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Humanitarian Crisis Worsens with Vital Rafah Crossing Closed; Russia Increases Attacks on Ukraine; Putin & Xi Pledge to Deepen Partnership; Cohen Accused of Lying in Heated Cross-Examination; Suspected Gunman Charged in Slovakian PM's Attempted Assassination. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired May 17, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Be sure to tune in Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern for the "Champions for Change," one-hour special.

[00:01:14]

Hey, thank you all so much for watching. Our coverage continues with ANDERSON COOPER 360.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause from Studio H in Atlanta. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAUGHAN LOWE, LAWYER FOR SOUTH AFRICA: Israel's declared aim of wiping Gaza from the map is about to be realized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: No pause in Israeli operations in Southern Gaza, despite arguments now underway before the International Court of Justice for an emergency order to stop the offensive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER CAVOLI, NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, EUROPE: No, the Russians don't have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Whether or not that is an accurate assessment could be known within days or weeks as Ukraine rushes reinforcements from the South to stop a Russian offensive making rapid and significant gains around the Northern city of Kharkiv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it was a very interesting day. It was a fascinating day.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: But not a good day for Donald Trump, even though his lawyers finally landed a blow on the almost unflappable Michael Cohen, former bag man turned star witness for the prosecution in the hush money payment to a porn star trial.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Israel continues to scale up an offensive on the border city of Rafah in Southern Gaza, which military officials now describe as limited in space and in targets.

At the same time in the Hague, a legal team from South Africa urged the International Court of Justice to issue an emergency order for a halt in the military operations, arguing Israeli actions amount to genocide. Have more on that in a moment.

New satellite images, meantime, show over the past ten days, Israeli forces have advanced about five kilometers into the city of Rafah. Entire blocks have been cleared; tent encampments bulldozed. The streets also appear to be empty.

The U.N. believes almost 600,000 people have fled the area, 150,000 in just the past two days.

Before Israel's ground operation began last month, Rafah was home to almost a million and a half Palestinians, more than a million displaced by war and seeking refuge.

But now the Israeli defense minister is warning more troops will soon be deployed as its military offensive intensifies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Our forces are maneuvering and have arrived close to their lines. This action will continue through additional forces that will enter Rafah.

Tunnels have already been destroyed by our forces, and more tunnels will be destroyed soon. This activity will intensify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: All right. At the International Court of Justice, South African lawyers say Israel's ongoing genocide has reached a, quote, "new and horrific stage," adding Israel is willfully breaching court-binding orders which have been issued last week.

And they're warning of suffering on a massive scale in Rafah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOWE: It has become increasingly clear that Israel's actions in Rafah are part of the end game in which Gaza is utterly destroyed as an area capable of human habitation.

This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Israel, though, accuses South Africa of acting as the legal arm for Hamas, the foreign ministry spokesperson writing this: "It's an upside-down world. The terrorists of Hamas are using South Africa in their attempt to exploit the ICJ."

Israel will have the opportunity to respond formally to these allegations it made in court on Friday.

Meanwhile -- meanwhile, humanitarian conditions are worsening in Rafah. The border crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israel seized it just over a week ago.

Rafah had, until then, served as the only entry and exit point for foreign aid workers into and out of Gaza. They're working in hellish conditions and far from their own families, as well as homes.

[00:05:07]

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. AHLIA KATTAN, ANESTHESIOLOGIST AND ICU MEDIC, FAJR SCIENTIFIC: We were evacuated from that safe House, which was supposed to be in a deconflicted zone.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than two weeks in Gaza, Dr. Ahlia Kattan should be back home in California with her three children.

KATTAN: This is where we've been sleeping.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Instead, she's sleeping on the floor of Gaza's European Hospital as her five-year-old daughter wonders when her mom will come home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, Mama. You are the best! When will you come back? I want you so much. Happy birthday to Mama! You are the best ever.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Dr. Kattan and her husband are among at least 22 American physicians now trapped in Gaza after an Israeli military offensive in Rafah shuttered the critical border crossing to Egypt.

