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One World with Zain Asher
CNN International: Trump's Crucial Call; Trump's Trade War; Gaza's Hunger Crisis. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 19, 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)
MAX FOSTER, HOST, "ONE WORLD": President Trump's critical phone calls today. One World starts right now. We'll take you to the White House and
Kyiv with the latest details on the conversations President Trump has been having with his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts.
Plus, the U.S. Treasury secretary is sending out a stark warning to America's trading partners and under international pressure, Israel vows it
will ease an aid blockade that has left Gaza on the brink of famine.
We're live in London. I'm Max Foster. This is One World. We begin with pivotal phone calls as the U.S. steps up diplomacy to end Russia's grinding
war on Ukraine. President Trump speaking with the Russian President Vladimir Putin right now, according to a U.S. official. Earlier, he spoke
to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The talks come as Russia unleashes its largest drone attack on Ukraine since it invaded Ukraine more than three years ago. Moscow launched more
than 270 drones over the weekend, mostly targeting Kyiv. At least three people were killed, more than a dozen injured.
Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv, Ukraine, but let's begin with Alayna Treene at the White House, with the latest on what we're getting on these calls,
Alayna?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. Well, the fact that they have now kicked off -- excuse me, I'm hearing a little bit in my ear. So
Max, they have kicked off now, according to a U.S. official. We actually were expecting President Donald Trump to speak first with Russian President
Vladimir -- excuse me, with Vladimir Putin, and then afterwards, speak with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, it appears that he had spoken already with Zelenskyy, unclear if he's still going to brief the Ukrainian president after this call that is
currently ongoing with the Russian president. But look, a few key things here. One is that it's very clear to me, in my reporting and conversations
with Trump administration officials that they have grown increasingly frustrated with how Russia and namely Putin have been handling all of this.
And we heard this morning, actually from Vice President JD Vance. He was asked directly, what is the goal here with this call, because it's been
clear now for days, the President Donald Trump has been saying he believes a direct conversation between him and Putin needs to be had in order to
figure out whether or not a cease fire, and ultimately, a broader peace deal is still viable. Listen to what JD Vance told reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The President has been very clear. This is not the United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see
outcomes. The talks have been proceeding for a little while. We realize there's a bit of an impasse here, and I think the president is going to say
to President Putin, look, are you serious? Are you real about this?
Because the proposal from the United States has always been, look, there are a lot of economic benefits to thawing relations between Russia and the
rest of the world, but you're not going to get those benefits, you keep on killing a lot of innocent people.
So, if you're willing to stop the killing, the United States is willing to be a partner for peace. That's been the proposal to the Russians, to the
Ukrainians, and frankly, to nations and other hot spots around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: Now, Max, I was also in the briefing room this morning when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke with reporters. She was asked
a series of questions about this call with Vladimir Putin, and specifically, what are the expectations and what is the goal? And she tried
to keep expectations low.
Now, obviously an ultimate goal here is again, trying to reach some sort of cease fire between these two countries, but it's unclear if that's exactly
what President Donald Trump is expecting from this today. However, a key question, of course, is what happens if he feels like real progress is not
made with the Russian president.
We now know that many different Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as the United States European allies, many of them insisting that the U.S.
needs more leverage over Russia in some of these conversations, and some of them believe that increasing sanctions on Russia could be the answer.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican and close ally of Donald Trump's has teed up a package here in Congress to try and push for that. And so, it's a
question of whether that could be the next step if there is still no progress. Because over and over again, now we've been hearing from top
players in these conversations that the time is now to figure out whether or not Putin is serious and whether or not achieving peace in a longer-term
ceasefire deal is actually on the table.
So, hopefully we will hear more. We actually promised by the press secretary that we will get a readout of this call between the two leaders
and hopefully have more on that for you later.
FOSTER: Back with you when you get that. Nick. The first call was with President Zelenskyy. Any indication of what came out of that that might be
playing into the Putin call?
[11:05:00]
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: None at this stage. But I think it's important Max to see this slight tweak to the
timetabling. You know, President Trump very clear on Saturday, Putin first and Zelenskyy, then NATO leaders. Zelenskyy has clearly got into Trump's
ear before the call with the Kremlin.
Now that would, to me, suggest that actually Trump is quite open to speaking to Zelenskyy, that suggests a marked improvement to the
relationship from what we saw in the Oval Office blowout now a couple of months ago. So, potentially good news for Kyiv, certainly, and I would
guess, frankly, that Zelenskyy is going to want to talk to Trump after the Putin call, rather than just sort of saying, he can send me an email about
what Putin said.
