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New Russian Campaign Targets Ukrainian Gas Stations; U.S. Planning Iran Strikes as soon as This Weekend; FIFA Scraps Gianni Infantino's Controversial Investment Plan; Aid Groups Warn Crisis Worsening around Besieged El Obeid. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired August 01, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show, a rebellion by the international soccer community forces FIFA's hand. The latest on the future of the World Cup.

Washington readies fresh strikes on Tehran. What Donald Trump is threatening to target and how soon they could come.

Plus, the civil war in Sudan reaches a flashpoint as the fighting triggers a worsening crisis in one city. We'll speak to an aid worker on the ground.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: All of those stories in just a moment.

But first, Ukraine's capital is reeling from what the foreign minister calls a hell of a night in which Russia launched dozens of ballistic missiles. Officials say at least nine people were killed and 28 others injured in the attack that wrecked this five-story residential building.

Fires and damage have been reported across Kyiv. Russia says it launched a massive strike but that it targeted military facilities.

Meanwhile, U.S. president Donald Trump is confirming he may back out of his promise to allow Ukraine to make Patriot missile interceptors. A Ukrainian lawmaker spoke about that with CNN's Jim Sciutto just as Russian missiles started to come down.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So what's your reaction?

There was hope when President Trump said just a few days ago, we've agreed to share that technology. And now, he says no.

Do you feel abandoned?

HALYNA YANCHENKO, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: I feel confused, to tell the truth because everyone, it seems that everyone knows, at least in Ukraine but also everyone else who is interested in the security and their own security, actually.

Everyone knows that the Patriot system is very important for global safety because this is about an only air defense that can actually tackle Russian ballistic down as well as everyone knows that there is a very, very limited production of this Patriot interceptors in the world.

So basically, they can do about only 60 missiles a month. This is probably the amount that Ukraine needs for three nights to tackle down Russian ballistics.

And by the way, as we are talking, there are more Russian ballistics flying to Ukraine and to Kyiv where I'm talking -- where I am now.

So everyone knows that their production is limited. And the opportunity to provide licenses to Ukraine to boost the production is of interest of Ukraine but also of U.S. and of global security. Therefore, for me, it's absolutely confusing to see that the decision is still under the question.

Because it's of interest of everyone, Ukraine and U.S. and the world.

SCIUTTO: You know, the end of President Trump's comments also caught my ear, because he raised this possibility that, if the U.S. were to share the technology with Ukraine, that someday Ukraine might turn it against the United States.

What's your reaction to hear that from President Trump?

YANCHENKO: This is actually a really weird statement, because when we are talking about -- gosh, you can probably also hear the explosions in the background.

SCIUTTO: Please stay safe.

YANCHENKO: Yes. So this is what we are also talking about.

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HUNTE: Russia has found another way to terrorize Ukrainian civilians: bombing their gas stations. Since June, there have been hundreds of Russian attacks on fuel stations across Ukraine. Some Ukrainians believe this is payback for drone strikes on Russian refineries. Let's get some more now from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Even stopping for gas in Ukraine can now be lethal.

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More than 200 fuel stations have been attacked by Russia, since June. That's about three a day. In a country where the war has shut down commercial flights, they are a lifeline with a huge role in a vast country.

The pump's now a place to listen out for the buzz of drones and know where the bomb shelter is. In Zaporizhzhya, policeman Mykhailo Tsypliakov ran in to help after a drone struck one station but then he heard a second.

MYKHAILO TSYPLIAKOV, PATROL POLICE OFFICER (through translator): When I heard the drone was already descending, I saw a flash, got up and saw injuries to my arm, legs. Maybe Russia is doing this to intimidate to saw fear and create panic.

WALSH (voice-over): We verified 30 of the estimated over 200 attacks in June and July. They fall across Ukraine but most are close to occupied areas, the cities of Kramatorsk and Kharkiv worst hit, all in reach of Russian drones and intensifying fuel trucks and containers targeted.

On a simple level, impeding the war effort by making it hard to get gas but also sowing fear far away from the front lines. The growing range of Russian attack drones making one safe areas part of the kill zone.