KATTAN: The Rafah borders are now closed, and that was our safe entry and exit. The WHO is trying to negotiate a safe exit for us, and it's not happening.

DIAMOND (voice-over): As Israeli and Egyptian officials trade blame for the crossing's closure --

KATTAN: I'm just on my way to the operating rooms. DIAMOND (voice-over): -- Dr. Kattan and her colleagues are doing what

they can to keep this overwhelmed and under-resourced hospital running.

LAURA SWOBODA, NURSE PRACTITIONER, FAJR SCIENTIFIC: We were not aware of how dire the situation is here. There wasn't soap to wash our hands between infected wounds with maggots.

There wasn't sanitizer wipes to wipe down the tables after each patient.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Israel is now threatening to widen its offensive in Rafah.

SWOBODA: Always we can hear the drones in the background.

DIAMOND (voice-over): A move that the U.S. and international aid groups warn will have dire humanitarian consequences. One that will put even more strain on Gaza's already overwhelmed hospitals.

KATTAN: And all of us don't want to leave unless we're replaced by physicians and medics and nurses and all the people that are keeping this hospital going.

My message to the U.S. government is, however, they can help to maintain a safe corridor for medics to come in and out, to bring supplies and themselves to support the innocent civilians and women and children, to please do that.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But until that happens, Dr. Kattan is stuck, unsure when and how she will make it home.

DIAMOND: What's the most difficult part of that uncertainty right now?

KATTAN: Missing my kids and waking up in the morning and realizing they're not next to me. But the harder part is knowing that I get to leave eventually, and I get to go home and be safe.

I've developed a lot of friends here who are -- are the same age as me and have kids my age. And -- and they don't have those securities and those basic necessities.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The Ukrainian president met with senior military commanders in Kharkiv on Thursday. Ukraine's second biggest city is under a renewed Russian offensive with Russia, making its biggest territorial gains in 18 months.

President Zelenskyy says Ukrainian units in the Northeast are being reinforced while the regional governor says Russian advances have been stopped in parts, as Ukraine works to stabilize the Northern front line.

Some of the most intense battles have been around the small town of Vovchansk, about 60 kilometers from Kharkiv.

Still, NATO's supreme allied commander, U.S. General Christopher Cavoli, believes Ukrainian defenses will hold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVOLI: No, the Russians don't have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough, we don't believe. More to the point, they don't have the skill and the capability to do it, to operate at the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough to strategic advantage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: With us this hour from Canberra, Australia, is Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst of defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

It's good to see you, Malcolm. It's been awhile.

MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST OF DEFENSE STRATEGY AND CAPABILITY, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Thank you very much, John.

VAUSE: Just very quickly off the top, the problem for Ukraine is that to defend the North, they're now taking soldiers and forces from the South. And the Russians are now exploiting those weaknesses.

DAVIS: Exactly. And I think that the risk is that, whilst the general is right, they don't have the ability or the capabilities to break through in the North, they do have the ability to force the Ukrainians to redeploy from the South to the North, and from the East to the North, weakening those aspects of the front line. And essentially, that could then allow the Russians to make further advances in the East and the South.

[00:10:07]

So yes, no strategic breakthrough, per se, at this point in time. But lots of potential tactical breakthroughs.

VAUSE: Much of the destruction around Kharkiv is being caused by rushing glide bombs, which are modified old Soviet-era dumb bombs, which "The Economist" reports, "Last year, the Russian started adding simple, cheap conversion kits: wings that pop out when the bomb is released, and a satellite guidance system. And there's now a slightly more sophisticated and accurate version which has the wings integrated into the body of the weapon, laser guidance, and an anti-jamming antenna."

These bombs can carry a 1,500-pound payload. They're called building destroyers. And they're precise to a point. And they're not expensive. And right now, Ukrainian air defenses are in -- incable of stopping them.

