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CNN International: Civilians Flee as Russians Close in on Ukrainian Town; Slovak Prime Minister Still in Serious Condition, Suspected Gunman Charged; Morrocco Building New Gateway for Trade in Africa; Putin and Xi Pledge to Deepen Partnership in Show of Unity. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 17, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here at our top stories today.

Trucks carrying aid to Gaza have begun to move ashore via a temporary pier built by the U.S. military. That's according to the U.S. Central Command. CENTCOM added that no U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza.

Donald Trump's attorneys grilled former fixer Michael Cohen on the witness stand on Thursday in New York. They appeared to trip Cohen up with a question about a phone call Cohen allegedly had with Trump concerning a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Under questioning, Cohen said that, at least at the beginning, the call was about another topic.

Deadly storms have slammed the U.S. state of Texas. At least four people were killed in Houston, and hundreds of thousands of people are without power. Some buildings' windows were blown out by the strong winds.

Returning to a top story we're following out of France. Police have shot and killed a man who tried to set fire at a synagogue this morning. That's according to the French Interior Ministry, which says the incident happened in the northern city of Rouen. There are -- these are the first images, at least, that we've received from where the incident happened.

The Interior Minister said the man was armed, and he congratulated the officers for stopping him. Rouen is located about 110 kilometers northwest of Paris.

Now, NATO says Russia's new offensive in northern Ukraine will eventually hit the wall. Moscow launched the cross-border assault operation in the Kharkiv region last week, and fighting is underway for the town of Vovchansk. But NATO says even though at least nine Ukrainian villages have fallen, Russia won't achieve a strategic breakthrough. That's because, according to a senior NATO commander, Russian troops don't have the skills or the capability to do that.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the situation in the region is generally under control but remains extremely difficult. Civilians are desperately trying to flee Vovchansk as the fighting gets closer to their homes. But to get to safety, they have to dodge Russian artillery fire and military drones hovering over their heads.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh saw it first-hand.

(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 American military help again.

Every street aflame, Russians deeper inside the town. Policeman Maxim 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 for these final people the situation must be to leave.

WALSH (voice-over): Mikola and his wife hiding in their basement. But despite staying through the first Russian occupation and then liberation two years ago, they found the airstrikes last night just too much. They're joined by Maria, 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: She's saying it wasn't like last night was scary and everyone else was talking about significant bombardment, more that it was just better to get out of there. 85.

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 (through translated text): Aerial bombs. Everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): And mortars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translated text): Did you see the Russian soldiers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): They are over there. On the other side of the river.

[04:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): And we were on this side. 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. It's so hard to tell with the wind and the trees and the artillery, but that's a constant threat for them now.

WALSH (voice-over): Then our security advisor spots it. They raise their weapons, but will firing make them more of a target?

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. 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)

FOSTER: Nic and I are just watching that. So that's the situation on the ground. It feels as though the Russians are obviously making progress, but NATO's suggesting they can't make that much progress. What do they mean?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There's been a briefing by President Zelenskyy for journalists, too. He says that they've stabilized this area. He says Vovchansk obviously is the focus of the Russian intention.

The maximum they've crossed the border so far is about 10km. The maximum penetration into Ukraine is 10km. President Zelenskyy says that they've moved some battalions to reinforce their areas where they haven't been forced back, areas where they've had to cede some territory. A very clear instruction for the civilians there to get out of harm's way as soon as they can, to listen to the authorities.

But the message from President Zelenskyy seems to be we're sort of getting this under control. What we heard from NATO officials was their, I guess, intelligence-based analysis that Russia isn't intending to go for maximum gains there. And if you look at a readily available open-source material of where Russia has its maximum troop deployments, remembering that this is hundreds of miles long front line, it doesn't have, compared to many of the other parts of the front line, like in Donetsk and along the southern area near Zaporizhzhia, it doesn't have big concentrations of troops. There are a few units there. So the assessment that Russia may not be intending to rush full headlong into Kharkiv, which is only less than 20 miles from the border, that seems correct.

However, if Russia sees that there's an opportunity, I think you can expect them to maneuver troops and come in there. But at the moment, they're not poised for that. I think one of the assessments is that Russia is pushing the front line in a number of places, particularly in the north, in Kharkiv, opening a new front.

We've heard from President Zelenskyy, they've had to move battalions in to reinforce. The Russians are pressing around Zaporizhzhia in a way that they haven't before. So there are contested areas that will require additional Ukrainian troops.

Putin is stretching Ukraine's resources, but there's a sense that he's still focusing on that central Donbas area, where the maximum number of troops are, to try to make gains there.

FOSTER: How much -- I mean, there's so much attention being focused on that area around Kharkiv. As you say, the front line is a lot longer than that, isn't it?

You know, it's difficult, isn't it, for the Ukrainians to figure out where to focus their resources and where we should be focusing our attention? Is this part of the intention?

