Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

"Massive" Russian Attack On Kharkiv; Trump Not Looking To Give Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine; U.N. Demands Investigation Into Killings Near Gaza Aid Sites; Israeli Military Strikes Southern Syria; Uncertainty Over Trump's Student Visa Policies; Sole Survivor Of 2018 Plane Crash Speaks To CNN; Investors Commit $90B To Create A.I. Hub In Pennsylvania. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired July 16, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: One thing we can all get behind, Krypto and a better tomorrow for all rescue dogs, like my Hershey. Thank you so much for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" is next.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers that are joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval all live in New York.

And ahead the next hour of CNN Newsroom. The U.S. pledges weapons to Ukraine, but nothing that could reach as far as Moscow, as President Trump stands firm that is 50-day ultimatum to Russia is, as he put it, not too long. Plus sole survivor. CNN speaks to the only woman to make it out alive of a 2018 plane crash in Havana the details of her long road to recovery. And making America artificially intelligent with $90 billion of investments and a lot more electricity.

Ukraine's northeastern city of Kyiv came under a massive attack by the Russians overnight. A regional military chief says that they detected at least 17 explosions occurring in a span of just 20 minutes. We know at least two people were injured as a result of these attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirming on Tuesday that the new Patriot defense missiles are on the way to Ukraine as we speak. He says he is not looking to give Kyiv longer-range missiles that could strike targets steeper into Russia. And he says Ukraine should not target Moscow. And this according to a source, President Trump reportedly asked President Zelenskyy about Ukraine's ability to hit cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. A question first reported by The Financial Times. More on that in just a moment.

President Trump is also defending his decision to give Russia another 50 days to make peace with Ukraine or face 100 percent tariffs along with secondary sanctions on Russia's trading partners. Currently, the U.S. is doing virtually no trading with Russia. So, any new tariffs would not have much of a practical effect. Russia's foreign minister essentially brushing off the economic threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: 50 days, it used to be 24 hours, it used to be 100 days. We've been through all of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Let's get now more from CNN's Kristen Holmes who's at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump on Tuesday appeared to rule out sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, despite recent conversations with Ukrainian in which he asked what they were capable of doing, including if they were capable of striking Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Now, in those conversations, CNN is told that the Ukrainians were stunned, and that Zelenskyy at that point had said that they would be able to do that if they had the right weaponry. Of course, right now, it seems as though President Trump is not looking at that in terms of sending them offensive missiles.

Now, when speaking to reporters, President Trump also defended his 50- day time period to get Russia to the table. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't think it's a long time. Oh, a lot of opinions change very rapidly. It might not be 50 days. It might be much sooner than 50 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And of course, just a reminder, that announcement came on Monday as President Trump said that he was going to issue these a hundred percent secondary tariffs on countries that did business with Russia in 50 days if Vladimir Putin did not in fact come to the table.

Now, President Trump said he had not spoken to the Russian president since he made that announcement. And he also said that when he speaks to Putin on the phone, when he has conversations with him, that the Russian president indicates that he wants peace, but that President Trump has come to believe that it's all just talk. Now, this is all part of what we have seen in the last several weeks, which is a growing frustration both publicly and privately when it comes to his relationship with Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.

One of the things that he said that he would be able to end upon getting into office almost immediately, that has been proven harder for him to be able to do and something that has made him angry, particularly when it comes to the Russian president.

So, what happens next of course is the big question. But as we know, those Patriot missile systems are already going to Ukraine from Germany. The United States has got to start ramping up their production of that to send them back to that country as a backfill, as all part of this new weapons deal that President Trump also announced on Monday. Kristen Holmes, CNN, The White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right. From the White House. Let's now bring in Mick Ryan, who's a retired major general in the Australian Army, and a senior fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institutes. He's also the author of the book, "The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire." The general joining us at this hour from Brisbane, Australia. Thank you so much for making time for us.

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), SENIOR FELLOW FOR MILITARY STUDIES, LOWY INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN ARMY AND AUTHOR, "THE WAR FOR UKRAINE": Thank you.

