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White House Announces Sweeping New Tariffs for Much Of The World; Witkoff And Huckabee Head To Gaza As Trump Comes Up With A Plan For Aid; Amusement Park Ride Snaps In Two, Injuring 23 In Saudi Arabia; Dozens Taken To Hospitals After Severe Turbulence On Delta Flight. Trump Reveals New Tariffs Ahead of Originial August 1 Deadline; Mom Picking up the Pieces after Losing son in Russian Strike; Small Businesses Claim They're Owed Millions by Tesla. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 01, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Welcome to the CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And here's what's coming your way. The U.S. President rolling out new tariffs. Dozens of countries set to face steep rates while others may be relieved.
Plus, for the first time in months, U.S. officials are heading into Gaza. Will it change anything for the Palestinians who are starving or for the hostages who are being held in the enclave?
And small businesses they thought working with Tesla was their big break, but instead some saying that it led to financial chaos. CNN investigates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York. This is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.
SANDOVAL: And wherever in the world you may be streaming or watching us from. Welcome to the program. After months of warnings and walk backs, the White House has slapped stinging new tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners, many of them allies. Thursday's big reveal marking a major step in the U.S. President Trump's plans to reshape the global economy.
August 1st was originally the self-imposed deadline for countries to make a deal or face punishing new import taxes. The Trump administration has now pushed that back six days because it says U.S. Customs and Border Protection requires more time to process all the changes.
Well, despite insisting earlier that there would be no grace periods or extensions, this is what we're seeing come August 7th countries with trade surpluses we're going to be facing a universal 10 percent tariff rate. And about 40 countries with which the U.S. has a trade deficit will pay 15 percent. On Thursday, President Trump hit Canada with a new third party 35 percent duty on some goods while keeping Mexico's tariffs stabilized at 25 percent for at least the next 90 days. The White House explained what's behind this decision.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will continue to talk to Mexico over the next 90 days with the goal of signing a larger trade deal. The key to this again is Mexico has agreed to terminate those non-tariff barriers and to continue to work with us in good faith.
Mexico is a very unique situation of all the other countries around the world because of course, we share our southern border with Mexico, which we've seen an increase in cooperation between Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum and our administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: I mean, while China, it is one of the few countries that is not immediately impacted by these latest announcements. CNN's Marc Stewart joining us live from Beijing with more as we break down this new announcement for the White House. Marc, is it too early to gauge the extent of the impact around the world from these tariffs?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know Polo, I think that people are starting to think twice, whether it be on a consumer level or on a corporate level, because no one really has been spared from these tariffs. We have known allies like Canada facing hefty tariffs, yet adversarial relationships like China, where I am now in the midst of discussions with the United States.
We are getting a lot of different global reaction to share just now from New Zealand calling these tariffs, these 15 percent tariffs in new Zealand, a surprise unwarranted. Also Australia hailing the 10 percent tariffs but saying it will push for zero. As far as markets here in Asia, they're not necessarily happy with what they're seeing.
We've been seeing declines across the board, including in South Korea, which entered into a, an agreement yesterday with the United states, tariffs of 15 percent across the board, but also agreeing to help the United States with development, billions of dollars of development and things like shipyards as the U.S. tries to build more at home, as you will.
So this is the new reality. We may face it when we go shopping. Companies may face it when they have to make important decisions about investment. Listen to what one analyst said just last hour right here on CNN.
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CAROLINE FREAUND, DEAN, U.C. SAN DIEGO SCHOOL OF GLOBAL POLICY AND STRATEGY: My biggest fear actually is the investment that's not happening because companies don't know how much their inputs are going to cost. Companies don't know how much it's going to cost to sell things in the U.S. or elsewhere.
So there's just kind of a lot of sitting on their hands, which is going to slow down growth around the world.
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[01:05:09]
STEWART: There is some hesitation clearly around the world. We're seeing it here in Asia. If we look at the premarket action in the United States, we're also seeing declines. That includes the S and P 500. That's important because so many stocks that we have in our investment portfolios like Apple, make part of our retirement accounts. Those are dictated by the S and P 500 index. So there is some trepidation.
