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10 Palestinians Killed During Israeli Operations In West Bank; Israel Rescues 52-Year-Old Hostage From Hamas Tunnel; Special Counsel Files Revamped Indictment Against Donald Trump; Democrats Sue Over GOP-Backed Georgia Election Rules; Moscow Responds With Anger Over Pavel Durov's Detention; Fears Mount Of Renewed Ethnic Cleansing Of Rohingya In Myanmar; Fears Mount of Renewed Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar; Zelenskyy Says F-16 Jets Were Used to Counter Russian Air Attacks; Zelenskyy Says He Will Discuss a Four-Stage Victory Plan for Ukraine With President Joe Biden; Weather Delays SpaceX Launch at Least Two More Days; Shkreli Ordered to Give Up All Copies of Unique Rap Album. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired August 28, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:25]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a new indictment after Special Counsel Jack Smith revamped his original filing just ahead of a major deadline.

An incredible rescue, a 52-year-old Israeli hostage taken by Hamas is found alive in a Hamas tunnel by the IDF and is now reunited with his family.

And the plight and persecution of the Rohingya community, CNN's Anna Coren speaks to survivors in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHURCH: And we begin with this breaking news. At least 10 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank after the Israeli military launched raids and air strikes overnight, Israel's foreign minister says the operation was to, "Thwart Islamic Iranian terrorist infrastructure."

And CNN's Paula Hancock joins us now live from Abu Dhabi.

So Paula, what are you learning about these Israeli military raids overnight in the West Bank, and what they were targeting exactly?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, these raids started in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and they do appear to be quite significant compared to what we have seen the Israeli military carry out over recent months. We understand, as you say, that at least 10 Palestinians have been

killed in two particular areas in Jenin and also in Tubas. This is according to the Ministry of Health there and the Red Crescent Society.

The Red Crescent Society say at this point they are also being restricted from being able to move to different areas with their ambulances by the Israeli military. So, it would appear as though this may still be ongoing.

We can see from the images that we're showing right now that there are military bulldozers within some of these areas as well. We understand that they were pulling down some infrastructure within Jenin also clearing roads. And we've been told by the Ministry of Health and the Red Crescent Society that there have been both raids by the Israeli military and also air strikes.

Now, from the Israeli side, we have had some information from the Israeli Foreign Minister, he issued a statement saying that it was to thwart Islamic Iranian terrorist infrastructure. Now we know Israel has long said that they are targeting Hamas elements within the West Bank, also other Palestinian militant groups.

But he did say something interesting within the statement which I'm going to read, he said, "We must address this threat just like we're handling terror infrastructure in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any step necessary. This is a war like any other, and we must win it."

Now, that statement there does suggest that this is more than we have seen before in the West Bank, and that it could become bigger as well, suggesting that, I mean, obviously, what we're seeing in Gaza is devastating, with more than 40,000 Palestinians having been killed there, many of them women and children.

So, what we're hearing from the foreign minister is that we should handle threat in the West Bank the way we are handling it in Gaza.

So, we're still waiting for more information. We are gathering more information on this military operation, but it does appear at this point, Rosemary, as though it is more significant than what we have seen certainly in recent months.

CHURCH: And we thank you for updating that breaking news. Paula Hancocks joining us there.

Well, a 52-year-old Israeli hostage has been rescued alive from the tunnels beneath Gaza. Farhan Al-Qadi is in a stable medical condition after being held for nearly a year. His brother says he was shot in the leg when he was kidnapped on October 7th, and it appears the wound was poorly treated and he was operated on without anesthesia.

Officials say Al-Qadi was rescued from a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza in a, "complex operation."

CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:01]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Israeli hostage Farhan Al-Qadi is taking his first steps of freedom. After 326 days of captivity, an Israeli military helicopter has landed in Gaza to take him to Israel, back to his family.

Moments earlier, Al-Qadi was rescued by Israeli special forces who were combing through a network of tunnels in Southern Gaza.

