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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Russia Launches Missile Attacks across Ukraine; Missile and Rocket Attacks hit Cities across Ukraine; President Tsai says China must Respect Taiwan's Sovereignty; Putin calls Crimea Bridge Attack an "Act of Terrorism"; Demonstrations in Paris in Solidarity with Iranian Protests; Busy Week ahead for Investors to Digest Data. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired October 10, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: Live from London I'm Max Foster in for Julia Chatterley. Welcome to "First Move" Russia firing a wave of missiles

at cities across Ukraine, including the Capital Kyiv and the major cities of Lviv and Dnipro.

Today's attacks targeted critical infrastructure including power plants. Officials say at least 11 people have been killed. Dozens others have been

injured. President Zelenskyy saying Russia is trying to annihilate the Ukrainian people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: They're trying to spread chaos and panic. They want to annihilate our energy supplies. They're hopeless

that second target is our people. They specifically selected this time in order to hit us the hardest, but we are Ukrainians we help each other. We

believe in ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, over the weekend, a massive explosion severely damaged a key bridge linking Russia to annex Crimea on Saturday. Vladimir Putin blamed

the attack on "Ukrainian Terrorism"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We have no doubts that this is a terrorist attack aimed at the destruction of the critical infrastructure of

the Russian Federation and authors executors and masterminds are the secret service of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Ukraine hasn't commented on that we'll get the take of Eurasia Group President Ian Bremen in just a few moments. But first we go to Nick

Paton Walsh he's live for us in Southern Ukraine. What did you see there then Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, Max, I'm at the site of where what two missiles hit earlier on today. Let me just bring you

a little bit closer our cameraman Bruce Lena (ph) will show you the depth of the crater in here.

This is just one of the missiles that struck and right next to it was a bus a civilian bus miraculously official say nobody was hurt on that bus. But

also over here is the target. Now we're told this is a telecoms building, or was one it's unclear if it's still actually being used for that purpose.

I was told by one of the women living in the apartment block just next to it.

Let me pan over so you can see the absolute disregard for civilian life here. If this was chosen as a target then it was right next to a series of

apartment blocks. The lady we spoke to was on her balcony for the glass came in after the first explosion, she ran back in with her eight year old

and one year old to try and hide themselves in the kitchen.

But the blasts were two minutes apart. So the first hit this building and the second appears to have slammed into here now the cleanup has been

happening quite fast. The bus were miraculously nobody was hurt has been taken away.

But it's awfully shocking to see just how there's absolutely nothing like a military objective near here at all, yet still too enormous cruise missiles

appear to have slammed into here. And it's not Vladimir Putin necessarily has thousands of these to spare. So one of the questions I think many

people are asking, after today's volley of attacks were pretty much it felt for a while like every city in Ukraine was being hit is quite how long

Russia will keep this up for and quite why they chose to make such a ferocious show of their firepower.

Now clearly, the Kremlin felt under pressure after a number of days where people were wondering what their response to the attack on the - bridge

would be what they might do to try and reverse the utter disaster of their troops on the front line over the past weeks, or even months now.

And today's volley of attacks against critical infrastructure, killing for in the Dnipro - region where I'm standing injuring over a dozen a total of

11 dead it seems so far across the country. Well, it appears to have targeted infrastructure but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,

correctly pointing out two of the other target was ordinary Ukrainian people.

And there's a lot of anger here frankly in people who've come to take pictures right next to this extraordinary crater pointing out again that

they're just innocent people. There's no military objective here at all. One man said to me, this is the genocide of Ukrainian people and Putin must

be stopped people in tears frankly, because they don't have a home anymore because some of the damage done to these blocks has been extraordinary.

But I think this is met with two sets of emotions, anger and resilience and I think many Ukrainians who spoke to here feel they will carry on

regardless this isn't going to change anything.

[09:05:00]

WALSH: But I think there's also too a slight apprehension that if that level of firepower is being used just against, well, here, an ordinary

street, in Dnipro if indeed it was a target a non-malfunctioning missile that might mark a new phase of the callousness and ferocity of Russia's war

here, invasion of Ukraine. But still, I think, a sense of shock too that kind of firepower that we do this is being used clearly a civilian target

Max.

FOSTER: Well, the narrative recently, has been how Ukrainian been pushing the Russians back, is this a big sign that actually, you know, Russia still

does have a lot of power and not to underestimate that.

