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Russia Ramps Up Attacks; Minnesotans Try to Make Sense of Unspeakable Tragedy; A New Community Thrived After Katrina; White House to Comply With Order To Shut "Alligator Alcatraz" By End Of October; Teams Take On Bridgestone World Solar Challenge In Australia. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired August 29, 2025 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." Russia ramps up deadly attacks on Kiev, leading Ukraine's president to doubt Vladimir Putin's sincerity on ending the war. A community in Minnesota tries to make sense of an unspeakable tragedy. We'll hear from the parent of one of the young victims. And 20 years after Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans forever, we'll have a look at how one community came together and thrived.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber."
BRUNHUBER: In the hours ahead, a Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with U.S. officials in New York for talks on ending the war with Russia. It comes two weeks after President Donald Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and one day after Moscow launched its second largest air assault of the war. Officials say drones and missiles killed at least 23 people. As Ukraine tries to fend off escalating Russian attacks, the Trump administration announced it sold more than 3,300 extended range missiles to Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he doesn't believe Putin is ready for peace as the effort to reach an agreement appears to have stalled. Here he is.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): This strike clearly demonstrates that Russia's goals have not changed. It is also a strike by Russia against President Trump and other global players. In Washington, we heard that Putin is supposedly ready to end the war, to meet at the leadership level, and resolve key issues. But he chooses ballistics instead of any real steps toward peace.
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BRUNHUBER: As CNN's Salma Abdelazis reports, a toddler is among the victims of the Russian assault.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: If you're wondering how President Putin is responding to peace efforts, well, Kiev suffered its second largest aerial attack by Russia since the start of the conflict. That's according to Ukrainian authorities who say that nearly 600 drones and more than 30 missiles were fired by Russia overnight at the Capitol.
It was a terrifying night for families, some who had to endure a nine- hour air raid siren. And among those victims are children. The youngest is just two years old. The strikes hit residential buildings, homes, a kindergarten, and even a building belonging to the European Union mission and another building belonging to the British Council. Both those parties have summoned top Russian diplomats to discuss these strikes.
This, of course, is happening as President Trump continues to push for peace efforts, for a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine. So far, his attempts at starting a bilateral meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy have fallen flat, with Russia simply dragging its feet on the issue.
It also takes place as E.U., European Union diplomats are meeting in Europe this week to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. Yet another step in that peace process, which Russia has just simply batted away.
On Friday, President Zelenskyy says some of his top officials will be meeting in New York with some of President Trump's top officials to continue that peace process.
But, in the meanwhile, we are seeing a tried and true Russian strategy. As those diplomatic efforts stall, the offensive on the ground led by the Kremlin has intensified and those drones and missiles continue to rain down on civilians across Ukraine.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: And joining me now from Odesa, Ukraine is global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw. He is the former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Good to see you again. So, these delegations, they've met before without any major breakthroughs. Do you get any sense that these new talks could move things forward at all or are you just expecting more diplomatic theater?
MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, SENIOR FELLOW AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL, FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR OSCE: Good to be with you, Kim. Well, we have more diplomatic theater, and that's definitely the feeling I'm picking up here in Ukraine, the feeling being the following: Sorry, guys, but words don't stop Russian missiles the way Patriot missile defense systems do. [02:04:53]
If there were more Patriot missile defense systems protecting Kiev and certainly Port of Odesa where I am right now, we wouldn't have anywhere close to the death and destruction that we saw over the past 24 hours and certainly over the past three plus years.
You know, um, it boggles the mind, Kim, that Europe is -- has expressed a lot of outrage at what happened, including, you know, Kiev over the past 24 hours, including the hits on the diplomatic properties, as your correspondent pointed out.
And, you know, this -- this isn't the first time these properties have been hit. The properties belong to many NATO countries, and one would have thought that in a perfect world, this would have triggered a much, much bigger reaction from NATO. I'm not saying triggering the Article 5 collective response, but much more.
