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Ghana's Parliament Passes Anti-Homosexuality Bill; Navalny's Widow Addresses European Leaders; U.S. Sources: Israel May Be Planning Lebanon Incursion. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 29, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[01:59:56]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead. A CNN investigation reveals in unprecedented detail how indiscriminate fire from Israeli forces killed more than half the members of just one Palestinian family.

Ghana ramps up its crackdown on the LGBTQ community as the country's parliament passes strict new anti-gay legislation. What it could mean for Ghana's LGBTQ community and their allies.

And in an emotional address to European leaders. Alexei Navalny's widow describes what happened to her husband in the weeks leading up to his death.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: We begin this hour with the staggering toll of the war in Gaza where more than 30,000 people have now been killed since the fighting began in October. That is, according to new numbers just released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza. It does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but has recently said almost three quarters of the casualties in Gaza are women and children.

The Biden administration has become increasingly critical of how Israel is conducting the war, with President Biden saying its response has been over the top. And with communications blackouts and restrictions on journalists, it's difficult to get a true picture of what's happening in Gaza. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and a team of CNN journalists documented an attack that killed more than half the members of one family and found a mystery that took weeks to unravel. We must warn you parts of her report contain disturbing and graphic

images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Every patient here has a harrowing account of survival. But it is the story of this one young woman that, as you'll see, would become key to uncovering an atrocity that, until today, had been hidden in the dark They're all gone. I have no one left," 18-year-old Roba Abu Jibba told us. She offered few clues as to what had happened to her and her family.

But a week later, a camera man working for CNN in Gaza was out filming as he's done every day for months. He was one of the first to arrive in this area just after Israeli forces had withdrawn.

It was on that date, January 14th, when he stumbled upon the scene of a horrific incident. At first, we had no idea this was connected to Roba until they start pulling documents from the rubble. It's Gaza's grim routine of trying to identify the dead.

Then the startling discovery. Later that day, CNN producer Abeer Salman screens the footage and sees Roba's I.D. This is where she was critically injured and the bodies are the remains of her family. The images tell of the brutal force that was unleashed here. And people speak of a massacre of civilians. With the stench of death in the air, they pull body after body. Tiny corpses carried on blankets.

And in the corner, a woman sits, covered in flies. In her decomposing arms, a young man. But we still didn't really know what had happened here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be really helpful, especially if we could go through the satellite images.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): This grisly discovery was the start of a weeks- long CNN investigation, complicated by Israel's ban on journalists entering Gaza without IDF escort and frequent communication blackouts.

We tracked down seven survivors, gathered video, satellite imagery, Israeli military press releases. We verified social media content and spoke with ballistic and forensic experts, allowing us to piece together the events of a bloody night of death and horror amid intense and indiscriminate Israeli military fire that left civilians dead.

We started by asking the IDF about the incident, giving them pictures and exact coordinates. The military said their troops had come under fire from that location on January 4th and responded with a, "precise strike to remove an imminent threat" and cannot confirm if the bodies are linked to that strike. Our investigation raises serious questions about the IDF's actions that day.

This is where it all unfolded. It's a wide area of Salaheddine Street. Before the war, it was an industrial zone.

[02:05:03]

But as Israel designated Salaheddine the evacuation corridor out of northern Gaza, business owners allowed hundreds of displaced people to stay in these warehouses.

All of a sudden in early January, those families could hear war creeping closer. This was the scene filmed by a journalist in nearby Maghazi. The families decided they would leave when morning came. But it was Israeli forces who arrived first. Eyewitnesses say the warehouses on both sides of the road we recreated in this 3D model were repeatedly struck from the ground and air.

Families sheltering in the warehouses on the left broke holes through back walls, escaping into the farmlands. For the warehouse on the right, there was no escape for most. They were surrounded. They say the Israelis shot at anyone who tried to walk out.

