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At Least Eight Injured in Russian Strikes on Kyiv; Ukraine and Russia Exchange Hundreds in Largest Prisoner Swap since War Began, Ceasefire Elusive; Trump Threatens High Tariffs on E.U., Apple; Limited Aid Trickles in to Gaza; Judge Halts Ban on Harvard Foreign Student Enrollment; Poppy Wall of Honor Tribute to Fallen U.S. Troops. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 24, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Russian drones strike Ukraine's capital, hours after their biggest prisoner swap.
Can peace be achieved?
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TRUMP: I just said it's time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game. I'm not looking for a deal.
ABEL (voice-over): Trade tensions rise again, Trump threatening tariffs on the E.U. and Apple.
Will Europe fight back?
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ABEL (voice-over): Plus, a judge blocks Trump's move to ban international students at Harvard. I'll speak to a student about the impact and the mood on campus.
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ABEL: Russian drones and missiles are taking aim at Ukraine's capital, just as the two countries conduct their largest prisoner swap since the war began.
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ABEL (voice-over): We're hearing there are explosions. They've been rattling Kyiv Saturday morning as the new strikes left at least eight people injured, according to the city's mayor. Multiple apartment buildings have been struck, while the attacks caused a number of fires.
The strikes came after days of Ukrainian drone attacks on targets in Russia, including Moscow.
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ABEL: The new attacks are happening a day after hundreds of prisoners held by Russia and Ukraine came back home. The two countries exchanged about 400 POWs on each side on Friday, with more swaps expected over the weekend.
The Ukrainian prisoners had emotional reunions with friends and loved ones after spending up to three years in Russian captivity. But as Nic Robertson reports, peace is still nowhere in sight despite the exchange.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slava Ukraini.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slava.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: A first taste of freedom. Reunion by phone. I'm alive. I'm healthy, he says, Ukrainian soldiers back on home soil, joyous in survival, celebrating release.
Emotions overflowing as Russia and Ukraine begin their biggest prisoner exchange since Russia began its illegal, unprovoked, full scale invasion of Ukraine, 39 months ago; 270 troops and 120 civilians of each side released Friday, some of the 1,000 from each side expected over the coming days.
I'm just so happy to go home and see my family, this Russian soldier says.
In any conflict, what you are seeing here might build trust, lead to the end of conflict but not here, not yet, at least.
This is the fifth such exchange this year, the 64th since the war started and while it was agreed during the first face-to-face Ukrainian Russian talks in Istanbul last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described it as the only tangible result of the meeting.
Ukraine agreed two months ago to President Donald Trump's demand for a 30- day unconditional ceasefire. Russia still refuses.
The low level talks in Turkey last week, the prisoner exchange this weekend, the latest examples Ukraine says of Russian President Vladimir Putin's intransigence in the face of Trump's optimism that he is on track to brokering peace.
On his Truth Social platform, the U.S. president jumping the gun on the actual exchange saying this could lead to something big.
Since Russia invaded in 2022, it has released more than 5,000 captured Ukrainians, according to Ukrainian officials but some families are still missing loved ones, turning up Friday, hoping for news. This mother with pictures of her son.
Many Ukrainians fear the swaps like the one this weekend are part of the cycle of war, not a harbinger it's about to end -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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ABEL: For more analysis, we are joined by Alexander Khara, the executive director of the Centre for Defence Strategies, speaking to us from Kyiv.
[03:05:03]
Alexander, I'd like to start with the latest drone strikes in Kyiv.
Can you tell us about the last few hours there?
ALEXANDER KHARA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR DEFENCE STRATEGIES: Hello, Brian. Good to be on your show. Well, the latest numbers are there were 14 missiles and 250 drones. Less than half missiles and less than half of drones Ukrainian air forces intercepted.
And it was loud. And just like it was a quite an unpleasant experience, seeing how Ukrainian air defense is trying to shut down incoming missiles over my apartment building. And the stories of that kind I heard from my friends who are from other districts of Kyiv.
So it was a nightmare and I believe it was a sign of a readiness of Russia -- and certainly I'm sarcastic here -- to put an end to this war.
ABEL: A difficult way to go through a morning with that over your head and that constant presence, constant threat.
Alexander, we've seen already -- I want to go back to this prisoner swap for a moment -- the first phase of that swap. There's been some powerful images of soldiers and civilians that were released, some breaking down when talking to loved ones on the phone.
When you look at the moments like those, does this give any hope that this war could come to an end anytime in the near future?
