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U.S and Russian to Meet in Riyadh for Ceasefire Talks; Israel Hits Gaza Hospital Killing Hamas Official; Nationwide Protest in Turkey for Arresting Istanbul's Mayor; Canadian PM Carney Announces Swap Federal Election For April 28; Pope Francis Released From Hospital After Five Week Stay. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired March 24, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, deadly Russian drone attacks across Ukraine ahead of a renewed diplomatic push for a limited ceasefire.

Protesters in Turkey defy a ban on demonstrations as the main rival to the president is jailed on corruption charges.

And Canada calls a snap election vowing to stand up to Donald Trump's threats.

Good to have you with us. Diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war in Ukraine are set to resume in Riyadh in the hours ahead with U.S. officials planning to sit down for talks with Russia. The Kremlin says those discussions will mainly focus on reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative and will come one day after Ukraine held its own talks with the U.S.

Ukraine says it's working to make lasting peace a reality and describes Sunday's talks as productive and focused, with key points including energy being discussed. Diplomats are trying to sort out the details of a proposed limited ceasefire, even as strikes inside Ukraine continue, including this deadly drone attack on Kyiv over the weekend. CNN's Kevin Liptak has more from Washington.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: American officials on Sunday continued to put a positive spin on their attempts to negotiate a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine as technical teams from the United States met in Saudi Arabia with their Ukrainian counterparts, those talks ending late Sunday. They will continue on Monday as the U.S. team meets with Russian negotiators to try and work out some of the modalities of the ceasefire that President Trump is trying to put into effect, including this pause on attacks on energy infrastructure that President Trump and President Putin agreed to in their telephone call last week.

It remains to be seen exactly when that will go into effect and who would enforce it, and that will be a key point of discussion between all three of these teams as they continue their talks in Riyadh. We also heard on Sunday from the American National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, as well as President Trump's Foreign Envoy Steve Witkoff, that they wanted to discuss the issue of a ceasefire in the Black Sea to enable ships to continue shipments of grain and fuel to restart trade in that area.

That is another component of this ceasefire that President Trump wants to see take effect. All of this is building to a larger pause in the fighting in President Trump's view, potentially a 30-day pause that would allow for more negotiations to reach a more durable, lasting peace in Ukraine. What we have heard so far is the Ukrainians sign off on that type of 30-day ceasefire without any conditions, but President Putin still has a number of conditions before he agrees to end the fighting, including maintaining Russian control over territories in Ukraine that he has seized since the start of the invasion, and including a provision that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO.

These are Putin's maximalist positions that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says are non-starters as he works towards ending this conflict. So it still remains to be seen how a number of those items will be resolved, and certainly not all of them will be resolved in these technical talks that are unfolding in Saudi Arabia. But what is clear is that President Trump very much wants this conflict to end.

He just said in an interview over the weekend with a podcast host on Air Force One that he continues to believe he is the only person who could resolve this conflict. Back to you.

CHURCH: With us now from Kyiv is Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian member of parliament and the leader of the Holos party. Appreciate you joining us.

KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Hello Rosemary, and thank you so much for having me.

[02:04:55]

CHURCH: So U.S. and Russian officials meet in the coming hours for talks in Riyadh, where they will discuss details for a partial ceasefire on land, in the air and on the Black Sea. What do you expect to come out of those meetings and those between the U.S. and Ukraine?

RUDIK: The biggest question right now, Rosemary, is the practicalities of the ceasefire and how would you enforce that. Because we do not trust Putin, we do not trust Russia, and we have seen over the last days that after Ukraine has agreed to unconditional ceasefire, it was on March 11th, we have seen Russia's attacks on peaceful cities intensifying, killing at least three people on a Saturday night. So the question is, well, even if Russia says they are ready to do the ceasefire, how would you enforce it and what would happen if they break their part of the deal, which we have seen happening beforehand.

We hope that the new U.S. administration has any answers to those, but we didn't hear that just yet. And of course, when we have to defend ourselves, we should be able to do that, because it is impossible for Ukraine to stand without the ability to protect our people against the threat of Russia that is still there.

CHURCH: And what do you want to see included in a pause in the fighting in the initial stages because we did see what happened with the recent partial ceasefire agreement on energy targets. President Putin was striking them within hours of talking with Trump.

