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Donald Trump To Send U.S. Patriot Missiles To Ukraine Via Allies; Family Of American Killed In West Bank Calls For Justice; Russia's Sergey Lavrov And China's Xi Jinping Meet As U.S. Tariffs Loom; China Reports Better-than-expected GDP as Tariffs Loom; China Aiming to Dominate Growing Field of A.I.-powered Robots; Unreleased Beyonce Music Stolen From Choreographer's Car; Dozens of Runners Race in Sub-zero Temperatures in North Pole Marathon. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired July 15, 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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[02:00:30]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: 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, President Trump issues a new warning to Russia agree to a cease fire with Ukraine within 50 days or face severe sanctions.

As hopes fade for a cease fire in Gaza, attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank are ramping up. The family of a Palestinian American man killed in the violence is now demanding justice.

And with the U.S. and China battling in the race for cutting edge technology, CNN goes inside a Chinese lab working to give Beijing the lead in A.I. powered robots.

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

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. U.S. President Donald Trump says he's very unhappy with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and he's taking action to stop the fighting.

During a meeting with NATO's Secretary General, the president threatened 100 percent tariffs if Vladimir Putin does not agree to a cease fire within 50 days, countries buying Russian oil would also be subject to sanctions.

President Trump also announced a deal for NATO members to buy U.S. made weapons and then transfer them to Ukraine. A U.S. diplomat says the focus will be on defensive weapons like Patriot batteries that can intercept Russian missiles.

Russian attacks on Ukraine have increased over the past few weeks, including this one in the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called President Trump and the NATO Secretary General to thank them for the weapons pledge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are also working on major defense deals with America. Now is not the time to talk about the details publicly, but we can do a lot together for security. Ukraine is absolutely ready to take all honest and effective steps for peace, lasting peace, for real security. It is Russia that is not ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now on the transfer of weapons to Ukraine from CNN's Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it removes the times, I think, to many allies of Ukraine, unthinkable fact that the delivery of these urgently needed patriot interceptors and batteries was something, essentially that the United States was holding up by not agreeing to it. Now, they've reversed that position and done so in such a way where it is going to be European money paying for it. That's going to certainly please President Trump's MAGA base and it seems like it is possible within a matter of days, according to President Trump, that more interceptors and possibly more patriot batteries.

He suggested one nation had 17 of them that were essentially going spare, way more than Ukraine, in fact, has said publicly it needs. These could all be headed over quite fast. That's, of course, a huge boost to a capital like, Kyiv that has been struggling with its air defenses to hold back these extraordinary onslaughts from Russia, particularly the ballistic missiles that only U.S. Patriots can take down.

So certainly urgent need there being realized by Donald Trump and fulfilled. It may possibly broaden in the future to more types of weapons.

There were no specifics to exactly what the limitations on the kind of weaponry being delivered was going to be, and it sets up a mechanism there, essentially, where America gets to make money by selling weapons to other members of NATO that go to Ukraine.

So a potential future there in that, but also to remember, we are still left with this President Trump position where he simultaneously believes that he is being played along by Vladimir Putin, but also is constructing yet another deadline, after which he might potentially then cause some kind of action unless Vladimir Putin goes along with the diplomatic scheme that Trump has complained he doesn't want to go along with. So some jumble there in the thinking and reticence, perhaps, to implement these secondary sanctions.

Look, they are essentially about levying huge tariffs against China and India for buying Russian energy. That in itself is going to have an enormous impact on the global energy market that's going to hit the United States, too. It is going to complicate an already messy trade market across the world that's already in significant turmoil.

So I can see the reluctance to do that there, but what we have essentially now given is Moscow, 50 days more breathing space. They are, by many accounts, likely to soon try and prosecute some kind of summer offensive. They've got now until September to potentially do that. Their allies China, well, they have some space to rethink perhaps their position, but it seems unlikely they are about to abandon Moscow and India, a U.S. ally, while they're deeply reliant on Russian energy, frankly, so they are going to have to do a huge amount of fast work to reduce that kind of dependency.

