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8 IDF Soldiers Killed In Ambush Attack In Rafah, Gaza; Russia, China Skip Ukraine Peace Conference; Interview With Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL); Southwest Plane Plunged within 400 Feet Of Ocean; Princess Catherine's Comeback; Princess Of Wales Attends Trooping The Colour Parade; King, Princess Watch Military Parade Amid Cancer Battles; CNN Goes Aboard Russian Warship In Havanna, 90 Miles From Florida; G7 Leaders: China "Enabling" Russia's War In Ukraine; G7 Nations to Lend Ukraine $50B In Seized Russian Assets. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 15, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

PATRICK SNELL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And what a moment for him. The 36th hole, the final attempt to make the cut. And he is successful for the first time in tournament history. What a moment for the 2018 Open Champion, not a good round for him, I will say, on Saturday. He's currently 12 over par -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, well, for Molinari, I mean, then never happens when you want it or need it, but it did for him. Lucky.

All right, Patrick Snell, thank you so much. All right. That's not luck. That was a lot of skill. You know what I'm saying.

All right. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thank you so much for being with me today. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Omar Jimenez right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Omar Jimenez in Washington. We begin tonight with breaking news.

The Israeli military says they are investigating what they're calling an incident in southern Gaza that killed eight IDF soldiers, making it one of the single deadliest incident involving Israeli troops since the October 7th attacks. Now, earlier, the militant wing of Hamas says it, quote, "carried out a complex ambush against enemy vehicles." Meanwhile, Rafah's Civil Defense says there has been new airstrikes and artillery shelling by Israeli forces in the areas since dawn.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Haifa for us now.

Oren, the IDF just released some preliminary findings from their investigation. What are they saying happened here?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: So this again is preliminary as you point at the investigation itself is ongoing and it all plays out according to the IDF at approximately 5:15 this morning in Western Rafah in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood. That's when they say an armored personnel carrier was struck with an explosive that killed eight soldiers there. They haven't named most of those soldiers. They've only named the captain who was likely in charge of that combat engineering unit.

They say the vehicle itself was hit with a side bomb, though it's unclear if it was something affixed to the vehicle that then exploded or if it was struck with some sort of projectile. The vehicle itself the IDF says also had explosives on it as part of its combat engineering role. And it's possible those were detonated even though they are not supposed to explode, regardless of what happens around them. The IDF says that led to a, quote, "significant explosion" that killed the eight who were with that armored personnel carrier. They say it was difficult to locate the remains following that explosion. Again, the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, says they carried out what they called a complex operation targeting first an IDF military bulldozer, and then when the rescue team showed up, the extraction team, they targeted that vehicle, possibly the armored personnel carrier, that part is unclear, with explosives claiming that they killed those soldiers inside.

Meanwhile, the Rafah Civil Brigade, as you pointed out, talked about fighting, airstrikes, and artillery strikes in Rafah since early this morning. It's possible these are all describing the exact same incident. We will learn more as the IDF investigation continues -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes, slowly following details that are trickling out at this point, many of them preliminary as we've pointed out.

Oren, I also want to bring you back in on another point because obviously, as we've seen the fighting in Gaza, there's also been a political dynamic at home in Israel where we've seen massive crowds gathering in Tel Aviv tonight, for example, demanding new government elections. You're seeing some of those live pictures on your screen there for those watching.

I mean, how big are these protests expected to get? And can you contextualize kind of what we're seeing here over what we have seen over recent months in the country?

LIEBERMANN: We don't have an accurate fix on how many people are there, but safe to say there are tens of thousands of Israelis in Tel Aviv out protesting against the government, and it's not just in Tel Aviv. There are pictures of protests in Jerusalem and possibly other places across the country. The size of them is impressive, but crucially so is the longevity. These are protests, anti-government protests that began before the war. They took a break on October 7th and for the first few weeks and months of the war.

