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CNN International: Putin: Russia Ready To Resume Trilateral Peace Talks In Nov; Russia's New Jet Powered Drones Pose Challenge For Ukraine; The U.S. Could Deploy Heat Ray Weapon At Southern Border. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 22, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: But first, let's talk about this trilateral meeting that has been proposed. Russia and Ukraine have agreed in principle for these three-way talks to resume next -- next month. I guess one could view this as a positive development, but we have been here before. So, what do you think, Robert, could be new if this round of talks were to go ahead, and how likely is either side to moderate its demands?

ROBERT ENGLISH, CO-DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES, USC: Yeah, you're right to be skeptical. The -- you know, the hostage release is a tiny gesture. The fact that they might all three be sitting down is something new. But of course, the core issue is, are they going to be able to reach a compromise?

And a compromise would require either Russia moderating its demand for more territory, the rest of that Donbas, or the Ukrainian side reconciling itself to giving up more territory, but in exchange for other economic security benefits or other trade-offs that we're not privy to. That's the heart of the matter, not these atmospherics of where and when they meet, but the core compromise that so far, we don't see.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and amidst this, I mean, pressure really is intensifying on Ukraine. Donald Trump and his team have been offering President Putin a tremendous amount of economic incentives, appeasement, and flattery to get Russia to the table. Of course, we just heard there that remarkable, extraordinary humanitarian line of flattery from Steve Witkoff yesterday. We know for President Zelenskyy that a bad deal could be worse than no deal. So, what options does he have, do you see in this moment?

ENGLISH: You're correct to see that essentially, the strategy seems to be offer Moscow carrots, and threaten Ukraine with sticks. And the U.S. has been doing that, you know, with all that we've seen. Right? The relaxation of sanctions, the slowing down of internet through the, you know, the -- the services Skynet -- Skyshield, and also, of course, slowing down intelligence cooperation and refusing to deliver more Patriot missiles.

These are all forms of pressure, along with the heavy diplomatic pressure. And unfortunately, Ukraine's main bulwark to stand up to Russia and to stand up to Trump's bullying has been for the last two years, the Europeans who have sought to fill the gap that Trump in his second term has left in cutting off aid.

And I'm afraid that the signs here are getting increasingly grim because, of course, Europe is in increasingly difficult economic position. They can't agree on an E.U. budget. Divisions between the south and the north. Europe is taking on more and more debt, and every six months the Ukrainians need another $50-60-70-billion that Europe can only borrow to provide.

And you've covered the riots. You've covered the rise of the far right. I think that the European Union and national leaders in France, Germany, and Italy are feeling this pressure, and they're quietly telling Zelenskyy, we're going to have to give them more and reach a compromise because we can't keep this up for another year or 18 months.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, especially with many elections coming up across Europe, as you know, Robert. Look, I just wanted to get your thoughts on Stephen Hubbard because this prisoner release seemed to be somewhat unusual in that it didn't involve a direct swap of prisoners as we've seen in the past, but appeared to be more of a gesture towards President Trump. That's according to President Trump as well -- that is. How much do you think, though, that a tit for tat deal has been done here between the U.S. and Russia?

ENGLISH: You know, this was someone illegally detained in the terminology of the State Department. This wasn't a spy where we exchange for one of our spies or some other prisoner, a drug smuggler, an arms dealer. This was simply someone who was nabbed for no good reason and held, I think hostage is the better term.

So, I suppose, in some sense, it's a gesture of goodwill to release that hostage. But there was no legitimate basis in the first place. So, you know, if President Trump wants to portray it as a big victory, well, he's trying to get the Republicans to an election, he's going to cast everything that happens as some kind of victory that only he deserves credit for.

But in fact, the person never should have been held. Four years is too long for a 70-year-old man who all we can see was a teacher, not a mercenary.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and it is good to see that he will be back on U.S. soil at some point today. Robert English, so great to have your thoughts this morning. Thank you very much.

ENGLISH: You're welcome.

MACFARLANE: Now a new generation of Russian jet-powered drones are wreaking havoc across the country. They are much fast and much more difficult to intercept. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh gets a rare look at the captured drone and the Western-made components inside.

[04:35:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's that raw, terrifying, and new -- the jet engines of the latest Russian drone horror in Ukraine skies faster, more precise, and deadlier. Here, causing students to flee in Kyiv. CNN got a rare glimpse of what makes the Geran-4 jet- powered Russian drone so terrifying. Defense Intelligence Ukraine sent us video of one of their experts dismantling a trophy model, one that didn't blow up when it was down. They are fast, up to 375 miles an hour because of these jet engines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The difference is that this engine is more powerful. It is produced in China by Telefly, but now Russia is capable of making a full copy.

PATON WALSH: They show us the brains, components they say were made in China, the labeling of which the Russians have scratched off to hide their origins. And what's key? This so-called mesh modem, which bounces signals off other drones in the sky to make a network. That means they can send video and radio live feeds back to Russian operators.

