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Republicans Block Nearly $106 Billion Aid Package for Ukraine and Israel; Venezuela Claims to Annex Two-thirds of Guyana's Territory; Boris Johnson's Apology Interrupted by Hecklers; U.K. Immigration Minister Resigns Over Rwanda Asylum Bill; Google Announces Next-gen AI Named "Gemini". Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 07, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

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[01:59:48]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you joining us around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

[02:00:04]

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Israel says its troops have surrounded the home of the leader of Hamas in Gaza, and suggest it's only a matter of time until they capture the man himself.

A partisan clash over U.S. border policy threatens American aid to Ukraine and jeopardizes Kyiv's fight against Russia.

Plus, fireworks in Alabama, four of the top presidential contenders clashing during the fourth Republican debate. Are they ultimately in a race for second place?

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, This is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Israeli leaders say it's only a matter of time before they get the Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar.

The IDF says Sinwar's house in southern Gaza is surrounded although they believe he's gone underground. The Israeli Defense Forces blurred the faces of its soldiers in this video from Khan Yunis, the second largest city in Gaza.

The Israeli military reports a fierce battle with a militant group in Khan Yunis, it says it has breached Hamas defense lines and carried out raids against Hamas strongholds.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Secretary General has invoked a rarely used clause in the group's charter, referring to the situation in Gaza to the Security Council.

Antonio Guterres is calling for a ceasefire and urging the Security Council to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel's U.N. Ambassador calls the move against Israel a new moral low and demands Guterres resigns.

For more on all of this, let's bring in CNN's Clare Sebastian live from London. So, first, Clare, take us through the importance of the encirclement of Yahya Sinwar's house.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, this is a highly important, he's the absolute core part of the IDF's mission. In Gaza, they have said all along that their aim is to dismantle Hamas in the Gaza Strip and he is the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Now, they don't have him yet. The IDF says that they've been circled his house. He is believed they say to be underground. But that in itself was enough of a moment in this for the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come out and hail this as a symbolic victory. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Last night, I said that our forces can reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip. Now they encircled Sinwar's house. His house is now his fortress, and he can escape. But it's only a matter of time until we get him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, Yahya Sinwar is -- he is someone who has spent decades frankly rising through the ranks of Hamas. He spent two -- at least two plus of those decades in an Israeli prison. He was released in 2011, one of the more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and is believed to be the key instigator of the October 7th attacks. Hence why he's such a prime target. His hometown is Khan Yunis, that will explain to some degree why that has been such a focus of this phase of the fighting after the end of the truce last Friday.

And the IDF has put out some footage, they have blurred the faces of soldiers in this footage. And obviously we can't verify the exact details. But it shows, you can see here the type of fighting that we're talking about in Khan Yunis, this kind of urban combat, house- to-house on the ground, incredibly risky.

The IDF has also said on Wednesday that two of their soldiers were killed in various locations in Gaza and four seriously wounded. So, we get a sense now of the very intense stage of fighting that we're at in this conflict.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and Clare, I want to go back to something. I was discussing earlier, the head of the U.N. invoking Article 99 of the charter, what's behind it and what's been the reaction?

SEBASTIAN: So, the -- I mean, look, we know this is a catastrophe that kind of hyperbole that we saw in Antonio Guterres's letter to the Security Council that we've seen for weeks now.

I think the trigger point for this is that we're at the stage now where humanitarian work is very likely no longer possible, or at least it's in it's very last stages.

He talked in his letter about how, you know, humanitarian efforts were being decimated because of lack of supplies, lack of fuel. The humanitarian workers were joining other Palestinians in Gaza and evacuating from the north to the south.

But this is a Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, very rarely used. Guterres himself has never used it. It hasn't been used in decades. It's not a legally binding tool. It's a pressure tool.

The UAE in the wake of this has now submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council to call for an immediate ceasefire. Very unclear whether that will actually pass the U.S. A permanent member of the Security Council has made it very clear that they don't support a ceasefire as of now.