KHARA: Not at all. Certainly we are happy to get to get our boys and girls back home and, in this particular swap, we got 270 military personnel and 120 civilians.
Unfortunately, the Russians are reluctant to release our heroic defenders of Mariupol from Azov brigade, Crimean Tatars that are being illegally detained only almost on a daily basis in illegally occupied Crimea and Ukrainian journalists. So we have many hostages, not just prisoners of war but civilian hostages being taken by the Russians.
But there is no reason to believe that Russia is ready to, seriously, in good faith, negotiate an end to this war. They believe they have enough resources and they have the will to conquer the whole of Ukraine.
They are preparing for the summer offensive and they see that the West is shaking. We've seen that the United States, with the current administration stepping back from supporting Ukraine, both diplomatically, because we've been criticized by the Trump administration many times.
And we even got this military and security authority intelligence assistance polls, just to exert pressure over Ukraine related to the earth material deal.
But Putin enjoys impunity. There were no sanctions imposed on Russia, even though Russia rejected all the peace proposals from the United States. And recently, the Russians actually pushed forward their vision of the negotiation process.
So they rejected the idea of a ceasefire. Instead, they said they will -- we are going to kill Ukrainians while they need to, let's say, outline the conditions of their surrender. So that's why I believe it's all those signs are encouraging Putin to carry on this war.
And I would say that there is no diplomatic solution to this war. Russia will advance unless it's stopped by military means. And now we see that our Western partners and Europe is doing a great job but not enough to stop Russians and to expel them from the occupied territories.
ABEL: Well, you mentioned the pressure there. There's been some new pressure from Ukrainian allies to push the Kremlin toward a ceasefire. Yet we've also seen the United States warn of backing away from any mediation.
So where do you see the next chapter of this war going?
KHARA: Well, I hope it's not in the interest of Mr. Trump and this administration to see failure in Ukraine, like in Afghanistan and some other places. So I believe they will be engaged in talks. They may try to use it as a leverage against Ukraine.
And actually, it's not possible to solve all those strategic issues that the United States face in the in the Pacific and the Middle East without solving Russian problem. So even if Trump decides to step back from this diplomatic process, he will be brought back by the necessity of solving the Russian issue sometime in the future.
But unless Russian fail in the summer offensive and unless there is a real pressure, not that type of sanctions that have been imposed by European partners and others -- you know that Europeans are still buying Russian oil. European companies are and transporting this oil to foreign markets and European market as well.
Greece and Malta allow to this transshipment of the Russian oil to their vessels in their territorial waters.
[03:10:09] And there are many, many other cases where Europeans are not doing enough to hit Russia car (ph) not to mention the United States that promised to impose some sanctions if Russia does not agree on the ceasefire.
Actually, Russia rejected it several times and never honored those agreements that they reached with Americans. And there was no consequences for that. So that's why I believe such a behavior just encourages the Kremlin.
Finally there is -- there are some good news and I'm talking about this draft of the resolution in Senate that got more than 80 senators. They are willing to support this resolution. They may impose 500 percent tariffs on those countries that are trading with Russia or assisting Russia.
And particularly we are talking about China and India, who are actually supporting Russia by buying their energy and thus getting Russia hard currencies they need to run this wartime economy and kill Ukrainians. So I hope that this leverage will be used.
ABEL: And we will see if they will. Alexander Khara, thank you and stay safe.
KHARA: Thank you for having me. Thank you. Brian.
ABEL: Four people are in critical condition after a knife attack on Friday at the central train station in Hamburg, Germany. CNN's Sebastian Shukla has more from Berlin.
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SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: At least a dozen people have been injured in an attack at a major railway station in the Northern German City of Hamburg. The attack took place at around 6:00 pm and was carried out by a 39-year-old German woman, police told CNN.
Police at this moment would not confirm any other information, except that they were examining her mental state at this point but were not considering the attack to be politically motivated.
FLORIAN ABBENSETH, HAMBURG POLICE SPOKESMAN: The woman was quickly arrested without resistance by the police forces on the scene. Based on initial video footage, we assume that the woman acted alone.
So far, we have no indications of any political motivation. However, there are initial findings which we are using in particular to check whether the woman may have been in an exceptional mental state. The investigation regarding the background and course of the crime is, of course, now in full progress.
SHUKLA: A video post to social media appears to show somebody being escorted out of the station, wearing blue hoodie and black and white tracksuit trousers. Other images circulating also show a heavy police presence on the scene. And German train stations often have large police presences. It's
likely to have helped the speed of the first responders and the authorities, which were a total around 60 of them on the scene immediately.