So what are they? What can they do here?

DAVIS: I think the simple solution is, firstly, to build up the air defenses. So there has to be a priority for military aid going into Ukraine to stop the glide bombs.

Secondly, I think that the U.S., in providing those air defenses, need to essentially remove any constraints on shooting down Russian aircraft inside Russian airspace.

Because what the Russians are doing is launching these glide bombs from inside Russian airspace to attack targets in Ukraine. So they have a sanctuary there, which they're able to operate from in -- with relative invulnerability.

If you take away that invulnerability and start shooting down Russian aircraft inside Russian airspace, the glide bomb threat goes away.

VAUSE: This has been sort of the pattern all along that the West, in particular the White House, is forcing Ukraine to fight with one arm tied behind their back.

And time is running out, because there's the very real likelihood that, come November, there'll be a different president in the White House. There'll be no more military aid for Ukraine. They have about, what, 177 days to make some significant gains here. And it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

DAVIS: It is a worry, in the sense that that $60 billion aid package was passed through Congress and signed by President Biden. But the aid is -- itself is still moving very slowly, both in terms of ammunition for the ground forces and the air defense capabilities.

So I do think that there needs to be an acceleration of the aid.

And secondly, the Biden administration, in particular, needs to, as I said, remove the shackles and allow the Ukrainians to start striking deep inside Russia with U.S.-supplied weapons, including ATACMs.

They also need to provide those F-16s, which would make a huge difference in terms of denying the Russians the ability to strike inside Ukraine.

So all in all, the aid needs to move faster. It needs to reach the Ukrainians much more quickly.

And the Biden administration needs to remove any constraints and basically allow the Ukrainians to strike deep and strike fast.

VAUSE: We heard the assessment from NATO that, with Western military assistance slowly making a way to the front lines, that Ukraine should be able to hold those defensive positions, especially considering the Russian reinforcements, which are being sent by Moscow. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at the quality of the -- OF THE troops, they have a big problem still in making sure that the new troops are trained to a level that is actually better than the -- than the troops that were originally available. So they have now more troops, but the quality of the troops is lower

than the troops they started the conflict with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This is a war of attrition. Who cares about the quality of the Russian troops and their training? They're just cannon fodder at the end of the day, aren't they?

DAVIS: Correct. And Putin doesn't care about how many Russians die in this conflict.

I think the real risk here is that, as the military aid continues to trickle into Ukraine, they might get enough to hold the line. But at the end of the year, we could get a change in administration in Washington, D.C., that then sees any military aid to Ukraine in 2025 shut down completely.

And then the Russians can bring their military industrial capacity and their superior numbers to bear. And they can start to, once again, make advances.

So I think that what we're seeing is, essentially, Putin recognizing that the United States, in particular, but also Europe is fearful of escalation. Putin rattles his nuclear sabers on a regular basis, and that inspires a degree of fear and an unwillingness on the part of the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike back hard.

But secondly, we lack time. We need to get that aid moving much more quickly. So that Ukraine can start to make real headway.

Because I really do worry that, come 2025, you're going to see a new administration in the White House. And that's the end of any U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

VAUSE: Malcolm, thanks for being with us. One point I would just make before we go, is that, you know, the only thing which guarantees an escalation by Moscow is not standing up to Putin. We've seen that year after year after year, from Georgia to Crimea, down to this full-scale invasion. So we'll see what happens.

Thanks, Malcolm.

DAVIS: Exactly.

VAUSE: Thank you, sir.

[00:15:04]

Well, as Moscow's troops advance in Ukraine, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, discussed the war as part of informal talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Thursday, both men pledged to deepen their strategic partnership even as friction grows with the United States and other Western nations.

CNN's Kristie Lee Stout is joining us now, live from Hong Kong with more on this.