SUMAYA ABU JIBBA, ROBA'S MOTHER (through translator): My son, along with other relatives, started getting our belongings out the door. A bomb exploded. They struck him in the heart. He bled, ran, fell to the ground and died. Our relative and another guy were also killed. Everyone was screaming and calling for an ambulance.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Roba's mother, Sumaya, helplessly watched as her son, Hamdi, died in front of her eyes. But nothing could have prepared her for what would come next.

SUMAYA (through translator): As we were calling for help, another bomb hit. We were all knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I found my children and relatives killed. Roba was hanging between life and death.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): What knocked them unconscious was likely a massive 2000-pound bomb, according to three ballistic experts, who analyzed images of the crater. The blast shockwave is so powerful that it can rupture the lungs, leaving victims to drown in their own blood.

Two forensic experts who examined our video tell us this shockwave is what they believe killed the Abu Jibbas.

Roba's sister, Diana, survived. She ran out frantically, searching for help.

DIANA ABU JIBBA, ROBA'S SISTER (through translator): The Israelis fired a bomb at us. I saw my siblings die. Hamdi died in my arms. I went out to get an ambulance. The tank was close to us. We started running. They started shooting at me.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): While the Israeli military says these allegations of shooting at civilians are baseless, Sumaya and three of her children barely made it out. They wanted to get help for the others but couldn't return, left not knowing if loved ones they'd left alive would survive their injuries.

Five of the Abu Jibba children were killed, the youngest among them, Al- Zain. He was 10 and Ali, 13. Their bodies lay rotting in the warehouse. What the family didn't know was that Roba was still alive, bleeding for four long days among the dead. After a January 7th interview, we tried to find her again. She was lost in the chaos of overwhelmed hospitals. After weeks of searching, we found her miles away in Rafah, receiving treatment.

ROBA ABU JIBBA, ATTACK SURVIVOR (through translator): The Israelis were outside shooting and started firing bombs. We were all injured and fell to the ground. The metal roof and wood collapsed on us. My mother and brother came to take me but I couldn't get up because of the injuries to my arm and eyes. So she left to get an ambulance.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): With Roba desperate for help and her little brother, Ali, fighting for his life for days, Israeli forces were right outside. Satellite images from January 5th, one day after the attack, show IDF vehicles by the warehouse and freshly bulldozed ground as close as 70 meters from where the siblings lay.

ROBA (through translator): Oh, my family members who were still alive, left. A relative and I stayed. They started bulldozing the place and dumped it on top of the dead people, my siblings.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): She and her relative felt they had to get out of this shelter turned morgue. They decided to make a daring escape. They were questioned by soldiers about links to Hamas before making it to the relative safety of a local hospital.

We cannot confirm the Israeli military's claim that their troops came under fire. And yet survivors we spoke to tell us there were no militants in the warehouses. Some witnesses say they heard what they called resistance fire. And local journalists that day reported clashes in the area.

CNN found that the Israeli military has separately alleged there were Hamas weapons facilities nearby but never linked them to the warehouse where the Abu Jibbas sheltered, which we've highlighted here on this IDF map.

However, it began, there is no doubt the Israeli military used ferocious firepower. The size of the bomb was, by its nature, indiscriminate and survivors say they were not warned to leave by the military, as it claims it always tries to do.

[02:10:06]

In response to extensive questions from CNN, the IDF claimed it told civilians to leave in the days before the deadly incident but provided no evidence when asked. The first time the military publicly said this part of Gaza was no longer a safe evacuation route came in this post on X at 11:28 am on January 4th, hours, after the attack.

SUMAYA (through translator): They knew we were civilians. Their drones saw everything. We had big white flags up. They said it's a safe area. The south is safe. We came to the south for nothing. They bombed us and killed our children in the south.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The events of that January day, only a small window into the vast, undocumented suffering that the Israeli military has inflicted on civilians in Gaza. With tens of thousands already killed, leaving so many like the Abu Jibba family grieving, traumatized, with no recourse to justice and accountability.

ROBA (through translator): They died in front of me. I couldn't do anything. We would love to be silly and play together. Now those memories are gone. KARADSHEH (voice-over): Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: In the wake of CNN is reporting the United Nations has called for an investigation into the events detailed in Jomana's report. And you can find much more about Robert's story and our investigation on our Web site @cnn.com.

