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One World with Zain Asher
CNN International: Russia Accuses Ukraine Of Launching Deadly Drone Attack Hours Before Critical Meeting With U.S. In Saudi Arabia; U.S., Ukraine Meet On Ending Russia's War On Ukraine; Interim Govt.: SDF To Integrate Into Syrian State Institutions. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 11, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, HOST, "ONE WORLD": All right. Happening right now, critical talks aimed at ending Russia's war on Ukraine.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, HOST, "ONE WORLD": One World starts right now. We are live in Jeddah, where the first meeting between top U.S. and Ukrainian
officials since the disastrous Oval Office blow-up is currently underway.
ASHER: Plus, in the red, U.S. shares are under pressure, as Wall Street grapples with a fallout from its worst day of the year.
GOLODRYGA: And today marks CNN's ninth annual My Freedom Day. It's a global celebration of freedom, with young people around the world calling for an
end to modern day slavery. This year's theme is "Freedom to Learn".
Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching One World.
We want to begin in Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine is fighting for its future. We are watching a really high-stakes meeting between the U.S. and Ukraine
happening, as I speak, in Jeddah, aimed at ending Russia's war on Ukraine. Senior Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak says the talks have got underway,
quote, "very constructively", and we're going to hear more from him in just a moment.
GOLODRYGA: And this is the first face-to-face meeting between American and Ukrainian officials since the explosive Oval Office meeting between
President Trump and Ukraine's wartime leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. President Zelenskyy is not involved in these Jeddah talks, but was in Saudi Arabia on
Monday to meet with the Crown Prince.
Now, in the room in Jeddah today are U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, along with three top
Ukrainian officials. Have a listen to what Rubio said before this meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Right now, we're really in listening mode. We may ask suggestions if they ask, but we really want to
sort of ascertain where they stand on this and what they're willing to do in order to achieve peace. It may be incompatible with what the Russians
are willing to do. That's what we need to find out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Just hours before those critical talks in Jeddah, Russia says it was hit by what it calls a massive Ukrainian drone attack overnight.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
ASHER: Local officials say that three people have been killed and at least six wounded in the Moscow area.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. The Kremlin says it downed more than 300 Ukrainian drones. 91 of them had targeted the Russian capital. Now, if those numbers are
confirmed, the aerial attack would be one of the largest on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
ASHER: I want to bring in CNN's Alex Marquardt. He is live for us in Jeddah. So, Alex, the fact is, these talks are happening just as things are
really heating up on the battlefield. You've had the Russian sort of spring offensive in Kursk, and you have a series of drone attacks by Ukraine deep
into Russia. Russia is, of course, vowing a response to what we saw in Moscow overnight. Just walk us through how that is complicating the
negotiations, if at all.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does appear that each side is essentially trying to gain an upper hand or a
greater position of strength as these peace talks really get underway, but we're far from that. Essentially, we're still at -- in the broad strokes
phase. But, it does appear to be going well. The officials are still behind closed doors in this hotel in Jeddah. We're going on six hours now of these
talks since they started around noon local time. There was a break in the middle. I asked the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, how the talks
were going. He told me, we're getting there. We also heard from Andriy Yermak, the Zelenskyy Chief of Staff, who said that this is a work in
progress.
So, we are hearing more positive sounds out of these two sides after an extraordinarily tumultuous past week and a half following that meeting in
the Oval Office. We heard from Secretary Rubio on his way here to Jeddah. He said that the U.S. side is in listening mode, that they wanted to hear
these concessions from the Ukrainian side, what they would be willing to do in order to jump start these peace talks. We put that question to Yermak
when he was walking through this lobby. He didn't say anything specifically. He said instead that the priority is having a very
constructive dialog with the American side and getting this conversation rolling. Here is a little bit more of what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRIY YERMAK, PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY'S CHIEF OF STAFF: Now, we think it's necessary to discuss the most important how to start this process, and we
very open, very open, and we want to have very constructive, deep, friend, partners conversation with our American partners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:05:00]
MARQUARDT: So, Zain and Bianna, there are clearly some major agenda items that need to be addressed, that military and intelligence, aid and
assistance that has been put on hold by the U.S. side. Secretary Rubio indicating that if this was a good meeting that provided some results that
that assistance could be turned back on. There is the question of security guarantees that, of course, the Ukrainians want to hear from the American
side.
