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Trump to Meet with Putin One-on-One in Alaska on Friday; Growing Push to Revive Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Negotiations; National Guard Members, Vehicles Deploy in Washington, D.C.; Fires Impacting Summer Tourism in Europe. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired August 13, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: From tough talk and harsh warnings to now it's time to listen. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a listening exercise for the president.
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VAUSE: When it comes to Ukraine, the U.S. president seems to be falling back in line with the Kremlin just days before his summit with Vladimir Putin.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: We don't have that same sense that there is positive movement in the right direction to get a ceasefire on track.
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VAUSE: Still, Hamas officials head to Cairo amid a renewed push for a ceasefire talks reportedly driven there by Israel's imminent invasion of Gaza City.
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MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, WASHINGTON, D.C.: Right now we have more police and we want to make sure we're using them.
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VAUSE: National Guard on the streets of Washington, D.C., on presidential orders to fight a nonexistent crime wave.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Just days before Donald Trump will meet face to face with Russia's president in Alaska, concerns are growing especially in Ukraine and Europe that the U.S. president's recent evolution and much tougher stance on Vladimir Putin is now backsliding. And so in the coming hours, Germany will host a virtual summit with leaders from other European countries, as well as the U.S. and Ukraine. Meantime, final details for the summit at a U.S. military base in Anchorage are still being finalized.
And notably President Trump has spent the last few days lowering expectations. White House officials saying on Tuesday the president is approaching this meeting as a feel out session or listening exercise, and the only focus will be ending the war in Ukraine. But the Ukrainian president will not be there to join them because Vladimir Putin doesn't want him there.
And on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said again giving up territory to Russia for any peace deal is not an option and abandoning the Donbas region in the east would open the door for Russia to launch future offensives. Ukrainian officials say small groups of Russian troops have pierced parts of Ukraine's defenses in the Donetsk region, as Russia appears to be making an 11th hour push to take as much territory as possible ahead of Friday's summit.
More details now from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reporting from in from Kyiv.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget a moment about Alaska and imagine being here where Russia is advancing, where its drones could not reach when we were there a week ago. Despite the endless talk of a peace deal. It's exactly here that land might be swapped.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There'll be some land swapping going on.
PATON WALSH: His special envoys visit to the Kremlin leading to reports Ukraine might just give away Donetsk and sparking panic among real people here yesterday at a Donetsk railway station and frankly all over Ukraine.
Speaking to European officials over the past days, one of the challenges seems to have been for them trying to clarify exactly what it was that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff was offered by the Kremlin. What are the bones and details of that potential deal? And that just adds to how unconventional this whole process feels. A meeting of this grandeur would take months normally to prepare with the agenda and details ironed out by teams of diplomats for months. Instead, at this point, so much is still unknown.
TRUMP: This is really a feel out meeting a little bit.
PATON WALSH: President Trump has lowered expectations for their first meeting in six years, while Russia keeps flaunting claims it's captured towns like this.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through text translation): He is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or ending war.
PATON WALSH: President Zelenskyy clear, as the evidence supports so far, Putin does not seek peace.
ZELENSKYY (through text translation): There is no sign that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation. On the contrary, they are moving their troops and forces in such a way as to launch new offensive operations.
PATON WALSH: On the eastern front line near this town, Dobropillia, reports Tuesday emerged of a notable Russian advance. The extent or permanence unclear, but enough to spark denials and reinforcements from Kyiv.
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Wednesday, Zelenskyy will join German chancellor Friedrich Merz and other key European leaders, and this time President Trump, to pre-game Alaska, clarifying if the White House hasn't heard it yet that Europe wants a ceasefire first and Ukraine at the table.
But what awaits in Alaska likely only Putin and Trump. And from that, a roll of the dice between two men whose relationship is impenetrable but could decide the fate of tens of millions of lives in Ukraine and beyond.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Mick Ryan is a retired major general who served in the Australian Army for 35 years. He's now a senior fellow for military studies at the Lowy Institute and also the author of "The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaption Under Fire."
Mick, thanks for being with us. It's good to see you.
MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), SENIOR FELLOW FOR MILITARY STUDIES, LOWY INSTITUTE: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: So in recent days, Russian forces breached Ukraine's eastern front line to make the most significant territorial gain in the past year, according to Western analysts of the scene. At the same time, a chief of staff for Ukraine's elite Azov Brigade publicly warned the Ukrainian president, posting this on X, "I honestly don't know what you're being told, but I'm informing you of the Pokrovsk- Kostyantynivka line without exaggeration, it's complete chaos. The front line is virtually non-existent now."
Now a sudden push to gain territory ahead of ceasefire talks is not surprising. But what about a Russian advance of 15 kilometers in this war? And are Ukrainian defenses much worse shape now than many had believed?
RYAN: Yes, I think what we're seeing on the front line is a result of many months of Russian pressure across the entirety of the eastern front line, but the timing could not be better for both the Russian forces, for the shock it's causing on the battlefield with the Ukrainians, but also the strategic opportunity it provides to Putin to manipulate this meeting in Alaska.
VAUSE: And describing Russian demands before this summit as a -- as maximalists is an understatement. They include regime change in Kyiv with Zelenskyy out, the installation of a puppet government loyal to Moscow, demilitarization of Ukraine, and most recently, Putin has demanded all four regions illegally annexed by Russia and currently under partial Russian occupation.
Putin is demanding real estate he doesn't even control. And these demands are the conditions Ukraine must agree to for a ceasefire. What will the demands be for ending the war?
RYAN: No. It's pretty ludicrous, although Putin's demands have not changed at all throughout this war, but it's a pretty typical Russian negotiating strategy where they ask for the world. But even if they get a little bit, it's more than what they had before. This is what Putin is doing here. So even if all he does is end up with the Donbas as part of the agreement, that's still more than he's entitled to or that he had at the beginning of this war.
VAUSE: Ahead of the talks, Ukraine's overwhelming fear is this.
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KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN POLITICIAN: We are concerned that President Trump, who promised peace through strength, didn't get anything from Vladimir Putin, and right now after refusing the ceasefire, refusing the meeting with President Zelenskyy in Istanbul, after refusing anything that President Trump proposed, Putin is actually rewarded for all of that.
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VAUSE: So diplomatically, the U.S. president appears to be backsliding on his whole get tough with Putin approach. And militarily, Ukraine is struggling on the battlefield. So at this point, is Zelenskyy out of options?
RYAN: Well, he's certainly in a difficult position. He doesn't want to get offside with Trump, even though Trump has badmouthed Zelenskyy again in the last 24 hours about Zelenskyy not wanting to give up territory. So, I mean, this is the most advantageous position that Russia appears to have had in the last 24 months in this war. And the Ukrainians are going to have to work very closely, not just with the Americans, but the Europeans, to find a solution that doesn't give away the farm when Trump meets with Putin.
VAUSE: And in the coming hours, Germany will host this virtual summit with leaders from across Europe as well as the U.S. and Ukraine. At this point, it seems late in the game for this get together. Is there much which will come out of that?
RYAN: No, I think there'll be a statement of support for Ukraine. That's always good. But at the end of the day, this summit between Trump and Putin will drive the trajectory of the war for a little while to come. But we just don't know how passive and how much listening Trump will undertake at this summit. We'll just have to wait and see.
VAUSE: And to that end, this recent conversion of Donald Trump, which happened at the NATO summit earlier this year, where he suddenly started talking about Vladimir Putin much along the same lines as other European leaders do, and started to talk about getting tough with Putin, he was a disappointment. You know, he was a killer. All this kind of stuff. It was notable that during that time Trump never took any actual sanctions or actions against Vladimir Putin.
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Was all that talk, you know, essentially a non-issue?
RYAN: Well, I think it was just talk. There was no action that followed it up. And we've seen that time and time again. So just as he has with tariffs where he's rolled back off them in many instances, I think his criticism of Russia and of Putin has been all talk, no action. And it's hard to see that changing in the short term.
VAUSE: Yes. Mick Ryan, good to see you there in Brisbane Australia. Appreciate your time.
