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Ukrainian President Meets French Counterpart in Paris, to Address French Assembly Today; Trump Returns to the Campaign Trail Post-Conviction; French President Pledges to Supply Mirage 2000 Jets to Ukraine; Battle over Balloons Between the Two Koreas Owing to Cross-Border Propaganda; Two NASA Astronauts Safely Arrived After the Successful Docking of Boeing Starliner at the ISS. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 07, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all our viewers watching around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong. Ahead on "CNN Newsroom".
Remembering D-Day, the beginning of the Allies' invasion of Europe in World War II, 80 years later.
Calls for an independent investigation in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike hits a U.N. school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
And blast off for SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, completes a successful launch and re-entry.
World leaders and World War II veterans are marking 80 years since D- Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France that led to the eventual downfall of Nazi Germany.
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But along with all the tributes and emotion came dire reminders that democracy is once again under attack, with direct parallels drawn between the battles of 1944 and Russia's current war on Ukraine. The US President declaring his ironclad commitment and warning that abandoning Ukraine will only embolden Russia. Ukraine's President was warmly welcomed by many attendees, including this World War II veteran. And in the hours ahead, Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: America's unique ability to bring countries together is an undeniable source of our strength and our power. Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Let's bring in CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, live this hour from London. Nic, in the words of the Ukrainian President speaking to that veteran he embraced, he said these World War II veterans saved Europe and 80 years on, history is repeating.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, and wasn't it just a start with those veterans as well? It was a huge event to honor not just what they'd achieved, but as the politicians there today are doing, is to put it in the context of the changing world order we face today and not least Russia, as President Biden was speaking about there.
But it really, when you looked at these veterans, you got a sense of these men who had fought through fear all those 80 years ago to pick themselves up off the blood-soaked beaches and move forward and fight to begin the liberation of France and the end of World War II. They were fighting a different kind of fight yesterday, the hard-won years of frailty, making it hard for some of them to stand. But they rose and they received tributes and honor and thanks.
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): Heroes 80 years ago, soldiers in their hearts again today. Honored by not one, but two presidents.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: And you are back here today at home, if I may say.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Survivors of an era and a battle unparalleled in history, telling their story, a cautionary tale.
JOHN DENNETT, BRITISH VETERAN: When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The sea's calmer, the stinging buzz of bullets gone, so too the life-ending explosions. This June 6th, more than a carefully crafted commemoration of the 156,000 Allied troops, 5,000 ships, 13,000 aircraft in the D-Day landings.
A warning, dangers are back on the horizon.
[03:05:03]
KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: Three nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): U.S. President Joe Biden also connecting then and now. Today, Vladimir Putin's Russia, the threat.
BIDEN: The United States and NATO and a coalition of more than 50 countries standing strong with Ukraine. We will not walk away. Because if we do, Ukraine will be subjugated and will not end there. Ukraine's neighbors will be threatened. All of Europe will be threatened.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Ukraine's President, not Russia's, invited this year, a break with tradition and an instant hit with the vets.
Yet even here, celebrating unity, Europe's emerging divisions on show. British paratroopers re-enacting D-Day airdrops, getting passport checks not needed before Brexit.
For these young performers, a new world, not bounded by the post-World War II rules-based order the vets watching them fought for. This 80th anniversary, their baton passed.
UNKNOWN: American World War II veterans, you stand relieved. We have the watch.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A watch that has a price. The account for this generation now settled.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: And I think that's what we're going to hear more from -- from President Biden today, the cost of the watch, of being on the watch now, and the cost of the watch is support for Ukraine. President Biden will not only meet with President Zelenskyy, he'll have a one- on-one later on this morning, but the President will be back in Normandy at Pont du Hoc, which was one of the sort of hardest-fought battles of the D-Day landings. It was a vertical cliff more than 100 feet high and U.S. Army Rangers had to storm it to take the big gun positions, 115 millimeter German gun positions on the top that were trained on the beaches where all the troops were landing.