And then there is this proposal of a partial ceasefire from the Ukrainians that we believe is being discussed today. The Ukrainians putting forward
this idea of the Russians and the Ukrainians stopping aerial bombardments, particularly against energy and civilian infrastructure, stopping the
fighting in the Black Sea. That could be something the Ukrainian side hopes that the U.S. endorses or at least takes into consideration and takes over
to the Russian side. The question then becomes, what concessions are the -- is the U.S. asking of the Russians, because they have taken a very strong
line?
But, the belief is, if this meeting goes well today, that the U.S. could then take whatever is discussed to the Russians. And we do know that Steve
Witkoff, who is technically the Middle East Envoy, but is very much involved in these Ukraine-Russia talks, he is on his way to Russia later
this week, and could even meet with President Vladimir Putin. Zain, Bianna.
ASHER: All right. Alex Marquardt live foe us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Let's being in Congressman Ami Bera, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence, and he joins us live from Washington. Congressman, good to see you. What are you hoping comes out of this meeting
today?
REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): Yeah. The hope is, it's a more positive meeting than what we saw at the White House a few weeks ago, but you start to get the
contours and rebuild some confidence. Again, I do hope the intelligence sharing, some of the security guarantees, start to take shape here, and I
would hope that there is the possibility of a temporary ceasefire that allows further negotiations to take place. It will be really interesting. I
do think the Ukrainians get that. They do want to bring the United States back into the folder, but the Witkoff meeting, going to Russia, I think
that's one to keep an eye on.
ASHER: We just heard our correspondent Alexander Marquardt in Jeddah essentially say that there is been so much focus on what concessions
Ukrainians should give into essentially, but not much has been made about what concessions are going to be asked of the Russians. When you think
about what the Russians are looking for here, obviously they do want to completely control the land in Ukraine they already occupy. They want to
make sure that Ukraine never becomes a member of NATO. And they also want a pro-Russian government installed in Kyiv. Just walk us through what
concessions at this point you think should be asked at the Russians as well.
BERA: Yeah. Obviously, as someone who supports democracy, it's up to the people of Ukraine to pick up their leadership in Kyiv. I do think there
will be some secession of territories. What that looks like? And then what is a demilitarized zone, perhaps? This is going to be incredibly
complicated. Again, the first step is getting the Ukrainians and the United States, along with Europe, all on the same page, negotiating from a place
of strength. Again, I think the concessions from the Russian side are recognizing they probably don't keep all the territory that currently is
being contested.
GOLODRYGA: Switching back to news here in the U.S., specifically as it relates to keeping the government open and passing a CR, it appears that
Speaker Johnson is confident that he does have the votes needed in the House among Republicans, and just a few minutes ago, he seemed to call your
party "hypocritical" for constantly talking about concern, the firing of federal employees, and making sure that they do have jobs and fighting for
that security, while at the same time the majority of Democrats in the House, including yourself, have come out publicly saying that you would not
support this CR, effectively being willing to shut down the government. So, how do you respond to that characterization?
BERA: Our desire is not to shut the government down, but our desire is to actually make Donald Trump, Elon Musk adhere to the laws. Right now,
they're disregarding what we've authorized, the monies that we've appropriated, and the programs that we've supported. They've -- our sense
is that this CR actually weakens our ability to hold Donald Trump accountable for the actions that Congress has taken. So, that is really why
a lot of the Democrats are opposing this bill.
We're all in favor of coming back to the negotiating table, doing a proper budget bill and passing that with protections that say Congress has the
power of the purse. If we want these programs, if we fund these programs, President Trump's administration then should execute those programs.
[11:10:00]
And again, that's the real battle that's taking place right now, that balance of power between the legislative branch, Congress and the executive
branch for President.
ASHER: And just going back to what we're seeing take place in Jeddah today, in terms of these negotiations between the Americans and the Ukrainians,
there are reports that British and French officials were essentially training the Ukrainians in terms of how exactly they should speak to the
Americans. Obviously, a lot of people had learned a lesson from that disastrous Oval Office meeting we saw roughly around two weeks ago. So,
just in terms of your perspective, how should -- what is the strategy that the Ukrainians need to keep in mind as they sit across the table from Marco
Rubio, for example? How exactly should they be getting their message across?
BERA: So, I think I would be in listening mode. Again, it's not all Americans. It's the Trump administration, how to speak to folks in the
Trump administration, humility, listening and then looking for some of those openings. I would -- again, I don't think Ukraine should concede
everything here. I mean, this is their future. It's their security, but I think they should listen again. If it's saying thank you for helping us,
thank you for protecting us, that's fine. That's humility. But, this is about the future of Ukraine, and again, I want to see independent Ukraine
as much as we can.
GOLODRYGA: All right. U.S. Congressman Ami Bera, thank you for the time.