RYAN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Israel says militants in Gaza posing as aid workers have been killed in an Israeli strike. The video released by the IDF shows at least eight men standing around a vehicle marked with the World Central Kitchen logo, a U.S. based nonprofit. The IDF says the strike, which took place last week, killed five armed terrorists. But it's unclear to what organization the group belonged. WCK has confirmed the vehicle is not connected to their operations, says it strongly condemns anyone posing as a worker with them or volunteer.
The U.S. State Department is refusing to condemn the deadly strike on Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and four of his colleagues in Gaza. The Israelis say it targeted and killed Al-Sharif after accusing him of leading Hamas terror cell, which he and his network have denied. Al-Sharif was one of the most well-known Palestinian journalists in the territory, and his death on Sunday has triggered global condemnation and calls for accountability. But the U.S. State Department says anyone with questions should talk to Israel.
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TAMMY BRUCE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Israel has released evidence that Sharif was part of Hamas and was supportive of the Hamas attack on October 7th. They're the ones who have the evidence. They're the ones who can be reached and will hopefully talk with you and certainly talk with others who reach out to them.
I will remind you, and this, again, as we're dealing with a complicated, horrible situation is that Hamas historically has had members who are embedded in society, including posing as journalists.
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VAUSE: In other words, the U.S. State Department refused to condemn the killing of the Al Jazeera reporter. Meantime, sources say Hamas delegation on its way to Egypt for ceasefire talks.
And CNN's Oren Liebermann reports now from Jerusalem.
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LIEBERMANN: We're seeing a big push now from Europe and from countries in the region here, not only to see if it's possible to avert Israel's planned occupation and takeover of Gaza City, but also to see if it's possible to get ceasefire negotiations back on tract. According to three Hamas sources, a Hamas delegation has headed to Cairo to begin talks with Egyptian officials about negotiations towards a ceasefire.
The question, where will this lead? We also know that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Qataris in Spain over the course of the weekend. The problem is there isn't concrete movement on this as we saw towards the end of July before that ceasefire effort fell apart after the U.S. and Israel withdrew, blaming Hamas of acting in bad faith. That had a tremendous amount of optimism around it, at least before it collapsed.
We don't have that same sense that there is positive movement in the right direction to get a ceasefire on track, but clearly you see the efforts are there. And when it comes to Israel's planned takeover of Gaza City, the criticism has been fierce with both countries and humanitarian organizations warning it would only lead to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe inside Gaza. And of course, specifically Gaza City.
In a public letter, 24 foreign ministers, mostly from Europe but also from Japan and Australia, as well as the European Union, wrote a letter saying, "Famine is unfolding before our eyes." They call on Israel to not only let in more aid, but also to allow in more humanitarian aid organizations to try to get aid to as many people who need it as possible. In the letter, they write, "All crossings and routes must be used to allow a flood of aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition, supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water, medicine and medical equipment."
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, five more people died of malnutrition on Tuesday. That brings the total to 227 in the besieged territory, who have died of malnutrition, including, according to the ministry, 103 children.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, days after the assassinated Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay died in hospital, hundreds of Colombians gathered at the National Congress in Bogota to pay their respects as he lay in state. The lawmaker was shot in the head at a campaign event more than two months ago, and his death now marks a return to the worst period of political violence in Colombia in years, prompting calls for peace.
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ALVARO LEYVA, FORMER COLOMBIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): What we have here is something we need to figure out because you can't just come to offer condolences. We are all sad. We are all with the family. We all know exactly who this is about, whose grandson he was, whose son he is.
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There is much more at stake here. And I believe we must go to the very end to determine the motive. The motive is the authorship.
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VAUSE: The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, insists the investigation into the assassination of Uribe will proceed with international support.
We'll take a short break. When we come back, Donald Trump's crackdown on crime is taking shape. The National Guard deploys up in the streets of Washington, D.C. What the White House is now saying about the operation.
Also, what is old is new again in the U.K.? Some of the young people there having a blast with a classic game. Take a guess what they're playing. I don't know. The answer later this hour.
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VAUSE: The National Guard is now patrolling the streets of the U.S. capital, along with FBI agents and local police under federal control. All part of President Trump's unprecedented action to fight a nonexistent surge in crime. According to the White House, more than 20 people were arrested Monday.
