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CNN International: Zelenskyy Rallies for War Support in Canada; Satellite Images Show Nuclear Test Site Expansions; Israeli Leader Addresses General Assembly; Ford: We Continue to Negotiate with UAW; Hungarian FM: Both Sides Need to Negotiate; Tas Tepeler Area Features Stone Hills Dating back at least 12,000 Years. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired September 22, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Have a good day to you and a warm welcome to the CNN "Newsroom". I'm Richard Quest in New York. In the next hour, we've got reports of a Ukrainian missile. It's a strike on the headquarters of the Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. The number of casualties, if any, is still unclear the latest ahead.

News of the attack coming only hours before a planned speech by Ukraine's President Zelenskyy before the Canadian parliament, this time Mr. Zelenskyy is in Canada for an unannounced visit after his talks which took place of course, in Washington. And in the United States, the auto workers are set to expand their strike against Detroit's Big Three.

GM has now got a fifth contract proposal on the table as the walkout enters its second week. Let us begin with President Zelenskyy who is to address Canada's parliament in a few hours from now. Now during his first visit to the country since the Russian invasion, so it takes on new importance and significance.

It comes after he met President Biden and U.S. lawmakers in Washington. There he was seeking more financial support for Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: But American investment in Ukraine security and global protection of freedom is working 100 percent every cent. Instead of dictating towards to America, Europe and the whole free world, Putin is forced to humiliate himself by personally entertaining a delegation from Pyongyang.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Paula Newton is with us in Ottawa. Now, Paula, we already know from what Trudeau's said, at the United Nations U.N. General Assembly, we sort of know where he stands on this. I'm wondering where they take it forward. What's the next stage that Zelenskyy wants from Trudeau? PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At issue here is the defense support. So while undoubtedly when Zelenskyy landed last night, here in Ottawa, he definitely got a warm and friendly embrace. There is no question that when it comes to rhetorical support, and perhaps even, Richard, financial support, he can count on Canada.

The problem is the defense support, he needs the material substantive report that he is looking towards Europe, and the United States for Canada hasn't been providing that it has been more in financial aid. Remember, Canada lags behind other NATO partners in terms of its own defense spending.

And that has been a problem. He will continually push Trudeau and say to him, look, we need more material, we need tanks, and we need those defense systems. He will do all of that. So essentially, this is definitely friendly territory. There is not the kind of reply to Zelenskyy that we have seen from Republicans in the United States in terms of questioning why the so called blank check to Ukraine should continue?

But having said that he will not get the backing here likely that he needs on the actual material defense support that he's looking for.

QUEST: Is it at all likely that he will in any shape or form allude to the current route between Canada and India? In any way, I mean, bearing in mind India's position, visa V Ukraine and Russia and oil. So India is not exactly, Zelenskyy's best friend on that point. But is he likely to give any succor to Trudeau on that issue?

NEWTON: Absolutely not. There is no way that President Zelenskyy wants to step into that right now. It is a much nuanced issue to the point where even Canada's allies have stood on the sidelines of this. And Zelenskyy obviously would like to bring India closer to his orbit is standing from the nonaligned actually, perhaps pressure Russia to back off a little bit that is unlikely to happen.

But still Zelenskyy wants to keep all of his options open. This is really a visit to continually tell Canada that if you continue this defense spending, if you increase your defense spending, can you please make sure that you continue to keep Ukraine in your planning.

To that end, I'll tell you right now at this hour, the Defence Minister for Ukraine newly appointed is sitting down with Canada's Defence Minister just a few 100 feet from here, Richard.

[09:05:00]

They are not going to have press availability unfortunately but we'll certainly see if they come to new agreements out of that meeting today, Richard.

QUEST: Thank you. Paula is in Ottawa and will watch the events of the day, which we will bring to you of course, the same time Ukraine has been launching a missile attack on the headquarters as it's known of the Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. Russian media is reporting this look at a video reportedly showing smoke from the scene. The Russian Defense Ministry says at least one soldier is missing after the attack. Katie Polglase is with us on the latest on this. So who attacked what and has it all been confirmed?

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Well, clearly the Russian side is confirming that it has happened to them. You can see in these videos, there is clearly quite a devastating attack. They're telling civilians to stay inside to seek shelter to not go into the city center because it's dangerous.

