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CNN International: BRICS Nations Look To Boost Global Influence; Record Heat Continues Across Southern & Western Hemisphere; State Media: Russian General Surovikin Dismissed; Giuliani To Meet With Fulton County DA Wednesday; Inside Ukraine's Elite Sniper Unit On The Front Lines; India Becomes The Fourth Country To Land On The Moon. Aired 8-8:40a ET

Aired August 23, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:15]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London.

Just ahead, are the BRICS looking to expand their alliance? The summit continues for a second date, and we are live in Johannesburg for you. An extreme heat wave is fueling deadly wildfires in Greece. We'll tell you when they might see some respite. And waiting for a lunar landing, India is counting down to fulfilling a long held ambition.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin lashed out at the west during a fiery speech at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. He says the West's aspirations to preserve its dominance in the world led to the war in Ukraine. The speech comes on day two of the summit. Other top leaders took shots at the west as well, saying it's time to rebalance global power and to expand the BRICS influence.

The leaders are entertaining formal bids from nearly two dozen countries to expand the bloc during this week's summit. Right now, the bloc's members include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

For more, let's bring in CNN's David McKenzie in Johannesburg. Just take us through the Putin speech because that sounded pretty strong.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was definitely a typical Putin speech at this kind of forum, and, in fact, any kind of forum, Max. He did have a screed against the west, as well as blaming the Ukraine war on the west and on his necessity to defend the people of the Donbas.

Now, that's something we've heard multiple times from the Russian president, of course, doesn't mesh with the reality of the situation where Russia invaded a sovereign nation. And it was quite telling, I think, with all of those leaders of the other BRICS nations seated in a circle in a very high profile public meeting, and President Putin had to stream over his comments.

And it does show, I think, very clearly the isolation of the Russian president, though he does virtually have a seat at the table, and that's important. Overall, there was a lot of talk of rebalancing the world order. We've heard that throughout these two days so far.

Interestingly, now the events that were scheduled for later today have been canceled. Those leaders are now in a closed door meeting where clearly they are hashing out the details of a possible BRICS expansion. Now, if you read very carefully the statements from the various leaders, you can tell that China and Xi Jinping are very keen to expand the influence of BRICS and therefore their own influence on the world stage.

More muted conversations and statements, in particular, from the Indian Prime Minister Modi, who said that any agreement needs to be by consensus. Xi Jinping gave an unusually robust statement. Here's what he had to say about the international financial system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translation): International rules must be written and upheld jointly by all countries based on the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter rather than dictated by those with the strongest muscles or the loudest of voice. Ganging up to form exclusive groups and packaging their own rules as international norm is even more unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: And, obviously, Xi Jinping and China would like their view of the world to be the international norms and to expand the group, in this case, BRICS. He also gave a veiled criticism of both the U.S. and Russia, saying that Cold War mentality is, quote, "haunting the world right now." Obviously referring to the war in Ukraine.

There's been much talk about trying to find peace in Ukraine. But it is ironic that the leader of the country that invaded Ukraine is part of the discussions of those calling for peace. Max?

FOSTER: In terms of the expansion, what progress has been made over the last 24 hours? Because yesterday you were describing how, you know, there's a will to accept new members, but not on which members they should be.

MCKENZIE: I think there are two things at play here, how they go about accepting these members and what sort of membership status they would have. Now, that might seem inside baseball, but it has very real worldwide implications. If BRICS would expand to include, for example, Saudi Arabia, a major oil power with a great deal of financial clout and other nations in the Middle East and an expanded African presence, it could foreseeably take on the G7 as a political bloc.

Now, I think that Brazil and India, in particular, South Africa as well, don't want to ostracize their Western partners, I don't think China or Russia to put it bluntly, care less. They want to have a strong bloc where they can be seen as an alternative to the U.S. and European Union.

[08:05:19]

So those finer details, the mechanics of how they're going to join and whether those new members have the same status as the founding members, I think that is what is really going to be hashed out. We don't know if they will announce new members being accepted. Possibly they will announce a procedure for those new members to come in.

These sort of things don't ever really happen dramatically and fast, but we'll have to wait and see. A South African official told me that no statements out today. We expect any news on how this will develop in a concrete sense on Thursday. Max?

