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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Hurricane Erin Moving Up U.S. East Coast At Category 2; Zelenskyy Says He's Ready To Make "Some Compromise" On Whether Ceasefire Must Happen Before Talks With Putin; Israel Approves Controversial West Bank Settlement Plan. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 21, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:23]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining from the United States and all around the world. I'm Erica Hill. Rahel Solomon is off.
It is Thursday, August 21st, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.
Straight ahead on EARLY START.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one should be in the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officials warning about the impacts of Hurricane Erin. We saw some 60 water rescues of people being pulled out by those dangerous rip currents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was the chaotic scene in Norwalk, Connecticut, as federal agents surrounded a red truck and arrested two brothers from Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad's truck was just left, right in the middle of the road. Windows smashed, glass on the floor.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some in D.C. have taken to the streets in protest, with roughly 8 in 10 residents opposing Trump's federal takeover.
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are a bunch of crazy protesters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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HILL: A massive hurricane is moving up the East Coast at this hour. Hurricane Erin is now a category 2 storm churning through the Atlantic.
You can see just how big that storm is. While it is not expected to make landfall. It is already causing storm surge, strong winds, heavy rain, and flooding up and down the coast. At least six states have restricted swimming on their beaches. Officials are warning the danger here is real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH STEIN, NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: We are anticipating coastal flooding from massive waves, tropical storm force winds and tidal and storm surge for much of the state shoreline. Life-threatening rip currents for most of the week. No one should be in the ocean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Hurricane Erin's choppy waters extend as far north as Rhode Island, where you can see this ferry in Rhode Island. This is near Block Island, which is about 11 to 12 miles off the coast. Is trying to navigate those rocky seas. The storm itself is forecast to turn into the open ocean over the next few days. You can see the projected path there as it picks up speed.
Meteorologists, though, are already tracking a new storm threat just behind Erin.
CNN's Michael Yoshida is in North Carolina with more now on the severe weather.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The waves crashing here in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. These are some of the biggest waves our team has seen over the few days we've been here. Obviously, officials warning about the impacts of Hurricane Erin. The massive waves, the strength they will have. The storm surge. Also, those dangerous rip currents.
This beach, one of many that are up and down the east coast that have issued no swimming advisories. It was earlier in the week here at Wrightsville Beach, where we saw some 60 water rescues of people being pulled out by those dangerous rip currents, people starting to heed those warnings only for rescues today. Still, officials warning as this storm continues to move through the Atlantic, as the impacts and effects of it are felt here in the Carolinas and beyond. Stay out of the water, hunker down and just listen to local authorities and give them the space they need until this storm passes.
Reporting in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. I'm Michael Yoshida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: North Carolina's governor is making sure the state is prepared for the worst of this passing hurricane. The state has already deployed swift water rescue teams, hundreds of national guard troops and helicopters to transport food and water, as well as additional supplies. The governor also declaring a state of emergency on Tuesday.
Electricity provider Dominion Energy has also pre-positioned its crews in a preposition -- in preparation rather for power outages. Hundreds of workers and repair trucks are on standby. At this point, only a few hundred customers are without power. That's according to poweroutage.us.
We are also closely following developments out of Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now says he's ready to make some compromise on his demand for a ceasefire before any talks with Vladimir Putin. But he wants to make sure that those security guarantees that have been so, so much discussed, that those are established first. It's unclear, however, whether the meeting itself will even happen.
Russia's foreign minister is now openly contradicting the White House narrative that plans are underway for a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. Sergey Lavrov says the Russian president supports sending higher level officials to talks with Ukraine, but indicated again, Putin himself has not agreed to a face to face meeting with President Zelenskyy.
All of this, of course, continuing to play out as Russia is ramping, ramping up its attacks on Ukraine. Zelenskyy says more than 500 strike drones and some 40 missiles were launched into Ukraine overnight. Many, not all, though, were shot down.
[05:05:03]
CNN's Clare Sebastian is following all of these developments for us from London.
Yet another active night, Clare.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a really big one, Erica. This is the biggest combined air attack involving attack drones and missiles since really early July. We've seen a big attack on Monday night involving 200 drones. This was more than double the size 574 drones, according to Ukraine's air force. And 40 missiles, of which they did shoot down most of them.
But there were hits, and I think the targets are really notable to point out because we're talking about the targets, including Ukraine's westernmost regions bordering NATO countries, Lviv, that's close to the border with Poland. We had the region of Zakarpattia, which borders Slovakia and Romania and Hungary, a town was hit. That's about 30 kilometers as the crow flies from the Hungarian border. And there, Zelenskyy says, an American enterprise making consumer electronics was targeted where ten people were injured.