But now they have very much returned and looked like they are here to stay. This is a crowd that's incredibly frustrated and angry with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They want to see the government head to elections. They also want to see a ceasefire deal with largely and want to see the hostages brought home. So you are seeing that anger pouring out onto the streets. And, Omar, I suspect, as you did before the war, you will see these

Saturday after Saturday, a population in Tel Aviv and elsewhere angry with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, including far-right ministers.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And for those watching, we're going to continue to keep an eye on how these protests are unfolding throughout the evening there. But, Oren, thank you for bringing us your report on that and of course as we follow details on what happened with the IDF soldiers that have been killed. Appreciate it.

All right, meanwhile, world leaders wrapped this year's G7 Summit with a pretty stark message for the two most powerful nations that weren't there, Russia and China.

[16:05:01]

Now those two countries skipped Ukraine's peace forum happening now in Switzerland and their absence really speaks volumes as the war in Ukraine further divides world powers,

CNN's Nic Robertson reports.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Omar, close to 100 different nations represented at that peace forum, more than 50 different national leaders. No one from China, though. No one from Russia either. And no one expects to get a peace deal hammered out there. What they do expect is to get broad agreement that any peace terms at the end of negotiations, which they admit could take a very long time, would be on the basis of the U.N. charter that would respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

President Zelenskyy saying that the first sort of panels that they would break out into would be to work out issues on nuclear safety, nuclear security, food security, and the release of detainees. And he encouraged everyone in the room there to think and give their best ideas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: This formula is inclusive and we are happy to hear and work on all proposals, all, all ideas. What is really needed for peace and what is important to you, dear friends, I urge all of you to be as active as possible, and I am proud that all parts of the world, all continents are now represented at the peace summit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now Zelenskyy had a bilateral meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris. She announced the $1.2 billion aid package for Ukraine. Much of that to improve the destroyed energy facilities, but also a lot of it going towards displaced people, refugees to make sure they've got food, water, and shelter.

But she also addressed at the conference the issue of President Putin and President Putin's recent essential threat to Ukraine until Zelenskyy that if he wants peace, then just give Russia the territory that it's already illegally annexed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is not calling for negotiations. He is calling for surrender. America stands with Ukraine, not out of charity, but because it is in our strategic interests. We stand with delegations from more than 90 nations who also have a strategic interest in a just peace in Ukraine. Among us no doubt exists a diverse range of views on many of the global challenges and opportunities we face.

We don't always agree. However, regarding Putin's unprovoked, unjustified war against Ukraine, there is unity and solidarity in support of international norms and rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now the Swiss president was there as well, and she talked about the difficult path on this road to peace. She said, of course Russia has to be in the room ultimately to get this fair and just peace. But she likened it to a walk in the mountains surrounding the resort. She said it is a long path but one step at a time -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: And Nic Robertson for us, thank you.

Joining me now to discuss more of this is ranking member of the House Select Committee on China and member of House Oversight and Intelligence Committees, Democratic congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Thank you for being with us. Now, look, I mean, this strong statement of solidarity essentially from the G7 is really coming on the heels of what we've seen to be new U.S. sanctions announced in part on China. And so I guess I want to start there. Do you feel that that message is actually being heard or felt in Beijing?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I hope so. I think that at the end of the day it's very hard to kind ascertain kind of how Xi Jinping views these different situations, except that I think that he has -- he's in an inflection point namely he's got to decide, does he spend time kind of reducing tensions, reducing aggression, or does he do the opposite which then triggers countermeasures and sanctions, and further makes it difficult for him to repair his own internal economic problems? And so I'm hoping that he does the right thing, but we have to prepare for the worst obviously.

JIMENEZ: And look, I know, you know this, that we've seen sort of the adversarial relationship play out on a number of fronts at this point, whether it's, you know, pressure on the Taiwanese front, Ukraine, theft of intellectual property, even with the most recent sanctions, China still has found a way to sort of circumvent them a little bit and still provide resources to Russia. And so I guess the question is, what more realistically can be done at this point?