And you can also imagine the scene at the station, one of the busiest in Germany, a hub for connecting travel across the country as Friday evening came, people commuting home from work or passing through on their ways to weekend getaways.
It all means, though, this is another attack that's taken place in Germany after a spate of similar attacks in the last six months, which have left people dead; knife attacks in Scharfenberg in January and Solingen in late 2024 left people dead.
And that's all you -- before you include car ramming incidents in Munich in February and in Manheim in March. And, of course, that Christmas market attack in Magdeburg.
Shortly after the attack, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he'd spoken with the first mayor of Hamburg and that his thoughts are with the victims and the families at this time -- Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
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ABEL: It was a day of fresh economic uncertainty and mixed messages on European trade from U.S. president Donald Trump. Friday saw him threaten the European Union with 50 percent tariffs on all imports, insisting he's, quote, "not looking for a deal."
But later he suggested he might be willing to push the June 1st start date back, saying, quote, "if somebody comes in and wants to build a plant here."
Well, the president's threats and his changing positions on a possible deal caused some major European stock market indices to fall sharply. He also vowed to slap a 25 percent tariff on Apple if it continues to make iPhones overseas.
And he warned other tech companies they could be next. Mr. Trump said tariffs on the E.U. were necessary because there's been no progress in trade negotiations.
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TRUMP: We have a big deficit with them. They sell millions and millions of cars, as you know, Mercedes and BMW and Volkswagen and many others. And we were restricted from essentially restricted from selling cars into the European Union, which is not nice.
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And I just said it's time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game. You know, nobody -- they've taken advantage of other people representing this country and they're not going to do that any longer.
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ABEL: CNN business editor at large Richard Quest has more from London.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST AND CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: The president decided to have two bites at the tariff tree today. The first was against the European Union. This idea of 50 percent tariffs by the beginning of June, because the talks were going, in the president's words, nowhere.
The second was against Apple and that was because they're not bringing manufacturing back to the United States. They're shifting from China to India. But as the day wore on, we got perhaps less clarity but more comments from Mr. Trump.
When it came to Europe, it seems he doesn't want a deal at all. It's not quite sure what he does want but it seems to be something to do with bringing more manufacturing of cars back to the United States.
And then with Apple, when asked outright and bluntly, wasn't that illegal to target one company?
He said, oh, no, I'm targeting them all, including Samsung.
The problem with all these smartphones being manufactured in the United States is that it's not possible in the short term, arguably not even in the medium term. It would take billions of dollars and several years to build the necessary factories, all of which leaves everyone bemused and puzzled as to what is the president's barometer for success.
The real challenge is how to find that success when the deadlines that Mr. Trump has set are very close by. June is around the corner -- Richard Quest, CNN, London.
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ABEL: Straight ahead, desperately needed aid and food supplies are slowly trickling into Gaza. But the little food that is getting in is not reaching everyone.
Plus, the U.S. and Iran keep talking but it's hard to see how they can bridge their differences over Tehran's uranium enrichment program. Details are just ahead.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) ABEL: An Israeli airstrike in Jabalya, northern Gaza, left rescuers
and residents searching for survivors and victims on Friday. The Palestinian ministry of health says the strike killed and wounded several people.
Israel has ramped up attacks in northern Gaza as it expands its military offensive. Health officials say Israeli strikes killed at least 50 people across Gaza on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
A small trickle of aid into Gaza after nearly three months of an Israeli blockade has led to frustration for many Palestinians there. Crowds desperate for food flocking to bakeries like this one, though many left empty-handed as it ran out of bread within minutes.
Trucks delivering flour and other food aid aren't even making it to northern Gaza. Israel has recently issued several evacuation warnings there. Some trucks have been held up because of limited and unsafe routes or have been looted in the way to distribution points.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I didn't receive any bread today. I walked all the way from al-Maghazi only to find a crowd waiting here. It's exhausting and we feel lost and abandoned. People are desperate. It's time for action, not empty promises.
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ABEL: Israel says more than 300 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Monday. But the United Nations says it's a fraction of the aid that entered before the war. At that time, 500 to 600 trucks came into Gaza every day.
The fifth round of high stakes nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran has ended with limited progress, two Iranian sources told CNN. An agreement is unlikely while the U.S. insists that Iran dismantle its uranium enrichment program. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more from Tehran.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Death to America and death to Israel, chants at Friday prayers in Tehran. The prayer leader laying into the Trump administration as the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks hang in the balance.
