking a few weeks ago.
[01:39:51]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: As the world's two largest economies, we have a responsibility to work together on global issues. It is something we can do and something the world expects of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's sort of a new normal which comes out that both sides can argue and fight and moan and complain at each other, you know, trade and human rights that, you know, all the other stuff. But when it comes to big issues like maybe a pandemic, the climate crisis, they need to grow up. They need to actually work it out for the good of the planet.
Is that how you see this future relationship? At least as far as Yellen is concerned?
HOFMAN: So that's clearly Yellen's approach. And Yellen has also (INAUDIBLE) one from the economic side or the economic strategic side.
She says, we need to de-risk, we don't need to de-couple. De-coupling will be devastating for the U.S. economy, as well as the world economy. So we need to de-risk, in very narrow areas. And that now has become, if you want the U.S. approach.
Then second, the U.S. approach is to also work together on issues of global concerns, such as climate change, the death situation for developing countries, the international monetary system. All issues of good value. China thinks a little differently there. They basically said well, we
don't want this competition and this de-risking, we just want to engage across the board. I think that station has passed and China will accept that they will have to work on more focused areas with the United States.
VAUSE: Earlier this month though the Chinese leader Xi Jinping was actually sounding quite optimistic. That was during a visit by the Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): The Chinese side has made our position clear. And the two sides agree to follow through for the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali.
The two sides have also made progress and reached the agreement on some specific issues. This is very good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Notably, it was just a day or two later that word came that the U.S. President Joe Biden described Xi Jinping as a dictator. And this time, notably Yellen won't not be meeting with Xi. So has that dictator comment caused a setback in these efforts to improve relations?
HOFMAN: Actually I don't believe so. I mean this was one of the gaffs that Biden is known for. And I don't think the Chinese would hold it against him for a long period of time.
This may be one twist that Yellen doesn't get to see Xi Jinping this time around, but I don't think it will be real. The attempt from both sides to at least have those visit and rebuild some of the confidence so that this lays the basis for some cooperation in specific areas and to safeguard the competition in others.
Bert Hofman, great to have you with us, sir. We appreciate your insight and your experience. Thank you.
We shall take a break. When we come back civil rights icon folk music legend Grammy nominee Joan Baez joins us from Ukraine where she's now helping children that's traumatized by war.
[01:42:50]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: August 28th, 1963 -- a quarter of a million people gathered in Washington to hear Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, a defining moment in the struggle for civil rights.
The soundtrack for what would be a clarion call for equality came on the same day with folk singer Joan Baez performing the gospel song "We Shall Overcome". 60 years on Baez is taking that message of hope, determination and resilience with her to Ukraine.
This week, the nine-time Grammy nominee and civil rights icon has been visiting shelters for children displaced by war, listening, hugging, and singing as well.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: Singing a little Ukrainian as well. Baez is working with a nonprofit charity Ukraine's Children Action Project, which currently has 20 programs focusing on children suffering from severe psychological trauma.
Joining us now live from Lviv in Ukraine, legendary folks singer, civil rights activist Joan Baez and Dr. Irwin Redlener co-founder of the Children's Action Program. Thank you both for being with us, especially on news that there's been a missile strike there in Lviv overnight. So we appreciate you taking the time and also for being there.
So Joan, I would like to start with you. What have these past few days been like for you? Meeting with these kids, it must be everything from inspiring to heartbreaking and a whole lot in between.
JOAN BAEZ, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: All of it. And, I just, I find myself feeling very grateful that I can do something for the spirits of the people, who are all things you said, there they are resilient -- shockingly resilient and were grateful actually for us, that is saying in ruins, an area that was ruined and the people were so lovely, you know, inviting us in.
And you can't really -- you can't really experience what they have experienced so you just kind of be there.
VAUSE: You said you want there to learn -- to learn, you know, what it was like for these people to go through what they have done. What have you learned so far, Joan?
BAEZ: Well one thing I have learned, is nothing much has changed in the last 50 years. I mean, this continues on, the violence continues on. so the best anybody can do is AS you are part of it which is nothing to do with the violence. To be with the spirit and to be with love, and alternatives to violence. For me that has been among other things have been the singing.
VAUSE: And one (INAUDIBLE) thing, you were told when meeting with these children, not to ask questions, simple questions like how are you, how do you feel. Why is that?
BAEZ: I think that -- they can be playing and hanging out and having fun and have forgotten that two days ago, you know, they lost their parents, or whatever. They are just kids. And they are running around. But if you stop and say how are you, it might make them remember everything that they have just been through. And, how are you doing is just not appropriate in the situation. VAUSE: Yes. Absolutely. And Dr. Redlener, your organization has raised
millions of dollars helping so many kids with trauma. You have provided everything from new school buses to replace ones destroyed in Russian attacks as well as to computers, generators, wood stoves.
But that seems to be a fraction of what millions of kids there need because of this war. So from your perspective, how big is the need, how dire is the situation for these kids?