[16:10:04] KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well look, I think that with regard to Chinese assistance in Russia, they, as you know, provide most of the semiconductors necessary for fueling the Russian war machine, for instance. They buy Russian oil. I think that we have imposed limited sanctions at this point in time, but they could become more expansive and Congress could act as well. And so I would just urge the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party's leaders to think very carefully about how much more they're going to double and triple down on the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

I think that the other thing that's kind of putting pressure on the Chinese strategy with regard to Ukraine is that, as you know, in the past, they've tried to divide the U.S. and its European allies on a number of fronts, including security matters. However, the more that it assists Russia with regard to this criminal invasion of Ukraine, it brings the European allies and the United States closer together and more resolved against aggression everywhere whether it's in Europe or in the Indo-Pacific region.

And you mentioned that obviously Congress could also act as well. What is your sense from members of Congress, your colleagues, on either the Democratic side or Republican side, that there is potentially an appetite for more sanctions? Have you gotten that sense?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I have. And I think that there is an appetite for more sanctions depending on how the CCP and Xi Jinping conducts itself. I think that the more evidence there is of increasing assistance with regard to the Russian war effort in Ukraine, the more pressure will build for Congress to take action. So far I think that there hasn't been concrete evidence of lethal assistance being provided to Russia, but this dual use technology is very concerning to say the least.

JIMENEZ: Yes. I want to shift topics here and just get you -- get your reaction to the breaking news we've been following at this hour. Eight IDF soldiers dead in Rafah today. I know you've been clear in the past that there needs to be a ceasefire and you've said that you don't see Israel being able to get all the hostages out, as sort of a realistic near-term goal here.

Does this incident reinforce that for you? I'm just curious just what this breaking news does for you and sort of your outlook on the situation.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, first of all, I think everybody is thinking about the families of those eight soldiers who died in Gaza, just as we are always mourning the loss of innocent lives among Gazans. That being said, as you could tell from the protests that are happening in Israel right now, there's an increasing pressure for elections to occur in Israel because there's a concern that this current government is not reflecting the priorities of the Israeli people.

And so I think that what this is going to do is put further emphasis on a call for elections at the same time it's going to also accelerate greater pressure on all the parties to come to this ceasefire for hostages deal. Hamas appears to be the sticking point right now. And so I think the American side is going to continue to put pressure on the Qataris, as well as the Egyptians to put pressure on Hamas.

I also would come back to China because China exerts a lot of leverage with regard to Iran. And Iran has great leverage over Hamas as well. So I think this is going to accelerate those efforts, too.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Again, we've been following that breaking news and it will be as of course the immediate effect you think of the families, but the wider effects of it, it will be interesting to see if it has an effect on sort of the general direction of things.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, really appreciate the time.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, sir.

JIMENEZ: All right. Coming up, we're going to bring you some pretty chilling new details tonight about a U.S. flight that came within a few hundred feet of slamming into the ocean back in April with nearly 200 people on board. And Britain's Princess Catherine makes her first public appearance of the year as she shares new details about her cancer treatments.

You're on the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

[16:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: All right. This was a scary plunge. The FAA is investigating after a Southwest plane dropped dramatically, pulling up just 400 feet before hitting the -- before it would have hit the Pacific Ocean. Now, Bloomberg News first reported what happened onboard Southwest Airlines Flight 2786 in April near Hawaii, citing an airline memo sent to pilots about the incident.

CNN's David Soucie joins us now.

Now, David, look, as a former pilot, what do you make of this? What do you make of what we know so far about what happened?

[16:20:01]

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, in this case, it looks like there were some weather in the area of Lihue, which is where they were trying to land and they aborted their takeoff. It went back around. And when they did that, there was -- Southwest reported as a newer first officer inadvertently pushed down on the control yoke. Maybe he was trying to get out. Maybe he had moved or fell forward, whatever it was, but he had inadvertently just literally pushed that control yoke forward and it went -- it creates an incredibly rapid rate of descent.

