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Ukraine Strikes Russian Air Bases Ahead Of Peace Talks; Suspect Charged With 16 Counts Of Attempted Murder; South Korean Voting In Presidential Election; White House Says Trump-Xi Phone Call Likely This Week; Sicily's Mount Etna Erupts, Early Findings Show Partial Collapse of Southeast Crater; New Footage of 108-year-old Submarine Wreckage. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired June 03, 2025 - 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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[02:00:34]

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, a second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ends with no cease fire and accusations of Russia refusing to end the war.

Restoring democracy. South Koreans vote for their next president following months of turmoil triggered by a failed attempt at martial law.

And fleeing Mount Etna, we will show you the moment the volcano erupted, and why one tour guide called it a close call.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Russian and Ukrainian officials met for a second round of peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, but the discussions ended nearly as soon as they began, and without any major breakthroughs, both sides did agree to work on a new prisoner exchange, however, on the matter of a cease fire, statements from both delegations indicate that neither side budged on their positions.

Moscow, for its part, maintained its maximalist terms, which includes Ukraine's surrender of four mainland regions that Russia attempted to illegally annex soon after the invasion in 2022, that's according to details of the peace memorandum reported by Russian state media.

The direct peace talks came just one day after Ukraine's daring drone strike operation targeting airfields deep inside Russia. The Ukrainian president praised the brilliant operation, saying the strikes were launched out of necessity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We don't want to demonstrate our strength. We are demonstrating it because the enemy doesn't want to stop. We demonstrate it in a fair way on military targets, and we don't only demonstrate it to the Russian aggressors, but also to all those allies that once were strong allies and have now started doubting us. The trust towards Ukrainians and faith in Ukraine has returned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Nick Paton Walsh breaks down how Ukraine carried out the operation.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bird's eye view of humiliation. Ukrainian drones halfway across Russian Siberia, seconds from hitting the Kremlin's most prized bombers. But the data was bad for Moscow. A 117 drones hitting 41 long range bombers across Russia, a Ukrainian security source said.

A torn up skyline here in Belaya, exactly what Moscow dreaded and Ukraine needed, a boost to its flagging morale. Damaging Russia's war machine for sure, but maybe also its calculus in peace talks.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PREISDENT OF UKRAINE: Our Operation Spider Web yesterday proved that Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy.

WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine hit Irkutsk, 4,500 kilometers away from Ukraine where Google Earth still shows similar propeller driven aircraft in the open, but they also struck Olenya right on the Arctic Circle.

Similar planes also on Google. Another example of something that just was not meant to happen in Russia's brutal war of choice.

The how was as extraordinary. Ukraine's Security Service Head, Vasyl Malyuk, commenting here.

VASIL MALYUK, UKRAINE'S SECURITY SERVICE HEAD (through text): How beautiful it looks, the airbase Belaya.

WALSH (voice-over): And releasing these images of the wooden mobile homes they used the roof cavities of to hide the drones.

Before their release, once Ukraine said, all their operatives were out of Russia. The planes hit mainly the Tupolev 95 and Tupolev 22. Ukrainian source said aging, easy to damage, hard to replace. They were partly behind the nightly terrors that beset Ukrainian civilians.

Whether these strikes make a dent in this daily toll will take weeks to learn. But it may also damage the Kremlin quicker away from the front lines. Its pride hit hard. Although state T.V. put on a fierce display of why Russia has been piling Ukraine so relentlessly. It may also too change its thinking perhaps towards peace talks that continued Monday in Istanbul. And of how long Russia can sustain this war if Ukraine keeps throwing painful surprises its way.

[02:05:12]

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining us now is CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger. He's also the author of New Cold Wars: China's rise, Russia's invasion, and America's struggle to defend the West. Appreciate you being with us.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be back with you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, let's start with that audacious Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russia that caused significant damage. One podcaster in the country calling it Russia's Pearl Harbor.

So, what message does this large scale spider web operation, as Ukraine calls it, send to Russia, but also to Donald Trump?

SANGER: I think it sends a lot of messages to a lot of people. First of all, to the Russians. It told them the Ukraine war isn't over, and that Ukraine had figured out how to fit, how to reach almost any part of Russia.

Some of these air bases were pretty far out of range, thousands of miles from Ukraine, in Siberia and so forth. Others were in closer.

The second was it showed a remarkable carelessness on the part of the Russians who had lined up their Tupolev and other strategic bombers. These are bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, sort of wing tip to wing tip just sitting there as big open targets. And that's where the comparison to Pearl Harbor probably fits the best.

I think the third big lesson out of this is the Ukrainians took a huge risk. This is the first time they have hit something that is really part of Russia's nuclear weapons infrastructure. And I think the interesting question is, how does Vladimir Putin react to that? I don't think he's going to take it just lying down.