But it was described by the U.N. as a sort of dramatic constitutional move to try to pile on the pressure as this catastrophe worsens, though, as you say, Israel very much not happy about this. This seems to have exacerbated an ongoing dispute, open dispute between Israel and the U.N. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations calling this a new moral low, as you say, and again, reiterating that he thinks Antonio Guterres should resign as Secretary General, Kim.

[02:05:19]

BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate the updates. Clare Sebastian in London. Thanks so much.

Leaked portions of a meeting between former Israeli hostages, the families of those still held hostage and the Israeli war cabinet, including Prime Minister Netanyahu reveal deep disapproval over Israel's military campaign. Some argue that ongoing Israeli strikes on Gaza were endangering hostages and were counterproductive to getting them freed.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report. And we just want to note, we're playing the commentary as they were recorded in Hebrew with subtitles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Give them back whoever the hell they want, give them all back; the women, the men.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the anguish of a recently freed Israeli hostage, pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You think the men are strong? My husband would beat himself every day, punch his face until it bled because it was too much for him, and now he is alone, and God knows under what conditions.

And you want to topple the Hamas government, to show that you have bigger balls? DIAMOND: The unidentified woman was among the handful of freed hostages, and dozens of hostage families, who met with Netanyahu and his war cabinet on Tuesday, with many urging a new deal with Hamas to free the estimated 138 remaining hostages in Gaza.

Leaked audio from the meeting published on the Israeli news site Ynet giving a glimpse into the tense and emotional meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You have no information. No information.

DIAMOND: And the dangers hostages face including from Israeli fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The fact is that we were shelled, the fact is that no one knew anything about where we were.

DIAMOND: A second former hostages describing precarious conditions for elderly Israeli hostages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They live on borrowed time. They are hardly functioning. All day, they lie on a mattresses, most of them need glasses and hearing aids that were taken from them when they were kidnapped, they have difficulty seeing and hearing, which affects their functioning even more.

DIAMOND: Another former hostage alleging Hamas captors were touching the girls, underscoring the urgency for the Israeli government to secure their release.

LIOR PERI, FATHER IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Very tense and very emotional, a lot of shouting.

DIAMOND: Lior Peri, whose 79 year old father is still a hostage, left the meeting convinced that Netanyahu and his cabinet are far more focused on the war and hostage negotiations.

That you don't feel after this meeting, that getting the hostages out is the number one priority of this government?

PERI: No, not at all. I feel it's exactly like they were saying all along. They said they have two goals for the war, bringing down Hamas and the releasing of the hostages. And we always said that those two goals cannot work together because one interferes with another.

DIAMOND: The Israeli prime minister emerged from the meeting expressing sympathy for the hostages.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I heard stories that broke my heart. I heard about the thirst and hunger, about the physical and mental abuse.

DIAMOND: But he quickly bowed to press forward with Israel's offensive in southern Gaza, with the Israeli military's carrying out heavy airstrikes and pushing in ground forces.

Another pause in the fighting seems out of the question, which means the hostages will have to wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They knew they must survive, but they are on the verge of losing hope.

DIAMOND: Are you worried that your father is losing hope?

PERI: Definitely, yeah. Especially even mentally, to (INAUDIBLE) the whole time, and she was released at the end of the week, (INAUDIBLE) feeling a second betrayal now. The first one on October 7th, when nobody stopped them from being abducted from their house. And the second one, now, when the ceasefire is over, and there is no more releasing of hostage, and you hear the bombing coming back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Israel's war against Hamas was just one of the topics discussed several hours ago during the fourth us Republican primary debate. Four candidates took part, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Now, there were several sharp clashes, especially between Ramaswamy and Haley, who accused of being corrupt.

[02:10:03]

One candidate who was absent again, Donald Trump. In fact, Christie pointed out as he called out the others on stage for not directly challenging the former president, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've had these three, acting as if the race is between the four of us.