Now this happened when he was only a few hundred feet above the ground because they had aborted their takeoff. So it dropped very quickly, like 4,000 feet per minute. So it was recovered quickly as well, but it must have been just terrifying for the passengers on board to have that happen that dramatically and that quickly. JIMENEZ: And I think that one part is what I want to hone in on for a

second. I mean, you know, you've been in cockpits like that. You've been in cockpits in general. I mean, I guess the sense that I'm trying to get is how quickly does a nudge turn into a drop of this magnitude? I think in my head, I would like to think it takes a little bit more than a quick touch, an adjustment for it to pitch that rapidly, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

SOUCIE: Yes, it -- I don't know how to put it into like a driver's terms.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

SOUCIE: But as you're driving down the highway and you have control of your car. And if you start moving that car to the left and the faster you're going, the more dramatic that is when you do it. So you can just do it for a few seconds. If you do that for too long, it will actually roll the car on the highway. And that's very similar to what happens here. You can push the control yoke down and you'll feel a bump. You'll feel it do that.

But in this case, it had to have been pushed forward with quite some force for a little bit, for, you know, maybe a second or two, for a while to make that happen, to make that nose drop that dramatically and continue down. Now in this particular model aircraft, the good news is that the pilot on the other side also is connected physically to that control yoke. So as that's pushed forward by one pilot, the other pilot can pull back and counteract that, which is what happened in this case.

The Airbus is a little bit different. The Airbus has unique controls. So the one pilot doesn't know what the other pilot is doing and we've had some issues with that in the past, but they're working on making sure that those are synchronized, those movements as well. But it doesn't take much to make a dramatic movement in the cabin of the airplane.

JIMENEZ: Wow. And I want to center in on, not this particular case, but another incident we learned about pretty recently also involving a Southwest plane back in May. It experienced a Dutch roll. So the plane starts dangerously fishtailing.

Can you just tell us a little bit more about what a Dutch roll is? Why it can be so dangerous? And how unusual it probably felt for the people who were actually on that flight?

SOUCIE: Sure. Yes, the Dutch roll is described a little bit as if you look at the nose of the airplane, it makes a figure eight. So it's doing this kind of motion here. And what that starts with is a side slip of the aircraft. As the aircraft slips a little bit to one side of the other, which can be caused by a number of things, a control input or perhaps just some weather in the area, it changes the lift on one wing versus the other. And whenever lift is changed, the changes drag.

So that pulls the aircraft back in this direction if you're turning to one direction. And as that happens, it exposes the tail to more air on the back of it. So that pushes the airplane back the other way. So it starts doing this kind of fishtailing, as you described it, which is a good description of it, and it just starts doing this motion. Now the aircraft takes care of that itself typically and needs to just let it finish out its little motions and movements, it will take care of that itself.

In this case, it went longer than normal because what happens is in the aircraft design, there has a yaw dampener that controls the rudder movement, how quickly the rudder goes back and forth and what happens in that is that yaw dampener has a power supply that senses what's happening and stops it immediately typically. In this case, the power control unit for that yaw dampener was damaged and it wasn't working.

So it was quite frightening for passengers to feel this and it can actually cause damage to the airplane. It has a whipping if it goes on too long and it can cause structural damage to the airplane, which in this case they're examining the aircraft to see if that happened. But that's what a Dutch roll is and typically it won't happen. It's very, very rare to happen and in this case, there's a reason for it that there was a faulty component involved with trying to prevent it from happening.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Well, as people enter the very busy summer travel season, I just want to point out, this is not the majority of flights. This is very rare that this happens, but it is still important to note when these happen and try to analyze to make sure that there aren't any increasingly concerning patterns here.