CNN's Kristen Holmes has details.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, as well as D.C. police chief Pamela Smith, sitting down on Tuesday with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, the deputy attorney general, and the FBI director Kash Patel to discuss some of what this federal takeover of the D.C. police force would look like. There are still a lot of questions as to how exactly this is going to work out.
In a press conference after this sit-down, we heard from Bowser and Smith, who aimed to downplay this as a takeover, instead used words like partnership. At one point, we even heard Bowser talking about how more police might not be a bad thing. More law enforcement could actually help them. You heard the police chief saying that they wanted to get illegal guns off the street, and acknowledging that there was still crime in Washington, D.C.
On the other side, the White House also acting as though this wasn't a takeover in some ways, talking about instead a partnership. But there was one thing that both sides seemed to have a small discrepancy on, although it's a large issue, which is who is actually running the D.C. police force.
LEAVITT: Terry Cole, as you heard from this briefing room yesterday, is in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department, and he's working with the chief to ensure that law enforcement officers are allowed to do their jobs in this city.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you answering to Terry Cole?
CHIEF PAMELA SMITH, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: I answer to the -- I answer to Mayor Muriel Bowser.
BOWSER: Our organizational chart, how we do business, how we fund the police, how we make changes. None of that has changed.
HOLMES: What we heard from the Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt there was the hierarchy that actually went beyond just Terry Cole who she says is in charge. She said beyond that, it's Attorney General Pam Bondi, and of course it goes all the way to President Donald Trump. But on the other side, you're hearing Washington still say that they are in control.
What we know here is that Mayor Bowser is aware that legally, there is not much that they can do about this takeover. So she clearly here is trying to tow a line between really maintaining control over her city, but also understanding that where this is going federally, there isn't much they can do to stop it. Of course, the big questions we have now are what exactly is going to happen next?
Karoline Leavitt was asked about this in that press briefing. She said after 30 days, they would reassess where they were on crime. That would be when President Trump would have to bring it to Congress to extend this federal takeover. Then they would decide whether or not they were going to continue or end at that time.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And since Kristen Holmes filed her report, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has changed her tune a little bit at a virtual town hall with community leaders late Tuesday. She called President Trump's move an authoritarian push, urging residents to protect their autonomy.
Well, officials investigating Friday's shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the suspect fired nearly 500 rounds, almost 200, hitting the CDC building. One police officer was killed in the shooting. Officials from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation say five guns were recovered. Most of the shell casings came from a lone gun. Officials say the weapons belong to the father of suspect Patrick Joseph White. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The top U.S. health official, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who oversees the CDC, says there's still not enough information about the suspect's motive. But that contradicts law enforcement, who say White likely targeted the agency because of his discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine.
Still to come here on CNN, with Europe facing an ongoing threat of summer wildfires, it seems that's not good for tourism.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
The White House says Friday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will be held at a U.S. military base in Anchorage, Alaska. And the only focus of the summit is ending Russia's war in Ukraine. But President Trump is downplaying expectations, and Ukraine's president has not been invited because Putin doesn't want him there.
Ukrainian officials say small groups of Russian troops have breached parts of the front line in the Donetsk region, but they stress that does not mean Russia now controls the area. Moscow appears to be making an 11th hour push to seize as much territory as possible ahead of that summit on Friday.
The Israeli military claims to have killed five militants in central Gaza posing as aid workers. The IDF strike happened last week, but it's unclear which organization the militants belong to. WCK has confirmed the vehicle is not connected to their operations and has strongly condemned anyone posing as being from the World Central Kitchen organization.
Across Europe, the latest heat wave is sparking wildfires and pushing temperatures in some parts above 40 degrees Celsius. High winds fueled fires in Greece's western islands on Tuesday. Several villages and a hotel were evacuated due to the threat to that tourist destination.
And in Turkey, officials called in emergency aircraft to try and douse the flames, which were threatening a forest in Izmir Province. Fires there have also prompted evacuations, forcing hundreds to flee their homes.