The fifth guy who doesn't have the guts to show up and stand here. He's the one who as you just put it, his way ahead in the polls. And yet, I've got these three guys who are all seemingly to compete with, you know, Voldemort, he who shall not be named. They don't want to talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: More now on the swipes, digs and name calling during this last debate before the voting begins. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has details from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at the center of a political firestorm at the fourth Republican presidential debate Wednesday night at the University of Alabama, particularly with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. They've been locked in a close race to be the leading alternative to Donald Trump. GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Her donors, these Wall

Street liberal donors, they make money in China. They are not going to let her be tough on China and she will cave to the donor, she will not stand up for you.

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's mad because those Wall Street donors used to support him and now they support me.

ZELENY (voice over): DeSantis and Haley ferociously tangled throughout the night over her newfound support from some corporate donors over their respective views on China, their foreign policy views and much more.

But perhaps the biggest fireworks of the night came from former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, when they exchanged a fierce battle over this.

CHRISTIE: This is the fourth debate -- the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America, so shut up for a little while.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Chris, your version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York. So, do everybody a favor, just walk yourself off that stage enjoy a nice meal and get the hell out of this race.

ZELENY: In just 40 days, Iowa Republicans will be the first to cast their ballots in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest at the Iowa caucuses followed a week later by the New Hampshire primary.

Time is running out for these Republicans to make their case against the front runner in the race Donald Trump, who once again skipped this debate. But is driving the race in every way.

Now, he was at the center of the conversation. And former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie directly confronted him saying he's not fit for office.

CHRISTIE: Do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is look at the history. And that's why failing to speak out against him, making excuses for him, pretending that somehow he's a victim empowers him.

You want to know why those poll numbers are where they are? Because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable. Let me make it clear. His conduct is unacceptable. He's unfit.

ZELENY: But throughout the course of the year, a similar argument from Christie has gone unanswered by Republican voters. The former president is still leading the way in Iowa, New Hampshire and indeed nationally, but voters of course have not cast a single ballot. So he is hoping that they will listen to his argument.

Now, the question is in this race for second, did Haley or DeSantis make any movements, the Iowa Republican voters we spoke to after the debate gave both of them high marks in different ways.

Haley, they said was presidential DeSantis got his conservative record through. Of course, evangelical voters so important in Iowa.

So, at the end of the day, perhaps the biggest winner once again, was not on stage, Donald Trump, but there is no doubt it was the smallest stage yet. But perhaps the most consequential biggest debate of all. Again, the vote start in less than six weeks.

Jeff Zeleny CNN, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And with me now is CNN's Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, who's also a senior editor with the Atlantic, thanks so much for being here with us.

So, Ron, to start, no shortage of sparks flying. Nikki Haley certainly at the center of the attacks as expected. To start your initial takeaways from what we saw.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I thought it was Ron DeSantis's best debate so for -- so far. But his best debate in the service of a strategy that so far has been a dead end, he very clearly tried to identify himself as the most conservative of the alternatives, the plausible alternatives to Trump and I think he was effective in doing that.

I think he rattled -- Nikki Haley kind of professed to be above the fray, as Jeff noted, but she didn't really have good answers to the attacks from her right, that kind of tag team of DeSantis or Ramaswamy. And she didn't really have a very strong case against Donald Trump.

I thought it was the first debate where she kind of receded into the pack, and suggested some of the problems ahead she would get in trying to move beyond what she's done so far, which is mostly consolidate the portions of the party, most resistance to Trump.

[02:15:14]

Chris Christie was stronger in making and more -- and more direct in making his case against Trump than he has been earlier. But he did so with arguments that are more likely to get heads nodding among Democrats than Republicans.

By the way, I expect to see many of those clips in the general election.

And I think Ramaswamy went on conspiracy theory and kind of cemented his spiral into irrelevance.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so I want to pick up on what you said about Nikki Haley. You said, you know, she was trying to keep herself above the fray. Some were saying she was, you know, muted, certainly for parts of the debate. So, let's drill down on this, did she do enough to consolidate her

position as perhaps the Trump alternative?