BERA: Thank you. Be well.
GOLODRYGA: You too.
Well, turning to Syria now, where there have been scenes of celebration across the country.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
GOLODRYGA: Crowds gathered in the streets on Monday night after Syria's interim government signed a landmark deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces. That agreement recognizes the Kurdish community as an integral part of the Syrian state and merges the SDF into Syria's new state
institutions. Many members of the Kurdish community were denied citizenship under dictator Bashar al-Assad.
ASHER: It comes, though, as Syria is seeing its worst outbreak of violence since the fall of Assad back in December. Nearly 800 people have been
reported killed after clashes broke out last week between security forces and Assad supporters. On Tuesday, Syrian media reported that four men had
been arrested for committing acts of violence against civilians in Syria's coastal villages.
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Paula Hancocks has more now on this deadly violence, and a warning, her report does contain disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(VIDEO PLAYING)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The violence has been indiscriminate and brutal, four days of fighting between the Syrian
military and supporters of the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an affiliated gunman adding to the deadly chaos. 779 have been killed,
according to Syrian Network for Human Rights, a large proportion of them civilians. Bodies lie where they fell on the western coastal areas of
Syria, majority Alawite areas, the heart of Assad's former support. Syria's leader says forces were trying to quell an insurgency. A successful
operation, he claims, has now ended. Speaking to Reuters, President Ahmad al-Sharaa acknowledges there were revenge killings against the Alawite
community.
AHMAD AL-SHARAA, SYRIA'S INTERIM PRESIDENT (Interpreted): Syria is a state of law. The law will take its course on all. We fought to defend the
oppressed, and we won't accept that any blood be shed unjustly or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Residents describe armed men setting fire to civilian homes. Syrian Network for Human Rights spoke of, quote,
"widespread field executions". An elderly man begs for his life. He is executed. Fears of ethnic minorities being targeted, have weighed heavily
on optimism since the 50-year reign of the Assad family ended abruptly last December.
GARETH BROWNE, SYRIA CORRESPONDENT, THE ECONOMIST: A huge part of Ahmad al- Sharaa's project was about confidence building, particularly when it comes to Syria minorities, the Alawites, the Druze, the Christians, the Kurds,
and I think the events in the last few days have absolutely ruptured that confidence.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Authorities have now released photos of two militants accused of a separate extrajudicial killing being arrested, keen
to show the fragile sense of order could be restored.
HANCOCKS (on camera): There was one significant sign of unity this Monday. The Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces has agreed to
merge itself into Syria's new state institutions. The agreement emphasizes a ceasefire and also its intent to support Syria in its fight against al-
Assad's forces.
[11:15:00]
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right.
ASHER: Donald Trump hasn't been in office -- I'm sorry about, but his economic policies are causing Wall Street jitters. Find out how the market
opened this morning after this short break.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, we'll go to Washington, where Republicans are scrambling to keep the U.S. government from shutting down. The details of a key vote
in Congress coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Let's take a look at where the markets are right now. The NASDAQ fell hard Monday, with losses led by the Magnificent Seven.
Although the NASDAQ is up this morning, the Dow, however, not the case, down nearly 400 points. One key stock to note that has had a brutal, brutal
beating the last few weeks is Tesla, which is seeing a significantly sharp rise today, up nearly four percent. A lot of confusion still remains on
Wall Street.
ASHER: Yeah. Donald Trump saying that he is going to buy one to support Elon Musk.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah.
ASHER: Also saying that boycotting companies is illegal. Obviously, it's not, but Donald Trump signaling his support for Musk.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah.
ASHER: All right. Confusion over President Trump's economic policies and the fallout from his tariffs are partly behind a lot of these recession
fears that we're seeing.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. He is set to meet with top business leaders in the business roundtable in the hours to come. I'm assuming he is going to hear
an earful from them, given how they have been reacting as of late to some of his policies. Mr. Trump may offer more clarity on where he stands on
certain policies and his refusal to rule out a recession in the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK ANCHOR: Are you expecting a recession this year?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is
very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of -- it takes a little time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan with a look at the markets. Quite a change for Trump 2.0. Going back, it wasn't so long ago in his first term
where he was touting the markets climbs. Now, he seems to be ignoring them, suggesting he doesn't even pay attention, though, those around him all say
he watches closely. So, what's going on, Matt?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Bianna and Zain, as you guys know, CEOs and investors, they really crave stability and clarity, not chaos.
