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Quest Means Business
Trump: This Is A Last Chance For Iran To Sign A Deal; A.I. Data Centers Become Target For U.S. And Iranian Strikes; CrowdStrike Releases Its 2026 Global Threat Report; Ukraine Targets Russian E-Commerce Giant Wildberries; Ukraine Renews Plea For Air Defenses; Firefighters Battle Blaze Near Athens For A Fourth Day. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 03, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well, as the closing bell rings, a solid day for U.S. markets. Big Tech is fueling those gains, with the NASDAQ leading
lower oil prices also certainly helping. Those are the markets. And these are the main events.
President Trump says talks with Iran are resuming; Iran says no. Sound familiar? The latest out of the Middle East.
"We are always there for Japan," the words of President Trump after the U.S. intervened to stabilize the yen. We will explain exactly why.
Ukraine warns that Russia is overwhelming its air defenses. President Zelenskyy is seeking more help and fast. I will discuss with a Ukrainian
lawmaker.
Live from Washington. It is Monday, August 3rd. I am Jim Sciutto, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening to you.
Tonight, President Trump says he is giving Iran one last chance to sign a deal at the request of America's Gulf allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Many countries called -- many -- of the leaders of many -- I am friendly with a lot of
them, almost all of them, one way or the other and they all wanted to give this a last chance. This is the last chance. This is not something that if
it doesn't happen --
This is a last chance for them to sign a good document.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: The President's tone has shifted back and forth multiple times over the last several days. First, he said, the two sides have reached the
parameters of a deal. After Tehran denied engaging in talks, he accused them this morning of being "extremely duplicitous."
Now, he seems optimistic once again suggesting the Strait of Hormuz could open as soon as Tuesday.
Kevin Liptak is at The White House.
And, Kevin, I wonder the President says one last chance, but as you well know, this is not the first of the deadlines he has issued over the last
several weeks and months. Do they back that up? I mean, is he putting any sort of time frame on this?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: There is no time frame. In fact, he said specifically that he felt no pressure, including from the
midterm elections. So he is not putting a deadline on any of this.
We do know, of course, that the military has prepared for this escalation. They've flowed resources to the region, and they say that they are ready
for a go order if the President is to give it.
But at this point, he is holding off. I think it is interesting to just parse what he is saying is under discussion here. He is saying that there
are discussions between the Iranians to try and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That would be phase one, and phase two would be a discussion of the
nuclear program. If that sounds very, very familiar, it is because he is describing almost exactly the Memorandum of Understanding that he signed at
the Palace of Versailles in June, and that he essentially ripped up two weeks later, saying that it wasn't even worth the paper that it was printed
on.
Part of the reason he didn't think it was working is because he didn't think the Iranians were negotiating in good faith, and now he seems to be
trying to put in place exactly the same thing with exactly the same Iranians who he still thinks are negotiating in bad faith.
So where all of this leads, it is not particularly clear and it is not even particularly clear where President Trump thinks that it leads, except to
some sort of resolution of the conflict.
Now, he did hold out the option that this escalation could occur. He called it decapitation, but he said he didn't want to necessarily go down that
route because he was worried that it would kill a lot of people and that does match what we've heard behind-the-scenes, advisors warning about the
potential for civilian casualties. They've obviously also been warning about the prospects of dwindling munitions stockpiles, which I think is a
concern not just for the United States, but for the entire region.
You know, it is the Saudis, it is the Emiratis, the Jordanians, the Bahrainis, as they all look at potential retaliation from Iran if the
President goes this route, they recognize that the American ability to defend them is also dependent on those munitions stockpiles.
And so there are a lot of reasons, I think, for the President to hold off here that he was talking about with his advisors all last week, but at
least for now, he is allowing the diplomacy continue.
But he says, this may result in some announcement on the Strait of Hormuz tomorrow, but in terms of a broader agreement that would bring the conflict
to an end permanently, it doesn't seem as if we are any closer to that than we were before.
SCIUTTO: Yes, let's be frank, there have been promises about the Strait of Hormuz before. So far, none of them have become a reality.
Kevin Liptak at The White House.
[16:05:08]
Well, Iran's strategy of countering U.S. Military might with economic pain has exposed a new target in the region -- A.I. data centers. The centers
have become critical to the economy and National Security of several Gulf nations, and they are often owned by top U.S. tech companies.
Iran has now struck several of them, and the U.S. has responded by striking one in Iran.
David Goldman is with me now.
David, it is an interesting target, right? Because we think of the Gulf as, in effect, being a one industry region, right? Oil, energy, natural gas, et
cetera, but more and more, it is a tech hub and these are now economic targets for Iran.