They're reporting hundreds of meters of debris. So in terms of confirming it's happened that is very, very clear. Who is behind it? Well, Ukraine hasn't yet publicly confirmed it's them, although they are widely suspected to be behind it. And they have been behind numerous other attacks in Crimea, really, in the last few days and weeks that we've been reporting on extensively.

Notably, as well, it is likely a missile that hit this area. Again, we've been talking a lot about long range missiles, Ukraine's desperate need for them Zelenskyy asking the U.S. for them. This is why these missiles are incredibly effective at targeting infrastructure. And this particular infrastructure is incredibly important.

This is the headquarters of the Black Sea naval fleet, where really Russia organizes a lot of its war effort in this southern area around the Crimea and Black Sea. So really quite worrying that this managed to happen those Russian defenses didn't manage to stop it happening from their perspective.

And it's also notable that yesterday we were talking about the Saki airbase being targeted. Again, all of this is infrastructure that Russia is using for its war, not just in the Black Sea area, but also taking further up towards the frontline. This is where ships are stored and then repaired, if they're damaged during the war.

This is where ammunition is stored. This is where troops are trained. All of this is quite a strategic hub for Russia to continue its war in Ukraine. And that is clearly why it is such an important target, Richard.

QUEST: OK, the other aspect of today, of course, is the President of Poland, who seems to be in some shape or form offering an olive branch. Maybe that's putting it too high, but basically trying to smooth the route between Poland and Ukraine the worsening route, which has taken to the point where Poland is now no longer sending weapons. What is the President said?

POLGLASE: The President has clarified what his Prime Minister said. So the Prime Minister of Poland yesterday said that they would no longer be delivering weaponry to Ukraine. Obviously, that was quite an alarming statement for the Ukrainians. What the President of Poland Duda has said today is that what this meant was they would no longer be sending new weapons to Ukraine.

But they would still be obliging by their existing contracts to send current weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. Now, clearly, this is finessing the fine print because the bigger picture here is the President of Poland saying that we need to de-escalate the situation.

It is important, we still remain allies, and we're seeing the same language and the same change of tone in the Ukrainian side as well whereas, we saw President Zelenskyy at the U.N. earlier this week, strongly hinting at his dissatisfaction with the Polish side for not importing Ukrainian grain.

We've seen just in the last day, the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland to the Ukrainian agrarian minister, various senior members of the Ukrainian leadership saying, look, we can fix this, we can resolve this situation. This isn't a crisis, we really are friends. And clearly, with this counter offensive going into the winter month, Poland and Ukraine being side by side is clearly quite crucial to both of them.

QUEST: Katie in London, I'm grateful. Thank you. As you can see, there are many tentacles to the Ukraine story today. The Biden Administration, for instance, has announced $128 million dollars in additional U.S. security assistance. It's the package that will include more controversial cluster munitions.

It's the second time the U.S. has provided the controversial weapon to Kyiv. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the aid will in his words help strengthen Ukraine's air defenses against aerial assaults from Russia now and in the coming winter, Natasha Bertrand with me from the Pentagon.

How difficult now as I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, please? The administration can offer this out of its other funds. It's not one of these things that have to work its way through Congress.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: That's right. So this is coming from the Defense Department's stockpiles.

QUEST: Right.

[09:10:00]

BERTRAND: Essentially this is equipment that the Pentagon has at its disposal and essentially when they say that it's valued at up to $125 million or so that means that is the value of the equipment that they will be providing to Ukraine but it doesn't have to be contracted outright.

This is not stuff that they have to wait to be produced, they already have it. So out of the Pentagon stockpiles, they will be providing these cluster munitions again, for the second time, they will be providing anti-tank missiles. Missiles that will allow the Ukrainians to, you know, destroy Russian formations.

They will be providing additional air defense systems which are really, key, at this moment because of course Ukraine says that the Russians are targeting their critical infrastructure. So they really want to try to preempt that they're intercepting a lot of the missiles, but not all of them.

So those air defenses are going to be, key, but importantly, they're not going to be getting those long range missiles that President Zelenskyy has been asking for the better part of a year now. Those missiles that can reach up to 190 miles, that the Ukrainian say could really be a game changer for them in the war.