DR. IRWIN REDLENER, CO-FOUNDER, UKRAINE CHILDREN'S ACTION PROJECT: Yes, thanks John. So the reality is, that there are about seven and a half million children in Ukraine prior to the invasion in February '22. but actually, 5 million of those 7.5 million have been displaced, about half of them to safer areas in western Ukraine. Although as you pointed out, we spent two hours last night in a shelter in a hotel ramp (ph) while an apartment building was bombed and people were killed, and so one.
So the idea of escaping the trauma psychologically, and physically, that the Russians have brought to this, you know it's somewhat illusory. And then we have another couple million children who are part of the refugee population of Ukrainians who fled the country entirely.
[01:49:58]
DR. REDLENER: But almost every Ukrainian child, whether they have been in an area that has been directly hit or not is suffering from being a country at war, a war that they had nothing to do with.
And they are waiting passively while the grown-ups try to figure out how to end this violence. It is really horrific. I had a chance to speak to many children, and moms about what they have gone through.
Listening to them, it was traumatic for me and you know, we need to make sure that the world understands these people are extraordinary. They want to get on with their lives, they want to go to school, these cities are beautiful that we've visited.
They are very identifiable with the lives of the rest of us live. And here we are now trying to recover lives and hope amidst rubble and unpredictable violence.
BAEZ: There is one group I just wanted to talk about, they call it The Camp. These kids are there, some of them just two days from their own personal trauma, but you talk about recently, I hadn't really thought about it there. They are bright, this program is wonderful. They have volunteers working with them. They just go all day. They just keep going and keep singing. They hug, that is part of the program, is you keep hugging. And to hear them sounding like a normal playground, running around screeching, and hanging out and playing, I felt really -- am I really seeing this?
DR. REDLENER: You know, it is incredible, and you know, you think about this, these are lives totally disrupted, you know before the war, there was COVID and -- all of the schools in Ukraine were closed. So many children have not been going to school either because of the pandemic or the war for almost three years.
So even when you think about when the war does stop and we have to recover the buildings, we have to recover and restart and remediate the lives of people, especially children that were so affected by the disruption that is happened in Ukraine.
VAUSE: It really is unbelievable, but the just juxtaposition between the despair, the destruction, the hope, and the resilience that Ukrainians have and the fact they keep going on day after day, I'm glad you are able to bring some of that to us.
And thank you both for what you are doing, keep doing it, stay safe, and we hope to talk to you again soon. Thanks Joan, Thanks Irwin.
DR. REDLENER: Thank you.
BAEZ: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Take care.
DR. REDLENER: Bye, bye.
VAUSE: Well, we will take a short break. Coming up here on, CNN, activists crash the course of Wimbledon. Why protesters risked getting arrested and caused a scene at the famous tennis tournament.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Play was interrupted at Wimbledon on Wednesday when environmentalist activists ran onto the famous grass courts. Protesters from Justo Stop Oil tossed orange confetti, as well as small puzzle pieces during two matches.
The group later issued a statement demanding the U.K. stop issuing licenses for oil, gas and coal. Ground crews picked the tiny debris out of the grass, the precious grass. All three activists were arrested.
[01:54:57]
VAUSE: In a few hours, Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit a number of locations south of Edinburgh before finishing their trip to Scotland. It follows a day of festivities on Wednesday when Scotland held its own events to mark the king's recent coronation.
CNN's Anna Stewart reports not everybody was in favor of King Charles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It had pomp, pageantry and crown jewels, but no you're not having a bout of deja vu, and this wasn't another coronation.
Instead, a celebration of a new king in Scotland. Crowds gathered along the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle to St. Giles (ph) Cathedral, to catch a glimpse of the procession which included notable figures from Scotland, charities, and some 700 members of the armed forces and finally, the King and Queen.
At which point you could hear that not everyone felt like celebrating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king. Not my king. Not my king.
STEWART: Not my king. A chant from anti monarchy campaigners or the vote even over the national anthem.
The King and Queen will order a (INAUDIBLE) as did the Prince of Wales who attended the ceremony with his wife. In Scotland they are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.
The robes mark a difference from when the ceremony was last performed with the late queen in 1953. She came under some criticism for wearing less formal day dress.
The moment so many were waiting for this -- the presentation of the honors of Scotland. Ancient symbols of monarchy that date back to when Scotland was an independent nation. In fact these jewels are far older than the crown jewels used in the coronation.
These were successfully hidden from all of the Commonwealth armies during a turbulent and Republican time in British history.
More modern was the sword, newly crafted and named the Elizabeth in memory of the late queen. This ceremony was not just about a new king but a celebration of Scotland's union with England, albeit a union under pressure from nationalist, and not the first time in this nation's ancient history.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A dispute between Turkey and Denmark over a 2,000-year-old Roman statue might be coming to a head, literally.
Turkey is demanding Denmark return the head that's on display at its Copenhagen museum saying it belongs on a full body sculpture of the coincidentally named roman emperor, Severus. This is not made up.
Denmark says it needs to examine if head bone is connected to the chest bone or likely belongs to another work. The sculpture was stolen during the 1960s from an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey and then smuggled out of the country. Emperor Severus.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
Stay with us. After the break, Kim Brunhuber will take over.
Hope to see you right back here tomorrow.
[01:57:52]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
