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Biden Tours Storm Damage in Florida; Typhoon Bears Down on Taiwan; Back to School in Ukraine. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 03, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: And a warm welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.

Ahead on CNN right here newsroom, President Biden visits storm-damaged parts of Florida. That state's governor, though, was not by the president's side.

Bearing down on Taiwan, a powerful typhoon could be the first to make landfall there in four years.

And war isn't keeping these kids from going back to school. Students in Ukraine face another year of books and bomb shelters.

And we begin this hour with extreme weather and those enduring the effects of what is more and more becoming inescapable events. In the wake of Hurricane Idalia, U.S President Biden visited storm-ravaged Florida Saturday. He viewed damage by air and on the ground and met with many of those impacted by the storm.

The same time, a massive typhoon, equivalent of the Category 3 hurricane, is barreling toward Taiwan at this hour. And it's set to be the first typhoon to make landfall there in four years.

Well, at the same time, in the state of Nevada, extreme weather has stranded participants at the popular annual event called the Burning Man Festival and left it looking like a mud-covered dystopian nightmare.

We begin, though, with the U.S. president's visit to Florida recently hammered by Hurricane Idalia. Governor Ron DeSantis did not join Mr. Biden's tour but another key Florida Republican did.

CNN's Isabel Rosales reports from Florida.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden giving remarks out of Live Oak, Florida, a community, just under 7,000 people. An area hard hit by this hurricane, Suwannee County. He was surrounded by First Lady Jill Biden and also the FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell.

And we heard from the president giving remarks, showing his commitment to supporting the people in Florida, those in need. He said whatever they need, the federal government will supply. He also spoke about the federal resources that have been helping out residents, those who have lost or have had damage to their homes or businesses, also talking about the National Guard on the ground, helping folks out with millions of meals and federal search and rescue teams that were on the ground right after the storm hit.

He surveyed the aftermath of this most powerful hurricane to hit the big Bend Area of Florida in over 100 years. He saw that from an aerial tour. He saw thousands of homes that were damaged here in the Big Bend area.

And he also did a tour on the ground. He spoke with survivors and also met personnel and first responders who have been helping out with that recovery process, including in areas like this, like this point of distribution, where we see the Florida State Guard, a newly activated force by Governor Ron DeSantis, we're seeing them loading up these cars of people who need a little bit of help right now with food, with water, with ice, with tarps to help out in that recovery process.

And the president also thanking Republican Senator Rick Scott for keeping his office informed as to what happened. Here's what else the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: These crises are affecting more than -- more and more Americans. And every American rightly expects FEMA to show up when they are needed to help in a disaster. So, I'm calling out on the United States Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to ensure the funding is there to deal with the immediate crises, as well as our long-term commitments to the safety and security of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Now, the one person we didn't see next to the president is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. There was a misstep here between the two potential rivals for the 2024 presidential race with a spokesperson to DeSantis saying that there were no plans in place for the governor to join the president, a contradiction to earlier comments that we heard from Biden on Friday.

Also, the spokesperson for DeSantis saying in these rural communities and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.

[03:05:05]

But FEMA administrator Criswell, in speaking to CNN, said there is, quote, tremendous coordination that had happened in multiple conversations between the White House and DeSantis' Office and that they had mutually agreed on a place with minimal impacts to operations, but as we saw, no Governor Ron DeSantis next to the president.

Isabel Rosales in Live Oak, Florida, CNN.

NEWTON: A powerful storm is bearing down on Taiwan at this hour, and it will become the first typhoon to make landfall there in four years. According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Haikui is lashing the island with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, and that is equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.

Now, it's also dumping heavy rain on the east coast, which could trigger flash floods and landslides. Authorities have canceled flights, evacuated residents, mobilized troops, suspended work and school in vulnerable areas. At least two injured so far and some 9,300 households have already lost power.

We want to get the latest from Journalist Andy Lee, who joins us now live in Taipei. Andy, still looking relatively okay where you are right now, but what kind of preparations have they made, given the grave threat this storm poses?

