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Trump, Putin Plan Peace Talks in Alaska; Families of Gaza Hostages and October 7th Victims Make Joint Announcement in Tel Aviv; Investigators Reveal Identity of CDC Shooting Suspect; Battle Over Congressional Maps Ahead of 2026 Midterms; Are Women Leaving the Workforce?; Inside the Effort to Keep Ukraine's Identity Alive. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired August 10, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:00:37]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.
President Trump says he is not ruling out including Ukraine's president in the Alaska talks with Putin. We'll have the latest on the expected bilateral meeting.
Family members of Israeli hostages and those killed on October 7th calling for the White House to help end the war in Gaza, while they're demanding Netanyahu reconsider his plan to occupy Gaza City. And the most recent jobs report indicates that more women are leaving the U.S. workforce. We'll break down the data and what it means.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: White House says the U.S. president is open to a joint summit with both leaders of Russia and Ukraine in Alaska on Friday, but an official is tamping down expectations, saying most likely any meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy would happen after Donald Trump speaks with Vladimir Putin. Ukraine's president and his European allies say there can be no deal without Ukrainian involvement. Zelenskyy has also ruled out giving up Ukrainian land.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What is needed is not a pause in the killings, but real, lasting peace, not as he's fired sometime in the future, months from now, but immediately. President Trump told me this, and I fully support it. The president of the United States has the leverage and the determination. Ukraine has supported all of President Trump's proposals since February. All parties supported the ceasefire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Britain's Foreign Minister hosted a meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and representatives from Ukraine and other European nations to discuss the war. A U.S. official says significant progress was made. The European nations issued a joint statement afterwards, saying in part, quote, "meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities. The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine."
We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. CNN's Betsy Klein brings us the latest on the Trump administration's efforts to end the war on Ukraine without Ukraine's input.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, since President Donald Trump announced his plans to meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, there has been an intensive diplomatic effort behind the scenes to get U.S. allies on board. The details of this meeting are still coming together very quickly, and we still don't know exactly where in Alaska this meeting will take place. But notably, when the president announced this meeting, he did not say whether or when Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be a part of this process to achieve a potential ceasefire deal with Russia.
Now, Zelenskyy has been emphatic that Ukraine will not cede any territory to Russia. He has also said he wants to be a participant in these conversations. And it also comes after Putin personally met with the president's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, earlier this week, where Putin laid out the contours of a potential deal.
The president pressed on those specific details, said it was possible that a deal could include quote, "some swapping of territories," leaving European allies scrambling to learn more about a potential deal here. They've expressed concern about the possibility of Ukraine ceding territory, and have also been strongly advocating for Zelenskyy to be a part of these talks.
Now, to allay some of those concerns, Vice President J.D. Vance on Saturday convened an hours-long meeting with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and officials from Europe and Ukraine in England to discuss the U.S. view going into that meeting on Friday, as well as Americans' understanding of the Russian stance ahead of that meeting. Steve Witkoff was also said to have attended virtually, a U.S. official telling me they made significant progress during that meeting, but it's still unclear at this point whether there is buy-in from those European officials on this potential peace deal.
European officials are also working to ensure that Zelenskyy is present at any future conversation about a potential deal, if not in Alaska, then at any follow-up meetings. But two sources familiar with the matter tell our colleague Kristen Holmes that the White House has not completely ruled out inviting Zelenskyy to Alaska. The details of this meeting remain in flux.
[05:05:17]
Betsy Klein, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainians are reacting angrily to being left out of peace talks. They don't trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, and they insist they won't accept an unjust peace paid with countless Ukrainian lies. Russians say they believe in their president's goals and motivations. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR (through translator): Putin is a very clever man. He will go for some swapping of territories. He will, because he is clever and he values people.
DANIL (through translator): For sure, these talks will help because it will be the meeting of two big, powerful figures, our president and Trump. But if these talks do not help, nothing will help.
SVITLANA (through translator): I believe that if Trump wanted to end the war, he has every opportunity to do so. You can't play games with Putin. Look at Europe, they said, let's appease him, and he sees that he can do whatever he wants.