They have used, of course, the U.K. Storm Shadow missiles to launch long range attacks, perhaps like the kind that we saw this morning in Crimea that that has not been confirmed. But these missiles if provided to Ukraine could allow them to reach targets at that kind of distance.

And so they say this is what they really need. But President Biden and his national security team, they reiterated yesterday that while those missiles are not off the table for the future, they are simply not prepared to provide them at this moment exactly why remains unclear.

But we have gotten different explanations, including that the U.S. does not have a sufficient stockpile to be able to provide those missiles to Ukraine. Right now, though, it remains to be seen given the kind of pace of Ukraine's counter offensive whether the U.S. determines that those are going to be necessary for them to make really significant gains, Richard.

QUEST: Alright, Natasha grateful thank you in Pentagon. Stay with military matters now. And according to new satellite images obtained by CNN. Three of the world's biggest nuclear powers have recently started constructing new facilities, which includes digging new tunnels at the various test sites. Our Senior International Correspondent, Ivan Watson, and what this might mean?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's no secret that there's growing geopolitical tension between the U.S. and Russia and China. All three powers routinely conduct military exercises, clearly trying to demonstrate their strength to each other.

And it stands to reason that eventually this competition would start to bleed into an area that I think many people haven't really thought about since the end of the Cold War, and that is their nuclear arsenals. CNN has gotten an exclusive look at the serious investment that all three countries, China, Russia, and the U.S. have put into their nuclear weapons testing sites.

WATSON (voice-over): The world's three most powerful militaries, the U.S., Russia and China have all been expanding their nuclear testing sites in recent years. The evidence revealed in these commercial satellite images obtained exclusively by CNN.

WATSON: These are the Russian Chinese and American nuclear testing sites. Novaya Zemlya, a Russian Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean locked nor a dried up Salt Lake in China's Xinjiang region, and the Nevada National Security site in a desert northwest of Las Vegas. Images from each location show new tunnels, roads and storage facilities constructed within the last five years.

WATSON (voice-over): Nuclear Nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis first collected and analyzed these images.

JEFFERY LEWIS, JAMES MARTIN CENTER FOR NONPROLIFERATION STUDIES: One big factor for both the United States but also Russia and China is a desire to make sure the nuclear weapons that they designed and tested in the 1980s and 1990s are still works.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, RETIRED U.S. AIR FORCE COL.: All three countries, Russia, China and the United States have invested a great deal of time, effort and money in not only modernizing their nuclear arsenals, but also in preparing the types of activities that would be required for a test.

WATSON (voice-over): While there's no evidence of an imminent test. Russia's Novaya Zemlya site did see a burst of new construction over the last two years on the one year anniversary of his full scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Russia's readiness to conduct nuclear tests.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: Some figures in Washington we know this for a fact are already thinking about the possibility of a natural test on their nuclear weapons. If the U.S. conducts tests we will do so too.

WATSON (voice-over): This time lapse reveals five years of above ground expansion of the U1a complex and underground facility at the testing site in Nevada.

[09:15:00]

A spokesperson from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed to CNN that it is, "Recapitalizing infrastructure and scientific capabilities at the U1a complex."

Adding, "The United States has not conducted a nuclear explosive test since 1992 and has no plans to do so." Since the end of above ground testing, governments have used deep tunnels for their nuclear tests. Satellite images reveal a new fifth tunnel carved out at China's locked Nord testing site along with a growing pile of excavated debris. Washington accuses China of dramatically expanding its nuclear arsenal.

MICHAEL CHASE, U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR CHINA: We project out to 2035 when we expect that they'll want to have about 1500 nuclear weapons.

WATSON (voice-over): In the statement to CNN, China's Foreign Ministry also denied plans to test saying, "This kind of report only speaks on hearsay evidence, and hypes up China's nuclear threat for no reason." The specter of a new nuclear test which shattered restraint exhibited by the U.S. China and Russia ever since the 1990s.

LEWIS: If you are a farmer in Ohio or a shopkeeper in Shanghai, the threat of nuclear testing isn't the test themselves. It's the fact that you are essentially agreeing to pay vast sums of money in an arms race that no one can win but we can all lose.

