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Isa Soares Tonight
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Aired October 16, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
ERICA HILL, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: Thanks for joining me tonight, I'm Erica Hill in for Isa Soares. Tonight, no longer a question of if, but
when? American officials reportedly believe Israel is ready to strike Iran before the U.S. election, as Lebanon is hit with a new wave of Israeli
strikes.
Plus, Donald Trump focusing on women's issues as Kamala Harris tries to appeal to conservatives, all of it happening on the same network, "Fox", in
the final sprint to election day. And Ukraine's President revealing his victory plan against Russia as CNN gains exclusive access into a secret of
a Ukrainian unit targeting deep inside enemy lines.
The attack plan is ready. That is what a source tells CNN about Israel's retaliation against Iran. Now, we still do not know exactly when it will
happen, nor which sites may be hit, but U.S. officials do believe that counter-strike will come before election day here in the U.S., that of
course, now less than three weeks away -- it is November 5th.
Israel already, of course, fighting wars on two fronts, unleashing repeated strikes today on the southern city of Nabatieh, killing at least 16 people
including the mayor there. Lebanon's Prime Minister says a local government meeting was intentionally hit. Israel says it was targeting Hezbollah
infrastructure.
The IDF also striking Beirut for the first time in days, and despite U.S. pressure not to bomb the capital, Israel says Hezbollah fired dozens of
rockets at Israeli territory overnight, it is not clear the extent of the damage there. Israel though, also tightening its siege of Jabalya in Gaza.
Emergency workers describing conditions that are just catastrophic. They're accusing Israel of destroying everything that represents life. At the U.N.
Security Council today, the Palestinian ambassador said the world is witnessing to a genocide urging action now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIYAD MANSOUR, PERMANENT OBSERVER OF PALESTINE TO UNITED NATIONS: These United Nations are not powerless. The international community is not
powerless to the brutal use of force. We must respond with the full force of the law. This is worth fighting for. Don't surrender to the fire, don't
surrender to the arsonist. It is time to fight back or the whole region will go up in flames.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Earlier, Israel's U.N. ambassador rejecting accusations that Israel is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: The problem in Gaza is not lack of aid. The problem is Hamas, which hijacks the aid, stealing,
storing and selling it to feed their terror machine while civilians suffer. Despite all these challenges, Israel continues to uphold international law
going above and beyond our obligations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: For more on all these developments, we're joined by Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem, MJ Lee is at the White House. Jeremy, starting with you, we
have seen this ramp up in attacks, also ramped up frankly, in rhetoric that we're hearing today. Bring us up to speed on the situation at this hour.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, inside of Gaza, we are watching as the Israeli military is continuing to conduct this operation in
northern Gaza, which is putting hundreds of thousands of people not only at risk of the bombardment that is happening, the fighting that is happening
between Israeli troops and Hamas.
But also of course, in the crosshairs of a deteriorating humanitarian situation, and that is what we have heard so many U.N. officials warning
about today, talking about the fact that there simply is not enough aid getting in. It's why the United States earlier this week sent a letter to
Israel demanding that it takes multiple concrete steps to remedy the situation, to get at least 350 trucks of aid per day into the Gaza Strip.
We are starting to see Israeli officials take some steps to try and get more aid into Gaza, but certainly, it is falling well short of what
humanitarian aid officials say they need. And we are also watching even today as aid groups like the United Nations are having trouble getting into
northern Gaza.
The U.N.'s humanitarian rights office saying that it took their team ten different tries to get into northern Gaza, where they were trying to reach
hospitals to deliver fuel and supplies. And so, clearly, this is a situation that is only deteriorating for now and not showing any major
signs of improvement.
[14:05:00]
And the Israeli military, of course, is also continuing to carry out strikes in Lebanon as well in the southern part of the country, we saw a
major strike today in a city that killed six people including the mayor of that city, the Israel military claiming that they were trying to hit a
Hezbollah command center that was beneath civilian buildings in that city.
The Lebanese Prime Minister, however, accusing the Israeli military of intentionally targeting that building at a time when local officials were
having a meeting about emergency relief. Erica?
HILL: Jeremy, really appreciate it. MJ Lee also joining us from the White House. MJ, in terms of the way the administration is watching what is
unfolding, CNN of course, also has that reporting, that this retaliation will likely come before the U.S. election. That timeline could be
challenging, quite honestly.
