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One World with Zain Asher

Missiles Slam Kyiv After Putin Agrees to Resume Peace Talks; Witkoff and Putin Meet for Talks in St. Petersburg Wednesday; Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Goes One-on-one with CNN's Amanpour; W.H.O. Calls for Regional Vigilance as Nigeria Confirms Case; Virus Now Spans Three African Regions as Nigeria Confirms Case. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 22, 2026 - 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)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello, everyone. Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". Just hours after the Russian President said the Kremlin was ready

to resume trilateral peace talks. Moscow pounded Kyiv with three waves of ballistic missiles.

This video from the Ukrainian capital shows explosions lighting up the night skies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the large-scale

attacks killed at least two people and injured dozens. Meanwhile, Moscow's Mayor says Ukraine launched more than 600 drones towards the capital.

This all comes after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff held what he described as a constructive meeting with Vladimir Putin, sitting down with him for some

three hours in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Witkoff even controversially called the Russian President who launched the war on neighboring Ukraine.

He actually called him a humanitarian, and a lot of people raising their eyebrows about that.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Clare Sebastian is tracking the story and joins us now from London. Among those people raising their eyebrows, many members of the

president's own party saying that is not a word used to describe Vladimir Putin. And obviously that backed up by yet again another night of missile

attacks, civilians killed, and this time Ukraine continues to be dealing with a lack of interceptor.

Something they've made quite public, quite clear, saying they need more of, especially from the United States. How is the United States responding,

Clare?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, look. I think the talks in St. Petersburg were obviously part of this ongoing effort by the United

States to restart these talks. The United States, I should say, in the face of these concerns expressed by President Zelenskyy over the past week to 10

days on the state of intelligence sharing, which he said in in recent days, is now switched back on Starlink and on interceptors.

The White House has denied intentionally scaling back any of those efforts to help Ukraine. But the fact remains that as Russian attacks are

escalating, Ukraine's defenses are dwindling, and that was really visible in this sort of ferocious overnight attack that we saw on multiple regions

of Ukraine.

But in particular on Kyiv, 21 ballistic missiles were used, according to President Zelenskyy, and he's now saying three of those came with cluster

warheads, including one which hit the historic center of Kyiv. He said, damaging monastery buildings there, among other civilian infrastructure,

not a military asset in sight, and he is saying that this was clearly a deliberate effort there.

So, look, there are these escalating attacks. On the one hand, it's not a surprise because Russia has said over and over again that it doesn't want a

temporary ceasefire, it wants these negotiations to continue as it pursues its military goals. But on the other hand, of course, Ukraine is grappling

with this at the same time as it's seeing the praise from the Trump Administration towards Russia go up.

And of course, the concerns around its supplies, its defensive supplies, dwindling. I want to read you a portion of a post that Zelenskyy just put

out a short time ago. He notes, by the way, that Russia has set priorities for further terror against Ukraine in the coming weeks, that's according to

Ukrainian intelligence.

And he says Russia is clearly taking advantage of the slowdown in air defense supplies from our partners. I think, look, that just reinforces the

clear lack of progress that we're seeing in terms of trying to bring Moscow to any kind of compromise, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, no doubt. Clare Sebastian. Thank you. And just a short time ago, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy sat down for a one-on-one interview

with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She began by asking him about recent strains on the U.S.-Ukraine partnership. Here's an excerpt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Mr. President. Obviously, there's been a lot of spotlights on the latest eruption in your

relationship with President Trump. He's blaming you. You're saying that he's on the wrong side of history with that diesel deal for Russia.

Are you stepping back from that personal criticism? Have you been, you know, advise that this might not be the best way to be public about it,

since you need American help.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We have our partners, and its United States, and we have -- we need to have strong relations with

American Administration, with Congress, and we need bipartisan support, and this all is very important because it's not about days, it's not about

personalities.

My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that if we will lift tanks, we will make him stronger, and that's why I'm like a president.

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It's not something personal between me and President Trump. And of course, I'm against of any lifting of sanctions. I always said it to European

partners, and I said it directly to American administration. I'm, of course, I know what I do. I have to strengthen me, my country, my people,

my army, but not my enemy, and this is, I think, very clear and fair between us.

That's why I know that if you give something to Putin, he will need everything. He will want everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: And you can see the whole interview with Christiane Amanpour and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 01:00 p.m. less than two hours from now,

if you're watching Eastern Time here in the U.S. and then 6 o'clock in the evening if you are watching in London.

All right, want to turn now to the Middle East, where two people have been killed in an attack on Wednesday on an airport in Saudi Arabia.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, authorities say eight others were injured in Wednesday's attack at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, one of those killed

was an Indian national.