One last thought on this one, if I may. You know, I think a lot of Ukrainians, they're pretty savvy, they watch a lot of world news, and they figure if Europe, European leaders can't do much about a man-made famine occurring on their doorstep, that being Gaza, what can they do to end the war in Ukraine? There's just a feeling of helplessness here right now.
BRUNHUBER: Speaking of European officials, we're hearing some skepticism from German officials about whether Putin and Zelenskyy will actually sit down together as sort of was suggested after the Putin-Trump summit. Do you think that's realistic at this point? Are we -- you know, we're still way too far apart for any type of direct talks.
BOCIURKIW: Way too far apart. Of course, it did look closed, didn't it, when we had that circus happening in Alaska. But I think Mr. Macron and the German chancellor have made it clear in the past 24 hours that that is not going to happen.
It would be, I think, very, very difficult for Mr. Zelenskyy to meet with Mr. Putin right now, especially after what has happened. And, of course, the Russians are following their normal narrative, aren't they, saying that there are many, many details to work out, and we have to, you know, get the Ukrainians to see our point of view.
But yet, pretty amazing that that summit that happened in Alaska just happened in a few days' time, and yet they think that summit between these two leaders can happen.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Talking about some of those details about a possible peace deal, security guarantees. I mean, there are some ideas being floated around about a large buffer zone and the U.S. is apparently --
BOCIURKIW: Yeah.
BRUNHUBER: -- offering to provide intelligence support and help create a European air shield for Ukraine. But it sounds like the U.S. wants Europeans to do the heavy lifting with tens of thousands of troops. So, is Europe actually willing and capable to step up like that?
BOCIURKIW: Not at the moment. I think the best way we can describe what's going on, especially discussions, you know, the past day or so about creating a creation of a 40-kilometer buffer zone between the Ukrainian and Russian sides, yeah, this is grasping at straws. The Europeans are really, really struggling to come up with potential battalions to help safeguard Ukraine.
And also, the feeling here, from what I'm picking up on the ground, is what's needed is an immediate solution. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and others are saying, you know, we need the coalition of willing, we need to commit ourselves to a post-war Ukraine process.
But what Ukrainians really want is something to happen now. And one of those big things, of course, is the unfreezing of that almost 200 billion in frozen Russian assets sitting in European banks. That would go a long way to helping Ukraine not only purchase weapons, but help deal with $3 billion a month budget deficit.
Big problem there is you have countries like Belgium, the capital of Euroclear, that are worried about the integrity of the Euro. Well, I have a message for them. You can worry about the integrity of the Euro right now, but what's going to happen if Mr. Putin does not push back? He will go further and further into Europe. He will increase his hybrid war, including meddling in elections, neutralizing opponents on foreign soil. There's a long -- there's a long (INAUDIBLE) against Russia that they should be very familiar with.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, certainly one of the worst-case scenarios. Great to get your perspective from Ukraine. Michael Bociurkiw in Odesa, thank you so much.
BOCIURKIW: Thank you for having me.
BRUNHUBER: Israel is ramping up its military campaign to take over and occupy Gaza City. Tanks and planes pounded the outskirts of the city on Thursday. The IDF says it has dismantled several Hamas tunnels and destroyed what it calls terrorist infrastructure. Israeli military spokesperson says the evacuation of Gaza's largest city is inevitable. Thursday's attacks sent residents fleeing as Israeli drones dropped leaflets warning people to head south.
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UNKNOWN (Through translator): What should we do? Do we stay here to die, to be broken? My two brothers died. My mother was murdered. My cousins were killed before my eyes. What should we do? We keep moving from one place to another until God above looks upon us.
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BRUNHUBER: U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres accuses Israel of blocking humanitarian efforts and using starvation as a method of warfare. France, Germany, and the U.K. say Iran's nuclear program is a clear threat to international peace and security, so they're starting the process of re-imposing sanctions on Tehran. The so-called E3 countries accuse Iran of not complying with the 2015 nuclear deal, which restricts uranium enrichment and allows for international inspections. Iran has condemned the move, calling it provocative, unnecessary, and warning of appropriate responses. Tehran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and it plans to build more nuclear energy plants.