And then the fourth one is just a lesson to us, Rosemary, because the way this was done, hiding these drones in a -- in a shipping container, essentially, and having them sort of pop up close to the base. It's pretty easy to imagine having that happen to an American Air Base.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, that does take us to the peace talks in Istanbul, where the Russians revealed their peace memorandum outlining their demands for an end to the fighting. What did you make of what they put forward? And was there any sign that Moscow is serious about negotiating peace with Ukraine? SANGER: Well, the meeting lasted about an hour, which tells you didn't have a whole lot to talk about. The Russians have not yet published the actual text, but we have pretty good sense from previous encounters what's in it, including, essentially that Ukraine turn over the four provinces that Russia claims to be its own, that it vowed never to join NATO, that it never really challenged Russia because it would be restricted in the size of the military it can keep.

I don't think any of those are acceptable right now to the Ukrainians, and I don't think it's an accident that they decided to do this attack just a day before those negotiations started up.

CHURCH: So, how do you think Russia can continue its war of choice if Ukraine can launch more of these audacious strikes within Russia at any time, at a time of their choosing?

SANGER: Well, let's remember, first of all, harder to do the second time than the first, right? They're waiting for you.

But more importantly, this doesn't really affect the balance in the war itself. Russia is still occupying more and more territory, not very quickly, but grabbing it, and it's not clear how quickly the Ukrainians could repeat the success of this attack. Their own stockpile of defensive weapons, of missiles, of offensive weapons, are all running down right now.

CHURCH: And how significant is it that Ukraine didn't tell the United States about its plan to do this. And what might that signal do you think?

SANGER: Well, it's probably a good thing for the U.S., because I'm sure that the way the Russians are interpreting this is that the Ukrainians are degrading their nuclear infrastructure, particularly their nuclear delivery airplanes at Ukraine's behest.

And so, it was interesting that almost everybody in the administration said to me simultaneously we had nothing to do with this.

[02:10:05]

Now, maybe they did, maybe they didn't. I suspect they probably did not know in advance, even if they had an understanding of the general plan.

CHURCH: David Sanger, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your analysis.

SANGER: Always great to be with you.

CHURCH: The suspect in the violent attack on a Jewish community event in Boulder, Colorado has been charged with a federal hate crime. Authorities accuse Mohamed Sabry Soliman of using incendiary devices in the attack they say he had been planning for a year. He is also facing 16 counts of attempted first degree murder. CNN's Whitney Wild has details.

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CALLER: There is a male with a blowtorch setting people on fire.

CALLER: You know, there is at least one party rolling around in flames.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, authorities say 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman burned at least 12 people at a (AUDIO GAP) Boulder as they peacefully marched, calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need medical for multiple burns on the courthouse lawns.

WILD (VOICE-OVER): According to law enforcement, Soliman sprayed gasoline while holding a lighter in the direction of the marchers Sunday afternoon while yelling free Palestine. The FBI is investigating the case as an act of terrorism.

AV KORNFELD, WITNESS: A person who threw the Molotov cocktail had two more in his hand, and he was holding them, and he was yelling and he was screaming at everybody. I think he was saying, you're killing my people.

WILD (VOICE-OVER): An elderly Holocaust survivor was among the victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's making Molotov cocktails.

WILD (VOICE-OVER): Law enforcement says two Molotov cocktails were thrown and 16 more were found at the scene.

GREWELL: Mr. Soliman stated that he had been planning this attack for a year, and he acted because he hated what he called the Zionist group.

WILD (VOICE-OVER): During the attack, Solomon took off his vest and shirt as they caught fire, according to witnesses.

According to an affidavit, he told the FBI he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead, stating he would do it again. Solomon is in the country illegally, according to homeland security. He is an Egyptian national and had lived in Kuwait and applied for asylum, but was denied a visa.

DHS said he entered the country in August 2022 as a nonimmigrant visitor and was granted a two-year work authorization in March 2023 that has since expired. Soliman appeared in court today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the matter concerning Mohamed Soliman.

WILD (VOICE-OVER): Soliman is facing 16 counts of first-degree attempted murder, as well as multiple counts of assault and felony use of incendiary devices, among other state and federal charges. Recent antisemitic incidents have become increasingly violent. Sunday's attack, coming after two Israeli staff members were shot and killed in Washington, D.C., outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum nearly two weeks ago.

ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, MURDER SUSPECT: Free, free Palestine!

WILD (VOICE-OVER): And nearly two months after a man set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion using Molotov cocktails.

WILD: The Boulder District Attorney listed a very long list of charges that Soliman is facing, and that's just in state court alone. In total, the state charges could result in a maximum sentence of more than 400 years behind bars. Back to you.