Polo, also of note, this idea of trans shipments where people or countries, I should say send one item from a high tariff nation to a lower tariff nation and then to the United States, those products are also going to be subject to higher tariffs of around 40 percent. So a lot to digest here.
SANDOVAL: Lots to digest and a lot of reaction already some of those markets. We'll see what happens in New York in just a matter of hours. Marc, thank you so much for your reporting.
We have special envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. They will be visiting Gaza in the coming hours to get a firsthand look at the distribution sites. Witkoff met on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Hostage and cease fire talks they have stalled with the U.S. and Israel blaming Hamas for negotiating in bad faith. Hamas says that it's committed to peace talks and also will be rejoining the process once the humanitarian crisis in Gaza ends.
Well, the U.N. aid chief says that bureaucratic hurdles are keeping food and other supplies from actually getting to the people who need them the most. Israeli authorities allowed a crew from CNN Portugal into southern Gaza on Thursday and here's what they saw.
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HENRY GALSKY, CNN PORTUGAL CORRESPONDENT: Place where Israel keeps the food waiting for U.N. collection. According to Israel, the capacity of this place and the amount of food that there is here right now, it's equivalent to 800 trucks waiting for the UN. When we asked about the complaints about U.N. that says that Israel doesn't facilitate and they complain about the barracks imposed by the UN.
The official said simply that the U.N. is starting to collect more. So this is a proof according to Israel that when U.N. wants, U.N. does it. So that's the position of Israel in order to reply to U.N. complaints.
(END VIDEO LCIP) SANDOVAL: Our colleagues from CNN Portugal with that reporting. Let's go now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond for more.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. special Envoy Steve Witkoff was dispatched to Israel by President Trump to address the dire humanitarian crisis now unfolding in the Gaza Strip, a crisis very much born out of Israeli policies, Israeli restrictions on aid distribution in Gaza over the last several months.
Witkoff had what the White House described as a, quote, very productive meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to talk about improving aid distribution in Gaza. And we expect that Steve Witkoff will indeed travel into Gaza with Israeli officials to see one of those Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, examine these aid distribution efforts firsthand.
And he is also, according to the White House, expected to speak with Palestinians on the ground. It's not clear who those will be, but they were described as local Gazans by the White House.
Also, no indication as of yet that Witkoff plans to meet with U.N. officials who are also ramping up aid distribution in Gaza. It seems very much like the United States is favoring this distribution model of the American run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is hugely controversial, in particular because hundreds of Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli forces as they have made their way to these distribution sites, according to eyewitnesses and the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
This week we have seen an uptick in the number of aid trucks that are getting distributed in Gaza, about 200 trucks every single day over the course of the last three days. But that is still well short of the five to 600 trucks of aid per day that U.N. officials say are needed to even begin to alleviate the starvation crisis that is now also being described as a famine inside the Gaza Strip.
And I want to show you a video that kind of underlines some of the challenges of aid distribution in Gaza. This video is filmed by the UN's Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator. And you can see this huge crowd of Palestinians that gathered after this U.N. convoy was held up at an Israeli checkpoint for two and a half hours. And then this happens.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kids. It's children. Children stay there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this. Don't do this.
DIAMOND: Now the U.N. official in that vehicle says those were Israeli warning shots being fired just inches away from those Palestinians who were gathered at that U.N. convoy. The Israeli military, for its part, has denied that. But of course, these instances are continuing because there simply is not enough food in the Gaza Strip right now to address the enormous needs of the population.
What would of course address everything is if there were to be a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But that appears now further than it ever has been. I'm told by two sources familiar with the matter that Hamas has stopped engaging in any discussions regarding ceasefire and hostage release negotiations. This comes a week after Israel and the United States walked away from the Qatari capital, pulled their delegations.
And now amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Hamas spokesman Basem Naim saying that improving humanitarian conditions in Gaza is now a condition for Hamas to get back to the negotiating table. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
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SANDOVAL: All right, let's get some deeper analysis now by going live to Berlin and New York Times chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe, Steven Erlanger. Stephen, it's good to see you.
STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES, EUROPE: Nice to see you too.
SANDOVAL: We'll get to one of your latest pieces of analysis in a moment. But I'm curious, just what's your immediate reaction and what are you hearing from your sources now that Witkoff is on the ground in the region? Are there any renewed expectations that cease fire talks will be fruitful once they resume?