So, I think we are potentially going to have a little bit of Ukrainian influence, potentially, into Trump's ear beforehand. Ultimately, though,
the question is, what is Trump able to pressure Putin into? Putin has looked remarkably resistant over the past months or years, frankly, to
outside pressure.
And indeed, in the last 10 days, he's faced down a demand for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. That's originally an American proposal that
was backed by Trump in a meeting -- a phone call from a meeting here on last Saturday in Kyiv with key European leaders.
He brushed that away. He suggested the first direct talks in Istanbul. He declined, potentially, Trump brokered meeting face to face with Zelenskyy
in Turkey as well. And so, he's appeared significantly robust in terms of how he's treated these U.S. and treaties for peace.
And I think there are some who simply say Putin is not interested in a rapprochement with the U.S. Yes, there may be something to get out of that
on a strategic level, economically, he'd love to see U.S. sanctions drop. But the key goal here is victory or significant progress in the war that
he's waged on Ukraine without provocation for three years.
And so, I think it's important as we look at the outcome of these phone calls, you know, there's going to be three Zelenskyy, Putin-Zelenskyy, and
then multiple more potentially with NATO leaders as Trump talks to his key European and other where allies that Putin may want Trump's approval a bit
less than Trump seems to want Putin's.
We've had this mystery as to why Trump always seems relatively cautious to upset the Kremlin head. Is it a personal entente? Is it admiration? Is it
something else? Putin has seemed keen to allow that to happen, but in the longer run, remember, he sold Putin to his domestic population, who have
endured horrific loss during this war amongst their fighting men.
The idea that they're fighting NATO and the United States along with Ukraine, and so the idea of a sudden vault fast, even if the Trump
administration is more favorable towards Russia's viewpoint, potentially might be a tough domestic. So, particularly if Putin thinks he's got maybe
months or years more fighting to do here in Ukraine or even further afield.
But these calls right now, I think, will define the future of diplomacy in this particular conflict. We don't know how much pressure Trump is going to
put on Putin a ceasefire. I think to many, is the most light signal that Russia could potentially give that it's interested in peace. But I think
there are some who suspect this conversation may turn more into discussion about when the two men personally meet.
Trump has kind of influenced the outcome of this by suggesting a couple of days ago that unless he meets Putin face to face. They can't expect any
kind of progress, and the Kremlin have kind of echoed that might be part of what they talk about today. So, low expectations probably wise, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Nick, back with you when you hear anything on that huge significance to these calls today. So, we'll bring you every detail as we
get them.
Meanwhile, investigators say a Mexican Navy training ship was going in the wrong direction when it struck the Brooklyn Bridge. Saturday night. Two
people lost their lives in the crash, more than a dozen others were injured. The incident was caught on camera from multiple angles. The ship
was in New York on a goodwill tour. It was heading to Iceland. A New York City official told investigators the ship's captain couldn't steer the
vessel after the rudder stopped working.
Gloria Pazmino near the bridge in New York with the details. I mean, it's stating the obvious, isn't it really saying it was heading in the wrong
direction. But what are the investigators implying there?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Max. It's all going to be part of what these investigators are going to be looking at. Over the next several
days, trying to understand if this was purely about a mechanical loss of power, or whether or not there was any sort of human error or anything else
that led to this incident.
And I want to show you, Max. In fact, in the last hour or so, we have been watching as NTSB officials arrive here to the Cuauhtemoc, which was towed
here to -- here 36 after that incident on Saturday. We have been watching as they gather outside the ship, and we have been also seeing some crew
members that have been on and off throughout the morning.
[11:10:00]
And now, the crew of the CuauhtAcmoc, the majority of them actually went back to Mexico late last night. We know that they arrived back home
yesterday, early this morning, I should say, but there are a few of them that remain here on site as this investigation is set to evolve over the
next several weeks.
We are expecting a briefing from the NTSB later this afternoon. But so far, we know that the captain reported that loss of power, the inability to
operate the rudder, meaning that he was unable to steer the ship in the right direction. Also, the currents of the East River very strong on that
day, really on any average day, it's an extremely strong river, and officials believe that they might have helped to push the ship in the wrong
direction.