ARTEM (through translator): The current leader of America is a spineless windbag. What is happening now is some kind of game that we do not understand. While they are negotiating something there, people are dying. If they could make a deal or wanted to, they would have had already done it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Last hour, I spoke with Yehor Cherniev, a Ukrainian member of Parliament and the chairman of the Ukrainian delegation to NATO, and I asked whether he shared the anger about his country being left out of the Trump-Putin talks. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YEHOR CHERNIEV, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Well, I'm sure that President Trump understands the situation and knows the position of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, and this position have long known -- has been long known and unchanged.
We will never surrender any territory of Ukraine voluntarily, so it's not a -- it's not a position for Ukraine just to give up and just to give this territory to Putin, as Putin tried to convince our partners that it will be the final request from him, and it will appease him, and he will not go ahead.
But we shouldn't be fooled by these words, because for me, actually, and for Ukrainian people, it seems like they're repeating the situation of 1938, when Hitler tries to convince our Western partners that you should just give a part of Czechoslovakia, Sudets, and it will be the end of any wars.
But we all understand and we all know what happened after.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah.
CHERNIEV: And now we see the same rhetoric, the same diplomatic tricks, the same manipulation and lies from Putin, and unfortunately, the same plans to conquer the neighboring countries step by step. So, I hope that Trump will not be tricked by Putin, and the deal will be fair and just for Ukraine.
BRUNHUBER: Well, on that exactly, I mean, President Trump has said he won't make a bad deal for Ukraine, but he's also promised to end this war quickly. So, can those two things actually go together from Ukraine's perspective?
CHERNIEV: I hope so. I hope so. And Trump -- President Trump has leverages how to push and press to Putin and Russia through the sanctions, through the tariffs, secondary sanctions for other countries. And I think it can bring a peace, but again, we need just peace, not for any price.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: -- says it hit a Russian warehouse used for storing Iranian-made Shahed drones. This footage released by Ukraine's SBU appears to show a long-range Ukrainian drone making a direct hit on the logistical hub in Tatarstan in east-central Russia. It called the warehouse a legitimate military target.
The families of Israeli hostages and those killed on October 7 held a joint news conference in Tel Aviv a short time ago. They made a new call for the war in Gaza to end and for all hostages to be released. Among the speakers was the father of a U.S. hostage killed in Gaza who made a direct appeal to the U.S. president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TZVI ZUSSMAN, BEN ZUSSMAN'S FATHER: Dear President Trump, I'm an American citizen and so was my son, Ben Zussman, who was killed in a battle in Gaza Strip on December 3rd, 2023. The people of Israel want this war to get to an end. Promise us security, be an opening for a long-lasting peace and with all the near and far neighbors and all above the release of all the 50 hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:10:16]
BRUNHUBER: The announcement came a day after tens of thousands of protesters rallied against Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City. This was one of the largest rallies in months but this time around hostage families went a step further sending a direct warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EINAV ZANGAUKER, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE MATAN ZANGAUKER (through translator): If you invade parts of the Strip and the living hostages are murdered we will pursue you in the streets during elections and everywhere at all times. We will remind the people of Israel day and night that you could have secured a hostage deal and instead you chose to condemn them to death. Prime Minister, your hands will be stained with the blood of the hostages and our soldiers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Earlier the families also sent a symbolic message sitting at a dining table with canned food and sand spread across it. It was meant to represent the dire conditions and hunger their loved ones are facing in captivity. CNN's Matthew Chance was at the protest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well we're here in the center of Tel Aviv where thousands of people have gathered to express their anger, their fury at this latest decision by the Israeli government, the Israeli military to go into the Gaza Strip and to occupy Gaza City, the most densely populated area that remains inside Gaza.
There are a great deal of concerns here that that military operation which is expected to take place within the next two months will jeopardize the security, the lives of the Israeli hostages still being held inside Gaza. There are 50 hostages still inside Gaza, 20 of them are still believed to be alive.
So, there's a great deal of concern amongst the Israeli public about that. There's also concern that the Israeli military is already overstretched. The military has expressed its opposition to further military action and that opposition is reflected in the population at large.