Horrific precision like this in Kyiv, possible because the Russian operators can see live feeds of where they're going and what they will hit. The Geran-4 are fast. You have to be lucky to hit them, and they still come tumbling down. Russian video gloats at this new capability, their new toy mass-produced in their enormous Alabuga factory in the east, and the Kyiv bridges that it hit. But this is not a Russian-only creation. We're shown how it relies on lots of Western parts bought anywhere and anyhow on the open global market.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a flight control unit. This one has different boards. This is a Texas Instrument, U.S. made component.

PATON WALSH: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can see every single all boards.

PATON WALSH: How would you know they're Texas Instruments if they've scratched off the markings?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see here, it's -- in the right angle, you can see true marking.

PATON WALSH: Doesn't it shock you that this is still available to them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not shocking because it's not a military component. It's a common use. You can buy it everywhere. We're living in free open world, and it's very difficult to -- to block these chains, world chains of markets.

PATON WALSH: There's no suggestion Texas Instruments has any role in supply, and they told us they strongly oppose Russian use, and all shipments to Russia are illicit and unauthorized. What's new today will tomorrow be old in a horrific race to learn, improve, kill, and then repeat it all over again. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Now, an advanced U.S. weapon that shoots heat rays could soon be deployed to border patrol operations. The Pentagon has authorized the U.S. Homeland Security to begin testing the weapon. It creates an intense burning sensation on the skin, similar to a blast of heat from opening a hot oven. We got more from CNN's Zachary Cohen.

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ZACHARY COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon has authorized the Department of Homeland Security to test a military-grade heat ray and develop tactics for potentially using it at the U.S. southern border. Now, this is a controversial system known as an active denial system, and it's developed primarily for crowd control purposes.

It is something that is capable of firing an energy beam more than a mile and a half away, and it's intended to be used against humans, and it inflicts a very specific effect when it touches the human skin. Military officials have characterized it as a burning sensation that also generates an instinctive and irresistible urge to run from the effect.

Now, this has been a system that the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol have discussed using at the U.S. southern border in the past, but ultimately, top officials, including those working under the first Trump Administration, opted against using it at that location due to concerns about its legality and morality.

This is a system that was developed primarily to be used overseas in combat operations. It was briefly deployed to Afghanistan back in the early 2000s, but was never used and actually sent back to the United States without any sort of use or function. Now, U.S. officials have also considered using this system against U.S. citizens, including at the end of the Trump Administration, in response to protests after the shooting of George Floyd, and it was then that U.S. officials again denied requests from then the National Guard to acquire the system and potentially use it against those Americans.

[04:40:00]

Now, this all comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has really emphasized the need to test directed energy weapons in the context of the U.S. southern border. His Deputy Chief of Staff, after our reporting published, wrote on X, "The border is now a military installation and a battle lab for testing new systems to include directed energy weapons."

The Customs and Border Patrol also providing CNN with a statement in response to our reporting, saying, "CBP is continually evaluating new technologies, especially those that enhance operational effectiveness and strengthen mission capabilities."

But again, those pervasive concerns have been raised in the past by CBP officials, including if it's used against migrants who are trying to illegally cross into the United States, particularly if it's used as they're trying to cross the river, it could potentially create a scenario where it would increase the amount of rescues that border patrol agents would have to perform to prevent those individuals from potentially drowning.

So, all of these questions and concerns will have to be addressed as the Department of Homeland Security and CBP continue to test and develop new ways of potentially using this system. I mean, it's one that has decades of history and information about the concerns themselves. Ultimately, we'll have to see if it is ultimately deployed to the U.S. southern border or used against migrants. Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Now, the world is about to blow past a crucial milestone in the terms of climate change, but the U.N. says it's not too late to do something about it. The story is ahead.

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MACFARLANE: We're back with an encouraging update on Pope Leo's health. The Vatican says he will not need any more treatment for lung cancer after successful surgery last week.

[04:45:00]

Doctors say the cancer was localized, and the all-clear arrives ahead of the pontiff's planned South America trip next month. Pope Leo held his first general audience on Wednesday at the Vatican since his surgery. The 71-year-old pontiff waved to crowds and blessed babies while riding in the Popemobile through St. Peter's Square. Here was his message to the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): The first thing I would like to say to you is thank you. Thank you for the support of your press. Thanks be to God for His generosity. Let us all renew our trust in the goodness and mercy of God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: The United Nations has a gloomy report about climate change ahead of next month's climate talks in Turkey. It says the world is past the point where temperatures can remain within the target agreed in the Paris Climate Accord. The goal was to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

The U.N. had warned earlier that target might not be met, but this is the first time it said it's not a matter of if, but when. U.N. officials say all is not lost, though, because it's still possible to do damage control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The consequences are already devastating, but overshoot is not surrender. The Secretary General says that we can still keep it as small and as short as possible and bring temperatures back down to below 1.5 degrees before the end of the 21st century.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: But to do that, greenhouse gas emissions would have to be cut far beyond anything that's being considered right now. And even if that works, scientists say the cost will still be measured not only in environmental losses, but also in human lives. Bill Weir has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: In stark terms, scientists from the United Nations, from around the world, really, are saying, Welcome to the age of overshoot. For generations, these sorts of gap reports were meant to inform world leaders about how much work had to be done to reach that target of keeping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius or just under three degrees Fahrenheit, but now for the first time, blowing past that overshoot is both imminent and unavoidable.