We're learning more about Wednesday's deadly school shooting in Minnesota, including the names of two children who were killed. Ten- year-old Harper Moyski and eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel were identified Thursday by their families. Both were killed after a shooter opened fire Wednesday at a mass for students of Annunciation Catholic school in Minneapolis. Eighteen other people were injured during the attack.
One student who was in the church during the shooting said people hid under pews while others started to run to various parts of the church. They also said it felt like the gunfire intensified.
Meanwhile, investigators say the shooter had a -- quote -- "deranged fascination with previous mass shootings," and the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota said the shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children. Police haven't been able to identify motive for the attack.
CNN's Whitney Wild has more.
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JESSE MERKEL, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM FLETCHER MERKEL: WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday, a coward decided to take our eight-year-old your old son, Fletcher, away from us. Because of their actions, we will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (Voice-over): Emotional words tonight from the father of eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, who was killed in the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.
MERKEL: Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life. Give your kids an extra hug and kiss today. We love you, Fletcher. You'll always be with us.
WILD (voice-over): The family asking for privacy and space to grieve as they deal with the loss of their son following the shooting on Wednesday.
MERKEL: While the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that in time, our family can find healing. I pray that the other victims' family can find some semblance of the same.
WILD (voice-over): Outside, a memorial grows for the two students who were killed and the 18 others who were wounded, 15 of them children.
UNKNOWN: The glass was broken from when people got in. And we got out. All of us went to different rooms. My group went to the gym, and that's where I saw my little sister. And then when we got out, there were like a lot, like a lot of police cars, and there were some ambulances and fire trucks.
WILD (voice-over): Danielle (ph) Gunter tells CNN her 13-year-old son was shot in the stomach and survived surgery. In a statement, she says, our hearts are shattered not only for him, but for everyone who was harmed. We grieve and we pray for the others who were shot, for their families, and for those who lost loved ones.
The Minneapolis police chief says officers recovered approximately 116 rifle rounds from the scene, one live round from a handgun, and three shotgun shells.
BRIAN O'HARA, CHIEF, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Literally hundreds of pieces of evidence have been recovered thus far, which include electronic devices that will be further searched and processed.
WILD (voice-over): The motive remains under investigation, but officials say the shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children and had a deranged fascination with previous mass shootings.
JOE THOMPSON, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY, MINNESOTA: The shooter left behind hundreds of pages of writings, writings that describe the shooter's plan, writings that describe the shooter's mental state, and more than anything, writings that describe the shooter's hate, pure indiscriminate hate.
WILD: Police are still investigating where the shooter bought those firearms. In a journal, the shooter mentions plans to buy a rifle from an acquaintance and even says, in their own words -- quote -- "It should be harder for people like me to carry out these attacks."
Whitney Wild, CNN, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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BRUNHUBER: More than a dozen people dead and a million impacted by floods in Pakistan. Coming up, why Pakistani officials believe a neighboring country contributed to some of the worst flooding seen in decades.
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Plus, while many people fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, some people moved there and rebuilt the city. We have their story just ahead. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Parts of Pakistan are dealing with some of the worst flooding seen in four decades. Authorities said at least 17 people died on Thursday as flooding in Pakistan's Punjab province submerged more than 1,600 villages along with fields of vital grain crops. More than a million people have been evacuated from their homes. Pakistani officials say torrential monsoon rain isn't the only reason for the high water.
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They point to India's release of excess water from major dams on three rivers. Both India and Pakistan are contending with a heavy monsoon season that has caused widespread flooding and many deaths.
A fishing village in Honduras is being swallowed by the sea. Environmentalists say the village of Cedeno has lost more than 120 meters of coastline to erosion since 2005. High tides and intense storms linked to climate change have destroyed buildings and key infrastructure. Fishermen there say it's impossible to work or to attract tourists. Cedeno is just one of the coastal communities in Central America being destroyed by rising seas.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans 20 years ago, many residents left and never returned. But others moved in to rebuild. CNN's Gustavo Valdes has their story.
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GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, you can see signs of the new life in the city. These houses are an example of the recovery in the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the city's most affected areas.