[11:20:00]
Unfortunately, though, they're getting more and more chaos really by the day. You would have thought that after yesterday's steep sell-off, where
the Dow fell almost 900 points, that perhaps the White House might change its tune on tariffs and this trade war. But, that did not happen. Instead,
we saw U.S. stocks fall significantly after President Trump announced plans to really escalate further this trade battle with Canada by announcing
plans to double the steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 percent and suggest that more tariffs are on the way.
I just got over the phone with market veteran Art Hogan, and he said, look, he said, this is a market that is just blatantly sick and tired of the back
and forth on trade policy, and he said it feels as though the administration just continues to move the goalpost. With all that
uncertainty, it's just impossible for investors to have any confidence. And so, we are seeing that play out again today, where investors really want to
know where this is all going, how long tariffs are going to be in place, how high they're going to go on, which countries and why, and yet, it feels
like there is another day where we're really left with more questions than answers.
ASHER: Yeah. There is very little clarity. I mean, we initially thought these tariffs were going to go into effect on April 2nd, and then Donald
Trump now saying that because Ontario essentially imposed taxes, raised taxes on electricity being imported into the U.S., that Donald Trump was
now going to, as you point out, double tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50 percent, and he is saying that these tariffs are going to go into effect as
soon as tomorrow.
And so, given this trade war with Canada really ramping up, my question to you is, how resilient is the U.S. economy? Is it prepared to withstand
what's coming down the pike?
EGAN: Well, we're about to find out just how resilient it is. Thankfully, we're in a situation where the unemployment rate is low. We know that the
economy is growing at the end of last year. The jobs market was continuing to add jobs in January and February. So, all of that is good, right? We
also know that this economy has been very resilient in the past few years. It has survived shock after shock after shock, whether it's the supply
chain mess and the inflation crisis and the Fed spiking interest rates, like each time the economy was able to withstand that pressure.
But now, there is a new kind of pressure. It's being largely driven by this chaos and policy uncertainty out of Washington. A former U.S. Treasury
Secretary, Larry Summers, he says that he is increasingly worried about the potential for a recession in the United States this year. Take a listen to
what Summers said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: This is pretty much a self- inflicted wound. I think we've got a real possibility of a vicious cycle where weakening economy leads to weaker markets, and then weaker markets
lead to a weakening economy. So, I'm pretty worried about the whole situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EGAN: Now, of course, it's far too early to say that there will be a recession, right? We just don't know that at this point. And it's also
worth remembering, there have been recession scares in the past that proved to be overblown, and just how the market reaction to the election, to the
upside was probably overdone, right? Investors kept pricing in all of the positives of the Trump agenda, none of the negatives. It's also possible
that this market sell-off and this extreme fear we're seeing in the market that could also be overdone as well. But, I think what is clear is that
investors really want to see more clarity from the White House on tariffs and this trade war.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. I mean, the headlines keep coming out of this White House, not even by the day, but by the hour. I mean, this really spooking markets,
the fact that the President came out and doubled down on retaliatory tariffs against Canada set to begin tomorrow. So, all of this, as we say,
to be continued. You'll be watching the markets for us, though, closely. Matt Egan, thank you.
EGAN: Thanks.
ASHER: All right. It appears we are just hours away from a major vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Under consideration is a stopgap
spending bill that will keep the government open for six months and also provide funding for many of Donald Trump's top priorities.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. House Speaker Mike Johnson seems confident it will pass, even though he has done little to court any votes from Democrats. Now, if
it gets through the House, it moves to the Senate, where Republicans will need at least some Democratic support. Congress is facing a Friday midnight
deadline to get the bill passed, or the government will shut down.
With more on the government funding fight, we got this report just moments ago from CNN's Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While House Republican leaders have their work cut out for them in the hours ahead, we do expect that
there will be a vote on this stopgap spending bill sometime in the four o'clock hour. But, the votes aren't there yet.
[11:25:00]
Already, Johnson has lost one conservative, Representative Thomas Massie, and there are a number of other Republicans who are still on the fence as
to whether or not they would support this spending bill. You can expect that the President, the Speaker, his leadership team, they're going to be
having to make calls to some of those skeptical members in the hours ahead.
Johnson, meanwhile, is casting blame on Democrats for not supporting this piece of legislation.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): They're planning to vote down this simple bill. They are going to try to shut the government down. Every House Democrat
will participate in this. It looks like. That would be a shame if it's true. I hope some of them will have a moment of clarity themselves and do
the right thing, but it looks like they're going to try to shut down the government. It's a striking new posture for Democrats who have always said
they've just been apoplectic about the prospect of government shutdowns.