So President Biden will be there and his speech undoubtedly is going to talk about the values of democracy, the sacrifices of those veterans at Pont du Hoc and across all the beaches, but it will be very clearly to say that there is a threat and a challenge and it's Vladimir Putin and we need to stand together and it will likely be a message too towards his domestic rival, if you will, Donald Trump.
He called him out without naming him in his speech yesterday saying isolationism doesn't work and that's what Europe worries about. It's the isolationist policies of the United States that President Trump appears to you know to want to want to grow at the disadvantage of NATO, even pulling out of NATO. So I think this is what this is what President Biden will be speaking about later today.
COREN: Nic Robertson, we appreciate your reporting as always. Good to see you. Thank you.
There are growing calls for an investigation into a deadly Israeli airstrike on a U.N. school in central Gaza, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had been seeking shelter.
The attack killed dozens of people, including children and wounded many more.
A CNN analysis found U.S.-made munitions were used to carry out Thursday's strike. More on that in a moment.
Israel says it has identified nine of the roughly 30 alleged Hamas and Islamic jihad militants it says were the targets of the strike, but has offered no evidence so far. The Biden administration says it's asking Israel for more information on the strike and deferred to Israel about the use of U.S.-made weapons.
Well, CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following the latest developments from Jerusalem. And a warning, his report includes graphic content.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohamed Farajala is still picking through the rubble of the airstrike that killed his brother. And alongside the blood-spattered walls, he is still finding pieces of flesh. He believes they are his brother's.
May his soul rest in peace, he says. I wish I died instead. There is no hope in this life at all.
Mahmoud is the second brother Mohamed has lost during the war. His third brother is in the hospital in critical condition, his skull fractured in the blast.
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Mohamed is not the only one sifting through the rubble. The Gaza health ministry says at least 40 people were killed when the Israeli military struck this building overnight. But this is no ordinary building. It's a U.N. school, converted, like so many others, into a shelter for thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes.
Blood-stained mattresses now filling the space where dozens were sleeping at the moment of impact. Fragments of an American-made GBU-39 bomb identified in the wreckage, according to munitions experts who reviewed this footage. Same type of munition used in the deadly strike in Rafah last month that killed 45 people.
The Israeli military says it carried out a precision and intelligence- based strike, targeting 20 to 30 Palestinian militants, who it says were sheltering in the school and preparing attacks on Israeli troops. An Israeli military spokesman said the IDF was unaware of any civilian casualties.
Hospital records tell a different story. Nine women and 14 children as young as four years old are among the dead delivered to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Those who survived also accuse Israel of targeting civilians.
Netanyahu is killing the civilians. He is not killing militants, Shaber Abu Dahr says. It's innocent people asleep in an UNRWA facility. What did children and the elderly do? What did they do to him?
The school is one of at least 180 UNRWA buildings to be hit since the beginning of the war, according to that U.N. agency. Attacking, targeting or using U.N. buildings for military purposes are a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law, wrote UNRWA chief Phillippe Lazzarini.
But the devastation goes beyond U.N. facilities. Scenes like this have been playing out all week in central Gaza amid a clear uptick in Israeli airstrikes. Bloodied and covered in soot, survivors and victims alike have been arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital at a rising clip.
As one wounded child cries for her mother, another arrives at the morgue to say goodbye to his. Mama is going to visit grandpa, his father tells his son. Don't cry, you're a man, he says, but he is the one who breaks down.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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COREN: Well, meanwhile, there's no word yet from Hamas about the latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza. Well, that's according to diplomats in Qatar, who say Hamas is still studying it. When U.S. President Joe Biden was pressed on whether Israel supports the initiative, he said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated he is. In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Mr. Biden also said he believes he has the ear of the Israeli leader.
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BIDEN: I think he's listening to me. They were going to go into Rafah full bore, invade all of Rafah, go into the city, take it out, move with full force. They haven't done that. And what they've done is they've agreed to a significant agreement that if in fact Hamas accepts it, and look, it's being backed by Egypt, being backed by the Saudis, being backed by the almost the whole Arab world. We'll see. This is a very difficult time.
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COREN: It was supposed to be an easy win for India's Narendra Modi. So why is he having to scramble to build a new political coalition? What's behind the surprising election outcome ahead on CNN?