WATSON (on camera): As far as we know not one of the three countries has conducted a full scale nuclear weapons test since the 1990s. Most recently, that would be China with an underground test conducted in 1996. The U.S. has been conducting for years tests that he calls sub critical tests.

And they're meant to ensure the reliability of existing nuclear weapons, some of which have been around for some 30 years longer than many people might keep a car in their garage. But you know, investing so heavily in these nuclear weapons testing facilities does not bode well in this environment of growing geopolitical tension and mutual suspicion. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: King Charles is wrapping up his state visit to France by making climate change center stage. These are live pictures. You can see the King there is the warmth of the bald head. The King and his wife Queen Camilla are now in Southwestern France, where they are meeting emergency workers and communities impacted by wildfires last year.

That was the King. Their visit is also a pod to a sustainable vineyard. On Thursday, King Charles made history as he became the first British monarch to make a speech from the French Senate chamber. You praised the bonds between the United Kingdom and France and the speech was switched between French and England.

Also in France, Pope Francis is visiting the Port City of Marseille today. It's a short visit designed to draw attention to Europe's migration crisis. 27 hour trip was planned months ago to allow the Pope to make closing remarks at a gathering of Catholic young people and bishops.

Now, what's happening is thousands of migrants are arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa on one of the Pope's first events in Marseille will be a visit to a monument honoring the heroes and victims of the sea. In a moment as Washington is pushing for normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israel's Prime Minister is speaking now at the United Nations General Assembly. We'll consider what he says in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

QUEST: It is a busy Friday. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently addressing the United Nations General Assembly. It's a closely watched speech because it follows that of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who said peace in the region will not come without Palestinians being granted without being granted statehood.

So far Mr. Netanyahu has been talking about Iran. Hadas Gold with me, we're listening and we're waiting to see if he gives us anything on these tantalizing reports both from MBS and from the U.S. of a potential deal involving Saudi Arabia.

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Richard, that's actually what he's been speaking about. When he mentioned Tehran, he was sort of giving an offhand remark about how in his 2018 speech last time he was in person at the U.N. had called Tehran nothing but a curse.

And how there was a great blessing on the horizon in the idea of peace with some of their Arab neighbors, and how this is now coming into real reality? And actually, just before you came to me, he said what I think was a key line. And he's probably speaking about this right now.

He's saying that there was the understanding years ago, he was dismissed when he talked about a great peace in the Middle East, because there was the belief that he had to find that no Arab state would normalize relations with Israel without peace with the Palestinians first.

Now, he says, I've long sought peace with the Palestinians. And he says, but I also know we must not give them a veto over new peace with Arab States. He talks about he started the whole speech with a story about Moses, this is something Benjamin Netanyahu loves to do.

He loves to reach back into history for these sorts of stories, saying that today they face a choice between blessings and boundless, prosperities or hope and suffer the curse of horrific war and terrorism and despair. So he's trying to get everybody on board to go towards the boundless prosperity side of things.

QUEST: Let's listen to the Prime Minister for a second or two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: -- ushered in another dramatic change, it brought Arabs and Jews closer together. We see it in the frequent Jewish weddings in Dubai, in the dedication of a tourist school in a synagogue in Bahrain, in the visitors flocking to the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in Casablanca.

We see it in lessons that are given to Arab students about the Holocaust in the UAE. There is no question. The Abraham Accords heralded the dawn of a new age of peace. But I believe that we are at the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough, an historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Such a piece will go a long way to ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will encourage other Arab States to normalize their relations with Israel. It will enhance the prospects of peace with the Palestinians. It will encourage a broader reconciliation between Judaism and Islam, between Jerusalem and Mecca, between the descendants of Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael. All these are tremendous blessings.

[09:25:00]

Two weeks ago we saw another blessing already insight in the G20 conference President Biden, Prime Minister Modi and European and Arab leaders announced plans for a visionary corridor that will stretch across the Arabian Peninsula and Israel. It will connect India to Europe with maritime links, rail links, energy pipelines, fiber optic cables.

This corridor will bypass maritime checkpoints or choke points rather and dramatically lower the cost of goods, communication and energy for over 2 billion people. What a historic change for my country. You see, the land of Israel is situated in the crossroad between Africa, Asia and Europe.