BROWNSTEIN: No, I thought you took a step backward tonight. I mean, I still think that she is in better position than DeSantis to emerge as Trump as the principal alternative to Trump after Iowa and New Hampshire, he's all in on Iowa.

But like many candidates before him, were all in on Iowa. He's really looking pretty weak right now in New Hampshire. I think it's entirely plausible.

Still, after those first two states, Haley will be seen as the principal alternative, and she'll get a month in effect in her home state of South Carolina to see whether she can beat Trump there and make it some kind of race. I think if he wins South -- Trump wins South Carolina, the race will probably be over.

Haley's problem is that she has -- I think her strategy has made more sense so far than DeSantis. But ultimately, you know, she is at this point mostly consolidating the voters or most resistant to Trump, more moderate voters, more suburban, college educated voters.

Eventually, she's going to have to go beyond that if she's really going to be a serious threat to Trump.

And tonight, as I said, I think she was kind of weak on both fronts. She didn't make a strong case against Trump. And she didn't have good answers. Other than that, you know, you're lying over and over when DeSantis basically and Ramaswamy tried to build a ceiling. It's almost like watching a glass ceiling being built over our head by essentially arguing the conservative voters, she's not one of you.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Interesting. All right. So, just quickly, the other two Christie who fiery painting himself as the prosecutor, the truth teller, Ramaswamy, as you said, full of conspiracy theories, is this kind of the last we see them?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think it's the last we'll see of Ramaswamy certainly. And his relevance in the debate is, you know, in the -- in the race is really been editing for a while, really, since that first debate.

Christie has a following in New Hampshire, and we'll see what he does with it. You know, whether he stays in the race all the way through New Hampshire, whether he gets out presumably after tonight, you would think if he got out, he would support Nikki Haley.

He made the case against Trump's fundamental fitness to be president, but not only because of his faculties, and, you know, his acuity, but also because of what he has done more concisely and directly than he has so far. And I can't imagine how many of his broadsides against Trump tonight will not end up in democratic ads before November of 2024 if Trump is indeed the nominee.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and he got roundly booed for it. Which he said that was fine with him.

Finally, Donald Trump, not there, doing his own thing, doing a fundraiser and Tuesday, he was doing a town hall where he responded to accusations that he would be a dictator if in office. We heard Chris Christie referenced it earlier in our report there.

And Trump said he wouldn't be a dictator except for day one, his supporters kind of waving this away as a joke or pointing that he was referring specifically to his plans to close the border or drill -- and drill for oil. What do you make of all this?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I think, you know, that particular comment was probably referencing oil and the border. But if you look at the broader agenda that he's running under and his rhetoric, he clearly is running a more openly authoritarian campaign than he was in 2016, or certainly a president in 2020.

He's talking about mass deportation in internment camps. He's talking about openly weaponizing the Justice Department. People around him have been talking about potentially invoking the insurrection act to use the military -- to put down protests. He's talking about sending the National Guard into blue cities to fight crime over the objections of local mayors.

There are a whole series of ways in which he is running outside of the democratic tradition as we have known it in the -- in the U.S.

This is not a big hurdle for a -- for his base. As Mitt Romney said today, they may even thrill to hearing these promises or using the power of the federal government to target forces in society they consider their enemies, but I think is ultimately the best chance Joe Biden has given the doubts about his own performance to get reelected, which is a question of whether a majority of Americans will view this, you know, this program that Trump is on furling at something they want to put him in place to do.

[02:20:04]

And, you know, he is making -- as I like to say, with policies like that, with proposals like repealing the ACA, he is throwing a lifeline every day to a very embattled and clearly, weakened as you see in the latest CNN poll of Joe Biden.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, exactly. I was going to say that the lowest poll numbers since the start of his presidency.