We see that video, the ship is essentially heading towards the bridge, and one of the masts strikes the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was
reopened shortly after the incident. It is considered to be in perfect condition. There was no structural damage made to the bridge, but it's
going to be a key here to see what investigators can tell us later this afternoon about what happened here.
We've also learned Max about the identities of those two people who sadly lost their lives. Their names are America Yamilet Sanchez and Adal Jair
Marcos. Mexican government officials identifying them late last night. America's family back home in Mexico, demanding answers and also trying to
learn when the remains of their loved one will be sent back to Mexico.
But I think the critical question here Max is what led to this incident, and is there anything that can be done, or should be done to make sure that
this doesn't happen again? I checked in with the commissioner for the Office of Emergency Management here in New York City. Yesterday, he'd been
on site meeting with other agencies, and he talked to me about what that captain reported. Take a listen?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACH ISCOL, NEW YORK CITY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMISSIONER: Something happened during that period of time where the ship reportedly lost power,
possibly lost steerage, and that's when it ended up going in the wrong direction towards the bridge. But that's very preliminary at this point,
and there still needs to be an investigation that will take place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: Max, the last point I want to make here is that, you know, this incident has been so upsetting, not just to the people back in Mexico. This
is a Mexican Navy ship that had been on a goodwill mission around the world for the past several months. It was docked here in New York City over the
past few days.
And I spoke to some people here yesterday, including many Mexicans who actually had an opportunity to go aboard the ship to see it while it was
here on exhibition. And they were sad and just so moved about what happened, really sad about the loss of those two lives. And we have been
watching as a small memorial builds here, people paying their respects, bringing flowers, bringing candles. So, we can see just how much it's
affecting the local Mexican American community here in New York City as well, Max.
FOSTER: (inaudible) for this time. Thank you so much, Gloria. Joe Biden says cancer touches us all, and he thanked everyone for lifting him up with
their love and support. On Sunday, his office announced the 82-year-old former president has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that is spread
to his bones. His team adds, while this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows
for effective management. The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.
Arlette Saenz joins us from Washington. And quite heartening, I'm sure, for the former president to see the tributes pouring in from across the
political divide, Arlette?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. There really has been a profound outpouring of support for former President Joe Biden in the wake of his
public diagnosis of prostate cancer, which his office says has reached an aggressive state that has also spread to his bones. Biden has been spending
the weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware with his family as they are reviewing what the treatment options will look like for this cancer
prognosis.
Now, just to provide a bit of the timeline, Biden had been evaluated for a small nodule that was found on his prostate in recent weeks, and it was on
Friday that his doctors gave him this cancer diagnosis.
Now we don't know what exact treatment options they are putting forth as recommendations at this time, but medical experts have said that typically,
these types of cancers could be treated with hormone therapy or chemotherapy or possibly radiation. But certainly, it will be a long road
ahead for former President Biden, as he is examining and will likely start some of these treatment options in the near future.
[11:15:00]
Now, Biden, in his post on social media, wrote that cancer touches us all, like so many of you. Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the
broken place. Of course, former President Biden has so much history with loss, and also lost his son, Beau Biden to brain cancer back in 2015. In
fact, he received the -- his own diagnosis two weeks before the family was set to mark the 10th anniversary of Beau Biden's passing on May 30.
But all of this news about the former president's cancer diagnosis also comes as there has been renewed scrutiny on his physical and mental
capabilities while he was in office. Our colleague Jake Tapper and Axios' reporter Alex Thompson are unveiling a new book tomorrow which details some
signs of decline that we're seeing in Biden in -- on both the physical and the mental level as well.
They talk about AIDS, talking about the prospects, about potentially putting him in a wheelchair in a second term. There's also an anecdote
where Biden did not recognize George Clooney during a fundraiser back in June of last year.
So, all of this has really raised a lot of questions about Biden's time in office, and also what his legacy and what he will be remembered for going
forward will look like. But for the time being, the family is grappling with this new cancer diagnosis, trying to determine what his treatment will
be like in the weeks and months to come.
FOSTER: Arlette, thank you. Still to come on One World, a warning for the U.S. treasury secretary times running out for countries to cut trade deals
with the U.S. And we'll talk to an economist about the impact Donald Trump's tariffs are having on nations all over the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back. Let's take a look at where the U.S. markets are this morning. The Dow, S&P, NASDAQ, they're all down not too sharply, less than
point 5 percent, but stocks and bonds are reacting to news over the weekend that one of the major credit rating agencies. Credit rating agencies
downgraded U.S. debt. Stocks are also digesting a stark warning from the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent said, if the U.S. is unable to
reach good faith trade deals with countries, Donald Trump will once again impose stiff reciprocal tariffs.