VALDES (voice-over): Angelica Rivera is one of the many workers who helped bring it back to life.
Is the New Orleans you see today the same New Orleans you came to?
ANGELICA RIVERA, PRESIDENT, COLMEX CONSTRUCTION: No, not at all.
VALDES (voice-over): With small children, one barely a few months old, she moved from Orlando after the storm, following her husband, a handyman who saw an opportunity working in construction.
RIVERA: I'm not going to lie. I cried a couple of times because I was, like, I don't want to be here.
VALDES (voice-over): Because basic services like drinking water and electricity were slow to return. But they didn't give up, growing their business from a small team only doing house framing to a full- set construction company, helping many homeowners who they say were swindled by contractors who took their money and left town.
RIVERA: So, a lot of people were without money and without a house.
VALDES (voice-over): Their growth was fueled by thousands of workers who came from across the country and outside the U.S. to work in construction.
RIVERA: Because most of the people that was here was Latinos.
VALDES (voice-over): Who worked in difficult conditions, battling the intense heat and humidity to rebuild this iconic American city. Their efforts are celebrated in this sculpture in the infamous Ninth Ward ground zero of the deadly floods.
DR. JUAN JORGE GERSHENIK, NEONATOLOGIST: I really believe that they were key in trying to get the New Orleans area back.
VALDES (voice-over): Dr. Juan Gershenik commissioned the sculpture after speaking with children of those workers, who he says were shy about their parents' profession. He wanted them to be proud of the work their parents did.
GERSHENIK: Undoubtedly, that was my first goal.
VALDES (voice-over): High praise coming from a person considered one of the heroes of the post-Katrina tragedy, evacuating premature babies out of the hospital, manually blowing oxygen to one of them for hours, accolades he'd rather be given to others.
GERSHENIK: The understanding of how much the contribution of the Latinos was made during the post-Katrina recovery time.
VALDES (voice-over): Many of those came thinking their stay in the Big Easy would be temporary. But now, they call it home.
According to the U.S. Census, the Hispanic population of metropolitan New Orleans has doubled in the past 20 years, as the number of Black and white residents has decreased.
RIVERA: Someone said that if you drink water from the Mississippi River, you stay in New Orleans and you will never leave. I think I did that because this is our home now.
VALDES (voice-over): Gustavo Valdes, CNN, New Orleans.
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BRUNHUBER: For years, Americans have been shopping online for cheap goods from China. But a new tariff change by the Trump administration could end all that. What the end, the de minimis exemption means for low-cost shoppers, we'll have that ahead. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Americans who love to shop online for cheap goods from overseas are soon going to have some major sticker shock. For years, the U.S. has waived tariffs on package shipments valued at less than $800. But that exemption expired 90 minutes ago. And Donald Trump says the change is permanent. Anna Cooban has more.
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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTER: De minimis. It's a term you may be hearing a lot today. It's Latin for something lacking in significance or importance. Some people may not quite agree with that. You see, President Donald Trump has scrapped the so-called de minimis exemption, a rule that has allowed products worth $800 or less to enter the United States from all around the world without crucially paying an import tax.
That exemption has allowed low-cost goods like clothes, makeup, home decor, really anything that you can think of, to flow into the U.S. relatively easily and help to fuel a booming global e-commerce industry like these brands here.
And, as you can see here, over the last decade, this number has grown significantly. And that is partly why Trump is ending this de minimis exemption is, to help discourage Americans from buying overseas and incentivize homegrown manufacturing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimated that over 1.36 billion shipments entered the U.S. during the last financial year under this de minimis exemption, and that more than 4 million were processed every single day.
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Sellers will face different tariffs depending on which country they are in. They'll face an $80 tariff if a -- per item for -- if they're in a country with an overall tariff rate of 16 percent, below 16 percent, and an up to $160 tariff per item, if they're in a country with an overall tariff rate of between 16 and 25 percent, and then a brutal $200 per item tariff if they're in a country with an overall tariff rate above 25 percent.
