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CNN International: Ukraine: Russian Drone Attacks Damage Grain Facilities; North Korea Officially Confirms Travis King Is In Country; 106 Confirmed Dead; One Third Of Fire Zone Searched; West Darfur Leaders: 1,000 Plus Bodies Buried In 30 Mass Graves; Ukraine Claims July Sea Drone Attacks On Bridge To Crimea; Rescued Australian Surfers: "Stoked To Be Alive". Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 16, 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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[08:01:14]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, you're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London in for Max Foster.

Just ahead, Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting food supplies following a drone attack on the Odesa region. We'll have the very latest. Then, North Korea acknowledges for the first time that U.S. soldier Travis King has crossed into its territory, claiming he was escaping, quote, racism within the U.S. Military.

And we'll have a report from Maui, Hawaii, where the death toll from the wildfires now stands at 106 as officials warn that it could take weeks to identify the victims.

Ukraine's grinding counteroffensive against Russia is inching forward, making slow but gradual gains. Kyiv claims its forces are consolidating their positions and have recaptured a southern eastern village in the Donetsk region. Ukraine, meanwhile, is once again accused Moscow of weaponizing food after overnight drone attacks damaged grain facilities in the south.

It comes as a cargo ship left a key Black Sea port of Odesa for the first time since Russia abandoned the U.N.-brokered grain deal last month. CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now. Nada, let's return to those drone attacks and the impact they've had. And also what news you have to share about Russia's potential self-sufficiency when it comes to drones.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, we've seen the Russian Armed Forces relying heavily on these drone attacks, particularly over the last few weeks. And since that grain deal really fell through over the last month. And we've seen repeated drone attacks against the port of Odesa and other port infrastructure across that region.

But now we are learning from new intelligence from the U.K. Defense Ministry that they believe in the coming months, Russia could secure self-sufficiency on that front. Now, for the main part, they have been relying on Iranian-made Shahed drones. They began importing these drones last year.

But according to the U.K. Defense Ministry, they have now, they believe, begun deploying domestically produced drones based on the model of that Iranian-made Shahed drone. Now, this local manufacturing of these drones will essentially give Russia self-sufficiency on that front, that is believed to be the goal over the next few months, although at this stage, they are still relying on those Iranian-made drones and also on components and other weapons from their overseas partners and allies.

And, of course, we've seen that in the missile attacks across Ukraine as well. Just yesterday, we heard from Ukrainian officials saying that they found 30 foreign chips within Russian-made missiles, it's a missiles that they believe were manufactured within Russia just in the last few months. So that is a huge concern. Ukraine is calling for more stringent measures, more stringent sanctions to ensure that foreign-made technology isn't getting into Russian hands.

NOBILO: Nada Bashir, thank you.

North Korea has publicly confirmed for the first time that an American soldier crossed into its territory. In state media, it said that Army Private Travis King had admitted that the intrusion was illegal. King dashed across the military demarcation line from South Korea into the North during a tour of the DMZ last month. A defense official tells CNN that the U.S. remains focused on King's safe return. King's mother, meanwhile, is appealing to Pyongyang to treat her son humanely.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest from Seoul. Paula, this is a remarkable story because the values of North Korea are antithetical to those of the United States. What could possibly have motivated Travis King to decide to do this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a question that everybody's asking, Bianca. And the answer we have today, it has to be noted, is the North Korean narrative. We are not hearing directly from Travis King here. This is North Korea state run media saying what he has said, so we should treat it as such.

[08:05:10]

But what they say that he has done is he felt he had to flee into North Korea because of racism within the U.S. Army. Now, in this article from state run media, I'll read part of it for you. North Korea says that "He harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army".

Now, Pyongyang also pointed out that he wanted to seek refuge in North Korea or in a third country because of this mistreatment. Now a U.S. defense official has said that there's no way to verify these alleged comments by Travis King, but their priority is and remains to get him home as quickly as they possibly can.