ERLANGER: Well, I think this trip is about aid because President Trump is seen television footage which upsets him. He's heard from allies, he's offended. He has said himself on Monday that there is starvation in Gaza, directly contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists there isn't.
So I think Witkoff has been told by Trump, go and fix this problem. Get these pictures off my television set. I don't want to be blamed. That's what I think this trip is about.
SANDOVAL: And when you -- in reading your latest piece, you write that Israel is increasingly isolated now that we've seen various Arab states join in calling on Hamas to disarm. You also have a growing list of states expressing support for a Palestinian state.
I'm curious what, if anything can actually be achieved if we continue to see more Western nations add themselves to the list?
ERLANGER: Well, there are already 147 countries in the world recognize Palestine as a state. What's interesting is the French now will. The Canadians will in September and the British say they will if there isn't ceasefire, which there may not be. And so what's important is that you have then every member of the U.N. Security Council, permanent member, besides the United States, recognizing Palestine. So that does put diplomatic pressure.
It doesn't affect anything because it's very hard to recognize something that doesn't yet exist. I mean, the biggest problem we have Israelis are dead set against a two-state solution because they say, look what happened on October 7th. We can't allow this to happen. We can't give a state to Palestinians who can't control their own terrorist organizations. And this is a widespread view in Israel and certainly Netanyahu's view.
And frankly among Palestinians, if you look at the polls, many of them have given up on the idea of a functional two-state solution. Also, they don't like their own Palestinian Authority. They want it replaced. And at the moment you see no real effort to do that. Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the PA, has been there unelected for a very, very long time. And his approval rating, put it this way, among his own population, is extremely low.
SANDOVAL: One of the top Israeli officials who expressed disappointment earlier today, putting it lightly to that news that more countries were adding themselves to the list of states who wish to recognize a Palestinian state was Danny Danon. I want you to listen to what he told my colleague Becky Anderson on Thursday and then we can discuss right after.
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DANNY DANON, ISRAEL'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: There is no starvation in Gaza. The only starvation is the starvation campaign in Gaza. When they claim starvation and famine, it's how to prove it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SANDOVAL: So that's the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. essentially echoing the remarks that we heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu a few days ago that there is no starvation in Gaza. How are some of Israel's most important allies likely going to react to hearing that you think?
ERLANGER: Well, they're getting fed up with it, to be honest. That's a bad metaphor. But the fact of the matter is there is deep malnutrition in Gaza that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which you described, is not functioning properly. If Israel wants to get this off the headline, they should just dump aid into Gaza. They should flood aid into Gaza. That would bring prices down and would Hamas at some of the aid, sure, but most of it would go to normal civilians.
And the more aid that goes in, the cheaper the food becomes, the less of a problem it is. And I think, you know, I never understood why the Israelis have been so reluctant. They always say, we don't want Hamas to control the aid distribution. We don't want Hamas to eat.
But it's very difficult to distinguish between Hamas, which has been basically broken apart. It has no real leadership. I mean, it's not fighting in organized units, it's in little bands. Hamas has been dismantled. And so I think Western allies are asking, you know, Israel, what is your plan? And this has been the question from the very beginning, what do you imagine Gaza will be like after the war? Who's going to run it? How will it be fed? How will it be secure? This is something Netanyahu has refused to engage with because his own
government could fall apart if he actually deals with a Palestinian structure that could rule Gaza. So we are in this conundrum. We've been in there for a very, very long time. And in the meantime, people are, if they're not always starving, they are underfed, put it that way.
SANDOVAL: Now, you answered my next question of what a lasting truce could potentially mean for the Israeli leader. Steven Erlanger, thank you so much for all this. We certainly look forward to your continued reporting and analysis on the situation that seems to get worse by the day.
ERLANGER: Thank you, thank you.
SANDOVAL: Federal authorities, they are investigating a Delta flight after extreme turbulence through passengers, crew, really anything that wasn't strapped down into the cabin. Some of the passengers spoke to CNN. You're going to hear from them coming up.
And also a horrifying accident at an amusement park in Saudi Arabia, which leaves 23 people injured. Well, tell you what happened.