Listen, I really appreciate as always getting your insights, Ron Brownstein. Thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: All right, coming up, Christmas in a town close to a battle line. We'll take you to southern Lebanon to see how towns people living near the Israeli border are preparing for the holidays as rockets fire across the border, stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Military officials say the American naval destroyer, the USS Mason shot down an unmanned drone on Wednesday in the Red Sea. They believe the drone launched from Houthi controlled parts of Yemen. No damage was reported to U.S. equipment or personnel. Now comes after at least three Houthi drones were shot down by another U.S. warship, the USS Carney on Sunday during a series of attacks on three commercial vessels.

Since October 7th, Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched multiple cruise missiles and attack drones that Israeli and U.S. assets in the region, stoking fear as the war could expand further into the region.

To the north, along the Israel-Lebanon border, this holiday season is one of fear, Hezbollah and Israel are launching rocket and artillery fire at one another in almost constant exchange. Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of border residents. The defense minister says they won't be allowed back until the towns are permanently secure. And on the Lebanese side, worry has replaced joy this Christmas.

CNN's Ivan Watson takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're putting up Christmas decorations in the Lebanese border town of Marjayoun, residents trying to lift spirits in a time of war.

ROLAND CHANBOUR, MARJAYOUN RESIDENT: I'm making the tree for the Christmas. I hope it come, it will make better hope for the country.

WATSON (voice-over): But as Roland Chanbour strings up lights, we can hear and see the blast from incoming Israeli artillery, hitting fields below this hilltop town.

WATSON: The artillery, the explosions are two kilometers, three kilometers away.

CHANBOUR: Yes, what you can do?

You leave (INAUDIBLE)?

You leave your house and go?

Where do we go?

WATSON (voice-over): For nearly two months, Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon have been fighting deadly artillery duels with the Israeli military on the other side of the border. Explosions rock this area day and night.

FOUAD ANTON, PASTOR, MARJAYOUN NATIONAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH: Up on the, hills you see there are Israeli positions.

(CROSSTALK) WATSON: The antennas are the Israeli positions?

ANTON: Yes, Hezbollah, they had these positions.

[02:25:01]

WATSON (voice-over): Pastor Fouad Anton shows me the battle-scarred Presbyterian church he says American missionaries built nearly 150 years ago.

ANTON: The people here are very afraid.

WATSON (voice-over): This is not the first time this predominately Christian town has been a battleground.

ANTON: We revisit also in the year 2006, when Israel invaded even the south of Lebanon. Also a bomb came around here and we rebuilt that church.

WATSON (voice-over): Pastor Fouad says, during the last border war, he and his family fled Marjayoun. This time, though he sympathizes with the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, he insists this should not be Lebanon's war.

ANTON: The people left the area and there are no jobs and nothing at all here. So my message is for Hezbollah is to stop this war.

WATSON (voice-over): Convoys of United Nations peacekeepers rumble through Marjayoun's streets, as do members of the Lebanese army, which is so far neutral in the border conflict.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah's militants are almost invisible, using cat and mouse guerrilla tactics against the more powerful Israeli military, which often flies drones high overhead.

None of this is good for Salam Aoun (PH).

SALAM AOUN (PH), MARJAYOUN RESIDENT: I will cry.

WATSON: Oh, I'm sorry.

WATSON (voice-over): She isn't getting any business at her boutique. And with schools closed due to the crisis, her two children have to study remotely.

AOUN (PH): (INAUDIBLE).

WATSON: Yes.

Salam (PH) says she tells her kids that the fighting is very far away from here and she says that they do get scared.

WATSON (voice-over): So it is no surprise that, this year, there is only one thing that people here want for Christmas.

CHANBOUR: Peace. Peace and hope. WATSON (voice-over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Marjayoun, Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. aid to Ukraine falls victim to domestic political disputes. Still ahead, a key spending package hits a stumbling block in Congress amid warnings there isn't much money left for Ukraine.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. funding for Ukraine is hanging in the balance just as the White House warns the money for Kyiv is drying up.