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: That's right. They are trying to change that and they are really doubling -- tripling down on A.I. and
Iran has made those a target. I mean, they have targeted two data centers in Bahrain, the united states, as you mentioned, targeted one in Tehran.
The UAE has gotten hit. And so now there are five data centers that have been targeted in this war.
The Bahrain one is particularly interesting because they were hit twice. First, Iran targeted it close to the beginning of the war on April 30th,
and then it said it wasn't done and just a few weeks ago, July 21st, there was a subsequent attack that basically demolished these Amazon facilities
that are in Bahrain.
So, it is not just Amazon. It is lots of tech companies -- Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Palantir, all of these are Iranian targets according
to the regime. They've actually outlined 29 different targets. They said that these are all legitimate military targets. And why are they legitimate
military targets? Well, it is because so many of these companies do have military contracts.
In fact, there is a $9 billion military contract that Google and Microsoft and Oracle and Amazon are all participating inn and so they don't
differentiate between, in these data centers, whether they are holding U.S. Military information or commercial information for things like ChatGPT and
other similar A.I. services for consumers. Those are all held in the same place.
Iran says you might as well be putting a big American flag on your roof. They are targets that we can hit, and this is crucial for the Gulf nations
because they are all massively investing in A.I. to differentiate their economies from oil, to your point, we have, you know, Kuwait, Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, all of these countries have dedicated a combined $2 trillion in U.S. investments to the exclusion of China, saying that we will invest
in your architecture and infrastructure, and we will not invest in China. We will create a third hub in addition to China and Silicon Valley, so that
investors can put their money here.
The big question is if they are going to be military targets, are companies going to continue to build there? Will insurers continue to insure them?
And, you know, will they be able to live this dream -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: David Goldman, another vulnerability. Thanks so much.
Well, speaking of A.I., a major cyber security firm is warning that hackers are moving faster than ever by weaponizing A.I. The 2026 Threat Hunting
Report by CrowdStrike looks at activity over the past 12 months ending in June, and it has found that attacks now need to be measured in minutes, not
days.
CrowdStrike found one campaign that generated almost 200,000 automated requests to an A.I. system in just two minutes, and hackers are targeting
the very software and A.I. tools that businesses rely on most.
Adam Meyers is CrowdStrike Senior Vice President of Counter Adversary Operations. His team tracks criminal, state sponsored and national cyber
attackers around the world.
Adam, good to have you.
ADAM MEYERS, CROWDSTRIKE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF COUNTER ADVERSARY OPERATIONS: Thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: So I mean, of course, everybody is using A.I. including the bad guys as you make the point here. Let's begin with how A.I. helps? Because
your report says A.I. is a tool, a target, and a force multiplier. Explain.
MEYERS: Yes, absolutely. The enterprises are rushing to adopt A.I. and we've seen all of the benefits that come from implementing A.I. across the
business to help me make things go faster, improve results, get things to customers faster, you know, easier.
But adversaries are using A.I. to also increase speed and to make their jobs easier. We find more and more scripts that are being used by these
threat actors to hack into organizations and we can tell from the scripts that they were written with A.I. because they are well-documented, they
have emojis in their comments and they are much higher fidelity than they had previously been, and of course, we also have A.I. being targeted.
And so that's one of the big challenges we've seen.
[16:10:14]
SCIUTTO: You have warned in the past, going back to March about Iran taking advantage of A.I. for cyberattacks. At the time, you mentioned specifically
the financial services sector, but now you have these attacks on infrastructure here in the U.S. in six states, including water systems and
Iran is one of the suspects in that.
Do you see Iran as weaponizing A.I. for cyberattacks?
MEYERS: Not as much in terms of weaponizing A.I. I think the Iranian groups that we've been tracking have increased activity, you know, certainly since
the start of the conflict or the escalation of the conflict, I should say. And, you know, I think with these alleged water incidents, this is
something we've seen from them before about a year-and-a-half ago, they targeted a water treatment facility in Pennsylvania and had got access to
what we call operational technology systems, these are systems that are used to move things around or increase or decrease the flow of water or
pipes or gas pipelines or things like that and these are systems that should not be connected to the internet.
And in previous incidents, we've seen them using a default passwords and things like that to gain access.
SCIUTTO: You mentioned other state actors that do specifically take advantage of A.I., including China and North Korea. I mean, they were
already formidable players in cyberspace. How much more formidable has this made them?
MEYERS: Well, we see North Korean threat actors literally every day. I think in July we saw something like 41 incidents of north Koreans using
A.I. in every step of the way to gain jobs, remote I.T. jobs at western companies, particularly here in the U.S. and what that looks like is they
use A.I. to create LinkedIn profiles and resumes to make them attractive to recruiters.