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SANDOVAL: Welcome back at least 23 people were injured when a fairground ride in Saudi Arabia snapped in midair. Before we show you the video, a warning that some viewers may find that footage disturbing.
The accident happened on Wednesday evening at an amusement park near the city of Jeddah. The ride soars into the air as you see there on a pendulum. And then you see that moment that the pendulum actually snaps and the two pieces collide.
State media saying that three people were critically injured. The region's governor has ordered that this amusement park be closed while they investigate the incident.
Now to a frightening moment in disguise over the United States where passengers aboard a Delta flight say that they were thrown out of their seats in the most extreme turbulence they've ever experienced. Some of them seasoned flyers.
Delta says all the injured crew members and the passengers willing to share their hospitalization status, they have been discharged from the hospital. Two people who were on the flight spoke to CNN recounting what happened.
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ADAM NASH, PASSENGER ON DELTA FLIGHT: The turbulence was just harrowing. It was just amazing how quickly that could happen and without any warning whatsoever. LEEANN CLEMENT-NASH, PASSENGER ON DELTA FLIGHT: Yes, that was very
frightening for us. There was a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling, but it was very sudden. And if you didn't have your seatbelt on, you were probably hitting the ceiling and falling to the floor more than once, as were the carts.
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SANDOVAL: You just heard from Leeann and Adam Nash, who were actually on that flight. They were among the 25 people who were rushed to the hospital. The extreme turbulence injured his ribs when his laptop slammed into his chest. He also saw other passengers who were hurt and even bleeding.
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NASH: There was a gentleman sitting two seats to the left of me. He had sustained a big gash in the top of his head and he was bleeding rather profusely.
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SANDOVAL: You see here. The flight was actually headed from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam when the turbulence forced pilots on board to make an emergency landing in Minneapolis. More detail. More, more details now from CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The images captured by passengers prove the force of what could be the worst case of turbulence on a U.S. commercial flight in years. Anything not strapped down was tossed to the ceiling of the Airbus A330. About 40 minutes into the 9-hour flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam.
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The unplanned landing in Minneapolis was caught on video with emergency crews waiting at the gate. 25 people, nearly 1 in every 10 on board were taken to hospitals.
WILLIAM WEBSTER, DELTA 56 PESSENGER: I watched a wine cart just get thrown into the air.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): William Webster says the bad turbulence came on quickly and only got worse.
WEBSTER: It was very unnerving. I mean, I'm a frequent flyer. Like I'm on like 80 flights a year. Probably flown over a million miles in my life. Never seen anything like that.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Flightradar24 shows the flight climbed more than 1,000 feet in less than 30 seconds, followed by a rapid descent, causing passengers to scream and phones to go flying. The flight was over Wyoming, where the National Weather Service warned of potential thunderstorms on Wednesday. ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A sigmet, which is an aviation weather advisory, was in effect where we believe the turbulence took place over portions of Wyoming.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): It is just the latest example of passengers being rocked by turbulence in flight. Last year, a British man died after turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight. But fatalities are rare and such incidents often leave flight attendants with broken bones.
In this latest case, one passenger who suffered whiplash said the episode felt like an earthquake.
LESLIE WOODS, DELTA 56 PASSENGER: There was a little girl across the aisle from me that was just terrified. She screamed, we're going to die. We're going to die. So was trying to keep her calm. And I really thought were going to die. It was that scary.
MUNTEAN: The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating this. It says turbulence is the top cause for injuries on board commercial flights. The pilot told passengers that this episode came on without any warning. Seven Delta crew members were injured in this. The airline says they have since been released from the hospital. Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
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SANDOVAL: Well, the U.S. is now praising Mexico for what it describes as very constructive trade talks. When we return here on CNN Newsroom from new details on how Mexico earned a reprieve from higher tariffs.
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SANDOVAL: The White House unveiled its new trade plan on Thursday, this just hours before President Donald Trump's self-imposed deadline. It includes a drastic cut to Pakistan's tariffs from 29 percent to 19 percent. That's the lowest tariff of any South Asian country.
Meanwhile, Canadas Prime Minister Mark Carney just released a statement saying that he is disappointed after the U.S. announced a 35 percent tariff on all Canadian goods. At least those that are not exempt under the free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
President Trump says that he agreed to pause higher tariffs on Mexico for 90 days, keeping them at 25 percent for now.