WALSH: To some degree, although that the accuracy and the precision of this would suggest that they're sort of limit blundering with those tools, and I

think their issue is on the front lines has been they haven't been able to reflect the sort of high tech grandeur they'd like to boast about with

their cruise missiles.

And there was a degree of boasting, I think, by Vladimir Putin when he spoke about how they've managed to hit all of their targets here and they

respond to threats with force - when he made an appearance on television just hours ago, but it's not like it actually appears to know what it's

hitting?

I don't really understand why you had, according to Ukrainian officials, 80 plus missiles in the air? Why you would choose to hit this building, which

appears to be a disused telecom building? It suggests the possibility of bad intelligence, perhaps the same bad intelligence that made Russian

officials think they could just walk into Ukraine and invade it and take it in a matter of days.

But it's an interesting point you raised Max, because many continually talk about the ferocity and the potency of Russia's armed forces. But we have

seen them over the past weeks unable to get food and fuel to their troops on the front lines. And so displays like this while limited in their

capacity.

This is not something Russia can do every day for the rest of the year. Show that there is some might left in their arsenal, it comes with a dollop

of incompetence, just to quiet why you were ticked here. And also the backdrop of persistent failure in some of the more ordinary military tasks

that they're failing to do like holding on to villages, towns and supplying their own troops Max.

FOSTER: OK, Nick, in Southern Ukraine, thank you very much indeed. People have been trapped under the rubble of buildings that were hit, though, in

the Kyiv region. Monday's missile strikes also disrupted power, and water supplies. Fred Pleitgen is in Kyiv for us. And we saw that playground was

hit. It's been very calm, hasn't it in recent months? So this really did come out of the blue.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIO INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max, I'm not sure it came out of the blue because obviously, there were a lot of people

here in Ukraine who believe that there could be retaliation after the - bridge was hit over the weekend. But it certainly comes after, you know,

months of relative calm here in the Ukrainian capital.

And that certainly did make it somewhat of a surprise is how ferocious so these attacks that happened this morning, were? And I can tell you, around

8:15 am local time, we really had a rude awakening here in the Ukrainian capital when several hits happened in the city center, or near the city

center of Kyiv.

And you know we went out there to some of the scenes there. And I can tell you, some of them were scenes of absolute carnage where you had in one

place at an intersection, several vehicles that were completely destroyed several dead bodies still laying around there as well and obviously rescued

crews trying to come to terms with the situation.

Now the city administration here moved extremely quickly to, to do just that. They got their forces out in full force very quickly, the Kyiv Mayor

urged people to stay inside continues to urge people not to come to the city center, despite the fact that the air raid alarm right now is not in

full effect anymore.

But you know, about half an hour ago, an hour ago, there were a raid sirens going off once again here in the Ukrainian Capital. So clearly, the

Ukrainians don't believe that the danger has necessarily passed. So it was really a morning with a lot of rocket strikes happening. Also the Ukrainian

is trying to shoot missiles down.

I just want to give you one number that I think really or a couple of numbers that really stand out to us the Ukrainians. Just now, the General

Staff saying that 84 cruise missiles were launched at Ukrainian territory by the Russian Federation's and also 24 unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs

drones, essentially, including 13, as they call them, Iranian Shahad 136 drones.

Those are those loitering munitions or kamikaze drones, which is essentially just munitions that are then steered into their target. So

clearly, the Ukrainian air defenses have been very busy, they managed to shoot a lot of those down, but obviously not all of them.

And the situation that you have right now here in Kyiv is that the metro system is back up and running. There are still some people who are sure

sheltering there but you don't have power in all places in Kyiv right now so there was definitely some critical infrastructure that was hit.

[09:10:00]

PLEITGEN: And you know we saw from Nick's report there right now it's the same scene and a lot of other cities across Ukraine. You take Kharkiv, if

you take a Dnipro where Nick is you take Lviv, obviously as well were all of them are reporting that they have taken hits by missiles from the

Russians, also by drones as well.

So clearly a full on attack in the entire country and I was able to speak to the Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Administration, and they're

obviously saying, yes, it's a dangerous situation right now, but they certainly aren't going to allow their defense of their country that they

have, obviously going in full force, which has been quite successful recently to be derailed by that at all, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Fred, in Kyiv thank you. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that his country will, "Respond harshly" to any further attacks by

Ukraine. It comes after a massive explosion on the bridge of annexed Crimea on Saturday. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack. But Salma,

they haven't denied it either. And today was clearly revenge from Moscow and President Putin.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And we heard from President Putin directly, just a couple of hours ago, when he addressed his own

Security Council, he opened up that meeting with a statement in which he of course, blamed Ukraine security services, accused them of a terrorist act

and then told his inner circle essentially, I have responded.