David Soucie, really appreciate the time and perspective as always.

SOUCIE: Of course, Omar. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right. Ahead for us, we're going to be live outside Buckingham Palace as Brits celebrate the king's birthday and the first appearance by Princess Catherine in months.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[16:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: The annual Trooping the Colour Parade took place today in London in honor of the king's birthday. But we're also watching the Princess of Wales, who made her first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis nearly three months ago. Both the king and Kate shocked the world earlier this year when both of them announced they were undergoing treatment for cancer.

CNN correspondent Nada Bashir is live outside Buckingham Palace.

Nada, what can you tell us about today's event?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an event which typically every year draws huge crowds outside Buckingham Palace, Omar. We certainly saw that today, many gathering here to mark the king's official birthday. This is quite the military spectacle, of course. A huge military procession as well as a fly pass, which is not only watched by people across London, but crucially by senior members of the royal family from viewing points in balconies up the behind me at Buckingham Palace.

[16:30:11]

But of course, many of those who had gathered today outside the palace were attending to catch a glimpse of the princess of Wales, Kate.

This is, of course, her first public appearance, her public participation in a royal engagement since she made that shocking announcement in March that she is undergoing cancer treatment.

Because this comes just a day after she issued quite a candid personal statement on Instagram in which she said that she was doing well, that there are good and bad days.

But also acknowledging and said that she was not out of the woods just yet and that she will be undergoing treatment for the next couple of months.

But she is enjoying spending time with her family and, of course, making the most of the time to heal as well, crucially.

But again, a very important moment for many who had gathered here to catch a glimpse of the princess of Wales. It's unclear how many more royal engagements she will be taking part in over the summer months.

It may be on a case-by-case basis, but certainly not a full return just yet for the princess of Wales -- Omar?

JIMENEZ: Yes. As you point out, would be interesting to see how frequent these public appearances are from here on out.

Nada Bashir, outside Buckingham Palace, really appreciate it.

Joining us now is CNN royal historian, Kate Williams.

So, Kate, just how did the crowds react today when seeing the princess of Wales and how did you expect them to react?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: I was down there with the crowds and it was such a wonderful atmosphere. And when Kate came out in the carriage with the children, a real cheer went up. There was a cheer for the king. But there was a real cheer for Kate.

I mean, the crowds they -- it was terrible weather today. It was absolutely awful rain. The whole point of having the king -- giving the king's birthdays -- to have the king's birthday parade is that his birthday, of course, is in November. The whole point is that it's supposed to be better weather today, but it was terrible.

But still, it couldn't dampen the spirits. Everyone was so excited. And those photographs you -- the video you were just showing there of the queen and that there was such an excitement about the king.

But there was a real thrill to see Kate. The crowds were just delighted to see the royal superstar, to see her in action, and to see her looking so well. She really was looking radiant.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And I wanted to talk a little bit about the cadence of communication from the royals as well, because, look, Catherine says she's making progress, the princess, but there will be a few more months of treatment.

That's an update from the royals who were more known for being very private about their personal lives.

And I'm curious, just for you, as someone who has followed this family for so long, do you see anything unusual or significant about the cadence of conversation around this particular treatment?

WILLIAMS: Yes. As a historian, this is a huge change in terms of royal communications. Usually, royals tell us nothing about their health situation.

We didn't know very much about the late queen until she really was very unwell. We knew her father, in fact, there were operations carried out at Buckingham Palace and no one knew. And simply, it's all shrouded in secrecy.

But just as Nada was saying, that outside Buckingham Palace a minute ago, it was a very candid statement that Kate put out last night talking about good and bad days, saying she sometimes feels too tired and weak, saying she's sometimes up to school activities, sometimes she's not.

That, I think, was extraordinary, really extraordinary, this openness. And clearly, I think it's because she's been overwhelmed by all these wonderful messages from all over the world, people sharing their own stories.

