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CNN International: Kenyan President William Ruto Visits The White House; China Launches Large-Scale Military Drills Surrounding Taiwan; Trump Campaigns Tonight In Deep-Blue Bronx In NYC; Supreme Court Approves GOP-Drawn SC Congressional Map; CNN On The Front Lines Of Ukraine's Fight In The North. Aired 3-3:45p ET

Aired May 23, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:36]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's 8:00 p.m. in London, 3:00 a.m. in Taipei, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining today. And let's get right to the news.

For the first time since 2008, an African leader has been welcomed to the White House on an official state visit. Kenya's President William Ruto is in the midst of a three-day trip to Washington as the two countries aimed to boost ties.

The U.S. has designated Kenya as a major non-NATO ally, the first for a sub-Sahara African nation. Kenya has long been a counterterrorism partner for the U.S. It's set to lead a multinational security force, largely funded by the U.S., to help stabilize Haiti, which has been in turmoil since the assassination of their prime minister in 2021.

The visit proving critical for U.S. president Joe Biden, who in 2022 declared he was all in on Africa and vowed to travel to the continent within the year. While that trip never materialized, Biden is using this state visit as an attempt to counter not just Russia, but China's influence in Africa as well.

The two presidents held a joint press conference earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM RUUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: The accelerating drift towards regimes indifferent to democratic values is a deep concern to us. And I believe it is time the U.S., working with Kenya, deploys it capabilities and rally like-minded democratic countries to set up the course for democracy.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are responsibilities Kenyan American must meet in the years ahead, to meet them together as partners, for security, for prosperity, for innovation, and most importantly for democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Kevin Liptak covers the White House for us and he joins us now.

Tell us about these new commitments from the Biden administration and how central it is to their plant because we talk about Ukraine, we talk about Taiwan. Tell us about why Africa and why now.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, there are two big things that I think are coming out at say, one, President Biden is designated Kenya a major non-NATO ally. In some ways, that's symbolic, but Kenya will be the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to get that designation. And it's kind of an elevated military designation that the president is naming them.

SCIUTTO: Is there a mutual defense --

(CROSSTALK)

LIPTAK: No, it does not come with a mutual defense treaty. It's sort of just below that level of alliance, but it is significant, particularly when you look at what Kenya is doing in the security and military space at the moment, whether it's trying to help with a countering militants in their own neighborhood in Somalia, but also critically, this mission that there's just set to begin now in Haiti, they're sending a 1,000 police forces to try and quell the gang violence there. President Biden was asked to well, why isn't the U.S. sending its own forces to Haiti? And he made the point that that could lead to some countries in the region trying to sort of imply the United States was implying its own will on Haiti, trying to set up its own government.

SCIUTTO: There's a long history ire of perception being U.S. intervention is not a good thing for Haiti's security.

LIPTAK: President Biden says they want to avoid that misperception.

The other big thing that the president is announcing today has to do with a debt. And that's where the issue of China really is coming into play. Kenya and a lot of other countries in Africa has benefited in some ways from major investments from China and infrastructure, but it is left them saddled with billions and billions of dollars of debt.

And what President Biden did today, he signed this vision, they're calling it the Nairobi-Washington vision that will sort of lay out plans for debt relief, for better, you know, leveraged debt through international organizations. I think that really is a demonstration that President Biden wants to show that he is willing to compete with China in the space of Africa are going forward.

SCIUTTO: Lots of experience like that in a country like Sri Lanka as well. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

So, joining us now to discuss is the significance of this state visit is Mvemba Phezo Dizolele. He's the director of the African program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Thanks so much for joining today.

MVEMBA PHEZO DIZOLELE, DIRECTOR, AFRICA PROGRAM AT THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES: Thank you, Jim, for having me.

SCIUTTO: I wonder, what is the significance of this trip now? And does it indicate that the U.S. in effect, is falling behind in Africa in terms of influence? So falling behind specifically of China and Russia?