ASHER: Meantime, the U.S. has ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. The State Department cited the growing

threat from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, warning Americans of further attacks and travel disruptions too.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we are just 12 days out, but who's counting in the U.S. midterm elections? Even if Democrats regain control of Congress, President

Trump will still get to decide what happens next in the Iran war. A war he appears to count as one of his proudest achievements, despite its deep

unpopularity among voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's one of the greatest things we've done. We've stopped Iran from having a nuclear

weapon. It's one of the best things that we've done. It took a lot of courage to do it because no other president was willing to do it, and if we

didn't do it, Iran would right now have already used massive nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: After the midterms, President Trump will have several options on the table. He could reduce military operations, respond more aggressively to

Iranian attacks, or expand the campaign with Israel and offer greater support to Saudi Arabia. For now, all eyes are on how the Democrats will

perform in deeply red territory.

GOLODRYGA: The World Health Organization is warning that Ebola has become a regional public health concern after Nigeria became the latest country to

confirm a case.

ASHER: Yeah, during an online media briefing earlier, the Regional Director for Africa called for vigilance and collective resolve to control the

spread. The W.H.O. has been supporting disease surveillance efforts, providing training, contact tracing, and improving access to care as well.

GOLODRYGA: This outbreak was first confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-May and has now spread to four other countries spanning three

African regions. The confirmed case in Nigeria was a woman who had traveled from Uganda about two weeks ago.

ASHER: Joining live now from Nairobi, Kenya, is our Victoria Rubadiri. Victoria, thank you so much for being with us. So, this has now spread

further across Africa than any other previous Ebola outbreak. We're talking about 10,000 people total who have been infected by this.

Obviously, this particular strain has no vaccine, and when you think about the new cases in Kenya and Nigeria, I mean, it really is going to come down

to contact tracing to get the spread under control.

VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN CONNECTING AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. One of the main issues that came out in this briefing with the W.H.O. was the

fact that most of the cases that have been confirmed are people who are dying from Ebola without ever reaching a treatment center in the Democratic

Republic of Congo, where the outbreak began back in May.

The W.H.O. says around six in every 10 recent deaths have happened outside treatment facilities, and that really points to the challenge of

identifying infections early enough and getting people the medical care that they need. As far as the numbers, as you said, more than 9,000 people

have been infected in the DRC alone, with over 4,000 deaths.

And what's making this particularly difficult to contain is the strain involved, known as Bundibugyo. There's currently no vaccine specifically

targeting it. Now, one of the key things that the W.H.O. clarified today was the issue of community transmission, whether the virus is spreading

beyond people already identified as contacts of infected patients.

Now, in the DRC, community transmission is already established, but here in Kenya, the W.H.O. says that's not the case. Nine people have been infected,

including the first patient who traveled from the DRC through Uganda before arriving in Nairobi, where he later died.

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The other eight cases are all linked to that first patient, and according to the W.H.O., they were already in quarantine when they tested positive.

So, at this stage, there's no evidence of wider community transmission in Kenya. As for Nigeria, which is the latest country to confirm a case, the

W.H.O. says a patient remains in hospital and is stable.

But authorities are still trying to establish just how she contracted Ebola and where, and that's important because it will help determine whether this

was simply an imported infection or whether there's any evidence of transmission within Nigeria itself. And here's what some Nigerians actually

had to say about the possible spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAPHIRA ANGER, CORPS MEMBER: I'm not seeing anybody wear those masks at the moment, and people are making fun of me for wearing it. And I'm just

trying to take safety precautions. So, if there are safety measures to be taken, people should take them and take them seriously.

KINGSLEY OZONOCHIE, REALTOR: I'm scared of it in earnest, because the last time it happened, they were locked down, so I'm afraid that this case might

make the government to call for lockdown, which will drastically affect our business. Even most of us that have freedom of movement, our movement will

be restricted.

So, I'm scared. I'm really scared, and I wish the government should do something about it so that the case, do not spread.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RUBADIRI: And hearing them, that really brings us back to one of the biggest challenges facing health authorities across the region, and that's

detecting infections before people cross borders. The W.H.O. says, though there is screening, it can miss cases, particularly when travelers haven't

developed symptoms or don't disclose their exposure history.

So, for now the focus remains on getting people into treatment early and strengthening contact tracing as well as preventing the virus from

spreading into the wider community.

ASHER: All right, Victoria Rubadiri, thank you. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Right, French President Emmanuel Macron says what he calls

illegitimate protests will be banned in the coming days.

GOLODRYGA: The announcement follows last Saturday's riots and looting across the country. Mr. Macron blamed what he called seditious far-left

groups and vandals for the violence. He says organized groups, including unions, will be offered alternative march routes to protect businesses.

The comments came after crisis talks with intelligence officials and senior ministers. Here's how President Macron explained the new restrictions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Any requests to demonstrate or gather, especially those made by individuals or groups lacking the legitimacy to do

so will be prohibited by the prefects. Now is not the time. Our priority is a return to calm.