RUDIK: Absolutely. And you know, Rosemary, when the first information about the ceasefire reached Kyiv, it was exactly when the attack on Kyiv started. So, again, we are telling the world what we have been telling all along. You cannot trust Russia. And even if they say that they are ready for something, you shouldn't take this information as any kind of truth. So the question is, does the new U.S. administration have, like, any way to dealing with that?

Because the only thing that we have seen working with Russia was the language of strength, the language of power, the ability to defend ourselves. This is when they can limit their striking. This is when they can stop. The diplomatic talks beforehand didn't give us any good results. So I hope with the statements that President Trump is giving, he has like some good ideas that would actually work because as of right now, we haven't seen those ideas be productive or at least bringing us into, like, one peaceful night in Kyiv or anywhere else.

CHURCH: And how much do you worry that President Trump and his delegation might be outmaneuvered by Russia's President Putin and end up giving too much of Ukraine away to Moscow in any final peace deal that's decided?

RUDIK: Well, I have hopes that the United States administration would not be giving away any of Ukraine, right, because we are a sovereign country, a sovereign state, and we were able to show the world that we are responsible for our future. And even if the world does not believe in us or wants to give up on us, we are ready to fight and we will be fighting.

However, yes, there are risks right now that Putin will fool President Trump. President Trump wanted to be seen strong right now. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem that way. And Putin is definitely outmaneuvering and fooling the U.S. administration, the strongest democracy in the world, and that is upsetting. I want to assure you that whatever agreement there might be, Ukraine will be responsible for our own future and we hope that nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine will still be the policy that the United States administration will go with.

CHURCH: And Ukrainian and U.S. delegates held productive talks on Sunday. That's according to Ukraine's defense minister. What all came out of those discussions and what more are you hoping for in the coming hours?

RUDIK: Well, the next step, we hope, is that Putin agrees to the limited ceasefire for at least 30 days. At least what we heard; it was President Trump's administration goal for the nearest future. I think in Riyadh there could be discussions of the practicalities of that. And then the actual talks would go ahead. Also, we didn't hear the updates on the rare minerals deal. And I want to stress once again that the president is very limited in

what he can sign as a president. And that any kind of enhanced or extensive rare minerals deal will have to be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament. So that will not be a quick process.

CHURCH: Kira Rudik, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

RUDIK: Thank you.

[02:10:05]

CHURCH: A new Israeli airstrike hit Gaza's largest functioning hospital on Sunday night. Israel claims a key Hamas figure who was operating inside the hospital was killed. But Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV reports that he had been receiving medical treatment there.

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IDF operations in Gaza intensify. The Palestinian health ministry now says more than 50,000 people have been killed in the enclave since the war began. And one displaced Palestinian feels Gaza stands alone.

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MAHMOUD AL-FERRA, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (through translation): Fifty thousand martyrs because of world and international complicity and the Islamic and Arab silence and because Gaza stands alone and is defending itself alone. The number of deaths and injuries is increasing. And the daily humanitarian struggle is worsening massively.

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CHURCH: Brett McGurk was the lead negotiator in the Israel-Hamas hostage deal. And he talked to CNN about what it would take to get a ceasefire back in place.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: There's one formula. It's actually pretty simple to get the ceasefire back in place. There's a formula on the table where Hamas can agree to release a number of hostages. There's 25 living hostages still in Gaza. They can release a set number. And you'll have another 40 to 50 days of a ceasefire to negotiate the ultimate arrangements to end the war. I know a lot about this agreement that's in place. To get to phase two, which they're talking about right now, the agreement says you have to agree on the conditions for phase two.

The conditions for phase two mean Hamas ultimately has to relinquish its power and authority over Gaza. I know that's hard. You know, Fatah, the legitimate Palestinian ruling authority in the West Bank, stated just yesterday, really for the first time, that Hamas must relinquish its authority over Gaza for the sake of Gazans and to get a ceasefire in place. That is critical.

There are talks ongoing behind the scenes here. What Israel is doing is targeting very deliberately the leaders of Hamas that are purporting to be part of the politburo that would control Gaza once the war's over. Hamas will not be in charge of Gaza once the war's over. That is impossible. Israel's making that clear. But the path here back to the ceasefire is a hostage release. It's really as simple as that.

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CHURCH: Protests continue across Turkey following the arrest and jailing of a popular opposition figure. Still to come, I will speak with an expert on what this shocking political development means for Turkey's fragile democracy.