So this is this very close relationship on display for everyone to see. So after reaffirming, you know, their close ties, Putin's state visit continues. So what's left to do today?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yesterday, the relationship so close, they declared a new era. That was in Beijing.

And today Putin's state visit to China takes him to the Northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, where the ever-close Russia-China relationship is, of course, again in focus.

Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang province, which is right there on the border of Russia. And there, he will lay a wreath to the monument of -- to Soviet soldiers there. He plans to attend a Russian Chinese expo. And also interact with students at the Harbin Institute of Technology.

Now, this university is interesting, because it was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024, its reported role in procurement for the Chinese militaries. So analysts point out that that choice of location is highly symbolic. It symbolizes solidarity against U.S. sanctions, as well as access to Chinese military technology.

Now, on Thursday, yesterday Putin and Xi, they issued that sweeping 7,000-word joint statement to declare a new era partnership. It said that Russia-China relations are experiencing, quote, "the best period in their history."

And the document also laid out how these two countries are fully aligned on a host of issues from trade to Taiwan, to Ukraine. And they also, as you see on your screen, they also scolded the U.S., saying this, quote: "Both sides will strengthen coordination, cooperation to deal with the so-called 'dual containment' policy of the United States that is non-constructive and hostile toward China and Russia," unquote.

Look, top of mind for Vladimir Putin here is reassurance from Xi Jinping. He wants reassurance of China's support, especially China's economic support, as the war in Ukraine rages on.

And as we've been reporting, trade between Russia and China is very robust. It reached that all-time high of $240 billion last year. But trade volume has been softening in recent months, according to Chinese customs data, in the wake of Western pressure.

We'll be watching this phase (ph) closely. Back to you.

VAUSE: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thank you for that. We appreciate it.

STOUT: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, severe storms, powerful winds, and a possible tornado in parts of the U.S. state of Texas Thursday. At least four people were killed in Houston. And this was the scene in the downtown area: debris swirling outside a

bank building. The National Weather Service says the winds were equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane at times.

The storms knocked down trees and knocked out power lines and blew off windows in some skyscrapers. More than 900,000 homes and businesses are without electricity across the state, according to PowerOutages.us.

Houston schools will be closed Friday, and the mayor is urging people to stay home, stay off the roads.

Ahead here on CNN, the Donald Trump hush money payment trial. The defense may have poked some holes in the testimony of a star witness, but was any real damage done? We'll have the takeaways from the cross- examination of Michael Cohen.

Also charges have been laid in the Slovakian prime minister's shooting. More on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:20:40]

VAUSE: After more than six hours of cross-examination and a terrible first-day start, Donald Trump's legal team may have finally landed a blow to the credibility of the prosecution's star witness in Donald Trump's hush money payment to a porn star trial.

At one point, Trump's lead attorney raised his voice, yelled, "That's a lie!" and flailing his arms around as he took aim at Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, now turned witness -- witness for the prosecution.

CNN's Paula Reid has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Cohen, the only witness being called by the prosecution who can directly implicate Donald Trump in an alleged hush money scheme, has crucial parts of his testimony undercut.

Returning to the stand for a second day of cross-examination, Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche grilling Cohen about all the times he has lied, painting him as unreliable and out for revenge after not being given a job in the Trump White House.

"You were disappointed that, after all the work that you had done for President Trump for 9.5 years, nobody, including President Trump, offered you a position in the White House." Blanche asked Cohen after showing him text messages he sent to his daughter about potentially working in the Trump administration.

"That's not accurate," Cohen insisted, and he began to grow agitated as Trump leaned forward in his chair behind the defense table, at times staring intently at his former fixer.

The Trump defense then reached a crescendo, turning to a key moment of Cohen's testimony, a 2016 phone call he says he had with former Trump body man, Keith Schiller, who says he then passed the phone to Trump.

Cohen says he told Trump on that call how he planned to pay Stormy Daniels to keep their alleged affair quiet. But referencing phone records, Blanche asked, "This is the call that you testified about on Tuesday. It was to talk to President Trump about the Stormy deal and to move forward?"