Now, when it comes to motivation, we do know from officials that Travis King had faced charges of assault here in South Korea. We know that he'd spent around 50 days in a detention facility in South Korea as well, and had was supposed to be deported by the U.S. Military, but he didn't board that plane and came back the next day. He went on this tour of the DMZ and fled into North Korea.

Now, we've heard also a statement today from the spokesperson of Travis King's family in the name of his mother, asking Pyongyang to treat her son humanely and also saying that she would like to speak to him by phone. Now, precedents show us that this is not the sort of treatment that North Korea gives to U.S. detainees, and that's unlikely to happen.

But the focus at this point is to find out, as we understand exactly what the condition of Travis King is. There was no details like that available to us from the North Korean article. It was fairly short. Notably, it was also in a publication in KCNA that only the outside world sees. This isn't published inside North Korea, so still within North Korea. This hasn't been reported.

But they do want to know his whereabouts. They want to know his condition. And U.S. officials say the priority at this point is to get him home as quickly as possible and safely. Bianca?

NOBILO: It's quite intriguing that it hasn't been reported internally. You could imagine how that could be a propaganda coup for the regime.

Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for monitoring that for us.

The matchup for the Women's World Cup Final is set. England just beat Australia 3-1, and they'll now take on Spain in Sunday's final. This was the Lionesses third time reaching the semifinals, losing in the previous two, and it's also Spain's first time in the finals. You can get a full recap of the match in just about 20 minutes time on CNN World Sport coming up next.

But now let's go to Hawaii, where the death toll from the devastating wildfires on Maui has climbed. Authorities now say at least 106 people have died and they expect that number will continue to rise. Search crews are sifting through the debris of wiped out neighborhoods. One resident described the devastation and her desperation when the fires raged close by.

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NANCY GARNETT, KULA RESIDENT: This was a forest, you guys. This was -- you couldn't see through here ever for hundreds of years. This was a huge forest, and this is what's left. Everybody had evacuated but me because I had no phone service, so I didn't get the alerts. And then I freaked because I've been alone and by myself forever, and I just didn't know what to do. And it was like right here.

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NOBILO: The governor says identifying the dead will be difficult and could take weeks. Families of the missing have been asked to provide DNA samples to help identify the remains. The governor also addressed why sirens did not sound the alarm. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH GREENS, HAWAII GOVERNOR: Sirens were typically used for tsunamis or hurricanes. To my knowledge, at least, I never experienced them in use for fires. There may be some reasons for that. Sometimes sirens send people up mountain, and going up the mountain during a fire can be problematic. Going up the mountain when there's a wave is what you have to do. But the sirens, some were broken, and we're investigating that.

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NOBILO: CNN's Mike Valerio has been reporting from Maui this week, and he's filed this report.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianca, good early morning from here in Hawaii, where the death toll has now surpassed 100 people. And as far as things stand now, where we are in the midpoint of the week, there are still about 101 sets of human remains that need to be identified. And first responders as well as the governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, are both saying in lockstep that DNA is going to be the way to identify these remains.

Because the governor, in sort of chilling, eerie language yesterday, analogized the identification process now to what happened weeks after 9/11 of evidence of remains being in such bad shape because of the high temperatures and the disaster zone. That DNA was the only thing that could give loved ones solace that their loved ones remains had been found.

[08:10:23]

So the governor setting up the expectation that that could be a weeks long process in terms of recovery, telling our own team that about 73 percent of the epicenter of the disaster zone still needs to be searched. So that is the latest on recovery in terms of reconnection.

The main highway in the background, this is going to be reopened to all traffic today. It is essential for the lifeblood of this island in terms of tourism, emergency responders knowing where to go for this route to open here. The main roads, though, in the central business district of Lahaina, which were decimated, those will remain closed.

Also President Biden indicating that he will visit here. But he is going to be waiting, according to the governor, until these sensitive recovery missions, trying to again collect as much DNA samples from family members as possible, waiting for those missions to wrap up, Bianca.