DIZOLELE: I think it's indicate that the U.S. is playing catch up, and it's better than not playing catch up at all.

[15:05:03]

We know that on the margin of the last U.S.-Africa leaders' summit, the president promised that he will visit Africa, that did not happen. We know to the U.S. credits that a large number of high -- high official United States government visited Africa, but that is not the same as the presidential visit.

But then true, the U.S. deal so much more in conditionality than actually in delivering whatever support that African countries need. So this is important that the state visit finally happened.

It's important that Kenya was the country that did it, because Kenya has a lot of traction. It's a democracy. It's a country that is proven that it has the strong economy. That is important. But we hope this is just the beginning.

SCIUTTO: I mean, you say play -- playing catch up. It's interesting, the U.S. envoy to Nairobi, Meg Whitman, and she told CNN that in many ways, she believes exactly that, that the U.S. is playing catch up there.

What do you mean by saying that the U.S. approach is conditionality?

DIZOLELE: The U.S. deals a lot in do not do this, do not do that. Unless you do this, we will not do this for you. That is the conditionality mind and that is a problem because African countries are dealing with a set of contingencies and challenges that do not fit quite wearing these conditions. So if we condition everything on democracy, where a lot of these countries do not have a tradition of democracy. That means we will never really deal with them in an effective manner because they will not be a democracy of the next 30 months -- 30 years.

So why not meet them where they are and actually develop a policy of proximity and then tried to instill and transmit some of those values by delivering on their needs.

SCIUTTO: There is a competition here to a large degree of -- competition for influence between the U.S. and China, U.S. and Russia, and President Ruto, he said that in terms of managing relationships between China and the U.S., that it was a delicate balance, and he said Kenya wants to be friends to all in an enemy to none. I wonder, is that possible given that, I mean, you can argue that the China or Russia is approaches, is something we have a zero sum game in Africa.

DIZOLELE: It is very possible as far as African countries go, African countries see this great power competition, not in the way we see it in -- from Washington, from Beijing. They see it as an opportunity, options and choices. So to them, they welcome it.

The problem is neither Beijing or Washington sees that way. We want African to pick sides and Africans are not interested in that. That's where the problem lies.

SCIUTTO: So, Kenya, as we mentioned, is now leading this multinational security effort in Haiti. Much needed. The need there is tremendous, the lawlessness is tremendous.

This is quite a -- it's quite a commitment and it's quite a risk. Let's be frank for those 1,000 Kenyan forces that are going there. So how does leading this effort help Kenya's international standing?

DIZOLELE: It helps Kenya in the sense that people didn't pay attention to Kenya. Now, we'll do that. It helps Kenya because now everybody will know what President Ruto is and his leadership in this space. It's problematic because he doesn't have popular support Kenya. It's problematic because the Kenyans have gone, have never gone that far outside the country to carry in such or such operations.

They'd been in Somalia. There was a reason why they went to Somalia. The way in DRC, not that long ago, that did not go very well. So when you consider the dynamics of Haiti and the complex situation there are a lot of analysts are pretty pessimistic about it.

SCIUTTO: I wonder how countries in Africa with stronger ties to the U.S. or otherwise are looking to the U.S. election this year two candidates with quite different approaches to the world. As you know, Trump has directed some highly derogatory comments towards some African nations.

Do they have a horse in this race as it were?

DIZOLELE: I do not think it matters as much to Africans. I think what matters is what the United States vows and delivers vis-a-vis Africa. Africans are used the same changes of power in the United States and they've adjusted accordingly over the last 60 years. So this will not be any different.

SCIUTTO: Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, thanks so much for walking us through it all.

DIZOLELE: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, China started two days of military drills surrounding Taiwan in what they're calling strong punishment for, quote/unquote, separatist acts by Taiwan.

[15:10:00]

The exercise involves the army, navy, air force and rocket force. It's taking place just days after the self-ruling island swore in its newly democratically elected president.