MIN JUNG LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and you know, Erica, as you know very well, the Biden White House has been on pins and
needles since October 1st when Iran rained down some 200 ballistic missiles on Israel. The U.S. has not tried to convince Israel to not respond, if
anything, it has really tried to urge them in conversations behind closed doors to take action that they have described as proportional.
So, there have been ongoing serious consultations between Israeli officials and U.S. officials about exactly what this counter-strike is going to look
like. We know for example earlier this week -- last week, excuse me, the Israeli Prime Minister told President Biden that what he is not going to
target when it comes to this counter-strike on Iran is nuclear and oil sites.
That of course, was welcome news for this White House, that is a scenario that the administration has very much hoped to avoid. And what CNN is
reporting today in terms of the potential timing is that U.S. officials do expect this counter-strike to happen sometime before November 5th. That is
the date as you said, of the U.S. presidential election.
We are told by sources that this is not directly related actually to the timing of the election, but simply, just the fact that there are just three
weeks left and Israel is expected again to take action sometime between now and then. And what it does mean, of course, here in the U.S. is that, that
issue of this ongoing volatility in the Middle East is going to potentially be very much front and center stage, just days out from a lot of voters
heading to the polls to make this important decision.
And you know, we have seen this issue be such a politically fraught one for both President Biden and now, of course, Vice President Kamala Harris, who
is trying to win the presidency. I should just note just for our viewers, to give them a sense of how important this issue has been. The fact that
she is going to be campaigning in a state like Michigan, where there is a very sizable Arab-American community, three times this week.
That is not a coincidence. We know that Democrats are very sensitive to the fact that -- and nervous about the fact that this issue of how the
administration has handled the situation in Gaza, and now is trying to prevent a second potential full-fledged war from opening up in the Middle
East.
Those are all issues that have potentially cost them politically, and they are certainly trying to make remedy for that in these final days. Of
course, we're not going to know until we actually see the results of the election, how much these kinds of issues end up having an impact on the
actual race and the outcome of the presidential election. Erica --
HILL: Yes, absolutely. But everybody certainly watching intently, MJ, Jeremy, appreciate it, thank you very -- both very much. Joining me now for
additional insight is Kenneth Pollack; he's a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was formerly a Middle East military analyst for
the CIA.
It's good to have you with us tonight. So, as we look at where things stand, the fact that CNN does have this reporting, that retaliation from
Israel is expected, of course, before the election here in the U.S. on November 5. Part of that reporting is also that, Prime Minister Netanyahu
is, quote, "highly sensitive" to the political ramifications in the United States when it comes to Israel's actions.
What do you think that actually means in terms of being highly sensitive, given what we know about his relationship with President Biden and his
relationship with former President Trump?
KENNETH POLLACK, SENIOR FELLOW, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Well, I think it's pretty clear in the sense that Prime Minister Netanyahu would
very much like to be Prime Minister long after the U.S. election. Therefore, he's going to have to deal with whoever wins the U.S. election.
And he wants to make sure that whatever he does to Iran doesn't further poison that relationship, right?
They've already been strained, you've been reporting on them, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government, the Israeli people all feel
it's very important for them to respond to the Iranian missile attack.
[14:10:00]
They want to restore their deterrence, but they're very concerned that they do so in a way that does not harm the relationship with the United States.
Because the United States is Israel's most important foreign backer, makes perfect sense.
HILL: You lay out in a new piece for foreign affairs that the response itself really needs to be seen as a success for Israel. What does
constitute a success?
POLLACK: Well, at the end of the day, it's going to require several different factors. First, the Israelis need to succeed, in the sense that
they need to destroy whatever it is that they go after. It can't be blocked by Iranian defenses, they can't fail. They want to contrast Israeli hyper
competence with Iranian impotence, right?
As you pointed out, the Iranians have launched two major missile strikes against Israel, neither has caused much damage to Israel. That's a win for
Israel, but they're now trying to double down on that just as they did back in April, mount some kind of response against Iran that contrast their
abilities with Iran's inabilities.
In addition, the Israelis want to hit something that causes enough pain to the Iranians that they'll think twice or even three times before they
launch another missile attack on Israel. But that isn't so painful that it causes the Iranians to suddenly lash out with yet another attack, right?
It's very important to understand, the Israelis right now have still some operations in Gaza, although that's lesser, but their main focus right now
is on Hezbollah and Lebanon.