Opinion polls say 70 percent of Israelis want an end to the war right now and an immediate deal with Hamas to get the hostages back home and for the war to end. Every night, every Saturday night rather, there are protests like this in Tel Aviv but this one is particularly intense as the country stands on the brink of yet more military operations inside Gaza.
In fact, the only people in Israel who are really satisfied and happy with this decision to go into Gaza are the far-right parties on which Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, depends for the survival of his fragile political coalition.
And that's why there's such a lot of criticism that you hear expressed here that this latest next phase in the conflict in Gaza is motivated by politics, by his political survival, not by a necessity to secure the future of Israel.
Matthew Chance, CNN, in Tel Aviv. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Airdrops of desperately needed humanitarian aid turned deadly in Gaza on Saturday. And we just want to warn you, the images we're about to show you are disturbing. Hospital officials say a 14- year-old boy was killed after being struck by a box of aid in central Gaza.
Video showed a crowd scrambling to remove the pallet from him after he was crushed by its weight. The U.N. has been warning that airdrops are dangerous. Officials in Gaza say the aid packages often crash onto the homes or tents of displaced Palestinians and that the airdrops lead to crowding and stampedes, which have caused injuries.
Hundreds were arrested by London police on Saturday for protesting the British government's decision to ban the activist group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. The U.K.-based group received its prescribed status after authorities say activists with the group broke into Britain's largest air base in central England in June, damaging two military aircraft. Those charged have not yet entered pleas.
Police had cautioned that it would arrest anyone showing support for the banned group. CNN's Isobel Yeung reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are quite a lot of police coming in here today, hundreds of police I think, almost as many police as protesters and that is because of the sheer number of protesters here.
There's a lot of anger and a lot of frustration particularly since Netanyahu's government decided to plan to expand the war in Gaza. All these protesters here are here to support a group called Palestine Action and the U.K. government has just recently prescribed them a terrorist organization and that means that showing support for this group could land you with up to 14 years in prison.
[05:15:00]
YEUNG: How you feeling today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm nervous but hopefully -- hopefully it all goes well. We need to help Palestine. It's a genocide and the moment our government is saying no you can't talk about this, that's when -- that's when we lose our freedom of speech and that's when Palestine don't get the help they need.
PROTESTERS: Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you.
(CROSSTALK)
YEUNG: Things are going a little bit rowdy here at the moment. The police seem to be arresting quite a number of protesters. Things are getting very rowdy. It's not a great look for the police arresting so many people, I have to say, at the moment. PROTESTER: Genocide police! Genocide police! Genocide police!
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza and maintains that it is committed to international law and operates accordingly in the enclave.
New information in the shooting at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Investigators have identified the suspected gunman. We'll share what we're hearing about his possible motive coming up.
Plus, protests, threats and accusations. The battle over U.S. congressional redistricting is expanding. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: From storms to scorching heat, communities in the U.S. and around the world are closely watching the weather. In the Pacific, Henriette is once again a tropical storm but isn't expected to threaten land. At the same time, tropical storm Ivo is moving southwest of Mexico. No coastal watches or warnings are in effect for either storm.
In the Atlantic, a strong tropical wave is moving off the coast of Africa and could become the next named storm. The next name on the list is Erin.
Meanwhile, parts of the U.S. are feeling the heat. Temperatures in California remained around the triple digits this weekend. The heat in the west is expected to move into the central plains and into the east. Parts of New England could have record breaking temperatures on Monday.
Fires in Spain have gotten so intense, a military emergency unit had to join firefighters in the mountains northeast of Madrid on Saturday. Dozens of people who lived in the area had to be evacuated. Trains between Madrid and the city of Avila were disrupted and some roads are closed. The fire was mostly brought under control later in the day but residents were still unable to return home. A summer heat wave across southern Europe is also sparking fires in Greece and France.
Investigators have identified the suspect in the shooting at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Authorities haven't confirmed a motive but sources tell CNN the man may have targeted the CDC because he thought the COVID-19 vaccine made him sick. CNN's Rafael Romo has more.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has revealed the identity of the suspected shooter as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White from Kennesaw, Georgia. Atlanta police say there was one single shooter involved who died during the incident.