[11:20:00]
CNN's Matt Egan is following all of this for us. Matt, a strong new survey you've been looking at that shows the impact this trade war having on
America.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Max, that's right. Look, there's so much debate right now over just how inflationary tariffs are going to be and
who's going to pay the tariffs. That's why I found this survey from the National Association for Business Economics quite telling. It finds that
one in four U.S. firms, they say they plan to raise prices as a result of U.S. tariffs and retaliatory tariffs that other countries have put on.
Now this actually goes up to 67 percent when you look at goods producing firms, and exactly 0 percent of the firms that were surveyed say they plan
to cut prices as a result of the trade war, despite the fact that, of course, cutting prices is one of the things that President Trump promised
to make happen if he got elected.
And we do know that a number of companies have already raised prices, or they've signaled this is something they plan to do, including Barbie maker
Mattel, cooler maker Yeti, Stanley Black & Decker, and most notably Walmart. Even Walmart says that it's going to have to raise prices because
of tariffs.
Now the president had a chance to respond to that warning from Walmart, and he did over the weekend. He said that he thinks that Walmart in China
should eat the tariffs. He also warned someone ominously, I'll be watching and so will your customers.
Now take a listen to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the weekend speaking to Jake Tapper about this issue.
OK, realizing we don't have the sound, but he basically said, he spoke to the CEO of Walmart. And he said that Walmart is going to be absorbing some
of the tariffs, but also that some of the tariffs may get passed on to customers. So Max, he is acknowledging that Walmart is not going to eat all
of the cost here, and Walmart shoppers are going to be impacted.
FOSTER: OK. And what about hiring? Because all these companies facing all this uncertainty that pretty unlikely to be hiring until they know more,
right?
EGAN: Exactly. Just 2 percent of the U.S. firms who were surveyed say that as a result of the trade war, they plan to accelerate hiring. Far more 29
percent say they plan to delay hiring because of the tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs. And that makes sense, right? Because CEOs right now,
they don't know the rules of the road. They don't know how high tariffs are going to be. So, a lot of them are just kind of sitting still and they
don't know if they should be adding workers or not.
Similar story when it comes to investment -- expectations here, right? I mean, this is one of the things the trade war, the tariffs are supposed to
do, right? It's supposed to set off a boom in investment. And yet, just 3 percent of U.S. firms say they plan to accelerate investment because of the
trade war, far more 25 percent say they plan to delay investment.
So, I think when you put all this together Max, it does suggest that this trade war could end up doing a lot of damage here, right? It could end up
causing higher prices, fewer jobs and less investment.
FOSTER: OK. Matt, thank you so much.
EGAN: Thanks, Max.
FOSTER: Also serious concerns about the economy in Europe. The European commission has lowered its estimate of economic growth among the 20
countries who use the euro. It now says growth this year will come in at nine tenths of 1 percent, nearly half a percentage point lower than it
forecast six months ago, so pretty rapid decline there. The EC blamed uncertainty about trade and tariffs.
Joining us now, Justin Wolfers. He is an economics and public policy professor at the University of Michigan, a leading economist who we love
having on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. I mean, is the EU right, is this down to the tariffs, or is it something that, you know,
leaders here have got wrong?
JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Well, it's a -- it's very clearly down to the U.S. and down to
the White House. A big part of that is tariffs. We economists call that a supply shock. But separately, there's a whole lot of uncertainty. That's a
different shock. That's the sort of thing that causes you to freeze in place, to not want to invest, to sock away money for a rainy day. That's a
demand shock. So that's a second reason why growth, both in the U.S. and then around the world is very much looking like slowing down.
FOSTER: In terms of the numbers. Is this a shock reaction, as you describe that will last, or is it something that could bounce back once we all get
our head around what's exactly happening here in the longer term?
WOLFERS: Can I just start by saying it was all avoidable? That's just the part that touches my soul and touches my heart, which is, I remember
beginning January with a heart full of optimism and hope that the world looked like it was in a remarkably calm place, with obvious exceptions, in
Ukraine and we were really set for growth.
[11:25:00]
You know, it looks like this uncertainty shock is going to give us a pretty grim 2025. We may avoid a recession. I do hope the world economy avoids a
recession, but we may not. The fact that we're having that conversation is pretty rough. But the longer term is actually the point that the president
made. When the president said, you'll get two Barbies instead of 30.