FOSTER: David McKenzie in Johannesburg, back with you when we get more. Thank you.

Now, record shattering heat continues across southern and western Europe where extreme temperatures are fueling devastating wildfires in at least two countries. In Greece, emergency helicopters are desperately trying to extinguish the fast moving flames amid dry and dangerously windy conditions.

Dozens of wildfires are burning out of control for a fifth straight day. They spread to neighboring Turkey, where hundreds of people were evacuated from a northwestern border province.

Derek Van Dam joins us now from the CNN Weather Center. We're speaking to Rolaney (ph), who was on the ground out there in Greece, just outside Athens. And you really got a sense of the wind and how much of a problem that's causing.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Max, those are some pretty compelling visuals. I was also watching our colleague Eleni as she was on some of the front lines of one of the 65 fires that have erupted across Greece here within the past several days.

Now, this is just one of them that's located just northwest of Athens where Eleni is located. And it's visible from space. And you can see just how quickly the smoke is drifting across the Gulf of Corinth, across this region. Here is how fast the fire has spread. You can see from the mountainside all the way down to the ocean basically running out of room to burn.

So what is causing this? Well, we have extremely high temperatures, above average temperatures for many locations. We talk about a heat wave. It's centralized across the southern Mediterranean, and that includes places like Athens northward.

And we're looking closely at what is called the soil moisture. Not only does the low soil moisture here indicated with the shades of brown and tan indicate a very dry, brittle vegetation that is often easily combustible, but dry soils often warm more quickly during the course of the day versus wet soil.

So that is also adding fuel to the mix. And not to mention the increasing winds across this area out of the northeasterly direction. And they're not really going to abate anytime soon. And unfortunately, just talked to my producer, we don't see any real rainfall on this forecast as well.

So even though the temperatures come down a notch over the next couple of days into the weekend to right about average in Athens, we still expect the dry conditions to persist along with the winds. Now it's not just across Greece. We have our heat wave expanding across much of Italy into the Balkan states.

In France, we've had over 100 records set or tied just yesterday alone. There is some relief in sight across the western sections of Europe. Look at Marseille, you can see temperatures, the mercury thermometer start to go down into the weekend as a subtle cold front starts to edge in.

Some relief from the north and west. But we do believe more heat is on the docket here for the end of the month. Max?

FOSTER: OK, Derek, thank you.

Now to Russia, news about the former leader of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. State media reporting that General Sergey Surovikin has been dismissed from his position as the head of Russia's aerospace forces. Surovikin is known as General Armageddon due to allegations of his brutality. He's not been seen in public since the short-lived mutiny led by Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Clare Sebastian is with us for more on that and other news about the war in Ukraine. I mean, effectively, the Kremlin aren't saying this is untrue, right? But this is coming from state media.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is coming from state media. We've reached out to the Ministry of Defense for comment. They have not responded yet and nor have they changed his status on their website as the head of the aerospace forces.

But look, the reason why we care about this, Max, is because we still really don't know what was going on with that aborted Wagner mutiny and what it says about Putin's grip on power and consequently about the war in Ukraine.

So I think, look, his apparent dismissal and there was no reason cited in state media could emphasis and could add weight to the argument that perhaps somehow he may have been complicit in this known in advance, as reports suggested, you know, back in June just after the mutiny, that he might have known about Prigozhin's plans.

He was known to be relatively close to him. He'd been praised publicly by Prigozhin. It could also add to the sense that we got certainly from Russian bloggers in the wake of the mutiny that there were certain, to put it euphemistically, reshuffling going on in the top ranks of the Russian military purges, cleansing, other words that might have been used.

[08:10:06]

However, another Russian outlet, RBC, which is a business outlet, is citing sources saying that he is set to take up another post within the Ministry of Defense after a, quote, "short holiday". So look, there are a lot of questions still out there. The fact remains that we have not seen actual evidence of him, photos, videos, anything, since there was a video, a message by him around the time of that mutiny telling Prigozhin to pull back his forces. So we still have a lot of questions around this, but a significant development.

FOSTER: In terms of what's been happening on the ground in the last 24 hours.