[02:05:25]

So, it is the fact that these sanctions are something kicked further down the line that I think will disappoint Ukraine. It is, again, an echo of the Trump thinking that he doesn't want immediate action against Russia, but does at the same time believe they could potentially be forthcoming in some kind of diplomacy. So some jumble there, essentially.

But if we just step back and look at the past couple of weeks, we've seen President Trump going from a very negative posture towards Ukraine to essentially now replicating Biden's position when it comes to arming Kyiv and that will be a huge comfort to Ukraine and its allies. But there is still certainly some ambiguity and confusion as to the policy going forwards, and that ultimately is going to play into Vladimir Putin's hands.

He has been buying for time here for six months. Now, he has got until September.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Kira Rudik joins me now from Kyiv. She is a Ukrainian Member of Parliament and leader of the holos political party. Appreciate you joining us.

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

CHURCH: Good to see you. So, what is your reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to apply 100 percent tariffs on Russia if President Putin fails to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

RUDIK: The main question when we hear those deadlines always is, are we going to survive till the end of those deadlines? Until the end of those 50 days, will our families be OK before that time, our loved ones not be killed by Russian missiles and drones that Putin constantly is launching?

So, it's very personal and very practical thing. Am I going to be around at the end of the 50 days? And you know the answer is, we don't know. Putin is obviously allowed to finish his summer campaign. He has not shown any single fact, Rosemary, that he wants to end the war, and he may end the war. There was nothing that confirmed this illusion that Russia wants to end the war, but just for some reason, cannot.

So, though we are, of course, very happy that the military support for Ukraine will continue. We are very concerned about why these 50 days deadlines need to be put in, and what one hopes that's going to happen during the 50 days.

CHURCH: And President Trump, as you just alluded to, also announced his new plan to rearm your country with more American weapons, including Patriot missile systems, by selling them to NATO nations, who would then give those weapons to Ukraine. What's your response to that plan, and what impact will it have on your country's war effort do you think?

RUDIK: It is critical, and it's of course, positive that the United States has agreed that Ukraine can and will receive Patriot missile systems, because this is one of the things that will again allow us to survive. The question is, who and when will pay for them, and how long would it take to go through all these parts of the process, and when the weapons would arrive to Ukraine?

What we are hopeful is that at some point, both U.S. officials and European officials will realize that to pay for the weapons, they need the funds that they may not have or it may not be comfortable to take them from some of the programs and will go ahead with confiscating Russian assets and use them for the sake of Ukraine in the way of purchasing the weapons to help us to sustain against Russia's aggression, that will be a fair, just movement.

And I want to tell you, Rosemary, that it is $300 billion that are being stored in European deposit funds of Russian money that are being frozen, but not has been confiscated. We hope that this decision is pushing everyone towards the final confiscation of the money so there will be enough resources to pay for the U.S. weapons.

CHURCH: How likely is it that that would happen do you think?

RUDIK: That's a process. You know, at the day one, everybody laughed at us when we were proposing to confiscate Russian assets. Right now, 3.5 years after we know that they have been frozen, Ukraine is receiving some proceeds of those assets, and there has been many decisions made towards the finalization of the confiscation.

It may not happen right now, but I truly believe that at some point it will be just inevitable.

CHURCH: And I did want to ask you this, why do you think President Trump gave Putin 50 days, rather than two weeks for this ultimatum?

[02:10:04]

RUDIK: It's very simple. It's end of summer, and Putin was very vocal that he is launching a massive summer campaign. Perhaps President Trump may think that while there is still this impulse at the front line, it will be harder to get put into the table of negotiation.

But again, here in Ukraine, we do not believe that Putin is coming to the table of negotiation, because he didn't show like any even like a small sign aside of making a really public slap of disrespect to president of the United States after on July 4th, he has attacked Kyiv with the most massive and drastic attack since the beginning of full scale invasion, right after this call with the White House happened. Other than that, he was not showing anything, anything that can be taken as a sign that the war is going to be over anytime soon.