We see them using A.I. during the interview process to answer questions and even change their appearance using deepfake technology, and then finally
using ai to do the job once they gain that employment. All of that meant to generate revenue that goes directly to the weapons program in North Korea.
On China, we've seen that they are using A.I. for vulnerability research and we've seen in this report details that China has fielded new
vulnerabilities as weapons within two days of those vulnerabilities being released and even as quick as 24 hours, many organizations have kind of
standardized on a 30-day patch cycle and that's completely obsolete in what we've found since, you know, really the beginning of this year and the
increase in the vulnerability speed. This is something that's a huge challenge for organizations. They need to patch in 24 to 48 hours, not 30
days.
SCIUTTO: Okay. Now, even before the rapid acceleration of A.I., the cyber space was as, I don't have to tell you, extremely active and a lot of
attacks worked. I just wonder, is A.I. making existing cyber protections, which are already vulnerable and full of holes, if not obsolete, just much
more vulnerable?
MEYERS: No, I think that's actually the good news story is that we've been implementing A.I. in many other companies from a defense perspective, have
been using A.I. as a force multiplier and you mentioned that a few minutes ago.
As A.I. allows security teams to make decisions faster, to keep pace with the adversary, it is actually really helpful where we need to be very
careful and one of the things we call out in this report is with A.I., specifically something called CICD pipelines or Continuous Integration,
Continuous Deployment, meaning that as code is being pushed by developers, that gets instantly sucked down and implemented by these systems and we've
seen an increase in supply chain attacks.
In fact, in just one day, we saw over 300 supply chain attacks against various dependencies that are being used across that A.I. ecosystem. So
that's a big blind spot that I think organizations are not well aware of.
SCIUTTO: Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike, we appreciate you joining.
MEYERS: Anytime. thank you.
SCIUTTO: Just out on the show, the long road to Todd Blanche becoming confirmed as the U.S. Attorney General, two Republican holdouts say they
will now support him. The deal they made ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:17:18]
SCIUTTO: President Trump is denying personally reviewing agreement made by his acting Attorney General and two Republican senators.
Todd Blanche needs those two senators' support to be confirmed as the Attorney General and head of the Justice Department, they wanted Blanche to
rescind Trump's so-called anti weaponization fund. That fund was approved by Blanche as a legal settlement between Trump and the U.S. government.
For more now, I am joined by Manu Raju live on Capitol Hill.
And Manu, I just wonder, yet again, the President, after a deal is made, seems to be casting doubt. I mean, are the President's comments causing any
delay or concern among Tillis and his colleague as they consider this?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not at the moment, at least not yet. And I will say that -- caveat this because most senators are
not back on Capitol Hill at this moment, coming back into town for the week. But I do expect that both Thom Tillis and John Cornyn will vote in
favor of this nomination tomorrow because of that agreement that was reached with the Attorney General, irrespective of what the President just
said, that he did not actually sign off on this deal. And Trump very much, of course, defending this $1.8 billion weaponization fund that could have
actually went to people like January 6th rioters, which is why Cornyn and Tillis had raised so many concerns about this deal.
The deal also, they had raised concerns about could have shielded the president from future IRS audits and his family and his associates. That
deal now is limited to the President and his family for past tax years. It is still a pretty beneficial deal for the President, but doesn't apply for
future years. But that was enough to get Tillis and Cornyn on board.
But watch for this, because tomorrow, we do expect the Senate Judiciary Committee to have the votes to advance Blanche's nomination to the Senate
floor and then the full United States Senate will vote and there is very little margin for error for Blanche to get confirmed because of Mitch
McConnell's absence in the senate, it is a 52-47 Senate, meaning just two Republican defections is all that The White House can afford.
And Senator Susan Collins of Maine, someone to watch out for, given just the fact that she is up for reelection, a swing voter from Maine, a
Republican, also Senator Lisa Murkowski, another senator who tends to break ranks from time to time. That's two Republicans right there. And Bill
Cassidy himself, someone who had raised concerns about that so-called anti weaponization fund, someone who had been pushed out of his primary, lost
his primary because Trump backed his opponent earlier this year, he, too, has raised concerns about this. Those are three votes right there to watch
very closely.
So while Blanche is expected to be advanced to the Senate floor and probably will still get confirmed to this position, The White House will
still need -- will have its work cut out for them as they try to lock down the votes from some of those senators who are still weighing what to do --
Jim.
[16:20:12]
SCIUTTO: Man, just a very basic question here: Is that agreement that Blanche has made binding, right? Because conceivably he could change his
mind. I mean, the President has certainly changed his mind on this before in his public comments.