So, best case is humanity figuring out a way to pull all that carbon pollution out of the sky while rapidly decreasing the amount of fossil fuel use around the globe. Just to give you a sense of the target gap at current pledges right now, the countries of the world are vowing to cut CO2 emissions, that planet cooking pollutant, by 5 percent to 8 percent by 2030, 11 percent to 15 percent by 2035. But this new report that looks into how much backsliding has been done.

It looks at the United States withdrawing entirely from the Paris Climate Accords and doing any efforts to mitigate this, now says these cuts would be -- have to be about 18 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035, and 69 percent by 2040 relative to the amount of emissions just from last year in 2025. It would require tripling the amount of renewable energy capacity around the world by 2035.

Not that -- not that far away, less than a decade away, and dramatic cuts to coal. In fact, an entire phase out of coal by 2040. This paper is calling for, in addition to ramping up that carbon capture technology, which has not really been proven at scale. What is at stake here?

Well, every 10th of a degree puts millions of people at further risk of climate disaster. It dooms island nations and coastal communities to the ravages of overheating seas. We're getting a taste of that with this Super El Nino that's kicking off in the Pacific right now. It means the loss of a lot more permafrost, which holds frozen landscapes together.

You saw what happened in Nepal. That tragedy as an entire mountain side came down as just a glimpse of what happens as the cryosphere on Earth gives way. Not to mention the poles melting, which contributes to sea level rise and the intensity of storms and droughts and floods that all come with every 10th of a degree of warming. So, this is either once again a missed red flag for humanity or a wake-up call, as perhaps the pendulum swings back to doing something about climate action.

There's been so much black -- backsliding around the world at the corporate, at the government level right now that here we are. There's no hope of saving 1.5 right now, but every 10th of a degree counts. That's the message here. The technology exists, but as always the case when it comes to this story, it comes down to political will. Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Let's hope it will serve as a wake-up call. Our thanks to Bill Weir there, and we will be right back after this quick break.

[04:50:00]

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MACFARLANE: Meta has been hit with a $25 billion fine in New Mexico for misleading Facebook users about their privacy. The state judge announced the penalty on Wednesday, saying deception was central to the company's business model. The case dates back to 2018, when the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained private information from up to 87 million Facebook users. Meta says it plans to appeal.

Now, for decades, the definition of the American dream has been home ownership, but data shows that compared with earlier generations, Gen- Z is less focused on getting onto the property ladder. Karin Caifa takes a look at why that is.

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KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is not Gen-Z being uninterested in their future financial stability. They just have different priorities than other generations, one expert says for now. Home ownership has become more expensive, and new research points to Gen-Z putting their money elsewhere.

CHASE HARRINGTON, PRESIDENT, ENTRATA: I think we're seeing Gen-Z reprioritize the American dream. I don't think it was abandoned. I think it's just been reprioritized.

CAIFA: Chase Harrington, President of property management technology company Entrata, says their recent survey of renters found Gen-Z showing interest in shorter-term investments, including emergency funds.

[04:55:00]

HARRINGTON: They've really started to put their financial stability as one of the top priorities, as well as their physical and mental well- being, and lifestyle and quality of life, and putting money towards that. CAIFA: Mortgage rates are well off their peaks of the early 1980s, but Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at real estate brokerage Redfin, says Gen-Z still faces a tougher path to home ownership than older generations.

DARYL FAIRWEATHER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, REDFIN: If you talk to baby boomers about what it was like to buy a home in the late 70s or 80s, they'll tell you that the interest rates were like 17 percent and how unaffordable it was for them. But prices were way lower back then, and that's the biggest difference now.

CAIFA: The climate could change as Gen-Z grows older. A Redfin report says housing costs could return to normal or the 2018 level of home prices relative to incomes in five years or even sooner if mortgage rates drop to 6 percent and home price growth holds steady or drops.

FAIRWEATHER: We need price growth to remain slow, for wages to grow faster than prices, and for mortgage rates to stay stable or to even come down in order to get us back to that affordable place.

CAIFA: Baby boomers, the largest cohort of home owners, Fairweather says, will also let go of some of their homes in the next decade, leaving more room in the market for Gen-Z if they want it. In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: We will wait and see, won't we? That is it for us here, and me and the team here on CNN Newsroom. Thank you for watching. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. CNN Headline Express is up next.

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