Everywhere, trade unions may submit requests to hold demonstrations. These will be reviewed by the prefects in accordance with the law. However,

alternative routes will be proposed to protect our city centers, specifically our businesses and public buildings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Meantime, in Greece, thousands of students and teachers took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday. They're demanding more government funding

for education, free student housing, and higher teacher pay, as well.

GOLODRYGA: Right. Still ahead on "One World", President Trump hits the campaign trail again today and weighs in on a controversial ad at the

center of Ohio's heated governor brace.

ASHER: Plus, a warning from the head of the Federal Communications Commission about what he's calling fake polls and why some critics say it's

an expansion of the FCC's authority.

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GOLODRYGA: All right, with just 12 days left until the U.S. midterm elections, President Trump is taking his midterm campaign blitz to Iowa,

Florida, Georgia, and Michigan this week, all in an effort to bolster Republican support amid dismal approval ratings.

ASHER: Yeah, he spent Wednesday night in South Carolina stumping for Republican incumbent Senator Darline Graham. Graham was appointed to serve

the remainder of the term after her late brother Lindsey Graham passed away suddenly back in July.

GOLODRYGA: Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance held a rally in Ohio where he weighed in on the controversial ad from Republican gubernatorial

candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. He says it's not his concern whether he thinks the ad is appropriate or not.

His focus is on who is going to govern Ohio. Vance says politics is tough business, and Republicans should stop whining about the ad.

ASHER: Ramaswamy is backing the ad, which features the estranged mother of his opponent, Amy Acton. Obviously, she's a Democrat. He's telling voters

that her daughter is a liar. Acton says that she hasn't actually seen her mother since she was 12, when her stepfather was charged with sexually

abusing her.

President Trump is sharing his take on the ad, saying he didn't know about the abuse allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I hear the mother went very rogue on the daughter. Doesn't have a lot of respect for the daughter, and I think the mother is a witness to

things also. So, who knows? And you have to figure that out. It's a very unusual situation to have a mother hate a daughter that much, but I don't

think that has anything to do with Vivek.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Acton got a show of support at a campaign appearance in Ohio on Wednesday. The woman at the event said she even saw, ever since she saw the

ad, she wanted to give her a hug. The interaction just a sliver of the compassion Acton says she has seen in recent days.

ASHER: The Trump appointed chair of the FCC is suggesting the media could face retaliation for some of its political reporting. On Wednesday, Brendan

Carr warned broadcasters against covering what he called fake polls without providing any examples.

GOLODRYGA: Carr's comment echoes Donald Trump's frequent complaint about polling numbers that he doesn't like, and it comes less than two weeks

before the midterm elections. CNN's Brian Stelter reports.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey there, yeah, this is a story with a lot of layers. President Trump and his top media regulator are

targeting so-called fake polls. At the same time, highly respected pollsters are seeing data showing Democrats poised to make big gains in the

midterm election.

So, you have First Amendment group saying that Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr are trying to chill news coverage about these polls,

discouraging news coverage about bad polls for Republicans. But at the same time, there are some actually made-up polls that are floating around out

there.

There's a scandal in the news this week about a totally fictional polling firm. So, you have many reputable, highly respected polling groups finding

Trump with record low approval ratings, finding Democrats ahead in key Senate races, but there is a concern about polls that's legit.

So, here's what Brendan Carr said that caused so much criticism on Wednesday. He wrote on X, during this election season, there has been a

significant surge in entirely fake polls and suppression polls, he went on. Many journalists and broadcasters have been amplifying or airing these

polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics.

Then he said, broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in news distortions or running broadcast hoaxes by airing polls that would violate

their regulatory obligations. So, which polls was Carr talking about? Well, he didn't say, and he didn't respond to my request for comment.

But some of Carr's predecessors, Former FCC Chairs from both parties, say that Carr is engaging in inappropriate, outrageous threats, trying to

intimidate the news media. This is a statement from a coalition of Former FCC Leaders saying that what Carr is doing as part of a quote, accelerating

White House strategy to tilt the electoral playing field in the president's favor and deny election results that don't go his way.

The former officials also noted that the FCC has zero authority to dictate editorial decisions, but because Carr's agency does license local TV and

radio stations.

[11:20:00]

Station owners do have to pay some attention, and Carr has used that limited power to pressure broadcasters. Brian Stelter, CNN.

GOLODRYGA: Right now, to one of the largest ever legal penalties against a tech giant, a New Mexico judge is ordering Meta to pay $25 billion.

ASHER: Yeah, the company has previously disclosed private information from nearly 90 million Facebook users was improperly obtained in 2018. The

information came from political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. New Mexico then sued Facebook in 2021, and in September, a jury found Meta

responsible for violating the state's Unfair Practices Act.