There were many of us across the world are touched by cancer, sufferers, survivors, parents. And I really feel that both she and the king, they want very much to be a beacon of hope to people going through cancer treatment. It's tough and it's hard. And it -- the days sometimes the days are brutal.

But -- but really, I think it's so important to them as part -- as part of the whole family, not just to lead in terms of always looking perfect, but to lead in terms of showing your vulnerabilities as well.

And that is a sea change for the royal family. I think it's very powerful.

JIMENEZ: Yes. As you mentioned, that candid nature of the communications, perhaps a sign of future communication, but we will see.

Kate Williams, I really appreciate the perspective. Thanks for being here. WILLIAMS: Good to see you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

[16:34:27]

All right. A group of Russian ships are now docked in Havana, Cuba, for a show of force, just 90 miles away from Florida, as the Cold War allies strengthen their ties. We're going to tell you more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Cubans are coming out to see a group of Russian Navy warships docked in Havana, really a striking show of force, just 90 miles south of United States.

It's kind of a call back to an old Cold War alliance between Cuba and Russia, an alliance the country's may lean into as Russia antagonizes the West over its war in Ukraine.

Patrick Oppmann joined us now in Havana.

Now, Patrick, you've actually been on board these ships here. What did you learn about why the convoy's in Cuba and what it really amounts to?

PATRICK OPPMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm doing what really everyone else has been doing for the last three days. And even though it's been a pretty wet and rainy day here today, as it's the last day that Cubans can tour the ship.

[16:40:04]

They've been out by the hundreds along these lines. I've seen, so far, to tour the ship, because it is certainly an unusual visitor to Cuba, a Russian warship. And the people in line with me said they thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (voice-over): Several hundred Cubans wait in the boiling sun to tour a Russian warship. Russian diplomats told me the public would be allowed to visit the "Admiral Gorshkov," one of the most-modern warships in President Vladimir Putin's navy, capable of firing hypersonic missiles and traveling more than 6,000 miles per hour.

It's the first of three days the ship will receive visitors, a rare opportunity for people here to see up-close a frigate belonging to Cuba's Cold War-era comrades.

(on camera): We're going to get in line and see if we'll be able to get aboard.

(voice-over): After nearly three hours waiting, having my Cuban resident I.D. card run through a database by police and passing through metal detectors, we're told to board the "Gorshkov." Just next to us is the nuclear-powered submarine, "Kazan," the first

of its kind to come to port here.

The visit of the four Russian ships, the largest Russian convoy to Cuba in years, is not a threat to the U.S., both Russian and Cuban officials say.

But the U.S. is closely tracking the ships and their movements. A sign in English by the gang plank to the "Gorshkov" says the ship's, quote, "main purpose is combat operations against enemy surface ships and submarines."

Although none of the vessels were currently carrying nuclear weapons, the Cuban Armed Forces Ministry said.

UNIDENTIFIED RUSSIAN SAILOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OPPMANN: Hello, I say in rudimentary Russian to the sailors aboard the "Gorshkov." We are only allowed on the main deck and Russian sailors watch our every move.

A deck above us, where sophisticated communications equipment is visible, a soldier armed with an assault rifle keeps guard.

UNIDENTIFIED RUSSIAN SAILOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OPPMANN: These sailors could be fighting in the war in Ukraine and seem to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Caribbean.

UNIDENTIFIED RUSSIAN SAILOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OPPMANN: Sailors show me anti-rocket defense systems and a cannon they say can fire 23 kilometers, nearly 15 miles.

After only the briefest of tours, we're told it's time for us to disembark.

UNIDENTIFIED RUSSIAN SAILOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OPPMANN: We say our goodbyes to our Russian hosts.

As we leave, this Russian sailor count us one-by-one, to make sure no one stays behind to learn the secrets of a Russian warship stationed just 90 miles from the U.S. coast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMAN: And on Monday, these ships that are just behind me are expected to depart. Their destination is not confirmed.