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CHURCH: Sunday marked the fifth night of protests across Turkey following the arrest and jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Erdogan's most serious political rival. Police confronted protesters in the capital Istanbul with pepper spray and there were reports of officers striking demonstrators after fireworks and other objects were thrown at riot police.

State media reports that Imamoglu and some 100 others associated with him have now been accused of belonging to a criminal group, along with a litany of other charges filed by the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office. Supporters of the popular mayor, chief among them, the leader of his own party, claim the charges are politically motivated.

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OZGUR OZEL, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN PEOPLE'S PARY (through translation): Just like the methods of the Italian mafia, a message is given by getting him arrested on the day of his candidacy vote.

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CHURCH: For more on this, I'm joined now by Murat Somer. Murat is a professor of political science and international relations at Ozyegin University and he joined us live from Budapest. Thank you so much for being with us.

MURAT SOMER, POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROFESSOR, OZYEGIN UNIVERSITY: Thank you, pleasure to be here.

CHURCH: So what was your reaction to the arrest and jailing of President Erdogan's political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and what might this mean for the country going forward?

SOMER: I'm very angry because Ekrem Imamoglu has been popularly elected by the people to govern Istanbul. He's also a very popular presidential candidate of the main opposition against President Erdogan and has risen as a hope for democracy for the future. What is happening is undemocratic as well as illegal. I'm also very concerned, of course, for the future, for the security and for the future of Turkish democracy and well-being of my people. It is -- there are clashes at the moment between security forces, actually between the government and very popular, very strong popular resistance against the coup.

This is basically an executive coup staged by Erdogan against democracy and apparently popular elections. He has done that before and there has been strong resistance against that, too. But this is the latest stage. Apparently, it looks like he wants to move to a political regime similar to Putin's in Russia without real opposition and without any dissent.

[02:20:04]

This is unacceptable. This is very worrying, of course. But at the moment there is also very strong mobilization against it by the people who basically want to maintain their right to elect and to be elected, popular sovereignty. And for the first time the opposition parties have also joined forces with street protests, something they have not done before.

They have tried during the last two decades when President Erdogan's governments have been backsliding democracy and rule of law in Turkey, many, many different strategies. But they had done, they had not joined forces with street protests and popular mobilization for fear of violence and other consequences. But now we are doing that. So the situation is evolving. I'm very worried but at the same time hopeful and very angry.

CHURCH: And we are looking at those images of demonstrations there. The mayor's wife says the decision to detain her husband was politically motivated and the thousands of protesters across the country, they share that view, getting out on the streets as we see. This is the fifth night they are out there to make their voices heard. How much do you worry though about what will happen to these brave protesters and how far do you think Erdogan might go in basically controlling them and taking their voice away?

SOMER: Of course I'm very worried. Basically, not only supporters of Ekrem Imamoglu and the opposition and I think the overwhelming majority, my feeling in the country agree with Dilek Imamoglu, wife of Ekrem Imamoglu. This is basically political. Nobody believes that there is any legal actual reason for these, behind these charges. It's political and just to basically eliminate President Erdogan's rival. He feels that he would not win against him in a presidential election, in a real presidential election, and he wants to disqualify him.

And it is, of course, very worrying because the President Erdogan's government is burning bridges, right, for any kind of compromise. And in fact, as the events unfolded and the leader of the main opposition party, Ozgur Ozel, called people to the streets as well as to gather in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building, they -- he -- and they were basically trying to protect the government, local government elected by the people in front of the building with hundreds of thousands of people.

So he did offer still the hand to have some kind of compromise, to not to have any violence and also to save democracy. But definitely the government rejected that hand and they -- at that moment, Imamoglu had not been arrested yet, and in my mind, there was no doubt that he was going to be arrested. But the opposition leader did actually offer this possibility of compromise, hoping that he would not be arrested and there will be some kind of an agreement.

But this was rejected by the government. He was arrested along with his team and other elected district mayors. And remember, Istanbul is actually the economic cultural, demographic powerhouse of Istanbul, represents one-fifth of the population. This is basically almost like one government, the central government of the country, arresting the regional governments, major regional governments, part of what governs the major part of the country.

So it is precarious, but I think the source of hope is that the belief in democracy and electoral democracy, basically the right for the people to elect who will govern them is very institutionalized and very strong in Turkey. And so that has struck a chord among the people. And combined with the fact that for the first time the opposition parties also thought that -- decided that it is -- they should, actually, the political opposition, the parties, they should join forces with the people on the streets.

