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CNN This Morning

Pope Leo XIV Celebrates His Inaugural Mass; Two Dead, Dozens Injured After Mexican Navy Ship Hits Brooklyn Bridge; One Dead In Palm Springs Explosion That "Targeted" Fertility Clinic. Ship Likely Suffered "Mechanical" Issue Causing To it The Underside Of The Bridge; Trump Says He Will Speak To Putin By Phone On Monday; Ukraine Air Force: Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack Of The War; Tornado Outbreak Kills At Least 25. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired May 18, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:43]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, May 18th. I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

We're following several breaking stories this morning. We're starting with Pope Leo's inaugural mass. The first American pontiff presided over the special service at Saint Peter's Square. He was elected May 8th. His official papacy begins today.

Now, Leo was given symbols of his office, including a lamb's wool vestment and fisherman's ring. We'll talk about the significance of those in a moment. World leaders from 150 countries, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, attended. Here's some of what the new pope said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (through translator): I was chosen without any merit of my own. And now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy. Walking with you on the path of God's love. For he wants us all to be united in one family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in now CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb in Rome with all the details. Christopher, the tone that the new pope set, talk about what we heard from him and the way in which he is shaping his papacy.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, I thought it was very significant that Pope Leo emphasizing that he wishes to be a servant. Of course, one of the titles of the pope is servant of the servants of God. And of course, that is what came across in what he was saying today.

He emphasized that the pope should not be an autocrat, that the pope must work with everyone in the Church, in the mission of the faith. And that, I think, was important. What we heard really from Pope Leo was the style of pope that he wants to be.

He wants to walk alongside people. As he said he wants unity in the Church. Of course, there have been and there are divisions within the Catholic Church, very strong differences of opinion on all sorts of, you know, major issues. But, you know, Pope Leo wants to bring people together as a unifier. That's something he emphasized strongly.

And we also heard him say that, you know, the economic paradigm that squanders the earth's resources is something that he's concerned about. So, we also got a sense of the kind of social outreach that he is going to be taking as pope.

And we're coming to the end of the mass now. People have been applauding Pope Leo. They've been applauding throughout this service, particularly when he talked about wanting to be a servant. It has been an atmosphere of celebration and joy here in Saint Peter's. Over 100,000 have gathered, according to the official estimates, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Christopher Lamb for us there. Christopher, thank you. Here with me now to discuss Fr. Roy Lee, and Emory University associate professor of theology and culture, Antonio Eduardo Alonso. He's also the author of "Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life." Thank you both for being here.

And, father, let me start with you and your reaction to what we heard from the new pope today and his, I was chosen without any merit of my own and the shaping of the servant of the servants of God.

FATHER ROY LEE, ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA: Yes. I think it's a sign of humility. And he's a bridge builder. And I think he is really reflecting what has happened throughout the 2,000 years of our history that goes back to Peter. And I think that's what he's trying to demonstrate, and that's what he's saying when he talks about his role as shepherd, being the 267th pope --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: -- since Saint Peter. So, you talk about succession. This man is walking and putting his feet in the shoes of 200 and -- 266 popes since Peter.

[06:05:03]

And so, I think his style, being an Augustinian, is one of missionary and one of humility.

BLACKWELL: Let me come to you, Antonio. The audience today also included, as I mentioned, royals, world leaders from 150 countries. And so, his discussion of exploitation in the world and autocracy, talk about that and is it surprising that he invoked that in this space? I mean, how much were they, the intended audience, for this homily?

ANTONIO EDUARDO ALONSO, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AND CULTURE, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Yes, that's a wonderful question. I think as the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics, he has a lot of people on his mind, including these world leaders. The choice of his name is reflective of the previous Leo, who emphasized and really was the founder of Catholic social doctrine, which was focused on the dignity of all human beings. And he has made very clear that the dignity of all human beings is going to be a focus of his papacy, as is peace.