[02:30:00]

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked an aid package for Ukraine, which also include aid for Israel. That happened just days after the White House said the money for Ukraine will lightly run out by the end of the year. As Manu Raju reports, the reason for Republican opposition has nothing to do with Ukraine or Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fears in the Capitol that Ukraine aid could be stalled permanently amid a dispute over immigration that has completely stymied negotiations in the Senate. Republicans there are demanding that aid to Ukraine be paired with stricter border policies. And Democrats say that what the Republicans are proposing is just far too much than they're willing to accept. The end result, a bill that they tried to advance, Democrats, did without those stricter border measures failed in the Senate on Wednesday evening.

Now, one of the key Republican negotiators, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, told me that he believes something needs to be done now because there will be a migrant surge at the border, even worse than now if Donald Trump becomes president and migrants believing that they need to come over the border now, before 2025.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): So you have a presidential candidate who says he will close the border on day one. Donald Trump said that within the last 48 hours. He is likely to be the nominee, and likely to win the race. What do you think is going to happen with future flows next year? They're going to double over the four-time increase in the last year of Trump.

RAJU: But there is so much of uncertainty about how this ultimately will get resolved, given the divide over the policy, as well as the process, the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wants to move these bills individually -- Ukraine aid, Israel aid, as well as dealing with the border, the border tied to Ukraine. Democrats want Israel and Ukraine and everything else tied together as one big package. But they first have to agree on the policy. They are nowhere near an agreement on that, which is why there is a belief in the Capitol that members will leave town for the holidays without dealing with aid to the Ukraine, at a time when the White House warns that urgent action is needed or Ukraine will be kneecapped in its war against Russia.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Along the frontline in eastern Ukraine, soldiers are watching Washington's political battles with increasing concern. Russia is intensifying its attacks, particularly around the strategic town of Avdiivka where Ukrainian forces worry about having to fight with aging weapons and eroding support. CNN's Anna Coren is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Down a muddy road, hedged by a bank of spindly trees and branches sits an old farm house. Its owners left some time ago, but it has new residents. These are soldiers from the 47th Mechanized Brigade.

SASHA, COMMANDER OF GRAD UNIT, 47TH MECHANIZED BRIGADE: This is where we keep our missiles.

COREN (voice-over): And they're part of the fight for Avdiivka, one of the most fiercely contested battles on Ukraine's eastern front. Camouflaged under the thicket is a Grad, a multiple-launch rocket system from the Soviet era. As outgoing artillery fires from nearby fields, 32-year-old Sasha wishes they had better and more modern weapons.

SASHA: When you're hit with the modern weapons and with the western weapons, of course, they're more accurate and they bring, let's say, more damage to the enemy.

COREN (voice-over): In the past two months, Russia has been sending waves and waves of troops to Avdiivka, as they try to encircle the town. But Sasha and his fellow soldiers know this war could become even more difficult if U.S. aid, now under threat, suddenly dries up.

SASHA: All the delay just costs lives of the best Ukrainian people. We have the spirit, we will continue definitely. But we need some kind of support.

COREN: If U.S. Congress does not pass the military aid package, then Ukraine will not receive the advanced weaponry it desperately needs to fight this war. And that means it will have to rely more heavily on decades-old Soviet equipment like this Grad to combat Russian forces, who are gaining supremacy on the frontline.

COREN (voice-over): A sobering reality for these soldiers, almost two years into this war.

SASHA: I'm afraid Ukraine will not be able to stand without our partners and allies. So this is the -- as simple as that.

COREN (voice-over): Weighing even heavier on their minds is last week's alleged execution of two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers who were surrendering to Russian forces not far from Sasha's position. Drone footage shows the POWs climbing out of their dugout, arms above their head, before being shot at close range. Ukraine is now investigating what the Prosecutor General calls a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.

SASHA: Every similar event brings a lot of pain and suffering to us, that is for sure.