This is a major undertaking for Israel there, they can't be distracted by a constant tit-for-tat with Iran. So, they want to do something that hurts
Iran, but not so much that the Iranians are then going to respond, and they have to defer -- divert their assets away from Lebanon to dealing with
Iran.
HILL: As you game out those scenarios in your piece, ultimately, what I take from it is a focus that you would expect on military targets
specifically, perhaps some elements of Iranian leadership, but not too high up. Will there also --
POLLACK: Right --
HILL: Be perhaps a cyber warfare component here?
POLLACK: Oh, absolutely, that's already going on. The cyber war components, it's important to understand, Erica, again, that's something
that's been going on all along, and you know, cyber is a really tough one, because you want to be able to do it when the adversary is unable to
respond, and you want to be careful because in this case, if you're the Israelis, the Iranians actually have some significant cyber capabilities.
They've demonstrated an ability to inflict some damage on Israel in the past, at the end of the day, the Israelis don't fully know what Iran is
capable of doing. So, they will certainly, as they have been already, do more in terms of cyber attacks on Iran, they might accompany a conventional
strike on Iran with a cyber strike, something they've done before.
But they've also got to make sure that what they do to Iran doesn't trigger an Iranian cyber attack on Israel, that's more than the Israelis want to
deal with.
HILL: Kenneth Pollack, great to have you with us. Thank you.
POLLACK: My pleasure, thank you.
HILL: Still to come tonight, Donald Trump making his pitch to women voters during a town-hall event, the new title he is now claiming after being
asked about reproductive rights. Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris keeping her focus on those battleground states during a media blitz that includes a
first-time interview with 'Fox News".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:15:00]
HILL: It is supposed to be the head for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris with just 20 days left in the race for the White House. A race that has no
clear leader. A stunning turnout for the first day of early voting in the battleground state of Georgia on Tuesday, over 328,000 ballots were cast.
That's more than double the previous record set in 2020. In the next hour, the Vice President set to speak at a campaign event in Philadelphia, then
she'll sit down for a taped interview with "Fox News" before heading to Wisconsin. The former President will appear to town-hall and the Spanish
language network "Univision" and then hold a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
Earlier today in a separate town-hall which was taped on Tuesday with all female audience, he was asked about his stance on reproductive rights,
specifically IVF.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This issue has torn this country apart for 52 years. So, we got it back in the states, we have
a vote of the people and it's working its way through the system. And ultimately, it's going to be the right thing -- and IVF, you had mentioned
before --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right --
TRUMP: IVF --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's get this question --
TRUMP: Yes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I believe that's what this is about --
TRUMP: Oh, I want to talk about IVF.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So do I. You don't hear that everyday --
TRUMP: I'm the father -- I'm the father of -- I'm the father of IVF, so, I want to hear this question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Some unclear exactly what he meant by being the father of IVF since we know he certainly did not come up with it. Joining me now, CNN Politics
senior reporter Stephen Collinson. Stephen, always good to see you. That was a fascinating town-hall, I have to say, mostly very friendly audience
and host in addition to the questions as well.
But it also gives us some insight into where both Donald Trump and frankly, given the events of Kamala Harris, where they are both focusing their
attention right now.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: That's right. Trump is addressing one of his biggest weaknesses, that is women voters as a massive
gender gap, which favors Kamala Harris and Democrats believe that because Trump's majority in the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion
nationwide, that's going to be a very good issue for them in the election.
And Trump's comments like saying, I'm the father of IVF, I think a symptom of the fact that he's never been able to come up with a really good
argument and a way to parry this idea that he caused chaos in the reproductive rights health care system because of that abortion decision.
Harris, you mentioned, she's in Philadelphia in the suburbs.
They're in Philadelphia, she's appearing with former Republican lawmakers. She's going on "Fox News", into the lion's den tonight, the conservative TV
network. What she's trying to do is peel off some Republicans who are disdainful of Trump's behavior, worry about what he would do in his second
term, and might be open to making the leap and voting for a Democrat.
So, you know, normally in these elections, by the time we get to this point, candidates are drumming up their base, trying to mass -- you know,
incentivize turnout. What we're seeing here is candidates trying to mitigate their own weaknesses and seeing that as the key to the results in
three weeks time.
HILL: Well, when you're fighting over such a small slice of the pie, right?
