Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: CIA Director Travels To Israel To Meet With PM Amid Negotiations; Official: U.S. Paused Bomb Shipment To Israel Amid Concerns Over Potential Use In Rafah; Biden To Contrast Economic Record With Trump In Wisconsin; Sources: Defense Plans Longer Cross- Examination Of Stormy Daniels; U.S. Lawmakers Demand Answers After CNN Report Contradicts U.S. Probe Into Kabul Airport Attack; Ukraine Reports "Massive" Russian Attack On Its Infrastructure. Aired 3-3:45p ET

Aired May 08, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:33]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Rafah, 2:00 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington. I'm Jim Sciutto, and thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get right to the news.

We begin in the Middle East as negotiations for a ceasefire continue in Cairo with an uncertain outcome. CIA Director Bill Burns, who has remained in the region to assist with these talks, traveled to Israel today to meet directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel's operation in Rafah in Gaza is drawing international condemnation in the midst of all this.

Dozens have been killed since Israeli forces moved into the city's east. Among those dead children, the youngest, just four months old. According to the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, more than 50,000 people have fled Rafah in the last 48 hours. Many of them displaced multiple times already in this war.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Israel now controls all crossings into Gaza, stopping aid arriving from Egypt. Israeli officials say the Kerem Shalom crossing has been reopened but the U.S. and Palestinian Authorities have not seen any aid trucks able to cross there. In the north of Gaza, a third mass grave has been uncovered at al-Shifa hospital complex.

CNN international correspondent Clarissa Ward joins us now from Jerusalem.

Clarissa, you know, I've heard that adjective limited applied to this operation in Rafah by Israeli officials, but our understanding from reporting there is that it's not limited in the eyes of the people who live there, hospitals running low on fuel, aid is not getting in. I wonder how limited that operation actually is and what the effects are that you're seeing there.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you are already hearing aid organizations up in arms about the prospects of having those two border crossings Kerem Shalom and the Rafah border crossing effectively closed. The Israeli body COGAT that is sort of overseeing that humanitarian access had said, as you mentioned that Kerem Shalom was open today. UNRWA and other organizations saying that no aid has gone in. The WHO saying that three -- all the hospitals in southern Gaza will be forced to close down within three days if fuel does not get in to southern Gaza.

One of the hospitals, the largest hospital in eastern Rafah has already had to shutter its doors and evacuate and move their facilities to a temporary field hospital.

Then on top of that, you have the 50,000 as you mentioned, that the U.N. estimates have already been displaced. These people are being told to go to safe zones like Mawasi. These safe zones, according to aid workers, are completely overrun. The infrastructure simply isn't there to support or host them properly. And some of these people, Jim, are moving for their fourth or fifth time even.

On top of that, you're seeing satellite imagery that is showing Israel increasing its ground operations. You have had continuous strikes and also artillery shelling throughout the day and the night with at least eight people killed today, and everybody sort of hanging and waiting to see whether what Israel is calling a surgical anti-terror operation will evolve into a much feared, broader Rafah offensive.

There are some in Israel who have implied that this is perhaps intended primarily as a negotiating tactic in terms of trying to put more pressure on Hamas and extract more leverage at the table. There are others who are saying, of course, that for Netanyahu, this is about his own political viability with the sort of right-wing hardliners in his coalition. But for the ordinary people of Gaza, as you can imagine, Jim, it is just another disaster and catastrophe in the making.

SCIUTTO: You know, we've heard Netanyahu and others say this often that the military action applies pressure to move along the negotiations and they're using that again discussing the ground operation on Rafah.

[15:05:04]

I just wonder in your time covering this conflict, is there evidence that that's true, that the military pressure has pushed Hamas to the negotiating table and moved forward negotiations like this one?

WARD: Well, I think if you look as well at what Netanyahu has said, the core key goals are to get the hostages release and to completely eliminate Hamas. Those goals are fundamentally at odds with each other, when you look at the only time that Israel has really been successful in getting hostages out of Gaza, it has been through negotiations.