YAROSLAV STAROVOITENKO, PRESIDENT, OIL AND GAS ASSOCIATION OF UKRAINE: Gas stations became these key points of refuge as people fled the war. Then Russia tried to cause an intentional blackout, cutting of electricity and heating to freeze us out in the winter.

And gas stations became the first facilities to be 100 percent equipped with generators. These were places where people could drink hot tea, fill up their cars, warm up and even prepare milk for their babies.

WALSH (voice-over): And in Kyiv that hasn't always worked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's always a risk. No one knows where the attack will strike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was discharged from the army after being seriously wounded. If a strike comes here, what's the difference?

It didn't kill me on the front line, so it won't kill me here.

WALSH (voice-over): But many see this as a Russian response to the fuel crisis and queues imposed in Russia by Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries. Putin's escalation inflicting the same bag. Russia's elite drone units make up public points of their strikes on Ukraine, releasing a video here of nine being hit. The damage is real, unexpected and growing. Another sign, absolutely nothing is off limits in Moscow's invasion of choice -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

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HUNTE: An unknown projectile has hit a tanker off the coast of Oman, near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. That is according to a report received by a British maritime monitor. It didn't say who was responsible for that attack.

While the Trump administration tries to find an off-ramp from the Iran war, the U.S. president gathered his cabinet at Camp David. This all comes as we are learning that the U.S. is planning to launch a new round of strikes as soon as this weekend. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more for us.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The United States is planning fresh strikes on Iran this weekend, although it's not clear what exactly the scope is going to be.

Now this comes at a time where U.S. Central Command has been preparing a number of different options. One of those options is expanding the war and it would include a two-week bombardment of Iranian missile sites.

Another one of the options that we have heard is being prepared for is the striking of energy sites.

Now one thing to make clear, we've been down this pathway before. President Trump has said he's going to commit these strikes.

And these U.S. officials who are telling us about what the preparing is to go into this weekend, they are also noting that nothing is finalized until those strikes actually happen. President Trump, he certainly seemed intent on ratcheting up the military action earlier today. Here's what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We'll be hitting them very hard. And, you know, at some point they're going to say, we just can't take it anymore. We just want to win. We don't want to have them. It's very simple, they cannot have a nuclear weapon.

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HOLMES: Now it feels as though the U.S. and Iran has come to some kind of an impasse. And there has to be something that happens to change the current state of play.

We know, behind the scenes, mediators are trying to bring Iran and the United States back to the table for that negotiating. But right now, it certainly doesn't seem as though they are headed in that direction. Now one other thing that we have learned from U.S. officials is

there's been talk about potential strikes on nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain. Now that wouldn't be only Pickaxe Mountain but that would be one of them.

This is something that experts are really divided on, just whether or not it would actually make any kind of impact. But, of course, again, we're waiting to see what actually happens over the weekend. But we are told that the U.S. as of now, is planning a new set of strikes as early as this weekend -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

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HUNTE: A senior Hamas official tells CNN the militant group has agreed to give up its weapons but only if Israel upholds its obligations under the October ceasefire agreement. That includes withdrawing its forces in Gaza, so the so-called yellow line.

Israel says it will not pull out its troops before Hamas disarms. Despite all of the uncertainty, president Trump is calling this deal a breakthrough.

An open revolt by soccer federations from all around the world has forced the sports governing body, FIFA, to abandon a very controversial $20 billion investment plan. President Gianni Infantino pitched that proposal. It would have split off the rights to future World Cup tournaments into a new subsidiary, partly funded by private investors.

Soccer leaders worldwide were outraged. They said the sport's very soul was at risk and some threatened to boycott future World Cups. The plan also led to the resignation in protest of Infantino's senior adviser. Infantino said he heard that reaction and, as a result, the plan will not proceed.

Well. In the last hour I spoke with Kevin Baxter, a sports writer for the "Los Angeles Times," and got his take on FIFA's decision to push back on Infantino's controversial proposal. It is the biggest challenge to his authority since becoming FIFA president.

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KEVIN BAXTER, SPORTS WRITER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": This is one of the most spectacular retreats in the history of an organization known for brazenly pushing through ethical barriers.

