Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Zelenskyy: Ukraine "Ready" For Peace Talks With Putin; Equipment Issues Cause Chaos At U.S. East Coast Airports; Trump Says He'll Sign Executive Order To Cut Drug Prices. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired May 12, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:30:15]
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Ukrainian officials say that Russia launched more than 100 drones overnight. It's part of a wave of Russia air attacks that have killed at least one person and wounded 20 over the past day.
And it comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he was ready for direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I will be in Turkey this Thursday, on May 15, and I expect Putin in Turkey personally, and I hope that this time Putin will not look for reasons why he cannot do something. We are ready to talk to end the war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: If it happens it would be the first time the two leaders talk since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukrainian officials have called for a 30-day ceasefire before talks but U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that the talks come without any conditions.
Let's go now to CNN's chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joining me live from Kyiv. You've heard that, Nick -- that open invitation from the Ukrainian president. How likely is it that the Russian president will take him up on the offer?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's important to put all of this in the correct context because essentially, what we're seeing play out now is the Russian and American response to a very clear deadline given on Saturday in Kyiv by four key European leaders and Ukraine for a ceasefire that really I think should have started at midnight the previous night -- as in it should be the midnight just behind me now.
Now, we have, indeed, heard from President Zelenskyy in a post about a conversation with the new American pope who is invited to Ukraine -- but, indeed, he suggests that perhaps that ceasefire could indeed start at some point during today. The non-specific nature of that deadline that the Europeans gave perhaps increasingly useful now with hindsight.
But that offer of a meeting in Istanbul on Thursday was given by the Kremlin head Vladimir Putin in response, it seems, to that European deadline. He didn't even reference that demand for a ceasefire in the statement; he just suggested Russia-Ukrainian direct talks in Istanbul on Thursday. Zelenskyy kind of upped the stakes there and said OK, I'll be there in person for a face-to-face meeting.
Behind all of this though is I think the real moment of consequence from the last 48 hours -- extraordinary diplomacy that we have been seeing, and that's the position of President Donald Trump.
On Saturday, European leaders clear, posting a picture of them all together huddled round a phone -- on the phone to him -- that he was supporting their initiative -- that deadline and the threat of sanctions if Russia didn't adhere to that deadline. But then 30 hours later, literally, he posted on Truth Social that Vladimir Putin didn't want a ceasefire, that he wanted to meet in Istanbul on Thursday, and pressured Zelenskyy to take that meeting. Then Zelenskyy offered to go himself and indeed wait.
And so a significant change really in the public position of the White House from Saturday through to the end of Sunday in which the support for that European-Ukrainian initiative frankly appears to some degree evaporated.
Trump never explicitly publicly said he demanded Russia meet that ceasefire deadline or threaten sanctions. Those are things that he'd done in the past. And remember, that ceasefire suggestion was indeed an American-Ukrainian one that's nearly two months old now. But really, all eyes are on this meeting potentially in Thursday in Turkey.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be nearly in Antalya with the NATO meeting. Trump will himself be in the area generally. But it isn't clear that Putin's going.
And look, bear in mind too, lower your expectations if indeed that meeting does happen those two men, Trump and Zelenskyy, frankly, do not like each other. Their first face-to-face meeting since the beginning of the war is unlikely to suddenly bring a moment of peace directly from it. It may begin more of a process around a ceasefire.
But to some degree Moscow is already winning here. They've brushed off a European deadline and they've shown the daylight between what the Europeans said was Trump's position and what appears to be Trump's public position, at least right now.
And all of this frankly leaves Ukraine edging towards a summer where Russia appears to be biding for time, building its forces, and their support from the European-American allies -- well, not often on the same page. It was briefly for 30 hours over the weekend but now very much in doubt again.
SANDOVAL: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh with some important timelines and also that context as well. Nick, thank you and your team.
Elsewhere, the Kurdistan Workers' Party or the PKK says that it will dissolve itself and end decades of war with Turkey. The PKK is a militant separatist group, which has fought for an independent Turkish state inside Turkey for nearly 50 years and it's been a bloody war. Tens of thousands of people have died in that conflict.
Earlier this year the group's leader asked his followers to lay down their arms in a unilateral ceasefire. From jail, he told the Kurdish people to fight for their rights with politics, not with violence -- saying, "Democratic consensus is the fundamental way."