So if the most important priority is to get those hostages out safely, then that has to be done at the negotiating table. And if the goal is to completely eliminate Hamas, which I would add has been ballyhooed by many military analysts who talk about the fundamental impossibility of really achieving that objective, then it requires a totally different framework to operate within.

We'll see whether -- if this, you know, if this sort of offensive or the beginnings of an offensive or whatever, however Israel's choosing two characterize it as a limited surgical counter-terror operation, if that is in fact applying pressure and if it is giving them more leverage at the negotiating table. So far what we see is that these talks continue to flounder.

And in the meantime, the hostages remain held and ordinary innocent Gazans continue to die, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. Some of the hostages as well, we found.

Clarissa Ward, thanks so much.

Well, the U.S. is now sending a direct message to Israel. And what appears to be growing tensions between the allies.

Secretary Defense Lloyd Austin has confirmed that the U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week amid concerns that they would be used by Israeli forces in the Rafah incursion. The State Department is rushing to finish at the same time, a high-stakes report on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law in Gaza. They announced it will not meet today's deadline.

Kylie Atwood is at the State Department.

As you know, Kylie, Biden as long set a major incursion into Rafah would cross a red line effectively for the administration. So tell U.S. about this pause. Do we know how long and what the U.S. has to see to lift that pause?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Jim, that is the exact question that I asked the State Department spokesperson just this afternoon and they said they wouldn't get into the private conversations between the U.S. and Israel on this front. So all we know right now is that there is this pause in place. It's significant in such that this is the first time that the Biden administration has moved to put any halt on the U.S. arms that go over to Israel since, of course, the Israel Hamas war has occurred.

And there has been a significant amount of pressure from lawmakers and Biden's own party for him to do this. He clearly felt like this was the moment for him to do it. And Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, earlier today that this is happening, quote, in the context of what of the unfolding events in Rafah. So clearly what the United States is seeing with these early incursions, personal incursions into part of Rafah are already alarming them, so that they have gone ahead with this pause.

But what we don't know is exactly if they'll keep the pause, for how long, what Israel needs to do to lift the pause. But they've also said that there are future arms shipments to Israel that they will also be examining so there could be further implications here as well. SCIUTTO: It's a notable step.

Kylie Atwood at the State Department.

So joining me now to discuss what this all means, former State Department Middle East negotiators, senior fellow now at the Carnegie Endowment, Aaron David Miller.

Good to have you on, sir.

Especially given your long experience in the Middle East in diplomacy, has the U.S. done something like this before -- stopped an aid shipment in war time to Israel in effect to make a point, to say you're going too far with this operation in Rafah?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yeah, there have been other incidents of American pressure.

Eisenhower in '56, '57 threatened sanctions if Ben-Gurion didn't withdraw his forces from Sinai. Ronald Reagan least twice delayed the shipments of F-16s to Israel as a consequences of Israeli bombings in Beirut. And again, after Israel extended administrative law to the Golan Heights in 1981.

But this occurs in a different sort of context, Jim. This occurs in the backdrop, background of what I would describe as a crisis of confidence between Jerusalem and Washington right now.

[15:10:08]

I think the key problem is this -- Biden knows exactly what he wants or needs, which is an Israeli -- Israeli-Hamas deal. Without that, he can't de-escalate Israeli military activity. He can't surge humanitarian assistance. No hostages are going to be freed and he can't lay out his regional peace initiative.

Hamas also knows exactly what it wants. It wants to trade the remaining hostages for a commitment from the Egyptians and U.S. that the war will end. Benjamin Netanyahu is juggling any number of balls, and that's part of the problem here.

SCIUTTO: So what is the way out? I mean, how do you square that circle right? I mean, in that Hamas and Israel, one fundamentally different things? Because I imagine Hamas, it's not going to give up its leveraging. I mean, let's acknowledge, the worst kind of leverage it's human beings held in captivity, many in danger of losing their lives, but Hamas doesn't want to give up all its leverage because it does not want to give Israel the ability to wipe it out, which is Israel's stated goal here.