And for centuries, my country was repeatedly invaded by empires passing through it in their campaigns of plunder and conquest elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Right, there we have the Prime Minister and Hadas is still with me. The good luck of television, which rarely happens, we joined him, just as he basically said, the important part, we now have it quite clear peace, Abraham Accords is great. Saudi Arabia offers not only greater benefits, but also has a greater consequential benefit. So now he's just got to deal with the deal.

GOLD: Yes, he's switching the equation around where he's saying, once he used to be, you have to have peace with the Palestinians before any of these Arab States will have peace with you. Now he's saying no, actually, us having peace with Saudi Arabia will enhance the prospects of peace with the Palestinians.

Notice he's not saying a Palestinian state, I don't think you're going to hear him say that. And I like that. Right now we see Benjamin Netanyahu with one of his favorite things, which is props during the speeches, I don't think I've ever seen him giving you in speech without some sort of prop, he loves them.

But anyways, I do think that is what he's the key that he is going off of he is saying, essentially, this will be good for the Palestinians in the end. He's not getting into specifics about what they might get. And he's of course not talking about a Palestinian state. One other thing, Richard, really quickly that I think was interesting, he talked about legacy a lot.

And this is I think, what's really on Benjamin Netanyahu is mind because I think he knows that obviously, if he gets this deal through with Saudi Arabia, he will be known as the Prime Minister who normalize relations with all of these Arab States, you will go down in history that way.

The question is what is he willing to give up for that? Because sitting around him at his Cabinet table, his ministers are these ministers who may not be willing to give up the same thing he is for the Palestinians in order to get this through?

Is he willing to give up this coalition government riskier than his premiership in order to get this Saudi deal through? And I think right now that's something that's very much weighing on his mind. QUEST: As he draws on his charts and his grand rounds, Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem. And we'll follow on closely thank you. Now, plenty more in the "Newsroom" after the break, this is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

QUEST: Welcome back to CNN "Newsroom". I'm Richard Quest in New York where we are keeping a close eye on the industrial unrest currently in the United States. Sources are telling us that striking writers and heads of the Big Four Hollywood Studios failed to reach a contract deal during a marathon bargaining session on Thursday, the second day of intensive talks.

They're set to meet again today on Friday. Camila Bernal joins me. Is there any feeling that progress was made? I mean, are they getting any closer? Do we have any idea?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, sources, Richard, say progress has been made, but no deal. So we really don't know how far along they came yesterday, all we know is that they essentially closed the door and stayed in the room all day long.

And they're going to do so again, it is the four leaders of the major networks. So Warner Brothers, discovery, our parent company, NBC Universal, Netflix and Disney. They're all getting together again today to try to come up with a deal here. I talked to one writer who told me he was very optimistic and just very encouraged by seeing these four leaders at the table.

But also told me Look, I understand that it's going to take a long time, because these are difficult issues here. They have been on strike for more than 140 days. And they're willing to continue to strike as long as they get the demands that they're asking for and among them are better wages.

So specifically, they're looking for residuals when it comes to streaming. And they're very focused on artificial intelligence. They're saying, look, we want people to be writing the scripts, not machines. And the bottom line is yes, they want to return to work a lot of people here in LA and really across the country wanting to go back to work.

But they are still willing to stay home in order to get what they need. It's really important to point out that it's not just Hollywood this has been sort of a domino effect. So many industries have been impacted by this strike. We're talking just anything in Los Angeles and really beyond.

But the economic impact has been surpassed already $5 billion. So, it really has an impact everywhere in the U.S. and people want to go back to work, Richard.

QUEST: Camila thank you in Los Angeles, -- . From the writers' strike to the car strike, General Motors says it's putting fifth offer on the negotiation table. It's announced the author in a statement which also attacked the union's leadership, accusing them of "always intending to cause months-long disruption, regardless of the harm it causes to its members and their communities."

Vanessa Yurkevich is with me. And so this fifth offer by GM, we don't know the details, but is it thought to be a game changer?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: We don't know we know that every offer the Big Three have made so far. Richard, they have called it a historic offer. We know the last public offer that GM made was a 20 percent wage increase over four years.