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CHURCH: Three Palestinians were shot dead and dozens wounded near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza on Monday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The Israeli military said they fired warning shots towards several suspects who advanced towards them. This comes a day after more than 30 people were reportedly killed and dozens wounded at an aid distribution center, there are conflicting reports on the incident, and the U.N. Secretary General is calling for an independent investigation.

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STEPHANE DUJARRIC, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPOKESPERSON: It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food. The Secretary General calls for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable. Israel has a clear obligation on international humanitarian law to agree to and facilitate aid, humanitarian aid. The unimpeded entry of assistance at scale to meet the enormous needs of the people in Gaza must be restored immediately.

CHURCH: These are just the latest incidents where Palestinians have been killed while trying to receive aid from the Gaza humanitarian Foundation. The U.N. has criticized the U.S. backed initiative, warning that it endangers civilians.

We could know the winner of South Korea's presidential election within the next few hours. We're live in Seoul, just ahead with a look at who might succeed impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

And lost to the depths, but caught on camera, we will show you new footage of a submarine that sank over 100 years ago, back in just a moment.

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[02:19:33]

CHURCH: South Koreans are going to the polls right now to pick a new president. Voting will last for about five more hours, with results expected soon after. Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung is considered the front runner. His main rival is conservative Kim Moon-soo. The country is hoping to move on from months of political turmoil and

division after the brief martial law declaration by former President Yoon Suk Yeol in December.

[02:20:02]

Yoon was impeached last year and still faces insurrection charges for sending troops to Parliament. He denies any wrongdoing. Lee made headlines by live streaming himself and other lawmakers pushing past soldiers and voting to lift martial law.

Well, CNN's Mike Valerio is live this hour in Seoul. He joins us now. Good to see you again, Mike. So, what are voters telling you about the stakes involved in this critical vote that's underway?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Rosemary, they're saying that the stakes here are who is the best person to be the top spokesperson for South Korea on the world stage, who they can be proud of, to reassure Democratic allies that a brush with authoritarianism that happened in December of last year isn't going to happen again.

And to bring our viewers back up to speed, you might remember those crazy heart stopping scenes in December when the previous President Yoon Suk Yeol deployed troops to the heart of South Korea's democracy to, from his point of view, solve a political log jam, bring himself back into power. It was the only move, again, from his point of view, that he felt that he could make.

But a whole multitude of South Koreans have said, we are not going back to that period when the military is in charge and a president can declare martial law.

So, let's listen to just two voters we spoke with earlier this morning. Here's what they had to say about the stakes.

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YOUM SUK-HUN, VOTER (through translator): The current domestic situation has so many unstable factors, even economically. So, I cast a vote this year with the thought to stabilize the domestic and international situations of the country.

KIM DONG-WAN, VOTER (through translator): I saw the news about martial law while I was abroad for a long time, so I felt the urge to return to Korea as soon as possible. My heart was heavy since December, though I was abroad, I think I participated in this election with my whole heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: Now you hear about that sense of duty of reset and stability. Somebody needs to be captain of the ship, Rosemary, for this critical economy and democracy to make the next decisions about what a trade deal is going to look like with the United States, and to reassure the world that South Korea's democratic institutions are strong. So, let's get into the candidates. Lee Jae-myung. He is the

progressive candidate. We in English, pronounce it Lee Jae-myung, here in this corner of the world, pronounced Lee Jae-myung in Korean, started off as a mayor of Seongnam City, which is about an hour train ride south of here, in the heart of South Korea's version of Silicon Valley. Then, rose up the ranks to be governor of Gyeonggi, which is South Korea's most populous province.

He is essentially calling for more government spending to jump start South Korea's economy, government spending in A.I. and research and development. Also is a fan of universal basic income. He's fashioned himself in previous comments as a South Korean version of Bernie Sanders.

For foreign policy, he wants to still be the best of friends with the United States, but also warm up to Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang, which is a departure from South Korea's past president.

The conservative candidate, who is his rival. We're talking about Kim Moon-soo. He was a labor minister in the previous government under former President Yoon Suk Yeol. And he's very similar to conservative orthodoxy, preaching that conservative orthodoxy of lower taxes, deregulation, lower taxes, especially for the middle class to jump start the economy. Wants strong relations, the bear hug, a relationship with the United States. Is willing to pay more for American troops to secure South Korea and be a check against China. And also wants to keep a pretty adversarial, pretty frosty relationship with North Korea.

So, suffice to say, Rosemary, we have a divided electorate. So, no matter who becomes president in the next few hours, for this bastion of democracy, very close to Beijing, next to Russia, another regional powerhouse, it's going to be critical that this leader stands up, tries to fix the economy and reassures the world that South Korea is never going to have the scenes like we saw back in December, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Big challenges ahead. We shall see what happens. Mike Valerio in Seoul with there a live report. Many thanks.

