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Donald Trump Likely To Win South Carolina Republican Presidential Primary Against Nikki Haley; Ukrainian Forces Abandon City To Russian Military; Ukrainian Military Reports Russian Forces Using Human Wave Attacks Against Their Positions; Lack Of Weaponry Contributing To Loss Of Territory According To Ukrainian Officials; European Union Vows To Continue Providing Aid To Ukraine To Combat Russian Invasion; U.S. House Of Representatives Yet To Take Up Funding Package For Ukraine; Lunar Lander Touches Down On Surface Of Moon; Lunar Lander Sends Back Pictures Of Moon's Surface After Falling Over Upon Landing. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired February 24, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:01:33]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague Christiane Amanpour in Ukraine. We'll get to Christiane in a moment.

Watching two major stories unfolding today, including a pivotal moment on the campaign trail in the U.S. South Carolina Republican voters are racing to the polls today, aiming to pick their next presidential nominee. Former Governor Nikki Haley also casting her ballot in her home state of South Carolina. She's hoping to boost momentum on the trail as she challenges Donald Trump. The former president is hoping another landslide victory tonight propels him to the nomination. Christiane?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Here in Kyiv, Fredricka, officials and people are also watching this election closely as this solemn two-year mark of the start of the Russian invasion is also a turning point. Today, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging his citizens to remain hopeful despite Russia's brutal and relentless aggression.

And yet, on the front lines, weapons and ammunition are running desperately low. The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is vowing more aid and calling the situation on the battlefield, quote, extremely serious.

Meantime, Russia's defense minister chose the day to meet -- this day with his troops inside parts of eastern Ukraine that they now occupied. Now over in the city of Dnipro, an apartment building was struck on Friday by Russia's Shahed drones provided by Iran. Two people were killed in Kharkiv, and in Odessa there will also hits. You can see on this map how much closer to the front lines it is than Kyiv. And that makes Dnipro's emergency hospital a life-saving stop for the wounded Ukrainian soldiers who are coming in from the battlefield. Even though Ukraine does not officially release casualty figures, we got a rare look inside as the war enters its third brutal year.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

AMANPOUR: The parking lot to Dnipro's Mechnikov Hospital is jammed with ambulances. These patients are the lucky ones. Fully stabilized here after their wounds have been treated, they are being evacuated to hospitals in 10 other Ukrainian cities. It's a bloody carousel because they're making room for the next wave of casualties.

In the resuscitation ward, Director Serhiy Ryzhenko tells us in the two years of Russia's full-scale invasion, 28,000 frontline soldiers have been brought to this hospital alone.

SERHIY RYZHENKO, DIRECTOR, MECHNIKOV HOSPITAL: From 50 to 100 patients very, very serious, very, very serious.

AMANPOUR: Every day, every night, 50 to 100 patients from the Avdiivka-Donetsk region.

RYZHENKO: Yes.

AMANPOUR: And the injuries are grave, shrapnel from artillery, mines, and other direct fire. Avdiivka is the town that recently fell, and that's where these soldiers have come from. But in the next word alone in his room, Army Sergeant Vasily (ph) Juilliard (ph) was injured on Sunday, operated on Monday, and had three limbs amputated. He says the Russians are basically just throwing meat at us, mobilized men who run at us in an open field.

Do you have enough troops and enough ammunition? How do you fight them?

[14:05:00]

"We're on our own lands," says Vasily (ph). "We fight to the last and do not give up. If they get past us, our families will be next. We have no right to lose."

Waiting in the corridor outside, his worried parents. "You know, he didn't ask us to go," said Nikola (ph). "We didn't tell him not to. He said he had to." And his mother Helena (ph) tells us, "He said I'll do everything I can and everything that's in my power."

Like so many Ukrainians, they've given their son to the defense of this land ever since Putin started robbing them of it 10 years ago. The director tells us nonstop surgery every day all day in all the operating rooms contributes to the 95 percent survival rate, which is higher now after 10 years of improved combat surgery and techniques. Every operation, every patched up patient is a matter of patriotic duty. Even giving blood is marked with a celebration.