What he meant was that for many families in many countries, particularly in North America, though. Your pay pack is just not going to go as far as it
once did because of the tariff, because you'll be paying taxes to the American government.
FOSTER: He also argues that that is short term pain for long term gain. Do you see that?
WOLFERS: Absolutely not. You can tell me -- Matt Egan just went through the numbers. If you talk to firms right now, they're saying things like their
hiring is on pause. I work in a particular sector, higher education, where one of the great joys of my life is that I get to educate students from all
around the world.
The president has manufactured all sorts of chaos at the border. That means many students don't want to come in. So, we're going to lose -- my job is
actually an export job. I export teaching economics. We're going to lose those jobs, even if we do eke out a few extra manufacturing jobs. And I'll
leave it to your viewers to decide whether having a few more blokes in factories is a good trade for having people with high paid cognitive work
instead.
FOSTER: It's interesting how we're seeing real world impacts outside America as well, because if you take the example of the U.K., they have
struck this trade deal, if you can call it that, or tariff deal with the U.S. But they've also been made very aware that they've got to start
relying more on Europe for business.
And we had Keir Starmer today effectively renegotiating a deal with the EU, which you know the Brexiteers are really frustrated with, but part of that
deal as well is getting onto the student exchange programs again. So, they're looking away from America towards Europe, and other countries are
going to have to do something similar, aren't they?
WOLFERS: Yes. So, Brexit is a lovely case study for my friends over here in the United States. This is what happens when you put the middle finger up
to the rest of the world, and say, we don't want to engage with you.
You discover a few years on, there's no real gains from doing that that you're losing jobs, that you've isolated yourself more than you've isolated
others because they've still got the rest of the world. And you turn around and you start looking for friends again, and that's pretty much the script
that America is going to have to follow as well.
Let me just add one note. The U.S., U.K. trade deal was a joke. It's a farce. It was a political, the whole thing was a political hoax. Trump
walks in and says, I'm putting a 10 percent tariff on Britain. We didn't used to have one, I'm just going to add one, because I'm the president of
the United States.
And then he said to Starmer, effectively, I'm happy to put a little asterisk next to that and six point font, tiny little asterisks that says,
there's a couple of little carve outs, like, we'll buy your luxury cars at a lower rate, as long as you are willing to front the press with me and
pretend that we've actually struck a deal here.
FOSTER: You also heard what I was saying about Trump or his team, suggesting that if countries don't do their deals now, in a similar vein,
presumably, then there could be more tariffs to come. But that's exactly what everyone's dreading, isn't it, the whole thing to flare up again?
WOLFERS: This is just actually one of the worst developments you could imagine. So, let me just give some context for your viewers, which is on
Friday, we had the president come out and say, oh my goodness, I put tax -- I put tariffs on the rest of the world. Now they all want to negotiate
deals. It's too hard. I don't have enough blokes to go out and negotiate 192 separate trade agreements.
So, what I'm going to do now is I'm going to send them all a letter, telling them what it is now. By the way, a letter is not a trade agreement.
It's a message. And at the same time, then you've got the treasury secretary come out and say, unless you're striking a deal with us in good
faith, things are going to go worse for you.
And the really painful part of this is, remember, the very worst day of the trade war was so called Liberation Day, when the White House unveiled a set
of tariffs that were astronomically high and utterly incoherent, tied to bilateral trade deficits had nothing to do with the actual tariffs other
countries put on the United States. That caused an enormous kerfuffle.
And right now, Bessent is saying, unless I like the deal that you come to me with, I'm putting those tariffs back. Just to give you a sense of how
incoherent this is, those tariffs would involve, for instance, a 25 percent tariff on South Korea that they're calling reciprocal. That's odd. The
United States has a free trade agreement with South Korea, free trade on almost every good and you'll never guess who it was who negotiated that
most recently, it was the first President Trump.
FOSTER: OK. Justin, thanks for saying it as it is. We always appreciate that. Thank you for joining us. Still ahead, the U.S. president talks to
his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts about ending the war in Ukraine, details and analysis ahead. Plus, a stunning upset in Romania's
presidential election, as millions of voters went to the polls across Europe actually.