And it comes, you know, just two weeks after one of the most successful World Cups ever. Two weeks ago, just before the World Cup final, "The Guardian" newspaper in England published a story in which it said two -- more than 200 of the 211 FIFA member nations had already endorsed Gianni Infantino's bid to be reelected.

In the FIFA conference next March he'll run for a fourth term, so he had overwhelming support. Now two weeks after that World Cup, all of a sudden there are calls

for him to resign coming from Javier Tebas, who is the president of the Spanish Football Association; from the new prime minister of the U.K. Andy Burnham has called for Infantino to resign.

This is hugely damaging. And the big problem is it's an own goal. It didn't have to happen. The big problem wasn't so much the plan. It was the fact that Infantino wanted to go, push this through in secret and never really discuss it with any of his lieutenants.

HUNTE: As you say, this also wasn't just criticism from fans.

How unprecedented was that level of resistance from inside world football?

BAXTER: Well, the interesting thing was he, Gianni Infantino, came from UEFA, which is the confederation that rules European soccer. That's where he cut his teeth. That's where he was -- first got involved in international soccer.

But since he became FIFA president, UEFA and FIFA have had a very difficult relationship. So it wasn't -- it wasn't surprising to see UEFA come out against Infantino and threaten to boycott the World Cup.

Now if UEFA boycotts the World Cup, that means Spain, which is the reigning men's and women's World Cup champion and, in addition to being the men's Olympic champion, that means Spain would boycott Germany, England, the Netherlands, all of the top countries.

So that had some real teeth. But what happened is the dominoes started to fall quickly after that. CONCACAF, which is the Confederation for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, they have 41 member countries.

They also said that they would not -- that they would back UEFA in -- and they were opposed to the plan. The Asian confederation came out and said the same thing. So all of a sudden, these different confederations let Infantino know that he didn't have enough votes to get his proposal passed, so he had to back down.

But the interesting thing is, the idea of selling a 20 percent stake in the World Cup, why that's shocking, too, many insiders in soccer say, you know what?

There is private equity capital all over international soccer. The private investment firms that own teams and own clubs all over Europe, the idea of private equity being part of soccer is not that farfetched. It was just the idea of this plan being launched without any input from anybody.

HUNTE: So on the other side of that, why did this proposal strike such a nerve across the football world?

BAXTER: Well, again, I think it's the fact that no one was consulted and people came out. You know, the prime minister of England, of the U.K., Andy Burnham, said, look, football is not for sale. Football belongs to and the World Cup belongs to the supporters.

And you can't just sell a stake of something that doesn't belong to you. I think that was one of the big problems. You know, no one was consulted, no one was -- one delegate or FIFA board member said, you know, look, this thing would take years to hammer out the agreement of how this would work.

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We all know, you know, a lot of us, especially in journalism, work for companies that are owned by private equity or have private equity investment. And we know that the idea at the start that we're all going to be partners in this, all of a sudden, when, you know, profits begin to shrink, all of a sudden corners get cut.

There was talk about maybe FIFA would have to have a World Cup every two years instead of every four years in order to keep the private equity investors happy. That is something that needs to be talked about. It just can't be hammered through by one man.

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HUNTE: There is much more to come on CNN, including a look at the escalating crisis caused by Sudan's civil war. We'll talk live to an aid worker currently in the country. Stay with us.

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HUNTE: This just in to CNN. Kuwait says it is fending off a new wave of drone attacks. The general staff of the army told residents that any explosions heard are the result of interceptions.

People there have been told to follow safety instructions. It's not clear what was targeted but Kuwaiti infrastructure and U.S. military facilities in the country have been targets of previous Iranian attacks.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am going back. There's nothing to do here. Locals of Ceuta have treated us badly. We are hungry. Shops are closed. There was nothing.

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HUNTE: Broken hopes and shattered dreams following a massive flood of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Spain now says most of the 50,000 people who stormed across the border since Thursday have returned to Morocco. At least 57 died in the process, many by drowning. Spain has deployed troops to Ceuta and it says it will try to expel

migrants who are still there as quickly as possible. The country's prime minister, that is Pedro Sanchez, blames the incident on misinformation on social media about a recent supreme court ruling. The decision makes it harder to return migrants who arrive in Spain by sea.

