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CNN International: Ukraine Reports New Strikes As Starshield Controversy Grows; Houthis Say They Attacked Several Key Sites In Saudi Arabia; Government To Outline Security Measures For Saturday Protests. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 23, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:35]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to our headlines.

President Zelenskyy and Trump are not on the same page even when it comes to Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite service. We're going to have the latest on the rift as Russia continues its airstrikes.

And Saudi Arabia faces an intensifying threat from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. We're going to look at how it is impacting tensions all across the region.

Plus, President Trump doubles down on supporting an inflammatory campaign ad in a key midterm race, even as that bipartisan backlash grows, here's what voters are saying about it.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: Ukraine is reporting new Russian strikes, this is across the country as questions grow about the status of a satellite service that is key for Ukraine's air defenses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells CNN that Starshield has still not been fully restored.

Now, that contradicts U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that the system is fully back up and running. Trump has declined to say whether he personally asked Musk to lift restrictions.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy appears to be trying to mend fences with President Trump, despite their recent public falling out.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Zelenskyy criticized the easing of sanctions on Russia, but said the disagreements with Trump are not personal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that if we will lift sanctions, we will make him stronger. And that's why I'm like a president. It's not something personal between me and President Trump.

And, of course, I'm against of any lifting of sanctions. I always said it to European partners and I said it directly to American administration. I'm -- of course, I know what I do. I have to strengthen me, my country, my people, my army, but not my enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: CNN's Clare Sebastian is monitoring developments for us from Ukraine and joins us now live in London.

Good morning, Clare. So, are there any indications now that there's attempts to heal this rift between President Trump and President Zelenskyy? Or is it only getting worse?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, I don't think we've seen any dramatic further movements to the downside for this relationship in the last sort of 24 hours or so. It's clear that President Zelenskyy is dealing with the real-time potential consequences of that rift, even though the White House, of course, publicly denies that there's been any intentional effort to lessen the Starlink speeds or intelligence sharing, which Zelenskyy says is now switched back on, or even the supplies of Patriot interceptors, which there have also been reports that they have been withheld those supplies from Ukraine's partners.

But it is clear that this is a very concerning time for President Zelenskyy. He sees not only these issues with Ukraine's defenses as supplied by the U.S., but also this rapprochement, as we've seen it, between Russia and the U.S. Not only the praise heaped on Putin by the U.S. side during those talks in St. Petersburg, but of course this diesel deal, which came with a lessening of sanctions, the waiving of new sanctions in the Graham Act.

All of that comes with deep concern for President Zelenskyy. And there is still, you know, a bit of mystery surrounding Starshield and Starlink. Is it fully back on? President Zelenskyy told Christiane Amanpour in that interview that it wasn't yet. We are seeking more clarity on that this morning. And if it is switched back on, who made the call?

Both "The Wall Street Journal" and "New York Times" are reporting that President Trump called Elon Musk to get him to turn it back on. This is what he had to say when asked about that on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn't make any difference. I guess the bottom line, he put it back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, he's being a bit cagey about it, which is interesting because, look, in the past when we've seen the U.S. intentionally pull back on helping Ukraine, they've been open about it. So, this is a -- this is an interesting episode in this relationship.

[04:05:06]

But look, I talked about real-world consequences. There were more overnight attacks from both sides. It should be noted, Ukraine attacked by more than 200, they said, almost 200 Russian drones, about half of those jet powered. Those are the drones that are now much harder for Ukraine to intercept with the reduced Starlink and Starshield speeds.

We're hearing about energy facilities attacked in six regions. DTEK, which is the country's biggest private energy company said, one of their facilities, their thermal power plants, was attacked on Thursday and has stopped generating electricity.

So, so begins this cycle that we've seen over previous winters of attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, followed by a race to repair them in time. And all of this, of course, while Ukraine has to deal with the concerns that the U.S. is drawing ever closer to Russia. Salma?

Clare Sebastian there with a relationship status update between President Trump and President Zelenskyy. Thank you so much.

I want to dig into this topic deeper now. We are joined from London by John Lough. He is the Head of Foreign Policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre. Thank you so much for joining us this morning just to break this down further.