[11:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back to One World. I'm Max Foster in London. These are the headlines we're watching for you today. Messages of support pouring in for
Joe Biden after the former president's cancer diagnosis. Donald Trump said he and Melania was saddened by the news and wish Biden a fast and
successful recovery. Biden's office has revealed he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
The Sean "Diddy" Combs trial, criminal sex trafficking trial resumed with Dawn Richard finishing up her testimony. Richard was a member of the
defunct musical group Danity Kane, and has testified that Combs frequently took drugs, but she has witnessed him being violent towards his ex-
girlfriend, Cassie Ventura too.
Earlier today, Pope Leo held a private audience with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio of the U.S. They attended the
Pontiff's inaugural mass on Sunday in St. Peter's Square. During the meeting, Vance gay people -- gave Pope Leo rather a letter from President
Trump inviting him to visit the United States.
Donald Trump speaking currently to the Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine after speaking earlier with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The talks come as Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine over the weekend, taunting mainly Kyiv.
For more on the call and what we could see ahead, let's bring in Michael. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for
the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe, who joins us live from Bangkok. Thank you so much for joining us. You're in Thailand, so we
appreciate you joining us here.
I mean the call, you know, there were two calls today, crucial, of course, Zelenskyy and Putin. We were expecting Putin to go first, but then we heard
that there was a Zelenskyy call earlier. I mean, how do you see what's playing out here? What might have happened behind the scenes to make these
calls happen?
[11:35:00]
MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Sure. Good to be with you, Max. Well, yeah, it was surprising that the call with Mr. Zelenskyy went first.
Maybe that was Trump playback -- payback for Mr. Putin making Mr. Trump wait for the last call for I think it was over an hour, possibly too.
Secondly, yeah, the call is underway. I suspect it will last a long time. And you know, we're all expecting for Mr. Putin to repeat his maximalist
position that being international recognition, or less U.S. recognition of Russian control of all four Ukrainian oblasts that it only partially
controls, namely, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk.
It wants Ukraine to step away from NATO. It wants Ukraine to limit the size of its armed forces, no foreign troops on Ukrainian soil. And the other two
are U.S. recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. And then a biggie is the Russians want Ukraine to step away Ukrainians from Russia, which could
end up in the trillions of dollars.
So, this is very, very different, apparently, from a peace plan that the U.S. submitted a few weeks ago to Russia. So, things don't look very
robust, I would say, for any type of progress.
FOSTER: I'm wondering what leverage Trump has here, because you're basically asking Putin to stop winning, aren't you? Why would he -- why
would he stop the campaign?
BOCIURKIW: Yeah, I think there's very little leverage. I know the U.S. and the E.U. partners, the coalition of the willing so called, have been in
talks about imposing biting or very painful sanctions against Russia, but honestly speaking, they don't have many more levers to pull. Russia has
become very good at sanction busting or getting around them. For example, here in Thailand, Thailand supplies millions and millions of dollars of
aviation parts to Russia, along with the UAE and other countries.
So, and the other thing Max is, I think after that victory day celebration where we saw the leader of the world's second biggest economy, Xi Jinping,
be right next to Mr. Putin as a VVIP guest. I think Mr. Putin has a kind of heightened sense of security, if you will, that he can get through this
even with U.S. perhaps putting pressure on it.
FOSTER: He's going to be aware that Trump will need something to announce after this, so it needs to feel like a win, obviously, Putin is, you know,
say what you like about him. He's a -- he's an arch negotiator. Isn't he plays the long game --
BOCIURKIW: Yes.
FOSTER: -- and he's proved himself to be very smart on that sort of table, as it were in the past. What win can he give Trump because obviously he
doesn't want to blow up the relationship he's got with Trump.
BOCIURKIW: Yeah. Well, we already had a preview of that about an hour ago when Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, gave her a press conference.
And they do what they always do, is they blame any previous war or, you know, bad policy on the Biden administration. Karoline Leavitt said the
Biden administration was incompetent and weak, and that's why the Ukraine war started.
Well, actually, it was Mr. Trump who approved the use of Javelin missiles to Ukraine and imposed sanctions, so he had a big role in it as well. They
have already lowered expectations, Max. They've threatened to walk away. And, you know, this could be a good thing at the end of the day, because we
saw -- I mean, they weren't the best talks in the world, but at least Turkey played a mediating role. Getting a big, big prisoner exchange agreed
to between Russia and Ukraine.