ANDY LEE, JOURNALIST: Yes, Paula, from where I stand right now, it's in the northern part of Taiwan, Taipei, we're feeling the wind and the rain, not as heavy as Eastern Taiwan, where the storm is impacting Taiwan right now.

Now, Paula, I must say the typhoon, Haikui, it has picked up speed just in the last hour. Previously we spoke and then it picks up speed. And bow its eye is making landfall, as we speak right now from the eastern part of the island in Taido (ph).

Now, the authorities here in Taiwan are asking people to stay away from mountainsides and from beach sides. And they are evacuating people from the low-lying areas in case of flashfloods and from mountain villages in case of landslides or mudslides.

Now, as far as transportation is concerned, the airports are closed, and, therefore, 226 domestic flights are canceled, 41 international flights are canceled. So, if our CNN viewers are going to Asia, transiting in Taipei or destination Taipei, you must check with your travel agency, because this flight is definitely affected. And powers are down, even in my area, Paula.

NEWTON: As we were just noting already the effects of the storm being felt. And the region has been dealing with a lot of storms. What do we know about injuries and damage that was related to Typhoon Saola that hit Hong Kong and is now continuing to hit parts of the region?

LEE: Right. Typhoon Saola, in fact, veered off the southern tip of Taiwan and it impacted Hong Kong. The information I have now is that 86 people in Hong Kong are injured due to Typhoon Saola, down to a tropical storm right now. And about -- actually 1,500 fallen tree incidents were reported with 21 reports of floods and two reports of landslides just within the vicinity of Hong Kong. So, this is actually the strongest typhoon ever to hit Hong Kong, Typhoon Saola, since the year 1962.

Now, as we know, Typhoon Saola is down to a tropical storm. Before, it was down to a tropical storm. It made landfall twice, a very eerie path of Typhoon Saola. It is all due to this typhoon season and the existence of three typhoons at the same time in the Pacific, Typhoon Haikui right now in Taiwan, Typhoon Saola, which just hit Hong Kong, and Typhoon Kirogi still in the Pacific, three typhoons affecting each other.

And, Paula, now that Typhoon Saola is down to a tropical storm, we have only two remaining typhoons. That is Typhoon Haikui in Taiwan, and up north, more close to Japan, Typhoon Kirogi. We'll have to see how it goes. Paula?

NEWTON: Yes, Andy. Do take care there as you continue to watch the effects of that typhoon there in Taiwan. I appreciate your update.

Now, conditions at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada have turned deadly. Now, we don't have any details about the circumstances or the cause of death, but authorities say one person has died during the latest round of rainfall at that event.

Tens of thousands of people now stranded at the Burning Man Festival are being told to conserve food and water. That's after the annual event in the Nevada Desert turned into a quagmire that can be seen from space. You see the there. Ankle-deep mud is the result of two to three months' worth of rain falling in just one day.

More than 70,000 people normally attend the free-spirited counterculture event. Organizers are telling those who haven't arrived yet to just turn around and go home. The gate to Black Rock City is closed and there is no word on when it may reopen.

Joining me, Andrew Hyde, he is right now in Black Rock City, Nevada.

[03:10:04]

And, wow, what a few hours it has been. We saw the alerts. It said shelter in place. Conserve food and water. What happened? What is going on now? And how is everyone doing?

ANDREW HYDE, STUCK AT BURNING MAN: Yes, we're out here in beautiful Black Rock Desert in Nevada and we're in a lakebed. It's dry in the summer, so it's dusty and flat. But last night, it rained. And it rained quite a bit for the desert and created a very mucky, muddy, terrible environment where you could barely walk, vehicles made it impassable and the whole festival and the 70,000-ish people out here just had to stay put.

NEWTON: 70,000-ish people told to conserve food and water. And I just saw some pictures. We saw your pictures of that mud. So, what's next here? How long were you guys supposed to stay? Do you feel like you're safe there?