[05:35:10]
Coming up on EARLY START, air traffic control issues are not letting up at Newark Liberty International Airport anytime soon. Ahead, what it may take to finally find a fix.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:40:00]
SANDOVAL: There seems to be no sign of an end for the travel trouble we've all experienced -- runway equipment this time. It's led the FAA to ground some flights bound for Atlanta's international airport on Sunday.
A separate equipment issue also grounded flights bound for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, but operations there -- they have returned to normal we're told. The problem there, yet another air traffic control outage. The telecommunications issue occurred at the same radar facility that had a 90-second outage on Friday.
The U.S. transportation secretary says and warns that such outages are likely to become widespread.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Listen, the system is old, right? This is a system that's 25 at best, sometimes 50 years old. The Congress and the country haven't paid attention to it, right? They expect it to work. And so now I think the lights are blinking, the sirens are turning, and they're saying listen, we have to fix this because what you see in Newark is going to happen in other -- in other places across the country. It has to be fixed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Kate Kelly is an investigative reporter at The New York Times. Kate joining us live from Washington. Kate, I really appreciate you getting up early for us this morning. Before we get started let's just remind viewers how sudden it all went
down just a few weeks ago when we listen to some of the air traffic control audio and then we'll discuss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ATC: We lost our radar and it's not working correctly. Radar service terminates (INAUDIBLE) approved. If you want a bravo clearance, you can just call the tower when you get closer.
PILOT: OK. I'll wait for that frequency from you, OK?
ATC: OK, no. (INAUDIBLE) look up the tower frequencies. We don't have a radar, so I don't know where you are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: When so many lives are at stake just when you hear the -- kind of the chaotic nature of what went down -- I'm curious when you hear from your sources -- U.S. officials -- they've insisted that it's safe to fly at New Jersey, but in your reporting what does it tell us?
KATE KELLY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, the good news here is that the FAA will put in ground stops and implement delays if they need to in order to cope with equipment outages. And you've seen them do that, as you mentioned, in Atlanta, in Newark, and in other places as needed when it happens.
But it is quite frightening as a traveling civilian to know that radar outages could happen at any time in the system and particularly at Newark where we've seen at least three examples of this just in the last couple of weeks. So two weeks ago -- Monday, the 28th. Again on Friday. And then what they described as a telecommunications issue yesterday. I assume that was a radio issue. So in other words, the inability to communicate between pilots and air traffic controllers for some period of time, although the FAA hasn't clarified.
So yeah, it's quite unsettling and especially as we go into the summer season where I'm sure a lot of people are holding tickets to go to different places hoping for a peaceful vacation. There are a lot of nervous flyers out there to begin with, and this probably does not help.
SANDOVAL: And picking up right there too, if I'm preparing to fly somewhere this summer -- I mean, should I avoid -- should travelers avoid Newark if possible?
KELLY: Yeah. I've been getting this question a lot and I guess I feel like take a hard look -- take a hard look at your itinerary and your own anxiety or lack thereof about flying. I happen not to be a nervous flyer although right now just the statistics of the number of radar outages in a short period of time and Secretary Duffy and others that I know in the aviation world acknowledging it's an old system and there could be future issues.
To me, I find that somewhat unsettling. I think I would -- SANDOVAL: Yeah.
KELLY: -- possibly rebook if I had the ability to do so.
SANDOVAL: Sure, yeah. The good thing is in the tri-state they have other airports available. The question is, can you find that ideal itinerary and is the price right?
Now, on that last issue that you mention about aging infrastructure, Kate, it really seems that what we've seen in Newark is largely kind of a microcosm of issues plaquing America's larger aviation system.
That being said, when do you think we can expect any bit of normalcy to return? Like, how long will these changes that we've heard from Secretary Duffy actually take to implement? Give us a dose of reality based on your reporting.
KELLY: Yeah. I mean, it's a very long-term fix that we're talking about, and Duffy acknowledges that.
I will say this. He set an end-of-summer deadline or an -- I shouldn't say deadline but objective --
SANDOVAL: Sure.
KELLY: -- to get some short-term fixes done at Newark. And without boring viewers with all the details -- essentially, they need to run a communications and data line. Really, a data line from Newark airport itself to Philadelphia, which is where these controllers who have the outages are based. Right now it's going sort of through a pitstop in Long Island, New York. So he's saying he hopes that will be done by end of the summer. Hopefully, that will fix some of the current issues.
[05:45:10]
And my reporting tells me that feeding of that line has been part of the issue.
In terms of staffing up with controllers and filling the gap, they've said they have 3,000 controllers that they're short. That unfortunately is a yearslong fix, as well as really shoring up the infrastructure of copper wires and different parts and software across the system. You're talking about three-four years in Duffy's own mind and maybe even longer realistically. And you're also talking about a multibillion dollar project that Congress hasn't yet approved.