COLLINSON: Yes --
HILL: In the last CNN poll, just 12 percent said they were undecided. It'll be interesting to see as this continues for the next 20 days or so,
Stephen, appreciate it. Thank you.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
HILL: Well, as Stephen was just noting there, there is a gender gap here. Kamala Harris holding a clear edge among women, that's an advantage Donald
Trump is hoping to cut into. Margaret Talev is a senior contributor for "Axios" and the director of the Institute for Democracy, Journalism and
Citizenship at Syracuse University.
Margaret, always good to see you. You know, I want to pick up on one of the things that we were just talking about with Stephen. So, in that town-hall
earlier, yes, there were the comments about being the father of IVF, what struck me though is just before that question, a woman in the audience
asked of the former President very specifically, a question about abortion.
[14:20:00]
And she said to him, why is government involved in questions about basic rights when it comes to a woman's body? It is a question that he could not
answer -- did not answer, pivoted to try to say, hey, these are all the things that we've done. We send it back to the states, this is what
everybody wanted, which we know is not accurate.
The fact that there is not an answer for that, does that surprise you at all at this point in the campaign?
MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS & DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM & CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: The messaging,
Erica, on --
(CLEARS THROAT)
TALEV: Abortion or what has been, I think pretty successfully reframed by the Democrats in this cycle as not just reproductive freedoms, but bodily
autonomy, personal choice is a very difficult area for Republicans to message. And you see it in IVF which was invented in 1978 by two doctors in
England while Donald Trump was developing a hotel in Manhattan.
And what you see with IVF is that there is a massive cleavage in the Republican Party, there has been historically about IVF because after all,
it is the fertilization of in a lab, of an egg and a sperm, and so then, you have an embryo, and what happens when you have no more use for the
embryo or when the embryos are rejected for genetic marker reasons. So it - -
(CLEARS THROAT)
TALEV: It is not abortion, it's not the same issue as abortion, but it falls into that bucket of who gets to decide? Not just how to make
decisions about their family, but how to -- you know, decisions about creating children, decisions about their personal health. And so far,
Trump's approach to messaging on this, especially with this group of women that were watching very closely, white working-class women in three blue
wall states in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
His messaging on this has been to touch the issue, claim that he is the father of IVF or will -- wants to protect their rights by -- as if turning
issues back to the states would be a way to do that. And then too quickly pivot to two other issues that he's finding much more success messaging
this group with.
And those are inflation, how much money they have in their pocket, remember the pre-COVID days when Trump was President, and concerns about the border,
crime, their personal safety, their children's safety. These are much clearer tracks for messaging for former President Trump and women who are
winnable for him in this race.
HILL: When we look at this gender gap, and I think we do have the numbers from the most recent CNN poll. It is striking how it does fall on gender
lines, right? The advantage among women, I think we can show for the Vice President versus the former President, 51 percent right of women, splitting
over 36 percent for Donald Trump, and then if we show the numbers for the men, you know, it sort of flips and quite interestingly, to show the way
independent male voters are split a little bit more, a little bit more even, but still we're looking at 47 percent to 40 percent.
When you -- when you look at, as you're highlighting that perhaps winnable area for Donald Trump among women as you were just noting. Where are some
of the winnable votes for Kamala Harris when it comes to bringing more men into the fold?
TALEV: Well, college-educated voters have become over the years increasingly more aligned with the Democratic Party. And the flip side of
this non-college-educated voters moved more in alignment with the Republican Party. So, for Vice President Harris, it is American men who
have graduated from college or attended college, and it is also men of color.
Yes, President -- former President Trump has had more success than Democrats hoped in terms of pulling away some black male voters and
certainly many Hispanic male voters. But voters of color, whether they're men or women, are certainly more aligned with what Vice President Harris'
campaign, isn't all, as you said again and again, a question of margins.
HILL: Margins, and it also be a question of turnout, right? I mean, look, there are more women than men in the country at this point, but the reality
is who turns out on election day will make the difference. Often times, more women than men vote, we don't know if that will happen in 2024.
TALEV: And we do know that -- again, it is this particular group of women, white working-class women in these blue wall states, because they may be
disproportionally impacted by inflation and other economic issues. Some of them don't like former President Trump personally, some of them disagree
with his reproductive rights issues policies, but many of them are also anti-elite and responding his anti-elite message and are more likely to
say, and we've seen this in focus groups that we've conducted, are more likely to say, well, I don't really know Harris.
She -- I don't know what she believes in and stands for, and you don't see those same kind of responses with college-educated white women or with
women of color, whether or not they're college-educated, you don't see it the same way in the focus groups that you do with white women who did not
attend college.