RAJU: Yes, that's a great question, because the statement that came from Senator Cornyn's office was that this is a binding agreement. That was not
necessarily what the Justice Department put out in its own statement, describing this deal that was cut.
Now, legal experts will tell you that this deal will eventually, if there is any effort to try to circumvent this deal, judges could intervene and
essentially side with the likes of Cornyn and Tillis and people who believe that say this fund is dead once and for all. They don't think there is
really room for the Justice Department to circumvent this agreement with Tillis and Cornyn, but no doubt about it.
There is one thing that people are pointing to, that the language between the Justice Department and John Cornyn, much different about the way they
describe this deal -- Jim.
And that's not the first time that's happened, Manu Raju, thanks so much.
Well, the U.S. dollar is weakening against the Japanese yen after President Trump confirmed that the U.S. is buying the currency as a "signal of
friendship" with Japan.
Last week, before word broke of the purchase, the dollar was touching 40- year highs against the yen, trading at more than 160 yen. Today, it dropped to 155. The rare currency market intervention by the U.S. is designed to
help prop up the yen, which was already struggling and has depreciated sharply this year due, among other things, to rising energy costs from the
Iran War.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have a good relationship with Japan. We are very strong -- very, very strong
financially and they are, you know, they have a weakening yen and they want it a little bit of help and we are always there for Japan.
Japan has been very good to us with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor. They were not good.
REPORTER: Mr. President, what is the U.S. getting out of that arrangement?
TRUMP: Financial benefit. Financial benefit. We also -- it is also good for the world economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Joining me now is Richard Katz. He is a special correspondent for Japan's weekly "Toyo Keizai." He writes the Japan Economy Watch on
Substack and is author of "The Conquest Contest for Japan's Economic Future."
Good to have you, Richard.
First question is, is this intervention enough, right, to reverse -- there are a lot of pressures on the yen at this point. Is this enough? Or might
it be the first or need to be the first of several?
RICHARD KATZ, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "TOYO KEIZAI": Yes, I don't think it is going to work. The history of the interventions is the following: When a
currency is out of whack with fundamentals, then intervention works to bring it back and momentum investing. But when it is more or less in line
with fundamentals, intervention is kind of useless. Japan has intervened several times, it hasn't worked and people in the market are saying this
may work a little bit longer, a few more weeks, who knows? But it doesn't solve the fundamental problems and the weekend reflects weak fundamentals
of the Japanese economy.
SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this. Despite the President saying that this is all about a signal of friendship to Japan, the U.S. has skin in this game as
well, does it not? Not just on Japanese or promised Japanese investment in the U.S., but also on interest rates.
Can you explain why?
KATZ: Sure. Well, I don't think it actually has skin in the game on interest rates and I will explain why, but the primary interest is that the
President is interested in a weak dollar, because he believes that will help the United States sell more elsewhere, buy less here and that's the
primary reason. It is really that kind of mercantilist policy.
The people say, well, Japan is the biggest investor in U.S. Treasury bonds and if there is turmoil in Japan, it is going to cause problems here.
That's not the case. Japan is actually -- it owns about three percent of all of U.S. Treasury bonds in the world and its share has actually been
declining for the last few decades.
The Chinese owned a lot, and they've declined a lot. And so what the -- whatever happens with the yen, whatever happens with Japanese interest
rates, it is really a very tertiary factor in the interest rates in the United States.
SCIUTTO: So you're not concerned, as some traders are, that if Japan felt pressure to sell Treasuries, that would put additional pressure on bond
yields and therefore push up rates.
KATZ: It would be less -- much less of an effect than something that the Federal Reserve could handle by itself. I say if you own only three percent
of the entire cache of U.S. Treasury bonds, if it doesn't make a big difference.
[16:25:13]
People say that all the time. I think maybe they are trying to do some trades, but it just is not record. And the U.S. Treasury has been very firm
on this for the last two or three decades.
SCIUTTO: Tell us about the impact on energy costs, because rising costs have certainly put enormous pressure on Japan's economy. It relies heavily
on imported energy. How much is that a factor in the drop in the yen?
KATZ: Oh, I think it is a very, very important factor and particularly since we don't know how long Hormuz is going to be blocked, we don't know
if the Red Sea is now also going to be blocked because of the Iranian allies there and so there is a lot of uncertainty. And, you know, Japan
depends an awful lot on, as you said, imported energy, not just oil, but also LNG, also coal. These prices all move together.