SEBASTIAN: Yes. So certainly I think significant that today, for the 6th day running, we see drones being averted, say the Russian Ministry of Defense around Moscow. This is significant because now we just see the frequency increasing to such an extent. A drone apparently averted by electronic warfare and hit a building in Moscow City, which is a glitzy business district in Moscow that we've seen hit several times now.

And I think, you know, we've talked about this before. This is about trying to bring the war home to the Russian people, to crack the facade that the Kremlin has put up. Ukraine, though, not saying anything about that. And of course, on the flip side, we see Russian drones having attacked port infrastructure around the Danube in Ukraine today as well, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you.

We're just hours away from the first debate in the U.S. presidential race. Eight of Donald Trump's Republican rivals will be taking to the stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But the big story is that Trump himself has refused to attend the event.

He has overwhelming leads in the polls and says voters already know him, so he doesn't need to debate. It's expected that most of the candidates will refuse to attack the former president and instead battle with each other.

Sources tell CNN that Rudy Giuliani is planning to surrender today at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. He still has to work out a bond agreement with prosecutors. We expect him to leave for New York -- leave New York, rather, for Georgia at any time. Most of the accused have negotiated bond agreements and at least four have already surrendered to police.

Trump plans to do that on Thursday. And we actually have some live pictures here of Giuliani leaving. And let's listen in because he's speaking.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Well, I'm going to Georgia and I'm feeling very, very good about it, because I feel like I'm defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney. People like to say I'm different. I'm the same Rudy Giuliani that took down the Mafia, that made New York City the safest city in America, reduced crime more than any mayor in the history of any city anywhere. And I'm fighting for justice.

I have been, from the first moment I represented Donald Trump, an innocent man who has now been proven innocent several times. I don't know how many times he has to be proven innocent. They have to be proven to be liars, actually, enemies of our republic who are destroying rights, sacred rights.

They're destroying my right to counsel, my right to be a lawyer. They're destroying his right to counsel. It's not accidental that they've indicted all his lawyers. Never heard of that before in America. All the lawyers indicted.

Now, whether you dislike or you like Donald Trump, let me give you a warning. If it's going to come for you when the political winds shift, as they always do, let us pray that Republicans are more honest, more trustworthy, and more American than these people in charge of this government.

Because if our government is conducted this way and the system of justice is politicized and criminalized for politics, your rights are in jeopardy and your children's. Donald Trump told you this. They weren't just coming for him or me. Now, they've indicted people in this case. I don't even know who they are.

These are just regular people making a normal living. They're going to bankrupt. They won't convict them. You remember three years ago they came to this department. You may have been here. They took everything I have. They investigated me for 20 years.

U.S. attorney wrote a letter. There's no probable cause to believe this man committed a crime two years later. That's two years after costing me millions and millions of dollars on my law practice. I didn't get that back.

So, on every occasion, I'm telling the truth, and they're lying. I told the truth about Russian collusion. They lied, conspired really committed treason over. They lied about the Ukraine conversation. It was a completely innocent conversation if it hadn't been hiding the hard drive. I told the truth about it.

They lied about the hard drive. I told you that it was true, honest. It contained over 100 crimes committed by the man in the White House who was the biggest criminal to sit in the White House in history. I said the hard drive would prove that. He personally named me during the debate.

[08:15:02]

The President of the United States now named me in the debate and said, Rudy Giuliani is a Russian pawn. You all know I'm not. You know, it's been proven that I'm not. Has he apologized? Has he apologized for that terrible defamation of an American? Has he apologized for being a liar about the hard drive and fooling the American people?

Have they apologized for defrauding Americans in the last election? I'm not talking about the vote. I'm talking about holding back the hard drive. It's the same people that are prosecuting Donald Trump and me and everyone around Donald Trump who are doing it now. How many times are they going to get to lie? How many times are some of you still going to believe? How many times do I have to tell the truth against all odds, have to go through three years of investigation, be proven to be innocent? How many times before all Americans will believe it, overcome the tyranny of this media who sides with them justifiably and in a way that destroys our rights?

This will be proven to be like all the rest, a complete hoax and a lie. One of the worst, actually. I don't know if you can compare situations where you destroy First Amendment rights, Fifth Amendment rights. This could be the worst because of all the people that it brings in who really don't deserve this.