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CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more details now on the fires impacting summer tourism in Europe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tourists forced to flee one of Southern Spain's most popular beaches after a wildfire, driven by strong winds, swept through the resort town of Tarifa, forcing local authorities to evacuate nearly 2,000 tourists and residents. Just one part of what's becoming an apocalyptic European summer.
Official data shows that Europe has seen more than twice as many fires as it saw, on average, by mid-August in recent decades.
Many are set on purpose, some sparked accidentally, and others fueled by extreme heat caused by manmade climate change.
There were similar scenes on the Italian island of Sardinia last month, where beachgoers had to be evacuated by boat after wildfires blocked other escape routes.
Disaster also struck the Italian tourist hotspot of Pompeii after forest fires quickly burned up the flanks of the Mount Vesuvius volcano, where authorities had to close trails to keep hikers safe.
Even in Scotland, not typically known for its hot summers, a brush fire spread across a popular tourist attraction in dormant volcano Arthur's Seat.
In Spain, where fires led to the death of one man near Madrid, the costs are almost impossible to measure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The damage is incalculable at this point, whether it's to the chestnut trees or the loss of tourism.
NADEAU (voice-over): And as wildfires continue to threaten European tourism, more travelers are being forced to rethink plans, cancel flights, and take extra precaution.
Like this tourist in Tarifa, who wore a face mask to protect herself from the thick smoke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's a genuine shame, everything that's happened, as they had to evacuate practically everything. I was so afraid as so many chalets, houses, shops were burnt. It's such a shame.
NADEAU (voice-over): A sunburn used to be one of the biggest concerns most holidaymakers had. Now they face a far more burning threat.
Barbie Nadeau, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, for years, scientists have been warning that climate change will lead to extreme weather events and disasters like we're seeing now.
Raphaelle Haywood is a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter in the U.K. and assistant director of the Global Systems Institute. And she says problems will only get worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAPHAELLE HAYWOOD, SENIOR LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (voice-over): As we're looking at heatwaves becoming more and more frequent, more intense, happening over, you know, longer periods of time in the year.
So, summer is going to feel longer.
Generally speaking, places with higher humidity are going to have it worse because you know how -- how much worse heat feels when it's muggy.
If you're in a city --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HAYWOOD (voice-over): -- you also have these urban heat island effects. So, the -- basically the tarmac and the concrete absorbs all this heat, and they -- they get warmer.
And also, the -- these places don't cool down as much during the night.
Climate change is the main driver of heat waves. And that's -- the evidence for that is overwhelming.
HAYWOOD: We have done tons of observations.
HAYWOOD (voice-over): We have observations. We have models. And we know that, as long as we're going to keep burning fossil fuels, we're going to see an increase in temperatures, and that's going to make heatwaves --
HAYWOOD: -- more likely and more intense.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Dashcam video recorded by police in South Carolina shows a very dramatic moment. Lightning striking a nearby intersection, shooting flames into the sky.
A blue flare of light was also ignited above a truck which was driving by.
No injuries were reported, but hundreds of people lost electricity.
In a moment here, some Gen Zs in London are breathing new life into an old game. Dare I say two fat ladies 88? Look at how bingo is making a very loud comeback.
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VAUSE: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will stay with the media giant Netflix under a new multi-year deal.
Under their previous agreement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle produced the lifestyle series "With Love, Meghan," which is the most watched culinary show on Netflix.
This contract extension is expected to give Netflix the option to preview and select any future projects the couple may have.
Perhaps it's part of a yearning for a much simpler time.
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(MUSIC: VILLAGE PEOPLE, "YMCA")
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VAUSE: It feels like a nightclub with '80s music and lots of booze. It's actually bingo night for Gen Z in London.
Usually, you know, bingo is for the older folk, but now it seems half of the new bingo fans in the U.K. are under the age of 35. Gosh, they're young.
Here's what some are saying.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You go out with your friends. You go out. Like, I think it's just fun. And I also feel like sometimes young people are like -- they just want to be like, do this stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In England, it was always for old people. But now young people enjoy it more, because they play lots of music, and they can win fun prizes. So yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's much better than I expected. I'm having a great time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Legs 11, everybody.
Now, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news of the hour. Stay with us, though. WORLD SPORT is next.
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(WORLD SPORT)