And so when something goes up, the price of energy goes up 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent, then this can impact the yen by several
percentage points. And the thing is, most of Japan's inflation by 80 to 90 percent of Japan's inflation is caused by import sensitive items, mostly
food and energy, which are affected in two ways.
One is the global price increasing and one that Japan imports so much of it and then the yen gets -- it makes the yen weaker, and then you get a
vicious cycle and the weak yen makes it even more expensive for Japan.
So, this is a very big deal, I think. It is not the only deal but it is a very big deal.
SCIUTTO: Well, we will be watching that yen closely.
Richard Katz good to have you on. Thanks so much.
KATZ: Thank you very much. Have a good day.
SCIUTTO: Coming up, as Ukraine strikes deeper inside Russia, Moscow says debris from a drone strike killed seven people on a Black Sea beach. The
response from Ukrainian officials, next on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:00]
[16:30:13]
SCIUTTO: Ukraine appears to be expanding its targets as it hits deeper into Russian territory. Kyiv now going after Russia's largest e-commerce
company, Wildberries. Our Clare Sebastian explains why the company, known as Russia's Amazon, is finding itself in Ukraine's crosshairs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We are losing our business in front of our eyes, says this woman.
Another, through tears, says she's lost 12,000 items of children's clothing. I hope I have enough strength and courage to get through this,
she says.
Over the past two weeks, Ukraine's deep strike campaign, usually focused on oil refineries or military facilities, has taken a sharp turn into e-
commerce, hitting multiple warehouses belonging to one company, Wildberries, Russia's equivalent of Amazon, with around a 50 percent share
of the country's online retail market.
ALEXANDER KOLYANDR, EUROPE DIRECTOR, EURASIA GROUP: It provided thousands upon thousands of individuals sellers with income, and it created the whole
universe of online retail.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): A universe that Ukraine says now also includes sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.
We found drones and drone parts, helmets, and bulletproof vests all available. One reviewer of this vest writing, "I sent it to my son in the
special military operation." Russia's official euphemism for the war. "He is very pleased."
Before the attacks, Wildberries' founder, Tatyana Kim was Russia's richest woman, worth over $8 billion. A self-made entrepreneur, now, well-connected
in Kremlin circles, and deeply intertwined with the banking sector, one of Russia's biggest banks, VTB, recently took a stake in Wildberries'
financial arm, and through its mounting debt burden, a fact Ukraine is fully aware of, says the co-owner of one of Ukraine's leading long-range
weapons producers.
DENYS SHTILERMAN, CO-OWNER, FIRE POINT (through translator): If we take it down, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of a huge number of banks,
including at least VTB.
KOLYANDR: Wildberries is too big to fail, and the state will definitely support Wildberries in this or that form.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): It's still burning after three days, says the seller who drove to survey the damage at a Wildberries' warehouse just
outside Moscow. She says she lost around $100,000 worth of goods.
Lives at risk, livelihoods up in smoke. A Russian success story, the latest casualty of Putin's war.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Russian authorities say at least seven people have been killed, including three children, after debris from a Ukrainian drone fell onto a
crowded beach.
A warning: This next video is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO (voice over): This is the moment that parts of the drone struck the busy beach at a Black Sea resort. It is unclear if the drone crashed or was
shot down by Russian air defenses. Kyiv has yet to comment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO (on camera): The incident comes as Russia is seeking to exploit Kyiv's shortage of key air defense missiles with repeated rounds of heavy
missile strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pleading for more Western air defenses. This, after President Trump, appeared to walk back once again
his agreement to allow Ukraine to manufacture its own Patriot interceptors under license.
Last week, I spoke to Ukrainian parliamentary -- parliament member Halyna Yanchenko, who was on the air with me, as yet another wave of Russian
missile strikes came in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: You know, the end of President Trump's comments also caught my ear, because he raised this possibility that if the U.S. were to share the
technology with Ukraine, that someday, Ukraine might turn it against the United States. What's your reaction to hear that from President Trump?
HALYNA YANCHENCO, PARLIAMENT MEMBER, UKRAINE: This is actually a really weird statement because when we are talking about -- you can probably also
hear the explosions in the background.
SCIUTTO: Oh, good lord. Please stay safe.
YANCHENCO: Yes. So, this is what we also talk about. Like --
SCIUTTO: Of course.
YANCHENCO: We are talking about some -- I don't know, some risks that will never happen, but there is risk that is happening right now, like these
minutes.
[16:35:00]
SCIUTTO: Yes.
YANCHENCO: And that is why joint production could be an option, should be an option. It would allow the United States to produce more measles and
more interceptor, including for its own needs, by the way.
Because as we said, the production is limited.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
YANCHENCO: And the production to actually fulfill the American needs is also not enough.
