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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Russia: Open To Peace Deal If Putin's Goals Are Achieved; Humanitarian Crisis Worsens As Israeli Operations Ramp Up; Judge To Hear Arguments In Case Over Harvard Funding Freeze. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 21, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine faced a new wave of attacks overnight. Authorities say Russia fired cruise ballistic and hypersonic missiles along with drones across the country killing at least two people and wounding 16 others. It comes just hours after Russia said it was ready to talk peace.

Here is what Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Russia is prepared to move swiftly. For us, the main thing is to achieve our objectives. They are clear, obvious, and unchanging but the process doesn't depend solely on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Russia has demanded that Ukraine give up land as part of its preconditions for a ceasefire -- something Ukraine has so far refused to consider.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for talks with Russia this week.

Let's go to CNN's Clare Sebastion joining us live from London. Clare, given these latest developments can we expect any real progress on peace talks in the coming days?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well look, MJ, I think what's clear is even if they do go ahead, and we don't know that they will as of now -- there's been no specific agreement on a date even if President Zelenskyy did propose that peace talks should happen this coming week -- there's no sense that Russia will come to the table with anything other than this immovable maximalist position that they have made so clear in the previous two rounds of talks.

Not only that Ukraine essentially give up territory -- even territory that Russia has yet to militarily occupy but essentially give up its sovereignty. Part of the peace memorandum that Russia put forward after the last round of talks required that Ukraine hold elections before signing any kind of peace treaty.

So I think the subjugation of Ukraine is very clear from that and also from this massive escalation that we see in the air war. The overnight attacks into this morning -- another case in point. Some 450 drones and missiles. You can see some of the aftermath there. At least nine regions were targeted according to President Zelenskyy, including the capital Kyiv.

And these are not military targets. A kindergarten in Kyiv caught fire. A metro station was damaged where people are seeking shelter. This is a residential building that a CNN team filmed earlier today where people's apartments were destroyed.

So this is part of the strategy that we've seen escalating even as the U.S. and Ukraine have tried to push for this peace process to continue.

Now, Ukraine still has its own tactics at play here. It fires deep- strike drones deep into Russian territory. We saw plenty of airport disruptions certainly in Moscow over the weekend. But I think as these attacks continue, the urgency -- and we hear that from President Zelenskyy -- of restarting, of reaccelerating this peace process grows by the day, MJ.

LEE: Thanks for that update.

The U.N. says Palestinians in Gaza are facing the choice between being shot or being fed. Coming up a look at the latest deadly incidents near aid sites.

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[05:37:45]

LEE: In Gaza, the explosions continue amid a growing hunger crisis. At least 73 people were killed and around 150 others injured by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid across the enclave on Sunday. That's according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The director of the Al-Shifa hospital says they are inundated with dead, wounded, and "starving civilians." And even medical staff are suffering severe malnutrition. And according to the World Food Program, Israeli's military fired on crowds of hungry Palestinians as they approached one of its aid convoys in northern Gaza on Sunday morning.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all of the developments and joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Paula, going out in search of food has become a dangerous undertaking for so many Gazans. Tell us more.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well MJ, it's been described by the U.N. has a death trap -- going out to try and find aid in Gaza at the moment. It shows the desperation of thousands of Palestinians though who are continuing to risk their lives in order to try and be able to feed their family.

Now over the weekend more than 100 were killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as they were waiting for aid to arrive.

Now we hear from the IDF. We asked for comment. They said that they had fired warning shots in one of these incidents against individuals, against suspects, and they queried the death toll that we heard from the Palestinian side, and the incident is under review.

Now we are seeing an increasing desperation across the board. We've heard from UNRWA saying that they are having increasing messages of starvation coming from Gaza, including from their own colleagues.

We've also heard from the World Food Program. Now they have mentioned one of those incidents where Palestinians were killed. They said that they had a convoy of 25 trucks that came into Gaza. As it approached a large group of civilians desperate to try and find aid, they say the crowd was fired upon by Israeli gunfire, but tanks, and by snipers.