ROBERTSON: You know, I think, and we don't know, because the Ukrainians don't tell us, you know, their strategy here. But while the Russians are hitting in Kharkiv, we've been looking at satellite images CNN has exclusively obtained from Sevastopol in Crimea, where, over the past couple of nights, there have been a number of attacks, and the Belbek airfield outside Sevastopol, the main port on Crimea for Russia, has taken a number of strikes. And you can see there are destroyed fighter jets on the runway, there are destroyed buildings, which local Ukrainian insurgents in Crimea are saying actually were ammunition stores that went up.

[04:40:00]

So while Russia focuses on the north, Ukraine's putting a lot of resources, it seems to be, into Crimea and the south, the extreme south end of the front line.

So they've got their own analysis, and I'd back that up by a couple of things that have happened overnight as well.

One of the big ports inside Russia, just to the east of Crimea, has taken, it appears, potential hits. There's smoke rising reported from there, and we know that this is a place where Ukraine has struck important Russian naval vessels before. The mayor of Sevastopol, the Russian mayor of Sevastopol in Crimea, is saying overnight that power supplies there were hit, that the power won't be back up and running for at least a day. It might take some time to repair.

Internet service monitors are reporting or noticing that there is an Internet speed and usage drop-off in that area of Crimea. So it appears in a number of different locations on a number of different nights, Ukraine has targeted the extreme southern end of the front line.

So part of their response is not only to shift troops to counter Russia, but to try to also distract and pull Russia in another direction.

FOSTER: OK, Nic Robinson, thank you.

A 71-year-old man is facing attempted murder charges after he allegedly tried to assassinate Slovakia's prime minister, who's still in serious condition. Officials are describing the suspect as a lone wolf with political motivations. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK 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 medevacked into a hospital nearby.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The hospital 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 a few sentences, and then he's really, really tired because he's under some medication, 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 Slovakia interior minister stressing, though, the assailant was not part of a wider network.

MATUS SUTAJ ESTOK, SLOVAKIA INTERIOR MINISTER (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 happened. Something must have clicked.

Robert Fico is often viewed as pro-Russian and critical of the European Union. Slovakia's 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.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: More than two-thirds of African nations have access to the sea, making maritime trade a vital economic lifeline. The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development found 1.3 billion tons of goods passed through the continent's seaports in 2021. "CONNECTING AFRICA's" Eleni Giokos tells us about Morocco's new gateway for trade in Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This roadway leads to what will become the Dakhla Atlantic Port.

NISRINE IOUZZI, DIRECTOR, DAKHLA ATLANTIC PORT CONSTRUCTION: We are constructing an ecosystem. We have a big infrastructure which is the maritime bridge. We have three basins. The first one is for ship repair, the second one for fishing activities and the third one for commercial activities.

GIOKOS (voice-over): The $1.2 billion project will also include two industrial zones for logistics services. Nisrine Iouzzi oversees construction and she says by the end of phase one, the port is expected to be handling about 35 million tons of goods a year, but they're not stopping there.

IOUZZI: In the second phase, we will also construct a second capacity with 8 million tons that will be added especially for dry cargo.

GIOKOS (voice-over): This project is part of Morocco's larger port strategy. The General Manager of the Regional Investment Center of Dakhla says the port is strategically positioned to ensure the nation's southern provinces can also become a gateway for trade.

[04:45:00]

MOUNIR HOUARI, GENERAL MANAGER, REGIONAL INVESTMENT CENTER, DAKHLA: Morocco historically is very connected to its African roots. We strongly believe that with this infrastructure, a port infrastructure road infrastructure, renewable energy, we will be very attractive for investors that aim to get to one of the fastest growing markets which is the West African market.

GIOKOS (voice-over): With implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, a deal aimed at boosting intra-African trade by creating a single market for goods and services, he says the port will provide Africa with the opportunity to keep the production of raw materials within the continent. HOUARI: Less than 5 percent of the African natural resources are processed in Africa because there is no industrial infrastructure, exporting infrastructure, so the fact that we are having this free trade zone will encourage many Africans to be part of this biggest project and to start processing African natural resources in Africa, allowing African countries to create more jobs, to improve their skills and the know-how and to strengthen their own industries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Russia's President and his Chinese counterpart discuss the war in Ukraine and their close partnership. We'll have a live report on the meeting after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the final day of his state visit to China. During their talks on Thursday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Mr. Putin that China supports an international peace conference to end the Ukraine crisis. The two leaders also pledged to deepen their strategic partnership even as friction grows with the U.S. and other Western nations.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong. I mean, you were looking at what they were going to say, but you're also very interested in the optics. Did it play out as you expected?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, very much so. With their restrictive meeting, as they call it, in Zhongnanhai ending in a proper bro hug between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

Now, today, Putin is no longer in Beijing. He's in the Chinese city of Harbin. Xi Jinping is not with him, but the ever-close relationship between Russia and China is, of course, in focus.