Meta now plans to appeal the penalty decision.

GOLODRYGA: All right, websites around the world briefly shut down after researchers used AI to detect a security flaw impacting, get this, 70

percent of the internet.

ASHER: OpenAI and two cybersecurity companies, Wiz and Calif, uncovered the bugs in a widely used coding language, PHP, that could allow attackers to

access sensitive information like passwords. Once PHP had a fix, it urged website operators to immediately update their systems.

Wiz researchers say that with Frontier AI models and the right tools, a single researcher completed in a week what would have taken a world-class

team months of work. Unbelievable.

GOLODRYGA: Well, a mother and daughter team is pushing back against plans to build a massive data center in Kentucky. That's happening deep in Trump

County, where Meta wants to build a so-called hyperscale data center.

ASHER: But as Donie O'Sullivan reports, residents are rallying against the facility and second-guessing Trump's AI policies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE MCGOWAN, HUMANS FIRST ACTIVIST: We are responding to this huge data center overreach. What looks like an invasion across our country, this

explosion.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Maysville, Kentucky, a Trump stronghold, activists and locals have gathered to protest

the building of a massive AI data center by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not all progress is good. All right.

O'SULLIVAN: President Trump recently, I think he said, you know, communities that don't want AI centers want to stay backward or something

like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did hear that.

O'SULLIVAN: When you hear that, how'd you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, well, I guess I'm going to be backwards and poor, but I also want to reiterate that not everything the president does

do I agree with, but not everything my husband does do I agree with.

MAX MORAN, MASON COUNTY RESIDENT: I'm Republican, but due to his stance, I feel he's going to cost the Republicans the House and the Senate. Maybe not

big margins. It might be very slim margins, but he needs to reverse his stance.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Max Moran is among the locals who have organized to oppose the data center.

MORAN: So that is Del Cia there, she's actually nearly blind in her eyes. She's one of the landowners we've been helping since last year. They felt

coerced into signing these contracts to sell their land.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zuckerberg and Meta should have never walked out of that courtroom with a dime left in their damn pocket.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Delsia and her mother Ida live on a 1,200-acre farm a few miles outside of town. The pair made headlines around the world

when it was reported they turned down $26 million to sell their land.

DELSIA BARE, KENTUCKY FARM OWNER: They come through the door around May the second, 2025. I said, we want to buy your land for $35,000 an acre.

O'SULLIVAN: Technically, on the contract, you don't know who's trying to buy your land? BARE: They'll -- nope. It's a non-disclosure agreement.

O'SULLIVAN: But people here believe it's Mark Zuckerberg. It's Meta.

BARE: Mom goes to the contracts really with fine-tooth comb. Says I don't care what you do, but get out of this.

O'SULLIVAN: What does the land mean to both of you?

BARE: Freedom.

IDA HUDDLESTON, KENTUCKY FARM OWNER: Yeah, life and freedom.

BARE: Should I choose to live totally off of this land that we've got? I could. I wouldn't have to be beholden to anything out there.

O'SULLIVAN: Did they tell you what they wanted to do with the land?

BARE: No, they did not tell us what they wanted to do with the land. They were just in a very big hurry to get it off you as fast as possible.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Trump won this Kentucky county in the last election by a 44-point margin.

HUDDLESTON: I voted for Trump. I have every time he's run. I would go questioning it now.

O'SULLIVAN: Trump said if you're against data centers, you're going to end up backward and poor.

BARE: And that sort of pisses you off when you're from -- Anyway, you've always been backward and poor.

O'SULLIVAN: Do you think this issue is going to hurt Republicans in the midterms?

BARE: I hope it hurts them. Need to be voted out. Voted out.

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O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In this Bible Belt household, this fight is spiritual.

O'SULLIVAN: For you, it's about modern land. It's --

BARE: It's about humanity. If we don't stop this, there's not going to be a future for humanity. That's anti-human. That's what AI is. Oh, let's let it

make the decision, but it doesn't have any morals, and it can't be held to God's standards.

O'SULLIVAN: Is there any amount of money Zuckerberg can give you to get the hell out of here?

HUDDLESTON: Nope, no.

O'SULLIVAN: Really?

HUDDLESTON: Really. Her last words to him, was you may get it, but I'll have been. You have brought me out of your feet first. You can bring the

bulldozers if you want to. You'll have to bulldoze it down around my head.

O'SULLIVAN: You're really going up against its David and Goliath here.

HUDDLESTON: But I'll remind you, it only took one stone to bring down a Philistine.

BARE: One itty bitty little stone in the right place can bring down any giant that there is on this planet.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: All right, do say with CNN, there's more "One World" in about 30 minutes' time, but CNN "Creators" coming up next.

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(CNN CREATORS)

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