FOX: Now, Johnson can get this bill out of the House with just Republican votes, if he can convince them to rally around it. But, in the Senate, you
have another problem, because despite the fact that Republicans in that chamber control the United States Senate, they don't have the 60 votes
necessary to pass this spending bill on their own. That means they're going to have to convince a handful of Democrats, seven, eight, perhaps nine of
them, to vote for this piece of legislation. And so far, Democrats aren't committed. In fact, many of them expressing some skepticism, concern about
moving forward with this proposal. Many of them would not say ultimately, though, if they would vote against it, knowing that doing so could
potentially lead to a shutdown.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come, a critical moment for Ukraine, as peace talks get underway in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. explores what Kyiv is
willing to give up to put an end to Russia's war.
ASHER: Plus, "Freedom to Learn", that is a theme for this year's My Freedom Day. Students are using music and dance to raise awareness about the
scourge of modern day slavery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to One World. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Here are s some international headlines that we are watching today.
Greenlanders head to the polls today for national parliamentary elections. Now, it comes as U.S. President Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to
annex the Danish autonomous territory. All five parties in Greenland's parliament say they don't want to be a part of the U.S.
ASHER: The owner of the cargo ship Solong says the vessel was not carrying sodium cyanide when it crashed into an oil tanker off the northeast coast
of England on Monday. The tanker called the Senate Immaculate was carrying jet fuel when the cargo vessel hit it. One crew member remains missing. All
36 others were fortunately rescued.
GOLODRYGA: Top diplomats from Washington and Kyiv are meeting in Saudi Arabia now for Ukraine peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
says that he is seeking possible concessions from the eastern European nation. President Trump has repeatedly suggested Kyiv will likely need to
give up some of its territory.
ASHER: Shashank Joshi is the Defence Editor at The Economist. He joins us live now. Shashank, thank you so much for being with us. These meetings in
Jeddah come just as Ukraine essentially has launched the largest long-range bombardment, drone bombardment since the three-year war actually started.
Explain that strategy behind this move. Obviously, this attack on Moscow taking place just as the negotiations between the Americans and the
Ukrainians get underway.
SHASHANK JOSHI, DEFENCE EDITOR, THE ECONOMIST: Well, it's a bit of a risky gamble, isn't it, because we should say, there is no ceasefire in Ukraine.
There is no aerial truce. Russia mounted a very substantial assault on Ukraine just a few days ago. So, Ukraine is, in one sense, responding in
kind. Now, the risk, of course, is that this infuriates Donald Trump, who is already predisposed to believe that Ukraine is not interested in a
truce, and is frustrating his peace diplomacy. And it's only just now that Zelenskyy has repaired, mended ties that broke with that cataclysmic
meeting in the Oval Office 10 days ago. So, this is a risk.
On the other hand, you can see that Ukraine wants to show it has leverage. It has cards to play. Donald Trump has repeatedly said to Ukraine, you have
no cards. Ukraine is saying, yes, we do. We can strike Moscow, and indeed we can strike Moscow even without U.S. intelligence to help us. And if
there is no deal, if the diplomacy collapses, we can still continue to do this kind of damage to Russia. I suspect that that is one element of what
is going on with Ukraine's calculation here.
GOLODRYGA: And perhaps, Shashank, also suggesting that we can strike Russia on our own, by our own procured drones as well, which is something that
Ukraine has become quite successful in doing themselves over the course of the last three years. Something that keeps on occurring publicly from U.S.
government officials, from the Secretary of State, and obviously the President himself, is saying that they want to hear what concessions
Ukraine specifically will be making. We haven't heard that same statement as it relates to Russia, and it can't be viewed as just a one-off, ad hoc
comment. This seems to be the line out of the White House now that the pressure should be solely, at least publicly, on Ukraine. What should we
make of that?
JOSHI: Well, in recent days, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, I think, has become aware that U.S. communications have become embarrassingly one-
sided in favor of pressuring Ukraine and favoring Russia. So, he has been saying, look, Russia will also have to make concessions. We're going to
test Russia. However, there is a question, I think, as to how influential Rubio is. It's clear that Steve Witkoff, who is notionally Donald Trump's
Ukraine Envoy, excuse me, Middle East Envoy, has been doing and leading much of the diplomacy on Russia. He has spent hours in Moscow, I think,
with President Putin a couple of weeks ago. I think he is back in Russia now.