Here we run into American hedge fund and philanthropist Whitney Tilson, who has raised money for ambulances, generators, battery packs. But beyond the humanitarian, he sees the big picture. WHITNEY TILSON, PHILANTHROPIST: I think the stability of the entire

world depends on the west helping Ukraine stand up to this aggression, because if we let Putin win, I think this is just the beginning.

AMANPOUR: And somehow, incredibly, like the other wounded warriors we've spoken to, Vasily (ph) says he wants to get back to his comrades on the eastern front.

Are you and your soldiers still highly motivated? You've been fighting for 10 years?

"I have no choice," he replies. "Do you understand? Of course, I'm motivated."

As for the lost limbs, he says he can be a trainer. He can still be useful in this fight, which from here looks like it'll last a lot longer than anyone thought.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

AMANPOUR (on camera): The spirit and the resolve of that Ukrainian soldier and of the Ukrainian people have inspired millions around the world. Here with me now in Kyiv is the deputy head of the office of president, and he is Igor Zhovka. Welcome. Welcome back. I just want you to just to talk from the heart odd about people like Vasily (ph) and others who are multiple amputees who just want to go back to the front. They're still highly motivated, but they are exhausted, and they do have dwindling weapon supplies and ammunition. What can they count on?

IGOR ZHOVKA, DEPUTY HEAD OF OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: They're heroes? They're leaving heroes. There are a role model, they are a role model for each and every of us, for each and every nation in the world. But right you are, two years of war, 730 days. They are tired. They're exhausted. But their level of morale is much higher anywhere else, anywhere else in the world.

And yes, they need support, and by support we need weapons, ammunition. Scarcity of ammunition is some time in something which is really difficult. The battle for that's what we hear from him. Thats why my president, the government tirelessly talk to each and every leader, please. It's still not enough. It still can be done much better. European Union can be 1 million ammunition, which it promised. Other countries give more artillery, more battle tanks. The fighter jets could finally come, have in the country. We need this in order to win. Every day, every minute, every hour counts. The time is running.

AMANPOUR: You've had a very important delegation. I mean, you've had U.S. senators yesterday. You've had European leaders, including the commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen, and she said today in her press conference with your president that Ukrainian soldiers in the last two years have saved Europe. And I just wondered whether you think that there will be the amount of weapons and ammunition that was promised to you, whether they gave you any hope that it would be coming? ZHOVKA: I am positive now about the European Union as an institution

and the individual European Union members. Look about the declared amount of military support just for this year we're having from Germany, we're having from France, we're having from other member states of the U.N., from U.K., were having, hopefully we'll be having from yes, after the adoption of this supplementary budget.

We are hopeful. We are optimistic. But you know, there has to be no spare time, no procrastination, no bureaucracy. We do understand sometimes it takes time to produce, sometimes it takes bureaucratic procedures. Sometimes it looks like courage to make this decision. Take example from Ukraine. We don't have time to think over, to procrastinate. We need to win the war. We all need to win the war.

[14:10:06]

AMANPOUR: And as your president says all the time, we are fighting this war for you, so you don't have to send your sons and daughters if we lose and Putin carries on into a NATO country. He said in Munich on the panel that I had with him, we, I can tell you, frankly, we don't have the heavy weapons. Therefore, for our people are our main weapon right now. How long do you think you can wait?

ZHOVKA: We cannot wait. We cannot wait and we cannot afford, Europe cannot afford Ukraine to lose. We're really -- to wait -- we're really prevented Russia aggression here in this country, we stopped this Russian aggression, this definitely not the second strongest terminal (ph) the world, but definitely not the weakest one. We stopped for the time being. But we need to defeat them finally. And yes, you owe whole Europe needs to defeat them, because otherwise, the aggression will spread.

We need to deter Russia. We need to make Russia understand any escalation is aggression is unbearable for them. Any repetition of aggression, they should not even think about this. That's why Ukraine is making the security guarantees. That's why Ukraine is aiming to become a member of E.U. and NATO, to win.

AMANPOUR: And what do you make of the fact that the Russian defense minister has been inside your territory today, they've occupied it, but inside your territory, praising bestowing medals, you know.

ZHOVKA: They have to show something to their people, this mere propaganda. The lack major victories on the battlefield. Let me look --

AMANPOUR: You did lose Avdiivka recently and they are pushing towards your second biggest city, Kharkiv in the northeast.