Cohen was then shown a text message he sent to Schiller the same night about a 14-year-old prank caller who had been harassing him. Cohen texted Schiller, "Who can I speak to regarding harassing calls to my cell and office. The dope forgot to block his number."

Schiller texted back soon after, "Call me."

Blanche then raised his voice, asking Cohen to confirm the call was not actually a conversation with Trump about Stormy Daniels, but about the 14-year-old prankster.

Cohen defended himself, saying, "Part of it was the 14-year-old, but I know that Keith was with Mr. Trump at the time, and there was more potentially than this."

Blanche shot back, "That was a lie. You did not talk to President Trump. You talked to Keith Schiller. You can admit it."

Cohen calmly responded, "No, sir. I don't know that it's accurate."

Blanche responded, "A one-minute and 36-second phone call, and you had enough time to update Schiller about all the problems you were having and also update President Trump about the status of the Stormy Daniels situation because you had to keep him informed?"

"I always ran everything by the boss immediately, and in this case, it would have been saying everything had been taken care of. It's been resolved," Cohen answered. He maintained his composure. "I believe I also spoke to Mr. Trump and told him everything regarding the Stormy Daniels matter."

"We are not asking for your belief. This jury does not want to hear what you think happened," Blanche retorted.

The prosecution then objected. The judge sustained. And Michael Cohen shook his head.

REID: Every day, we try to update people on when we could see a potential verdict in this case. Well, now next week, there's court on Monday, Tuesday. Court's always off on Wednesday. But it's unclear if they're going to meet on Thursday, because a juror has an appointment that conflicts with court.

Then there's a four-day weekend and they're giving the jury for the memorial day holiday. So at this point, it appears unlikely there will be a verdict, with everything they still have left to do, until after the holiday.

Paula Reid, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Norm Eisen is a CNN legal analyst who served as House Judiciary special counsel in Trump's first, of two, impeachment files.

He also served as ethics czar for the Obama White House. And this week, he's been our eyes and ears inside Trump's hush money payment to a porn star trial and joins us once again from New York. It's good to see you.

[00:25:03]

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Nice to see you again, John.

VAUSE: Yes. Three times in a week. OK.

Finally, a gotcha moment for Trump's lawyer. It only took about six hours of cross-examination to get there. And it centers on this 90- second phone call from October 2016 and whether or not Cohen and Trump talked, specifically about payments to Stormy Daniels, or maybe there's another topic harassing phone calls from the campaign. Maybe both, maybe neither.

And truth be told, it did not seem exactly like a Lieutenant Kaffee and Colonel Jessep moment, like this one. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: You want answers.

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: I want the truth!

NICHOLSON: You can't handle the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Overall, in the grand scheme of things, it seemed like kind of weak tea.

EISEN: well, it was a legitimate punch on the chin. I was there sitting just a few rows away.

My own view was, while it was a good moment, a strong, dramatic moment, one of the most intense confrontations of this trial, it was not enough to reverse the evidence corroborating Michael Cohen, going back to the first witness, David Pecker; Keith Davidson; Hope Hicks. The documents, the records.

And I thought the prosecution had established proof beyond a reasonable doubt before they came in today. This exchange might have shaved a couple points off, but I think the proof is still there, John. Juries are not going to disregard a witness, particularly one who I thought they appreciated, like Michael Cohen, based on one error. If it had been two or three or four moments like that in sequence, that might have rocked him. I don't think this was enough.

VAUSE: Well, for much of the morning, Trump's attorneys focused on Cohen's history of being a liar, especially lying under oath, asking questions like this one.

Blanche: "There is no doubt that you know what perjury means, correct?"

Cohen: "I know what perjury means."