READ ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: We cannot go into many details of this special operation, but I can share that Israeli commandos rescued Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi from an underground tunnel, following accurate intelligence.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Al-Qadi is the first Israeli hostage to be rescued by Israeli forces operating in those tunnels. The seven others who have been rescued were being held above ground. An Israeli military officials said the forces found Al-Qadi alone without his captors.

At Soroka Medical Center, each step brings these men that much closer to the brother they feared might never return alive. They're running toward the whir of a helicopter delivering their 52-year-old brother back into their arms.

Al-Qadi has visibly lost weight. But doctors say he is in good medical condition. His family is overjoyed.

It is a joy that cannot be explained, his brother Hatem says, more than the joy you get from a newborn baby. This is a man who has been resurrected.

Al-Qadi, a member of Israel's minority Bedouin community, now on the phone with the Israeli prime minister, thanking him for getting him home and reminding him that other hostages are still waiting.

The Israeli prime minister currently engaged in ceasefire negotiations tells him he is committed to returning everyone without exception.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A new twist in the election subversion case against Donald Trump that has him once again claiming it's a witch hunt, a hoax and election interference in all caps.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a revised indictment against the former U.S. president to bring it more in line with the Supreme Court's controversial ruling on presidential immunity last month, none of the four felony charges against Trump were dropped. He's still accused of obstructing Congress's certification of the 2020 electoral college results on January 6th, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, and of illegally interfering with the election results at the state level.

But the retooled indictment changes how prosecutors describe the allegations to refute arguments by Trump's lawyers that his actions were part of his official duties and therefore deserve immunity.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz explains.

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KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: The Justice Department has rewritten the charges against Donald Trump related to the 2020 election, focusing around his role as a candidate as he tried to spread lies of election fraud.

So, this is the case that's existed for a year in federal court in Washington, D.C., and was on hold as the Supreme Court looked at questions of presidential immunity.

They said that Trump couldn't be prosecuted or taken to trial on things he was doing while he was president, officially after the election while he was still serving, even on January 6th, and so the Justice Department has now responded by going to the federal grand jury in Washington and cutting down the charges against him. They've cut out things like what Donald Trump was saying to the Justice Department and officials there about spreading allegations of election fraud across the country, and instead, they are making the focus be about Donald Trump and what he was told by his campaign and what he was telling private advisers of his to do to try and spread this idea of election fraud, especially in battleground states, and to block Congress from certifying his loss of the election.

One of the things though, that is very important going forward, in the coming days, we're going to see a lot of discussion about this is the role of Mike Pence as the vice president.

Pence is still in this charging document against Donald Trump, the rewritten, pared down version, and Pence is very likely to be a witness both in the coming weeks in upcoming proceedings that have yet to be scheduled, and then if the Justice Department is allowed to bring him in as a trial witness before a jury, that's because the Justice Department now says Mike Pence was not always just in the executive branch under the Constitution, he was working for the Congress, or he was presiding over Congress as president of the Senate on January 6th, and that's how Trump was trying to pressure him to block the election result.

[02:10:04]

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: As the race for the White House heats up, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has agreed to her first in depth on the record interview with a journalist since President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election. The vice president and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will sit down with CNN on Thursday during their bus tour through the battleground state of Georgia. Harris has been criticized for going more than a month as the Democrat standard bearer without facing the scrutiny that comes from a formal interview with a journalist.

CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash will be asking the questions, and you can watch their conversation right here on CNN this Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. That's 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, 3:00 a.m. in Berlin.

Well, Democrats in Georgia are suing to block controversial new election rules, which they warn could lead to chaos after the November vote.

CNN's Brian Todd has details.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Georgia's Secretary of State exasperated over the latest election controversy there.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: The State Election Board is a mess.

TODD (voice-over): Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, is frustrated with members of his own party who are on the Georgia State Election Board. Three unelected Republicans on that board recently approved measures that would give local officials the power to delay the certification of a county's election results this November.

Now, top Democrats with the backing of Kamala Harris's presidential campaign are suing the Georgia State Election Board trying to block those new rules.