[00:05:00]

SANDOVAL: So, these new weapons that we just heard Kristen talk about, General, that are coming from the U.S., headed to Ukraine -- or at least destined for Ukraine, I should say, how can they potentially impact the war and what do you think will be the likely targets for the Ukrainians?

RYAN: Well, the big important weapons are the Patriot interceptors. The most compelling problem the Ukrainians have is intercepting Russian ballistic and cruise missiles with big warheads that do a lot of damage, and they're harder to shoot down than Shahed drones. So, that will have an impact.

Now, getting them there as soon as possible is important because you're always running short of those kind of interceptors in this kind of situations.

SANDOVAL: Now, in terms of the importance of these Patriot air defense missiles, I mean, how vital are they for Ukraine? You mentioned some of these weapons are harder to -- for some of the counterstrikes, but when you specifically talk about these Patriot air defense missiles, just can you expand a little bit more on the importance there?

RYAN: Yes, sure. I mean, there's very few weapons that can intercept these very destructive Russian weapons. The Europeans have a system called IRIS-T, but it's not made in the same quantity. I'm not sure it is the same quality of Patriot. So, really, Patriot is in a class of its own.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of demands for Patriot systems, not just from Ukraine, but in the Middle East as well as in the Pacific where countries are worried about Russia's very large and expanding -- sorry, China's large and very quickly expanding long-range missile threat as well.

SANDOVAL: And, General, I'm sure you heard the reports before we got to you of yet another launch of attacks from the Russians on the Ukrainians. So, it's a reminder that almost every day seems to bring yet another strike. So, keep in mind -- keeping in mind this 50-day ultimatum that's been set by the White House, how much more damage can Russia inflict on Ukraine remembering what just happened overnight?

RYAN: Well, they can do a lot more damage, unfortunately, and worse still, that can kill a lot more Ukrainians. The Russians have really accelerated their attacks on Ukraine with drones and missiles over the last four months. We've seen these 700, 500-drone raids.

In some respects, Putin is doing it because he is not getting success on the ground in Eastern Ukraine that he expected, but he may have miscalculated because it's this step up in aerial attacks, which has led Trump to confront Putin and send this additional assistance, not something we expected even a couple of weeks ago.

SANDOVAL: And in light of this ultimatum that was issued by Donald Trump, how do you think Russians are likely going to react to this threat coming from President Trump directed at the Kremlin? You know, we all know that Russian State Media previously has really portrayed the president as, in essence, somebody that might be friendly with Russia. But then, now, you hear this new threat being issued. So, I'm curious what you think will be the general response among Russians.

RYAN: Well, I don't think the Russian government or Putin sees anyone as their friends, even though state media might have portrayed Trump as such. And they have been dealing with Trump now for several months. They've seen him be negative towards him and backtrack. So, at the moment they seem to be acting as if talk is cheap and they'll wait for the action to follow.

SANDOVAL: Retired General Mick Ryan, thank you so much for your expertise.

RYAN: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Onto another conflict now, the U.N. says that there must be accountability for the mass shootings of Palestinians that were seeking aid in Gaza, demanding investigations into each and every one of those killings. Now, this comes as a new video has emerged of machine gun fire near an aid site over the weekend. Our Paula Hancocks has more. But first, a warning that some of the images that are part of the report are disturbing to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New social media footage has emerged showing machine gunfire near an aid distribution site in Southern Gaza. Now, this refers to an incident that happened on Saturday where the Palestinian Ministry of Health says at least 30 people were killed while waiting for aid. Videos from the nearby Nasser Medical Complex also show rows of bodies covered in white shrouds.

Now, this social media video shows Palestinians crawling for safety. As you can see, bursts of gunfire hitting the ground just meters away. The source of the gunfire is not seen. But multiple eyewitnesses have said that it was the Israeli military that was firing upon those who were waiting for food.

[00:10:00]

Now, we have asked the Israeli military, they have said that details of this video are under review. They did say on Saturday though that the Israeli gunfire did not result in any deaths or injuries. Now, this particular site is about half a mile, some 800 meters away from one of the distribution sites of the controversial GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It is a U.S.-Israeli-backed initiative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THAMEEN AL-KHEETAN, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE: As of the 13th of July, we have recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food. 674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites.