ZHOVKA: We've withdrawn from Avdiivka for the very simple reason because we save people. And look, this is a small town of Avdiivka which they are fighting for for already 10 years starting from 2014. If this is their major victory, I mean, they are having big problems. They will never even capture the whole Donbas as they claim in 2014. But yes, they have to show something to their people, because their people are living in the air, in the world of propaganda. That's it. AMANPOUR: And very finally, I said that even here people are watching

the U.S. elections, even the primaries, because it matters in terms of the supply lines for here, is that correct?

ZHOVKA: Everyone is watching the elections and primaries. But if you asked me, I mean, look, my president is regularly talking to both parties, to both chambers. Just recently he was in Munich, met with delegations from Senate and House and both Democrats and Republicans. Every person says, you need ammunition, you need our support. We will do this. It's our own internal business. We will tackle it, and Ukraine will get weapons.

AMANPOUR: So you're confident of that. Igor Zhovka, thank you so much, indeed.

And back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Yes, this election consequential in so many ways.

All right, let's pivot now to South Carolina where that primary is underway. Voters are heading to the polls today to pick between former president Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. Trump is the overwhelming favorite in a state where Haley served six years as governor. While Trump is hoping for a decisive victory today, Haley vows to continue with her campaign regardless of today's outcome.

We have a team of correspondents scattered around the palmetto state. Let's begin with Boris Sanchez in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Boris, set the stage. What is at stake today and what's the activity like there today?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, there is plenty at stake, as you said, a head-to-head competition between former president Donald Trump and former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley. A loss for Haley would be a big deal considering that she was a popular governor in this state. The former president holds a commanding lead in polling.

We'll get to the implications in a moment, but I want to show you what's going on behind me. I'm going to keep here, getting set for more voters to come in. This is the registration booth where voters give their I.D. They grab their ballots, then they go over to those booths in the background. You see a couple of voters there casting their ballots. One election worker described it as a giant pencil where it fills in their vote on a piece of paper. Then as that gentleman is doing right now, they walk over to a tabulating machine. They insert their card, they get an "I voted" sticker, and then they head out the door. The votes are going to be tabulated later in the evening. Polls here closing at 07:00 p.m.

I do very quickly want to get outside because we have a Nikki Haley supporter here, Sam (ph), who has been patiently waiting to chat with us. Sam (ph), thank you so much for being with us. You're on live with CNN. You voted for Nikki Haley because Donald Trump did something that upset you. What was that? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I was just telling your colleague that I was

I really felt that immigration was an important issue, and I was really surprised that there, was such a wonderful bill that -- it wasn't perfect, but it made me feel like, oh, we're making steps, we're making progress. And then when he went out completely against it, I felt like that was one thing. I was like that's just too far. We need to make solutions. We don't need more problems. And that was something for me.

[14:15:02]

SANCHEZ: Sam (ph), we appreciate you sharing your perspective with us today. Good luck. Thanks for waiting outside for us.

So one voter in one precinct giving you an idea of what this comes down to. The Trump team, though very confident about their chances in South Carolina tonight. I want to send it to my colleague, Alayna Treene, who has been monitoring the race here for some time. Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Boris, you're exactly right. The former president's campaign is very confident about their chances here in South Carolina. And they're really hoping that this will be the state where they can deliver the final blow to Nikki Haley's campaign.

But we are here in Mount Pleasant at Jennie Moore Elementary School. And I just want to show you this long line of voters, a very impressive turnout here for many people who are eager to cast their votes and have their voices be heard. And I do just want to quickly mention an interesting dynamic and something that I'll be watching today is this is an open primary in South Carolina, and that means that Republicans, Democrats, independents, all of them are able to participate. I did speak with one voter. Her name is Kelly (ph), and she said that she is a registered Democrat, but she actually came and voted for Nikki Haley today and said that was after Haley's campaign had sent a flurry of messages and phone calls to her encouraging her, but also other Democrats to come out.

And that is something that we've been hearing from the Haley campaign, that they are hoping that moderate voters, independent voters, and even some Democrats could potentially make a difference for her here in her home state. Fred, back to your.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much in Mount Pleasant, Boris Sanchez, also in South Carolina at Rock Hill.