REP. LUCY MCBATH (D-GA): With passing this new rule, they are creating barriers to counting votes and certifying the elections. So, Donald Trump can once again, attempt to throw our country into chaos.

TODD (voice-over): Former President Trump recently praised those three board members, Janelle King, Rick Jeffares and Dr. Janice Johnston.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Three people are all pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory, they're fighting.

TODD (voice-over): In an interview with CNN, one of those board members, Janelle King, denied working on behalf of Trump.

JANELLE KING, GEORGIA ELECTION BOARD MEMBER: I'm appreciative of the president's support. I will forever be appreciative of any, you know, support. But I'm not working on behalf of anybody.

TODD (voice-over): But Democrats and watchdog groups argue that those Republican election board members don't have the power to give county officials the power to contest votes. JAY YOUNG, SENIOR DIRECTOR, VOTING AND DEMOCRACY, COMMON CAUSE: There is not any discretion that is allowed for under Georgia's election law that would permit these unelected officials to inject themselves in between the voters and the certified results.

TODD (voice-over): Who does have that power?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: The power vest, was someone who's aggrieved in the election, so, for instance, a candidate. A candidate can say, you know, I think that I have -- the votes were not counted properly.

TODD (voice-over): This is just the latest election controversy to flare up in Georgia since the 2020 campaign. Donald Trump lost the state that year by just over 10,000 votes. And Georgia was at the center of Trump's attempts to overturn the election.

TRUMP: All I want to do is this, I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more that we have.

TODD (voice-over): No evidence was ever found to support Trump's claims of voter fraud in Georgia.

TODD (on camera): Now, Georgia Democrats and voting rights advocates are calling on the state's Republican Governor Brian Kemp to investigate those Republicans on that state election board. And one Democratic State Senator has filed an ethics complaint against those Republicans for pushing to change the rules so close to the election.

Governor Kemp, just recently, this afternoon, issued a statement saying he is taking the matter up with the state attorney general.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The Kremlin is trying to calm fears that the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France could upend the messaging platform. The Kremlin spokesperson says calls to users to delete sensitive Telegram messages are baseless.

French officials say Durov's arrest is part of a broad criminal investigation involving serious abuses of the app, but many in Russia say it's an attack against them.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russia state-controlled TV up in arms, labeling the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov as a direct attack against Moscow.

NIKOLAI VAVILOV, RUSSIAN T.V. SHOW GUEST (through translator): I don't think it was an arrest. It was kidnapping, basically a hostage taking, direct political and economic aggression against Russia. PLEITGEN (VOICE OVER): Pavel Durov remains in French custody. This video posted on Telegram purporting to show Durov and some associates. The caption saying they were having breakfast in Azerbaijan before flying to Paris.

[02:15:01]

French prosecutors say Durov is the subject of a cybercrimes investigation and alleging Telegram was complicit in, among other things, elicit transactions, spreading child pornography, and a fraud by failing to moderate the content shared on the platform.

Telegram says Durov has nothing to hide, but Russia's foreign minister now insinuating hat the arrest may be politically motivated, even though France's president denied politics were involved.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Apparently, someone is hoping to somehow gain access to encryption codes.

Now, this has already been proven by the actions of the French, that Telegram is a truly reliable and popular network.

PLEITGEN (VOICE OVER): The 39-year-old Durov often referred to as the Russian Mark Zuckerberg is one of the world's most well-known social media moguls, cultivating a playboy like image, often posting shirtless pictures of himself on social media and even claiming he's fathered more than a hundred children.

He's the co-founder not just of Telegram used by hundreds of millions worldwide, but also a Russian platform similar to Facebook called the VKontakte. Durov rejects any regulation and moderation on his platforms, as he told CNN in an interview in 2015.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are you aware that ISIS extremists, terrorists also used Telegram?

PAVEL DUROV, TELEGRAM FOUNDER: I heard of that, yes. We are not happy about that but I guess this kind of people use lots of encrypted technology.

PLEITGEN (voice over): While there have been questions about possible links between Durov and the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin spokesman denied the two recently met when both were in Azerbaijan.