Right now, for example, Brazil and India have a 50 percent tariff placed on most of their goods flowing into the United States. Sellers may decide to pass those extra costs onto U.S. consumers, and that means that those late-night impulse purchases will come with an even bigger dose of morning regret. Or they may simply not arrive at all.
Postal services around the world, including in Japan and Australia and across Europe, have temporarily suspended shipments to the United States. That's because some say they are simply unsure of how to navigate the new system. How do they make sure the tariffs are paid? What paperwork is needed? And it's not yet clear when these services will be back up and running.
For now, Americans wanting to indulge in some retail therapy will simply have fewer options.
Anna Cooban, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: The White House says it will comply with the judge's order to shut down the Florida immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz, but it will keep fighting the decision in court. The judge says the facility must wind down operations over the next two months. The order stems from a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a native American tribe concerned about the facility's impact on the environment. Florida's governor has also vowed to fight the judge's order.
According to an email exchange obtained by CNN, a top Florida official says the controversial immigration detention center will likely be empty in a matter of days.
Teams revved up in Australia to push the limits of technological innovation and challenge that involves the need for speed and harnessing the power of the sun. And that story is next -- that story and more coming up next. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Car teams from across the world converged on Australia last week, with one mission, to be the fastest team to travel the outback in a vehicle powered by the energy of the sun. It's called the Bridgestone world solar challenge. And on Thursday, one team came out on top.
CNN's Lynda Kinkade reports.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Celebrating their victory in Adelaide, Team Brunel from the Netherlands, the fastest solar powered car to cross Australia from north to south in this years Bridgestone's World Solar Challenge.
Thirty-four solar powered cars from around the world set off on the challenge last weekend at speed, sometimes topping 100 kilometers per hour. The cars zipped along a 3,000-kilometer route, stopping at 5:00 p.m. each night and taking off again at eight in the morning. The challenge starts in Darwin and ends in Adelaide, with the vast outback in between.
Held every two years, the event requires designers and engineers to find the best mix of speed, endurance and energy efficiency.
DANNY KENNEDY, GLOBAL SOLAR COUNCIL: Effectively, they've turned the Sturt Highway into a 3,000-kilometer sandbox to just create new, better, faster ways of driving on sunshine.
KINKADE: This year, many of the fastest cars featured fins of varying sizes and shapes. When deployed, they can harness wind power to join forces with solar power.
DAVID MOL, BRUNEL SOLAR TEAM AERODYNAMICS ENGINEER: So a fin uses crosswinds to generate lift and the lift points forward, so it creates an extra force forward, which makes sure that our cars more efficient and can cut through the air. MATTHEW ANDERSON, MICHIGAN TEAM MANAGER: It's a vertical airfoil that
has two main benefits. First, it draws out forward thrust like a sail on a boat, and second, it steadies us in crosswind. So, kind of like a rudder on an airplane. It helps us drive more straight in the harsh winds of the outback.
KINKADE: In the past, new innovations tested in this race have become mainstream in the auto industry. Like aerodynamic design and lightweight materials.
KENNEDY: And I bet you in ten years time, we'll all be taking it for granted that the cars coming out have, you know, weird little foils and things that, you know, you're wondering how they came up with that. Well, here you go. This is how they came up with it. It was tested by these teams on this trip, on this track, at this time.
KINKADE: In 2019, the Brunel team from the Delft University of Technology suffered a car fire, a memory that made this year's win even sweeter.
KEES BROEK, BRUNEL SOLAR TEAM: It feels back to rise back from the ashes, come back stronger every time. And yeah, we drove a record time today in Adelaide, so I'm really glad.
KINKADE: Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: Scientists have managed to uncover the violent history of the Red Planet by studying Mars quakes. Scientists say they've detected large fragments and debris under the Martian surface. It's the result of massive collisions with other objects in the first 100 million years after Mars was formed.
They made the discovery by analyzing the impact of Mars quakes. That's the term used for seismic activity that shakes the Martian surface like meteorite impacts. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks plate tectonics, so the planet's geological history is preserved under the surface.
All right. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
"WORLD SPORT" is next, and I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour.
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