I want to begin with a claim that we've heard this week from President Trump, which is, he says, that the administration is the closest we've been, that's a quote, to settling the war in Ukraine. And he provides that as justification for easing sanctions, for this new diesel deal.

Give me an update here. Give me an indication. Is there any sign of that deal closing in?

JOHN LOUGH, HEAD OF FOREIGN POLICY, NEW EURASIAN STRATEGIES CENTRE: We don't see any sign of it. In fact, the -- the situation feels actually very familiar and that the Russians have a clear set of demands that the Ukrainians are not prepared to meet. And for that reason, Russia has intensified its air bombardments of Ukraine and is doing it. It's making a very systematic effort to destroy the Ukrainian economy. Ukraine is, therefore, weakened in that respect.

But Ukraine, for its part, has, first of all, held the frontline pretty effectively, has even managed to advance in recent months and has also inflicted some quite serious pain on the Russian economy and, in fact, brought the war home to the Russian population, which up to that point, earlier this year, was just isolated from it and insulated from it. So, the fact they started attacking these oil refineries, warehouses, more recently data centers.

So, it's -- it still feels as though the neither side is ready for a compromise. And President Trump may think, because he speaks regularly to Putin and often repeats exactly what Putin has told him, that the Ukrainians are on their last legs and therefore about to break and will be prepared to sign any sort of deal. So that may be his starting point. But I simply don't see any sign of that at the moment.

So no sign of a deal, but at the same time, we're seeing the administration heap praise on President Putin. The Special Envoy Steve Witkoff spent three hours talking to Putin this week and very controversially described him as a humanitarian for his decision to release an American prisoner.

What do you make of those comments and what do they tell us about America's position right now?

LOUGH: Well, it was an appalling comment by Steve Witkoff and made without any sensitivity, of course, towards Ukrainians, first and foremost, who Russia is killing very large numbers of Ukrainians on a -- a regular basis and ignoring, of course, the history of Vladimir Putin's rule in Russia.

But it seems to be part of an effort to try to charm Putin, to entice him into, as the U.S. side sees it, into some sort of comfortable situation where tensions can be removed in the relationship. And the, of course, Trump administration wants to talk about commercial deals.

And here, I think, they're just playing perfectly into Russian hands. The Russians really know what they're doing when they're dealing with people like Witkoff, who know nothing about Russia, who have no experience in this case of diplomatic negotiation in this region. They're straight off the plane and therefore they're malleable.

So, it -- it really does feel as though in -- in an effort to try to create an atmosphere and maybe an overall situation in which negotiations can be conducted, that the Trump administration is somehow bending over backwards to accommodate Putin.

And Trump has said he doesn't want to impose sanctions or put pressure on Putin because he's got him to the table, doesn't want him to leave. And therefore, the easy thing for him to do then is to pile pressure on Ukraine and on President Zelenskyy, personally.

And for that reason, this slowdown of Starlink and the Starshield systems, the satellite communication systems are absolutely vital for Ukraine's defenses and for -- for their military campaign at the moment.

[04:10:11]

This is very, very serious. And it's not clear who gave that order in the first place for those systems to be slowed down. What was the purpose of it? Because it is affecting Ukraine's ability, not -- not only to defend itself against missile -- missile attacks, but also it's reducing intensity of what it can do on the frontline. And this is, therefore, giving the Russian army at least some sort of temporary respite.

ABDELAZIZ: And, John, if I may ask perhaps the most obvious question for anyone who is observing what's happening in Ukraine for those inside Ukraine, has America simply joined Moscow's camp in this conflict?

LOUGH: I wouldn't go so far as to say that. I think the -- the Trump administration's instincts are to try to be friendly towards Putin, to try and fashion some sort of agreement that way. And I think the Russians simply can't believe their luck.

But at the same time, they know that the midterms are ahead. They know that -- that Trump's position, with the position of administration, is not aligned with that of Congress. There's still, as I understand it, majority support for Ukraine in -- on the -- on the Hill.

And then there's the broad issue of the American public. So, how is this going to sit if Trump tries to pursue this line where effectively he's doing Russia's work and forcing Ukraine into a surrender?