NOBILO: Turning now to a horrific discovery in one of the most violent war ravaged areas in Sudan. A government forum in West Darfur state claims to have uncovered 30 mass graves containing more than 1,000 bodies. One representative says some of the bodies were dumped by the Rapid Support Forces and its allied militia. Fierce fighting, as you probably know, broke out in April between the Sudanese Army and their RSF paramilitary rivals. To discuss this, CNN's Stephanie Busari joins me now live in. Stephanie, the more details we receive about this, the more horrifying and harrowing it really is. Tell us more about the reaction and has this energized emboldened the international community at all to try and push to resolve this conflict?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Bianca, these details emerging are just as horrific everyday new grim details emerging from particularly this region of Sudan, West Darfur, which has borne the brunt of much of the violence. And community leaders from the Masalit ethnic group, which is a non-Arab ethnic community, saying that there are mass graves littered across this region. And what they're reporting so far is 1,000 bodies.

But the leaders are saying that there are much, many more bodies hidden in secret graves across West Darfur. And they have pointed the finger squarely at the Rapid Support Forces, which, you'll know, 20 years ago there was a genocide in Darfur, and many blamed the Rapid Support Forces made up of the Janjaweed militia, who were described as the devils on horseback.

And some are saying, it seems, that they have returned to finish the genocide that they started 20 years ago. And the situation is just very grim. Schools are destroyed, hospitals and amenities are destroyed. And that the Sudanese Sovereign Council now calling for a caretaker government to enable desperate services to be restored. Take a listen to what he had to say.

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MALIK AGAR, SUDAN'S SOVEREIGN COUNCIL DEPUTY CHAIRMAN (through translation): The situation necessitates us to form a government, to run the wheel of the state, to carry out a couple basic tasks. To provide services and rebuild what was destroyed by the war, to work with the political forces, to structure and establish the state and to prepare the environment for a constituent and constitutional conference that will lead us to elections and the peaceful exchange of power.

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BUSARI: Bianca, the United Nations has described this war as a senseless war that has been driven by a wanton need for power. And the Sudanese people are being left once again to bear the brunt. And history appears to be repeating itself with the world standing by helplessly. Bianca?

NOBILO: Stephanie Busari, thank you so much for bringing us the latest on those very important and tragic developments.

Still to come for you in the show, after four indictments, we'll look at what's next for Donald Trump, including a planned news conference where he will again claim election fraud. Details for you after the break.

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NOBILO: The countdown is on for former U.S. President Donald Trump to turn himself into the Fulton County Jail in Georgia. He has until August 25 to surrender. On Monday, he and 18 others were indicted on a slew of charges alleging that they took part in efforts to subvert Georgia's 2020 election results. Mr. Trump says he will present evidence of election fraud he insists took place in Georgia on Monday.

Now, among his co-defendants are former New York mayor and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Giuliani says all his legal bills relating to Donald Trump have left him out of cash, and Meadows is trying to have his case moved to federal court.

Nick Valencia joins us now from outside the Fulton County Courthouse. Nick, developments coming thick and fast. What is next for the former president and his co-defendants?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the Fulton County sheriff who's in charge of the processing and what happens next, he says that he's going to treat the former president as if he would anyone else who's been indicted in Fulton County, which means processing and fingerprinting Trump in the infamous Fulton County Jail, where earlier this year, a man held there on pretrial detention was allegedly eaten alive by bed bugs.

The news of Trump going through that facility has created quite the reaction here in Atlanta just for the optics alone. Meanwhile, Bianca, we are also learning about the potential strategy of defense from these defendants. Former Chief of Staff for former President Trump, Mark Meadows and his lawyers filing a formal petition to try to get a change of venue and moving it from a state court to federal court.

He and his attorneys argue that anyone accused of a crime while allegedly working as a federal official should have their criminal proceedings moved to a federal court. And here is what they're saying in part of that filing saying, quote, "Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged of in the indictment to have done is criminal per se, arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President's behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President. One would expect a chief of staff to the President of the United States to do these sort of things".

Of course, Meadows has two charges in this indictment, one, with racketeering, the other for a violation of oath of office from a public official. We understand now that this matter is in the hands of a U.S. District Court judge here in Georgia. Bianca?