With the humanitarian situation in Gaza worsening by the day, the U.S. is looking into additional ways it can help. Two officials tell CNN the Biden administration is considering possible air drops into Gaza, France, Jordan and several other countries airdropped aid parcels into the territory earlier this week. Some Gaza residents say they've been forced to eat animal food and ration their supplies to make sure that their children get at least one meal a day.

Concern is reportedly rising within the Biden administration about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon. Multiple officials tell CNN it could come by late spring or summer if diplomatic efforts failed to cool tensions with Hezbollah. Months of daily cross border attacks have forced about 80,000 Israelis from their homes in the northern part of the country. So let's go to journalist Elliott Gotkine who joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Elliot.

What more are you learning about these rising concerns in the Biden administration that Israel may launch an incursion into Lebanon?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, tensions have been bubbling between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon ever since the Hamas terrorist attacks of October the 7th seventh that began on October the 8th when Hezbollah fired on Israeli territory. And ever since then, there has been tit for tat daily deadly fire from Hezbollah into Israel and Israel into southern Lebanon.

Indeed, in recent days, if anything strikes have been intensifying, with some Israeli strikes falling just 25 or so miles outside of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. So there has been concerned for some time and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and others have said that if Hezbollah does not move back the 18 miles north of the border to the Litani River, as it is bound to do by U.N. resolutions then Israel will do it for them.

And now, as you say, concerns among Biden administration officials and officials in the intelligence community in the United States, that Israel is planning a ground operation, a ground incursion into southern Lebanon to make that happen. Now, of course, it may not actually happen, no decision has been made. There's talk about it happening by late spring or early summer.

And it may just be that Israel could be saber rattling, trying to have the threat of a potential ground incursion into Lebanon, do the job for them to encourage Hezbollah to move north. At the same time, U.S. administration officials and U.S. (INAUDIBLE) Amos Hochstein have been discussing with Lebanese officials and Israeli officials separately, to try to create a miles wide buffer zone that could forestall any Israeli ground operation into Lebanon.

But I suppose the big concern here is that given the vast arsenal of missiles and weaponry that Hezbollah has, thanks to his patron Iran, that any war between Israel and Hezbollah could be much, much more devastating, certainly inside of Israel and also inside of Lebanon than the war we are seeing between Israel and Hamas. And that is why the U.S. is so concerned and in the words of some officials familiar with the intelligence community alarm bells are now ringing that this is something that could happen.

And in recent days, Israel has again been saying that it will continue to hit Hezbollah positions even if there is a truce between Israel and Hamas which President Biden himself says he hopes could come into effect as early as Monday.

[02:15:13]

And there are other views that suggest that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerned that once the war between Israel and Hamas is over, that he would then need to face the electorate potentially that he might be inclined to carry on a war of some sorts of the can remain in office. So concerns there about escalation on the north of Israel. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Elliott Gotkine joining us live from London. Many thanks for that report.

Well, with negotiations underway to free the remaining hostages in Gaza, Israel says it will take measures to protect civilians if it expands its military operation in Rafah. I spoke with CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton about how that might work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think one of the key things that the Israelis have to look at of course is from a purely tactical perspective, is whether or not they are forces are going to be ambushed. They are going to be a lot of places where that could happen with, you know, 1.3 or so million people in Russia right now, it's very clear that there are a lot of opportunities for mischief to be made on both sides.

And the risk, of course, is that a lot of civilians will get caught in crossfire. And that, of course, compounds the difficulty of conducting military operations there. But it's going to be extremely hard for the Israelis to achieve any of their military goals just because of the sheer number of people that are involved here. But also, it's going to be very hard for there to be any kind of resolution to this if they don't have a viable plan to move people out of Rafah.

They say they have a plan. But that, of course, is going to be something that we'll have to after see in practice.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, as you -- as you point out, they say they have this plan. But with more than one million Palestinians living in Rafah. How would an evacuation plan work on such a massive scale? And how long would it take to relocate so many people ahead of a possible ground offensive?