The Pentagon says, they think they will head further south to Venezuela, another U.S. adversary. Of course, we expect the United States to be keeping a very close watch on them every step of that journey.

JIMENEZ: Well, and, Patrick, I think it just -- just from watching your awesome reporting there, I mean, it really seems like it's almost a tourist attraction of sorts to -- to people in Cuba.

Can you just describe, what were other people saying as they were stepping on board this Russian ship?

OPPMAN: They were blown away. I think most people here remember, if they're old enough, the times that the Russia -- the Soviet Union really financed the island to the tune of billions of dollars and they lived better.

You know, it's been a long time now since that money dried up. So for some people, it's a reminder of times that were economically at least better. But as well, just to see a nuclear-powered submarine, it's right behind me in the port. That never happened even during the Cold War. It's just surreal.

So we got on board the ship and we were told "film away." I'm not a low-profile person. I had to show my Cuban card name, my identity card. It says I was born in the U.S. It says my kind of visa status, which includes a journalist visa.

So I don't think they were bothered by my presence. They want the fact that ship is here out in -- online, on social media.

They are encouraging everyone to film. They allowed us to keep and use our Smartphones. So very clearly, the Russian Navy, Vladimir Putin, are trying to send a message and they're not being very subtle about it.

JIMENEZ: Yes, pretty incredible.

Patrick Oppmann, thank you for bringing us that perspective, both visually and, of course, with your great reporting,

I want to talk about all of this with Steve Hall now. He's the CIA's former head of Russia operations.

Now, Steve, just what do you make of what Patrick was talking about there, what is Russia trying to say by docking a warship and a nuclear-powered submarine in Cuba, which is, again, for a reminder to people, 90 miles away from the United States.

[16:45:04]

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Omar, we have to remember that this is -- this is not unprecedented. This is a relatively routine kind of visit. You have allies visit each other's ports on a regular basis.

But it is sending a message. The first message that I think Putin is trying to send is he's big on reciprocity, as all Russians are. And so he's very upset that the West has basically told Ukraine, look, you can fire your weapons, the weapons that we're providing you, into Russia.

And so this is Putin saying, look, we can -- you know, we can put warships very close to your country as well. They, of course, could have done that at any time. They didn't need to

do it, you know, in Havana. They could have done it off the east coast or any place else.

But -- but it is a relatively routine thing. I think one of the reasons that you saw a relatively laid-back group of Russian sailors is because there are probably very happy to be in Cuba and not, say, near Crimea, where they'd be fighting for their lives. The Ukrainians have been very good at destroying them.

So the other thing that I think Putin is doing is he's sending a message -- a political message to the United States. He's trying to once again influence our political process.

Donald Trump and the Republicans have said, look, if we were in power, we could resolve this whole problem in a day and we wouldn't have Russian warships right off of our coast.

And Putin knows that very well. And so he's feeding into that -- to that political message as well. So there's a couple of different things that Putin is trying to do with this visit.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Politics at play here. Also optics is well.

Cuba, obviously, isn't the only Cold War ally of sorts that Russia's been cozying up to of late. if you want to stay in that category. There are ties to China, where a big point of concern at this week's G7 talks.

And I'm curious, just on that front, how do you read that dynamic between Russia and China at this point?

HALL: Well, this is another interesting point to the Cuba of visit. And you talked, we mentioned also, Venezuela as a possible next stop for this.

And then you've got China. You've got the North Korean connection. You've got Iran providing weapons to help the Russians fight the war. Who would have thought we'd ever got to the point where the Russians needed help from the Iranians to fight a much smaller neighbor. But here we are.

But what all that points to is the Russians essentially participating in and vocally supporting a coalition against the Democratic West.

So all of these countries, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Russia, China, all have autocracies. There is no free-speech. There is no, you know, transparency. There is no open society in any of these countries.