HYDE: Oh, yes, it's a very interesting feeling. Because, in many ways, like you really can't -- I mean, when it was really wet, you couldn't do anything. You just live here. There is really no way to walk miles to get out of it. So, that's a bit concerning. But it's a survival event. Like you come out here to be in a harsh climate and you prepare for that. So, in many ways, everybody here just kind of made friends with neighbors, it's a community event, it's an event about art and you just kind of went back to the roots. I think almost everybody really enjoyed having it be extremely harsh.

And we don't know what's going to happen tonight, though, and that's the big concern, because we might have just as much rain tonight. And if you couple that with last night's, then we have a pretty big story, a pretty hard time getting out of the city collectively, because those 70,000 people have to go out on the same road.

NEWTON: Yes. So, now, I'm concerned again. What have they told you, because I have seen on social media some people getting out? I mean, how do they expect to get you guys out of there at this point? I mean, is there a plan?

HYDE: Yes, definitely. The Burning Man organization has plans and backup plans and backup plans if those plans. And they're generally really good about communicating that to the general public through radio stations that they set up out here and a staff that's all connected via radios and a ranger network. So, there's quite a lot of technology here even though there's not much.

So, if it rains again tonight, it's going to be a few days before people get out. If it doesn't rain, we're going to have our usual burning of the man, probably tomorrow night, which was supposed to be right now. The man was supposed to burn actually in an hour. And right now, there's no burns tonight because there's no vehicle traffic going and there's -- we're still pretty much sheltering in place. Although if you can hear, a lot of music has started back up, a lot of the city has kind of returned back to life.

NEWTON: And I'm glad to hear everyone is definitely keeping calm. I mean, you mentioned the burning man. Can you just -- you're experienced at this. Can you just explain to people what you're doing for the uninitiated?

HYDE: Yes, it's an odd event. I think it started by a bunch of pranksters and it kind of grew out of San Francisco and came to be this thing that is kind of like asking somebody what is the grateful dead, where it's like you have to kind of see it to really understand what the community is about. But we come as a collective to this really barren wasteland, one of the harshest places in the world. And we create community and art together.

So, we have things like the man that burns on Saturday night, generally tonight. And that is a collection of 70,000 people and a lot of music and all these art cars and things people have created and sound, sound, sound. And then Sunday night is generally the -- where we burn the temple or the space that's created to kind of process and grieve and talk about the things that we lost this last year.

So, usually, we have this big night Saturday night, and then Sunday night, we have this solemn night. So, we don't know if we're going to do both burns tomorrow night, if we're going to burn anything. Sometimes with the wet, we might not burn anything and just kind of have to say, screw it, new plan, when weather kind of makes it a survival event more than come and watch, participate in a great music event.

NEWTON: Now, I just want to be clear. In terms of medical attention, if anyone needed it, I mean, you guys say it's well organized. I mean, are you clear that if someone did need medical attention, they could get it? I mean, there's no panic there or anything?

HYDE: Oh, no panic. There's definitely medical on-site. There's ways to get you out of here. The only vehicles allowed on the roads right now are ambulances. There's a lot of people with very -- they have vehicles meant for this. So, no panic.

I think the concern is if we have another rain, people really need to get out. People need to go back to their jobs or back to their responsibilities they have back home. If they're delayed another four days, two days, four days, whatever it ends up being, that's pretty concerning.

But right now, everybody is kind of planning on being here through Monday at leas and we'll see how it goes from there.

NEWTON: Well, Andrew, I hate to tell you, but speaking from experience, this being late for work is the least of my worries right now.

[10:15:02]

I am hoping all the 70,000 continue to stay safe. We will continue to check in with everyone there and obviously hope that the forecast improves. Andrew Hyde, we'll continue to check in, thanks so much.

HYDE: Hey, thanks so much, enjoy it Out there. Everybody should come out to this lovely event one time in their life.

NEWTON: Bill Richardson, the diplomat who devoted himself to freeing wrongfully detained Americans, has died. Richardson served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration and was elected governor of New Mexico for two terms.