And in your breakdown of Cohen's second day of testimony, you made this point. "About an hour into Cohen's Tuesday testimony, the prosecution switched gears to a technique we trial lawyers call 'drawing the sting.' That is anticipating how a witness is likely to be attacked on cross and acknowledging it preemptively on direct to lessen the impact on the jury."

So did prosecutors do enough of the groundwork here? Did they negate or mitigate any serious blow to Cohen's credibility overall?

EISEN: Besides this Keith Davidson call, where it certainly appeared that prosecutors had not briefed Mr. Cohen, when they've prepared him, much less drawn the sting on the direct examination, all of the other most powerful points that Blanche attempted to make had been anticipated on the direct examination.

The most important of those, John, was Michael Cohen's assertion that when he pled guilty to certain crimes, not to the campaign finance crime established by this hush money payment, but to some other crimes relating to tax and a false statement on his home equity bank paperwork, that he was coerced into doing it because prosecutors pressured his wife.

So he admitted that he lied when he told the judge that he was guilty of those crimes, not the campaign finance one.

But prosecutors have brought that out on direct, so I didn't think that had the same kind of effect as the Keith Davidson moment, which again by itself is not enough to undo all the good that prosecutors have done in the case that they've built.

VAUSE: Well, it was another low-energy day for former President Trump, who said this outside the court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It was a very interesting day. It was a fascinating day. And it shows what a scam this whole thing is, and I think that seems to be the way almost everybody, even CNN and MSDNC. They have quotes over here that have dropped the trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: We don't have that. I work here. I should know. Was this maybe a dream that Donald Trump had during the court hearing at some point?

EISEN: I think those kinds of generic statements, reading from the thesaurus. It was an interesting day. It was a fascinating day, with the absence of any real detail about what went on in the courtroom. And instead, some evidently false assertions about how cable was covering it suggests that his attention may not have been as rapt as that of the jury.

[00:30:05]

I did observe, as on every day of this trial, John, that there are portions of the day when his eyes are closed, his head is sagging. He's very still. He'll make a little jerky movement every once in a while, and then settled back into what appears to be somnolescence.

VAUSE: Perhaps that's when he does his best work. Who knows?

Norm Eisen, CNN legal analyst, thank you for being with us, sir. We appreciate all your work this week. Thank you.

EISEN: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: After the break, the very latest from the small Ukrainian town of Vovchansk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EXPLOSION)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now, the line of fire of a Russian advance causing civilians and soldiers to flee under fire and take cover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Ukrainian forces appear to be taken by surprise by a renewed Russian offensive in the Northeast. Small towns and villages falling one after the other. The latest flashpoint seems to be the small town of Vovchansk.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports firsthand civilians, as well as soldiers, are now under fire from drones and artillery fire. And now they're just simply trying to find their way out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When nightmares recur, they're often the same. Here, they get worse.

The border town of Vovchansk bearing the blunt horror of Moscow's race to take as much as they can in the weeks before Ukraine starts feeling America can military help again.

Every street aflame. Russians deeper inside the town.

Policeman Maxim (ph) is answering one of 35 calls from locals on Thursday to evacuate. The day before, three colleagues were injured. The shelling never stops.

WALSH: Three people still coming out. And you have to imagine quite how desperate these final people, the situation must be to leave.

WALSH (voice-over): Micola (ph) and his wife hiding in their basement. But despite staying through the first Russian occupation and then liberation two years ago, they found the air strikes last night, just too much.

They're joined by Maria (ph), their mother, who can't hear the shelling, or anything, too well.

Thousands evacuated since Russia invaded again around here five days ago.

Why everyone has to leave is clear again as we drive out, as it is with almost every part of Ukraine, Russia covets. Just utter destruction. Little left to rule over.

This is their first moment of calm in many days. Entire lives in plastic bags.

WALSH: Saying it wasn't like last night was scary and everyone else was talking about significant bombardment, more than it was just better to get out of there. Eighty-five.