Law enforcement sources say the shooter carried two backpacks filled with ammunition and also had in his possession multiple guns including two handguns, one rifle and one shotgun. He was wearing what a law enforcement official on the scene described as a surgical mask.
According to Atlanta police the Friday shooting started just before 5 in the afternoon in this very busy part of the city near where Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control are located. CNN has obtained images of the impacts of some of the bullets that struck CDC facilities.
Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said officers responding to the shooting heard gunfire coming from the CVS pharmacy at this location and moved quickly to neutralize the threat.
DARIN SCHIERBAUM, ATLANTA POLICE CHIEF: We later found the shooter on the second floor of the CVS. He had been struck by gunfire. We do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self- inflicted.
ROMO: Responding officers also found a critically injured DeKalb County police officer who was immediately taken to nearby Emory University Hospital where he died of his injuries according to a DeKalb County release. The officer was identified as 33-year-old David Rose who had joined the department last September. This is what DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson had to say about his death.
LORRAINE COCHRAN-JOHNSON, DEKALB COUNTY CEO: This evening there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn without a father. There is a mother and a father as well as siblings who also share in this traumatic loss.
ROMO: Regarding the investigation, one of the most shocking details we have learned since the shooting here at the CDC campus is that the alleged shooter's father called law enforcement before the shooting to report he believed his son was suicidal. It's not immediately clear how much time had elapsed between the call and the shooting.
Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: The battle to change congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms is expanding. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the state's Supreme Court to remove 13 Democratic lawmakers whose absence is preventing a vote on redrawn Texas districts. Texas is also spending direct deposit for the absent lawmakers.
In a direct response to Texas, Democratic lawmakers in California are planning a special election in November to redraw their state's congressional districts. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more on the battle for control of Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Republican push for redistricting in Texas remains at a standstill as the Texas House Democrats are sticking to their strategy to remain out of the state in order to block a vote from happening.
[05:25:07]
Republican leaders in the state are trying to exert a pressure campaign on these lawmakers to get them back into Texas. On Saturday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton actually filed a legal complaint in the state of California asking them to enforce civil arrest warrants for these Texas Democrats. The complaint lists six Texas House Democrats who were in California with California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday.
But the catch here is -- is that those Texas Democrats are no longer in the state. That's according to a source familiar with their whereabouts that I spoke with. The California governor seemed to tease that in a post on social media, writing, quote, "you should definitely use all resources looking for them here, Ken. You will totally find them."
Now, the Texas Attorney General has also asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove 13 absent House Democrats from their seats. But so far, Democrats in that Texas House delegation have said that they remain undeterred.
GENE WU, TEXAS STATE HOUSE DEMOCRAT: We will not be broken by these antics. We are not here to play games. We are not here to make waves, to go viral, or do any of that stuff.
SAENZ: Now, the Texas House speaker says they plan to reconvene on Monday to try again on redistricting. But so far, Democrats have not shown any indication that they are budging from their strategy. There is a very real time crunch here, as the Texas special session is set to end on August 19th.
And several of those Texas House Democrats have said that they are prepared to stay out of the state until that session ends.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And we'll be back with more here on CNN Newsroom. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom, I'm Kim Brunhuber. Let's check some of today's top stories.
The families of Israeli hostages and families of people killed in the October 7th attacks are making a direct appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump. In a joint statement a short time ago, they asked him to help end the war and get the remaining hostages released. They spoke amid growing pushback against Israel's plan for a military takeover of Gaza City.
European leaders are urging U.S. President Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in his talks with Vladimir Putin next week. The White House says Donald Trump is open to Volodymyr Zelenskyy joining his meeting with Russia's president in Alaska, but warns it likely won't happen. Zelenskyy says there can be no peace without Ukraine's involvement.
The state of Texas says Democrats who fled the state to stop a redistricting vote will have to pick up their paychecks in person. The state suspended direct deposits into their bank accounts. Texas Republican lawmakers are trying to redraw the state's congressional district, but they can't reach a quorum without the Democrats.