[05:40:00]

They have called once again on all parties to not be anywhere near the aid convoys if they are armed. They have also said this, and I'm quoting here. "Gaza's hunger crisis has reached new levels of desperation. People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment. Nearly one person in three is not eating for days."

Now we are hearing more from hospital officials as well across Gaza saying that they are seeing an increasing number of people coming in with malnutrition and with signs of starvation into the emergency department.

Let's listen to some of the Palestinians on the ground.

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ABIR BANNAT, DISPLACED FROM NORTHERN GAZA (through translator): We are dying of hunger. We cannot find any food or anything to drink -- not even water. We drink from the sea, and we can't find any food at all. We came here at 3:00 to just fill a small dish, which doesn't even fill this pot. One small dish inside this pot and we still have five or six people to feed.

UM MAHMOUD ABU TARBOOSH, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): Certainly it feels like weakness and sadness because I can't even provide my son with just bread. We don't want meat, chicken, or poultry -- just flour and bread to eat and hopefully stave off hunger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now we also heard confirmation on Sunday that a 4-year-old girl had died of hunger -- one whose mother we had spoken to just a month earlier as she was lying in hospital suffering with malnutrition.

Now the Ministry of Health says that some 18 people in the past 24 hours -- their deaths have been recorded as famine. Now the Israeli military says -- or COGAT, I should say -- the agency which organizes the distribution of aid -- says that the Israeli military is helping to facilitate the delivery of aid. And they say that some 67,000 trucks have been allowed into Gaza since the conflict began. But we are hearing from the U.N. and from the aid groups on the ground it is nowhere near enough.

Israeli also saying that there are some trucks that have not been collected by aid agencies. The U.N. says that sometimes it is simply too dangerous for them to use the Israeli-approved routes to try and get the food to where it's needed -- MJ.

LEE: A very sobering update. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. Thank you so much.

A performance turned political at the Royal Opera House in London on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Cast member raises Palestinian flag at London's Royal Opera House.

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LEE: Despite an attempt to stop him, a cast member unfurled a Palestinian flag onstage during Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore." Afterward, the Royal Ballet and Opera were quick to distance themselves. One spokesperson described the protest as wholly inappropriate and said it was not approved by the theater. Video of the demonstration has drawn both praise and condemnation on social media.

Harvard University will make its case against the Trump administration in federal court later today. It's trying to restore billions of dollars in frozen funds. Why the university says the president's actions are so dangerous just ahead.

The president is also targeting an NFL team. We'll tell you why President Trump is threatening the Washington Commanders.

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[05:48:15]

LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is vowing to stay on the job despite his party's poor performance at Sunday's election. He says he needs to stay in office, in part, to deal with the U.S. tariff negotiations. Japan faces a deadline next week to strike a trade deal with the United States.

Five people who were charged with the murder of an American university professor in Greece are submitting their pleas in court today. The victim was shot at close range while walking to pick up his kids from his ex-wife's house. The suspected shooter is the ex-wife's new partner. Three other male suspects and the victim's ex-wife are also facing charges.

The World Food Programme says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached new levels of desperation as people are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance. You're looking at live pictures of the Gaza border. According to the WFP, Israeli's military fired on crowds of hungry Palestinians as they approached one of its aid convoys on Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces say troops in the area fired warning shots to remove an immediate threat.

And in a few hours a U.S. federal judge will hear arguments in Harvard University's lawsuit against the Trump administration. Harvard is trying to regain access to more than $2 billion in federal funding that the White House has frozen.

Gloria Pazmino has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): It's the next major step in the Trump administration's fight against Harvard University.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yeah. I think we're going to probably settle with Harvard. They want to settle very badly.

[05:50:00]

PAZMINO (voiceover): Oral arguments are expected Monday. Federal District Court Judge Allison Burroughs will hear from Harvard's legal team and lawyers for the Department of Justice -- the beginning of a critical battle to restore more than $2 billion in federal funding after the White House froze the funds last spring.

TRUMP: We spend more money on higher education than any other country and yet they're turning our students into communists and terrorists. We can't let this happen.

PAZMINO (voiceover): Monday's hearing could mark a turning point in the administration's ongoing attacks on higher education institutions.