If I could add one other thing -- we don't know exactly why these outages are hitting now. We understand fundamentally that there are these issues I just spoke about. Why we've sort of hit a tipping point at this moment I'm not totally sure. So it's possible the FAA could identify a culprit for this and get to it sooner.
SANDOVAL: Sure.
Kate Kelly, thank you so much for all of that. And that last point you make -- that question still remains. Why are we seeing so many cases right now, or at least that likelihood increase of issues specifically when it comes to flights in and out of Newark.
Kate Kelly, investigative reporter at The New York Times. Appreciate you, Kate.
KELLY: Thank you.
SANDOVAL: U.S. President Donald Trump -- he is vowing to lower the cost of your prescription drug prices. What he plans to do exactly. That's still ahead.
Plus, Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal criminal trial -- it is getting underway in just a matter of hours. The case, including racketeering and sex trafficking charges. We'll have a look ahead.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:51:10]
SANDOVAL: Good Monday morning. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and here are some of the stories that we're watching today.
President Trump will leave for the Middle East today for the first state visit of his second term. He's scheduled to stop in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Hamas has announced the imminent release of American hostage Edan Alexander. President Trump calling the gesture "monumental news and a step taken in good faith towards ending the war."
And opening statements in Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal criminal trial -- they are set to start in a matter of hours. The music mogul is charged with five counts, including racketeering and sex trafficking. His ex-girlfriend expected to be a key witness for the prosecution.
Back to U.S. President Donald Trump. He says that he plans to sign an executive order today that he says would drastically lower some of your drug prices. The controversial policy had been blocked by federal courts during his first term. It bases payments for certain medicines and medications on their prices in other countries.
Now, the president sharing a post on Truth Social, writing, "Prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 30 to 80 percent."
The problem is it's unclear what payments of what drugs the new directive would apply to, so we'll see what he means.
Our Anna Stewart has more now on President Trump's trip to the Middle East and also a look at the business ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East is going to be a key focus for the week. Later today he heads to Riyah in Saudi Arabia. He's expected to be joined by U.S. business leaders for a deal signing on Tuesday.
Top CEOs and investors are also in town for the Saudi Investment Forum.
Also Tuesday, the Hollywood elite gather in France for the Cannes Film Festival. The glitz and glamour may be somewhat overshadowed by President Trump's threat on foreign-made films last week.
And some important data to watch out for in the week.
We have the U.S. Consumer Price Index releasing on Tuesday. Economists are expecting an annual inflation rate about half a percentage point above the Federal Reserve's target. But the full brunt of President Trump's trade policy probably won't filter through completely just yet.
On Thursday, the PPI release for April could give us a glimpse of how tariffs are filtering through to producers. And U.S. retail sales should give more of a sense about whether consumers are pulling back on spending.
On Friday we get the first read on consumer confidence for May. That's coming from the University of Michigan. It certainly has weighed on the last few months so this might tell us if the latest sort of talk about trade deals are making consumers any more optimistic. Let's see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Anna Stewart with what will be a very busy week ahead.
And ahead here on EARLY START a woman who got help from a very nice young man on an airplane who makes a surprising discovery. It turns out he's one of the NFL's biggest huge up and coming stars. We're going to share this story. It's a pretty heartwarming meeting.
You're watching EARLY START.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:58:50]
SANDOVAL: Amber Heard reveals new details about her expanding family, and she did it on Mother's Day. The actress moved to Spain after a very high-profile legal battle with her ex-husband Johnny Depp. You'll remember that trial.
Well, she's now a proud mother of three. Heard shared the news on social media. She said newborn son Ocean and daughter Agnes join her 4-year-old sister -- or their 4-year-old sister. Heard also shared that becoming a mother by herself and on her own terms despite fertility challenges has been the most humbling experience of her life.
And finally this morning, a wholesome brush with fame. A woman flying from Denver was very impressed with her seatmate. This young man offered to help with her bags and was exceptionally polite. Well, soon after that, people on the plane started congratulating him
and asking to take photos with him. She had no idea why until she learned that the guy who helped her was Travis Hunter. He was actually named college football's best player this past season. He was selected second overall in las month's NFL draft.
Well, it turns out Hunter was flying back from his college graduation at the University of Colorado where he was an academic all-American.
He'll be playing his first season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and his seatmate said that she will be in the stands to see it.