It came across from his first words on the balcony just last week, and it's been a through line the entire time, all through this homily, as well as the lingering question of, will our next pope be in continuity with the previous one, with Francis? And I think he answered that with a resounding yes today in his desire for accompaniment one with the people of God.

BLACKWELL: Father, he received the pallium vestment today also the fisherman's ring. The significance of those?

LEE: The pallium is a sign of his office. It also -- it has like three pins. It's the wounds of Christ. He is also the shepherd. And the ring is a sign and symbol of Peter, who was a fisherman.

And so, this wonderful ancient tradition goes back so many years that that Pope Leo XIV is a man who is going to be a part of catching not only men and women but also being a sign of unity for the world. Not only for Catholics but for Christians. And not only for Christians but for non-Christians. So, he's a sign and a symbol of that unity and that peace and that love that he talked about in his homily today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. As we saw, there were leaders of other faiths in attendance --

LEE: That's correct.

BLACKWELL: -- today, as there were at the funeral for the previous pope, Pope Francis. Antonio, to you in these several days, not even two weeks yet since the election of the new pope -- or maybe it has been two weeks. What have we learned about the style in which he will live?

We know that Pope Francis decided not to live at the Apostolic Palace, at the papal apartment. He had an apartment somewhere else. We see that he is wearing different adornments than Pope Francis chose with the simple white. What are we learning about some of these differences from one to the other?

ALONSO: Yes. The way I like to think about it is I think Pope Leo is making clear in everything he says and does that he very much wants to honor the overall vision of Francis, but he's also doing it in his own particular way. And I think the good -- the good example is the choice to live back in the royal palace, the Vatican headquarters, where the popes have lived for a very long time. It kind of makes sense to me.

I appreciate it very much Pope Francis' humble choice to live with others. I think it was in part because of his -- he's kind of an extroverted person. He talked about how he wanted to be around people a lot. And this pope might have just a different way of being. But I think what we're seeing as father just said earlier, a real sense of humility, a servant of the people, and that's coming through all of he is saying and doing.

BLACKWELL: What's the relevance of this being the first American pope to American Catholics?

LEE: That's -- that's a good question. There's a lot of excitement for us. I thought I would never live to see an American Pope. And now when I see this man, and he speaks English, I feel like I'm a part of him.

And so, for me, and I think for many of us who are excited is to say we got an American pope who not only understands, you know, the American issues but also the global issues. He lived in Peru for many years. So, this man has a global understanding of the world. But also coming from Chicago, knowing the American culture, the issues of the American church, but also know that our issues are not necessarily everybody else's issues in the world.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: So, this man comes with a global understanding. And I think that's one of the -- one, among other reasons, why they selected this man.

[06:10:05]

He kind of checked all the boxes in terms of education, intellectualism, missionary, and being part of the Augustinian order. So, I think, for me, it's excitement and it's joy. It's refreshing.

And so, I think this level of high energy is going to be with us for a long time. Not only that, he's 69 years old.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: I think that's going to be another attraction for we are talking about the next generation. And I think part of that is we want somebody who's a little bit, let's say younger.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: And I think that's attractive. And I think that will possibly generate, again, some energy with the next generation or two. Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And you know what's interesting? You mentioned, some of the American, as you call them, issues or the perspective of the Church. Antonio, the Pope also talked about unifying the Church and moving forward in a unified fashion. I think we have a bit of him saying that. So, let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV (through translator): In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, by violence, by prejudice, by the fear of difference and an economic paradigm that exploits the world's resources and marginalizes the poorest. For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And talk about, if you would, the role of not just the pope but this Pope to do that for the Church and to be that symbol.

ALONSO: Yes. One of the major questions going into the conclave, almost framed as a binary choice, was the question of unity and diversity in the Church. And I think Pope Leo is making very clear that from the many are one. It's kind of the basis of his motto.