The Kremlin has fired this barrage of missiles, this barrage of rocket attacks, that we're seeing President Putin saying that the targets there

were energy infrastructure, communication, infrastructure, military infrastructure, essentially trying to degrade Ukraine's capabilities.

But there's a few things that we need to point out here, Max, first of all, this attack on the - bridge, make no mistake about it. This is a personal

affront to President Putin himself. I heard one analysts describe the bridge as the wedding band that marries occupied Crimea to mainland Russia

to strike at the heart of that is to strike at the heart of President Putin's vision of his own ambition.

And he's going to want to respond to that he has responded to that if you're looking at this, these missile attacks this morning. And the other

thing you need to remember here is that this has exposed some very serious security flaws here for Russia, this is a Russian bridge security should

have been airtight access should have been controlled, yet the saboteurs or whoever is responsible for this attack again Ukraine not claiming it, we're

able to hit this very critical piece of infrastructure.

This is the bridge, the one and only pipeline that is used to ferry supplies, not just to Crimea, but to the front lines as well to provide

weapons to provide troops to provide operational support. So yes, Russia is trying to bring that bridge back up and running again.

But that's going to deal a logistical blow to what has already been so many battlefield setbacks, and President Putin is going to want to show it can't

happen again, I have control of my own infrastructure. I have control of key sites. So it's going to be a combination of President Putin responding

in kind to Ukraine with this barrage of missile attacks.

The question being, how far does he take this is what we saw this morning is families huddled in bomb shelters in Ukraine this morning. Is that

enough? Or will there be a further response? And then you can expect the other part of that is Russia wanting to tighten the security noose around

some of its key sites, Max?

FOSTER: OK. Salma, thank you! We're going to get more now from Ukraine. Andriy Zagorodnyuk, the Former Ukrainian Defense Minister, joins us. What

did you make of what you saw today and the level of the response you received from Russia?

ANDRIY ZAGORODNYUK, FORMER UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: Well, clearly Russia is losing initiative in the - on the battlefield. It's been supported by

lots of evidence by counter offensive of Ukrainian forces. And obviously, they take it very nervously.

And they understand that a full internal audience in Russia, they need to show like they have some sort of upper hand, they still maintain the

initiative. And we expected the some kind of escalation, obviously. And we expected lots of hits on our energy infrastructure. This particular date

was - has been chosen most likely as a retaliation for the for the bridge accident.

But generally, this whole campaign of bombing of the critical infrastructure has been prepared for some time. And it has been planned and

they've been indicators that the Russians are preparing for this for a while. So it's a planned campaign.

FOSTER: So you call it - I call it a bridge accident. I know you haven't claimed responsibility for what happened on the bridge into Crimea, but

you're not denying being involved either. Was it worth it?

ZAGORODNYUK: It's of course; it's a massive military importance object, which has been communicated by Ukraine for a long time because Crimea is

used as a staging area for the troops going into this house.

[09:15:00]

ZAGORODNYUK: And we're talking about tens of thousands of troops, and they will supply through this bridge. So this bridge is a bottleneck for the

whole logistical system for Russian troops. But this is not the only one objective infrastructure which been hit over the last period of time.

So we cannot connect everything which happened today, just to the bridge. It's been - there's been a counter offensive, there have been hits on the

other logistical objects in Crimea. There have been other successes and failures of successes of Ukraine and failures of Russia. So they've been

preparing this campaign as a response just to the fact that Ukraine took initiative. So it's not like just for the bridge.

FOSTER: How concerned are you that Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons? They're saying they have no plans for that. But from your side of

things, and the Kyiv side of things, there is a suggestion that that is an ongoing threat. Do you think that's a - there's a greater threat of that

now, because of the heightened tensions?

ZAGORODNYUK: Kyiv, Kyiv government and presidential government and the Ministry of Defense and Military they all were reconsidering the threats on

a constant basis, and, of course, all Ukrainians, experts consider this as a substantial risk because Putin has cornered himself with the annexations.

For him, it would be impossible now to retreat from those areas and pretend that this was a like an original plan or nothing terrible happened. He

claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russia, obviously, without any compliance to the international law, so to speak, but, but for him, as

someone who could cornered himself, obviously, it would be very difficult to, you know, to bear the responsibility for the failures, which are

absolutely going to happen.