[14:25:00]
HILL: Margaret, always great to talk to you, thank you.
TALEV: You too, thank you.
HILL: Still to come here tonight, caught in the crossfire. Families in Israel and Gaza, your time is running out for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: We're turning now to the Middle East, American officials expect Israel to retaliate against Iran for its ballistic missile attack before
the U.S. presidential election, election day, of course, November 5th. That is according to a source familiar with the matter, who also said the
timeline and intensity of Israel's counter-strike on Iran is being fiercely debated inside Israel's government.
And this comes, of course, as Israel wages its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is opposed to a
unilateral ceasefire with the militant group. Lebanese officials say the total number of attacks on the country has passed 10,000 since what they
have referred to as the, quote, "onset of Israeli aggression".
But it's important to note that you did not specify when exactly that began. Meantime, families in Israel and Gaza fear that time is running out
for a ceasefire and hostage deal. Jomana Karadsheh has more, and a warning, her report contains some disturbing and graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(EXPLOSION)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trapped in the nightmare that is Gaza are the innocent who did not choose this war and
time is running out to save their lives. Oded Lifshitz turned 84 in Hamas captivity, the great grandfather was shot and injured on October 7th by
militants who stormed his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
The site of one of the worst massacres of that day, he was separated from his wife of more than 60 years. Eighty-six-year-old Yocheved(ph) was also
abducted, thrown onto the back of a motorbike in her nightgown before being released days later by Hamas. For more than a year, Sharone hasn't stopped
fighting for the release of her father and the other hostages.
[14:30:00]
SHARONE LIFSHITZ, DAUGHTER OF HOSTAGE: We are so exhausted and so heartbroken again and again. We don't have the luxury of giving up.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Their hopes for a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of the hostages shattered over and over again by failed
negotiations. And now, with Israel's new war in Lebanon, the world's attention appears to be shifting. It is, for all involved, a race against
time.
LIFSHITZ: We are losing this race. Anybody who's interested in history see people that are caught in the tide of time, in political military fanatical
regimes that are putting their own survival or their own agenda above human lives. And I feel that we now know what it feels.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Human lives turned into political pawns with no escape in this hell on Earth, where life has become a slow death for those
who survived the devastating bombardment. An Israeli strike left 14-year- old Hamed (ph) with severe burns all over his body. An Israel siege left doctors with very little to save lives, but not enough supplies to
sterilize wounds.
When we filmed with him, his wounds were infested with maggots that fell to the floor every time his dressings are changed. A week after filming, Hamed
(ph) died. It was too late for him. But thousands of others in urgent need of medical evacuation could be saved. Yet only a fraction of them have been
allowed out by Israeli authorities in recent months.
Baby Shehad (ph) can barely breathe and feed. A growing tumor is compressing his tiny heart. His mother Tamara struggles to hold it together
as she tries to comfort her boy.
Today, he's going into surgery to try and save his life because he can't be evacuated, she says. I just want my son to get better.
There are no specialists available in Gaza, and they don't have the medical equipment they need. The doctors say they have no choice but to operate to
try and keep him alive.
These are children. They're not carrying weapons, Tamara says. Why can't he be evacuated?
Against all odds, the four-month-old made it through the surgery, but now lives on borrowed time. More than a month later, he's still suffering from
weight loss, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. His mother is pleading the International Community for treatment abroad. Palestinian and Israeli lives
that could be saved with a deal, if only there were the political will.
More than a hundred hostages are still being held in Gaza. The Israeli military has admitted mistakenly killing three of them. It's also said it
is most likely responsible for the death of at least three others. And in recent weeks, Hamas executed six hostages as Israeli forces closed in.
LIFSHITZ: These were young people that had every chance of survival and have survived almost a year. It's heartbreaking. It's a failure. We have
been in the burning house since the 7th of October, and we have been screaming that the flames are rising, and that they're going to consume
more and more people. We have been saying that military pressure is killing the hostages.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Oded Lifshitz is a man who's long believed in peace that now seems like a more distant dream than ever.
LIFSHITZ: My father used to drive Palestinians regularly from the border in Gaza to hospitals in Israel and the West Bank. And I think that there's
a lesson in it. And the lesson is in how do we share in humanity.
KARADSHEH: If your father could hear you now, what would you say to him?