LEIGHTON: Well, it could take a, you know, at least several days, if not a week, or a week and a half or so at a minimum under normal circumstances, and you would have to have a place for them to go. And as always, we can tell right now, the alternatives that the Israelis have spoken about are not necessarily improvements over the current state of affairs that these civilians these Palestinians are experiencing at the moment.

So, Egypt is not set to open up its border with Gaza to take in refugees. The Israelis have talked about moving people to closer to the coast than they currently are. That would, you know, potentially allow for certain things to happen. But it would also create some other difficulties, potentially logistically and none of these places seems to have been prepared as a campsite or as a staging area for any kind of movement of this type.

So, this is a -- this does not seem to be a well thought out plan. At least you're looking at it from the outside. And it really begs the question whether or not they can pull something like this up in time for a meaningful cessation of hostilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Our thanks to CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. And you can hear the rest of our conversation coming up next hour.

The U.S. Supreme Court has given a huge gift to Donald Trump before ever issuing any rulings. The justices agreed to take up whether he can claim presidential immunity in a special counsel's election interference case. And that means delays. Whatever they decide and how long they take to decide could be pivotal in this year's election. CNN's Evan Perez reports.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: the Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Donald Trump may claim immunity and Special Counsel Jack Smith election subversion case. The court said it would expedite the case and hear arguments the week of April 22nd. But that buys Trump at least another couple of months of delays in the case of victory for the former president whose legal and campaign strategy has centered on delaying his legal cases until after the November election.

Trump issued a statement saying "legal scholars are extremely thankful for the Supreme Court's decision today to take up presidential immunity." Without presidential immunity, a president will not be able to properly function or make decisions in the best interests of the United States of America. Now we're still waiting for the court's ruling in another separate case. Earlier this month, the court heard argument in a case questioning whether Trump could be disqualified from running for a second term under the 14th Amendment's insurrection ban. [02:20:07]

PEREZ: In December the Supreme Court rejected the special counsel's request to hear the immunity case then, and three weeks have passed since the D.C. appeals court dismissed Trump's immunity claims. Now even if the Supreme Court ends up ruling that Trump doesn't have immunity, the calendar is shrinking, and so is the likelihood of a verdict before November.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Ghana's parliament passes a stringent anti-gay bill. One of the harshest of its kind in Africa. How this could impact the LGBTQ plus community in the country, that's next.

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CHURCH: Ghana is intensifying a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ plus individuals. The country's parliament has unanimously passed a controversial anti-homosexuality bill that not only criminalizes LGBTQ plus relationships, but could also carry a prison sentence for those who support them. The human sexual rights and family values act is one of the harshest of its kind in Africa. Supporters of the legislation say they hope the country's president will sign it, so it becomes law.

The legislation is drawing international condemnation. And the U.S. State Department is urging Ghana to review the constitutionality of the bill. CNN's David McKenzie joins us now live from Johannesburg. So David, what will be the likely impact if this bill becomes law?

DAVE MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the impact will not be good. That's for sure, Rosemary. We've been tracking this issue across Africa for several years now. And this bill is just the culmination of years of debate in Ghana. And just the debate and the publication of the draft bill has really squeezed the space for LGBTQ con ends, like it has in other countries where similar bills have been proposed.

You know, we've been speaking on and off for some time to activists in that country who say that people have been thrown out of their houses harassed, in some cases beaten, often these are shared on social media to humiliate Ghanians and to push them further into the shadows. This is a very worrying development in Ghana but the proponents of the bill say that it's important to push for, "family values."

And it's no coincidence that the issue of "family values" is comes up in countries like Ghana, Uganda and Kenya with a proposed bill. Our investigations have showed a lead alleged ties with conservative U.S. groups that are pushing this from the outside in. Rosemary.

CHURCH: And David, what leverage does the national community have on this?

[02:25:05]

MCKENZIE: It's a complicated answer to that question. I think there is considerable leverage in terms of cutting financial ties with Ghana. Ghana is a critical ally of the U.S. and West Africa. The U.S. alone gives more than $150 million in assistance from various agencies. That is a stick that they can hold over the President, in terms of not signing this bill. Now, President Akufo-Addo has said very little about whether he will sign this bill.