You know, because they don't have capacity, they don't have enough capabilities to hold Ukrainian counter offensive, and we're getting

stronger, and they're getting weaker, because they run out of the weapons, they run out of the people, mobilization is not going to help too much,

because obviously, these are untrained personnel, and so on.

So as such, yes, tactical nuclear threats are very real and yet this - the threat is something we have to take into account. However, we obviously

need to do that a global community for everything that they don't use it because we cannot afford like the world to open another page of nuclear,

you know, nuclear conflict.

This is absolutely critical that we deter that. And there are ways to deter that. So, you know, the whole global community needs to be very resolved

about communicating to Putin that there is absolutely no way he can even think about actual real use of the of the nuclear weapons.

FOSTER: OK, Andryi Zagorodnyuk, thank you very much indeed for joining us the Former Ukrainian Defense Minister.

ZAGORODNYUK: Thank you.

FOSTER: Now straight ahead, North Korea warns it's firing a new type of tactical warhead we are live in Asia for your next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

FOSTER: North Korea says its recent spate of missile launches was orchestrated to demonstrate readiness to fire tactical nuclear warheads,

potentially at targets in South Korea. This statement comes just as Japan and South Korea say Pyongyang fired off a pair of ballistic missiles on

Sunday.

Will Ripley joins us now from Taipei with the latest. He's worked in North Korea several times as you know, how do you read all of these latest signs

coming out from North Korea Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to admit Max, I think I misread the last six months of state media silence because

normally 24 hours after a launch, they would publicize it, they would show it in the paper, they run clip clips on television.

And so when they didn't do that, for the first time, since I've been covering North Korea, you know, around eight years or so. And all of a

sudden, they're not publicizing these launches, I was even speculating on the air incorrectly.

You know, maybe this is just for science and not for propaganda, until I realized that today is the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Ruling

Workers Party of Korea. And on this big anniversary, all the launches, kind of were released to the public in this one, you know, magnificent, multi-

page, full color spread, you know, a special edition of the paper.

Kim Jong-Un and all of these different, you know, custom made outfits, different scenarios. It was all of this - these launches may have been in

addition to science, Max propaganda is building up to this party anniversary.

I mean, that's how things work in authoritarian regimes, such as North Korea, where the whole state media propaganda machine is built up around

one family, every single picture that you see there, is designed to make Kim Jong-Un look strong to make him you know, stand out to make him look in

control of a growing arsenal, a growing arsenal, this considered to be much more dangerous as well, Max.

And frankly, that's what the rest of the world is concerned about. Not why they you know, publicize all of these at once. But what does this mean for

the security of the, you know, 36,000 U.S. service members in South Korea, Cam Humphrey, which is the biggest U.S. military installation outside of

the mainland U.S., when you have North Korea saying that they're essentially practicing to use tactical nuclear weapons on South Korea.

Tactical nuclear weapons to kind of you know President Putin is dangling in Ukraine as well. So to think that we, you know, we talked so hypothetically

about nuclear conflict for so many years, and now there are actually flash points in, you know, in this world where it could actually happen, where

people are really starting to get nervous about it.

It is a very interesting time that we're in. And certainly we can hope that things will de-escalate once Kim Jong-Un decides Max that he's willing to

talk again, because right now, clearly, he's not he's ready to keep testing. And of course, everybody's waiting for their seventh nuclear tests

at some point.

FOSTER: Yes, boring times. Will, thank you very much indeed. People in Taiwan are celebrating their national day, 111 years after that revolution

that ended China's last Imperial Destiny Dynasty. Capital Taipei marked the day with music and festivities and a speech from the President calling on

mainland China, again, to respect the island sovereignty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TSAI ING-WEN, TAIWAN PRESIDENT: The broadest consensus among the Taiwanese people and our various political parties is that we must defend our

national sovereignty and our free and democratic way of life. On this point, we have no room for compromise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: China's Foreign Ministry already pushing back on that reiterating that it sees Taiwan as "An inseparable part of its territory". Joining me

now is CNN's Selina Wang. This is all language we're hearing all the time. It just doesn't change, but it feels like we're hearing it more often in

these sorts of big events.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly more frequently and more often. And the key thing to remember every time we hear these types of comments

from Beijing, underpinning it all is that even though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan, a democratically ruled island of some 23

million people.

Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunified with the mainland even by force if necessary. Taiwan strongly objected to that

claim.

[09:25:00]

WANG: And on the national day we heard Taiwan's President say there will be no compromise on Taiwan's people's values to freedom and democracy. But the

issue of Taiwan it is central Max to the very core ideology of the Communist Party. It is a part of the DNA of the CCP that Taiwan is part of

the mainland.

Now also following that visit from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the summer, we have seen Beijing continue to ramp up its military pressure

tactics on Taiwan. And in fact, on Monday on the National Day, we heard from Taiwan's Defense Ministry that 26 Chinese military aircraft and four

naval vessels have been detected in the surrounding area.

The timing here is also key. We're just days away from China's all important Party Congress. This is convening starting to convene on October

16th. This is when Xi Jinping is expected to be re anointed for an unprecedented third term as the Supreme Leader of the Chinese Communist

Party.

And this is a very sensitive time. And the big question as well as if we're going to hear any more details from Xi Jinping during this Party Congress

as to what and when reunification might look like Max?

FOSTER: I wanted to ask you as well about rather interesting interview with Elon Musk in "The Financial Times" here in London, saying that Taiwan has

become a special administrative zone of China wading into global affairs yet again, he doesn't necessarily have a big voice there, but they are

responding so it's become a story.

WANG: Yes, we are seeing clashes between China and Taiwan over these unsolicited suggestions from billionaire Elon Musk. He's never been one to

shy away from controversy. This is what he said in an interview published Friday in "The Financial Times".

"My recommendation would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable probably won't make everyone happy. And

it's possible and I think probably in fact that they could have an arrangement that's more lenient than Hong Kong".

Now Beijing has offered Taiwan that one country two systems formula has offered Taiwan that formula that's been provided to Hong Kong one country

two systems. However, remember, since that sweeping national security law was implemented in 2020, civil liberties dreams of democracy, they have

been quashed in Hong Kong.

And Taiwan's mainstream political parties they have all rejected that notion. Now in response to Elon Musk's comments, we heard China's

Ambassador to the U.S. on Twitter think Elon Musk for that suggestion. We also heard from Taiwan's Representative to the U.S. who said the following

that "Taiwan sells many products, but our freedom and democracy are not for sale".

Now the backdrop here as well for Tesla in China Max is that Tesla's monthly sales in China have just hit a new record high. Now it hasn't been

all smooth sailing for Tesla in China, they are now dealing with many, many, many competitors domestically in China, other electric vehicle makers

they also have been dealing with supply chain snags, but notable that as he is making these comments is business is doing well, Max.

FOSTER: OK, thank you to Selina Wang in Beijing. Coming up on "First Move" intense Russian missile attacks across Ukraine after a massive explosion on

a key bridge to Crimea, I'll speak to Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

FOSTER: Welcome back to "First Move". Russia launching deadly missile attacks across Ukraine including the capital Kyiv and the cities of Lviv

and Dnipro. Today's attacks targeted major infrastructure facilities including power plants. Official say at least 11 people have been killed

and dozens injured.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to address an emergency g7 meeting tomorrow. This comes after an explosion severely damaged a key

bridge linking Russia to annex Crimea over the weekend. Vladimir Putin blames Ukraine for what he called a terrorist attack.

Joining us now is Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group and g zero media. He's also the author of the book, The Power of Crisis, How Three Threats,

and Our Response Will Change the World. Thank you for joining us. What did you make of the level of the response that Ukraine received from Russia

today?

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Well, first of all, these are direct and intentional targeting of civilian centers. I mean, these are the

largest cities across Ukraine. We've not seen anything like this terrorism being supported directly by a state, really, since Assad was attacking his

own civilian senators in Syria, or perhaps when the Russians were invading Chechnya.

But there's no question this is state sponsored terrorism. But it also shows how limited Putin's abilities are militarily to do anything about the

conventional military losses that he is presently facing on the battlefield at the hands of Ukraine with very, very strong support of NATO. So it's

both the atrocities are, of course, staggering. But also just as much the limitations on what Putin cannot accomplish.

FOSTER: So a civilian target the bridge into Crimea, and he described that as terrorism as well. So that's the message Russians are receiving about

this. It's tit for tat almost.

BREMMER: Well, yes, I mean, certainly, that's what Putin is trying to do. Of course, when you're talking about the bridge from Crimea, you're also

talking about a bridge that was being used to bring a large amount of military resources from Russia into the Ukrainian front.