CHURCH: Kira Rudik in Kyiv, many thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

RUDIK: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And I spoke earlier with retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, and I asked him about the implications of President Trump's 50 day deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So, the two months that this gives Putin time to not only consolidate his forces, but to also potentially bring in more North Korean reinforcements and other reinforcements from domestic recruiting efforts that he's -- that he's conducted.

So, this gives Putin a lot of time, and it basically gives him enough time to actually conduct his summer offensive. If he does that, and he's successful, that could change the equation on the battlefield, which means that also changes the equation for potential cease fire or peace talks, which is, of course, what President Trump has said is the end goal of all of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And you can see my full conversation with Colonel Cedric Leighton next hour right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

Still to come, CNN speaks with the father of a Palestinian American man who was killed in clashes in the West Bank. We'll show you what they witnessed firsthand.

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[02:16:40]

CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump is expressing some optimism over his administration's efforts to broker a cease fire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

During an Oval Office meeting with the NATO Secretary General, Trump said he believes there could be something to talk about, "Fairly soon." Negotiations on a cease fire deal have faltered in Qatar, though they do continue, so too have Israeli strikes in Gaza. Palestinians gathered Monday at NASA hospital to mourn loved ones killed in Khan Yunis. Gaza's Health authorities say children were among the dead. The family of a Palestinian American killed in the West Bank is demanding justice. 20-year-old Saif Musallet was born and raised in Florida. Witnesses report he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond spoke with Saif's father, who's demanding the U.S. investigate his son's death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the back of an ambulance, Saif Musallet's aunt says one final goodbye. She is far from alone. Hundreds in this West Bank town have come to honor the American son who is deeply rooted in his Palestinian community. Saif was killed on Friday, just two weeks before his 21st birthday, beaten to death by Israeli settlers, according to his family.

Those settlers also shot and killed another Palestinian man in the same attack, according to eyewitnesses. It is a senseless yet all too common outcome in the West Bank.

DIAMOND: Today it is an American citizen being put to rest here, but over the course of the last 20 months of this war, nearly a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. But today, Saif Musallet's family is demanding an American investigation into his death.

KAMEL MUSALLET, SON KILLED BY ISRAELI SETTLERS: We want justice.

DIAMOND (voice-over): His father, Kamel, was home in Florida, where he runs an ice cream shop with his son, when he got the call that Saif had been attacked by settlers.

MUSALLET: You never think that it's your son or anything, that -- that -- who this is happening to. And then I got word that it was my son. He was hit, he was beaten, he lost conscience, but nobody could get to him. Ambulance couldn't come in. Why? Because the IDF restricted that. The IDF blocked that.

DIAMOND: So you hold the Israeli military responsible?

MUSALLET: I hold the Israeli military just as responsible as the settlers and the American government for not doing anything about this. DIAMOND (voice-over): The State Department said it is aware of Saif's death, but declined to comment further on calls for an investigation. Israeli authorities say they are investigating, but have not made any arrests.

For two months now, Palestinians here say Israeli settlers have been encroaching on their land and terrorizing Palestinians who try and access it.

[02:20:00]

This was the scene on Friday, as Saif and other Palestinians trying to reach their farmland. Hafez Abdel Jabbar said he saw settlers chase after a man he would later learn was safe. HAFEZ ABDEL JABBAR, SON KILLED IN 2024: They ran up the hill, they caught Muslims, they started beating them with sticks.

DIAMOND (voice-over): By the time he reached Saif's body, he was already dead. As we head to the location where Saif's body was retrieved, a white vehicle suddenly appears behind us.

DIAMOND: We have a group of settlers who are now following us in their vehicle. They put their masks on as well, which is a concerning indication.