But where the limits of leverage come, I think is on domestic politics. This year in Guyana is an election year. There's clearly an agenda beyond just the conservative agenda of trying to squeeze out LGBT rights here. And that is to force the president to react on this issue and to sign the bill. Now, you already mentioned the State Department talking about this bill. And speaking about constitutionality.

I think that's where there might be an elegant solution for the president should not want to sign this bill because this is a private member's bill brought up by opposition members. There haven't gone through the process of costing out how much this will impact the purse strings of treasury in Ghana. Now that sounds very inside baseball. But it does have an impact because he can then say, without doing that he cannot sign this bill and delay the signing.

This means though, that the continued conversation of trying to push against gay rights in this country and other parts of Africa is having a meaningful impact on everyday lives of people. The head of UNAIDS, the AIDS wing of U.N. agencies said that this will even stop health going to the people who need it most in that country and others. They say that what needs to happen is a robust conversation and the international community at least I think is unified in trying to stop this bill being signed into law.

CHURCH: David McKenzie in Johannesburg. Many thanks.

European lawmakers get a piece of advice from the widow of Russia opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Why she believes they need some fresh thinking in their approach to President Putin. Back without and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is concerned about a possible crackdown during his funeral on Friday. She says she can't rule out that police could arrest the mourners who come to bid him a final farewell. Navalny died in a Russian penal colony earlier this month. And his aides say his death certificate does not indicate any foul play, but his widow is not buying it and she took her case to the European parliament on Wednesday. Melissa Bell has that report.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was an emotional address made to European lawmakers by Alexei Navalny's widow, speaking in her thick Russian accent but with a great deal of emotion, just 12 days after her husband was killed. Yulia Navalnaya is speaking to what had happened to Alexei Navalny in the weeks leading up to his death and in the days that followed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S WIDOW: He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls, and then even letters. And then, they killed him. Even after that, they abused his body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Yulia Navalnaya urged European lawmakers to go much further than they had before, urging European leaders to try and think more creatively about what they could do to oppose Vladimir Putin's regime, repeating many of the allegations that had been at the heart of Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption platform during his lifetime, that the Kremlin's power was built on a mafia state, according to him and now his widow.

This is essentially a brittle regime whose time may come soon. She urged European lawmakers to continue to think creatively and to work with the many millions of Russians who are now outside the country, and she said hoping like her for a free, democratic and what she described as beautiful Russia in the future.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

CHURCH: Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria is asking Russia for help amid what it calls increasing pressure from Moldova. That word from Russian state media, which reports that pro-Russian officials passed a resolution Wednesday, approving an appeal for assistance during a rare session of the Transnistria congress. More than 200,000 Russian nationals are said to be living in the region where it's believed there are also about 1,500 Russian troops. Russia's foreign ministry says it's a priority to protect the interests of those living in the region while a Moldovan government spokesperson calls the move a propaganda event.

And we'll be right back.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Okean Elzy's song video of "The Answer" is being played.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy released this new song titled, "The Answer" to mark two years since Russia's full-scale invasion. Okean Elzy is Ukraine's most popular and successful rock band and they've been on a mission to support their country's military defending against Russia. Front-man Slava Vakarchuk often travels to perform for the troops. He has also raised money and global awareness to support the war effort and various Ukrainian causes. And Slava Vakarchuk joins me now. Thank you so much for being with us again.

SVIATOSLAV SLAVA VAKARCHUK, LEAD VOCALIST, OKEAN ELZY: Hello Rosemary, thank you for having me here

CHURCH: Absolutely. So, it has been a long two years in Ukraine and the new song you've written addresses the pain and resolve felt across your country. What do you want the world to know about this song you call "The Answer"?