After a failed run for president, he started the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. That organization offered aid to families of American hostages and detainees abroad.

Richardson personally negotiated the release of many Americans from hostile nations from Iraq to North Korea, most recently traveling to Russia working to free Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. Richardson died in his sleep at his summer home.

Joining me now, David Sanger, he's a CNN political and national security analyst. He's also a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Such sad news to digest for so many. This man's resume was long, and yet it really doesn't begin to reflect, I think, the profound depth of his career and, more importantly, the character of the man. How and why was Bill Richardson such a singular politician and such a diplomat? DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Paula, I think what was remarkable about Bill Richardson is two things. First, he held a variety -- a remarkable variety of positions in government. Of course, he was governor of New Mexico. He was ambassador to the United Nations. He was energy secretary. He was briefly and somewhat disastrously a candidate for president of the United States and dropped out.

But he's really remembered for something that he did outside of all of those appointments, and that was his brilliance at hostage negotiating. And he did it with this real sense of humor, of a willingness to go anywhere and do anything. Journalists loved him, not only for his storytelling, but because one group of people he got released from a lot of awful situations around the world were arrested journalists.

NEWTON: He definitely hewed to that concept that these people have been unjustly held and he worked around the globe tirelessly to try and get them released up until, from what we understand in the weeks before his death.

Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton said in a statement that, in their quote, is that he was a masterful and persistent negotiator who helped make our world more secure.

What do you think it was, David, about his approach to geopolitics and crisis that made him such an honest broker, I mean, one that could go to Russia and talk to them about getting people released?

SANGER: Well, one thing was merely his reputation for doing it. So, presidents called on him to do so. The second was, he was clearly somebody willing to go out and find a way to make a deal. And it's interesting you mentioned President Clinton, because I think one of my favorite Bill Richardson stories, I think one of many people's favorite Bill Richardson stories, had to do with the time he went to Sudan during the Clinton presidency and helped negotiate the release of some Americans.

Initially, there had been a big monetary ransom, and he ended up bringing this down to some rice, some jeeps, a few other things. He came back, he described everybody, including to President Clinton, how he had been surrounded during these negotiations by teenage boys who had rifles, who were standing around barefoot. He was a little bit worried about whether or not they would get trigger happy, how there was a goat being roasted by the side as he was conducting the negotiations.

And Clinton looked at him and said, did you eat the goat? And he said, well, yes, Mr. President, I ate the goat. Clinton looked at him said, great, how would you like to be ambassador to the United Nations?

So, these are not the usual qualifications one would think that you would have for ambassador to the United Nations, and yet that was actually a job he enjoyed more than almost any of the others.

[03:20:01] NEWTON: Yes. And, certainly, when you talk about people taken too soon, his own memoir, the banner was Between Worlds. He proved he could find common ground, something so many countries, including the United States, could use a lot more of. Why do you think he was respected also in the United States?

SANGER: Well, I think for that, and it was interesting, he was not native to New Mexico, but moved there thinking with his Hispanic background, he might actually be a more viable political candidate there.

Remember, he had grown up on the East Coast. He went to a private school in Concord, Massachusetts. He had graduated from the Tufts School of Law and Diplomacy and then moves to New Mexico and makes his way up to becoming governor with sort of overwhelming re-election numbers.

What is interesting is it didn't really translate when he was running for president. And, somehow, he wasn't able to turn that into a national political moment, which I found interesting and somewhat curious, because I thought he probably would have a very good chance of doing that.

He was a great storyteller frequently about himself. But he was really willing to go and do anything. And I think people sense that. And that's why he's the first one you called if you needed to send somebody into North Korea.

NEWTON: Yes, such an extraordinary life, and, of course, we send our condolences to his entire family. David Sanger, thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

SANGER: Thank you.