Still, pro-Kremlin propagandists are voicing their support for Durov like this rapper who goes by the name Shaman.

SHAMAN, RUSSIAN SINGER (through translator): My dear, it is only in Russia that you can breathe freely and easily. Come back home. Here, you are always remembered, waited for and loved.

PLEITGEN (VOICE OVER): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Still to come, the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar is facing renewed threats of persecution. CNN met with some refugees in Bangladesh, their heartbreaking stories just ahead.

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CHURCH: This week marks seven years since the attempted genocide of Myanmar's Rohingya population by the country's military junta and the mass exodus of survivors, hundreds of thousands fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 escaping the brutal crackdown by Myanmar's military.

But now, thousands who remain behind are facing renewed fears of ethnic cleansing. New reports warn a rebel group is subjecting the minority community to another violent crackdown, with women and children among those killed.

[02:20:04]

CNN's Anna Coren has more now from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, where nearly a million Rohingya refugees are living in deplorable conditions. A warning though, her story contains graphic video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From a hut made of bamboo and tarpaulins, sits a woman in sufferable pain. Across her lap lays her 4-year-old daughter. As she pulls at her mother's headscarf, 22- year-old Hamida (ph) recounts the trauma she says she endured only weeks ago.

I have no idea how many soldiers entered my home, but they beat me, held me down, and raped me. I kept screaming and my husband ran in. They tied him up and made him watch as more soldiers raped me. Then one of them slit his throat with a big sharp knife.

Yet, the horror was just beginning. As hundreds of her fellow Rohingya in Rakhine State, Western Myanmar, were massacred.

Oh, my father, oh, my brother, why are there so many dead bodies, cries the man filming.

Myanmar's military junta and the rebel Arakan Army have been waging a bloody battle in Rakhine State as part of the country's ongoing civil war.

And while the Rohingya, a Muslim minority denied citizenship in a Buddhist majority country have been caught in the crossfire, what's been unfolding bears all the hallmarks of an even darker time.

Back in 2017, the Rohingya were targeted in what U.N. experts labelled genocide. More than 10,000 were killed, while over 700,000 fled into neighboring Bangladesh. The military carried out those atrocities, but this time, survivors say the ethnic Arakan Army is to blame for the targeted attacks against civilians, a claim its leadership denies. MUJIBUR RAHMAN, ROHINGYA MASSACRE SURVIVOR (through translator): The Arakan Army were killing everyone they could find. They slaughtered my wife, children, and my elderly mother. I heard their screams before they were beheaded. I have no one left.

COREN (voice-over): As thousands of Rohingya fled the township of Maungdaw to the Naf River, the border to Bangladesh, eyewitnesses say the 5th of August was one of the deadliest attacks.

ABDUL BASHAR, ROHINGYA MASSACRE SURVIVOR (through translator): When we reached the border fence, we saw a large bomb fall on a group of people, killing many, including my son, sister, and her baby. There were so many bombs falling, so many dead bodies, it felt like the end of the world.

COREN (voice-over): Witnesses say more than 200 people were killed on the riverbank that day. This woman in total shock sits among the dead.

The U.N. human rights chief has condemned the attacks, claiming that despite the world saying never again, he fears we are witnessing a repeat of the atrocities seven years ago. The only way for these people to get to Bangladesh is to beg or pay a broker hundreds of dollars for safe passage.

But crossing the three-kilometer stretch of water on a fishing boat isn't without risk. Multiple drownings have occurred in recent weeks. While Bangladesh's border security tries to prevent more Rohingya from coming in.

With reports a boat is arriving, we head to the shore. A full moon lighting up the water. The Coast Guard appears. The location is scrapped. But the sounds of what the Rohingya are continuing to flee can be heard in those pre-dawn hours.

COREN: For the past few weeks, boat after boat filled with Rohingya have made the dangerous journey across the Naf River. It's a risk they're willing to take to escape the atrocities in Myanmar.

But here in Bangladesh, if they're caught, they'll be sent back to where they fled from, confirming their status as the world's most unwanted people.