We know that the union has been looking for 40 percent from the very beginning, but negotiations still continuing this morning despite the fact that we're going to be hearing from UAW President Shawn Fain at 10 am Eastern time, about potentially more strike targets.

[09:35:00]

He earlier in the week said that if you didn't feel like there was substantial progress made with the Big Three, that he would announce more targeted strikes. And right now, Richard, there are three plants that have been targeted so far. That represents almost 13,000 workers.

But Shawn Fain has an arsenal of 145,000 auto workers that at any time he could send on strike and the indication we're getting, Richard, is that the two sides are still far apart on negotiations. We have not heard much positivity. You mentioned that General Motors statement, which said that their recent offer even they feel like is never going to be accepted by the union that their intention all along was to go on strike.

We are eight days in and we are expecting to hear about more targeted strikes in the coming hours from Shawn Fain.

QUEST: Vanessa, many thanks, keep watching when there's more to come to report. Please come back to us. Another pressing issue that's facing the President, U.S. President the mayor of a border town in Texas, is now accusing the White House of silence as illegal migrants surge into the United States from Mexico.

He says around 5000 people crossed over the past few days into his town of Eagle Pass, prompting him to declare a state of emergency. He also says it taking an economic toll on the community because a bridge connecting the town to Mexico had to be closed because of the influx.

The Mayor says he believes President Biden bears some responsibility for this crisis. Ed Lavandera is also in Eagle Pass and spoke to some of those migrants trying to get to the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dozens of migrants stand in the Rio Grande moments after forming a human chain to cross the river and through layers of razor wire trying to reach Eagle Pass, Texas. They tell me they're from Venezuela, among them a woman and her toddler.

The danger for them is real. Two people including a three year old boy have drowned this week after being swept away in the river current. But after a nearly 3000 mile journey, they accept the risk.

LAVANDERA: How long are you going to wait here? They say they're going to wait here till they let them in.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The migrants tell us they've been robbed and attacked on the Mexican side of the river. After hours of waiting the migrants figured out a way to crawl under the razor wire in a surreal scene. One man instantly apologized.

LAVANDERA: They wanted to apologize for crossing illegally into the U.S. and they're begging and asking for mercy to understand that they're coming from a country where they're persecuted. And they feel like if they were to be returned home, they will be killed.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The mass influx of migrants is causing tension between federal and state authorities. Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted this video accusing border agents of cutting razor wire at an undisclosed location in Eagle Pass, allowing trapped migrants to turn themselves, in.

DHS officials refused to comment on the Governor's allegation. On Wednesday, about 3000 migrants crossed in Eagle Pass alone.

SHERIFF TOM SCHMERBER, MAVERICK COUNTY TEXAS: It's something very strange. I never thought I was going to see some like that in Eagle Pass, Texas.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The local sheriff tells us smugglers are preying on the hopes of these migrants offering to move them to other cities if they can get into the U.S.

SCHMERBER: I know that's because we have smart riff coming from Houston, Florida, Austin everywhere to pick up this immigrants there's a connection there.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Reasons for this surge very but migrants we spoke to say they've grown frustrated with the CBP one app that processes formal applications, many waiting months on the Mexican side for an appointment.

These two men from Venezuela say they crossed illegally because they're desperate and have been waiting three months for the appointment to request asylum. It's a risk we had to take, he tells me. We know there's a chance we get deported, but it's in God's hands.

LAVANDERA: Right now, the question that local officials all along the U.S. southern border have is whether or not this latest surge of migrants is an anomaly a temporary problem or is it a sign of a more sustained problem that they will be dealing with for weeks, if not months ahead. Right now, no one really seems to have a clear answer, Ed Lavandera, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: There is some encouraging news for President Biden as he faces his reelection campaign. A new CNN poll says the U.S. President now has a substantial lead over Donald Trump in the potential swing state of New Hampshire. The poll shows a President Biden 12 point advantage over Mr. Trump in a hypothetical rematch 52 to 40.