So, look, Ukraine's air force did manage to avert a lot of these strikes, but it is still notable that this is the second big attack we've seen in the six days since those Alaska talks. And of course, it comes, as you say, as Russia has essentially spent the week pouring cold water on what the U.S. has touted as its key achievements coming out of both Alaska and the White House talks in terms of the bilateral meeting, we've heard now a number of times from the Russian side and reaffirmed by Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday that they hadn't actually offered a meeting. They're just talking about raising the seniority of the officials involved in direct talks. Of course, we've seen that Russia has sent a pretty low level
delegation so far to the direct talks in Istanbul, and that any bilateral meeting between the two leaders, he said, would need most careful preparation, which means they're setting conditions to put in front of that. Zelenskyy, meanwhile, says that he will meet with Putin and he will compromise on the idea of having a cease in place first, which is something that his European colleagues had been pushing quite hard for in that White House meeting on Monday. But he does want security guarantees in place first.
And this is something that Lavrov also spoke about on Wednesday, saying that any talk of security guarantees and we know that work has stepped up to come up with a concrete plan on that. But any talk of security guarantees, Lavrov says, must involve Russia.
So, look, I think the point here is that Russia has given up nothing, nothing to get to this point. It's now pushing for more concessions. And meanwhile, as you say, ramping up the military pressure.
HILL: Yeah. And concerns as well that this is also another example, perhaps of Russia dragging out talks as well. I know it's a major concern among Europeans.
Clare, appreciate it as always. Thank you.
Israel stepping up its plans to occupy Gaza City. What Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now demanding of his military.
Plus, four years after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, here's why many Afghans who worked with the U.S. during its 20-year war now feel abandoned by Washington, and cameras capture an aggressive takedown as U.S. authorities arrest two Mexican brothers.
Those details just ahead.
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HILL: Israel's prime minister is expected to meet today with top security officials to discuss plans to take over Gaza City. Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to shorten the expected five-month timeline for the operation. Israel's also calling up an additional 60,000 reservists for the campaign and extending the service of another 20,000.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. EFFIE DEFRIN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: We will deepen the attack on Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organization. We will intensify the strikes on the terror infrastructure above and below ground and sever the population's dependance on Hamas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Meantime, top diplomats from Britain and the European Union are condemning an Israeli plan for new West Bank settlements that would effectively end the prospect of a Palestinian state. It calls for thousands of new housing units in an area known as E1. That's east of Jerusalem. Critics say it would cut the West Bank in two, making a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, virtually impossible.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all of these developments for us from Abu Dhabi.
So, Paula, bring us up to speed here on these operations.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, what we know at this point is the latest from the Israeli military that they believe that they have contained and have troops operating in the outskirts of Gaza City. At this point. So the preliminary stage of this takeover of Gaza city has begun. This is what they had said yesterday.
Now, we know today, this Thursday. The key thing to look for is a security cabinet meeting by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. This is where we could well see the final approval for that. That complete takeover, the occupying of Gaza City itself.
Now, the prime minister has said that it is necessary. He believes, in order to be the best way, in the fastest way to end the war. He has specified that Gaza city and the central camps of the two last strongholds of Hamas and need to be targeted.
Now, we also know that in recent days he'd also spoken to the U.S. president, Donald Trump, about this plan. So, it's believed he has the tacit approval of the White House going forward as well. And we're seeing the logistical changes in the Israeli military to make this possible. The calling up of 60,000 extra reservists on Wednesday, for example.
So, as it seems on face value, the operation that Israel says is necessary is likely to go ahead.
[05:15:04]
It does come with tremendous international condemnation, though. Many countries around the world calling on Israel to stop this takeover of Gaza City. Humanitarian aid groups, the United Nations saying that it would simply create another calamity in Gaza.
Now you have hundreds of thousands, potentially close to a million Palestinians, many of them displaced many times over in Gaza City. At this point, if evacuation orders are issued by the Israeli military for these Palestinians to leave, then you would have hundreds of thousands of people moving into an ever shrinking area of the south and southwest of Gaza, which humanitarian aid groups say is already overcrowded and does not have the infrastructure to support the people that are there already.
So, there are great concerns about what kind of humanitarian impact this could have on an already desperate situation. In fact, we have heard from the United Nations saying that cases of child malnutrition have tripled in just the past six months. Giving a sense of how difficult conditions are on the ground, we have heard from the Israelis that some 400 trucks of aid were allowed into Gaza strip on Tuesday. But aid groups say that a lot more is necessary.
So, we really have the two tracks at this point of the Israeli military and the Israeli government pushing forward and saying that this operation, that this takeover of Gaza city will go ahead. There is also the second track, though, of potentially the ceasefire talks ongoing.
We understand earlier this week that Hamas accepted the deal that is on the table. And Qatar and Egypt, the key mediators have been trying to push that process forward. We have yet to hear definitively and publicly from Israel on that track, though. And at this point, their focus really does seem to be pushing towards this Gaza City operation.