I'm a big boy. I can take it. I've fought battles much worse than this against people much tougher than them. And I have absolutely every confidence this one will come out the same way. When we were standing here and they went and searched my apartment and we all wrote, there must be something to this.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Well, there was fire. It was their fire. They're dishonest. They're crooked. They want to destroy the Constitution of the United States, and they're doing it. And if we don't change it, they're coming for you. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to surrender today in Fulton County, Rudy.

GIULIANI: Yes, sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor, mayor.

GIULIANI: Yes, yes. I'm sorry.

FOSTER: Rudy Giuliani there in defiant mood as he heads off for that hearing, basically saying he's told the truth all along and that everyone else is lying. A real appeal directly there, I think, to the American public ahead of all these cases.

Our National Security Reporter Zach Cohen is at the Fulton County Courthouse where he's heading. What did you make of that, Zach?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Max. In addition to being an appeal to the American people, I think it's safe to say that was also an appeal to one man, and that's Donald Trump. A lot of what we heard from Rudy Giuliani just now is almost word for word what we've been seeing from Donald Trump in his social media post over the last several days and sort of a bold strategy by Giuliani to tie himself -- attempt to tie himself directly to the former president.

They are both co-defendants in this case, in this indictment facing criminal charges. And I think overall, regardless of what Rudy Giuliani was just saying about liars and his truth telling history, is that it doesn't change the fact that he did confirm he is traveling to Atlanta today and where sources have told us that he's expected to meet with the district attorney and negotiate a bond agreement and then surrender to authorities here.

And so Rudy Giuliani probably one of the most bold faced names in this indictment. He was the former president's then personal attorney, and he really headed up a lot of the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And then the indictment from DA Fani Willis here in Georgia really details how Rudy Giuliani was involved, allegedly in nearly every phase of the effort to overturn the election.

I think I'm going to go back to what Rudy Giuliani was saying about how he's always told the truth and everyone else has lied. I would say that Rudy Giuliani has consistently said the 2020 election was stolen and yet has never produced any evidence to prove that point.

So a little bit of a window into the very polarized and partisan, but also, you know, traction we're gaining here in Atlanta as these defendants arrive and start to surrender.

FOSTER: OK. Zach Cohen, thank you for that. A busy day ahead. We'll bring all sorts of updates on that throughout the day, of course.

Now, live pictures here of people in New Delhi waiting to see India land a spacecraft on the moon. We expect to hear from Mission Control in a few minutes. We'll be live on the ground, the Earth ground. That is all details just ahead.

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[08:21:50]

FOSTER: The countdown has begun. In the next few minutes, India will make an historic attempt to land on the moon. The Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft is projected to land near the lunar South Pole. Rough terrain there makes landing particularly difficult, though. Scientists believe the region is home to water ice deposits. If the mission goes as planned, it'll make India just the fourth country ever to accomplish such a feat, after the U.S., China, and the former Soviet Union.

CNN's Vedika Sud joins us from a planetarium in New Delhi. Vedika, why the race to the lunar pole?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's significant because, Max, this is one place, the South Pole, essentially off the lunar surface that has not been really explored. It remains unexplored. There are dark craters there, and the resources, scientists say, could be plenty, which yet needs to be explored.

And Chandrayaan 3, the mooncraft that is just about to attempt to make that soft landing on the lunar surface could help explore the surface closer to the South Pole. Like you said, if India is successful with the soft landing -- soft landing here means gentle control landing on the lunar surface -- it would not only be the fourth nation to succeed, but also the first country in the world to make a soft landing near the South Pole.

FOSTER: Tell us what we can expect then, in the next half hour, because it's about to happen, isn't it?

SUD: Absolutely. Well, the excitement is building up right behind me. You can see more than 100 people at this temporary pavilion that has been set up in central New Delhi. What we expect, 15 minutes, Max, is that soft landing. We've just been told through the live telecast of the Indian Space Agency that the power descent of the lander has started and is on the intended trajectory that they want it to be on.