DIAMOND (voice-over): At an intersection, the settlers get out and try to pelt our vehicle. We manage to approach a nearby Israeli border police vehicle, and the settlers turn around. But minutes after the border police head out to search for the settlers, we are ambushed.

DIAMOND: Everyone OK?

JABBAR: Yes, yes.

DIAMOND: Go, go, go. Drive, drive, keep driving.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The masked men smash the rear windshield of our car, but we manage to speed off unharmed.

JABBAR: No, no, no, they went down.

DIAMOND: They turned. They turned. They turned.

JABBAR: They turned. They turned.

DIAMOND (voice-over): It is just a small window into the reality here.

JABBAR: But what if it would took us five more seconds, we all would've been beating with these --

DIAMOND: You think they would've been beaten us.

JABBAR: Yes, sir.

DIAMOND: Your son was also killed. JABBAR: In January 2024 by a settler. Simply just being there barbequing.

DIAMOND: What does that feel like, to -- to have to constantly try and tell the world what's happening?

JABBAR: You scream into the whole world. And the whole world is watching. Simply silent. Seen all these mothers put their son that they work so hard to raise them up for 20 years, and you pick them up and you put them in the ground, under the sky, and the silence goes on and on and on.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Sinjil, the occupied West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Still to come, a high level meeting between Russia's top diplomat and the Chinese president, with both countries facing the threat of massive U.S. tariffs. We'll have a live report on that.

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[02:26:55]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Russia's Foreign Minister has been meeting with the Chinese president in Beijing. According to Russian state media, they've been discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to China. Both countries are facing the possibility of staggering U.S. tariffs in the coming weeks, and so are secondary buyers of Russian oil.

CNN's Simone McCarthy is covering this and joins us live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Simone.

So, what's been the response there to President Trump's threat to impose 100 percent tariffs on Russia if it fails to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days, given China accounts for the largest purchase of Russia's crude oil exports?

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR NEW DESK REPORTER, CHINA: Well, we've yet to see an official response from Beijing on this, but they have repeatedly said that they oppose unilateral sanctions, so we're definitely expecting to see them roll out similar language in the hours ahead.

That said, we have seen a very powerful message, as you just pointed, out of the deep and enduring relationship between China and Russia. Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcoming Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the two discussed the upcoming trip of Vladimir Putin to China. That trip is expected to be for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organizations leaders, and it will also be accompanied by a military parade in Beijing that will be celebrating the end of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

And so, this is very much a message of the unity between these two countries, Xi Jinping sees Vladimir Putin as a very important partner.

But as you rightly point out, this is all very much happening within the shadow of Donald Trump's threat on secondary sanctions on these countries that are purchasing Russian oil. And China has purchased record numbers of Russian crude in 2023, another record in 2024 and. We really see that as you know, it's widely seen as an example of China's economic support for its close strategic partner.

But that said, Chinese state owned enterprises have been very cautious. They're not looking to trip up these sanctions.

And so, I think we can expect that Beijing, if these this threat does indeed come to pass, that Beijing is going to try and navigate this very carefully. And so, certainly, Chinese leaders will be discussing this behind closed doors. And I think that this, again, will be something that is probably discussed behind closed doors in those conversations, and that ongoing diplomacy at a high level between Russia and China.

CHURCH: And Simone is China and its allies likely to endorse a coordinated stance on resisting sanctions or strengthening energy partnerships?

MCCARTHY: Well, I think that very much remains to be seen, Rosemary. They certainly will have a symbolic stance.

I mean, right now, foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are meeting in Tianjin, and that doesn't just include China. That also includes India, and they're another major purchaser of Russian crude oil.

And so, these countries have typically said that they're opposed to these unilateral sanctions. I think we should again expect to see that kind of language. But they've typically been more focused on green energy partnerships, renewable energy, this kind of thing.

[02:30:00]

So, how strident they will be versus, you know, looking out within their bilateral relationships for how they navigate this? I think that is something that we are going to be closely watching, not just in the hours, but also in the weeks to come.