CNN's Will Ripley is in Taiwan, has the latest on these drills.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chaotic start for Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching-te. Just days after taking office, China launching large scale military exercises and protesters taking to the streets of the capital, Taipei.

Operation Joint Sword-2024A set to encircle Taiwan over two days, dozens of Chinese aircraft, warships and Coast Guard vessels.

Beijing describing the drills as a powerful punishment for so-called separatist forces in Taiwan, a dramatic increase in military pressure on the island democracy.

WEN-TI SUNG, FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S GLOBAL CHINA HUB: I think Beijing will likely respond with fire and fury. That's almost to be expected from Beijing.

Senior security officials in Taipei tell CNN, most of the aircraft crossed into Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone, a move the island's defense ministry calls a serious provocation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their military exercise is not helping with the situation around Taiwan Strait.

RIPLEY: China's military says the exercises are a direct response to the separatist provocations and external interferences. They say the motherland must be reunified and will inevitably be reunified.

In his inauguration speech this week, Lai calling on the communist mainland to stop its military and political intimidation and recognize this sovereignty of democratic Taiwan, using the islands official name, the Republic of China.

LAI CHING-TE, TAIWANESE PRESIDENT (through translator): I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China's existence and respect the choices of the people of Taiwan.

RIPLEY: Word seen by some as a departure from the cautious tone taken by his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen.

President Lai's first days have been anything but calm, massive youth protests erupted outside parliament, demonstrators protesting a push by opposition parties to subject the islands new leader to tighter scrutiny from China-friendly lawmakers. More chaos inside Taiwan's fiercely divided parliament. A massive brawl broke out last week over those legislative reform bills.

In the Taiwanese capital, confidence in the government and the military.

MR. LIU, TAIPEI RESIDENT (through translator): If the Chinese communist party does attack Taiwan, it won't be easy. Taiwanese people are not afraid of war. MS. TSAI, TAIPEI RESIDENT (through translator): I believe leaders will prioritize people's happiness. So, I'm not worried. I think peace will be maintained.

RIPLEY: A fragile peace and tumultuous times for President Lai -- military threats across the Taiwan Strait and deep divisions at home.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks to Will Ripley for that report.

Joining me now to discuss, Democratic congressman from Illinois, Raja Krishnamoorthi. He is the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Thanks so much for taking the time this afternoon.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Hey, thank you so much, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, first, I wonder how significant you find these drills. Are they, in effect, a dress rehearsal for -- if not an invasion of Taiwan, a blockade of Taiwan?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know. I hope not. But what I do know is that it's a -- it's an unnecessary provocation. It's aggression. It's saber rattling that basically could lead to dangerous escalation into unintended consequences and disastrous ones.

And so, that's why I believe that as William Lai said, the president of Taiwan, we should stick to the status quo, Jim, and so we strongly counsel the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party to do the same.

SCIUTTO: You participate in a committee that watches China very closely in a bipartisan way, and they watched the Chinese threat to Taiwan very closely. There's been a lot of discussion of Chinese preparations to do so. There's been public discussion of a U.S. intelligence assessment that Xi has instructed his military to be ready at least to invade Taiwan by 2027.

In your view, is it a matter of when rather than if China invades Taiwan?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Not necessarily. I think that that decision, as best as we now has not yet been made, but we should take Xi Jinping at his word that he wants the military to be ready to successfully invade Taiwan by 2027 and as a consequence, we needed to equip Taiwan with what it needs to deter such aggression. To deter a potential conflict because again, it would be disastrous and it'll be a violation of kind of our mutual understanding in the region that is -- it is best to maintain the status quo and to resolve all differences peacefully.

[15:15:05]

SCIUTTO: President Biden, as you know, has said four times that the U.S. would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan Donald Trump has made no such commitment. In fact, some of his former senior advisers have told me, he has had quite the opposite that the U.S. should not get involved if China were to invade Taiwan.