Plus, hundreds of millions of people expected to vote in the E.U. parliamentary elections. A look at what's at stake in the world's second biggest democratic vote after the break.
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[03:15:00]
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COREN: Well, days after India's election, the country is waiting to see what its new government will look like. While it's clear Narendra Modi will serve a third consecutive term as prime minister, he's lost his aura of invincibility with a closer than expected vote.
Modi's BJP party won far more seats in parliament than any other party that lost dozens of seats and no longer has an outright majority. Well, now the prime minister will have to rely on coalition partners who do not share his hardline Hindu nationalist agenda.
Well joining me to talk more about this from Delhi is Karishma Mehrotra. She is the South Asia correspondent for the "Washington Post". Karishma, great to have you with us. Explain to us, why did the Dalits, low-caste voters, reject the BJP in this election?
KARISHMA MEHROTRA, SOUTH ASIA EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, so one of the most surprising aspects of this election is the way that the lowest caste voters voted the Dalits in one of the most important states in India, Uttar Pradesh. And keep in mind, these are some of the same voters in India's Hindi heartland that had propelled Modi to power over the past two terms.
And one of the biggest reasons that Dalits seem to not vote for the BJP this time is because of fears that the BJP would change the constitution and remove the constitutional guarantees for affirmative action that are given to their caste. That's one of the main reasons. And it's an interesting reason because the constitution for many decades now has not played such a prominent role in elections in India, but this time it has.
The second reason is along class lines, the fact that jobs, unemployment, inflation, pure economic reasons are sort of widening in India and broadening. And that is also another big reason that voters, and especially Dalit voters, did not vote for Modi this time and were unable to give Modi the governing majority that he's used to in this country.
COREN: You speak of those fears that the BJP and Modi would have amended the constitution if they had got the majority, but discontent had been rumbling for some time. You know, jobs, inflation, as you mentioned, that widening economic chasm. I mean, were these not issues that Modi was aware of? Did he think that religious polarization would sort of override any of those concerns?
MEHROTRA: Yeah, I'm sure that the party was aware of these concerns. And in fact, many analysts say that that's why he doubled down on religious rhetoric in this election.
We heard him make very polarizing statements this time, especially in the middle of the election, as things perhaps seemed to shift away from their direction. So, for example, he made the claim that it's not his party that wants to change the constitution, it's the opposition that wants to change the constitution and remove resources from the Hindus and give them to the Muslims.
Now, he later said he wasn't referring to Muslims, but he clearly made a very polarizing turn. So, in fact, he probably noticed that this was happening and he doubled down on religious appeals. But unfortunately, I think that economic focus and the focus on caste is the thing that ended up being some of the biggest weaknesses for the BJP this time.
[03:19:55] COREN: Karishma, I believe that in an interview on May 16th, Modi was asked a question about how inequality was reaching historic extremes. And he responded by saying, what should I do? Should everybody be poor that would seem to me as someone extremely out of touch with his electorate?
MEHROTRA: Yeah, I mean, I think interviews, we have to understand that the way that Modi responds in interviews, he puts on different faces for different people and for different times. So, the way he might speak to a global audience or to President Joe Biden might be very different than how he speaks to TV anchor, how he speaks during rallies.
But I think it's true that the extent to which unemployment and the widening economic gulf in this country has mattered to voters was a surprise, not just maybe to the BJP, but even to many journalists. I mean, everyone had sort of heard these grumblings, and we knew that the grumblings exist.
But let's keep in mind that the confidence that the BJP has had and the way that the country has become used to Modi as a serial winner. I mean, he's never not won a governing majority in his time in his 23 political career. And his cocktail of Hindu nationalism, of development, of the global standing, it has worked when it's a national election. It has worked.
And so, I think it was a shock to everyone that the economic matters, the class and caste matters in this country really sort of made a larger mark than we had thought. And again, he tried with more and more religious rhetoric, but it didn't end up working in the end.
COREN: Karishma Mehrotra, we'll have to leave it there, but a fascinating conversation. Thank you for joining us from Delhi.