All right, and join CNN for live results and analysis of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. Coverage begins tonight at 6:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

So much more to come on the South Carolina Republican presidential primary, including this. At any moment now, Donald Trump is set to speak at the CPAC conference. His final message on this Election Day after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:21:13]

WHITFIELD: As voters in South Carolina ahead to the polls today in the Republican primary, President Trump is in Maryland where he is speaking at the CPAC conference. The annual gathering of influential conservatives has become a pro Trump festival of sorts in recent years. CNN's Steve Contorno is covering all of this for. Steve, what's the message from Trump today?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fred, the former president might be hours away from finding out the results of the South Carolina Republican primary. But this is very much a general election speech that is happening right behind me right now. He is squarely focused on President Joe Biden. He has now been talking for about 20 minutes and he has not even mentioned former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. So this is very much setting the stage for that showdown that we are likely heading toward in November.

And he is using his time to cast a dark vision of the country if Joe Biden is reelected, promising that he will make changes, reverse everything Joe Biden has done since taking over and putting back in place the policies that he enacted during her his four years as president.

And as you said, Fred, this has become almost like a Trump rally, this event. This used to be a gathering of conservatives from sort of across the political spectrum. However, this is very much a Trump centric rally. He is not only the most favorite person here, but he has also been using it to test and audition potential vice presidential candidates. We've seen a number of individuals get up here and address this crowd, trying to convince the former president and his fans that they deserve that second spot on the ticket. So very much a Trump rally here, and they are hearing from him right now. He is scheduled to go from here to South Carolina where he will watch those election results come in. They are hoping for a big win that may actually put an end to this race.

WHITFIELD: All right, Steve Contorno, thank you so much in Maryland.

Much more right here in the CNN Newsroom, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is urging hope as his nation enters its third year of war against Russia. CNN is live in Ukraine after the break.

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[14:27:30]

WHITFIELD: The leaders of the G7 met today to express their unwavering support for Ukraine after a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The joint statement comes at a time while U.S. funding for Ukraine remains unclear.

Joining me right now is CNN White House reporter Camila DeChalus. Camila, what have you learned?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, earlier today, Biden had a meeting, a call with leaders in the G7. And on this call that we are told lasted for more than 90 minutes, the leaders on this call just really reiterated their continued support for Ukraine and their unwavering commitment to ensuring that it has the resources it needs to really fight its battle against Russia.

Now, it's really coming at this time on the domestic end in the U.S. while Congress is still stalling on passing the national security supplemental package that would provide the necessary aid to Ukraine in order to provide it the resources it needs to fight this battle. And so really on this call they really emphasized what they're going to do and this commitment to it.

I want to really read a quick statement that came out of this meeting, and they said, I quote, "As Ukraine enters the third year of this relentless war, its government and its people can count on the G7's support for as long as it takes." Now, next week, Congress comes back in session, and you can expect that Biden is going to keep pushing lawmakers to try to pass this bill forward to give the funding that it needs to Ukraine. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Camila DeChalus, thank you so much from the White House.

All right, let's go back to Kyiv now and Christiane Amanpour. Christiane?

AMANPOUR: Now, Fred, as the war does mark its second year, entering its third year, they are clearly also looking at the G7 and some of them were in Kyiv today. President Zelenskyy earlier telling his countrymen not to give up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, unfortunately, each of us has someone to keep a moment of silence and honor the memory of. Together, we bow our heads -- 730 days of pain. But at the same time, 730 days of hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Ukraine and its allies are now facing some challenging questions. With support and supplies dwindling and facing some tough losses President Zelenskyy has called for a new counteroffensive.

Joining me now from London is Ukraine's former defense minister, Andriy Zagorodnyuk.

[14:30:01]

Welcome to the program. Can I just start by asking you, minister, what -- how do you see a new counteroffensive? What do you think the president means given the very questionable successes of the previous one?