I don't think that's going to be possible. And I also don't think Ukrainians are in fact going to surrender. They're going to carry on fighting in some form.

ABDELAZIZ: John Lough there with the New Eurasian Strategy Centre breaking down those claims by President Trump of bringing these two parties to the table as missiles continue to fly. Thank you so much.

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen say they have launched fresh strikes on several key locations in Saudi Arabia. Now, the group claims it attacked the Saudi Defense Ministry in Riyadh on Thursday, along with Saudi Aramco oil facilities and the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.

Saudi authorities say two people were killed in the airport attack. Now there is no word yet from Saudi officials about the other strikes.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department issued new security alerts warning Americans to be aware of potential attacks on Saudi airports. Non-essential embassy staff have also been ordered out of the Saudi capital.

And the Iran-backed Houthis have launched a series of deadly strikes on the Riyadh International Airport in recent days.

To break this down further, we have Gregg Carlstrom. He is the Middle East correspondent for "The Economist" and author of "How Long Will Israel Survive?: The Threat From Within." He joins me now from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Good morning. Thank you so much for joining the program.

If I may begin with that news that we were just reporting there, yet another attack on an airport in the kingdom this week. I think it brings the total number of killed to 21 people and Houthi attacks on Saudi airports since the start of this month.

What does that tell us about the Houthis' strategy here? Are they switching to targeting civilian infrastructure and focusing away from the battlefield and away from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait? And what means does Riyadh have to respond to this?

GREGG CARLSTROM, MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT, THE ECONOMIST: Right. I think when it comes to Saudi, they are focusing on a couple of sets of targets that will have an outsized economic impact on the Kingdom.

You mentioned these attacks on -- on oil facilities, the headquarters of Aramco in the east, refineries and -- and other infrastructure across the country as well. And, obviously, there's an economic cost to that for a country whose economy is -- is largely dependent on oil.

But then going after airports, I think sort of makes the Saudi capital in particular feel like it's under siege at the moment. It's -- it's very difficult for anyone to get in and out of Riyadh. You have to drive to other airports that are hours away or drive to other countries, even drive to Bahrain or Qatar.

And it comes at a time when the Saudis had hoped to be hosting a series of big events. Next week was supposed to be their flagship investment conference that usually draws, you know, who's who of -- of leaders from politics and finance around the world. That has been postponed until next year because nobody can fly in.

And so going after the airports, as Houthis are doing, it -- it has not just an economic impact, but I think it -- it damages confidence in the country. It damages everything that Saudi is trying to do with economic diversification.

ABDELAZIZ: I do -- I do very much appreciate how you put that. It makes the capital, it makes Riyadh feel like it's under siege. And this is a capital that traditionally would be seen as secure, as concrete.

In that vein, Riyadh has asked Washington for additional missile interceptors. Of course, many have been used during this conflict with Iran, but U.S. officials have responded by saying, there is global demand and that is straining available supplies.

[04:15:14]

How can this be resolved here? And how important is it for Saudi Arabia to get these interceptors?

CARLSTROM: It's really hard to resolve in the short-term. It's not just the Saudis who were short on them. Every Gulf country is short on interceptors at the moment. Israel is the United States is -- these are things that are not produced in large numbers.

And even if you want to ramp up production now, which the U.S. and -- and other countries are starting to do, it's going to take years to create the -- the factories, the industrial base that will be able to -- to produce larger quantities of interceptors.

So, for the Saudis for the moment, there's no easy solution. They still have some left. You know, we woke up here at about three o'clock in the morning to alerts of another attack on -- on Riyadh overnight. And I could see a couple of interceptors being fired into the air over central Riyadh. We don't know what the target was. We don't know if that -- that drone or missile was intercepted.

But, you know, they do still have some, but they have a large country to defend. They're facing attacks from the Houthis now and potentially if the Iran war resumes, also from Iran itself, from militias in Iraq.

And so they're worried about getting hit from all sides if the war ramps up again after the midterms, as Donald Trump has threatened. And they're going to have a very hard time defending.