In your view, is this election in the U.S. -- does that have in effect that choice, a U.S. president that would defend Taiwan and one that would not?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, not necessarily. I think that on a bipartisan basis, we believe in the official policy of the United States which is we want to maintain the status quo, Jim. And that we still need to abide by the Taiwan Relations Act, which is a piece of legislation that required hires us to help equip Taiwan with what it needs to deter aggression. And that we prepare the American military and its forced for the eventuality of the use of force if that happens.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. and China seem to enjoy a brief warming in relations in recent months. You had Antony Blinken's trip, some discussions, but now, you've had these drills around Taiwan. You have Biden announcing severe new tariffs on Tai -- on Chinese goods coming into the U.S.

Is that brief warming period over, in your view?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know, but it's ultimately going to be up to Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has to make a choice which is this: does he continue at this kind of aggression toward his neighbors whether its military in this case or economic in terms of dumping on other sure economies, goods to destroy the competition of companies abroad, or does he kind of do the opposite, which is lowering tensions, lowering aggression, maintaining the status quo, thereby also helping to repair the Chinese economy, which is tanking right now, Jim?

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: And so, I think that is the decision that he needs to make. I hope he chooses the latter, but we have to be prepared that he chooses the former.

SCIUTTO: Are you convinced that ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese goods is the right approach, as you know tariffs fundamentally are paid by consumers if you put 100 percent tariff on Chinese import, its going to cost twice as much due to an American consumer.

And I understand Chinese trade practices and concerns about flooding the market, particularly with goods such as electric vehicles but ultimately by the way, Democrats have this criticism of Trump's tariffs when he was in office. Ultimately, it's American consumers who pay. Is that the right approach?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, you mentioned electric vehicles. That's a good example and illustrates the general reason why I support what Joe Biden is doing.

You know, those BYD electric vehicles. They're called Build Your Dream. That's what it stands for, BYD. Ive said that it's actually a CON. It's a con. It's creating our nightmares because what happens is that the CCP has

subsidized the heck out of those particular vehicles. Why? To basically undercut their competition and destroy Detroit and other automakers.

Now, in the process, of course, American consumers may not have access to the under-priced BYD vehicles but most of my constituents don't want a vehicle from China if its being sold in a bit into basically destroy American jobs, destroy American industry. They want green goods, but they want their industry to stay in the green.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Krishnamoorthi, thanks so much for joining the program.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, out of the courthouse, back on the campaign trail. Former President Trump heads to the Bronx, in New York, to make his pitch for the White House and a place where -- well, has a lot of support in the past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:19]

SCIUTTO: Former President Donald Trump is making a political play on deep blue territory tonight, home of the Yankees, hip hop, AOC, as well. He's headed hold a campaign rally in the Bronx, in New York City. Trump himself grew up not too far away in Queens, but make no mistake. This is Biden territory. Biden carry the Bronx by more than 60 points over Trump in 2020.

So why campaign there? Here's one reason, the Trump campaign is hoping to peel off disaffected Black and Hispanic voters from Biden. The Bronx is heavily Latino and majority non-white.

For more on the strategy and what message to expect, CNN's Kristen Holmes joins me now. She covers the Trump campaign.

And, Kristen, I get the strategy of peeling black and Hispanic voters, but he's not going to turn the state of New York blue here. So is this, is this a way perhaps to draw resources away from Biden's campaign? I mean, is it, or is it a public showing close to his hometown?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, keep in mind that he was supposed to be important today. So, they had planned this months ago when they thought that he was still going to be important up until 4:30 today and then he was going to have a rally later in the Bronx. Now, obviously, court wrapped on Tuesday, so they are just came back to hold the rally that they had done extensive planning for. So that gives you a little bit of an indication as to why exactly they chose New York.

But two things can be true at once. You're talking about Donald Trump trying to make inroads with Black and Hispanic voters. It's coming at a time when we're seeing polls indicating that there is some movement in that direction, they believed that there is an opening the Trump campaign, a width these voters who are disaffected.