So it would be seen as a legitimate military target, even though it appears to be a suicide bomb on a truck that blew it up. So the tactics are unusual

for a state government, but the targeting is much less so. Having said that, you're absolutely right, what Russia has been doing over the past two

weeks are the greatest level of escalation in this war, especially from the perspective of their own population of anything we've seen since the

initial invasion in February 24.

And what I mean here is the annexations of these territories as Russian, the mobilization of some 300,000 Russian young men and not so young men to

be thrown to the front and now of course, the painting of the attack on the bridge as a terrorist act and therefore the decision to justifiably strike

civilians across the country.

[09:35:00]

BREMMER: This Putin has himself painted it really into quite a corner where there's no way that he's going to be able to emerge from this crisis in

anything but a very, very damaged position economically, geopolitically, and of course, his own political position at home. And that makes this war

more dangerous in terms of what Putin will next do.

FOSTER: Well, that's, of course, the fear, isn't it? If he's in a corner, and he feels he can't lose, he may use that ultimate weapon, which is these

first level tactical nuclear weapons that people keep talking about. But that didn't happen today. The Ukrainians keep warning it may happen, the

Russians are saying it won't happen. I mean, what is the realistic threats that he may use them?

BREMMER: That's not the next step, if they decide to continue to escalate, it is very clear that the use of a nuclear weapon in any form in Ukraine

would lead the Americans to get directly involved in the war. And that would be the end of Russia's war fighting capability on the ground in

Ukraine.

But short of that there are still plenty of escalation decisions that Putin can take, he can engage in asymmetric attacks against NATO. I'm thinking

cyber-attacks, fiber attacks to shut down fiber in Europe, pipeline attacks, railway, other critical infrastructure.

Remember, if you're watching this war, through Russian state media, you're not fighting Ukraine, you're fighting NATO. It's because of NATO, that the

Russians are losing all of these battles in Ukraine. So the next step really, if we're looking at escalation from Putin that would lead to a

dangerous expansion of the war.

It's not that they suddenly pop off a nuke; it's much more that suddenly countries like Poland are actually involved. And how do they respond to

asymmetric attacks? That's a much more difficult question for NATO than what happens if the Russians, god forbid, were to launch a tactical nuclear

weapon?

FOSTER: Do we reach a point where he loses internal support with all these stories coming back from the, you know, the war zones? And you know,

obviously, the stories of people who are going to be conscripted leaving the country? When does the narrative internally go against Putin? And that

in itself becomes a threat to him?

BREMMER: Well, as you know, over 300,000, Russians have left the country and the Russians didn't stop them. And they could have closed the borders

if they wanted to. Why not? One reason is because those people that are leaving the country are people that otherwise would be against the Putin

regime. And I suspect that Putin is happy to have them go, frankly.

So I mean the reality is that he does have complete control over the narrative inside Russia. Having said that, the economy is contracting, was

one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it's now going to be contracting by 5 percent. This year, it'll be a lot worse next year, that's

starting to hurt starting to bite the average Russian, you start sending a lot of men into the battlefield.

And of course, that's going to create a lot of angry Russians as well, though, particularly in the ethnic minorities who are suffering the most,

they're the ones that are losing the most. So I think if you were to see big demonstrations in Russia that would be violent and hard to stop.

You'd see them in places where the Russians aren't. So here, I'm talking Siberia, like in Saha, the middle Volga, and also the north Caucasus, far

from Moscow. As to threats against Putin himself in Moscow, there were about 2300 Russians arrested on the back of this conscription to call up

mobilization.

That's roughly the same numbers we saw at the beginning of the war, and then it calmed down very quickly. That seems to be what's happening right

now. So it doesn't look like we're close to Putin suddenly facing real domestic insurrection. And as to whether or not he would face disloyalty

from inside his inner circle in the Security Council, well, the answer to that, of course, is absolutely not until after it happens. We're not going

to have any visibility into that sort of issue.

FOSTER: OK, Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group, thank you as ever for joining us today. We're going to get back to the ground though, southern

Ukraine. Nick Paton Walsh joins us from there, the scene of one of the attacks today Nick.

WALSH: Yes, Max. I mean, you can be impressed frankly, by the speed of the cleanup here. I mean hours earlier, this was a place where it appears five

people were severely injured. This is the depth of the crater. They put a lot of the rubber back in it already.