ABDELAZIZ: Gregg Carlstrom there who is in Riyadh describes the city as feeling in some ways like it is under siege. Thank you so much for giving us that analysis.

There is so much more to come here on "CNN Newsroom." France's president warns protesters, authorities are cracking down ahead of major demonstrations expected this weekend.

Plus, a new warning from the World Health Organization as the Ebola outbreak spreads across Africa. The country's that are reporting new cases, up next.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back.

The French government is expected to announce today security measures for major protests that are planned for Saturday.

President Emmanuel Macron was set to meet last hour with defense officials as authorities braced for more unrest. Officials have temporarily banned some protests in major cities following some of the worst riding in years.

Parts of Paris and other cities are still under curfew. France's interior minister says more than 2,700 people have been detained. This is since last Saturday. And French courts have convicted and sentenced 270 people to prison.

Meanwhile, a student-led protest group marched peacefully through Paris Thursday after a court suspended a police ban on their demonstration. France's main student union is calling for more demonstrations on Saturday. And one of the country's largest trade unions says it plans to join.

After meeting with his security council on Thursday, President Macron announced that only protests affiliated with a trade union would be allowed to proceed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Any requests to demonstrate or gather, especially those made by individuals or groups lacking the legitimacy to do so, will be prohibited by the Prefects. Now is not the time. Our priority is a return to calm.

Everywhere, trade unions may submit requests to hold demonstrations. These will be reviewed by the Prefects in accordance with the law. However, alternative routes will be proposed to protect our city centers, specifically our businesses and public buildings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now to Serbia, where student-led protests have evolved into a political movement ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections. Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Belgrade Thursday for a final campaign rally.

The movement emerged after a deadly canopy collapse at a train station in 2024. Now, the group is backing a list of 250 candidates. It includes actors, farmers, professors, and even a rapper. The election could pose the greatest challenge to former president, Aleksandar Vucic, and his Serbian progressive party.

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(PROTESTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: You are looking at demonstrators hitting the streets across Poland accusing the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk of going back on a promise to relax the country's strict abortion laws.

Right now, abortion in Poland is legal only in cases of rape or incest or when the woman's life is at risk. Protesters say they want more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a woman and women's rights are really important for me. And I would love to live in a country where they are respected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: The Polish parliament voted this week to ease criminal penalties for assisting women in getting abortions and to allow abortions in the case of fetal abnormalities, but the president says he'll block any effort to loosen that law.

Now to a new warning from the World Health Organization, the agency is calling for vigilance as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading.

New cases have been reported in Kenya and Nigeria. Officials say multiple patients traveled from the DRC and transited through Uganda before arriving in other countries.

In the DRC, the virus has spread to an eighth province with more than 9,000 confirmed cases and at least 4,000 deaths. This is as of Tuesday.

Now, World Health officials are calling for faster case detection, contact tracing, and stronger surveillance at those borders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MOHAMED JANABI, WHO REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR AFRICA: I strongly believe no country safe until every country is prepared. So, our focus now must be on action, early detection, rapid response, and regional solidarity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:09]

ABDELAZIZ: Still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," Ohio's Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing ahead with a controversial campaign ad, even though more Republicans are saying, take it down. We're going to hear from the president and from voters.

Plus, Brazil's presidential race grows increasingly bitter ahead of Sunday's runoff with legal disputes and personal attacks.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Just 11 days before the U.S. midterm elections, new data shows that more than 20 million Americans have already voted. And Republicans appear increasingly anxious about losing control of Congress.

Some of them have been taking some big swings in an effort to move the needle, perhaps most notably in Ohio, where backlash to an incendiary campaign ad is now spreading far beyond the state's borders.

But that did not stop President Trump from once again defending the spot during a campaign stop in Iowa in depicting it as a gift, even though the ad deals with a troubling family dynamic and discussions of child sexual abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's like a big story about he must take that ad down immediately. He must -- no. The mother is calling the daughter a terrible person and a liar. Everybody should be so lucky. Why would you shield somebody from that? Why would -- why would we do that? So I told him, leave it up and look upstairs and say, thank you God very much. I appreciate it, so. But that's a hot story.