Now I will tell you here on the ground and talk to handful of voters live here who really were all over the map. We have people telling us that Donald Trump doesn't belong in the Bronx. He should get out. We also have people telling us that they voted for Biden last time around they were considering voting for Donald Trump this time around citing, specifically, the economy, something that we have heard time and time again.

So, the location itself is not entirely that surprising, given again that he was supposed to be in court, but overall, what you are seeing is a strategy from the Trump campaign to try and siphon off votes -- excuse me, blocs of Democratic voters, particularly when it comes to working class voters and Black and Hispanic voters, and particularly male Black and Hispanic voters. That's where they see the movement coming from.

SCIOTTO: The Biden campaign, very conscious of the electoral trends you're talking about, put out an ad today targeting Black voters specifically who may be looking to Trump. Have a listen. I want to get your thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, THEN-BUSINESSMAN: Of course I hate these people.

ANNOUNCER: Donald Trump disrespecting Black folk is nothing new. He was sued for refusing to rent his apartments to Black families, and called for the execution of five innocent Black and Brown teenagers.

[15:25:04]

TRUMP: And it's more than anger. It's hatred.

ANNOUNCER: It's why Trump stood with violent white supremacists, warned of a bloodbath if he loses the next election, and if he is president again, vow to be a dictator who wants revenge on his enemies. Now, who do you think that is?

TRUMP: Of course, I hate these people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Wow. How did the Trump campaign respond?

HOLMES: They issued a statement the same way that Trump usually does, in Trumpian fashion, that said the Biden campaign is panicking because they see that Black voters aren't buying what Biden is selling, that President Trump is receiving a record high support in the polls from Black voters that we haven't seen in decades.

Look, that was Donald Trump in his own words, there is no negating that. There is also known negating the Democrats are seeing the curveball numbers, and there is some concern there. So how this ends up playing out, obviously, have to wait till it gets

closer to November, but this is an actual thing that Donald Trump is trying to work on, that they are seeing the movement towards and the Democrats are concerned about.

SCIUTTO: Another group that both campaigns are courting are Nikki Haley voters and, of course, yesterday, Nikki Haley, despite all the criticism she had during her brief campaign for the nomination, she says she will indeed be voting for Trump in November.

You speak to the Trump campaign. First of all, what did they make of Haley's endorsement? Were they surprised by it and do they envision her playing any role in the campaign?

HOLMES: As of now, I would say they don't envision her playing any role. I think that there is a general belief among Donald Trumps supporters, even his own advisers that she was going eventually come around. They were happy with it.

It expands his inner circle, which is who I'm talking about. To Republicans writ large, they're very happy to see just kind of support from Nikki Haley.

There is an overall belief among Republicans, particularly in critical battleground states, that Trump needs these Nikki Haley voters, that these are not just independent or Democrats, the way that Trump supporters have said, but that these are actually disaffected Republican voters, people who are looking for an alternative, and they don't want that alternative to be President Joe Biden.

Now, whether or not Trump's team actually makes any outreach to these kind of Nikki Haley supporters remains to be seen. However, what we have started to see is Republicans themselves trying to go door to door, trying to court these voters. But Donald Trump himself -- he's not known as a gracious man. So, we haven't seen him any have any sort of reaction to Nikki Haley. We'll wait, of course, if he says anything on stage tonight.

But I will remind you that people have told him or at least wanted and to be gracious when she dropped out of the race, and instead, he attacked her.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Often can't resist himself.

Kristen Holmes, thanks so much.

All right. Turning now to the Supreme Court as we near the end of its term, we're getting some significant rulings from the bench, including one today with ramifications for November's election, voting rights, and potentially the balance of power in the House of Representatives.

In a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines, the court's sided with a Republican drawn congressional district map in South Carolina, which civil rights groups say relied on racial gerrymandering and the lower court ruled counted to bleaching of African American voters. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion, published as Alito himself is

facing scrutiny from Democrats and others. "The New York Times" today reporting on another flag flown outside one of his homes, mirroring flags wielded by insurrections on January 6th.