And that's what China, Russia, and all those other countries want to see more of. They want to see more authoritarian dictatorships. And what they want to see a lot less of is Western-style democracies. And that's another messaging thing that's going on here.

JIMENEZ: And look, this week, we saw G7 nations made a strong commitment this week to Ukraine, a $50 billion loan, tapping into frozen Russian assets.

So I what -- I wonder how is that show of support likely going to be received by the Kremlin?

But also how much of that is contingent on the U.S. foreign policy remaining the same as we look towards November and the possibility that Joe Biden isn't around the next time any significant form of talks like the next G7 comes around?

HALL: Yes, this is not a good couple of days for the Kremlin or for Vladimir Putin. As evidenced by the fact that Vladimir Putin himself essentially announced what his terms for a ceasefire or for a settlement, some sort of agreement with Ukraine to end the war.

You don't make those comments if you're a world leader unless that's what you want to have happen, unless you're in a position where you say, OK, I've captured pretty much everything that I can in Ukraine.

And remember, when Russia -- when Putin started this, the goal was to take over the entire country. Now he's saying, OK, I've got about 20 percent of it, most of it the eastern borders with Russia. And so how about we settle for that?

If you're winning the war, you stop. You don't make those comments. You'll notice it's the Ukrainians who said, well, were not prepared to discuss it at all. What we have to have is all of our country back because you guys illegally attacked us, you illegally invaded us and confiscated all of our land.

So the Ukrainians are not prepared to stop at all. And they've got the complete support, as we saw, from the G7.

Will that change as governments both in Europe and perhaps in the United States move to the right with a potential Trump presidency and other things happening in Europe? It's possible, but it's not -- it's not a fait accompli.

If Trump were elected, there is now a 10-year bilateral security agreement with Ukraine. He could dial that back. He could, with a signature of his pen, annul it. But it won't be that easy. And there will be political consequences.

So I'm cautiously optimistic as we go forward that there's a lot of support from the West continuing to Ukraine. And it's not just words. It's money.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And as you point out, not just the United States with an election, obviously, this November. Large swaths of Europe, I mean, across the world, at this point, it's going to be a large, large showing of election and potentially shifting powers globally.

[16:50:04]

Steve Hall, appreciate the time and perspective as always.

HALL: My pleasure, Omar. JIMENEZ: All right, coming up, we're going to go back to the breaking

news. One of the single deadliest days Israeli forces in Gaza have had in months, with eight soldiers killed. What the IDF is revealing about the incident, ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:55:05]

JIMENEZ: It's summer, everyone. You're supposed to have fun. Not so much for 30 people in Portland, Oregon, who literally got stuck upside down on a ride. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this is the ride.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the blood in my head, like still like I was coming down for the rest of my -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 360. We had to go upside down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hanging there for like a little bit. And I'm like, why is it hanging here so long?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like you immediately go into fight or flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just where I'm at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: The ride, called AtmosFear, a lot more fear than they asked for, stuck on opening day at OCS Amusement Park. Fire officials say they were ready to start rescuing the riders using ropes before the ride was lowered back to the ground.

One person was taken to the hospital for evaluation. But officials at the park closed the ride and are working with the manufacturer to figure out what happened.

That is terrifying. I love -- I love rollercoasters, not those.

All right. Elsewhere, tsunamis can strike with little warning. Ocean waves traveling at the speed of a jetliner crashing into coastal towns.

Twenty years after the deadliest tsunami in history, scientists are still trying to work out how to predict them more accurately.

Meteorologists Elisa Raffa takes a closer look at the science. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we have got to run. This water, very shallow water was coming in, maybe a foot deep, but it was very, very strong. I could no longer lift up my feet.

And I looked up and I saw a black wall of water approximately five to six stories high coming right for me. And then I was blasted off my feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: You can watch a new episode of "VIOLENT EARTH WITH LIEV SCHREIBER" tomorrow at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

We're back with more news after this.

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