ANURIMA BHARGAVA, CRIMSON COURAGE, COORDINATOR OF HARVARD ALUMNI AMICUS BRIEF: What we're seeing here is basically an attack on Harvard. The goal is to narrow our ability to think, to teach, to voice, to learn in a way that is open, that promotes free inquiry and discussion.

TRUMP: -- pause of funding freeze.

PAZMINO (voiceover): Days after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order increasing enforcement efforts against antisemitism on school campuses.

The administration also targeted dozens of colleges and universities. It threatened to cut Harvard's critical research and funding grants unless it met a strict list of demands, including ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, higher new faculty, and making sweeping changes to international student programs.

Harvard responded with force, suing to restore its funding and accusing the administration of using unlawful tactics, saying the cuts and demands "cut at the core of Harvard's constitutionally protected academic freedom."

Funding cuts are already being felt.

BHARGAVA: We're seeing those research projects about Alzheimer's disease. About what is it that we -- how do we do surgeries in a way that are actually going to save people's lives. Those research projects -- those efforts that have been going on for years, if not decades, are being stopped in their tracks.

PAZMINO (voiceover): Harvard faculty says the future of scientific research is on the line.

RYAN ENOS, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: The big picture question is whether we will be rewarding research to where based on scientific merit or whether a university follows the political ideology of the president and his administration.

PAZMINO (voiceover): In a statement the White House said the administration's goal is to prevent antisemitism and DEI on Harvard's campus -- adding, "We are confident that Harvard will eventually come around and support the president's visions, and through good-faith conversations and negotiations, a good deal is more than possible."

As the fight between the administration and Harvard continues, some faculty members and experts see the administration's focus on antisemitism as an excuse.

BHARGAVA: This is a battle about power. I think that this is really about this administration trying to take down cathedrals of power around the country that are not their own.

PAZMINO: Now Harvard has asked the judge in this case to make an expedited decision specifically by early September. That is when Harvard says it will have to submit much of its paperwork to close out grand funding.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Donald Trump is demanding that an NFL team change its name back to one that was criticized for being an ethnic slur. Posting on social media, President Trump told the Washington Commanders to "immediately revert to the Washington Redskins."

The NFL team dropped their old name after decades of criticism from Native American groups. The team is trying to move back to the city after relocating to nearby Maryland, but President Trump is threatening to restrict the move unless the team changes its name, though it's not clear how he would be able to do that.

Golf's number -- a look at Scottie Scheffler's dominant performance at the Open Championship -- one that left his rivals in awe.

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[05:58:18]

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CHRIS MARTIN, LEAD SINGER, COLDPLAY: -- because we're going to use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen. So please, if you haven't done your makeup, do your makeup now.

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LEE: Fair warning there from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. This video was taken at their concert in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday. It comes just days after this couple tried to hide from the Kiss Cam at another Coldplay concert. We probably don't need to tell you that video went viral. And the gentleman, Andy Byron, has resigned from his job as CEO of tech company Astronomer.

Pope Leo celebrated the anniversary of the first moon landing on Sunday. He visited the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo. It's one of the world's oldest active observatories. The pope took at tour and looked through different telescopes. He marked the historic day of July 20, 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to set foot on the moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission.

The pope said he spoke with Buzz Aldrin on Sunday and "reflected on the mystery and greatness of creation."

A Romanian zoo is drawing attention for the birth of a rare animal -- one you won't find in the wild. Meet Goliath, a 2-month-old liger born to a lion father and a tiger mother. The two species live on different continents so hybrids like this only occur in captivity. Fewer than 100 are believed to exist worldwide.

[06:00:00]

And finally this hour, the world's number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is one step closer to a career grand slam after clinching his first Open Championship. Scheffler cruised to victory at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, closing Sunday's round with a four-shot victory for his fourth major title.

The dominant performance left his rivals in awe. Rory McIlroy saying, "None of us could hang with Scottie this week."

Scheffler now needs a U.S. Open victory to complete his grand slam -- something only six other golfers, including McIlroy, have ever accomplished.

And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm MJ Lee in Washington. And "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.