Now, the data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights, and humanitarian organizations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: The U.N. and humanitarian aid groups are calling for the distribution of aid to once again be funneled through the U.N. run groups on the ground, saying that aid distribution in Gaza has become a death trap.

Paula Hancock's, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And Israel has launched strikes against government forces in Southern Syria. And this as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that his military is protecting the Druze minority in the area. Syria's military entered a stronghold for the Druze community following deadly clashes between Druze forces and Bedouin tribes in the area, which actually sits in what Israel has unilaterally declared a demilitarized zone in southern area.

Now, the weekend clashes killed dozens of people. The Syrian government lost 18 soldiers after intervening in the violence. The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it struck Syrian military vehicles that were moving toward Suwayda. Now, Israel has accused Syria of violating a demilitarization policy of moving military equipment into the city. Syria has rejected Israel's declaration of a demilitarized zone.

Still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, mixed messages from the Trump administration. They have left Chinese students uncertain over a future of higher education in the United States. More on that in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:15:00]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. The French government has unveiled the controversial cost-cutting measures as it tries to reduce its budget deficit, and at the same time increased military spending. The French prime minister said particular dangers burden our world and our defense effort cannot be avoided. His plan involving freezing most public spending and making around $50 billion in cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS BAYROU, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The state will put in place as a first rule to not spend, not even a euro more, in 2026 than in 2025, with the exception of the increase in the debt payments and additional spending for the military budget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Prime Minister Francois Bayrou also proposing getting rid of two public holidays, possibly May 8th, which marks the end of World War II in Europe and the Monday after Easter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAYROU (through translator): We have to work more. The whole nation needs to work more to produce for the country's entire activity to become more significant within the year and for France's situation to get better. And so, I propose that two national holidays be removed for the entire country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: A failure to get the French Parliament on board could lead to a no confidence motion.

Well, President Trump, he campaigned on a promise to bring down persistent inflation, but it's only going up, hitting its highest level in June in nearly four months. Consumer prices on all items going up about 0.3 percent, pushing the annual inflation rate up to 2.7 percent. You see there.

The Consumer Price Index showing just how much inflation has been fluctuating over the past year. It also shows food and housing costs up 0.3 and 0.2 percent respectively. How about gas prices? Those went up for the first time in five months by about 1 percent.

Donald Trump's shifting policy on student visas, it has sparked concerns and also plenty of uncertainty among international students, including those from China who have for generations strived to secure an Ivy League education in the United States. In fact, China, it is the second largest country of origin for foreign students in the United States. CNN's Will Ripley reports on why some are now rethinking their future plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An American Ivy League education, the gold standard for generations, especially for students from China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. RIPLEY (voice-over): This viral video, a student getting accepted to Harvard has millions of views on Chinese social media. The book, "Harvard Girl," is still a bestseller. 25 years after publication.

Videos like these teach Chinese students how to prepare for elite American schools. Even Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent his daughter to Harvard. Xi Mingze studied under an alias, shielded by --

TRUMP: We want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked.

[00:20:00]

RIPLEY (voice-over): But the twists and turns of President Donald Trump's student visa policy are making even ordinary Chinese applying for visas feel whiplash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Devastation, you know, like frustration and then uncertainty, anxiety.

RIPLEY (voice-over): First, Trump wanted to aggressively revoke and scrutinize some student visas. Then after the latest trade talks, he posted Chinese students using our colleges and universities has always been good with me.

RIPLEY: Is there an impression that the United States is an unfriendly place, an unsafe place?

ERIC ZHANG, CO-FOUNDER, ONE STEP AHEAD EDUCATION: I think so. I think so. I'm thinking about the immigration issue, thinking about the financial crisis, thinking about the job market. And so, everything looks pretty bad.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Eric Zhang says he's helped place more than a thousand Chinese students in U.S. schools. He says these days many are walking away.

RIPLEY: What are Chinese parents saying to you?

ZHANG: Now, you know, considering a lot of the rhetoric from the current administration and also the worry about the safety, about the uncertainty.