So how do you come to agreement?

MILLER: Tough one, isn't it? I mean, there are issues dividing Israel and Hamas, without additional political agendas on a part of Hamas and Netanyahu, this would be negotiation you could probably close. But this isn't a negotiation driven by two parties who believe their vital national interests, Netanyahu's political interests, and for Hamas, it's existential.

So, I make your prediction you're either going to see a Rafah and no deal over the hostages or you're going to see a deal over the hostages and no major ground campaign in Rafah, or most likely, Jim, you're going to see no deal in the hostages, and no major ground campaign in Rafah, and would be this beat for hostages, families in Gaza, sadly, it's going to go on.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, dragging out of the suffering.

So this happens as the Biden administration is trying to finish this report due to Congress this week on whether Israel is violated international humanitarian law in Gaza. We know there have been deep divisions in the State Department over this? How does this end? What do you think happens here and what will the impact be?

I mean, it may be that the administration is trying to preempt this by slow-walking or pausing these high payload munitions deliveries that Secretary Austin referred to as is the way of trying to signal and preempt congressional pressure as the Israelis -- excuse me -- as the Americans faced the real possibility of actually certified that the assurances that the Israelis have provided are both reliable, incredible.

If I had to bet, I think that's probably in the middle of a hostage negotiation, trying to get the Israelis do not to go into Rafah, not sure that he administration is going to certify that the Israeli assurances are not credible, and not reliable. That would be my guess right now.

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll watch and you certainly have the experience to make such an informed guess,

Aaron David Miller, thanks so much.

MILLER: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: When we come back, the latest on the race for the White House. President Biden in the battleground state of Wisconsin. We're going to take a look next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:37]

SCIUTTO: President Biden is in the key battleground state of Wisconsin today, attempting to draw a sharp contrast with Donald Trump on economic policy. Biden announced $3.3 billion from Microsoft to build a new A.I. data hub. That investment in the very same time where a $10 billion tech facility was promised by Trump in 2018, but never materialized.

Kayla Tausche is live from the White House with details on Biden's economic pitch.

Kayla, he obviously picked this town for a reason and this investment for a reason, something he delivered that Trump did not. How is he connecting that to his broader economic message?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly, a very strategic location in purple Racine County that flipped in 2016, Trump held in 2020 and Biden's trying to swing it back in this year's election. He's arguing to the audience and two, that population that his investments are going to deliver where his GOP opponents simply did not. He says that his signature laws for private sector investment and they have credible investment partners that will actually deliver on these plans.

And on his opponent's prior plans for Foxconn to build on that site, he called it a con.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He came here with your senator, Ron Johnson, literally holding the golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world. Are you kidding me? Look what happened, they dug a hole those golden shovels. And then they fell into it.

They wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, your state and local tax dollars, to promise a project that never happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Now, voters in the state tell CNN that they're happy to see the projects announced. They don't count any of them before they hatch, and they're more concerned, Jim, with their own financial situation. The state's former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes telling CNN, it's important for Biden to be in this state to hammer home his economic messages, make it real for people. Some people are still thinking about the $1,500 check they got from Trump.

And some recent polling put some data behind that. A Quinnipiac poll that was just released earlier today, showed that Biden edged Trump narrowly overall in this stayed and that sort of goes against some of the recent April polling that showed there's no clear leader in the state.

But when you drill down to the economic issues, the disparity becomes fairly wide with Trump in the lead 52 to 44, bigger than the poll's margin of error.

Now to that end, advisors and donors have urged the president, the White House the campaign, to try to tack more to the center to appeal to the moderate independent voters in states like Wisconsin and elsewhere and the sort of critical blue wall for Biden and the White House says that their individual policies poll well, and they're going to stay the course -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Kayla Tausche, we'll see if those numbers move.