More on Harbin. This city is the capital of Heilongjiang province, which is right up there on the border with Russia. And earlier today, it's been a pretty packed schedule for Vladimir Putin. In Harbin, he laid a wreath at a monument to Soviet soldiers.

He also attended a Russian-Chinese expo. He had a meeting with the Chinese vice president, Han Zheng. And this afternoon, he has been with students.

He's been interacting with students at the Harbin Institute of Technology. And I believe we have some fresh video to show you of that.

[04:50:00]

And this is interesting, because this is a university that was sanctioned by the United States a few years ago in 2020 for its reported role in procurement for the Chinese military. So observers point out that this choice is very significant. It's very symbolic and it symbolizes solidarity against U.S. sanctions. It symbolizes also access to Chinese military technology. Now, it was on Thursday when these two leaders, Putin and Xi, they

issued this sweeping 7,000-word joint statement to declare what they call a new era partnership.

And in this statement, it said that China-Russia relations are experiencing, quote, the best period in their history. They laid out how the two countries are on the same page, fully aligned on a host of issues, from trade to Taiwan to Ukraine, et cetera. And also, in this document, they scolded the United States.

They mentioned the U.S. by name multiple times in this document. And they also said this. Let's bring it up for you.

Quote: Both sides will strengthen coordination and 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.

Now, top of mind throughout the state visit for Vladimir Putin is reassurance from Xi Jinping, to get reassurance of China's support, especially economic support, as the war in Ukraine rages on. And we've been reporting here on CNN, trade between these two nations has been and remains strong.

It reached an all-time high of $240 billion last year. But the trade volume has been softening in recent months in the wake of Western pressure.

So, for Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, this is a delicate dance to shore up ties with Russia, but without angering the West, without crossing any red lines and without hurting China's economy. Back to you -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Kristie, and just in terms of how this is playing out in China, is it getting the same sort of coverage and reaction there as it is in other places?

STOUT: No, it's interesting. You know, this new era relationship is being, of course, as you would expect, celebrated across state media in China with the Xi, Putin talks, a meeting in Zhongnanhai, getting prominent play. But this close relationship has been raising eyebrows among Chinese nationals.

You may have seen a video report that our colleague Marc Stewart filed in Beijing. You know, there are people on the street who are willing to openly share that they think that this is a very curious relationship. And we also spoke recently to a Shanghai-based scholar, Shen Dingli, and he told CNN this.

He said: Chinese like me feel shameful to receive Vladimir Putin, because this country defines the U.N. Charter. And he adds that, you know, China wants to use Russia, but Russia is making China weak.

And he's not the only one. A number of Chinese also feel this way. They question what the relationship is all about. You know, when China potentially has a lot to lose when it's facing the impact of more Western sanctions, especially right now, China's economy desperately needs a reboot -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Thank you so much.

Still ahead, this two-time World Cup finalist is now a two-time wax statue honoree. Have the details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:32]

FOSTER: The severe weather that pummeled Texas on Thursday soaked some of the fans who were in the stands to watch the Houston Astros take on the Oakland Athletics. Even though the stadium roof was closed, sheets of rain and gushing, or gusting, rather, winds, blew into Houston's Minute Maid Park before the first pitch.

Still, the Astros came away with an 8-1 victory, completing a four- game sweep of the visiting Oakland's A's.

And the stories in the spotlight this hour.

It's one thing to see yourself in a mirror, where French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe unveiled his Madame Tussauds wax likeness in Paris on Thursday. The World Cup winner called his double impressive but was looking ahead to the upcoming UEFA European Championship tournament. It's pretty good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLIAN MBAPPE, WORLD CUP WINNER: It's a big honor, a dream to represent France all over the world, all the time. We don't have to forget that. It's the first thing, because it's going to be a big pleasure to be there, even as a captain, to be there and to try to win the Euro. A great tournament with all the best teams in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: This is actually Mbappe's second wax double, would you believe, so it's a triple. It'll be on display at Madame Tussauds in Berlin. His first wax statue is on display at the famed Musee Grevin in Paris if you're looking to find the other one.

Now, a furry four-legged pitch invader is Major League Soccer's newest breakout star. A rogue raccoon ran onto the field during Wednesday's match between Philadelphia Union and New York City FC, exhibiting the speed, agility and deftness of a top-prized striker while evading capture. Looks pretty relaxed, even though all that's going on.

The match was paused for five minutes as crews tried and eventually succeeded, thankfully containing the show-stealer dubbed "Raquinho" the Raccoon. Raquinho was put in good hands and was safely released. The Philadelphia Union does assure us NYC FC went on to win the game 2-1. They now think it's a lucky mascot.

Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break.