So, clearly, Rubio may not have much influence. And what I take from the comments that you're outlining is the fear I see in Ukraine that the
Americans will impose upon them a highly unfavorable settlement in which they will not only have to cede territory, which they expect to be -- to
have to do in the event of a settlement, but also they will have to do so with no security guarantees, and possibly with draconian terms such as caps
on the size of their armed forces. That's the big concern they have now, which is why they're doing their best publicly to say we are absolutely
open to a truce in the air, at sea, and trying to show President Trump that, look, if this fails, it's not on us.
[11:35:00]
It should be on the Russians.
ASHER: Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. President Trump has said that he really wants the Ukrainians to show they are serious about peace in order
to get that military aid, in order to get the intelligence sharing deal with the United States back on again. Just in terms of what you said in
response to my first question to you, this idea that Ukraine essentially launched this massive drone attack against Moscow to show the world that it
still has some cards, even though Donald Trump has said, no, you don't have any cards, and to show the world that it has power here. Just explain to us
how it balances both. How does it launch that kind of attack, but also show the Americans that it's serious about peace as well?
JOSHI: I think this is an incredibly difficult balancing act for the Ukrainians, because they are suffering. If you look at the last couple of
days, they have lost territory in Kursk province inside Russia that Russia has been taking back, no doubt facilitated by the fact that Ukraine is
fighting with one hand tied behind its back, unable to conduct deep strikes with the assistance of American intelligence that is crucial for targeting
some of the American-supplied rocket launchers, like the HIMARS system.
But, Ukraine cannot pretend as though there is a ceasefire when there isn't. It has to keep the pressure up on Russia. I think this is a very
difficult balancing act by which it publicly is saying, we want a truce. We are open to a truce. They are communicating and negotiating with the
Americans in Saudi Arabia, saying we're open to signing a minerals deal. And by the way, the minerals deal now being discussed isn't just the
framework agreement, a kind of basic preliminary agreement. It's the comprehensive minerals deal. I'm told that it's over 200 pages. It's the
full package. So, Ukraine, I think in private, is giving a lot to the Americans to show good faith.
And one last thing I'll mention on this, when I looked at the negotiating team in Saudi Arabia, look at Yermak, who is Zelenskyy's Chief of Staff,
the key negotiator here. Notice what he is wearing. It's not a military uniform. It's not a sort of sweatshirt. It's a suit. And given how salient
that issue was in the White House, I would just point out that the symbolism won't be lost on the Americans.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And there has been some reporting that there was quite a bit of tension between Yermak himself and some Trump officials.
Shashank, it is quite stunning to see the change, the sharp change in U.S. policy, even under President Biden, stating that the U.S. will support
Ukraine for however long it takes, and going on to say, for as long as we can. And now the United States not really saying anything at this point.
I'm wondering, behind closed doors, at least, in terms of European allies, and what messaging they're getting from the U.S. and this administration,
when they're saying we're going to put together perhaps a peacekeeping force, are they getting any back channel assurances that the U.S. will, at
the end of the day, be a backstop for them, or is this Europe showing a different side of itself, perhaps suggesting maybe we can do this without
the United States?
JOSHI: Well, it's a very important day to ask that, because there are the chief heads of defense, the army chiefs and military chiefs of multiple
countries, I think, somewhere in the region of a couple of dozen countries meeting in Paris, pretty much as we're speaking, to flesh out the planning
for this potential European force. And there are many countries which are open to a commitment.
What they are hearing from the Americans is a degree of open mindedness, depending on who they talk to, because, of course, there is a dizzying
array of interlocutors, Marco Rubio, Ratcliffe, the head of the CIA, Steve Witkoff, the envoy, Keith Kellogg, the Ukraine envoy. Who do you talk to
when you talk to Washington right now? But, what they're hearing, I think, is an openness about America being willing to provide enablers, things like
intelligence, command and control, logistics for any European deployment. What I'm not sure they're hearing at this stage is any serious backstop in
the form of a promise to get involved if a European force is attacked by Russia.
And while the French, I feel, are more open to deploying to Ukraine without that kind of firm backstop, I think the British and a number of other
countries in Europe are much more concerned it would be too risky to do so.
So, I think that debate is still open, and to some degree, the Trump administration may be waiting to see what the Europeans come up with before
they fully commit to any kind of firm guarantee. So, there is a little bit of a chicken and egg situation --
GOLODRYGA: Yeah.
JOSHI: -- here as well.
ASHER: All right. Shashank, thank you so much. Really enjoyed your perspective on the program. We appreciate it.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. Please come back. We're big fans of yours here, Shashank. Thank you.
ASHER: Thank you.
JOSHI: Thank you very much for having me. It's great.
[11:40:00]
GOLODRYGA: Well, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is in custody at this hour, and according to his daughter, he is on a plane to The Hague.