LIFSHITZ: Forgive us. Forgive us. We have tried so hard. We hear your voice in our hands. And as we try what we can, we try the way he tried all
his life. He tried for many years to avert this disaster and it's befalling us. I hear him now saying, work for peace, work for the possibility of
humans in this region to live together.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:00]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiling his long-anticipated victory plan today in front of his country's
parliament, which includes a push to join NATO and the European Union as well as steps to strengthen defenses. Some of those details were kept
secret, but Zelenskyy did reiterate to Ukrainian lawmakers he is ruling out ceding any territory to Russia.
He says, if the victory plan is implemented now, he believes Kyiv could end the war no later than next year. As Mr. Zelenskyy advocates for his victory
plan, CNN has gained unprecedented access to a secretive Ukrainian unit, remotely carrying out drone attacks targeting deep inside of Russia. CNN's
Frederik Pleitgen has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ukrainian drones attacking Southwestern Russia, sowing panic among local
residents. Russian air defenses frantically trying to take them down before they slam into their targets. This massive drone strike carried out in late
September by Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Agency, the GUR.
And they granted CNN unprecedented access to the entire mission. Their target, a Russian ammo depot, the Ukrainians say, is storing missiles
supplied to Moscow by Iran, even though Tehran vehemently denies giving Russia ballistic missiles.
PLEITGEN: All of these missions have to move extremely quickly. They have to be very precise because, obviously, if they get discovered by the
Russians, the Russians want nothing more than to kill everybody around here.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): When you're as badly outgunned as the Ukrainians, even strategic airstrikes become hit-and-run operations. The launch
location totally secret; the mission run in near complete darkness. We can only identify the unit commander by his call sign, 'Vector'.
PLEITGEN: How fast do you guys have to be able to do all this now?
VECTOR, LONG-RANGE UAV UNIT, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE GUR: I hope it will be in 20, 40 minutes.
PLEITGEN: OK. Tell me how much the Russians want to kill you.
VECTOR: They want very much. Because we are the -- one of the major goals for them. Because these UAVs, which going up to 1,000 to 2,000 kilometers,
these UAVs move the war inside their country and they're afraid of that.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): After installing the warheads and punching in the flight path, they push the drones to the takeoff area. The pilots going
through final checks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have been preparing the route for several days. The task was set in advance. We have calculated
everything and are confident that everything will work out.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Then, they get the go.
PLEITGEN: The launch is always one of the most difficult and most sensitive parts of the mission. They have to follow the UAV very fast with
their cars to make sure it gets into the air all right.
[14:40:00]
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The drones disappear quickly into the night sky. The GUR has been behind hundreds of long-range missions into Russia, they
say, including this September attack on an ammo depot between Moscow and St. Petersburg, causing massive explosions visible for miles. The
Ukrainians believe they hit hundreds of missiles and explosives. And in July, they hit an oil refinery on Russia's Black Sea Coast, causing a major
fire there.
In total, the GUR says these drone units are responsible for about a third of the successful strikes deep into Russian territory.
It all starts with accurate planning. In a secret location, the team gets the mission brief from their boss, whom we can only identify as "Serge".
Serge tells me he has overseen more than 550 missions into Russian territory since Russia's full-on invasion in 2022. Vector takes the laptop
with the mission details and they're off. Staying on the move means staying alive.
PLEITGEN: Operational security is extremely important for this team. So, we're on our way to the next secret location right now.
They remain on the move almost all the time. Right now, we're going to a place where they're going to do the detailed planning for the flight paths
and where we'll see the actual drones.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The weapons depot is about 400 miles from the Ukrainian border in the southwestern Russian village of Kotluban. A major
problem, a mesh of powerful Russian air defenses guarding the area.
PLEITGEN: How good are the Russian air defenses and how difficult is it to overwhelm them?
VECTOR: Unfortunately, especially last year, it's really good. It's really good. Not -- maybe not perfect, because we are successful guys and we find
the windows in this work, in these techniques.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The drone pilots try to find even the smallest corridors to avoid Russian radars. They gave us permission to show a
simplified version of the flight path they calculated for this mission, with dozens of way points and changes of direction. But they'll also launch
dozens of decoy drones like these, which they want the Russians to detect and to shoot down. They even put tin foil on the wings to give them a
bigger radar signature.
PLEITGEN: So, you want the Russian radars to see this?
VECTOR: Yes.
PLEITGEN: And think that it's a bigger drone?