PLEITGEN: Iran's leadership is telling the United States that they want a nuclear agreement but they're also not afraid of a confrontation if the talks fail.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Tehran not happy with both President Trump and his chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff after Witkoff said the U.S. wouldn't allow Iran to continue enriching uranium as part of any deal.
"No way. There is no trust," this member of the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps tells me. "They failed their previous tests toward the Iranian nation. However,
we have initiated the talks to prove our intention is not war. We want the enrichment for medical and other purposes."
"The negotiations are unilateral," this woman says. "Trump is trying to show his power but it is our right to have nuclear capabilities."
Iran has consistently said its nuclear program is purely civilian in nature and Tehran insists on keeping its uranium enrichment capabilities. Iran's foreign minister acknowledging the talks are complicated.
"We stress the positions and principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the negotiations, he says, our positions are completely clear and we insist on them. I think the American side now has a better and more clear picture of our position."
President Trump is threatening even tougher measures against Iran if the talks fail and American officials tell CNN, intelligence suggests Israel is preparing for strikes against targets in Iran. Iranians we spoke to vowing a tough response if that happens.
"The United States knows better what will happen," he says, "if things get serious, there will not be a country named Israel on Earth."
But for now, both sides say they're gearing up for the next round of talks trying to forge a new nuclear deal -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
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ABEL: Thousands of foreign students at Harvard are stuck in limbo as a judge weighs in on president Trump's battle with the university. That's next.
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ABEL (voice-over): Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brian Abel. Let's check the top stories we are following this hour.
Both Russia and Ukraine are expected to conduct the next phase of their prisoner swap this weekend. They exchanged close to 400 POWs on each side on Friday as part of the largest swap since the war began.
It came as Russian drones struck Kyiv Saturday morning, leaving at least eight people injured.
U.S. and Iranian nuclear negotiators have agreed to meet again in the near future, after their fifth round of talks in Rome ended with limited progress. Iranian officials say U.S. insistence that Tehran dismantle its uranium enrichment program could collapse the nuclear talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump sparked a new round of economic uncertainty on Friday, threatening to impose 50 percent tariffs on all imports from the European Union. He also said he is considering slapping 25 percent tariffs on Apple if it does not relocate iPhone production to the U.S.
ABEL: The Trump administrations showdown with Harvard University is escalating. On Friday a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the administration's efforts to ban foreign students from attending the Ivy League school.
The ruling comes after Harvard filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government. It says the ban was clear retaliation for refusing to give in to the administration's policy demands. Another hearing is scheduled for next week, when the judge could decide if she'll leave the block in place until the lawsuit's decided.
Joining me now from Austin, Texas, is Shreya Mishra Reddy, a student at Harvard Business School.
[03:30:03]
Thank you so much for joining us during what I know must be a turbulent time for you. First, I'd like you to share with us what your initial reaction was hearing about this move from the White House.
SHREYA MISHRA REDDY, STUDENT, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: So it's been really, really difficult. The first that I got to read about it was from CNN. In fact, when I saw a news pop up on my phone screen, I was in the middle of a work meeting.
And I read that Harvard had been banned from accepting international students and all the international students had to either transfer to another program or risk losing their status. So -- and it said it was a developing story on that piece of news.
I was completely taken aback. I didn't know what to do. So then the first thing that I did was I contacted my father and I told him that, even though I was supposed to be back in school, my classes were supposed to start at the end of May and then I was supposed to go back to campus in July but I don't know if that's going to be the case anymore.
My tickets are all booked and I was all set to become a Harvard Business School alum toward the end of it. But I'm not really sure what's going to happen. So it's all -- it's all up in the air right now.
ABEL: OK, I want to, for a second, if we can, give our viewers a sense of the stakes for you, how this affects you.
So could you just briefly share with us your journey to this point, coming to the States, why you chose Harvard, getting accepted, that feeling?
And then also how much you've invested monetarily for this chapter of your education.
REDDY: Absolutely. So I've come from India and I moved to the U.S. in December 2021 for another master's program at Duke. I graduated, I started working at Visa and that's why I'm based out of Austin, Texas.
And somewhere during that time, I enrolled into the program at Harvard. The application process was also quite different. There were lots of essays. They required letters of recommendation and they took a lot of time to get back to me.
So honestly, I was -- when I applied for it, I wasn't at all sure that they would accept me because the criteria looked pretty strict in terms of what your profile should look like and things that you should have achieved leading up to that point.