[02:25:07]

There is this very unifying reaction against it as well.

CHURCH: Right.

SOMER: Actually, one thing that made Imamoglu quite threatening to President Erdogan was that he is not popular only among the opposition supporters, which basically has been more or less half of the population in Turkey, but also from his own base.

CHURCH: Right.

SOMER: So, also Erdogan supporters, I think, show a reaction.

CHURCH: Murat Somer, thank you so much for joining us, appreciate it.

SOMER: Thank you very much for having me.

CHURCH: South Korea's top court has struck down the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and has restored his powers as acting president. Han was impeached by opposition party lawmakers in December after serving as acting president for 13 days. Judges on Monday ruled that there were not sufficient grounds for his impeachment. Han became acting president to replace then-president Yoon Suk-yeol, who was suspended for declaring martial law. The court is now deciding whether to uphold or reject Yoon's impeachment.

Next month, Canadians will elect a new government as they stare down Donald Trump's threats to their country's sovereignty. The candidates are promising to put up a fierce fight. We'll have that and more just ahead.

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[02:31:41]

CHURCH: Canada's new prime minister announced a snap federal election. Mark Carney says the country is facing, quote, the most significant crisis of our lifetime, forged by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and promises to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state.

On April 28th, Canadians will elect a new government to counter those existential threats.

CNN's Paula Newton has details.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Canadians will head to the polls April 28th. It is one of the shortest campaigns in Canadian history, but really one of the most important. If you listen to any of the politicians and the reason is because of someone who is clearly not on the ballot, U.S. President Donald Trump, and I am quoting Mark Carney here when he says that the U.S. president wants to break us so Americans can own us.

And he is talking about not just the threat of tariffing Canada and doing it severely so that Canada is essentially broken economically, but also the fact that he continues to talk about annexing Canada and the fact that it would be much better off as a 51st state. I want you to listen to the two front runners now. One is Prime Minister Mark Carney has only been prime minister for about 10 days, and Pierre Poilievre, who is his main challenger, is the conservative party leader. Listen.

PIERRE POLIEVRE, CANADIAN CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER: I will insist that the president recognized the independence and sovereignty of Canada. I will insist that he stop terrorizing our nation, and at the same time, I will strengthen our country so that we can be capable of standing on our own two feet and standing up to the Americans where and when necessary.

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I'm asking Canadians for a strong, positive mandate to deal with President Trump and to build a new Canadian economy that works for everyone because I know we need change, big change, positive change.

NEWTON: You can hear the tone and the approach to Donald Trump are quite similar, and yet, in terms of the approach in terms of the Canadian economy, vastly different.

Now remember, Pierre Poilievre actually looked like he would sail to election victory when Justin Trudeau was prime minister. Not so anymore. And now this is a virtual tie between these two leaders. There are, in fact, for other national parties. And just because they're in a virtual tie in, the popular vote may not translate into parliamentary seats.

Again, we will see how this election will pivot, especially on April 2nd when Donald Trump promises to actually release what he believes are going to be those punishing reciprocal tariffs on countries like Canada.

What's interesting here is that Canadians have been united in fighting against the United States, and they've been using quite a cliche. It is elbows up a hockey term. The Liberal Party of Canada managed to enlist comedian Mike Myers on one of their campaign ads. Listen.

MIKE MYERS, COMEDIAN: But let me ask you, Mr. Prime Minister, will there always be a Canada?

CARNEY: There will always be a Canada.

MYERS: All right, elbows up.

CARNEY: Elbows up.

[02:35:02]

NEWTON: And you see written on the back there -- never.

And look it was a joke. It does kind of dive into all of those trite but true Canadian stereotypical stereotypes.

But Canadians are deadly serious at this point in time. The rise of anti-Americanism continues, and we will see that be a theme throughout this election.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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[02:40:06]

CHURCH: Catholics in and around Vatican City are set to gather in the coming hours for prayers concerning the pope's health. Pope Francis was discharged from a Rome hospital on Sunday, where he spent more than five weeks struggling with double pneumonia. He appeared visibly frail and struggled to speak as he acknowledged the crowds outside. The pontiff blessed them, but lifting his arms appeared difficult. Pope Francis will continue his recovery at the Vatican.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM.

Do stay with us.

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