NEWTON: More than 100 people, including nearly 50 police officers, are hurt in a clash in Tel Aviv. We'll take you live to Israel to explain how a controversial foreign government's holiday celebration turned into a violent confrontation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:25:00]

NEWTON: Israel's prime minister says he's formed a ministerial task force to look for illegal infiltrators after a violent confrontation in Tel Aviv between rival Eritrean groups left more than 100 people injured.

The violence erupted after supporters and opponents of the Eritrean government clashed at an event marking the country's revolution day. Police fired stun grenades to try and quell the unrest. And some say officers who felt their lives were being threatened actually fired live rounds.

CNN's Hadas Gold has been following all of this from Jerusalem. And, Hadas, good to have you on this story. Now, Israeli authorities seem to have been caught off guard as those protesters, we just saw the video there, clashed. What's behind this turmoil?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I don't think police were expecting the ferocity of these protesters. Kind of interesting because we're sort of used to seeing protests and sort of violent clashes taking place in this region. But this story actually has very little to do with Israel or the Palestinian territories or the Israeli government. It has to do with Eritrea.

Now, there are thousands of Eritrean immigrants who live in Israel. Many of them are asylum seekers. And what happened, many of the asylum seekers say that they are fearful of the regime in Eritrea. They say that it's run for a dictator, and Eritrea does rank quite low when it comes to many of the human rights rankings and indexes.

So, what happened Saturday was that the Eritrean government was sponsoring a celebration of its independence day at its embassy in Tel Aviv. Now, anti-government community members had told the Israeli police, had called on the Israeli government to cancel the event, saying that it could lead to violence because they knew that protesters were going to come and try to break up the celebration, and that's what happened.

We saw hundreds of Eritreans, both pro and anti-government, clashing in the streets of Southern Tel Aviv. There were quite extensive amounts of property damage. We know of at least 100 people who were injured, including dozens of police officers. And as of this morning, this is according to Israeli media, there are at least 15 people, Paula, who remained hospitalized, in serious condition, including two police officers.

Now, there was extensive property damage. When I was actually in Tel Aviv yesterday, I could see helicopters hovering over Southern Tel Aviv, watching as this took place, as this unfolded. And it does appear as though the Israeli police were potentially not expecting such a violent outcome as to what happened.

Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already yesterday announcing that he was arranging for today to have a special ministerial meeting to look at the options, potentially even he said deporting some of these migrants who he said were documented participating in the violence yesterday. Because, remember, a lot of these are asylum seekers, Eritreans asylum seekers seeking to stay in Israel for protection. But now, Benjamin Netanyahu saying that because of the violence took place yesterday, he is going to look into the options potentially of deporting them. Paula?

NEWTON: Yes. Many of them have been in Israel for many, many years that have been seeking that right to asylum. Hadas Gold, I really appreciate you bringing us up to date on that.

Now, Ukraine's leaders say the counteroffensive against Russia is gradually regaining territory, but formidable Russian defense is slowing that advance. A live update from London is straight ahead.

Plus, Ukrainian children are beginning a new school year but the threat of Russian attacks is never far away. Those details when we return.

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[03:30:00]

NEWTON: And a warm welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton and you are watch watching CNN Newsroom.

Ukraine says its troops are continuing their slow advance in the south against Russian forces now dug in along those frontlines. Russian- backed officials in the Donetsk region say was one was killed and nine wounded by Ukrainian shelling of those villages.

Ukraine's leaders insist the three-month-old counteroffensive is making progress even if it's not as quickly as some were expecting. And even in places where Russian forces have withdrawn, they reportedly leave behind landmines and that, of course, slows the Ukrainian advance.

CNN's Katie Polglase is monitoring developments for us from London. Katie, listen, I'm sure you've been listening intently to the back and forth that's been going on for weeks, right, whether it's between U.S. officials or others and the Ukrainian government saying the counteroffensive isn't getting far enough, fast enough, and yet it seems that now the Ukrainian government and its president are pushing back?