SCIUTTO: Are you safe where you are right now?
(CROSSTALK)
YANCHENCO: But, and now the thing --
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: Halyna, are you sure you are safe where you are now?
YANCHENCO: I'm not sure that I'm safe, but it will take me-I don't know- maybe 10 minutes to actually get to the shelter somewhere in the underground.
So, I won't -- I won't still be able to make it to the shelter. So, we can only pray, pray God, and also pray that U.S. makes right decisions on time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Well, joining me now is another member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Oleksiy Goncharenko. Oleksiy, good to have you.
OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, PARLIAMENT MEMBER, UKRAINE: Hello, good evening.
SCIUTTO: You know, I always have to begin these conversations with the question: Are you safe? Because as it gets late, close to midnight, where
you are, this is often the time Russia begins their strikes. Is there a barrage underway right now?
GONCHARENKO: Right now, not. But yes, unfortunately, it's very usual, and I represent Odesa in Ukraine, and that is my constituency, and that is my
hometown and home city. And unfortunately, Odesa now is one of the biggest aims of Russia, because Russia tries to close the Black Sea ports, and
unfortunately, they succeeded to do this already for 10 days.
There is no one vessel coming in or out from our Odesa ports for the first time in four years. So yes, unfortunately, there are a lot of Russian
attacks right now.
SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because all the potential solutions to solve Ukraine's shortage of air defense, of interceptor missiles take time,
right?
I mean, even if they were to manufacture missiles under license from the U.S. which the president has walked back, that would take time. What are
Ukraine's options now, immediately in the near term, to protect its citizens?
GONCHARENKO: First, there are stockpiles in the United States, in other countries, with missiles interceptors. And in many countries, they are not
used, and also including United States, where yes there is the Middle East and attacks of Iran, but also there are other parts where there is no
fortunately any danger. So, there are our allies and our partners, they do have interceptors which we badly need, because in Ukraine, every day
without these missiles means losing people, killing people.
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GONCHARENKO: And that is very painful. So, this is the first option.
Second option, with the support of the United States, we can be more effective against the launchers of these missiles from Russian territory.
But again, in these, we need more support from the U.S.
SCIUTTO: What is your reaction to President Trump reversing himself on allowing Ukraine to manufacture its own interceptors? It's not the first
time the president has pulled back U.S. help. I just wonder, in your view, have you given up on the U.S. president? Is it time to move on from
expecting him to come to Ukraine's defense?
GONCHARENKO: Unfortunately, we are not in the position to give up on the American president. Doesn't matter what is her name. Because,
unfortunately, we are in the war with Russia, nuclear state, and with a country which is afraid of just two countries in the world, China and the
United States. And unfortunately, we can't count on China at all. So, our main ally is the United States of America.
Yes, for us it's very painful that U.S. president is kind of reversing his position from time to time. It's painful for us to see that the support,
which we are receiving is less than it was before. But it doesn't change the fact that we need all support, and we are thankful for all support we
are receiving.
We are thankful to American people, we are thankful for -- to this administration, to previous administration, but we hope that finally, U.S.
president will make his final choice, understanding that Russia is playing games with him, and just United States is losing its credibility as a great
partner, because of all these games around Ukraine and all this was happening.
So, we hope that you, U.S. president, will finally stand on our side completely and will help us to end this war. As he said that he will do
this in 24 hours, we hope that he will do this now.
[16:40:01]
SCIUTTO: I want to ask you before we go about this drone that struck a beach in Russia, and Russia is saying it killed seven people, including
children.
Is it your belief that this was a deliberate attack by Ukrainian drones, or that this drone was hit, struck, or went off course?
GONCHARENKO: Ukraine never attacks beaches, and civilians, and children. Just because there are too many targets in Russia itself, and we are not
military criminals like Russia is.
So, there is a very simple option for Russia to prevent this to happen again. Just to end this war right now on the current lines. We even don't
insist that Russia should leave our territories right now. We just insist to end the war right now.
So, if Russia wants to end the war, no people killed on beaches or in the - - their houses, or in the maternity houses, or in the schools, like it's happening in Ukraine.
That's just a very simple decision from Putin. Just to stop the war. That's the only thing which we are insisting on.
SCIUTTO: Well, Oleksiy Goncharenko, I hope that you have a safe and quiet evening in Ukraine.
GONCHARENKO: Thank you very much.
SCIUTTO: Well, wildfires in Greece have now claimed the lives of two people who were aboard a firefighting helicopter that collided with another
helicopter near Athens. Strong winds are fanning the flames, devastating homes, forests, and farmland, and leading to evacuations.
Here is journalist Elinda Labropoulou with more.