Unity and love ran throughout this surprisingly short homily. It's a reminder to all the preachers out there that you can say quite a lot in a short amount of time. But he emphasized it in a -- in a very strong way. It wasn't in kind of a weak unity.

He used an incredible phrase when he said that Christian faith is not about capturing people by religious propaganda but loving as Jesus does. So, it's very clear that he's emphasizing unity but he's emphasizing it from a place of strength and of love.

BLACKWELL: Antonio Eduardo Alonso and Fr. Roy Lee, thank you both.

LEE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: We're also following breaking news --

ALONSO: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: -- out of New York. Two people are dead, dozens injured after a Mexican Navy training ship struck the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge. Look at this video. The ship was carrying 277 people when officials say it lost power, struck the bridge.

Authorities say two people who died fell from the ship's masts. The Brooklyn Bridge was closed for a short while and emergency crews responded. It has since been reopened.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is with me now. Gloria, what's the latest on the investigation that's still going on and what's happening with that ship?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor. Certainly, preliminary stages of that investigation after last night and as you said there it is the video captured by so many people that were around when this ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge that really shows you just how stunning this accident was. As you said, two people sadly died as a result of their injuries overnight. Twenty people in total were injured, 277 were on board.

Now, behind me is what is left of the Cuauhtemoc. This is a ship that belongs to the Mexican Navy, and it had been here in New York City as part of a goodwill mission, as part of a tour that the ship has been doing over the past several months.

And last night, shortly around 8:20 p.m., the ship was making its way out of the New York City harbor heading towards Iceland. That's when officials say there appeared to be a loss of power, and it caused the ship to strike the underbelly of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Now, I want to show you, take a look at this mast of the ship. You can see how it snapped. And in the video, you can see that as the ship hits the underside of the bridge, those masts just snap like tree branches.

Now, take a listen to New York City Mayor Eric Adams late last night, speaking about the first responders and the effort that they launched quickly after that incident first took place to make sure that everyone could be rescued.

[06:15:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY): It is a unified effort to make sure that we look after all of those who were on the ship. The coordination was extremely important and it was executed to the best of our ability to minimize any loss of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, we are expecting the National Transportation Service Board, Victor, to investigate exactly what happened here. Mexican officials also have been briefed, including someone from the Mexican government who was here last night alongside the mayor responding to this incident.

Overall, a really tragic event on something that was supposed to be, you know, a cultural pride. This is a Mexican ship, as I said. Belongs to the Mexican Navy. And it had been here as part of a goodwill mission sailing around the world.

So early stages, still trying to learn more about exactly what led to that loss of power. And if that was the reason why the ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge last night, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And we'll talk more about this and get into the investigation with the former NTSB official later this morning. Gloria Pazmino for us there in New York, thanks so much.

The FBI calls it one of the largest bombing investigations ever in southern California. Ahead, what we know about the deadly explosion outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:19]

BLACKWELL: The FBI says the deadly explosion outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, was intentional and an act of terrorism. Investigators say one person was killed, four others injured. A source told CNN that law enforcement believes that the person who died may be the one responsible, and they have preliminarily identified him as a 25-year-old man from a city nearby. They say the clinic was targeted. CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell has more on a possible motive.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, this occurred around 11:00 a.m. local time here in California, in Palm Springs, just a couple hours east of Los Angeles. We're told that there was this explosion, which you can see based on some of our affiliate helicopter footage there. You can see this building impacted as well as nearby buildings. There was debris that was strewn about the street there near downtown Palm Springs.

We're learning that this was a reproductive facility. It's interesting to note that what we're talking about is not an abortion clinic but rather a fertility clinic, a clinic that assists people with fertility issues. And so, we know a host of law enforcement, public safety officials are now on scene. That includes, obviously, the Palm Springs police department, the fire department. And now we're learning that the FBI as well as the ATF are now on scene.