COREN (voice-over): If successful in evading authorities, this is where they end up, Cox's Bazar, the site of the world's largest refugee camp, home to around one million Rohingya. It has become a sanctuary for a persecuted people, but these huts in the mud are not permanent homes.

[02:25:08]

Bangladesh's new interim chief, Muhammad Yunus, has promised to continue supporting the Rohingya in his country, but has appealed for the fighting to end so they can return to their homeland with safety and dignity.

For these four children, there is no going back. Their parents were killed in front of them. And if it wasn't for their grandmother, who grabbed the 6-month-old baby from his dead mother's arms guiding them to safety, she says they all would have died.

Oh, God, she cries. Sadness will not go from our lives.

Anna Coren, CNN, Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Tom Andrews is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, and he joins me now from Winthrop in Maine. Appreciate you being with us.

TOM ANDREWS, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MYANMAR: Thank you very much, Rosemary, for having me.

CHURCH: So, we just saw Anna Coren's horrifying report on the Rohingya survivors of recent massacres at the hands of a rebel group in Myanmar. On this seventh anniversary of the genocide of this same Muslim minority group by the military junta that forced more than 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh. What are your thoughts and how should the international community be responding to this?

ANDREWS: Well, first of all, Rosemary, just when you think that things could not possibly get any worse or be any worse, they are. It's just horrific what is going on inside of the -- of the country. There's a war on. These warring parties are the or Rohingya are finding themselves sandwiched in between these warring parties. Their villages are being attacked, literally burned to the ground. We know that there are tens of thousands, perhaps many tens of thousands, who have been displaced without food or water, medical attention, without any access to humanitarian aid.

And what is so eerily reminiscent about what happened in 2017 seven years ago is that the world is simply ignoring this horror. And it was, you know, as I listened to member states governments making proclamations and talking about how terrible it was what happened seven years ago, and condemning the violence and expressing sympathy for the victims.

The fact is, this is going on again and once again, the international community is simply not providing the attention and focus on this crisis at a moment in which thousands and thousands of lives can be saved.

So, it is -- it's horrible. It's getting worse. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it's much worse.

CHURCH: And why do you think there is so much international indifference to what's happening there?

ANDREWS: Rosemary, that's a very good question. I mean, obviously there are many things going on in the world, other conflicts that are diverted in the world's attention. I struggle, frankly, with that -- with that question. I don't know.

But I do know that without that attention, without a focus, there will be impunity, these crimes that are being committed, atrocity crimes against the Rohingya will continue, and we could have another bloodbath on our hands, even greater than what we've seen up to this point.

CHURCH: And Tom, what more are you learning about the atrocities being inflicted on the Rohingya people inside Myanmar?

ANDREWS: Well, we know that the military junta are stoking tensions between the Arakan community, the Rakhine community, and the Rohingya community. They're doing everything possible to inflame tensions. Right now, they're at a fever pitch.

We know that combatants are placing themselves inside of Rohingya villages, and those villages are now susceptible to and being attacked by both sides.

We know that Rohingya are being forcibly conscripted into the Myanmar military, and then those Rohingya are being sent into Rakhine villages, again, part of the stoking of this great tension.

And we know that villages are literally being burned to the ground, and people are being displaced to the tune of tens of thousands.

So, all of this is going on and finally, to be perfectly honest with you, Rosemary, there's a lot we don't because it's very difficult getting information, accurate information from these sites. And so, it could be even worse than anticipated (ph).

CHURCH: And the Rohingya refugees are demanding safe return to Myanmar. What needs to be done to make that happen?

[02:30:00]

ANDREWS: Well, a dramatic change. I mean, conditions could not be worse in Myanmar right now. In fact, things are going in just the opposite direction. Just this past week, we've seen dozens of people killed, trying to get from Myanmar into Bangladesh, drowning in the Naf River that separates Bangladesh and Myanmar. So, people are desperate inside of Myanmar, they're looking for any way out of the horror that's being inflicted upon them, including trying their best to get into safety including into Bangladesh.

CHURCH: Tom Andrews, thank you so much for talking with us and shedding more light on this topic. Appreciate it.