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Absolutely, Paula. There's been a lot of back and forth and some comments, sometimes welcome, sometimes not, it appears, on how to counteroffensive is progressing in its third month, as you mentioned. And, really, we're sensing some frustration, perhaps, some defensiveness from the Ukrainian leadership as to all of these comments on how their counteroffensive is going.

And I think a tweet from the Ukrainian president, Zelenskyy, yesterday really sums up this frustration. He said on Twitter, Ukrainian forces are moving forward. Despite everything and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing and this is the most important thing, we are on the move.

And I think this really speaks to the determination, the confidence that the Ukrainians have, but also that sense of frustration of having everyone else's input really on how this counteroffensive is going. And that confidence may come from the success they have started to have in the recent weeks.

We've seen them recapture Robotyne, a small village in the Zaporizhzhia region, really only about six streets wide, but it is significant because it was heavily fortified, heavily defended by the Russians.

[03:35:00]

But the Ukrainians recaptured it, and they have held on to it, and they've continued progressing south and east along that southern frontline, towards what's next is Tokmak, a strategic hub for the Russians, and eventually to the Sea of Azov.

The goal here really to break through Russia's land bridge between the occupied Crimea in the south and the eastern areas, such as Donetsk, that Russia controls as well. That is the Ukrainian goal here.

But it's worth bearing in mind that while Ukraine have put in more troops on the southern frontline, on to this counteroffensive, and that strategy seems to be working, they seem to have had some progress, this is a very long frontline. And there are other areas as well that need to be defended and are getting a lot of attacks, a lot of attention from the Russians as well.

Just at the beginning of this week, we were seeing a large number of civilians being evacuated from areas, such as Kupiansk, further up on the frontlines. So, while this offensive is continuing, there's clearly a long way to go.

NEWTON: Absolutely, and the clock ticking there as we enter the fall and colder weather approaches. Katie Polglase for us in London, thank you so much.

Now, the threat of Russians missiles and bombs hasn't stopped Ukrainians from sending their children back to school but the danger, it is so real. Authorities and parents have now taken dramatic steps to make students as safe as they possibly can be at school. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON (voice over): Back to school in Kyiv. There are the usual jitters before any new beginning. But with mom leading the way and a backpack full of supplies, eight-year-old Alexei (ph) says he's happy to return to class.

His mother, Mariia, says she too is excited despite the dangers from the ongoing war with Russia. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, missile strikes and artillery attacks on residential areas have become a part of daily life in Ukraine. But Ukraine says 84 percent of its schools now have operational bomb shelters, and Alexei's (ph) is one of them.

MARIIA DOLOBAN, MOTHER OF EIGHT-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: My child has been studying online for a year, and I realized that it was very difficult for him. He felt lonely. He could communicate with other children screen to screen but it's different. There's a proper bomb shelter in our school, so I think he will be safe there.

NEWTON: Being safe is something that weighs heavily on parents in Ukraine. UNICEF says more than 1,300 schools have now been destroyed across the country. And because of frequent attacks, only a third of school-aged children attend class full-time and in person. That's something that was just too dangerous for many students in Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine, but the Russian border not far away. Recently, some children did go back to classrooms built in underground metro stations that can accommodate about 1,000 students. Many parents say it's just in time, as they're worried children are forgetting some of the basics.

VIKTORIIA: My daughter used to go to kindergarten before the war broke out. Then she attended classes via Zoom for a long period of time. We decided to attend classes in the underground because we want our child to know what the school is, what a desk is.

NEWTON: Back in Kyiv, Alexei (ph) shows his mother a drawing he made of a different type of basic necessity. It shows a medical kit, thermal blankets, clothes, torch and candies, all things packed in an emergency backpack used by Alexei (ph) and his mother when they took shelter during an air raid.

Tough life lessons all around for Ukraine's children, whether it's just getting to school or learning how to live in a time of war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON (on camera): Joining us now live from Kyiv is Anna Novosad. She's co-founder of the education foundation SavED, and is a former minister of education and science.