That is going to be critical because as Daniel knows, we both served in the FBI, you have these specialists within the organization that can actually look to try to detect was there any type of explosive residue in and around that area? Does this have the signature of an actual type of intentional explosion?

Again, we're learning from the "Associated Press" that this is being treated, investigated as a vehicle explosion. But there's still a lot of questions. We don't yet know whether there was potentially a device that was near a vehicle, was it in a vehicle. That is something that investigators are trying to determine.

We do know that there was one fatality in this incident. The -- one of the doctors that runs this facility spoke to "A.P." and told them that thankfully none of the employees were impacted, were harmed. There were no patients there that were at the time of this explosion. But a lot of investigative work that's happening not only at the central point there that you see on your screen of the explosion, but authorities in an incident like this would also be wanting to canvass any type of surveillance, CCTV footage around the area, other businesses to try to determine was this an intentional act that the person conducted in real time? Was this a device that was left behind? A lot of work going on right now.

BLACKWELL: Josh Campbell, thank you for the reporting. We're moving forward with the breaking news. More reporting this morning out of New York. At least two people are dead, more than a dozen injured after a Mexican Navy ship strikes the Brooklyn Bridge. We're live on the scene straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF WILSON ARAMBOLES, NYPD SPECIAL OPERATIONS: The ship was departing from Pier 17 where it was heading out to sea. The pilot, the captain that was maneuvering the ship, lost, I guess, power of the ship and the current mechanical function caused the ship to go right into the pillar of the bridge, hitting the mast of the ship

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And that was NYPD Special Operations chief describing the crash of this Mexican Navy training ship into the Brooklyn Bridge. Two people died, dozens were injured after the ship's masts struck the bottom of the bridge.

Now, an investigation into what caused this crash, that's still ongoing. But authorities say the ship, as you heard, may have suffered some mechanical issue that caused it to lose control.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is back with us now. And you have some more details for us. What do you know?

PAZMINO: Yes. Victor, one thing that's sort of becoming very clear in the last several hours as we're learning more about the details of the ship, which raised new questions about exactly why this ship was going in the direction that it was going in the first place. As you can see in the bystander video, that mast of the ship hits the underbelly of the Brooklyn Bridge as it is collapsing up against one of the pillars of the bridge. Now, the Cuauhtemoc which is behind me, this is a ship that's 160 feet tall.

[06:30:00]

It has three masts. And the navigational clearance of the Brooklyn Bridge is only 127 feet. So, we have a real question here about why this ship was heading in this direction. We were told last night that the Cuauhtemoc was making its way out of the harbor here in New York City, heading towards Iceland. But as we can see in the video, it was navigating towards the Brooklyn Bridge, which clearly is not tall enough for this ship to get under.

Now, I want to show you the ship behind me. It was towed here to Pier 35 late last night, and you can see right at the top that mast that hit the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge. And you can see it's bent on its side, and it snapped almost like a tree branch when it hit the underside of the bridge.

Now, there was no damage to the bridge, which had to shut down for about 45 minutes last night in both directions while they were assessing whether or not there had been any damage to it. And as you said, early stages of this investigation, sadly, two people died as a result of their injuries. At least 20 were injured and sent to the hospital. In total, 277 people were on board this ship at the time of the accident.

As you said, Victor, the Cuauhtemoc belongs to the Mexican Navy, and it was here in New York City as part of a goodwill mission sailing around the world, you know, kind of a display of culture and Mexican pride. That's what it had been doing here in New York City in the past few days. It had been docked at Pier 17, which is in that direction, and it was late last night as it was making its way out of the harbor here in New York City that it struck the pillar of the bridge.

In that video, Victor, you can just see how stunning it is. You can see just how close it got to where people are on the public parks there that are around the Brooklyn Bridge. You can see how many people are there, and you can sort of appreciate how much worse this accident could have been had the ship hit either another part of the bridge or perhaps another part of the pier.