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTOR: Dozens of wildfires continue to burn across Greece. The Greek Fire Service has said that over
200 new blazes have started in the last 24 hours alone. The country is experiencing extreme weather conditions.
Just yesterday, a tragic incident took place during firefighting operations when two helicopters collided mid-air. The crew of the one of the two
helicopters, both a pilot and co-pilot have died in the crash. The Greek prime minister has expressed his condolences to the families. He has also
said that Greece has to prepare for tough weather ahead during these evacuations that are now underway, very close to Athens in what is becoming
a large mega fire, as the experts are now calling it.
Hundreds of people have lost their homes, and thousands have been evacuated. These weather conditions are expected to persist tomorrow as
well, when the country will remain under high alert.
Elinda Labropoulou, CNN, Parga, Greece.
SCIUTTO: Yet more wildfires in Europe. That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for today.
Coming up next, "CONNECTING AFRICA".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:58]
VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to this special edition of CONNECTING AFRICA from Ethiopia. I'm Victoria Rubadiri.
Well, this country is famous for its coffee that's being exported around the world. But now, it's diversifying its economy with big ambitions of
opening up new major industries, from mining to renewable energy, to tourism and major infrastructural projects.
It's investing in sectors it hopes will power its future in the entire region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUBADIRI (voice over): In the heart of the country is Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. It's been undergoing its own transformation and offers a
glimpse into the country's wider economic ambitions.
A vision for a nation with a population at almost 140 million.
TEWODROS MAKONNEN, COUNTRY MANAGER, INTERNATIONAL GROWTH CENTRE, ETHIOPIA: It's the second populous -- most populous country in Africa.
We have a very young population. About 48 percent under the age of 15 and 70 percent under the age of 30. If you were to measure like 15 years ago,
Ethiopia was way below sub-Saharan average in terms of GDP, GDP per capita. The size is now becoming one of the top five, six economies in Africa. It's
been a remarkable.
RUBADIRI (voice over): To see what's driving this growth? I'm heading to see the recent completion of the biggest hydroelectric dam project in
Africa.
It's been a major feat of engineering. For more than a decade, thousands of construction workers and engineers have transformed a remote valley to
build Africa's largest hydroelectric dam.
Today, at a height of 145 meters and running the length of 1.8 kilometers, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, is truly a sight to behold.
KIFLE HORO, PROJECT MANAGER, GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM: From the capacity point of view, this is -- this power plant can generate around
5,150 megawatt of installed capacity. It contributes more than 50 percent.
RUBADIRI (voice over): Built along the famous Blue Nile River, construction began in 2011. It took more than 14 years to build and officially opened in
September last year.
HORO: We have faced a lot of challenges from logistic point of view. We are around 1,400 kilometers from the port of Djibouti. The big cargos, it took
us more than 60 days up to 90 days to transport from Djibouti and bring it to the site.
RUBADIRI (voice over): With a price tag of $5 billion, it was self-funded as the whole country contributed to its construction through public
donations, special government-issued bonds, and funds from the government.
HORO: This is a self-financed project. We have no single coin from outside of Ethiopia. So, this is constructed by Ethiopians. For this project, which
we are working on it to have the final figure is about 4.2 to 5 billion USD, which is a contribution entirely by Ethiopians.
RUBADIRI (voice over): But the project has proved controversial. Built on a section of the Nile River, there have been competing claims on how the
river should be shared, with Ethiopia seeking to generate electricity from the dam and Egypt fearing reduced downstream water supplies.
HORO: You see, this is not a water consumptive. Whatever is coming in, it goes out.
So, I don't know why they capitalize on that one. The only challenge which you might face is during the impounding. It took us five years to fill this
dam.
[16:50:03]
What is good for all is coexistence. For this coexistence, you have to use your resources in such a way, in equitable share, and as well as in
sustainable way, without causing significant impact to the downstream countries. This is what Ethiopia is promoting.
RUBADIRI (voice over): Inside the dam, a complex turbine system turns falling water into electricity that is powering millions of homes.
BANTEYAMRAL MEKONNEN, MANAGER, GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM: We have 13 turbines. It's nearly 6 million homes get powered from the -- this energy.
RUBADIRI: Standing here on the edge of the dam, you really see the sheer scale of this project. It's not just powering millions of homes here in
Ethiopia, but supplying electricity to its neighbors.
HORO: Currently, we are connected to Kenya. We are providing around 200 megawatts, but the capacity of the transmission line is up to 2,000
megawatts. We are connected to Djibouti. We are also connected to Sudan, and we have already the preliminary connection has been done with Tanzania
as well. So, we are planning in the future to be connected to South Sudan and Somalia.