Here to discuss all this is an expert on constitutional law, Anthony Michael Kreis.

Thanks so much for joining.

ANTHONY MICHAEL KREIS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: So first on this, the South Carolina case, I want to read a portion of the dissent by Justice Kagan. She writes go ahead. Go right ahead. This court says to states today, it will be easy enough to cover your tracks in the end, just raise a possibility of non race- based decision-making. And it will be this positive.

And so this odious practice of sorting citizens built on racial generalizations and exploiting racial divisions will continue.

Does she have argument there? And did the Supreme Court, the majority here, in effect, create a new standard for gerrymandering?

KREIS: Well, I think the answer there is pretty mixed. So a few years ago there was a major case before the Supreme Court about whether state legislatures could constitutionally gerrymander congressional districts for partisan gain, right?

SCIUTTO: Right.

KREIS: So, whether or not parts and gerrymandering was constitutional or not. And the Supreme Court said that that was entirely fine. There was no constant before violation there.

Now, the thing is, is that an American politics in particular, in the American south are politics are highly polarized on the basis of race and so very oftentimes, legislatures will draw in certain people for parts again, based on racial lines.

And so, what the Supreme Court basically said today is that's entirely fine. They can do that. So unless there's some blatant direct evidence of an intent to harm, there was -- there's going to be no constitutional claims.

[15:30:06]

So she does have a point there, but it's also a point that she raised in that case a few years ago on partisan gerrymandering as well.

SCIUTTO: But just to the anointed here is the standard in effect, you can draw district lines, you can gerrymander you can group black people into certain districts to reduce the number of districts in which making a judgment based on black peoples voting pres, preferences to reduce the number of districts to give a partisan advantage. But as long as you don't say that that's the explicit reason you're doing it, you're only doing it for partisan reasons, not for -- not based on a racial judgment, that you're fine? I mean, because that's essentially Kagan's argument here.

KREIS: And I think she's exactly right. So, Justice Alito's opinion essentially says that barring some direct evidence, a tacit admission of a desire to harm or desire to racially gerrymander, it's going to be very hard for voting rights groups to bring these kind of cases to enhance the voting power particularly of Black voters in United States, and acutely in the United States, in the South.

SCIUTTO: I wonder how this fits in with a recent decision on a new congressional redistricting district plan in the state of Louisiana which it upheld a second majority-Black district, is -- are those two things are inconsistent? Is the standard different?

I mean, did they sort of give a wind to one side and a loss in the next case, or are they consistent with each other?

KREIS: Well, we will have to see there. So what the Supreme Court did in the Louisiana case was site this principle called the Purcell Principle, which essentially says you cant change lines in congressional district for an state to close to an election. So the court said, essentially, you can't -- we're not going to talk touch it because of the time, but I think that it may be very well long-term in danger because of today's decision.

SCIUTTO: I mean, that's the bigger picture question here, is that over time, the Supreme Court's conservative majority has wheeled away at Voting Rights Act protections, has it not? I mean, the criticism from the NAACP, from Black voting groups, and by the way, the groups that were on the other side of this court opinion here, is that this is diluting the voting power of minorities in this country over time. Is that true?

KREIS: Absolutely. I think we've seen for the last 25 years the Roberts court continuously winnow away at voting rights, whether it'd be by diluting the effectiveness of Voting Rights Act or by taking my constitutional remedies as they did today.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Well, Anthony Michael Kreis, thanks so much for laying it out.

KREIS: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, the urgent call for more air defense from Ukraine's president after Russian missiles, again, kill this time seven Ukrainians in Kharkiv. We're going to go live to the region, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:32]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

At least seven people were killed in a Russian missile strike on Kharkiv. Officials say 23 others wounded.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed these latest attacks on a continuing lack of air defenses. He said he is grateful to everyone helping Ukraine, but they need, quote, more determination especially from world leaders.

CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Eastern Ukraine.