Aid groups warn that the crisis caused by Sudan's three-year civil war is worsening, particularly in and around El Obeid, a strategic trade hub that is now sheltering at least half a million people. The U.N. says El Obeid has endured siege conditions for more than 18 months now.

Drone attacks by both sides are making it impossible for people to go to markets for food or for them to even get water. Women and girls face a particular threat. The U.N. says they risk sexual violence if they wait until after dark to get supplies when drones don't operate.

Aid agencies say a humanitarian crisis is imminent. Islamic relief aid workers in El Obeid report daily drone strikes on trucks trying to deliver assistance and warn that vital supplies will soon run out.

Dawelbeit Elzein Abdalla is a field coordinator for Islamic Relief Sudan, who joins us now from El Obeid.

Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. You have described daily drone strikes and worsening shortages.

What does daily life look like for families there right now and what are people most afraid of?

DAWELBEIT ELZEIN ABDALLA, FIELD COORDINATOR, ISLAMIC RELIEF SUDAN: Yes. Well, thank you very much for this, for this accommodating me on CNN. And it's my pleasure to speak with you from inside, from the front line in the way.

So the life now has became like smoothly and the people are living with a very normal life. But yes, there is some struggles in terms of fuels, in terms of access to the drinking water.

That's something specifically for the people who are displaced as an internally displaced people who are gathering in a way, as the town is accommodating around 1.2 million people who were coming as fleeing from the conflict around the area.

And yes, yes. So the drone attacks also is affecting many fuel stations. This is sometimes also difficult times. The accessibility to the services, the difficulty also even for the transportation for the food and sustainable for the water, for the drinking water stations within the town.

But now still the situation is calm but unpredictable. As usual, we -- due to drone attacks from time to time. My life now in the town is very normal and people are living their life is, yes, there is some limited access to facilities, to some services and affordability for the some kinds of the -- what we call it the local market. And due to the, due to the inflation of the prices in the area. Thank

you.

HUNTE: The U.N. says that women and girls are now facing an impossible choice, either risk drone strikes by collecting water during the day or risk sexual violence at night.

Are you seeing that reality on the ground?

ABDALLA: For the time being, there is no any reports to show that these numbers of this. But actually, since there is some, there is some active military presence around the area and push those people to move from their areas to the main town as a safe, as a safe ground, there is some accidents.

But still there is no official reports speaking about that as Islamic Relief is not working directly for the SGBV in order to collect some reports and information regarding to that.

But as the context, this is something usually could be happen and expected to happen during that, as there is many people are imposed to leave their areas, to come over here as a safe area.

So there is some cases but there is no official reports and something that indicated these cases has been already -- has been already on the ground and happen. But as a result of any such types of conflicts, there is some abuses occurred.

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But no any figures and information regarding to that one.

HUNTE: Your teams have continued operating despite all of the fighting.

What are the biggest challenges that humanitarian workers face in delivering food and health care and clean water?

ABDALLA: Yes, of course, definitely the short of fuel is affected. Most of the humanitarian workers who are -- who are providing humanitarian services in North Kordofan in the specifically. So therefore, this is something systemic. They providing assistance to become some difficulties.

Like also the drone attacks are along the road that's connected North Kordofan and -- with White Nile as the main road. So there is some attacks to the convoys of the humanitarian services.

So that's something really facing big challenges. Now the numbers of -- the numbers of international organizations working inside or the national organization working inside El Obeid, they have some accessibility to the area that they're working with the local authorities and coordinated these issues of the short of fuel that's affected.

Like the case of Islamic relief, previously, we are using the local -- the local transportation to transport food from the main warehouses to the distribution point. So this is due to the scarcity of the fuel.

We are coordinating with WFP to provide us with trucks. That's working with us. And we pray to the God that this distribution has been completely and everyone has received his food ration from those IDPs in El Obeid.

HUNTE: OK. Thank you so much for your time. We really do appreciate it. And obviously an awful situation there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

OK. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next. I will see you tomorrow.