A much wider margin than national polls which have so far it would seem showing the two men neck and neck. You're in the CNN "Newsroom" is the West experiencing Ukraine fatigue as the war continues. The conversation with the Hungarian Foreign Minister is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

QUEST: Hungary's Foreign Minister says the prospects for peace in Ukraine are getting worse as the war drags on. Minister Peter Szijjarto told me his country respects territorial integrity, and that it sees the realities of war every day. I asked the Minister about signs that global support for Ukraine are now starting to fade.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER SZIJJARTO, HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Though this was you say, including a kind of Ukraine fatigue in European Parliament's national parliaments, I mean, or here in the United States. This is a proof that the circumstances for peace are not going to improve.

Because this is a major debate in Europe between us and those who don't think that peace should come now saying that day by day on the battlefield, the situation should improve from the perspective of peace. But this is not the core. It's not the case.

Today, circumstances for peace are much better than tomorrow. They were much better yesterday. But still they are better than tomorrow. And day after tomorrow, they will be much worse than tomorrow. So peace --

QUEST: What does peace look like? Now you and I can go backwards and forwards on whether that means the -- next line, the pre Crimea in 2014. And what does a peace look like in your view?

SZIJJARTO: All right. So I think we should go step by step because first the goal should be to save the lives of the people because every day this war goes on these demands are lives of additional people, including Hungarians, unfortunately, you know, I told you there's a Hungarian community in Ukraine members, which are being conscripted to the army deployed to frontline and unfortunately die.

So we should stop the war first, then get Ukrainians and Russians sitting around the negotiating table and negotiate about the peace deal. Of course, it's not going to take place without the United States. United States must be there. United States must be a part of a set of guarantees, to make sure that the peace is going to be sustainable. Look, we have some principles. QUEST: But can Russia be seen to have made any territorial advances or gains? Because if that is the case, then you would agree Minister that de facto we're saying that might as one.

SZIJJARTO: That's why -- that's why I think that some principles must be very stable, and principle -- this principle must be the territorial integrity and sovereignty that must be respected in case of all countries of the world territorial integrity and sovereignty must be respected. This must be a baseline but the war must be stopped.

[09:45:00]

QUEST: That baseline that you talk about?

SZIJJARTO: Yes.

QUEST: Of course, that's the difficult bit.

SZIJJARTO: Yes it is, for sure.

QUEST: Any one can say that should be very -- do you believe? Is it the Hungarian position that Russia should withdraw completely from the eastern part of Ukraine, and Crimea.

SZIJJARTO: Our position is, once again, that not only regarding Ukraine, but regarding all the countries of the world, the territorial integrity and sovereignty must be respected. So because if you don't respect that, then you encourage other countries to occupy -- to occupy territories of other countries, which should not be the case?

QUEST: But your refusal to define the territory is what makes other people say that they're wishy washy. They don't really believe they believe that Putin can keep Crimea; they believe he can keep Donetsk.

SZIJJARTO: But you know we have never -- recognized, never recognized occupation of any territory of Ukraine. Europe never did so. We never did so. So I mean, we should not open questions which have never been open, you know.

QUEST: How serious is this breach do you think? I mean, you've got the U.S. President saying, we must battle on that Ukraine must -- we must continue to support Ukraine. And yet, we've got a winter coming up where someone like Hungary, you're once again going to be faced with an energy crisis.

SZIJJARTO: Right. Hopefully, we're not.

QUEST: But the potential is there.

SZIJJARTO: Look, you know, the delivery line for gas is not coming through Ukraine anymore to Hungary, because we are delivering gas through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia in a pipeline, which is called Turkey Stream that has been constructed a couple of years ago, that gives us the security of the supply of gas. When it comes to oil the supply has come through Ukraine. Now Ukraine has increased transit fee around five times, which is not a fair move, but this -- but for us what is most important that the security of supply must be there.

Now Touchwood, I can say we have done our best in order to make our energy supply safe. Our gas storages are almost full. They ensured that for the upcoming months, even if there was no delivery, which hopefully not will happen, will not happen. We are safe. We are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: That's the Hungarian Foreign Minister talking to me. Everybody is traveling at the moment. It's pent up demand. And we all want to see the rest of the world. So it's a Turkish takeoff. The Chairman of Turkish Airlines tells me U.S. expansion plans are on track this year. And he tells me more flights won't mean more delays. You'll hear from him after the break.