RIPLEY (voice-over): That uncertainty, he says, the biggest factor losing about a third of his clients this year.

ZICHEN WANG, PRINCETON GRADUATE: Many of the Chinese students are quite fearful at the moment.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Recent graduate and former journalist Zichen Wang says the Trump administration is sending mixed messages to China's rising middle class.

WANG: Yes, they benefit greatly from the tremendous American education system, especially its top universities. But at the same time, they also contribute greatly to research. RIPLEY (voice-over): They also contribute financially. Many Chinese parents scrimp and save, easily spending $80,000 a year or more. The rollercoaster in Washington, fueling Beijing's ongoing narrative that America is a declining power that grows increasingly paranoid.

WANG: I think the U.S. is very uncomfortable with the rise of China.

RIPLEY (voice-over): He says a U.S. degree no longer seen by some as a passport to power, prestige, and prosperity, chipping away at the value of a U.S. education and perhaps America's global influence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And joining me live from Taipei, my colleague Will Ripley. Will, I mean a great story here. Ultimately, the risks for various sectors here when students -- foreign students, as you put it, walk away or forced to walk away. What are some of those risks, especially for sectors like tech, science, medical, et cetera?

RIPLEY (on camera): Yes, it's a great point, Polo. I mean, put aside the 12 billion or so dollars that Chinese students contribute every year in tuition and living expenses. Up until last year, China was the number one country for foreign students. India has now taken that top spot. But it's a huge amount of money. Obviously, that helps fuel. Innovation in tech, A.I., which is crucial right now, the U.S. and China just months apart in that race, and also medicine.

Many of the best graduates are getting job offers in the United States. So, they're staying and they're boosting the U.S. economy further and they're working in the United States on behalf of U.S. interests. So, you have the soft power, you have the global influence, you also have the real-life minute by minute tech developments. And again, U.S. and China, neck and neck. So, if students are going elsewhere, they're not going to be contributing all those things to the U.S.

Yes, some Chinese do return and perhaps strengthen China's tech and military with what they learned in the United States, but experts say despite the rare cases of IP theft and espionage, that sort of thing, overall, the benefits for the U.S. having these international students outweighs any drawbacks.

And so, certainly, if there's this chilling effect and they're just no longer applying, that's a net loss for the U.S. at this ultra- competitive time, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yes, the impact of hearing that expert saying that many of these students believe that the U.S. and their families believe that the U.S. is, as he put it, an unfriendly place. That's certainly a concern. Will Ripley in Taipei, appreciate your reporting.

Well, amid a devastating tragedy, a story of survival, still ahead here on CNN. We speak to the only person to survive a 2018 plane crash in Cuba as she continues her recovery from the crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:25:00]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. Let's take a look at some of today's top stories.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirms that new Patriot missile defense systems, they are on their way to Ukraine. This is part of a new U.S. deal to boost weapon supplies to Kyiv and this through European allies. President Trump says that he is not looking to give the Ukrainians longer-range missiles that could strike targets deeper in Russia.

And President Trump announcing an investment of more than $90 billion from private companies towards A.I. infrastructure in the U.S. on Tuesday. The funds will help turn Pennsylvania into a hub for A.I. innovation, according to officials, but will also go towards addressing energy needs required to power A.I. applications.

And the U.S. National Weather Service, it has issued more than 3,000 flash flood warnings so far just this year alone. That is the highest ever number since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1986. Monday saw nearly 100 warnings, the most ever issued in a single day in July as torrential rains flooded parts of the Northeastern United States.

[00:30:00]

Well, last month a man miraculously walked away from a plane crash in India that killed 260 people. Sole survivors of plane crashes, they're not rare. But not on -- or they may be rare I should say, but they're not unheard of. In fact, in 2018, a woman in Cuba was also the only person to survive a plane crash. CNN's Patrick Oppmann talks to her about a recovery and the process that's still ongoing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This 2018 plane crash was one of the worst aviation disasters in Cuba's history. 112 people died when immediately after takeoff, Cubana Flight 972 careened into the ground and exploded. A catastrophic unsurvivable event, except for one person.