VAKARCHUK: It's actually very simple and all people who are following us on YouTube can see the English translation. But, if I may quickly explain, it's -- in the verses, I raise questions how many days still left till the war's end, how many people we will -- we lose before we finally get victory and other things. But, it's done in a poetic way. And then in the chorus, I just say, the answer. And the answer is actually, it's a philosophical answer because you can see it on the wrinkles on your forehead.

You can see it, it's forged with tears of mothers. It's -- this is poetry, but I think that poetry understood to -- for everybody -- to everybody, and it was something I couldn't help doing because it was my emotion. There was no intention to make a special song dedicated to the second anniversary. I've just written it a couple of months ago, and I couldn't help doing it and then we decided to dedicate it to this very long -- these very long two years. In fact, it still seems like one very, very long day. It started on February 24, 2022, like in James Joyce book, you know?

CHURCH: Yeah. And in your song, you also ask a question, how much more. So, let me ask you that. How much more of this war can the troops and indeed the people of Ukraine take?

VAKARCHUK: I don't think that I know the exact answer, but I know the answer in different questions. Are you ready to persevere? Are you ready to fight? Are you ready to raise -- to follow your goal and take this challenge? Yes, we are ready and I'm absolutely sure that it will (inaudible), we shall overcome. First of all, we don't have --

Yeah, first of all, we don't have any other choice because the very existence of Ukraine is questioned now by Russia. And secondly, I strongly believe, and I mean it that you -- that light always overcomes darkness. You know, it's in the fairy tales. It's in the holy scriptures and it's in life. The only question is the price for that. And I think that very important, if you're -- this match is (ph) now he heard and seen by your audience that it also depends on how people of democratic world, how strongly you support Ukraine. Because I think that we are now fighting, not only for Ukrainian existence and Ukrainian future, but also for the existence of the -- very existence of democracy and democratic values in the world.

We cannot give Putin opportunity to win because he will never stop after that, and we've seen that in the world history. We've seen it before in World War II and many other -- any other situations. So, I think this time, all mistakes from the history should be learned, and I hope that the world will be firm in their support of Ukraine as it was during these two years. We need to -- CHURCH: And --

VAKARCHUK: -- to carry on all at once (ph).

CHURCH: And you -- you continue your cross-country tour of Ukraine, playing acoustic sets for the troops. I know it means a great deal --

VAKARCHUK: That's correct.

CHURCH: -- to you and to them. What stories are they telling you? And what is your takeaway from these intimate performances that you do?

[02:40:00]

VAKARCHUK: First of all, I need to say that that's very invigorating, if I may use this word, for me and for my soul, because when I'm there, I really feel in harmony and I really feel that -- like I'm doing something very important for me personally. And then suddenly, I see their eyes. I see their smiles. I feel their hearts, so understand it's also very important to them. Since now, I've been doing it for two years and it's already 240-something performances that I've given on the frontline. And I certainly will continue.

And I think that it's a sort of, you know, it's a -- it's some brotherhood you know. You show these people that you are absolutely -- you're just grateful. You show them gratitude. You you're your warmth. You show them their support. And that's the way it should be. Everyone in this country, in Ukraine, has to be ready to do something he can do -- he or she can do most effectively for the victory and I'm trying to do what I can do my best.

CHURCH: Slava Vakarchuk, thank you so much for joining us and for all that you do. Appreciate it.

VAKARCHUK: And thank you very much and please carry on and keep supporting Ukraine. It's very important for us and for you too.

CHURCH: Thank you so much. The leaders of nearly two dozen European parliaments are calling on the U.S. House Speaker to support additional aid to Ukraine. That came in a joint letter as they urge Mike Johnson to "Provide Ukraine with the necessary funds to continue its fight." Johnson has so far resisted calls to bring a Senate passed aid package up for a quick vote and with additional aid stalled in Congress, defense officials tell CNN that the Pentagon is now weighing whether to access its last remaining source of funding, even if there is no guarantee that money will be replenished by Congress.

There is about $4 billion in presidential drawdown authority funds available for Ukraine, which allows the Pentagon to pull from its own stockpiles to send over military equipment. While no decisions have been made, officials are discussing whether it's possible right now to allow for at least part of those funds to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

I want to thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next, then I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

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