ANDRIY ZAGORODNYUK, FORMER UKRAINE DEFENSE MINISTER: We certainly must win. This is for sure. And the whole country is working on this victory. And there's absolutely no other way for Ukraine to establish peace in the region. There's a massive movement about helping Ukraine around Europe. And there's a lot of different projects, different initiatives in all kinds of parts of the western coalition to help Ukraine to find the way to get the upper hand, so to speak, and basically establish an advantage.

But there is no alternative scenario, because any alternative scenario would mean that Russians are pushing forward, and we cannot afford that.

AMANPOUR: Well, and as you know, they are incrementally, and it's been not very good for Ukraine on the battlefield recently, losing or withdrawing from Avdiivka, and the secretary general of NATO saying it's a very serious state on the battlefield right now. Talking about support and Europe, et cetera, you're in London. What kind of technologies, what kind of help are you trying to drum up for your country right now?

ZAGORODNYUK: I'm in London temporarily for a few days because there's technology meetings and conferences happening here on the defense side. There's the technological landscape of the war is changing extremely dramatically over the last months. So the previous doctrines are becoming irrelevant. The ways to conduct a land war are becoming irrelevant, and drones are changing essentially -- drones and other new technologies, including electronic warfare and so on, changing pretty much everything, they way, how the war is being fought.

And we do see a lot of, a lot of common efforts in order to basically to enable Ukraine to maintain or established in some cases technological leadership in this direction. And I have to say that despite Russia is moving ahead right now, they're moving with enormous losses. So they lost in Avdiivka more people than in the Afghanistan war, for example, which has been conducted for like 10 years. So they do move very slowly and extremely painfully, but at the cost which we, for example, in Ukraine would never, we would never do that because we value our people. We care about our soldiers and officers and so on.

So I don't think that Russia can sustain that advancement in the long run, because essentially they will run out of weapons and run out of people. But for us, it's more important to find an asymmetric, to find the non-linear answer to the, to the Russian challenge. And that's what we're doing.

AMANPOUR: So that's really interesting because they do have a numerical advantage to you, let's face it, and they are getting huge numbers of drones and missiles from places like Iran and North Korea. And the defense minister boasted this week that they are pumping out 1,000 drones per day, he said they could. Up until now, Ukraine had the advantage in drone warfare. Do you think it can reestablish that?

ZAGORODNYUK: Yes. Yes, absolutely, it can. And we look very closely what Russia is doing in that space, in that technological area. They do have some quite substantial innovations. But at the same time, were absolutely see the limit of it. We understand that what they're doing is beatable, and we can get and reestablish an advantage quite quickly, within a realistic period of time, let's say. But at the same time of course it's a substantial challenge because they're pumping huge money into this, into this production. And they avoid the sanctions very -- some sanctions they avoid quite easily and get most of the chips and circuit boards from the western countries.

But in any case, Ukraine is a massive technological startup nation right now, developing a lot of different new projects which I'm sure will come very soon.

AMANPOUR: Really interesting, as you await the delivery of supplies, weapons, ammunition from the United States. It's so interesting to hear you talk about how these technological and digital and all those advances are being developed by yourself, by your country. Thank you very much, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, thanks a lot.

And up next, I'm going to speak to CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh. He's been covering Ukraine for much of the past two years as the country enters now its third year of war over Russia's invasion.

[14:35:01]

What he is seeing on the ground after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Now as Ukraine and the world mark two years since Russia's invasion here, Ukrainian officials say they have new reassurances of more aid from European leaders. The E.U. has fallen short of previous commitments to boosting ammunition production and recently agreed to a funding deal worth more than $50 billion. The deal comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to Ukrainians today, insisting their defiant nation will succeed.

Now, CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is here to, and you've been here and there along this frontline for much of the past two years. You're joining us from Zaporizhzhia, which is south of where I am.

[14:40:02]

How have you seen the war develop, change, go back and forth over two years?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, I mean, it's been a terrifying rollercoaster for ordinary Ukrainians, but I think really throughout we've seen what a dedicated population of men who are defending their own homes, often so many of them with no previous battle experience at all have been able to do if given the right tools by the west.

And I think, too, Christiane, it's important to cast our minds back to two years ago, two of the key expectations people had as this conflict was widely predicted by western intelligence. The first, essentially that it was likely that western nations wouldn't be that unified in their response. Well, that proved to be wrong. There was an extraordinary unity in western response, but that has sadly slowly eroded over time.