NOBILO: Nick, could you also shed some light on this puzzling development? So, apparently, the Fulton County Clerk of Courts has called a document that was recently posted to its website detailing charges against the former president. They've called that fictitious, and I think it's been removed. What's going on there?

VALENCIA: Yes, you know, puzzling is a great word to use. It was essentially a big mistake. The Clerk's office trying to clean up that mistake, releasing a statement saying that they were really just going through a test run and they loaded a fictitious document into the docket that was in that window of time, downloaded by Reuters and then published.

The Clerk's office saying that it was just a big mistake, apologizing for that. Of course, Trump's Georgia-based attorneys pounced on that mistake, saying it shows that the Fulton County District Attorney's Office has no respect for the grand jury process. Bianca?

NOBILO: Some over eager journalists there. Nick Valencia, thank you so very much for your supporting.

Now, still to come, a new front in the war in Ukraine. Strikes from below the surface. Ukraine gives CNN an exclusive first look at its latest weapon, seaborne drones.

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[08:21:56]

NOBILO: While learning more about an attack on Russia's bridge to Crimea last month, Ukraine's security service is claiming responsibility. The first time it's openly done so. And now, new footage shows the moment an experimental sea drone detonated under the bridge. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has this exclusive report.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's become the most beleaguered symbol of Russian occupation. This weekend, Moscow saying this incident was just a smokescreen foiling a Ukrainian attack on the $4 billion Kerch Bridge, the link between Russia and occupied Crimea that Putin seems to dote on.

Now CNN has obtained exclusive footage heralding a new way of warfare of another earlier devastating Ukrainian seaborne drone strike there in July from the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, who say they did it and more will follow.

This is exactly what the drone pilot saw -- thermal imagery -- the water rippling as up to a ton of explosive approaches the bridge. The feed then obviously went dead as it hit the concrete.

Russian officials said two civilians died in the attack. Cameras on the bridge captured the first blast on the road section. The cursor shows the drone moving in, and another on the railway tracks at about the same time.

Ukraine has been coy. Some officials saying these huge blasts are from, quote, "an identified floating object" -- but no longer. The head of the Ukrainian security services told CNN this is just the start.

VASYL MALIUK, HEAD OF SBU (through translator): Sea surface drones are a unique invention of the security service of Ukraine. None of the private companies are involved. Using these drones, we have recently conducted successful hits of the Crimean Bridge, a big assault ship, Olenegorsky Gornyak; and SIG tanker.

WALSH (voice-over): This, another Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian amphibious assault boat, Olenegorsky Gornyak, on which Ukrainian officials said 100 personnel were on board. It was a remarkable feat carried out by a growing fleet of what they call the "Sea Babies."

Hundreds of miles away from Ukrainian bases and right in Russia's coastal heartland, it put the Black Sea's east suddenly at risk.

MALIUK (through translator): These drones are produced in an underground production facility in Ukraine. We are working on a number of new, interesting operations, including in the Black Sea waters. I promise you it will be exciting, especially for our enemies.

WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine's ingenuity again and again toppling the lumbering Russian Goliath.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.

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NOBILO: And finally, a miraculous rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ALL: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:04]

NOBILO: Four Australian surfers who were saved after 38 hours at sea say they are stoked to be alive. The search continues for an Indonesian crew member who is still missing. And dramatic video shows the moment that they were found floating on their surfboards. Amazing. Their boat was caught in a storm off the Indonesian coast on Sunday.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So proud to be back home now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the boys on land. The boys on this violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much. Friends and family that banded together to get this boat to bring us home safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So stoked to be alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, yes, so proud of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry to put you guys through that, friends and family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The four were on a surf trip to celebrate a 30th birthday.

Well, thank you very much for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. And World Sport with Patrick Snell is up next with a full recap of the Women's World Cup semifinal that saw England's Lionesses securing a spot in the tournament's big final against Spain on Sunday. Do stay with CNN.

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