As CNN's Valeria Leon reports, the decision came after a phone call between the presidents of Mexico and the U.S.
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VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said that mutual respect was key in the negotiations with her U.S. counterpart to gain another 90-day suspension of tariffs on Mexican goods, her government admitted that they couldn't negotiate in their interests.
It was in a 40-minute call between both presidents, according to Trump, a very successful one but negotiations with Donald Trump haven't been easy, to say the least.
Mexico's president revealed that the key's to avoid confrontation with Donald Trump, but her government conceded they were unable to advance the country's interests, given the mostly defensive nature of the talks.
This is what Mexico's president said this morning.
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have the best possible agreement compared to other nations. Investing in Mexico remains the best option. We are in a very good position facing this new international commercial order since President Trump took office.
Our strategy of keeping a cool head, composure, and firmly defending our principles has worked.
LEON: Although Mexico has a unique advantage over other countries, not only because it's the U.S. biggest trade partner, with 84 percent of its exports sent to the U.S., but also because since 1994, both countries have had a trade agreement under which half of the Mexican products exported to the U.S. are free of tariffs already imposed.
Valeria Leon, CNN -- Mexico City.
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SANDOVAL: So let's talk big picture now with CNN's Richard Quest. Richard, you and I spoke several days ago after one of the latest frameworks deals was actually announced?
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SANDOVAL: Now, do you feel that this latest round of tariffs would likely not affect balance of trade.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I think the extraordinary announcement tonight with this very long list of countries, it's difficult to know and to see what makes sense of it all because we have so many layers now.
Now you have those countries that have done deals -- the E.U., Japan, the U.K., the Philippines, South Korea last night. Then you have those countries that are left in the rump, if you will. Everything from Bolivia to Cameroon to India. And then you have the countries like Mexico and Canada. Mexico has just been extended with another 90 days. Meanwhile, Canada has been hit at 35 percent because the president doesn't think that they've been negotiating in good faith.
So when we look at the trade position tonight, it is absolutely, bewilderingly-complicated because also Polo, they were supposed to come in at midnight. They're not -- they've now got another seven days' grace. And there's this other exception that if the goods are on the boats by a certain date and arrive by a certain date, they don't get clobbered either. It's very difficult to work out where we stand.
SANDOVAL: In your reporting you've spoken to finance ministers from around the world, perhaps many of the countries affected. How are they likely to react?
QUEST: I think it depends who you are. Let me just look at this list. If you are Switzerland, which for some reason that I don't quite fully understand, has a 39 percent tariff or South Africa with a 30 percent tariff, you're not very happy. Laos 40 percent -- it exports certain electronics to the United States. India hit with 25 percent. But what comes next?
And look at Syria. Now we all thought Syria was a friendly country, bearing in mind the new regime that's in Damascus seemed to get on well with President Trump. He's lifting sanctions. But they've been clobbered with arguably the highest list of 41 percent. The list makes very little sense.
And also, we really don't know how it will come into play because there will be side deals done. You then have the trans-shipment rules, which adds another 40 percent on top.
This is an unholy mess. The president has -- in the words of one expert, the president has taken a hammer and scrapped the global trading system. But I'm not sure what's in place makes sense, or certainly, logic.
SANDOVAL: A lot of uncertainty for the consumer as well. We've seen inflation tick up slightly, Richard. Should we interpret this as Trump's tariffs beginning to affect prices?
QUEST: Yes. Yes, we should. Remember we've had the advancement, a lot of stuff came in, a lot of goods were imported at great speed early on in the process. They wanted to get them in before the tariffs. So all the numbers have been skewed.
But we are now seeing inflation ticking up, not hugely, because in many of the cases these tariffs are carefully calibrated.
You see, if it's 15 percent then everybody can eat a bit of it. The manufacturer takes 4 or 5 percent. The exporter takes 4 or 5 percent. The importer takes 4 or 5 percent. And you don't pass it on to the consumer.
But if this carries on and other price rises come into play, then of course, eventually I have little doubt the U.S. consumer is paying the bill.