MEHROTRA: Thank you. Thank you so much.
COREN: Voting is underway and will continue for the next three days for the next European Union Parliament. It's the world's second largest democratic election after India's with nearly 400 million people from 27 countries eligible to vote for 720 candidates.
The election comes as the E.U. grapples with major issues such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, immigration, climate change and security. The polls close on Sunday and results are expected on Monday.
A coalition of two centrist parties is expected to retain the majority in the E.U. Parliament. But candidates for some far right-wing groups could gain more power and eventually change the political direction of the bloc for the next five years. CNN's Clare Sebastian has more on that.
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UNKNOWN (through translator): We will act by expelling delinquents, criminals and foreign Islamists who pose a threat to national security. CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From threats of mass
expulsions in France to openly Islamophobic campaign material. This from far-right Portuguese party, Shega, asking, which Europe do you want?
Emboldened by winning elections at home, Europe's far right is pushing the boundaries as it eyes big gains in E.U. Parliament elections.
CATHERINE FIESCHI, VISITING FELLOW, EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE: They've tried in different places and in different ways to kind of test the waters and trying to be bolder if they can, right? To see how closely they can flirt with really inflammatory rhetoric.
[02:15:03]
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): With just weeks to go, Germany's Alternative for Deutschland crossed a line after its lead candidate claimed the Nazi paramilitary group the SS were, quote, "not all criminals".
France's Marine Le Pen kicking the party out of her far right coalition in the EU Parliament.
SEBASTIAN: So it's really a sort of litmus test as to how far right is too far.
FIESCHI: Yes, that's right. Because, you know, these parties really live or die by their own domestic public opinions.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): For Hungary's voters, culture wars are playing well. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party has put up billboards showing opposition leaders carrying gender, among other things, on a dinner plate to Brussels.
Not clear yet how that will play out for France, where candidate Marion Marechal is promising to, quote, preserve our families, our values in the face of wokeism.
Or Italy. Pregnant men and woke madness. No thank you, reads this post from far right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
FIESCHI: For them, it's an upending of the natural order, right, which is, you know, sort of the heart of ultra-conservative ideology. And if that doesn't work, there's always the war in Ukraine.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Prime Minister Orban's party in Hungary holding a massive peace rally in recent days.
Free, neutral, safe, one slogan from Austria's lead far right candidate, calling for an end to, quote, warmongering by Europe.
Here, though, divisions in Europe's far right are stark. Italy's Giorgia Meloni, a key supporter of aid for Ukraine.
And so, in what could be Europe's most right-wing parliament ever, alliances may be blurred.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:25:07]
COREN: Well, let's now return to France, where the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being honored as part of D-Day commemorations. Mr. Zelenskyy is being welcomed by honor guards at the famous Invalides military complex. And then it's on to the French Assembly, where he's scheduled to deliver remarks to lawmakers. President Zelenskyy will also visit a military equipment factory in Versailles and the Paris City Hall.
As we can see, President Zelenskyy there being honored. Yesterday, he took part in the D-Day celebrations, commemoration celebrations, and he met and embraced with World War II veterans, telling them that they saved Europe 80 years ago. One of the World War II veterans returned the exchange, saying that he was now saving humanity in his fight against Russia. Ukraine's war now in its third year. In the coming hours, the next few hours, in fact, President Zelenskyy will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden.
We're listening in to President Zelenskyy being honored as part of D- Day commemorations there in Paris.
Turning now to the New York hush money trial, Donald Trump, that is now behind him. But the presidential candidate returns to the campaign trail for the first time as a convicted felon at his town hall in the battleground state of Arizona.
Trump hammered his rival U.S. President Joe Biden on immigration, and he delivered a lengthy response to his successor's recent executive action, limiting asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The former president also touted his fundraising numbers before the crowd mentioned his conviction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just went through a rigged trial in New York with a highly conflicted, and I mean highly conflicted judge, where there was no crime. It was made up, fabricated stuff. They didn't want to bring the case. They could have brought the case seven years ago. It's only when you run for office, they bring cases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, meanwhile, Trump says he will announce his running mate at the Republican National Convention next month.