And I'm really happy to have you here to talk about the challenges, right? It is heartbreaking to look at that video and think all that these students are facing, and, of course, you can see the anxiety on the parents' faces. What is the biggest challenge ahead, do you think, this year? Because I can see so many are determined to make sure their kids go back to school.

ANNA NOVOSAD, FORMER UKRAINIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE: Hello, Paula, greetings from Kyiv. It's been -- it's before September, fourth academic year where Ukrainian kids cannot go normally to school. It's been two years of COVID and now it's the second September of the fully fledged war of Russia against us.

And by now, as was rightly mentioned, Russia has destroyed every tenth (ph) school in our country. More than 1,500 schools in Ukraine destroyed.

[03:40:01]

And that's not only in the east or south that are closer to the frontlines, but, basically, all over the country, because the missiles, unfortunately, reach the territory from east to west.

So, outside, the biggest challenge was access to education. According to official data this year, we'll have around 1 million of schoolchildren who will only attend schools online. So, it's a fourth year of online learning, which means basically no learning at all. And that's so because they have no schools or it's too dangerous to attend them or they do not have bomb shelters, even if they have schools. So, there are a number of reasons why that happens. The second concern is, of course, the learning loss, because the four years of this situation, of having no access to better education, will not really go without consequences. And I see -- like I travel a lot through the liberated areas, trying to see how we can help. And I see kids of primary school age who cannot talk, who cannot speak with adults, who cannot communicate, who cannot count, who cannot read because they haven't been to school for quite a long time.

NEWTON: So much learning loss there. And, obviously, parents must be concerned about their early childhood development. You were saying that you travel around the country. It's vastly different, though, right? What is the situation in the west compared to those families dealing with the challenges so close to the frontline?

NOVOSAD: Exactly. That's one of the things to understand about the current situation in Ukraine, that it's a huge country, and the situation in different regions is very different, including with access to education. So, it is a bit calmer in the west and in the central Ukraine. It's, I would say, only missiles that reach those territories, not artillery, for instance.

However, eastern territories, north, south, they are shelled frequently, including from artillery that is being fired from the occupied territories. So, there is much more danger. However, there are still kids and there are families and there are also those who return to their liberated towns.

So, in territories like that, it is crucial to help them with temporary solution, like temporary schools in repurposed buildings that have remained or modular schools that could be assembled quite quickly. Or, for instance, what we do at foundation, we do basically underground schools, turning the bomb shelters into completely fully fledged learning centers where kids can not only sit during the air raid sirens and get suffocated because there is no air, but where they can have access to normal air, where it's safe, and where they have connection to internet, where they have good furniture, where they have learning materials, and their teachers working with them.

So, this is our reality, and, unfortunately, it will remain with us for a very long time. And thus, for us, it's crucial to be, I would say, creative with regard to how we return to access to education even in these conditions.

NEWTON: I don't have a lot of time left. Parents around the world can relate to this online learning, which has been a problem for so many. We can in, no way, shape or form, relate to the fear and the anxiety that parents have now. What is your fear given what you've seen from so many students right now that are falling behind?

NOVOSAD: Well, my fear is that the situation will remain like that. And my fear is that the world will be normalized with this war and its consequences and there won't be enough support to restore access to learning and restore access to basic services, which education is also.

So, I'm just worried that this approximately 1 million of kids who are living around those territories that are damaged the most will remain neglected just because there are not enough resources to help them. And this is why we are at the foundation trying to target those (INAUDIBLE).

NEWTON: We can certainly appreciate the adversity that everyone faces there. Anna Novosad, thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

NEWTON: And there's much more to come on CNN newsroom, including the latest on Pope Francis' trip to Mongolia and what he will do with minister to the nation's tiny catholic community. Stay with us.

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NEWTON: Pope Francis celebrates Sunday mass today as he visits -- as his visit, pardon me, to Mongolia continues. Crowds are gathered to welcome the pope, you're looking at live pictures there, who just arrived in Steppe Arena.