The latest jobs report is flashing warning lights about a slowdown in the labor market and an uptick in unemployment. We took a look at the numbers, and one group seeing a shift in employment is American women.
Now, the rate of participation in the workforce for women age 20 and older has dropped, going from 58.9 percent in April to 58.6 percent in July. It might not seem like much, but let's take a look at a specific group, working mothers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says women who maintain families regardless of marital status saw more than a one-point jump in unemployment since April. Now, that's just one group of women, but it could be an indicator that working women, especially working mothers, are facing new challenges finding and keeping jobs.
So, for more on this, I'm joined by Misty Lee Heggeness. She's an associate professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Kansas.
I really appreciate you taking the time this morning to speak to us. And you are, we should also mention, the author of a book called "Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy." Very pertinent to what we're talking about today, so I wanted to make sure to mention that.
So, the numbers suggest women are leaving the workforce at triple the rate that men are joining. So, looking behind the numbers, what groups are being hit the hardest here?
MISTY LEE HEGGENESS, FOUNDER & CO-DIRECTOR, KANSAS POPULATION CENTER: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. The groups that have really, since the beginning of the year, experienced the most decline, particularly mothers of small children under the age of five. And mothers of small children who are not married have seen the most decrease.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. OK, so put it into context for us. What's driving this then?
HEGGENESS: So, there's probably multiple factors driving this change in labor force participation for mothers of small children. I think there's potentially two kind of main factors that are influencing what's going on, you know, the first half of 2025. The first is this large effort on behalf of large employers in the federal government to return to office.
It's a little bit more challenging for parents with really small children to be able to combine paid work with caregiving when jobs become or are very inflexible.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and so on that, I mean, you've talked about this concept of care privilege, right? The return to office mandates are often made by people who have, you know, someone else handling their domestic responsibilities, so they aren't necessarily as invested. Can you can you explain how this dynamics playing out?
HEGGENESS: Yeah, so the idea behind care privilege is it really is a concept that relates to adults in the household, usually primate adults, able bodied, so they can go out and work. Nothing holding them back from that. And these adults either, usually if you're care privileged, you have somebody else who's taking care of your care needs.
So, you have somebody else who's cooking your meals for you, somebody else watching your clothes, somebody else taking care of your children. And women disproportionately are much less likely to have care privilege. And so because they have these additional kind of unpaid work, you know, often invisible workloads within the home, it makes it really challenging for them to get out and combine paid labor with that.
[05:35:17]
Now, the folks who are making these decisions around the return to office often tend to have lots of care privilege, so they tend to not recognize the invisible work and other challenges that caregivers have in combining paid work with family caregiving.
BRUNHUBER: Right. And then, you know, we have the return to work. Then another legacy of the pandemic was a lot of the federal child care funding tied to the pandemic has run out, and that's especially impacting lower income voters.
So, you have less flexible schedules. You have this, you know, fewer, more expensive child care options, huge cuts in government jobs as well, which seem to impact women disproportionately. Sounds like a perfect storm, basically, for -- for working moms.
HEGGENESS: Yeah, it really is. And I think it's worthwhile to really think about the role of government and federal policy in all of this. It's true that there have been cuts to child care funding. It's making child care really, really challenging to find and to afford.
And I think that, you know, combined with the slashing and reduction of the federal workforce this first -- the first quarter of 2025, you know, women tend to often forego salary in exchange for benefits that create flexible jobs, you know, like choosing when, you know, what time you start work in the day, what time you stop choosing, choosing whether you work remotely or in the office. And federal government jobs tend to have more flexibility -- flexibility and more benefits in them. And so this reduction of federal employment most likely disproportionately affect affected mothers.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, you've -- you've I mean, literally written a book about the role women play in the economy. So, what does it cost the country when women leave the workforce?
HEGGENESS: Yeah. So, you know, similar to the way in which unpaid work and care that we do in our homes for our families is often invisible, that, you know, translates into an invisibility and understanding the impact that, you know, these type of reductions in accessibility of the workforce have. And so when you have individuals who aren't able to really maximize their talent and their skill set and be productive in the workforce, you're -- you're really stifling economic growth, GDP. And these are all factors that -- that, you know, these are issues that influence not only individuals, but the entire economy and society.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, affects all of us, as you say. We'll have to leave it there. Really appreciate having your expertise on this.