Well Steve Bannon's appeal of his 2022 conviction for contempt of Congress has been rejected. And a judge has ordered the former adviser to President Donald Trump to start serving his four-month prison sentence on July 1st. Bannon was cited for contempt after he refused to testify and provide documents to the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee. It was investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. He remains defiant and he vows to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Critical testimony on day four of Hunter Biden's federal gun trial. Hunter's sister-in-law turned girlfriend, Haley Biden, was the star witness on Thursday. And though she says she did not actually see him using at the time, Haley Biden believes Hunter was on drugs in October of 2018. Well, this is the same month prosecutors claim Hunter bought and owned a firearm while addicted to substance.
In the video here, you see Haley Biden throwing the gun away in a trash can at a grocery store. She says she feared for his safety and the safety of her children if they were to find the weapon.
Ahead, a celebration of heroes. The Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy and warnings about new threats to democracy. Blasters shot in the arm for Ukraine's air force in the form of an advanced French warplane.
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[03:30:00]
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COREN: Welcome back. Let's return to Paris where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is receiving an honor at the Invalides military complex there in Paris. You can see him shaking hands with officials and dignitaries. A little earlier he walked into the complex where he has been warmly welcomed. Yesterday he was part of the D-Day commemorations where he embraced a World War II veteran saying that 80 years ago he and his colleagues, his fellow soldiers saved Europe.
Well Thursday marked, as we say, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing that began the liberation of France from Nazi Germany.
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During commemorations in Normandy, the French president bestowed France's highest honor on D-Day veterans who risked everything to help his country in its fight for freedom. Wreaths were laid, tributes were paid and tears were flowing. The U.S. president connected the fight against fascism in World War II to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He likened the abandoning of allies to surrendering to bullies and bowing down to dictators.
Well more now from CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The cemetery behind me is empty now, the celebrations, the commemorations are over, but it was an extraordinary moment as all these world leaders came to remember those who had given their lives to end tyranny in this continent and to also realize that this would be the last time such a number of survivors would still be here because they are fewer and fewer and fewer. I spoke to a 101-year-old survivor, Jake Larson, who landed on Omaha
Beach 80 years ago this day and I asked him, did he remember exactly what it was they were fighting for.
JAKE LARSON, D-DAY SURVIVOR: Oh definitely, that we knew. Every one of us, --
AMANPOUR: Tell us.
LARSON: -- every one of us was prepared to give our life to kick Hitler's ass out of Europe. And we did. We lost quite a few of us. I lost friends, everybody lost friends, but we were soldiers. We were prepared to give our life.
AMANPOUR: Now Jake has become quite famous because he's now on TikTok. He's got almost a million followers, somewhere around eight to 900,000, and that's because he has been telling his stories, his eyewitness stories of coming ashore here 80 years ago and just the stories of World War II and all that was at stake and all that really needs to be fought for. He's trying to inspire and motivate a younger generation.
Also a motivational force in a different way as a storyteller is the actor Tom Hanks, who joined me here as well. He has spent a lot of his creative endeavors really developing an anthology of World War II along with the director Steven Spielberg.
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They were "Saving Private Ryan" 26 years ago and then they did the TV series "Band of Brothers", "The Pacific" and now "Masters of the Air" about the Air Force during World War II. This is what Tom said to me about the storytelling.
TOM HANKS, ACTOR, PRODUCER: We did not have the smell of cordite or burning flesh or you know blood on the sand, but we did have some version of that whatever you can get out of a motion picture. If you've ever wondered what it was like, that's as close as somebody in Davenport, Iowa or Oakland, California or Minneapolis, Minnesota was going to get to that.