CHURCH: Simone McCarthy in Hong Kong. Many thanks for that report, appreciate it. Well, the next race for tech supremacy between the U.S. and China may lie in robotics. Just ahead, CNN gets rare access inside a Chinese robotics lab where machines are being built to mimic mankind. We'll take a look.

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[02:35:13]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. China has reported slightly better- than-expected economic growth despite its ongoing trade war with the U.S. The second quarter GDP coming in at 5.2 percent. That is slightly down from the 5.4 percent expansion in the first three months of the year. But diversification efforts to non-U.S. markets gave China's exports a boost. Beijing has less than a month to secure a permanent trade deal with the U.S. or face new tariffs.

Tech leaders like Elon Musk now see A.I.-powered robotics as the next frontier to conquer, and companies in China are racing to get there first. CNN was given rare access to the lab of a Chinese robotics firm where Marc Stewart has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where robots come to light. They mimic mankind, yet depend on these Chinese engineers to function. We were given rare access to this lab by tech startup Booster Robotics on the outskirts of Beijing. We saw how robots can be built to play soccer.

STEWART: Look what happens when we try to make a goal. See, it sticks its leg out, very much like a real-life goalie would.

STEWART (voice-over): The robots can also play on their own powered by A.I., as they did in a recent tournament live streamed across China. The technology is still a work in progress. The robots often lose balance and fall, scooped away on stretchers.

STEWART: They look very much human-like in their movement.

CHENG HAO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BOOSTER ROBOTICS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a new technology about imitation learning

STEWART (voice-over): Technology the CEO thinks can be used in everything from food delivery to factories, even help kids learn new languages.

STEWART: This whole robotic push comes at a time when the Chinese government is making technology, including A.I., a national priority. Already China's a proven innovator, as we've seen with E.V.s. Now, it's looking to dominate the field of A.I.-enabled robots, and the gap with the U.S. is widening according to Morgan Stanley research.

What does this symbolize beyond the soccer field?

ALEX CAPRI, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE BUSINESS SCHOOL (via telephone): China is really pushing the envelope in all things leading-edge technology, and there are so many practical and also strategic applications of A.I. and robotics combined.

STEWART (voice-over): Here in China, we've seen robotics at work during our tours of factories, and the Chinese military has shown off a robotic dog with an automatic rifle mounted on its back. The U.S. Air Force is utilizing similar technology. On the turf, the focus is on innovation and attention.

HAO: We need to push the technology development, so we will need a real scenario to task our technology.

STEWART (voice-over): Scrimmages on the soccer field that may help China to score further as a global tech leader.

Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Beyonce has just wrapped up her Cowboy Carter Tour dates here in Atlanta. But while she was in the city, someone stole hard drives containing unreleased music and other items from a car rented by her choreographer. That is according to Atlanta Police who responded a week ago to the call about a vehicle theft. Two laptops, the hard drives, and several luxury items were reported stolen. Police have issued an arrest warrant for an unnamed suspect. And finally, it's known as the world's coolest marathon and it's easy to see why. The Summer edition of the North Pole Marathon took place on Sunday with runners competing in sub-zero conditions, traversing snow and ice. Britain's Oleg Polyntsev took first place in the men's race, finishing in 03:43:23.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLEG POLYNTSEV, MEN'S MARATHON WINNER: Well, it was not easy, but it was a fun round actually. Yeah, I enjoyed it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And American Becca Pizzi broke the women's event record, crossing the finish line in 04:46:26.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECCA PIZZI, WOMEN'S MARATHON WINNER: By far the hardest race I've ever done, but I just put my head down and took one mile at a time and just -- and just tried to stay focused in the zone and get it done. And we're -- here we are in an Arctic ocean. It's just so beautiful. I'm so lucky to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well done. 91 runners from 22 countries took part in that marathon.

[02:40:00]

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosewood Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

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[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)