He was arrested earlier in Manila on a warrant from the International Criminal Court. The ICC warrant accused him of crimes against humanity,
relating to his brutal war on drugs at home. Thousands died before he left office in 2022.
Melissa Bell is following the story and joins us now live. Melissa, so, we have this news from his daughter. Anything that CNN can confirm
independently as to where Duterte is right now.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: well, what we understand from videos that we've seen of the former President being put on
a plane in Manila, that he is on his way to The Hague, and this is a pretty extraordinary development because -- for a number of reasons, Zain and
Bianna, first of all, because, just to re-situate what the ICC had been investigating, you'll remember that Rodrigo Duterte, when he was President
from 2016 to 2022, the Philippines had come in on a single issue, which was rooting out crime. He had conducted a particularly brutal war on drugs.
Campaigners say that victims of that war on drugs could be as high as 30,000 people, even though official police records leave that at 7,000.
He had been the subject of this International Criminal Court investigation, investigating whether or not he had committed crimes against humanity
during that time in office, and as part of that war on drugs. Now, that was stopped for a while. Duterte himself, while he was still President, had
withdrawn the Philippines from the ICC, raising questions about whether its jurisdiction would apply. And I think it's important to note that Filipino
politics tend to function with rival dynasties who feud and fall out and reconnect, and that has been the case more recently. The current President,
who is Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., won on a ticket with Sarah Duterte, who is Rodrigo Duterte's daughter. She is still the Vice President.
But, what we understand has happened is that despite the current President's repeated explanations that he had not believed the ICC had
jurisdiction, he would not be replying to their requests for the arrests of his predecessor, the political calculation appears to have changed as a
result of a falling out between the President and the Vice President, Sara Duterte, herself recently impeached by supporters of the President's inside
Congress on accusations of having embezzled public funds.
So, that very public and very political falling out having direct implications on the forthcoming midterm elections. They're expected in May.
We don't know for sure whether this is part of the political calculation, but certainly, at some point, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. had changed his mind
about allowing the ICC to arrest Rodrigo Duterte.
ASHER: All right. Melissa Bell live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right. Still to come, the ninth annual My Freedom Day is here. Students around the world are speaking out about the power of education to break the
cycle of modern day slavery, including these kids in snowy Iceland as well. We're live at a school in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: Well, today is the ninth annual My Freedom Day. CNN is partnering with young people around the world to celebrate this year's
theme, "Freedom to Learn."
ASHER: Yeah. We've seen students from Hong Kong to London to Chicago posting their hopes for a world free from human trafficking. An estimated
12 million children are denied access to education because of modern day slavery, and their peers are using this global day of awareness to say, no
more.
Here is what we heard from students in Zimbabwe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 12 million children worldwide are denied an education due to forced labor and modern slavery. Every child has the opportunity to
learn, grow, and to break the cycle of exploitation.
A group of students saying, "You take my freedom, but not my voice."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's bring in Julia Vargas Jones, who joins us live now from St. Nicholas School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. So, we just heard students from
Zimbabwe there essentially saying that 12 million students around the world have been actually denied access to an education. Obviously, the theme this
year is the "Freedom to Learn". Such an important theme. Just walk us through how the kids behind you are marking it.
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Bianna and Zain, here at St. Nicholas in Sao Paulo, kids have been thinking about this long and hard.
They prepared all these wonderful messages for us, each of them explaining what is it that freedom to learn means to them. We have some students from
grade five, correct? This is Georgia (ph). Georgia, why don't you share with us what is freedom to learn to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think this is very important to have freedom to learn, because you can be more intelligent and you can focus on learning
things that you really like.
JONES: And you as well, you had a message that you wanted to share with us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that everybody that has a like an opportunity, because sometimes people can't go to school because they have to work or
they don't have an opportunity because of other reasons. And I think that everybody in St. Nicolas and other schools really should be very grateful
for having this opportunity.
JONES: That's a message that we heard time and again of people saying they should be so grateful for the education that they're getting and getting so
much perspective on how important education is, why education should be a right and not a privilege, right? Marina (ph), you also had a message you
wanted to share.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that everybody should have the chance to go to this school, because when we grow up and go to universities, we all need to
have studied when we are young. So, I think it's very important for us to all be grateful for us to have a school.
JONES: Access to early education as well, more so than just even getting the opportunity to go to college.