AMANPOUR: Now of course this entire day was framed in every speech and everybody's heart with what is going on in Europe today, 80 years later, a raging war on this continent where Russia has invaded Ukraine, it's into its third year, there is so much death, so much destruction and democracy and freedom are well and truly at stake here and at risk and so all the world leaders recommitted themselves to supporting Ukraine and fighting this existential battle.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN at the Colleville-sur-Mer American Cemetery in Normandy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: As we have mentioned U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming hours in Paris. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is looming over the 80th anniversary of D-Day. CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen reports.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the U.S. and its allies celebrate the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago, President Joe Biden warning freedom in Europe and the world are under attack again this time by Russia.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The struggle between a dictatorship and freedom is unending. Here in Europe we see one stark example. Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While Russian leader Vladimir Putin was once again not invited to the commemoration, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on hand likening Ukraine's struggle to fend off Russia's invasion to the allies' war against Nazi Germany.
As Russia intensifies its attacks against Ukraine often using heavy aerial bombs, the Biden administration has given Kyiv the go ahead to hit the Russians back in Russian territory using some U.S.-supplied weapons like the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
An angry Putin saying NATO risks a full-on war with Russia but that Moscow might also give arms to U.S. adversaries around the world.
Why do we not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where there will be strikes on the sensitive facilities of those countries that are doing this against Russia?
But President Biden making clear Ukraine can only use U.S. supplied weapons to hit Russian territory close to the front lines, the president said in an interview with ABC.
BIDEN: We're not talking about giving the weapons to strike Moscow, to strike the Kremlin, to strike just across the border where they're receiving significant fire from conventional weapons.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kremlin-controlled media irate mocking Biden's comments.
OLGA SKABEEVA, RUSSIAN TV HOST (through translator): Every time you have to make reference to age, this of course is not ageism on our part, not mockery, just speech. It seems to me that we should already talk about cruelty to the elderly.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And while Putin claims he would work with any U.S. administration after the presidential election in November, the Russian leader repeating unsubstantiated claims by Donald Trump that the recent hush money trial the former president just lost was politically motivated.
For the rest of the world, it is evident that prosecution of Trump in court over allegations related to events that happened years ago without any direct proof, Putin said, this is purely using the court system for political purposes.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Ukraine says at least one person is dead and 14 others injured after a new barrage of Russian strikes overnight. Officials report Russia went after critical infrastructure across the country. The strikes started a fire at an industrial facility near Kiev and firefighters are still working at the scene.
Meanwhile, a second model of Western fighter jets could be on its way to Ukraine in the coming months. French President Emmanuel Macron says his country will supply its Mirage 2000 jets to Kyiv. Ukrainian pilots could start their six-month training this summer.
[03:40:06]
Well joining me now from Canberra, Australia is Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst of defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Malcolm, always a pleasure. How much of a game-changer will the arrival of these French jets and the long- promised U.S. F-16s be in Ukraine's war?
MALCOLM DAVIS, SR. ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, when they turn up, I think they will be a huge game-changer in the sense that you then have top-of-the-line fourth-generation combat aircraft, the F-16 and the Mirage 2005 from France.
They can be equipped with long-range air-to-air missiles as well as missiles designed to strike ground targets. So it really does give the Ukrainian Air Force a much more sophisticated air combat capability than what they've had in the past, where they've had to rely on elderly Russian MiG-29s. This would be a huge game-changer but they've got to get there first.
COREN: But Malcolm, we're entering well and truly now into really the third year of Ukraine's fight against Russia. I mean, why is it taking so long to get these jets into Ukraine?
DAVIS: Well, for starters, the Ukrainian Air Force do have to be trained how to fly them. These are complex air combat capabilities.
So therefore the pilots have to do what's known as transition to the F-16 or now the Mirage 2000. That takes a number of months for a pilot to actually be trained how to fly it safely and then fly it effectively. So it's not just about getting it into the air and then getting it down on the ground again safely. It's about how you use these air combat capabilities to the greatest effect as a military weapon system.
And I think that the other challenge that the Ukrainians have been facing is a real caution or over-caution on the part of the Biden administration and on some Western European countries on supplying the sorts of military capabilities that Ukrainians need to actually have some chance of winning this war. And the reason the Biden administration is fearful is because they really do fear escalation either to a wider war or escalation past the nuclear threshold by Russia.
COREN: I want to ask you about that a little bit later. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, he has also said that he wants France to train and equip a new brigade. I mean, how necessary is that training, that knowledge being passed on?