So, more or less within a few years, the East African region will be connected through power, through electricity. This will assist Ethiopia to
generate revenue.
RUBADIRI (voice over): And other potential revenue streams are also being looked at.
HORO: We have created around 72 islands, which can be a good tourist attraction. So, the government is trying to work on this one, to convert
this one to a tourist attraction center.
You know the Hoover Dam in America. A lot of tourists are visiting. You know the Itaipu of Brazil, and also you know Three Gorges. This is under
assessment, and very soon it will be practical.
RUBADIRI (voice over): From powering homes to exporting electricity and attracting visitors, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is helping to
reshape Ethiopia's economic future.
When we come back, there is gold in these hills. How Ethiopia is set to become a major precious metals producer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RUBADIRI: Welcome back.
Ethiopia wants to become a mining superpower. Here, deep in the Binishangul-Gumuz region, the Kurmuk gold project is emerging as one of the
most significant mining investments in the country.
High above the rolling green hills of western Ethiopia, a new industry is emerging. Deep inside these peaks lies billions in untapped gold deposits.
On the ground, thousands of construction workers and explorers are working away to launch Ethiopia's first large-scale gold mine, according to its
owners, Canada's Allied Gold Corporation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROX WORKU, GENERAL MANAGER, KURMUK GOLD MINE: We are at the Kurmuk processing plant area where we bring in all the ore from different part of
-- two parts of -- two pits, where we have the gold.
RUBADIRI (voice over): Deep within the mine site is a gold exploration camp, where a team of geologists are meticulously analyzing pieces of rock
for traces of the precious metal.
MEHIRET ABEBE, SENIOR GEOLOGIST, KURMUK GOLD MINE: For this specific region, it's a high carat gold. It's a good quality gold that we have here.
Also, the gold exists by itself.
[16:55:02]
It doesn't have other minerals.
RUBADIRI (voice over): Lead geologist Mehiret Abebe is overseeing a team that's hunting for gold. Each drilled rock sample is carefully probed and
given a unique identification number.
The samples are either stored in a library or pulverized and tested to see how much gold they contain.
RUBADIRI: The most important question is --
ABEBE: Yes As
RUBADIRI: Show me a stone that has the gold.
ABEBE: As you can see, the color is a bit cocky.
RUBADIRI: Yes.
ABEBE: A different color, and you have all those shiny minerals in it, and you have a lot of what we call quartz.
RUBADIRI: OK.
ABEBE: So, if you have the quartz and those shiny minerals and this color, usually, it means there is a gold.
RUBADIRI (voice over): It's a laborious task, but it's been very rewarding.
ABEBE: I don't think people really appreciate how much goes into this because I think when we think gold mining, you are thinking gold nuggets
kind of already coming out of the ground, right?
(CROSSTALK)
ABEBE: Yes, yes.
RUBADIRI: It's a very different case here.
ABEBE: It is. Yes. The gold we have here is fine gold.
RUBADIRI: Yes.
ABEBE: It's mixed with other minerals, and it's in the rock, but it's not that easy to spot. It's a fine gold. So, you need to look for other
indicators that shows that there is a gold.
RUBADIRI (voice over): What also makes this mine different is that instead of exporting deposits abroad to extract the gold, a plant is being built on
site to process it.
MERED AMARE, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER, KURMUK GOLD MINE: On a yearly basis, we'll produce 290,000 ounces, which is equivalent to nine tons of gold.
So, with the current gold price, the revenue we'll get is nearly 1.2 billion USD.
RUBADIRI (voice over): Gold is set to be a major revenue generator for the country. Last year, it overtook coffee for the first time as the largest
export earner.
In the fourth and final quarter of Ethiopia's 2024-2025 fiscal year, coffee exports amounted to over $1.1 billion dollars. While gold exports were
almost $1.3 billion dollars.
RUBADIRI: What does the growth look like in the next couple of years?
WORKU: I think, from Ethiopia' point of view, it's huge. I can't, you know, it's -- you know, we are sitting on -- we are sitting on the -- actually,
on the -- on the belt where you have gold and base metal. You have rare earths in southern part of Ethiopia, where you have a lot of -- a lot of
potential. And the -- in the western part, where you have potash, copper, and other base metals.
So, from Ethiopia point, with this economic reform and opening up the finance sector, it have given a lot of confidence for investor to come here
and start investing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RUBADIRI (on camera): That's it for this month's CONNECTING AFRICA. If you want to know more about the subjects that we cover on the program, check
out our web site.
Until next month, from me, Victoria Rubadiri in Addis Ababa, let's keep on connecting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