SANDOVAL: Richard, in the last few seconds I have with you, just give us a reality check on Canada's new rate of 35 percent. As I understand it, it does not apply to goods compliant with the USMCA.
Can you give us a sense of what percentage of Canadian goods could actually be affected by this new rate?
QUEST: Well, not -- no, we can't really, because there is also the cars. There's the aluminum. There's a whole range of stuff when it comes to Canada that makes it very difficult at this point.
We will in time be able to quantify. But since we don't know, for instance, the extra tariff that he's planning to put on Canada because they're going to recognize the Palestinian statehood, is that in the 35 percent?
Yes, I could spend the next ten minutes Googling and asking ChatGPT but the uncertainty is so huge.
[01:39:40]
QUEST: And incidentally, by the way, Mark Carney, the prime minister, is now going to find himself in a very difficult position because having almost implied to the Canadian people that he could sort this out, Canada now has one of the worst rates around.
And Mark Carney certainly will face considerable criticism back home over how he's let this run away, if you will.
SANDOVAL: Yes, an incredible amount of uncertainty. One thing's for sure, though, Donald Trump has the headlines that he's wanted.
Richard Quest, thank you so much for your insight as always.
QUEST: Thank you.
SANDOVAL: And when we return a young life cut short by Russia's brutal and ongoing strikes on Ukraine.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very caring, very bright boy --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: The death of a ten-year-old boy leaving his mother's life in tatters. Her story.
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SANDOVAL: U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is going to be heading to Russia in the coming days. That's according to President Trump, who made the announcement on Thursday, just days ahead of his new deadline for Moscow to make peace with Ukraine. If it doesn't, the Kremlin could face new tariffs and also secondary sanctions by late next week.
Meanwhile, more than 2,700 children have either been killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine started. That's according to the U.N.
We now want to go beyond those numbers and show you the face of one of those young victims. His name was ten-year-old Tymur Hryhorenko -- I should say Tymur Hryhorenko. You see, he was killed when a massive bomb hit his grandmother's home just last week.
As Nick Paton Walsh reports, his mom is now suffering through the agony of losing her only child. And a warning that some of the images that you will see in this story are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: When wars kill for years, names bleed into lists without faces, but each loss still burns a black hole in the worlds they left behind.
Tymur was age ten. He was visiting his grandmother in Kramatorsk, he really wanted to see her, when a 250-kilogram Russian bomb hit her top floor home.
It was 4:40 a.m. on July the 22nd, and Tymur slept alone in the spare room. Toys flipped up on the roof.
His mother, Nastia, had left them together that night and was due to take Tymur home to Kyiv the next morning.
ANASTASIYA CHAICHENKO, TYMUR'S MOTHER: He said he wanted to stay. I said no son, we're going, we're definitely going. Then at that very moment, I wasn't at home, unfortunately. I don't know why or how -- what forces took me away from it. But I should have been with him. And I blame myself very much for that.
WALSH: Tymur grew up in war, born in 2015, when Vladimir Putin was also annexing towns while talking peace. His father Yevgeny, playing with him here, was killed fighting the Russians near Limon (ph) 26 months ago.
When Nastia's sister rang at 5:00 a.m., she sensed it meant more loss and at first hung up. Didn't want to take the call.
CHAICHENKO: She said they took mom away. And they're looking for Tymur under the rubble. From that moment on, I felt that I was in a dream.
WALSH: At the scene, rescuers had pulled Tymur out. And here are their desperate efforts to resuscitate him.
CHAICHENKO: It was like a new breath of hope when one of the soldiers came out and said that he had a pulse and they were resuscitating him.
And for those 40 minutes while they were pumping him I prayed to God to give him life. But the miracle didn't happen. And I couldn't go up there. I went straight to my mom in the hospital.
WALSH: Tymur was the only one to die that night and is buried on the edge of Kramatorsk, where the graves are ready for more. And the skyline, often loud.
Nastia remembers their last moment together. CHAICHENKO: You know, it was such a very warm last moment with him. We
went crazy, I showed him how I used to give him massages when he was a baby. We laughed. And that was it.
He loved all the animals very much and kids. At home in Kyiv, he had two pet rats waiting for him. He loved them madly.