But already around excavators clearing up the rubble the damage tram lines been power lines been taken down as well. Now what's important to discuss

here, Max is what was the target? It appears the first missile hit this building a partially disused telecoms building.

And you can see just from inside the red that it's pretty much abandoned that were possibly some people in it not quite clear what they were doing

if they were actually telecoms workers. But clearly you'd think not a prime target for an exceptionally expensive cruise missile.

[09:40:00]

WALSH: Second one two minutes later hits here next to that is a civilian bus now on board that there were people who were hit by the explosion, five

in a critical condition in hospital over a dozen others injured. The key thing to bear in mind though, is the risk, say risk.

It sounds silly, doesn't it when Russia's firing cruise missiles into a place like this. But the callous disregard for civilian life look at all

these apartment blocks right next to whatever the target was Russia thought it was .

Windows blown out by the blast a woman I was speaking to on the balcony saying that she was sat out there, heard the first missile rushed her eight

and one year old children into the kitchen before the second blast came in two minutes later.

And that story is felt all across this blog where people are now going to have to see the approach of winter coming fast today, frankly, with no

glass. So keep the limited heated. It's about critical infrastructure, it seems from what you can try and make out what Russia thinks it seems to

have been hitting there is also to this civilian cost.

And we've seen the death toll growing during the day the number of engine growing during the day. And so I think the key message that Russia has

tried to send to Ukrainians today is something about their military might but it always comes with aside helping of ineptitude.

Frankly, we don't know what they were trying to hit here. And people's lives may have been lost as a result of this. There was a moment during

this morning when pretty much every major city in Ukraine was under some sort of attack, it seemed. And there are many Ukrainians calling each other

making sure they were safe a sense of panic for a brief period of time, possibly that's been replaced by resilience in the past clean up here,

anger amongst people who've come to the scene to see it for themselves.

One man talking about how this, the genocide against the Ukrainian people another woman pointing out when he talks about this being a military

objective, there's nothing here to actually target. And so fears possibly that we're seeing a new sense of tactics about just nakedly attacking

civilian areas by Moscow.

But I should point out we've seen a lot of that, since the beginning of the war hospitals in Mariupol bomb shelters in Mariupol, civilian apartment

blocks in Zaporizhzhia over the past week and neighbor - near city from where I'm standing. So that in itself is not new.

The ferocity today is something we've not seen for a number of months. And it calls to question quite what Russia's tactic was possibly a show of

force by Vladimir Putin after the blunt embarrassment of having a bridge you personally open between the Mainland and annex Crimea blown up a few

days ago.

We did think there'll be some sort of retaliation and this appears to have been it, if that's the full extent of it, we'll see in the days ahead. But

I'm startled, frankly, to stand here and see that too. Probably Russia's relatively limited stock of cruise missiles had been expanded to make a

hole in a bus route and blow up a disused telecom building starkly, Max.

FOSTER: Nick in Southern Ukraine. Thank you. After the break, Iranian protests go beyond its borders demonstrations in France in solidarity with

women fighting for human rights in the Islamic country.

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[09:45:00]

FOSTER: Students in Iran chanting freedom, freedom on Sunday demanding justice for the reported deaths, the four young women over recent weeks and

ultimately freedom from fear and intimidation. A human rights group claims at least 185 people have died in the protest so far, including 19 children.

CNN has been unable to verify these numbers. In a mark of solidarity these women in Paris took to the streets at the weekend. The government has urged

all French systems and visitors to leave Iran as soon as possible warning they risk arrest arbitrary detentions and unfair trials.

Nada Bashir is following all of this for us. You've been covering this for days and it's just getting bigger every day, isn't it? These young

demonstrators aren't giving up and the authorities can't control them.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Yes, absolutely Max. And over the last few days, we have of course seen that crackdown by the security forces in Iran

intensifying across the country. And despite that we are still continuing to see these brave acts of defiance continuing to see these demonstrations

across the country.

And as you said there, many of them comprising of students, even young school girls taking part in these demonstrations, which were of course

sparked around the issue of the regime's severe restrictions on women's rights.

On the freedom of women to choose how they wish to dress the Iranian regime, of course, mandating the hijab, the headscarf worn by women in Iran

and that has been enforced, often violently, by Iran's notorious morality police.

But this is really swelled and grown to encompass more wide reaching grievances held by the Iranian people. And we have seen the regime now

really attempting to crack down on that we've seen access to the internet across the country being restricted in pockets.