Well, China is accusing the U.S. of new trade provocations. Just ahead, when the White House says Presidents Trump and Xi will speak by phone. Back with that in a moment.

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[02:29:19]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. A threat by Donald Trump to double steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 percent didn't seem to faze U.S. financial markets. The Dow finished basically flat on Monday, the S&P and the NASDAQ both posted modest gains, but the dollar and the bond market weakened amid renewed concerns about a global trade war.

The threat of higher steel and aluminum tariffs drove down auto stocks. Ford, General Motors and Stellantis all closed more than 3.5 percent lower. The White House says President Trump will likely speak by phone with

his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week.

[02:30:00]

Tensions are growing over the Trump tariffs, with China accusing the U.S. of provoking new economic and trade frictions. That follows President Trump's claim that Beijing has violated a trade truce agreed to last month. I spoke earlier with University of Michigan Economics Professor, Justin Wolfers, and I asked what we might expect from talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping and who has the leverage.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS & PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Last time, in order to get Xi's attention, Trump raised tariffs on China up to 145 percent, and they still hadn't gotten on the phone. Finally, both sides decided to send emissaries off to Geneva to meet. And on the way there, Trump continued to claim that he hadn't called Xi and the Chinese claimed the exact opposite. So, there's a whole lot of middle school cafeteria energy about who called who, when, and under what conditions. And it was certainly incredibly costly for the American economy, for us to get that far.

So look, if these two have grown up and they've now got each other's phone numbers and know how to call, I think that's probably good news. You asked a much harder question, Rosemary, about who has the leverage, and I think it's -- I just want to wonder -- I'm not sure that's really the right way to think about this. When Americans fail to buy things from China, yes, that hurts the Chinese factory that's not going to be making those goods, but it hurts the Americans who aren't going to be getting those goods.

A lot of what we import from China, things like machinery and equipment, are actually an essential input into American business. And so that hurts not only the Chinese, but also the Americans.

CHURCH: And Justin, we are also expecting a number of economic indicators this week, including the World Economic Forecast being published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. What are your expectations?

WOLFERS: Mate, I've had so much bad news lately, I don't really know what to expect, but I do know what to fear. Look, the global economy's come in for a real tumble since the Trump administration and it's all been because of this system of chaos really. That's rippled out throughout the globe and has led one organization after another to cut their expectations for global growth.

The good news to the extent that there is some, is that Trump walked away from the very worst of his instincts, that the tariffs on China which at some point hit 145 percent, now all the way miraculously down to a merely exorbitantly high 30 percent. So, it really depends whether you're comparing yourself to the worst of our worst days or perhaps to happier days back when the world was happily trading with each other.

RUHLE: A sudden boom, immense smoke, and tourists running for their lives. Still ahead, the latest on the largest eruption of Sicily's Mount Etna in more than a decade.

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[02:37:30]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Stunning new footage reveals a submarine that sank more than 100 years ago. Researchers captured close-up images of the long-lost submarine that dates back to World War I. Take a look.

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BRUCE STRICKROTT, ENGINEER, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION (voice-over): New footage captures the wreckage of a 108-year-old submarine, 1,300 feet deep underwater. In 1917, the World War I-era USS F-1 collided with another sub off the coast of San Diego, killing 19 crew members. The submarine then sank to the bottom of the ocean where the wreckage wasn't discovered until 1975. Using deep sea imaging technology, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution captured these never before seen images and videos of the wreckage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Geologists say a huge volcanic eruption on the Italian island of Sicily that forced tourists to flee for their lives on Monday has ended and the lava is cooling. Mount Etna began producing explosions overnight and was spewing hot lava until late evening. CNN's Melissa Bell has more.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here to see a force of nature. Hikers and tourists were surprised by a massive eruption on Italy's Mount Etna early Monday and sent fleeing for safety. A plume of hot gases, ash and rock billowing high into the air above them.

This is what a close call looks like, the tour guide who took this video says. It arrived all at once, an immense smoke, an immense, immense roar.

The eruption began overnight. Geologists say preliminary observations show a "partial collapse" of the northern flank of Etna's southeastern crater, producing this enormous cloud seen here in a time-lapse video. Everyone on the volcano has been evacuated safely, local authorities say. Hikers are being told to avoid the summit area until further notice.

Etna is a popular tourist destination on the island of Sicily, visited by 1.5 million people a year, many of whom trek almost all the way to its summit.

[02:40:00]

It also happens to be one of the most active volcanic sites in the world. It erupts often. Geologists though, say that there hasn't been an eruption of this magnitude since 2014.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then "CNN Newsroom" returns at the top of the hour, with more Kristie Lu Stout.

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