[01:49:46]
CHAICHENKO: He constantly called me and asked Mom did you clean their cage? Did you feed them? Do they have water?
Very caring, very bright boy, very --
WALSH: As towns fall and deadlines pass, remember Tymur Hryhorenko, aged ten, who knew only war, whose teacher said he spoke up when girls were picked on, who had two pet rats, and who really wanted to stay with his grandmother on the night a Russian airstrike killed only him as he slept.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN -- Kramatorsk, Ukraine.
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SANDOVAL: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
A CNN investigation has found that Tesla, Elon Musk's most famous company, has a pattern of not paying contractors who did work for them, even after said work was completed.
Musk is the world's richest man, and while he may be known for his ruthless, cost-cutting approach, the companies going into business with him are not expecting to be left unpaid.
CNN's Kyung Lah went to Texas to follow the paper trail.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: How would you characterize what Elon Musk's company did to you?
JENNIFER MEISSNER, FORMER TESLA CONTRACTOR: It was devastating, what they did.
LAH: They is Elon Musk's Tesla, and it had hired Jennifer Meissner's piping and welding company. But she says working for Tesla led to her financial ruin.
And a CNN investigation found dozens of small businesses like Meissner's claim Tesla never paid them for work they did.
LAH: Is someone like you able to fight the world's richest man?
MEISSNER: No. No. I absolutely want to fight him because we were in the right. No small company can litigate against Tesla. You have to take the hit. LAH: So this is where Meissner says all her troubles began, at the Tesla Gigafactory here in Austin.
Independent contractors like Meissner built this sprawling factory.
Meissner says Tesla stopped paying her after she'd already done the work here, owing her $1.6 million.
And she's not the only one. A CNN investigation found 97 other small businesses say Tesla owed them a total of more than $110 million in the last five years. Tesla still owes more than $24.5 million in unpaid bills to some of those businesses for work already done.
We found most of the accusations against Musk's companies here in civil court in Austin, revealed in thousands of pages of documents.
What I am looking at are a number of liens. Now, a lien is an official document that says my company is owed money for work that has been done. Most liens eventually get paid, but that's not always the case for Tesla.
A Houston fuel company claimed it's owed more than $2.6 million, saying Tesla conjures up reasons to not pay. That claim was recently resolved.
Another Texas company says Tesla ignored written notices and refused to make any payments. Tesla countersued.
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LAH: An Austin company says it took out short-term loans when Tesla wouldn't pay it nearly $600,000 for work it had done and filed for bankruptcy. Those companies ultimately settled with Tesla.
$108,000. This one's $344,000. More than $1 million cited here.
MEISSNER: It's a -- it's just a way of doing business at that point. It's not a one-off. It's not just the companies. It's everyone involved in that company. That's a lot of people to disappoint and hurt.
LAH: Meissner had to take out short-term loans to keep her company afloat and went bankrupt. She eventually settled with Tesla in court, and they agreed to pay her subcontractors $650,000. But Meissner herself wasn't fully paid.
MEISSNER: Material, rental companies, we had up to 60 men. The men is what hurt the most because they believed in us, because we were told it was going to be paid. So they worked for no money. For me not to be able to pay them was difficult.
LAH: So what does the red mean?
MEISSNER: Red means that we were still waiting for payment.
LAH: Court hearings and balancing her books now rules her day-to-day. She works two jobs to pay the debt and is trying to restart her company, Professional Process Piping.
Her main goal? Hold on to her home for her special needs daughter.
MEISSNER: The fear is losing it. The fear is having to give that up to be able to pay debt from the fallout of the bankruptcy.
LAH: How long do you think it will be before you're whole?
MEISSNER: I don't know if I ever will truly be whole for a very long time.
LAH: CNN reached out multiple times to Tesla, but the company did not respond. We did see that during the settlement with Meissner, Tesla said that they were unhappy with her company's work. But Meissner says that she only ever received glowing reviews from Tesla before the bankruptcy.
We also compared Tesla with Apple to see how another big corporation with major construction projects in Texas compares in unpaid liens. Apple owes contractors less than 10 percent of the amount in unpaid bills as compared to Tesla.
Kyung Lah, CNN -- Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: I'm Polo Sandoval.
Don't go anywhere. NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber is next.
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