So, I think all of those questions will be part of this investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board also expected to be a part of that investigation to try and figure out exactly what happened here other than an apparent loss of power. Victor?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Or even if the mass had collapsed onto the deck because there were hundreds of crew members who were there. We can see in the video, as tragic as this is with the two lives lost and the dozens injured, this could have been much worse.

Gloria Pazmino for us there with the reporting at Pier 35.

Joining me now to discuss CNN transportation analyst, Mary Schiavo. Mary, good morning to you.

So there is a voyage data recorder, which I imagine is the marine equivalent of the data recorders we talk about in aviation incidents. What can be harvested --

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST (on-camera): That's right.

BLACKWELL: -- from them, and how soon could we get that information?

SCHIAVO (on-camera): Well, what will be harvested from them will be anything related to the mechanical, positional things on the ship. And then depending on how the ship is instrumented, there can be instruments that read the depths of the waters, the currents. Any control input into that ship would be on there.

And then, of course, there will be additional data about the river itself. And the East River is a tidal river, so technically it's an estuary. And the boat could not have been intended to be going under that bridge. Because remember, even if it cleared the Brooklyn Bridge, there are five more it has to clear if it went that way on the river. And they all have a clearance of about 127 to 135 feet.

But with the tides coming and going, that can change it by five to seven feet, which means it's a pretty strong current, pretty strong tide. And so, the instrument recorders can also record when power was lost, and it had to have been lost. They could not have been intending to go that way, to go under the bridge. It's impossible.

When it was lost, why it was lost. And they will also be looking at who was the pilot. Was it a local pilot? Often a local pilot will be brought on board to help navigate the tricky waters. But it depends.

And so all those things will be revealed, and the investigators will have that information almost, you know, instantaneously. They probably already have it and are starting to go over it.

BLACKWELL: Let's put up a map here to show just how close. For people who are not familiar, Pier 17 is to the Brooklyn Bridge. And to kind of double down and bold and underline your point, if this ship was headed toward Iceland, and they were heading out toward open sea to get there, they certainly would not have gone in this direction. And the distance traveled between embarking on that trip to Iceland and the hit there at the Brooklyn Bridge wasn't very far. But it was being accompanied by a tug.

[06:35:06]

Should we have expected or could the tug have done anything to prevent this?

SCHIAVO (on-camera): It depends on the power of the tug and what the tug knew. What were the communications line? Did they immediately communicate that they lost power? And that will be one of the important points of the investigation.

And they'll also be looking at the maintenance records on that ship. Had it had problems with the control, the engines, the power, et cetera, as you know, just a year or so ago, we saw that when we had the accident, we covered the accident in Baltimore. The ship had been having trouble, but it will depend on the lines of communication.

And with the tug, you are supposed to have communications at all times, but it's possible that, you know, the currents were strong and it could not save it in time. And it also would depend, of course, if they dropped anchor.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And you bring up the Dolly that crashed into the Key Bridge in Baltimore last year. Some obvious differences between the two, the Key Bridge collapsed. The Brooklyn Bridge is open this morning. The six people who died as a result of that collapse were living in Maryland. And the two who died in this incident are Mexican citizens.

Does that alter the approach, the intensity of the NTSB investigation at all?

SCHIAVO (on-camera): No, the NTSB, of course, Mexico will be part of the investigation. And the NTSB is very used to dealing with investigations that concern entities, parties, if you will, to the investigation from all over the world.

No, there won't be any problem in coordination with that, with the investigation. They're just used to doing big international investigations, maritime, rail, aviation. They have to do them all, and there won't be a problem with that.

And the same thing on the Dolly. The crew was from around the world --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SCHIAVO (on-camera): -- so they're used to it. BLACKWELL: Mary Schiavo, good to have you. Thank you.

SCHIAVO (on-camera): Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Russia launched its largest known drone strike on Ukraine ahead of President Trump's phone call with Vladimir Putin tomorrow.