But we've also seen that heavy handed at crackdown by the police by security officials just over the weekend in the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj

and Saqez; we saw another violent crackdown by the security forces.

According to - one Iranian human rights organization, at least four people were killed after security forces opened fire on demonstrators over the

weekend across those two cities. And earlier this morning in fact, in the early hours, we saw those clashes continuing between protesters and the

security forces according to human rights groups.

And local journalists on the ground, the security forces once again opening fire on peaceful protesters. And we've heard from Human Rights Watch we've

heard from Amnesty International detailing the use of excessive and lethal force.

We also heard from Iran's deputy interior minister for security and law enforcement speaking yesterday saying that any protesters, or as he termed

it rioters attending these demonstrators would be tried quickly would be arrested, and a verdict would be decisive and deterrent.

So clearly, the regime is attempting to take a hard line response on all fronts here. There has been of course, a stark international reaction we've

seen last week, the Biden Administration imposing new sanctions. Now today the British foreign office also announcing sanctions on both the Iranian

morality police as well as five other Iranian officials, they believe have perpetrated violence or human rights abuses.

The European Union for its part is still considering potential sanctions on Iranian officials. But as you saw there in that lead, we are seeing

protests and of solidarity from people up and down the globe as well across the country across the globe. There are demonstrations in France; we've

seen acts of solidarity people taking to social media, cutting their hair, in support of the women of Iran. And this really is continuing to be driven

by women and girls in the country.

We've seen this brave act of defiance by young schoolgirls who of course, have lived their entire lives under the Iranian Islamic regime, removing

their headscarf which are mandated by the government. And of course then taking that defined stand against the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah

Khamenei and of course Iran's other leaders who they believe are perpetrators of human rights abuses and severe restrictions on their own

rights, Max.

[09:50:00]

FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you. Do stay with "First Move". We'll be back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back. U.S. stocks opening mix to start the week, Wall Street will see how rising rates are affected corporate America's bottom

lines as the third quarter earnings season kicks off this week. Investors will also be keeping a close eye on the latest inflation data with the

consumer price index due on Thursday. Rahel Solomon joins us from New York about key inflation data coming, what you expect to see in that September

CPI?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Max. Good to be with you. Yes, we expect some slight cooling in consumer inflation, which will certainly be

welcome news, although inflation is expected to still hover around 40 year highs. But Max, this comes in the midst of a sea of economic data this

week, it is a massive week for the U.S. economy.

I just want to show you some of the other reports we're also going to get this week, for example, on Wednesday; we'll get the producer price index,

which is essentially inflation on the producer level, on the wholesale level.

Expectations for PPI or Producer Inflation are also expected to cool from 8.7 percent annually, which is what we got last month to about 8.3 percent

this week. In terms of consumer inflation that is also expected to cool from 8.3 percent over the last year to about 8.1 percent.

But Max, what's also really important here is not only do we get this really key inflation data, but we'll learn how Americans are responding to

inflation. On Friday, for example, you might have noticed we'll get retail sales data. In other words, are Americans still spending? Are consumers

still spending which is critically important?

The U.S. consumers two thirds of U.S. GDP, and how do they feel about it, we'll get consumer sentiment. So Max at a time when investors and

economists and certainly financial journalists are clamoring for any sense of clarity on the economy, this week, we'll get a bit of it.

FOSTER: And you're also looking at these big banks, aren't you as well with their results this week?

SOLOMON: Right. We're going to hear from some of the world's largest banks this week, right as this massive week for the U.S economy continues. So on

Friday, for example, we're going to hear from major U.S. banks, like JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley.

And we'll learn Max not only how they did the last few months, the prior three months, but how they expect to do in terms of profits, sales, that

sort of thing, the next three months and beyond. And you might remember the last time we heard from banks during earnings season, when asked about the

consumer, they actually said the U.S. consumer was in strong shape that consumers were still spending on things like retail on things like

restaurants.

The question now as inflation has remained, of course persistent as it has remained stubborn. Are Americans still spending, are consumers feeling

great? So, so many questions this week, we'll also probably hear a lot about the strong U.S. dollar and how that is impacting multinational

corporations.

[09:55:00]

SOLOMON: So lots of data this week, investors will certainly get their hands on a bit of clarity and will have a lot of other hands around.

FOSTER: And that will be keeping you busy. Rahel Solomon, thank you very much indeed for finishing up the show for us today. That's it for "First

Move". "Connect the World" is up next with Becky.

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[10:00:00]

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