Earlier, the pontiff met with secular and religious leaders. He was greeted by a small but enthusiastic crowd. He praised Mongolia's tradition of religious harmony. Mongolia, which is sandwiched between Russia and China, has a relatively small number of Catholics, only about 1,500 in a population of 3.5 million.

CNN's Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen has more now on the pope's visit to Mongolia.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Pope Francis today continues a remarkable four-day trip to Mongolia, the first-ever visit by a pontiff to this sparsely populated nation of around 3 million, in which the entire catholic community, numbers fewer than 1,500 people. In that sense, the trip is emblematic of this pope's passion for the peripheries, his drive to reach out to often neglected and forgotten about corners of the globe.

But at the same time, Mongolia is also nestled against two superpower neighbors, China and Russia, and the trip therefore affords the pope a platform to address those two nations. We heard him on Saturday praying aloud that the clouds of war will be dispelled, a clear if indirect reference to the Russian war in Ukraine.

He continued that kind of subtle messaging on Sunday in an interfaith meeting with Buddhists, monks, shamans, and other Christian clergy. The pope insisted that the Catholic Church is no threat to any government or secular institution, that a reference to the troubled history the church has sometimes had in both China and Russia.

Also, the pope said that the Catholic Church wants to contribute to social harmony. That's a particularly important concept in Chinese discourse. And so the effort to smooth things over and to patch up relations with these two titans on the global stage a clear part of the pope's subtext in Mongolia.

Later today, he will celebrate a mass for about 2,500 people, including not just Catholics from Mongolia, but also small but symbolically important groups from China and Russia. Tomorrow, he will visit a charity center before he leaves Ulaanbaatar to fly back to the Vatican.

For CNN, this is John Allen in Rome.

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NEWTON: And we will be right back with more news in a moment.

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NEWTON: So, two cameras, different, different views of a meteor streaking over Turkey early yesterday morning. Now, this dash cam video shows a dark road in a northern province before -- yes, you see it right there, before the meteor lit up the sky with spectacular colors. And a camera at a playground captured the burning space rock illuminating clouds from behind and brightening up the sky with green light. Incredible, isn't it? Thankfully, there were no reports of any damage.

Now, music fans right around the world are remembering Singer/Songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who died Friday at the age 76. People have been leaving mementos in Key West, Florida, which Buffett called home. Now, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, and many other giants of the music industry have been sending their respects. McCartney called Buffett one of the kindest and most generous people.

We get more now from CNN's Polo Sandoval.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jimmy Buffett was 76 years old. His representatives saying over the weekend that he died peacefully surrounded by his family, friends, music and even his dogs, saying that Buffett lived his life like a song to the very last breath.

[03:55:05]

Those representatives did not elaborate on a potential cause of death here. What has been clear this weekend is the fans have been reacting, many of them certainly with heartbreak here, as they have followed the singer's career. It goes beyond just that very famous Margaritaville song that, of course, the world has come to know and, in many cases, love here.

And he really used that as a foundation beyond just his dozens of albums and certainly his Grammy nods as he eventually blossomed into a billion dollar empire. Fans have been reacting, including Jim Johnson, a 68-year-old man from Mississippi, who we met as he was checking out of the Margaritaville Resort in Times Square. Here's what he had to say about the man he admired for so long.

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JIM JOHNSON, LONGTIME BUFFETT FAN: Go back so far, in fact, of '77, even before that. I listened to some of his stuff in the early '70s, '74. And I've always been a real big fan, had the honor of running into him.

He said things in his books, in his songs that I could only think -- it's the way I felt. I didn't have words for it. He just put it into words for me.

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SANDOVAL: There's reaction from the White House. The president wrote on Saturday that Buffett was, quote, a poet of paradise, that Buffett was an American music icon who inspired generations to step back and find the joy in life and in one another. The president saying he had an opportunity to actually meet and get to know Buffett over the years, but the president describing Buffett the same on stage as it was in life, sharing joy with so many people.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton. I want to thank you for your company. Kim Brunhuber picks things up with more CNN Newsroom in just a moment.

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