I think that opens the door for more progress, but it's going to be slow, but at least the Turks are seen as honest, impartial, big stake in Black
Sea security and the President Mr. Erdogan has fairly good ties with Mr. Putin and with Mr. Zelenskyy.
FOSTER: OK, Michael Bociurkiw, really appreciate your thoughts. We're still waiting to see what comes out of it. We'll get the readouts, I'm sure soon.
The U.K. and European Union striking a new deal. Then it's being seen as a reset in relations, nearly a decade after Britain voted to leave the giant
trading block. Mr. Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, met earlier today with the E.U.'s Ursula von der Leyen and other officials here in
London. He describes the landmark deal, which sets out closer ties on defense and trade as a quote, win, win. Europe's top official sounded
pretty much just as a beat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO COSTA, EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT: Our relationship is grounded in shared values, mutual interests and the simple fact of our geographical
closeness. We are neighbors, allies, partners, and we are friends.
[11:40:00]
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We're turning a page. We're opening a new chapter in our unique relationship. This is the story
of historical and natural partners standing side by side on the global stage, facing most of the same challenges, pursuing the same objectives,
like minded, sharing the same values, and thus we are looking for solutions that are beneficial for both our people and standing shoulder by shoulder
when it comes to really getting to the solutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: There are elections this weekend in three E.U. countries. In Romania, the country's pro E.U. candidate will be its next president.
Centrist Nicusor Dan defeated his ultra nationalist rival by winning nearly 54 percent of Sunday's vote. It's being called a shocking upset. Hard right
candidate George Simion opposes providing military aid to Ukraine. He's critical of the E.U. He also is a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Simion looked on track to win the election after he swept the first round on May the Fourth, but Dan gained ground after trouting Simion in a
televised debate.
Portugal center-right alliance won an early parliamentary election. However, they again fell short that the majority needed to end the
political turmoil there. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, a de-party won 89 seats in the 230-seat parliament. The far-right chega party outperformed
most polls to take 58 seats. The prime minister has said he will not make any deals with chega. That means he'll have to piece together a coalition
in order to lead the country.
And Polish voters are set for a second round of voting for a new president after voting in the first round this weekend. Exit polls show Warsaw's
mayor is just barely ahead of the nationalist party candidate, the mayor's civic coalition was expected to deliver a sizable win.
The president's position is largely ceremonial, but still has the power of the veto, which is crucial. Polls will vote again on June the first. Just
ahead Israel's prime minister talking about his plans with Gaza as the U.N. warns of the risk of all out famine in that besieged territory. Look at
those pictures.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
FOSTER: Israel says it will allow what it described as a basic amount of food into Gaza, suggesting the hunger crisis might jeopardize ongoing U.S.
support for Israel. The U.S. is warning of the risk of all out famine amid an Israeli aid blockade that's now in its third month. This comes as
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a new declaration about Gaza, just hours after Israel launched an extensive new ground operation
there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Eventually, we will have an area fully controlled by the IDF, where Gaza civilian population can
receive aid while Hamas gets nothing. This is part of the effort to defeat Hamas, alongside the intense military pressure and our massive incursion,
which is essentially aimed at taking control of all of Gaza and stripping Hamas of any ability to loot humanitarian aid. This is the war plan and the
victory plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us from Jerusalem, whatever the politics those images we were looking at there. Jeremy, you know, the state of
hunger in Gaza. You know, they hit home, don't they?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: They certainly do. And we are watching as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to rapidly,
rapidly digress, and that is certainly part of the Israeli calculus here, knowing that there were warnings, including from within the Israeli
military, coming about how quickly Gaza's population is about to run out of food entirely.
And so, the Israeli prime minister today with pressure from -- facing pressure from the United States, as well as from this new Gaza humanitarian
foundation, which will lead this new Israeli approved mechanism to get aid into Gaza by the end of this month. The prime minister now agreeing to
what's basically being described as a stopgap mechanism to allowing a minimal quantity of food into the Gaza Strip to avoid total famine, and to
give time for this new aid mechanism to actually get into place.
Now we haven't actually seen any of these aid trucks getting into the Gaza Strip so far. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today that
dozens of aid trucks will be allowed into Gaza this week. But again, it seems unclear at this point how quickly those trucks will get in and how
many will get in, whether it will be enough to feed all of Gaza's population.
FOSTER: In terms, specifically what may come out of this. I mean, what are we looking at right now? I mean, how much control will Israel have of the
area and how will people get food basically?