Tonight, a note on OUTFRONT, Erin's exclusive one-on-one interview with President Biden. He sits down with Erin to speak about the economy and his plans for a second term. That is tonight on "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" at 7:00 Eastern, here on CNN.

Let's give some insight into the latest on the campaign trail, we have seen CNN political commentator and Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton, and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Meghan Hays.

Good -- good to have you both on.

And, Meghan, if I could begin with you.

[15:20:01]

President Biden is clearly going at the economic message here because he knows he has a deficit with Trump. Most polls, including this Quinnipiac poll, has Trump as we just saw there, ahead of Biden 52 to 44 percent on the economy. What's interesting about a lot of these numbers I've noticed, Meghan, is that oftentimes people rate the economy in general as worse than their own individual economic situation.

And I just wonder how President Biden bridges that gap. Can he bridge that gap? Because these numbers have been pretty -- pretty sticky.

MEGHAN HAYES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I think he's going to have to bridge that gap. I think that today's -- today's stop is the first attempt to do that. Look, he brought in -- Microsoft today did a huge investment in Wisconsin today. It's going to bring several thousand jobs there, as well as impact for the economy and it's drawing that contrasts with president -- or former President Trump or he brought in Foxconn, they did not follow through with their promise. It was a foreign company and he brought in Microsoft and they're going to create jobs and it's a huge investment.

So I think he continues to draw this contrast. He continues to show people how his policies and his actions that he's done, the time as president has brought down, you know, things like inflation has come down, medical prices and insulin prices. All those things have come down and really actually impacts peoples pocketbooks, more so than the overall messaging there.

SCIUTTO: Shermichael, I'm asking an interesting question here because, of course, you're a Republican strategist and these -- these economic numbers suit your party and suit the GOP nominee. Do you understand them, right? Because actually when you look and I know that this pandemic-driven towards the end there, but the economy was much worse at the end -- the end of Trump's term, in fact. And if you look at basic things like infrastructure investment and job growth, et cetera, those numbers have been positive.

So, can you explain? Is it as simple as inflation or is it a foggy memory?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I think it's a combination of two things. I think people do believe that things were better off before. Why? I'm not a psychologist, (INAUDIBLE). But I do think the question of cost is a very real thing. I mean,

look, you look at the state of the economy. No one whether you're Republican or Democrat can deny the fact that the U.S. overall is better than most developed nations.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SINGLETON: You have seen our economic numbers improve. However, you seen over the past month that the economic condition as somewhat worse than it's slowed down. You're looking at summer months. We're expecting gas prices to increase the Fed chair has recently stated that he's not going to raise rates, but he's also not going to cut rates. Well, what does that mean for the average person?

Well, it means if you're a young person trying to buy that home, interest rates are still going to be around six, seven, maybe even 8 percent depending on the region pocket that you're in.

Credit cards, those interest rates are still going to be high, and again, the cost of everyday basic goods are still higher than they were. And so, until those things began to change, I think many Americans may say, well, personally maybe I'm okay, but people around me aren't okay, or maybe certain things that I remember that were less expensive are more expensive now.

SCIUTTO: So, Meghan, what's your answer to that? Because it's not clear what are we, we're in May, so we've got six months until the election. I mean, interest rates are coming down as quickly as many hope because inflation has stayed sticky in the most recent surveys, the last couple of months.

So what's the answer? I mean, you can't tell people things aren't more expensive than they remember. They're going to go to the grocery and they're going to say, hey, wait a second. This is more than I remember paying.

So what's the answer to that?

MEGHAN HAYS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think you have to draw -- continue to draw that contrast. And I think you have to continue to show people that prices are coming down.

But I do think that the president has a ways to go here. He needs to get gas prices down during the summer months like Shermichael was saying, car insurance is rate -- the interest rates are raising car insurance. That needs to be brought down. That impacts every single person and every demographic, and all of those people vote.