[02:35:00]

SASHA: It will not make us weak, it will not scare us. We will continue doing what we have to do.

COREN (voice-over): Which is fighting a seemingly endless war, as they build more trenches. Uncertain if the west will truly be there for the long haul.

SASHA: If we let Ukraine go, if we let Putin win, then who will feel themselves safe here? I think no one.

COREN (voice-over): Anna Coren, CNN, on the outskirts of Avdiivka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Guyana is pushing back against what it calls an existential threat from its eastern neighbor Venezuela. That country's president, Nicolas Maduro is calling for the creation of a new Venezuelan state. And this hypothetical state is called "Guyana Esequiba" and it is made up of two-thirds of Guyana's national territory. Venezuela has long claimed this oil-rich heavily forested territory as its own, and disputes the boundaries set by international arbiters in 1899. On Sunday, Venezuelans voted in a referendum, symbolically approving an annexation. But in a bid to make it real, President Maduro announced a new map showing the disputed territory marked as Venezuela's. Guyana's leadership says this is unacceptable. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRFAAN ALI, GUYANESE PRESIDENT: The measures announced are in blatant disregard of the order given by the national court of justice on December 1, 2023. Guyana views this as an imminent threat to its territorial integrity and will intensify precautionary measures to safeguard its territory. We will not allow our territory to be violated, nor the development of our country to be stymied by this desperate grab.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Guyana's president told CNN that the country is working with allies and taking every diplomatic measure it can to stop Venezuela's blatant land grab.

All right. Still to come, Boris Johnson tries to apologize to families of COVID victims in Britain, but they didn't want to hear it. The reason for the former prime minister's public appearance just ahead, stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: The U.K. government's controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing hit another setback with the resignation of Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick. He and other hard- line conservatives have been calling for the U.K. to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights as a means to remove legal obstacles. A draft legislation introduced Wednesday stopped short on that point.

In his resignation letter, Jenrick said he couldn't support the latest emergency bill because it could not go far enough to ensure the immigration policy is a success. The draft legislation now before the U.K. Parliament came one day after the U.K. and Rwanda formalized their asylum deal as a treaty. The U.K. government is aiming to begin deporting asylum seekers to the East African country as early as next spring.

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BRUNHUBER: In the coming hours, Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to appear for a second day at the U.K.'s public COVID inquiry. It's examining how he and his former government implemented lockdowns and other measures during the pandemic. Johnson resigned last year amid revelations that his staff held parties and other gatherings while the U.K. was in lockdown. He tried to apologize to families affected by COVID-19 during his appearance on Wednesday, but hecklers, you may not hear them so well in this clip, but they weren't having any of it. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Can I just say how glad I am to be at this inquiry, and how sorry I am for the pain and the loss, and the suffering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please stop please sit. Please stop. Please sit down. Please sit down or I'm afraid you'll have to leave the hearing room.

JOHNSON: That I understand the feelings of these victims and their families and I am deeply sorry for the pain and the loss, and the suffering of those victims, and their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Protesters held signs that said, "The dead can't hear your apologies," according to the PA news agency. After they were ejected from the meeting, protesters told reporters, they didn't want Johnson's apology, Johnson didn't cite specific errors he considered he or his staff made at the time.

Google has unveiled what it calls its most advanced artificial intelligence model yet, as the race to develop AI shifts into higher gear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on their design, which of these would go faster?

VOICE OF GEMINI, GOOGLE'S AI: The car on the right would be faster, it is more aerodynamic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The company is comparing its new offering called "Gemini" to existing AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT, arguing its version is more capable. Google says Gemini's ability to take input from multiple types of media rather than just a single source means it could be used in all kinds of applications from chatbox and phones to search engines and browsers. Google also says it has put a lot of focus on getting Gemini to offer more consistently accurate information, but acknowledges that battle continues.

All right. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "World sport" is next. Then, in 15 minutes, "CNN Newsroom" continues. My colleague, Bianca Nobilo, in a minute (ph).

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