DAVIS: I think it's absolutely essential. And Western countries are sort of undertaking training of Ukrainian forces outside of Ukraine. Australia is doing that as well.
But now you have Macron talking about actually training Ukrainian forces inside Ukraine. So we're talking about French troops, potentially Polish troops, potentially British troops going into Ukraine and actually training those Ukrainian troops.
And I think what that will do is make it easier for the Ukrainians to actually transition from that training role into a direct combat role because they're being trained on their home turf, so to speak. And I think that's an important step forward. But obviously, it does carry risks, does carry the possibility that Putin could see that as a step too far. And therefore, we're back into the whole issue of escalation again.
COREN: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as we know, he's in Paris. He's just been honored. He is now entering French Parliament. I'm not sure if we're going to bring up those pictures. But in the coming hours, he will also be meeting with the U.S. President Joe Biden. Be a fly on the wall for a moment, Malcolm. What will he be asking for?
DAVIS: He will be asking President Biden to further ease the constraints on Ukrainian use of U.S.-supplied weapons. At the moment, the Biden administration has lifted some of those constraints, but only in a very marginal sense.
So they're only allowed to use the shorter range Gimlers guided multiple launch rocket system weapons on Russian targets inside Russia, close to the Kharkiv frontline. Zelenskyy will be wanting to use the longer range 300 kilometer range ATACMS missiles, not only just in the Kharkiv area, but also in the Donbass area, the ability to strike at targets much deeper inside Russia, that would then give Ukrainian military much more effective means to actually deny the Russians a sanctuary from which the Russians can then attack Ukraine.
So I think that's number one. Number two is a much greater supply of Patriot surface to air missile systems.
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Ukrainians are running short on those. They desperately need air defense in addition to those fighter jets we were talking about earlier.
And thirdly, providing and accelerating the flow of munitions so that Ukrainians throughout the summer and into the autumn and into the winter can actually hold the Russians off and stabilize their frontlines. So they have some chance then in 2025 of pushing the Russians back.
COREN: Malcolm, as you say, the U.S. has opened that door on the use of U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia, specifically to defend Kharkiv. But do you see those restrictions being eased as the months go on?
DAIVS: I would hope so. And I would hope it would not take months.
I think that the Biden administration has taken a first hesitant step, but it's a step that needs to be built upon.
And I think that what needs to happen is for the Biden administration to allow Ukrainians to use the full range ATACMs, the 300 kilometer range ATACMs missiles, not just the 70 kilometer range Gimliz missiles. And secondly, allow the Ukrainians to use those weapons, not just in the Kharkiv area, but also in the Donbass area so that they can strike directly into Russia and deny the Russians the ability to mass forces, deny the Russians the ability to have a secure rear area where they can build logistics points to support their forces in combat and essentially really deny the Russians that advantage they've been exploiting for so long under these constraints.
COREN: Well, Malcolm, it's been great to speak to you whilst we've been looking at these pictures of President Zelenskyy there in the French Parliament. He's obviously about to address lawmakers shortly and then on to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden. We'll be asking for many of the things that you have been discussing. Malcolm Davis, always great to get your insights. Thank you so much for joining us.
DAVIS: Thank you.
COREN: Well, not all South Koreans are pleased after Seoul responds in its balloon war with North Korea. Stay with CNN. That's next.
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COREN: A Russian tourist train departed for North Korea on Thursday for the first time in four years. The Russian Federal Customs Service released this photo on its Telegram channel. It shows tourists crossing a checkpoint in a Russian border town. Officials say 41 visitors are on the train.
Travel into the hermit kingdom had previously been suspended because of COVID-19. Ties between Russia and North Korea have grown since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, Russia has sought to bolster relationships with countries outside North America and Europe.
[03:50:03]
It's been a battle of the balloons between North and South Korea lately. Pyongyang recently sent balloons filled with waste across the border. And now South Korean activists are floating their own versions with cash, K-pop and TV shows. Balloons have been crossing the border for years and some South Koreans are getting tired of it. CNN's Mike Valerio has more.