And so I think that the president needs to make strides to continue to bring those prices down.

SCIUTTO: We'll see if it's possible. Of course, a lot of that is driven by the market and neither you, I, nor the president can necessarily move those things.

Shermichael, as you know, Secretary Austin, he confirmed Congress is delaying some weapons set to go to Israel, I wonder what your responses to that. Do you think given the differences between the Biden administration and Israel and in the conduct of this war, that that was a fair move?

SINGLETON: I don't and I'm actually a bit disappointed. I would have wanted our military to work with Israel to figure out how to be more surgical and precise in their combatants against Hamas. We have had many, many conflicts recently where we have been very targeted and going after a very small group while preserving the life of innocent people in that area.

So, obviously, it's possible. We know it's possible. We have done it.

So to me strategically, my question is, would it not be more in the interests I suppose of Israel's ability to protect itself, to preserve its independence in that area surrounded by not even adversaries but, frankly, enemies, to be able to say, look, we understand the need and the interests of going after Hamas because these attacks are going to continue, but we also need to preserve the life of Palestinians.

[15:25:11]

We need to provide aid for Palestinians and there are also, Jim, should be a pathway to figure out what does the rebuilding process look like?

Because many of those people are going to need homes. They're going to need jobs. They're going to need education. They're going to need hospitals.

And so, I would have preferred a more I guess unilateral, more robust strategy to protect the Palestinian people, provide a pathway for them to actually have a fulfilled life going forward while also being surgical and precise with going after Hamas.

SCIUTTO: Meghan Hays, does this move please those on the president's -- the left-hand -- left-hand side of the president's party, who, who have been -- well, many of them protesting, but many of them opposed to U.S. unfettered support for Israel in the midst of this war?

HAYS: I think the president is making steps that will, you know, he's between a rock and a hard spot, so he's trying to make steps that are going to please everyone. We're never going to win that.

But I do think that holding these bombs back shows a really big message to Israel. We are here to support you in defending yourself, but you need to be more precise in how you are doing that. And what you are just going to target innocent civilians. We have a problem with that.

And so, I think the president is doing what folks are asking and what he also believes is right. He does not want any more innocent children or people to be killed in this action. But we also believe that Israel should defend itself. So we are here to help you, but there needs to be consequences for your actions when you're not doing it appropriately. SCIUTTO: Meghan Hays, Shermichael Singleton, good to have you both on.

Thanks so much.

HAYS: Thank you.

SINGLETON: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Back here in this country, while Biden is making his pitch to Wisconsin voters, and that key swing state, former President Donald Trump is spending his day at Mar-a-Lago. The court is dark today in Trump's criminal hush money trial.

The adult film star Stormy Daniels, she is set to return to the witness stand tomorrow. Sources tell CNN the Trump defense team is now planning a longer cross-examination of Daniels.

CNN legal analyst, counsel to House Democrats in the first Trump impeachment, Norm Eisen, joins U.S. now,

So, Norm, your takeaway, was it Daniels testimony helped accomplish what the prosecution intended? Tell us why.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Jim, this case is about an alleged 2016 campaign conspiracy in the form of payment to Ms. Daniels and its cover up in 2017 through 34 allegedly false documents. Ground zero of that crime that has been charged is the 2006 encounter with Ms. Daniels that the funds were allegedly paid to cover up.

You can't persuade the jury of what happened here without going back to that ground zero. The jurors are not going to get bogged down, I think in the -- in some of the details and there were a lot of them and there was a lot of squabbling.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

EISEN: They're going to ask themselves this presentation that Ms. Daniels just made, how would it have been for Donald Trump and his campaign in 2016? If all of America had seen what we just saw on TV day after day, coming on the heels of the access Hollywood sex scandal.

That is the impression that prosecutors wanted to convey. And I think they made that point. Look, there were benefits and headaches from both sides and Daniels testimony. On the whole, prosecution came out I think ahead.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you this though, but by a listening testimony that clearly tested the judge's patience and I'm referring to the explicit sexual details of that encounter, have prosecutors at least provided an opening for the defense to appeal in the event there's a conviction?