WALSH (voice-over): An armored ride to a new world, knowing they may never get back to their homes. Tormented for days by shelling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Aerial bombs. Everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: And mortars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[00:35:05]

GRAPHIC: Did you see the Russian soldiers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: They are over there. On the other side of the river. And we were on this side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: They were shooting close to us. Firing machine guns and everything.

WALSH (voice-over): We head back in with another police unit, who soon learn two of the houses they must rescue from are impossible to reach.

As we wait, they hear a buzzing noise.

WALSH: They think they can hear a drone here. So hard to tell with the wind in the trees and the artillery. But that's a constant threat. Call them now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Then our security adviser spots it. They raise their weapons, but will firing make them more of a target?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: What if it's ours?

WALSH (voice-over): Three drones. One large one that hovers, and two small ones, whizzing about. Exposed, powerless, if we run for cover, they might come for us. All we can do is hide in the trees and hope that, if we're seen, the Russians instead, have a better target in mind.

But they come right overhead like. That noise, either the sound of death or someone deciding you're not worth their payload.

We decide to leave. But again, we cannot travel fast enough to escape the drones. Only expose ourselves and pray they lose interest.

Perhaps they did. We'll never know. But behind us, Ukraine is aflame again, because however the West's interest in this war wanes, Putin's burns brighter than ever.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Vovchansk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A 71-year-old man described as a lone wolf has been charged with attempted murder for the attempted assassination of Slovakia's prime minister, who remains in a serious but stable condition.

Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): after getting shot five times in broad daylight, Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico's condition remains difficult, officials say, even though the wounds are no longer life-threatening. PLEITGEN: This is exactly the place where Robert Fico was shot. And you can see on that tree over there that there is a hole where the forensic teams appear to have carved something like a projectile out of the bark.

Now, he suffered several gunshot wounds and had to be air medivacked into a hospital nearby.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The hospital little says two surgical teams had to operate more than five hours to save the prime minister's life.

Slovakia's president elect confirming Fico is now conscious.

PETER PELLEGRINI, SLOVAK PRESIDENT-ELECT: He is able to speak, but only few sentences and then he's really, really tired, because he's under some medical -- some medical commutation (ph). So of course, it is very difficult for him.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Slovakian authorities claiming the attack was politically motivated. The 71-year-old suspect, they say, unhappy, among other things, with the Russia-friendly Fico government's decision to cut off military aid to Ukraine.

The country's interior minister stressing, though, the assailant was not part of a wider network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He is a lone wolf whose disappointment with the government accelerated after the presidential election when he decided to act.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Dismay and disbelief in the suspect's neighborhood.

"I was very surprised by what he did," this neighbor says. "I don't understand how it happens. Something must have clicked."

Robert Fico is often viewed as pro-Russian and critical of the European Union. Slovakia society deeply divided.

But now that the prime minister remains in intensive care, trying to recover, politicians from both sides are urging unity and stability.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.

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VAUSE: Under ethics guidelines, federal judges of the U.S. urged to avoid even the appearance of the slightest of conflict of interests. So when we come back, how do we explain this, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito? A "New York Times" report about a flag flying upside- down on your front lawn, a sign used by Stop the Steal movement. More on that in a moment.

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[00:41:34] VAUSE: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is facing some questions after a report in "The New York Times" about an upside-down American flag flying in his front lawn in 2021.

"The Times" obtained this photograph of the inverted flag there. There it is. That's often used as a sign of distress. But it's also been adopted by the Stop the Steal movement as a symbol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who contest the 2020 election.

"The Times" reports it was seen at Alito's home 11 days after the Capitol Hill riots. CNN has not independently verified the flag's use, but the photo looks pretty clear.

And a Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to our request for comment. In an email to the "Times," though, Alito says this: "I had no involvement whatsoever in flying the flag. The wife did it. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectional and personal insulting language on yard signs."

"The Times" reports some neighbors interpreted the flag as a political statement by the Alitos.

I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you back here in 18 minutes.

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