DIAMOND: Well, alongside what is happening with this food distribution, the Israeli military is also launching this expanded ground offensive in the
Gaza Strip, and that may very well complicate the distribution of this emergency aid that needs to make it to Gaza's population. We don't know how
expansive this operation has been on the ground, yet.
We do know that there are tens of thousands of Israeli troops who have been mobilized inside the Gaza Strip to launch this expanded offensive, the aim
of which will be, according to the Israeli prime minister to take over all of the Gaza Strip and also to split it into three different zones, with the
Israeli military tightly controlling access between those zones.
And so, you know, part of this new aid mechanism will be working in cooperation with the Israeli military to get aid to the population in
certain areas where they are. But it's also clear that this new offensive is about displacing Palestinians, especially from the north to the southern
part of the strip.
Today, we also saw the Israeli military issue evacuation orders for Khan Yunis, which is in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, urging people to go
towards the Mawasi coastal area. We are watching what has happened before in Gaza, which is massive air strikes, ground operations, complemented with
these evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.
I think one of the main questions now is, how quickly will this Israeli military offensive expand? Because it does seem to be designed in part, at
least to pressure Hamas at the negotiating table to reach an agreement favorable to Israel's terms. But how much longer will this offensive
actually drag on before it reaches this next level that has been promised. How much longer will these negotiations be given, at least some time and
space to continue?
FOSTER: Jeremy, thank you for joining us from Jerusalem. Scottie Scheffler has won his first PGA Championship. Meanwhile, coming up here, what he told
our World Sport's Patrick Snell, after that great win.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: After being down more than 11 points in the first quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were all back to beat the Denver Nuggets,
winning game seven and advancing to the NBA Western Conference Finals. The score was 125 to 93. The Thunder now faced the Minnesota Timberwolves on
Tuesday.
Golfer Scottie Scheffler, capturing his first PGA Championship and third major win in Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday, much better outcome,
really than his tournament same place last year. World Sport's Patrick Snell spoke with him after the win.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: American golfing superstar Scottie Scheffler is celebrating his third career major after seeing a triumphant
five shot victory here at the PGA Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. A short time after his victory, I caught up with Scottie, and I
asked him to reflect on his momentous win.
Scottie, many congratulations, a remarkable achievement. I will say, though at times on the front nine, you looked a bit like a boxer on the ropes. How
did you manage to regroup, get yourself back together whilst fighting all that emotion as well on route to your third major title.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, WINNER OF 2025 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Yeah. I think that's a good description. Yeah, I felt like I was on the ropes a little bit this
golf course will keep you on your toes. I really -- It was weird because by the time, like 7, 8, 9, I felt like I hit really good tee shots and I
looked up and it was just like 30 yards left to where I was looking, which was a bit unusual.
But making the turn, I kind of squared my shoulders up and I hit a really good tee ball on 10, a really good tee ball on 11. And after that, I really
did a good job executing, hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and, you know, played a really good nine holes when I really needed to.
SNELL: It's been a meteoric journey for you over the last three years, talking big picture now, your first PGA Tour title, the wonderful moment as
well, you become a father and now your third career major. How do you reflect on that journey and how would you describe what it's actually been
like for you? Give us a sense on that.
SCHEFFLER: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, it's really hard to put into words. You know, Mary and I were talking this morning, we still feel
like we're in high school. It felt like we were in high school yesterday. We just started dating and all of a sudden, life out here is pretty cool
right now. This is a lot of fun. But at the end of the day, life at home for us is pretty much the same. You know, we have a good little life and we
have great friends at home and I'm looking forward to getting home and celebrating them.
SNELL: So Scheffler now adds the famed Wanamaker Trophy to his collection of two Masters titles, two coveted green jackets and now his sights will
firmly train on next month's U.S. Open at Oakmont. Patrick Snell, CNN, Charlotte, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:55:00]
FOSTER: Finally, this hour, a tree that exists in only one place on earth is now threatened by climate change and goats. The dragon's blood tree is a
species only found on an island of Yemen. The tree is known for its mushroom shaped canopy and blood red sap that flows through it, but now its
survival is threatened by severe cyclones, invasive goats, and the decade long civil war in Yemen as well. The dragon's blood is known for capturing
imaginations and even looks like the trees in the pages of Dr. Seuss books. If you know them. Let's hope we can keep them around.
I'm Max Foster in London. I'll be back with what we know in about three hours from now. Coming up next though, Bianna Golodryga. We'll have more
One World after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