More than seven years after the accident that took the lives of everyone else on board, Mailen Diaz Almaguer recovers day by day.

I don't remember anything from the plane that day, she says. I do remember details from the airport, but at the impact, nothing.

When Mailen came to, she was in hospital, her husband had perished in the crash. She suffered paralysis in both legs. And soon, doctors would need to amputate her lower left leg.

I was treated and I'm treated by brilliant doctors, she says, but they definitely admit that I'm alive by a miracle from God. It's not something you see every day. Video from the day of the crash shows an aircraft fragmented into smoldering pieces. It's difficult to comprehend how anyone could have survived.

OPPMANN: The plane crashed into this field a short distance from the airport. An investigation later revealed that human error was to blame, that the crew had not correctly calculated the weight of the fuel, of the passengers, and their luggage. And then, Cuban investigators said, seconds after takeoff, the pilots lost control of the aircraft. Initially, three survivors were taken to the hospital, but two later died leaving only Mailen.

OPPMANN (voice-over): And that's when her ordeal truly began. Mailen has undergone multiple operations to recover from her extensive injuries. And every day, does hours of physical therapy. She hopes to travel outside of Cuba to do further treatments.

She credits her faith with saving her life and is studying to be a seminarian in the Methodist Church in Cuba. The plane crash in India in June that also left one sole survivor, she says, impacted her deeply. This is her message to her fellow survivor from that crash.

God has a purpose for our lives, and by being here, we have to continue, she says, and not quit. Continue search and fight until we discover what that purpose is.

Despite her injuries and disability, Mailen has learned to drive, has traveled again by plane, and is living proof of not just what people can endure but overcome.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: A remarkable story of survival. And we're going to be right back with much more news after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:35:00]

SANDOVAL: Tech and energy companies, they've committed more than $90 billion to create an A.I. hub, and it's supposed to go in Pennsylvania. President Trump making the announcement on Tuesday as part of a push for the U.S. to be the, as he wanted -- as he wants it, the number one superpower in artificial intelligence. CNN's Clare Duffy with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, even leading up to this event, President Trump has made it a key priority to increase U.S. investment in A.I. infrastructure, especially data centers. This is really seen as a national security priority for the U.S. to remain a global tech leader in this A.I. era. The challenge is you can't necessarily keep growing, building new data centers without building new energy resources to power them. These are essentially warehouses full of stacks of computers, they require significant electricity.

President Trump actually saying at this Tuesday event that he believes the United States needs to at least double its electricity output to keep pace with A.I. advancement. So, we're getting a sense now of the way that the tech community, the investment community, the energy community, are all coalescing around this goal with the White House announcing more than $90 billion of investment in Pennsylvania by more than 20 companies.

Some really big names on this list in Anthropic. Blackstone, Brookfield, Constellation Energy, Google, and Meta. They will be investing in new data centers, new power facilities, including natural gas, nuclear, and hydropower, and also in training for A.I. workers, data center workers, power facility workers.

The White House says this is going to create thousands of new jobs in Pennsylvania. But I will say in some cases, the timeline of these investments isn't necessarily clear. For example, a data center doesn't get stood up overnight, but certainly, I think key progress for Trump on a really crucial priority.

Claire Duffy, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And it is time to celebrate the best of the best when it comes to TV. You see the Emmy Nominations, they were announced on Tuesday. "Severance," "The White Lotus," and "The Pitt," they are among the strong contenders in this year's best drama category. Best comedy nominees, they include past winners like "Hacks," and "The Bear." Though you should watch out for newcomer, "The Studio," which has proven to become a Hollywood darling.

[00:40:00]

And also, the best limited series category, the viral hit, "Adolescence," that scored a nomination, as did "The Penguin," which is a series about the Batman villain and a personal favorite of mine. "The Pitt, "White Lotus," Hacks" and "The Penguin," all of them shown on HBO, which is parents of CNN -- or at least is part of CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery.

Thank you for joining us in the last 45 minutes or so. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I will be right back here with more news at the top of the hour. For now, though, we leave you with World Sport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)