So because of all of that, I wasn't really sure if I will make it to school. But when I was accepted, it was like one of the biggest news in my life.
As for the program cost, the tuition fee alone is about $90,000. And you can add some more expenses to it. So almost $100,000. And it's been tough getting up to this point and being accepted into the school, finally being at school, experiencing the wonderful culture at Harvard.
But then toward the end, I just have one module left. And because I didn't know -- I didn't know that I'll be allowed to finally leave the campus with the tag of a Harvard alum or not. It's been -- it's been really difficult up to this point because, if it's still uncertain, then it doesn't -- I don't know where that leaves me basically.
ABEL: Well, Shreya, give us some insight into what the university's outreach has been to students impacted by this.
Do you know what your options are or have they been spelled out at all?
Have you had to seek out that information on your own?
REDDY: Yes, so I did talk to a few other students in different programs. And the university is in touch with them. The university also released a statement saying that they stand with the international students and that Harvard is not Harvard without its international students, which I was really touched by.
And all the international students felt a deep sense of relief reading that. But the few students that I'm in touch with are -- and they are from different programs. They told me that they're looking into legal recourse.
They're trying to figure out what their options are when it comes to immigration. So they're trying to figure out if there is an immigration lawyer who's an expert in something like this, who can help them with their legal status, seeing that they probably have to make a move really soon and maybe switch to another school. So I know that Harvard's been in touch with us, with me, as well as
with the other international students. But at this point in time, I don't know if everybody has received a confirmation on what the steps will look like moving forward for everybody who's on campus.
ABEL: Well, we do have a picture of you that we want to show our viewers, this image of you on campus. And there's a caption that you had on top of this picture.
It said, "Hope. Still. Always."
Is that sentiment still holding true for you right now?
And what are your fears at this moment?
REDDY: Absolutely. So the picture is from last year, when I was on campus attending the program in person. And I -- and I stand by what I wrote -- Hope. Still. Always. -- because we all believe in Harvard as an institution and in what it stands for, truth, justice, integrity and ethics.
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ABEL: Well, we know your family is incredibly proud of you. Congratulations on your success to this point. Shreya Kishan Reddy, thank you so much for your time.
REDDY: Thank you so much.
ABEL: The U.S. is imposing sanctions on Sudan after it determined the African nation used chemical weapons last year.
The U.S. says the weapons were used during the Sudanese army's conflict with a paramilitary rapid support forces. Officials did not specify what weapons were used and precisely when or where. Sudan denies the allegations.
Still, the U.S. notified Congress that its sanctions against the country would take effect around June 6th and would include limits on U.S. exports and lines of credit.
In Mexico, a hot air balloon crashed to the ground, injuring 12 people who were aboard. The crash happened just a short distance from the Pyramid of the Moon, a popular tourist site, where companies offer balloon rides to view the pyramids from the sky.
Authorities say the balloon hit an air pocket, causing a forced landing that left it draped over fencing and power lines. Look at that. They say a 29-year old man was detained in connection with the investigation.
There is a special tribute this weekend to American military troops who died in service to their country. Ahead, how a temporary memorial honors the sacrifices of more than 600,000 service members.
Plus, it's like the first day of school but instead it's their first day in the ocean. Heartwarming video from International Turtle Day in Brazil.
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ABEL: There's a special Memorial Day tribute on display this weekend in the United States. This is the Poppy Wall of Honor at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The 134-foot wall has more than 600,000 poppies. That's one for every American who died in military service since World War I. The temporary tribute has been displayed on Memorial Day weekend for the past six years.
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Well, how's this for a wakeup call?
A container ship went to ground in a Norwegian fjord, leaving a homeowner amazed at the enormous vessel, missed his house by just a few meters. Thankfully so. It had 16 people on board when it lost control.
The ship's owner called it a serious incident and is trying to figure out what went wrong. No one was injured though. Still, the whole episode wasn't much of an alarm clock. The homeowner slept through the whole thing until a neighbor woke him up.
A rare and heartwarming sight in Brazil yesterday to celebrate International Turtle Day. Dozens of sea turtle hatchlings were released into the ocean. Crowds of tourists gathering, locals, too, to see the tiny creatures make their first swim.
And environmental agencies organized the event to bring awareness to the critical role turtles play in the marine ecosystem. The animals, they do remain under threat due to habitat destruction and pollution. The U.S. National Ocean Service says sea turtles' natural lifespan between 50 and 100 years old.
Thank you so much for watching. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. Then I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour.