Now, remember, in 2019, four years ago, the mooncraft again, the Chandrayaan 2 in that case attempted to make a soft landing on the moon and it failed. Scientists at India Space Agency say they've learned from those lessons. They have sturdier landing legs for this mooncraft. They have more solar panels for this and a bigger fuel tank.

So they've learned their lessons and they're hoping in the next 15 minutes, there's good news from ISRO, which is India's space agency similar to NASA in the U.S., and they're hoping they're the first country to make that soft landing on the lunar surface, Max.

FOSTER: OK. And what is the importance for the Indian space program? A huge amount of pride if they achieve this, of course, and a huge expansion, probably.

SUD: Absolutely. Intense national pride is what they say it will be if they are successful. What's also important is this will be a stepping stone, according to scientists we've spoken to, Max, for explorations on the moon and beyond. There have been scientists who have confirmed, in fact, with Chandrayaan, the original Chandrayaan landing on the moon that there is water on the lunar surface.

[08:25:00]

Now, with Chandrayaan 3, if it does successfully make that soft landing on the south polar region off the moon, it will explore that and this water, frozen water could be a source of water, fuel and also help in making the moon, the lunar surface, a base for further missions to take place.

Now, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is not in India. He's attending the BRICS Summit in South Africa. And we're being told that perhaps he will be tuning and logging in to watch the possible success of Chandrayaan 3 making that soft landing a big, huge moment for India.

Because next on the list is perhaps also making a station in the International Space Station, along with sending a manned mission to space. Those are the two big things on India's list space ambitions in the near future. But for now, all eyes will be in about 10 minutes from now on this soft landing.

Something that Russia couldn't do on Sunday. They failed. Their mooncraft did crash into the lunar surface and that's definitely what the ISRO scientists are not hoping for. They need nerves of steel for the next 10 minutes. This is a very crucial moment, Max, because it was in these last 10 or 15 minutes in 2019 that Chandrayaan 2 crash landed on lunar surface. And that's exactly what they're not hoping for this time over, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Vedika, exciting moment for you and the whole country. We'll be back with you soon.

Now, still ahead, members of Ukraine's elite sniper unit speak to CNN in a rare interview about their dangerous missions on the front lines. Their story in their own words.

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FOSTER: New video offers a glimpse into an elite Ukrainian sniper unit. The thermal images show the snipers targeting Russian soldiers on the front lines. Members of the unit spoke to CNN about their experiences and their approach to the war.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're never seen and heard fire only once. Their targets just drop. Ukraine's elite sniper unit from the security services, the SBU, are usually invisible, like the U.S. Delta Force, chosen for fitness and intelligence, unlike Delta fighting for their homeland survival for nearly 18 months.

They gave CNN a rare interview as they honed their sniper scopes to broadcast the damage they say they've been doing to Russian front lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).

WALSH (voice-over): It's sniper terror, he says. That's when we hit every target we spot, it demoralizes them and kills their will to do anything against us. But it's not always one sided. Five weeks ago, they stumbled at night into a Russian recon group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).

WALSH (voice-over): We were in the gray zone between our lines, their commander says, using a guide from another unit. But we ran into a Russian assault group doing pretty much the same thing as us, moving towards our front position. We opened fire. Our guide was wounded.

We suppressed them, pulled him out, called in artillery and then watched them fall back with their wounded. They do not always escape. Sasha (ph) knows that too well.

[08:30:03]

I've lost many people, he says. The best ones leave us first. His upper lip folds in slightly from an injury when a large shell hit his chest, legs and face last March. It was unpleasant, he says, but I had 16 operations to rebuild my bones and teeth and I got back into the fight.

Western help has kept them afloat, they say, this anti-armor Barrett sniper rifle, a donation used so often that its suppressor has come loose and detaches. These machines and men working at a tempo they were probably not designed for. They know why they are here, though.

My son is growing up, Sasha (ph) says. He's little, but he already trains, already knows who the enemy is and that is Russia. Hoping each single shot brings Russian defeat closer.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: We're going to take you now to the Indian spacecraft landing on the moon, would you believe, because we're just getting the latest pictures. You can see there the launch. India on the verge of becoming the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon after the U.S. and China and the former Soviet Union.

Any moment now, the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft could be landing. These are the images we're getting, so trying to make the most of them. You can see it pretty close there to the lunar surface. Everyone watching and praying for a successful landing.