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QUEST: Turkish Airlines flies more countries than any other carrier in the world with flights of 120 countries out of its home base at Istanbul. And now that reaches to be extended focusing on bringing people into Turkey.

[09:50:00]

I sat down with the Chairman of Turkish Airlines Ahmet Bolat. And of course, in full disclosure, Turkish is the sponsor of "Quests world of wonder". I asked the Chairman how important is expansion was in the United States?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMET BOLAT, CHAIRMAN, TURKISH AIRLINES: -- was one of the most significant parts of the world, in our network yes. And also whole America continent is very important for us, then, of course, Asia.

And we are flying here 12 destinations, and 139 frequencies per week, right now. And we are flying to five times to New York City for the JFK and one to Newark. And the aircrafts are full. And we are planning to put additional one, maybe next summer.

QUEST: Do you have the aircraft? Because everybody -- yes, everybody wants aircraft. Aircraft are delayed engines are delayed, how badly or how badly is delayed aircraft hitting your expansion?

BOLAT: If everybody has the same constraints, then it's easier to find solutions. Here the problem -- then the issue is how to utilize the available aircraft in most profitable way. That's really the issue. And this year, my management team showed that they can handle this problem. And next year, of course, this GTF engine problem is going to continue. But we believe that they will solve this in next two, three years.

QUEST: When you expect to do the next big order?

BOLAT: In fact, we are discussing with the manufacturers. Right now, they are not really after the airlines. So our airlines are after the manufacturers. And I don't like that scenario, and then the manufacturers are after the airlines. That's the scenario we like most.

QUEST: You have a different philosophy for the role of the airline than other CEOs of national carriers. And I think I can best sum it up by saying you see your principal goal to bring people to Turkey. Is that correct?

BOLAT: It took really 20 years to build this airline. And one of the main factors for success was the network. We have the largest network International Network right now. So our principal goal was until now to connect people.

So anybody coming to Istanbul Airport, new airport, by the way, now it's ranking number eight in terms of the crowdedness in terms of the size and capacity right now. And next year, probably it will be fifth or fourth. So connect anybody coming to Istanbul Airport, we can connect him to his next destination on average, less than 2.5 hours. We have a huge network with several frequencies per day. So we have the best connecting position as Turkish.

QUEST: But that's not your goal.

BOLAT: That was our goal. We will continue but if you look at it, how many more cities how many more destinations you can add? It will be limited now. Maybe in 10 years, it'll be around 50. Now, more important thing is you seen our requests in the -- in last two years.

What is the role of Turkish Airline in Turkish economy? You see, this year Turkish Airline's contribution to Turkish economy will be $56 billion in 10 years, with the 7 percent growth, Turkish Airline contribution to Turkish economy will be around $150 billion three times more.

How we will achieve that? You see we are growing two times, but the contribution is growing three times. Now our focus from now on will be people who will come to Turkey to visit Turkey. These are the people who are ready to pay more for our tickets. And these are the people who will spend more in Turkey.

QUEST: Now you've got something there that really puts it into perspective. What is it?

BOLAT: Yes, this is actually in fact, if you look at it 12 years ago, national geography made the story out of it. This is called Stone Hills. These are the temples built 12,000 years before today 12,000 which is 7000 years before pyramids are built.

QUEST: Right.

BOLAT: This is the beginning of the human civilization Richard. These guys you know our ancestors 12,000 years ago suddenly they became architecture.

[09:55:00]

They built temples. This is weighing 16 tons. This is like one hour from Istanbul. It took 25 years to unearth this. And it will take another 100 years to complete her project.

QUEST: Oh my next visit can I come to -- ?

BOLAT: Please, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Finally, I want to take care of a bit higher than 33,000 feet, where NASA is on the verge of an historic achievement years in the making. One of its spacecraft is just days away from delivering the first asteroid sample collected in space.

The OSIRIS REX when it swings by Earth on Sunday will release a capsule carrying around eight ounces of rocks and soil from near Earth asteroid Bennu aircraft and continues to tour the sonar system and the rocks will end in Utah. Scientists hope it will give insights into the asteroid. We'll have coverage of that when it happens. Otherwise that's it for the moment. "Connect the World" is next.

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