VECTOR: Of course, yes, very good.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): But these are the actual strike drones. The Ukrainian-made Antonov An-196 named 'Looty,' Ukrainian for fierceness or
rage. They carry up to 500-pound warheads and fly around 1,300 miles, and they fit into the back of these nondescript trailers for covert deployment.
The Ukrainians say they get good results with the Looty drones, but what they really need is permission from the U.S. and its allies to use Western-
supplied, longer-distance weapons.
PLEITGEN: Why do you need the permission for using Western weapons deep inside Russian territory?
VECTOR: We want to win. We want to finish this war as soon as we can. And we understand that if you have better equipment, better weapons, we can
finish it very quickly. I don't want my son or other children have war in the future, so I want to finish it in my life, so for protecting their life
from such disaster like we received from Russia.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): So far, the U.S. is not allowing Ukraine to fire American-supplied weapons deep into Russia, as Russia has escalated its own
aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, using heavy guided glide bombs, cruise missiles designed to take out whole aircraft
carrier strike groups, and nuclear-capable strategic bombers. All the Ukrainians have are their little drones, launching them in swarms to even
have a chance to penetrate Russia's air defenses.
They blast the Ukrainian folk song, "Hey, Falcons," as the GUR's own birds take to the skies. Back at base, it's crunch time. Russian social media
starts exploding with reports of an attack on the Kotluban weapons depot.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The GUR operatives sometimes chuckling as they listen in. While the Russians claim to have shot down the drones, a video
posted on social media shows what appear to be those drones impacting and major explosions in the area of the arms depot. And Ukrainian defense
intelligence showed CNN the unblurred version of this video, now heavily blurred for operational security reasons, and it shows 11 blasts coming
from the same place, they say, so large they're confident they hit their targets.
[14:45:00]
CNN was also able to independently verify through a source what seems to be a direct hit on the facility. We're not publishing the image to protect the
source's anonymity, but it showed an explosion at the facility and what seems to be wreckage scattered around. A Maxar image shared with CNN shows
the same heavily-damaged building with some debris still lying on the floor, signs that the Russian military may have cleaned up the site.
A small, but important victory in their ongoing covert war against a powerful enemy.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Still to come tonight, from the catwalk to the spacewalk. Prada unveiling a new fashion item that is out of this world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: French football star Kylian Mbappe is denying rape allegations amid reports from Sweden that he is being investigated by police. Several media
outlets there say the Real Madrid player is suspected of, quote, "reasonable grounds of rape" after visiting a nightclub and staying at a
hotel in Stockholm. Mbappe's representatives have slammed those reports, calling them totally false and irresponsible.
Nearly two dozen members of two brothers who were convicted of killing their parents some 30 years ago are now pushing for their release from
prison. Lyle and Erik Menendez, pictured here alongside their parents, Jose and Kitty, are serving life sentences for murdering their parents in
California in 1989.
The family, a wealthy family, was well known, and the case made global headlines leading up to their convictions in 1996. Prosecutors said the
brothers were after their parents' million-dollar estate. The siblings, however, say they were acting in self-defense after years of sexual abuse
by their father.
Well, flash forward nearly three decades, and social media scrutiny has led to some new interest in the case. It doesn't hurt, too, that there's a new
Netflix series out, and -- sentence. Attorneys for the brothers filing a petition last year argued they should be granted relief, and they said a
handwritten letter by Erik Menendez details these years of abuse by his father.
For more on this my colleague, Jean Casarez, is joining me now. So, we laid out some of that. There are these questions about just how new the evidence
really is in terms of how long it's been in their possession and what a difference this could actually make, Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is fascinating, Erica, because there are two sides to this. I mean, there's such a push right now
for them to be able to get out. And that push comes from the Netflix reenactment. It comes from the defense itself.
[14:50:00]
They had a petition for habeas corpus last year that now the district attorney of Los Angeles, George Gascon, who is up for re-election in a
couple of weeks, is now really coming front and center, saying that he is looking at this case, but you see his demeanor, it's as though he wants
this to happen, himself as the prosecutor, which is highly unusual, right?
And then, you've got the family members that are set, and they're going to have a press conference in about an hour out in Los Angeles to promote this
and want the two to get out. But the facts of the case is that a jury actually convicted the two of them to premeditated first degree murder. It
was a death penalty trial in Los Angeles, a retrial. The first jury was hung, second jury had a conviction.