Live report from the region is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:58]

BLACKWELL: President Trump says that he'll speak with Russian President Putin tomorrow. Trump posted on social media that the phone call will be about, quote, stopping the bloodbath in Ukraine.

Trump says he believes a peace deal will not happen without his direct involvement. A Kremlin spokesperson told Russian state media that they are preparing for that conversation as well.

CNN's Camila DeChalus joins us now live in Washington.

So what can we expect from this call? And, of course, it comes during this surge in Russian drone attacks on Ukraine.

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER (on-camera): Well, that's right. This is going to be a very big test for President Trump.

He has said time and time again that he believes that he is the only one that can get these two countries to broker a peace deal. And he even said when he was running for office that if he was reelected, in just a matter of days that he could get a deal like this done. But, Victor, as we know, it's been more than a hundred days since he has been in office, and no deal has been reached.

What I can tell you about the phone call at this point in time is we know it's going to take place at 10:00 a.m. He's first going to hold a phone call with the Russian president, and then he's going to hold a second call with the Ukrainian president, and then after that he's going to hold several phone calls with various members of NATO.

Now, there has been a lot of progress made on this front of brokering a peace deal. We know that over the weekend, for the first time, Russian officials and Ukrainian officials met face-to-face for the first time ever, and they did agree on a prison swap. We also know that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke on the phone with the Russian foreign minister, and he really stressed the importance of getting a ceasefire deal done.

Now, this is really important for President Trump. This will really be a defining moment in his legacy while serving on his second term in office if he's able to broker this deal, and it will really set a tone on how he will address other conflicts that are happening in the region, like the Israel and Hamas war.

Victor, back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right, Camila DeChalus, we'll see if those activities over the last several days are real progress. We'll see that hopefully soon.

Overnight, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the war. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia launched 273 drones earlier today targeting Kyiv and two eastern regions of the country. And as we've discussed, the assault comes after the first direct talks between the two countries in three years and ahead of this call between Putin and Trump.

CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, joins us now.

Nick, Kyiv under air raid warnings for nine hours straight. Tell us about it.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on- camera): Yes, across the skies here in the capital, you could hear air defense at work last night, and it appears that the death toll across the country, two dead, 24 at least injured, is a reflection of those air defenses trying to stop this record barrage, 273 drones fired. It's about 10 more than we saw previously.

It is remarkable, you should explain to people how frequently those air raid sirens go off and the intensity of the nightly barrage. Sometimes it drops to 10 one night, but this nearly 300 or so just a sign of the ferocity of what Moscow is willing still to throw at Ukraine.

[06:45:15]

Now, nearly half of these according to the Ukrainian air force were indeed decoys designed to engage air defenses and distract them from hitting main targets and 88 were in fact shot down. But of course, some got through it seems causing that significant damage you talk about the death of a 28-year-old woman, a six-year-old injured in the same strike on the outskirts of Kyiv here.

And that comes just 24 hours after nine civilians were killed in a Russian drone strike about 15 kilometers or so we think from the Russian border, a minibus they were traveling in struck by a Russian drone, horrific scenes from there the images of which were posted by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who faces an exceptionally complex day ahead of him.

Yes, there were talks in Istanbul on Friday but they were at a very junior level and frankly what emerged from those seemed to essentially keep the peace process on Moscow's timetable.

President Trump, I think has tried to wrestle back the scheduling from the Kremlin by stating bluntly that he would speak to the Kremlin head Vladimir Putin at 10:0 a.m. on Monday and then Zelenskyy and then NATO leaders. But ultimately, we've simply heard the Kremlin now put down more conditions for a ceasefire more conditions for potentially a presidential meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin and importantly to say any peace agreement that happens, well it depends who's signing it on the Ukrainian side. That's again going back to a Kremlin talking point about the legitimacy that they claim is compromised here of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who won an election fairly in 2019 and under martial law maintains his presidency with pretty high opinion polls I should say as well.