EISEN: There's going to be an appeal, and there are issues here that will be intense fodder for appellate courts if there's a conviction about particularly the first half of that criminal case, whether Donald Trump's alleged campaign and election and tax wrongdoing that was covered up are those sufficient crimes under the New York law or not because there's a lot that's new here.

What happened yesterday is not going to be serious grounds for appeal, Jim. These things do happen in court. We want not to have to restart, not to have a mistrial. For that reason, the way courts deal with them. I've had them happen. I've been -- I've made mistakes in court over 30 years of going to court. And the other side has made mistakes.

The way the judge dealt with it, you get free hand on cross- examination.

[15:30:02]

We know that the defense is going to take the judge up on that offer and there'll be an instruction.

SCIUTTO: Right.

EISEN: That will be announced most likely when we come back to court tomorrow morning, telling the jury, hey, disregard X, Y, and Z. That's how you deal with it. Not mistrial. So no, I don't think this is going to be what we saw on Tuesday is going to be the grounds for a successful appeal.

SCIUTTO: And perhaps the judge will say, cover your ears in retrospect to those moments when we probably would have covered our own ears.

Norm Eisen, thanks so much.

EISEN: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, in the wake of exclusive CNN reporting, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are now asking questions, tough questions about what happened the day 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans were killed during an attack in the midst of the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about a horrific incident at the close of the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. An exclusive CNN report on the Abbey Gate attack, which led to the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemen and some 170 Afghans just outside the Kabul airport seems to contradict the conclusions of two Pentagon investigations of the incident.

Video obtained by CNN appears to show many more episodes of gunfire than the Pentagon admitted.

Nick Paton Walsh broke this story. He joins me now.

What specific questions does Congress now want answered by the Pentagon?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We now have nine Republican congressmen, five of them veterans have Afghanistan themselves saying that they want to hear from the Pentagon address the discrepancy between the accounts that they've heard from the Pentagon after two investigations.

[15:35:10]

They've been briefed from that in the last month, which has said they were only three bursts of gunfire after the explosion that were nearly simultaneous, and these were fired by American and British troops. And then that gunfire didn't hit anybody.

And what you see in that video there, which we obtained for our report two weeks ago, which shows 11 episodes of gunfire over a four minute window, quite different things. Why does this matter? Well, our reporting also contains an on-the-record interview from an Afghan doctor who worked at the major hospital treating Afghan wounded and dead after the blast. He said that over 70 of the dead seemed to have gunshot wounds according to his staff, and he personally took bullets out of patients from the blast site.

So questions as to how many Afghans appear to have been shot particularly indeed, if it is as the Pentagon's two investigations have said the only shots fired, the only gunmen firing their weapons after the blast were indeed American or British servicemen. That's one of the things that the congressmen are keen to find out more about to have that discrepancy addressed.

They also asked in their letter, what are the video do you have? Indeed, if I didn't have this video the Pentagon have admitted, do they have anything else that they could potentially show publicly to congressional inquiries or congressmen interested to try and clear this matter up.

The truth must come out, they say. And finally, they asked a question, which many Afghans have expressed to me over the two years that we've been investigating this, why haven't these two Pentagon investigations interviewed any Afghans at all? They haven't interviewed the doctor that we spoke to, or any of the 19 Afghans survivors who say they were shot themselves, some with medical reports to back that up or saw people shot in front of them?

So a lot of keen questions here. And this congressional letter is joined by a statement from families, seven of the 13 families of the dead U.S. service people there who say they feel misled by their Pentagon briefings.

The Pentagon, well, they've said it is their sacred obligation to honor the service and sacrifice, I paraphrase here, of those 13 dead servicemen, and that everything they can to get the right information to the families who lost people in that incident.