Now, ladies, we also have a great group of Grade Niners over here who prepared a poem, a really powerful poem, explaining and talking a little
bit about the challenges. Brazil, you mentioned those 12 million, 1.9 million children in 2023 worked -- were estimated to have worked to be in a
child labor in Brazil. Brazil has issues with forced labor across both in agriculture, construction, and these ladies have been learning about this
and they wrote a poem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The chains are not always physical, but depths that bind and lives that bend, where education is a luxury, not a right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And every lesson were fought in silence. The hinges are wrested by the weight of injustice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With books and opened, minds confined, those lost souls with clipped wings see their hope declined, longing for a purpose
they yearn to find and feathers filled with quills a path designed, where learning speaks in every tongue, every land.
[11:50:00]
It's a book, a lesson and a guiding hand.
JONES: Again, the students here are just working in so many different ways to get that message across on this ninth My Freedom Day here in Sau Paulo.
There will be lots more activities throughout the day to celebrate this and to take action against modern day slavery. Zain, Bianna.
ASHER: Fifth Graders, huh? Fifth graders. So, they're probably around 10 or 11-years-old. Incredibly articulate. I love the poem, and I just think it
was such a deep message what one of the girls said there about just how grateful we only -- things that we don't even think about, necessarily --
GOLODRYGA: Yeah.
ASHER: -- things that we take for granted, especially in these parts of the world.
Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for shedding light on how fortunate we are to have access to education, because many children around the world
simply don't.
GOLODRYGA: All right. In the next hour, we'll be joined by Kay Buck from the anti-trafficking organization CAST. She will talk about -- talk with us
about the fight against trafficking and the effect that the foreign aid freeze by the Trump administration has had on efforts to combat modern day
slavery.
ASHER: Also ahead on One World, five years, the grim anniversary of COVID being declared a pandemic. How that happened then and who we are today, how
all that has changed, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: It's hard to believe it's only five years ago. Do you remember the masks we all wore during COVID, the lockdowns, washing your hands,
standing five feet apart?
ASHER: Thank God, it's all over. To some extent, it did begin five years ago, five years ago today, actually. It was on March 11th. I remember this
moment precisely back in 2020. That was the World Health Organization essentially declaring that COVID-19 was now a global pandemic.
Let's talk a little bit more about the somber anniversary. Here is a report from CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is no question that time seems very warped. Hard to believe that five years have
now gone by. That's one of the things I hear the most, I think, from people, that sense of distortion of time, feeling like they're in a fog
sometimes. Sometimes that's due to the virus itself, and sometimes that's just due to the impact of all that we have been through, as you look some
of these images, paramedics going to someone's house to try and save them from COVID, people being reunited after being apart for some time, a
granddaughter and a grandmother there being reunited, and just the distancing that people did even outside for a while, which we then realized
was not as necessary as the distancing inside from people.
[11:55:00]
But, all of that, I think, has left a real impression on people, the idea that there are some who still have this post-traumatic stress from
everything they've been through, and a significant chunk of the world that has sort of moved on at the same time. I think that's sort of what we're
experiencing at the five-year mark.
If you look at the number of cases overall in the world of COVID, these are diagnosed cases, look at those cases versus the United States, close to 800
million, 770 million people around the world, again, diagnosed. There may have been a lot of other people who are never officially diagnosed in the
United States, which is four percent of the world's population, 103 million people who contracted COVID. If you look at confirmed deaths, confirmed
deaths around the world, seven million, and again, about a seventh of those, 1.2 million, in the United States.
The vaccine was heralded as something that can make a big difference in terms of curbing the trends that we were seeing at the end of 2020, and the
evidence shows that that was the case, that probably close to 80 percent of overall global burden of death due to COVID was averted because of
vaccines. And if you just look more recently at October 23rd through April 24th in the United States, you can see the numbers there, 5,300 in hospital
deaths probably averted due to the vaccines, and 68,000 hospitalizations.
So, there is going to be a lot of ways that people reflect on what has happened, the tragedy of it, the tragedy of all those cases,
hospitalizations and deaths. For me, I think one of the big concerns, really, is what happens next? There has clearly been a increasing lack of
trust in the public health system, which was already suffering even before the pandemic. There wasn't enough money being invested in public health in
the United States. Now, you've had over 500 people from the Centers for Disease Control, let go, over 1,000 people from the National Institutes of
Health, let go. We are dealing with measles outbreaks, certainly in West Texas, but other places around the country, and also concerns about new
pathogens out there, H5N1.
So, we have to basically sort of consider at the five-year mark, where are we? Where are we going, and what did the COVID pandemic really do to our
public health system overall? These are unanswered questions, but things we're going to be grappling with for some time to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Sanjay Gupta for that.
And do stay with us. We'll have more of One World after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:00]
END