So yes, tomorrow will be absolutely making break for Trump diplomacy. It's important to point out how little progress they've made so far and how indeed Russia's brushed off last weekend's demand from the Europeans and Ukraine for an unconditional ceasefire, and then again didn't send Putin to meet Zelenskyy as Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlin head to do. So little moving but the noise of progress there and the fact that perhaps we're not seeing concrete results the most important thing to read in through all that noise. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll see if there's actual progress made tomorrow or if as President Trump has said that Putin continues to tap him along.

Nick Paton Walsh for us there in Kyiv. Thank you so much.

Still to come, over or rather more than 25 million people are at risk as a multi-day severe weather outbreak moves into the central today.

Live weather report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:08]

BLACKWELL: At least 25 people are dead after violent storms tore through the central U.S. this weekend. Large tornadoes were reported through Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana. As of last night, hundreds of thousands of people were still without power.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the extent of the damage St. Louis is still grappling with. Downed trees, downed power lines. Lots of the city still without power.

This one tree we watched earlier as a crew of volunteers chopped it into pieces to try and clear the road. This one street behind me here, row after row of houses that have sustained some severe damage.

Most of them to the roofs, windows, but this first house that had been in this family, the owner told me, for six generations. The whole back of it, the one room, completely gone. That's the case for a lot of different streets in this neighborhood, the parallel streets.

One other resident telling us that he felt like it was five tornadoes hitting at once. In about 50 minutes, another resident said, that's how quickly the tornado tore through here and caused all of this damage.

Some of the city crews have been here. They have painted that orange X in the doors. That means that these houses have already been checked. This, as of course, the search and rescue operations continue.

More than 5,000 structures have been damaged according to the mayor in this. And of course, that does make sense. We've seen those videos, winds of up to 100 miles an hour. It's scary. A lot of the residents that lived through it said they heard hail hitting at their doors. They went to the lower parts of their house.

Tonight, there will be a curfew in place from 9:00 p.m. until 6:00 in the morning as the city tries to control some of the dangers that could come from there not being power in many hours at the city, as well as some residents trying to take the matters in their own hands and trying to clean up by themselves. They're urging people to be safe and coordinate with authorities if they choose to do that, to ensure that everything is done safely and no one is in danger.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, St. Louis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And that extreme weather outbreak continues this morning. More than 25 million people are at risk.

With me now, CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar. Where's the risk greatest now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): So there's going to be two separate systems. The one that's already ongoing this morning that will continue to slide east, and then another round that develops later on this afternoon in a completely different area. So we've got two different spots of the country that we're kind of looking at.

The first one is ongoing right now. You can see a lot of these storms right through here sliding across portions of Arkansas and over portions of Alabama. Several severe thunderstorm warnings ongoing with those storms as well.

Here's the thing. You've got a severe thunderstorm watch that's in effect until 11:00 a.m. central Time today. That's because we continue to expect to see more of those warnings as this continues to slide off to the east.

[06:55:05]

But here's a look at the threat overall for the day today. Now you'll see this green section that kind of stretches out like a long line. That's from the first round of storms.

So the ones we just showed you will continue to slide through that green path as we go through the rest of the day. But where you have the yellow and the orange color, that's where we're going to see the redevelopment later on this afternoon and especially into the evening hours. This is where we're looking at potentially strong tornadoes, EF2, or

even stronger than that. Very large hail. We're talking golf balls to even baseball-sized hail and some of those strong winds up around 50 to 70 miles per hour.

So we've already got the systems ongoing. There's that first one that's going to slide eastward across Alabama, Mississippi, and eventually into Georgia late this afternoon. But also, by the afternoon, you're going to start seeing that redevelopment take place across places like Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and really starting to spread off to the north and get very large and very strong as we head through the overnight hours, which is never the timeline you want to have because most people are asleep.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports "ANIMAL PHARM," airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Be sure to watch.

We'll be right back after a quick break.

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