Misty Lee Heggeness, thank you so much.
HEGGENESS: Yeah, thank you.
BRUNHUBER: One group of women in Ukraine is playing a vital role in preserving their country's historical memory. They're using very modern technology to preserve very old photographs. Amid the war with Russia, we'll look at why it matters to Ukraine's future. That's coming up next. Stay with us.
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[05:41:50]
BRUNHUBER: Away from Ukraine's front lines, there are other battles being fought to keep the country's identity alive. Now, we've brought you these stories in different forms since the war began. How the glitz and glamour of Eurovision gives a voice to the younger generation as it finds a place on the world stage.
We've examined the books published, even when the authors have been killed, and the country's largest printing company burned to the ground in an airstrike.
Well, this next story is different. It's about an effort that reaches back to a history that precedes Ukraine as we know it, while preserving that era, if only in digital form, is seen as crucial in building the country's future.
Oleksandra Buzko is the head of the scientific archive at the Institute of Archaeology, part of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. And she and her colleagues are scanning and cataloging a trove of photographs dating back more than a century.
Thank you so much for speaking with us. I really appreciate it. So, give us a sense of what exactly you and your team are scanning and digitizing. What are you racing to save here? OLEKSANDRA BUZKO, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE: Hello, thank you for the invitation. I'm very glad to be here. Actually, what we are scanning, I think we are scanning our memory, because it's about memory. What is an archive for me? It's a memory storage, and it should be preserved and should be saved. And actually, our project is called Digital Memory Storage.
That's the idea, to make those scans which we are creating, make them available all over the world. And for people to get access and to not to be accessible just for a bunch of scholars, but to explore it from any point of the -- well, let's call it planet. Because it's crucial for us under this threat of destroying of our heritage to have copies, to save it as much as possible.
And our archive keeps lots of reports about excavations, but also personal archives of famous archaeologists, ethnographers. And among them, there are documents like letters, postcards, personal diaries, which can tell us a lot of stories and which could be not already told yet. And that's why we scan those priceless documents, unless in case unthinkable happens.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, the unthinkable. I mean, you've talked about the destruction of heritage. I mean, this war hasn't just cost countless lives, soldiers, civilians, but so much Ukrainian culture and history has been damaged or destroyed. And we're just putting up some figures here. UNESCO has verified damage to more than 500 sites, museums, galleries, churches. What's being lost here?
[05:45:05]
BUZKO: Oh, you know, it's a very sad topic for me. And yeah, you know that a lot of museums suffered, if not destroyed physically, they were robbed. Like in Mariupol, Melitopol', and Kherson while it was occupied. It is a very sad topic for me. I just try doing my job where I can.
And it is crucial for national identity because the missiles can target some crucial, like a museum of Hryhorii Skovoroda, a famous Ukrainian philosopher. It's something about our identity. And those pictures which you see from our archives, there are Ukrainians of the 19th century. They are Ukrainians. We know Putin in his propaganda fantasies, he says Ukrainians don't exist. He says like Lenin created Ukraine.
So, we can see those Ukrainians on the photos of the late 19th century. And those elites from that time, those Ukrainian files, they called them like Ukrainian lovers, those famous scholars, writers, ethnographers, whatever, people from big cities, they were coming to the villages to explore their own people. And one might say it is a sort of cultural appropriation, but I don't think it is so because it is their own compatriots, their own people.
And they tried to copy them, actually. They also started speaking Ukrainian in public, although Ukrainian was restricted by numerous Russian laws in Russian Empire. But they started talking Ukrainian, speaking Ukrainian. They started wearing even vyshyvankas, this is a traditional Ukrainian suit, embroidered suit, if you know. They started wearing it under classical black suit. So, it was a sort of -- of combination of elites and ordinary people, peasants from villages, who actually, who saved for us those traditional culture and those late foundations of our modern Ukraine, modern political Ukrainian nation.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Well, listen, it's a fascinating project, as sad as the reason behind it exists. But it is certainly good that these photographs, which we've been showing, they're absolutely beautiful, can be accessed by the rest of the world. And as you say, preserving Ukrainian culture and heritage for generations to come. Really appreciate speaking with you, Oleksandra Buzko, with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Thanks so much.