Certainly in India, schools have been showing all of this live as well as you guys. And if they achieve something, they'll achieve something the Russians couldn't achieve, who were trying to do the very same thing very recently, but destroyed on landing. And India is looking much more successful at this point at least.

India's Space Research Organization already sharing some really stunning photos. That's a control room. Imagine how tense it is in there. We'll obviously get some sort of cheer or something from them when it actually lands on the surface. Incredibly difficult operation.

They're trying to land on one of the poles because they think that that's where there may be some water possibly under the surface, which would allow humans potentially to go there and settle to some extent. A very rare image this. There's the control room.

Are they clapping? One man's clapping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Currently, only two engines are now being fired and we are nearly at zero velocity, vertical and horizontal. We were hovering and now we are approaching the moon's surface.

We can see the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, who is here to encourage us, and he is critically looking at the visuals.

People are applauding. Let us all wait to hear from the Secretary Department of Space and Chairman ISRO Sri S. Somanath.

The hard work of the entire ISRO community has come to fruition.

(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)

SRI S. SOMANATH, SECRETARY DEPARTMENT OF SPACE AND CHAIRMAN ISRO: Sir, we have achieved soft landing on the moon. India is on the moon.

(APPLAUSE)

I request our honorable Prime Minister to address us and bless us. Thank you, sir.

NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: (Speaking Foreign Language)

[08:35:43]

FOSTER: Narendra Modi there, the Prime Minister of India, taking part in this huge moment in Indian and space history as the spacecraft lands there on the lunar South Pole. There's a rover on board as well that could go out and explore. We'll wait and see whether or not that's possible. But a huge reaction from the control room. All of their hard work ultimately paying off, up until now at least.

Let's speak to Vedika Sud from a Planetarium, New Delhi. What was the reaction like there, Vedika?

SUD: Never seen before, really. Behind me, you could see people here. They were so excited as soon as the soft landing happened. It's happened after four years since the previous attempt, and it's been emotional for the people inside the control room, the mission control room.

You had the Indian Prime Minister, who had virtually logged in from the BRICS summit in South Africa. He's addressing the nation from there as I speak live. It's a moment of intense national pride, according to scientists, according to Indians, and according to the Indian Prime Minister.

This not only makes India the fourth nation in the world to have done so, but also the first country in the world to make a soft landing on the south polar region of the moon. This is big. And what this means for India is it has made sure it's made its mission clear and a strong message going out to the world that, hey, we are now a global space power.

Now, what are we expecting in the next two weeks from the lander and the rover? Now, the rover, the part of the lander, will be exploring the lunar surface. We're expecting to know more about the water content, the frozen water on the lunar surface. This could help potentially in the months and years to come, with more water on the lunar surface, more oxygen on the lunar surface, and more fuel.

In fact, it could also be the base for further lunar explorations. Big day for India, and celebrations will continue through this evening here in New Delhi. Back to you. FOSTER: I'm sure. And Narendra Modi really making the most of this moment as well. He's obviously speaking at the BRICS Summit around this, but he's taken time out to be part of this. A huge moment, all the celebrations there in the control room. Big moment for India. Also a huge moment for the planet, really, because if there is frozen water ice under the surface, as is suspected, that would have a huge amount of impact on the future of lunar exploration and whether or not potentially humans could base themselves there for a while.

We'll get the translation for you from Modi's speech when we get that. He may -- I think it's pretty unlikely he's going to speak in English, but the commentator may comeback on in just a moment and speak in English because it was a huge investment program. The government's been right behind this for many years.

And of course, interesting that at the BRICS summit, you also have representatives from Russia. Russia failed a very similar loom landing. I think it was at the weekend lunar landing. And so, India got one up really on Russia on this one. But people tuning in from all over the world for this moment on CNN, but particularly in India where schools have actually suspended lessons to see that happen.

The challenges around landing on the moon, I can't underestimate. I mean, you can understand them as much as me. So a huge advance as well for Indian technology. But we're going to cross back to New Day in just a moment. They'll have more on this in the coming hours and the reaction as well from around the world.

Thank you for watching CNN Newsroom.