And the motive, prosecutors said, was because they wanted the money of their wealthy parents. And it is a fact that after they got the shotguns,
they went to Beverly Hills, to San Diego County in California, about a three-hour drive. Got the shotguns. Came back, had so many planning
meetings on what they were going to do. And then, one night when the parents are just watching television in their Beverly Hills mansion, they
took the shotguns in and both of them, at the same time, just really plummeted them with bullets.
Now, it wasn't until close to the trial that it actually came out that there was another story going on. The two brothers alleged that they were
sexually assaulted by their father for a long time since they were younger, much younger.
Now, remember, there's two sentences here, two life sentences the jury gave them, father and mother. Father, they alleged sexually assaulted them, the
mother didn't, but she knew, they say, what was going on. So, they shot her also, which is an interesting thing at this point, but it's going to go
before a judge.
But in regard to the family members' support -- I think we've got some sound from a family member just showing what their state of mind is at this
point in time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN VANDERMOLEN-COPLEY, COUSIN OF LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ: You could see when they were younger that there were these two lively, fun children,
young boys. He just became sadder and sadder through the years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Menudo star said that Jose molested him in his home. In that home.
VANDERMOLEN-COPLEY: That's not surprising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Which is another point here, one of the members of Menudo, we understand, has said that he was sexually molested by Jose Menendez,
because he was in the record business, and that's the father of the brothers. So, that also is pivotally important here, possibly even more so
than the letter, which is undated. So, it's not really known when it was written.
But other thing I want to mention, Erica, which is interesting too, even before the murders, the two brothers actually burglarized at night homes in
the Beverly Hills area, homes, friends of their parents, and they carted out thousands of dollars of items that they were able to sell and get money
for. And they're living a very wealthy life at this time.
The district attorney of Los Angeles took on the case. The father, Menendez, got a high-profile defense lawyer and got it so that the sons
would just do community service. And the father, Menendez, actually paid back all those homeowners. So, it's interesting because there's so much to
this. But now, the momentum is new evidence, rehabilitation, the district attorney of Los Angeles is saying, because they -- he has said publicly
there's a law now in California, if you are rehabilitated, then you can look at that to get out of, say, a life sentence. But it's all in the hands
of a judge at the end.
HILL: It is fascinating. Jean, really appreciate it. Thank you for walking us through that.
CASAREZ: Thank you, Erica.
HILL: Finally, today, from Milan to the moon. Prada exploring some new dimensions. The Italian luxury brand unveiling its space suit design for
the Artemis III lunar mission in partnership with Axiom Space. The suits are made to withstand extreme temperatures at the lunar south pole and
endure the coldest temperatures for at least two hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): One small step for fashion, one giant leap for the future of space wear. From the runway to
the Milky Way, Prada is breaking into a whole new sector. The luxury fashion house has partnered with commercial space company Axiom for the
cosmic collaboration. The team unveiled its design for the space suit to Artemis III moon mission.
MATT ONDLER, AXIOM SPACE PRESIDENT: Innovation really comes when you put diverse teams together with diverse backgrounds and different educations
and different skills. And that's what I think the Prada team has brought to us.
[14:55:00]
NADEAU (voice-over): The mostly white suits consist of a cropped torso and quote, "portable life system backpacks" with red accent lines, a nod to the
fashion brand sports line, Linea Rosa.
The specially engineered boots allow the wearer to spacewalk for at least eight hours a day. While the suit's material both reflects heat and
withstands the coldest temperatures. The suit's mobility is also improved from those worn when man last walked the moon.
LORENZO BERTELLI, PRADA CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: I think somehow was also a nice exercise for our design team to really start from the functional
point of view and then really how understanding how to make it also looking good.
NADEAU (voice-over): Pierre Cardin last month launched its own contribution to space style. The French brand unveiled its first astronaut
training suit for use at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany. In step with Pierre Cardin, Prada is bringing its textile and sewing
expertise to the world of space exploration. As galactic fashion seems to be blasting off.
RUSSELL RALSTON, EVA PROGRAM MANAGER, AXIOM SPACE: Two very different leaders in their industry have come together to deliver the next generation
space suit for the return to the moon, for the first time ever to the South Pole.
NADEAU (voice-over): If successful, the 2026 Artemis mission will be the first astronaut moon landing since 1972. It could also be the first time a
woman walks on the moon, a mission sure to be out of this world in more ways than one.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Be sure to stay with CNN. Newsroom with Jim Sciutto is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
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