But a lot of questions mounting here. They've said to us, the Pentagon, that our video doesn't contradict their investigation. Clearly, there are nine congressmen including Mike McFaul, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who don't agree and one urgent answers the secretary of defense, Jim. SCIUTTO: And we'll see how they respond to that demand. Nick Paton Walsh in London, thanks so much.

Turning now to Ukraine. Overnight, Russian forces carried out a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine, injuring at least three. Ukrainian authorities said Russia fired more than 50 missiles, 20 drones targeting energy infrastructure in particular, around the country.

Ukraine's biggest power company said this is the fifth time its infrastructure has been targeted by Russia in a month and a half.

These attacks come as Ukraine marks the day of remembrance and victory over Nazism in World War II.

Joining me now to discuss the situation in Ukraine, Ukrainian member of parliament, Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Thanks so much for joining.

OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT OF MEMBER: Hello.

SCIUTTO: As you know better than me given you're closer to it, Russian forces have been specifically targeting energy infrastructure as they did with this most recent attack for weeks and months. That's deliberate. They want to inflict pain on the Ukrainian population.

And I wonder, what is the status of Ukraine's power facilities, its power network? Can it still keep it up and running?

GONCHARENKO: Yeah, Russia continues their campaign of terror against civilians. They did it last year. Now, they're doing it again and taken power grid. We already have weighed heavy consequences of this and these evening, that will be some problems with the electricity and there will be blood calls around the country.

So the situation is difficult. We see that Russia continues to attack these infrastructure, probably with an aim to make unbearable life, especially in front line cities. So this is a real challenge for us, and yes, it's very symbolically that is happening in the day of remembrance for the war with the German Nazis. So now, Russian Nazis continue with German Nazis failed to do.

SCIUTTO: Do you believe this is a deliberate strategy by Russia to ramp up these attacks on Ukraine before additional U.S. aid arrives in significant numbers? Are they taking advantage in effect of that delay now?

GONCHARENKO: Yeah, they definitely do. Also I think that in general, they are trying to cause as many sufferings to Ukrainian people as possible now, in order to take advantage of and to destroy Ukrainian morale.

[15:40:07]

That's what they are hoping on and aiming on. Also in June, that will be peace summit in Switzerland where Ukraine wants to speak about the peace and justice and it's also, I think more kind of announcer for Russians about how they see this.

SCIUTTO: To your knowledge, has any of this new aid arrived in big numbers there, including specifically air defense munitions, which were particularly in shortage there?

GONCHARENKO: According to what I know, we received out of supplies already. I don't know the details. What is received, how much and when others will come. But the only thing I can do is to encourage our American allies and administration of the president after decision of Congress to move this supplies as quickly as possible in a big numbers now, to give us a possibility first to stop these barbaric attacks, but also to give us a chance to overwhelmingly attack Russians and destroy their momentum and to break our momentum with the new weaponry arriving.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, what is the best outcome in your view for Ukraine this year? Is it defending the current front lines that is losing no more territory or is there a possibility of Ukrainian forces making forward progress, retaking territory?

GONCHARENKO: The war is unpredictable, but with this level of supply, it will be very hard for us to regain any territory. So, it's not about stabilizing. You've heard a lot about $61 billion. From this 61 really to Ukraine's military equipment will come $28 billion, it's to Ukraine, and also part of this will come up to 2029. Military budget of Russian Federation is $113 billion per year.

So, as you see, we don't have any advantage here, quite opposite. So with these, it's more about stabilizing. It's more about winning the time, but not winning the war. So we need more support and we hope other countries will follow U.S. example and also we hope that United States will continue to be with us and will continue to provide U.S. with what is needed to protect and to restore international law.

SCIUTTO: Oleksiy Goncharenko, thanks so much for joining us, and as always, I'll say, please keep yourself and your family safe.

GONCHARENKO: Thank you. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: We're going to take a short break.

For our international viewers, "LIVING GOLF" is next.

And if you're streaming with us on Max, we'll be right back with more news after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)