ANDREWS: My pleasure. Thank you.

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country's air force managed to shoot down most of the missiles and drones that Russia launched on Tuesday, marking the second night in a row of deadly strikes across Ukraine. Zelenskyy also confirmed Kyiv used Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to repel some of Russia's attacks. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: You said about F-16, there is good, very good result, very good. Nobody talked about it, but we destroyed already in these huge attack of Russians, we destroyed already some missiles and drones using the F-16. I will not share how many, but we did it, thanks to partners that they gave it -- gave us F-16 provided to us, but again, it's not enough, very small number of F-16. And we need to do wider training mission again, et cetera. We have propositions to the United States. It depends on their permission. They have to be positive on it. They have to look at this real -- real because we speak about our territories, not about American territories.

CHURCH: On Tuesday, Zelenskyy also said Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region is just the beginning of a much larger plan to end the war. Adding, he will be traveling to the United Nations General Assembly in the coming weeks to speak with U.S. President Joe Biden.

[02:35:00]

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is tracking the latest developments for us, live from London. She joins us now. Good morning to you, Salma. So, what more did President Zelenskyy have to say at his press conference Tuesday on the F-16s that were used to repel Russia's attack and the Ukrainian-developed, long-range rocket drone? And what did he say about the Kursk incursion into Russia and what it could potentially achieve?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Rosemary. I think the context of when this press conference is happening is important. It took place Tuesday afternoon, just into the second day in a row of Ukrainians enduring this massive air assault from Russia the day before. President Zelenskyy said that that air assault was the largest, the biggest that the country had seen since the beginning of that conflict. So very much within that context, you had a President Zelenskyy who was trying to demonstrate strength, trying to demonstrate preparedness, trying to project victory despite, of course, these incoming attacks.

He highlighted Kursk, as you mentioned, said that Ukrainian forces continue to advance. He poked fun at President Putin for failing, in his words, to defend Russian territory. He accused President Putin of going after a city that nobody knew, a reference to Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine where Russian forces are advancing. So he's painting this very mixed battlefield picture, but he's saying we still have the upper hand. He also wanted to show off Ukraine's capabilities, essentially saying we are taking things into our own hands.

We are developing ballistic missiles. He said the first test of domestic ballistic missile occurred. You mentioned that long-range drone. He's also saying Ukraine is developing these weapons, important to note that Ukraine is very far from using any of these on the battlefield. Of course, what they want is for NATO to continue to provide weaponry. But again, just a bit of rhetoric there from President Zelenskyy. And finally, he highlighted what he called a peace plan that he would propose to President Biden.

Now, I would describe this more as an outline than a plan. It's very, very scant on details, but he sort of had these four points and said, the first part of this peace plan is invading Kursk and we've already done that. So, President Zelenskyy really trying to show that he's taking action, that he's preparing for this potential meeting with President Biden next week and really demanding, yet again, more from his NATO partners, not just in terms of weapons, but in terms of permissions to use these weapons further and deeper into Russia. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Thanks to Salma Abdelaziz, joining us live from London with that report. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Another delay for the launch of the Polaris Dawn Mission, bad weather means the SpaceX mission is on hold for at least the next two days.

[02:40:00]

The mission will carry a four-person team to the highest altitude of any crewed space flight since the Apollo program ended more than 50 years ago. Two crew members will attempt the first-ever space walk by private citizens, a helium leak had postponed the initial launch.

A U.S. federal judge has ordered infamous Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of what was meant to be a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan rap album to his attorneys. The order also bars Shkreli from selling or distributing data files or any other contents of the double CD. The new ruling is part of an ongoing lawsuit that a group of NFT collectors filed against Shkreli. They bought the unique album from Shkreli for almost $5 million, but they claim he kept copies and intends to release them to the public. Wu-Tang Clan created only one copy of "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" as a piece of art. Shkreli reportedly paid $2 million for it in 2015. He sold it recently to help pay some of the fines and penalties tied to his conviction for securities fraud.

CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Christina MacFarlane in London.

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[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)