And I wonder if these latest strikes and President Zelenskyy's criticism there means that this or at least some of this latest tranche of U.S. military aid has yet to arrive there.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, I mean, clearly their defense is a wanting, but it's also unclear in these instances whether or not we're seeing an extra level of Russian resourcing to these 15 missiles, particularly today, that landed in Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, even if we can feel them kilometers away inside a supermarket as they impacted, kind of shaking where we stood.

I drove near the site of the location, one of two, a printing presses seen by a railway track where we saw craters, firefighters, hiding for cover and where seven people lost their lives, 23 injured around on the city from that particular instance of missile strikes. But it's almost daily that the city is hit, sometimes military targets and we're not always aware of the details, other time civilians hit at the weekend in particular, as seven months pregnant woman amongst seven killed or lakeside resort near the city.

Russia's forces are getting closer. They want to get close enough to fir artillery and we were in the last 48 hours in a key town that frankly Ukraine has to hold and Putin urgently needs if he gets it, then his artillery can start firing on Kharkiv.

Here's what we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH (voice-over): Some towns, they can never let Putin take. And this, Lyptsi is one of them. Destroyed artillery on the streets. Homes aflame from an airstrike. But they can only move at night.

Lights off.

It's a perilous grip they keep, but lose here, and Russian artillery will be in range of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv.

You can still smell the smoke here from an airstrike that landed just in the last hour or so.

This is life under the drone. We're the first reporters into the heart of the town, only soldiers left here underground. The Khartila 13th National Guard first tackled Russia's new offensive.

OLEKSANDR, KHARTILA NATIONAL GUARD BRIGADE: You saw how it's all burning. It's like that every night.

WALSH: Do you think there were good enough fortifications here?

OLEKSANDR: Nothing was prepared here. Nothing. Just nothing. All the positions are being built by the hands of the infantry. The Russians are trained professional soldiers. You can see it from their equipment, from their tactics.

WALSH: There were eight airstrikes just in the last hour. So we leave soon.

A pausing noise nearest, very close. And the only way they know who's drone this is, is if it attacks.

Is it your drone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who knows?

WALSH: All around Kharkiv that don't have enough guns and the Russians have too many drones.

The 92nd Assault Brigade showed something that isn't even theirs.

Russian artillery piece that they captioned in the first year of war and the fighting in Kharkiv region.

[15:40:01]

Now, they use strangely French mortar rounds to fire from here. It's just a sign of how little appropriate ammunition they have available to them.

This wire is a protection from APV drones.

Above, he sees a drone with two battery packs, a long-range scout.

Run. Basement.

It is not friendly.

If you can tell it's an attack drone, hide.

This seems to be a scout, so running is better before it calls in shelling.

Another artillery unit wants to show us something not even Russian, but Soviet. Made in the 1940s, it can still find new or Polish shells. In the autumn, it was 100 a day. Now it is 10.

Extraordinary to see something here that's three times the age of either these two guys holding back a new Russian offensive in 2024. I said a metal so old that it limits the number of times.

That sound warns another drone is incoming and back in the bunker, they show us the online board $30 gadget that is their best warning mechanism. The team here embody Ukraine's exhaustion and resilience. Older guys, wounded infantrymen.

Arthur (ph) has drone shrapnel in his arms still.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moving towards Lozova?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

Orlan. Don't go out at all for now.

WALSH: We just saw an Orlan Russian drone passing overhead, so saying, but to stay inside.

On the way back into the city, we see what fuels this defense. This was a lakeside resort, football, cocktails, a beach.

Extraordinary devastation and they're here to collect the bodies.

A seven months pregnant woman was among the seven dead here. Another body found later, just fragments in the mulch.

Russia's advance looms over whatever life persists here, belching out over homes.

The dark is little salvation. This may be drone being hit, but they kill too when they crash in failure.

Flares breach the enforced blackout. Moscow is getting nearer again and they're always too many blasts before dawn.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kharkiv, Ukraine.

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