BUZKO: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: We'll be right back. Stay with us.
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[05:52:12]
BRUNHUBER: Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera returned to baseball on Saturday, and he learned why it can be a dangerous game for a 55-year- old. Have a look. Rivera was taking part in the New York Yankees old- timers game, and while chasing a fly ball in the outfield, he tore his Achilles tendon and collapsed. He's scheduled to have surgery this coming week. Rivera is a Major League Baseball's career leader in saves, and he helped the Yankees win five World Series.
Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris is reportedly on the mend after suffering an alarming head injury on Friday. During the fourth quarter of the Lions' preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, Norris' head snapped back while trying to make a tackle. He was taken off the field in an ambulance following the injury. Both teams agreed to suspend the game.
The Lions have confirmed Norris is in stable condition, despite keeping him in hospital overnight. In a social media post on Saturday, Norris said he is all good. Thanked his followers for their support.
With the Premier League season set to start this week, Tottenham Hotspur are looking to new manager Thomas Frank to bring fresh initiative to the Europa League champions. The North London club opened their domestic campaign against Burnley on Saturday. The Danish manager spoke to CNN about his aims for Spurs this season.
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THOMAS FRANK, TOTTENHAM MANAGER: I'm a big believer in culture, and I think there's some key things that need to be the foundation. If you have that foundation right, it's easier for the team to perform. Some of it is the classic one, hard work. We need to work unbelievably hard. We need to have togetherness, so we need to, you know, work hard together. And also if you want to achieve something big, you need to do it together. Then, I'm speaking a lot about attitude, where it's like confident but humble. So, every player, the team needs to be confident, needs to play forward, needs to be brave, but also humble enough that we put the hard work in.
Every player we pick or we try to get in, there's a big plan. Everything is, how can I say, improving the team and the squad. My finest job together with my coaches is to maximize every player's potential, because you don't know what -- what the ceiling is. Maybe it's here, maybe it's there, but it's my job to maximize it together with the coaches.
And if we maximize the players' potential, adding that up, that will maximize the team's potential in how the team will perform. So, I see a lot of talent in the team and I'm excited to work with it. We try to have a plan with every player and hopefully every player can help us.
The big target is that the team needs to be built, team needs to perform and we need to perform in four competitions. And that's -- that's the biggest focus. There needs to be some key principles, there needs to be a specific way of playing in terms of how we want to be brave, aggressive and offensive. And that's the key areas.
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BRUNHUBER: A retired circus alligator is living out the rest of her days at home in a pool, cuddling her owners in Germany. Former circus artist Klaus Kaulis brought the American alligator Frau Meyer, or Mrs. Meyer, more than 40 years ago when she was just two years old.
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KLAUS KAULIS, RETIRED CIRCUS ARTIST: Never has anything happened. I can still order 10 beers, no problem. She has never attacked anyone, not us, nothing. Because she trusts us. She has never experienced anything negative. Maybe because she is an American alligator. The older and bigger these animals get, the calmer they become. They are among the calmer species of crocodiles.
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BRUNHUBER: The eight-foot-long Frau Meyer has been around humans her entire life, and her owners say she's never acted aggressively. She performed in circus acts until 2016, making quite the name for herself and for her family.
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KRYSTIAN KAULIS, RETIRED CIRCUS ARTIST (through translator): In the past, when other children were playing with teddy bears, I was always with Frau Meyer. Frau Meyer was my XXL cuddly companion, my conversation partner, my buddy. My buddy for doing homework. I trust her. She's like a big sister. She's a wild animal, an alligator, no question about it. But I trust the animal 100 percent. BRUNHUBER: Now the 45-year-old reptile will spend her days lounging in the sun, swimming with her family and receiving occasional visitors who want to see the circus star.
All right, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our audience in North America, CNN THIS MORNING is next. For the rest of the world, it's Marketplace Asia.
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