HILL: Yeah, Paula, really appreciate it's so important to continue to highlight to this humanitarian crisis as we are watching it. Thank you.
Still ahead here, parents who lost their young daughters in the deadly Texas flooding last month, speaking out now for the first time, you'll hear their emotional calls for common sense and safer camps ahead.
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[05:21:54]
HILL: In the four years since the Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan, a number of Afghan nationals who worked with U.S. forces remain stranded in the country. And now a Trump administration travel ban has left even fewer opportunities for them to escape.
CNN's Isobel Yeung reports, lives are still being lost, meantime, on the bomb riddled battlefields of Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Afghanistan, the remnants of war are everywhere.
These guys are trying to clear this whole field of landmines that have been left by decades of war. Just got to watch where we're stepping, because, anywhere beyond these red flags, they're still potentially contaminated and could have unexploded ordnance.
Deminers work around the clock.
KHALID SAMIN, DANISH REFUGEE COUNCIL: There were three accidents in an accident happened in the past.
YEUNG: Oh, wow.
And how often a civilian accident is happening in Afghanistan?
SAMIN: On a monthly basis, we have witnessed more than 110 people. Most of them are children involved with the accident, unfortunately. YEUNG: So over 100 civilian accidents every month?
SAMIN: Well, we think monthly basis, yes.
YEUNG: Wow. It must be dangerous work.
SAMIN: Yes. This is the reality of Afghanistan.
YEUNG: This guys has just found some sign of metal. So they're digging a little further to try and find out whether that's a mine or not. Very hot, dangerous work up here.
Every week, the deminers collect unexploded ordnance and explode them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.
YEUNG: But invading countries have left more than just bombs in their wake here.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans worked with the U.S. government during their 20-year war here as translators, drivers, civil society workers and doctors.
Following America's chaotic withdrawal under the Biden administration in 2021, the U.S. set up a refugee program that would provide a path for Afghans to move to the U.S., a lightning rod for many Republicans.
STEPHEN MILLER, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: The United States of America never, ever made a promise, written or unwritten, to the people of Afghanistan that, if after 20 years, they were unable to secure their own country, that we would take them to ours.
YEUNG: When Trump returned to power this year, he canceled refugee programs, dismantled the office dedicated to helping Afghans relocate and barred them from entering the U.S. altogether.
We've been speaking to a lot of those individuals across the country but, sadly, because of security concerns, most of them we're having to speak to on the phone.
On paper, the U.S. says they are still processing cases for people who worked with the U.S. military directly. But many, like this man, are stuck in Afghanistan, living in fear. We've disguised his voice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that the Taliban is searching for me. I am hiding. I can't go outside freely. If they find me, I'm confident that they will imprison me. They will torture me. They will kill me.
[05:25:00]
Donald Trump became U.S. president. He signed executive order and all our cases stopped. We stood with U.S. forces side by side for a long time. But now they banned us. Why? Where is the justice?
YEUNG: So we've been in touch with one woman who has agreed to meet with us.
She says that it's very risky that she risks running into the Taliban. She risks traveling by herself. And she's very scared. But she says it's worth it because she really needs to share her story.
As a doctor, this woman worked for American Charities. With recent USAID cuts, she lost her job. She now feels that her relationship with U.S. organizations has put her and her family's life in danger.
You're clearly terrified. You came here, you were shaking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. During the way, I saw many Taliban. And I am very afraid from them.
YEUNG: What is it like as a woman living in Afghanistan right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The situation is very bad for the Afghan woman. And we don't -- I don't have any job. Going to the bazaar, not going to the shopping, we can't. Everything. Just we are in the home and we are afraid from every second of the life we are spending, is very dangerous.
YEUNG: Her communication with the State Department has stopped. The last email she got was in January, just days before Trump returned to the White House.
How did you feel when you saw the news that Trump was canceling these programs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the night we are crying. It was very difficult to accept like this.
YEUNG: You felt like this was your lifeline.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. It broke our heart.
YEUNG: President Trump has said that he needs to protect the borders, that he needs this America First policy to ensure that it's not dangerous, that no one dangerous enters the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I am not agree with this. They broke his promise to Afghan women and Afghan girls.
YEUNG: What does it feel like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're feeling bad because we trusted it. And we working with them for 20 years. And they promised us, too. We must be moved from here to America.
YEUNG: What is your message to President Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, please, please, please start the cases again and also please support the Afghan girls or women because now it was very difficult for us. It was very dangerous. And I'm not feeling safe in here. YEUNG: The U.S. State Department told us they're unable to comment on individual cases or internal operations of refugee processing and that the president is, quote, "committed to helping those who helped us" but that their "first priority is always the safety and security of the American people".
Isobel Yeung, CNN, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Ahead here, the daughter of a man suddenly and violently detained by U.S. federal agents is speaking out about the upsetting images.
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