And the second expectation was that the Russian military would simply sweep through Ukraine, that it would be a quite a fast walk for the third biggest army in the world. Well, that turned out to be incorrect. They turn out to be staggering, incompetent, their equipment not necessarily working up to expectations. But slowly over time that expectation has begun to be realized again.

And so I think the two years have sort of put us from a place where we were surprised by certain givens not being met now slowly coming to reality again. And I think the important one, too, Christiane, in all of this is the notion of Russia's patience and tolerance for pain. They don't deal with multiple electoral cycles here. I don't know how many U.S. president's Vladimir Putin is on now. I think it's about four or five. And essentially, he has the capacity to wait this out, to wait for that moment when western unity begins to fray lightly.

Now of course, you've seen an extraordinary parade of European and western leaders in Kyiv today pledging more. But the real big one that they're missing is that $60 billion from the United States. And the mere idea that that's not coming, we first heard about it in December, predictions it would take weeks to be felt on the battlefield. That has been an extraordinary blow to morale here. It has made many people we talked to question quite what the steps ahead of going to be. And its ultimately what the Kremlin has always been waiting for, that moment where the west, an outlier in its unity in the past, begins to think about its own concerns, or in the case that the U.S., deal with its own sort of extreme prejudice in parts of the Republican Party. And that sadly is why the months ahead may get more complicated for Ukraine. Christiane?

AMANPOUR: Yes, I was going to ask you about those months ahead, but I wanted to ask you about where you've been this week. And you in Kherson which Ukraine loudly celebrated liberating more than a year ago. What did you see there?

WALSH: Yes. I mean, look, it's unutterably bleak. This was a vibrant place two years ago that we saw Russian troops walk into after Ukrainian defenses collapsed. And in those two years, it's been occupied, horrific for much the population, liberated quite fast. The Russian forces withdrew. Then it had intense flooding that damaged part of it. And now it's in this awful phase where locals talk about the worst shelling, frankly, that they've seen of all of this war.

And coming here to a quieter place like Zaporizhzhia, you actually get to remember the difference, like all night long in Ukraine -- sorry, in Kherson, there was the thud of artillery in and out. We had drone pass overhead, heavy machine gun far. It's winnowed out the population there to the elderly who simply can't afford to go or be anywhere else who race between food handouts to try and kick themselves sustained over time.

And that sense of a ghost city, really nothing like an actual liberation or return to normal life, that makes I think many Ukrainians fearful as for the future. Russia is across the river, willing to hit targets around that city. Most locals think they're probably trying to hit something military, but don't care if they hit something civilian. And that's reduced all ordinary life there to very little, indeed.

And I think that is a dark sign for many Ukrainians living here, the notion that though have a really push Russia back far enough away to get back to the life they had two years ago. And I know many Ukrainians who we speak to here, remembering today quite what it was like before all this nightmare started, but also seeing no real other way out other than continuing the fight, Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Nick, thank you so much from Zaporizhzhia. And let us not forget that this has been a 10-year war, not two years. Full-scale invasion two years ago, but this has been a 10-year war. Ukraine has lost thousands of people. They're now desperate for more weapons and ammunition keep fighting this fight, which is for essentially themselves, obviously, for the safety of Europe, for the safety of the U.S. space, democratic and rules-based international order.

And again, they say it's great and we're so grateful for so much of the aid, but time is of the essence now. And as we've heard so many times, on the front line, soldiers are having to choose when to fire back, how much of their limited ammunition to spend and to judge when to do it. It's not like they have unlimited ammunition right now.

[14:45:05]

And they talk about waves and waves of Russian soldiers charging at them, as they said to me, like meat grinder material, charging at them across the field. So the casualties on both sides, very high. But here the motivation, even amongst the severely injured, the multiple amputees who I've been speaking to, remains so incredibly high that it's humbling, actually, to watch. Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: It is, indeed, and globally so much hanging on this conflict and the outcome. Christiane, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right, still to come, right now in this country, voting is underway in South Carolina for the Republican presidential primary. Our political team is there live. We'll have an update as CNN Newsroom continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, it's the little spacecraft that could. The Odysseus lunar lander is now sideways on the moon. The makers of the craft say one of its feet caught on a lunar rock, tipping and over. But they say the lander is, quote, alive and well and has the ability to send back pictures from the moon's south pole. This image was taken as the Odysseus landed on the moon, but no images yet from this surface. All right, there you go, there the images.