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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a place that blooms with life, a serene and stunning setting, 60 year old farmer Kim Yong Bin cares for his giant onions with water flowing from North Korea.
It's part of a beautiful, and he says, inseparable bond between North and South, now fraught with tension once again. There used to be a time when we talked about peace, he says, but it's all changed now. We only hear difficult situations between the Koreas, so we farmers are very uncomfortable.
Kim tells us he's farmed this land in South Korea for 36 years, and he disagrees with this.
Activists from South Korea sending balloons northbound, filled with American dollar bills, K-pop and K-dramas downloaded onto thousands of USBs. There's also 200,000 leaflets in bags tied to the balloons denouncing the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Park Sang- Hak is the founder of the group behind this latest launch, Fighters for a Free North Korea. He's been doing this since 2006, and his latest balloon deployment is in direct response to about 1,000 trash- filled balloons sent from North Korea.
PARK SANG-HAK, FOUNDER, FIGHTERS FOR A FREE NORTH KOREA (through translator): We send money, medicine, facts, truth and love, but to send filth and trash in return? That's an inhumane and barbaric act.
VALERIO (voice-over): Park defected from North Korea in 2000, and he remembers in the early 90s when a balloon similar to one of these popped above him, and he secretly collected a leaflet from South Korea. It told him of a better life, and he says it told him the truth.
SANG-HAK (through translator): South Korea is not an American colony or a wasteland of humanity like I learned in North Korea. North Koreans are filled with anger and hatred and only sing military songs. But South Korea is a gentle country.
VALERIO (voice-over): Kim tells us while touring his fields, the new aerial tit-for-tat should stop, and if it doesn't, his life and his farm could be upended.
VALERIO: Now, once you get up into the hills, you can actually see into North Korea. We're not talking about the fields in the foreground. We're talking about way in the background, the DMZ, about four kilometers, two and a half miles away from where we're standing. Now, Farmer Kim has told us that during moments of heightened tension in the past, the South Korean army has kept him from entering about half of his property because it is so close to the DMZ in order to keep him and others safe.
VALERIO (voice-over): The question now, how will North Korea respond, especially after a show of force by the United States, a B-1B bomber on Wednesday flying over the Korean peninsula and for the first time in seven years, engaging in land target practice with live munitions.
We asked Kim if he wants to leave. His answer, I want to move to somewhere else, but I can't afford it. We're very upset that the balloons are making our daily lives inconvenient in our areas seen as a war zone. It's very unfortunate. There's nothing we can do. If I could, I would want to stop them, but it's difficult.
So for Kim, there's no choice. Staying in his field, surrounded by waters from the north, longing for a time before new heights for tensions in the sky.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Jeollanam-do, South Korea.
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COREN: Major milestones in space ahead. The most powerful rocket ever built executes a successful launch and splashdown. Plus two astronauts dock at the International Space Station.
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COREN: The most powerful rocket ever built, seen here soaring into space. The highly anticipated fourth test flight of the SpaceX Starship launched on Thursday from Boca Chica, Texas. For the first time, both the capsule and super heavy booster survived a controlled reentry splashdown, demonstrating its reusability. This is a major milestone for SpaceX and NASA, which hopes to use Starship to land astronauts on the moon in 2026.
For NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, they're floating weightless into the International Space Station. They were on the Boeing Starliner, which docked safely with the orbiting laboratory on Thursday after a series of issues. There were helium leaks and a temporary loss of thrusters during the spacecraft's journey. The issues appear to be resolved, but the flight control team continues to monitor the spaceship. Wilmore and Williams will spend eight days in space before returning to Earth in the Starliner.
Well, Christie's will auction a pure pink diamond of 10.2 carats, estimated to fetch $9 to $12 million. The Eden Rose went on display Thursday in preparation for the Magnificent Jewels Sale, which also includes other colored and colorless diamonds. It's all part of the Luxury Week Sale, where you can also pick up rare jewelry, watches and a designer handbag to put your new diamond in. What a great idea.
Well, thank you so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. I'll be back with more of "CNN Newsroom" after this short break. I'll see you at the top of the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