All right, here with this now, retired NASA astronaut and former international spaceship commander Leroy Chiao. Great to see you. So let's take a look at the images that we have received. OK, so what are we looking at in this first image from the moon? How would you dissect this?

LEROY CHIAO, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, as you said, the lander did touch down, soft-landed after a heroic effort by the engineers after an issue with the ranging radar. They were able to actually use a laser range finder that was just an experiment, use that operationally to get themselves down on the moon. Unfortunately, they had a little bit of lateral speed, about two feet per second. So when the legs actually touched down, the feet, actually the vehicle tipped over.

So unfortunately, that's the situation. But the good news is they did soft-land. They did learn a lot from this. And they're continuing to operate the payloads that they brought with us, with them, including being able to send back images from the ground there, from the lunar ground, I guess, the lunar surface. So hopefully we'll get to see some more of those images in the not-too-distant future.

WHITFIELD: So I guess that's something that they could kind of anticipate would potentially happen, right, I mean, because it's kind of on its own. A surface or our rock might get in the way of the surface and all that. Do you think that risks the whole mission at all, or is that just kind of a little foible that happened?

CHIAO: Yes, right. And so yes, absolutely, the question in my mind is, why did they have that two feet per second lateral drift, and why weren't the rates dealt out to near zero before touchdown? Could have been an issue with the calibration of a sensor. We just don't know yet, so we'll have to wait for them to come back with that.

This is one of the things that Japanese lander just a month or so ago, it came down. It was supposed to land super accurately by using a database, onboard database and cameras to look at what is on the surface of the moon compared to its database and find a smooth area that didn't have rocks that might tip it over. It ended up also on its nose, unfortunately, but of course it was able to salvage much of the science it was designed to do. So not a not a done deal, per se, not easy to do still, but we're getting closer.

WHITFIELD: So as you are waiting to hear if the Odysseus landing was a success, what was going through your mind on this entire venture?

CHIAO: I was really excited about this. I was rooting for these guys. They've been at this for about 10 years, and there's had a sophisticated spacecraft, had a flawless mission getting into lunar orbit and coming down. And like I said, when they were getting close to landing, that's where they started having some issues with the ranging radar. They were able to come up with a creative solution. Engineers designed a software patch very quickly, were able to get it on board the spacecraft and use that experimental laser range finder to complete the landing. And maybe, maybe that was part of the issue of why they did have this lateral drift. But at any rate, they're going to learn a lot from this, and I bet the next one they nail it completely.

WHITFIELD: Wow, very exciting. Leroy Chiao glad you could be with us and help us understand the pictures and the whole mission and what's at stake.

CHIAO: Yes, my pleasure. Great. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right, Las Vegas has been a powerful force in the zeitgeist recently, hosting Super Bowl 58 and wowing audiences with its futuristic new venue, the sphere. Well, now the new CNN original series "Vegas, The Story of Sin City," examines the city's transformation from desert town to entertainment mecca. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TRISH GERAN, AUTHOR, BEYOND THE GLIMMERING LIGHTS: Without gambling, Las Vegas would have not been born. Gambling to Las Vegas is like water to the earth. Gambling put Las Vegas on the map.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The potential to build this city into a gambling mecca piqued the interest of the crime syndicates. So the launch of the gambling industry in Las Vegas, essentially it was the launch of mob involvement in Las Vegas, too.

[14:55:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smash gambling shocks New York's Mayor LaGuardia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the gangsters take notice that they have to keep away from New York from now on.

GEOFF SCHUMACHER, VICE PRESIDENT, THE MOB MUSEUM: In 1945, you saw the arrival of the New York mob represented by Meyer Lansky and his associate Bugsy Siegel. And they plowed their money into buying the El Cortez Hotel. And they used it almost like a training ground.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, so fascinating. "Vegas, The Story of Sin City" premiers tomorrow at 10:00 only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you.