Return to Transcripts main page

The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Iran Threatens Ukraine Over Caspian Sea Attacks; Trump Warns Attacks Will Resume if No Ceasefire Reached; Unprecedented Wildfires in Europe; Tech Giants Announce New A.I. Cybersecurity Initiative; North Korea's Role in Russia's War on Ukraine; Zelenskyy: Russia Plans to Get North Korean Missile Launchers; Trump Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Let Him Curtail Mail Voting. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and

you're watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour on PARS, President Donald Trump is halting strikes on Iran for the time being he says, but there are worries that a new front is

opening up. Warnings of extreme heat in Europe as France and Spain face what some are calling the worst wildfire season in modern history. And the

new alliance to back open-source A.I. systems after open A.I. models go rogue.

The wars in Iran and Ukraine appear to be colliding over attacks in the Caspian Sea. Iran says its drones struck two Russian vessels carrying

military cargo from Iran over the weekend. Tehran says the attack targeted one of its commercial ships, killing one person and injuring three others.

Iran's foreign ministry has warned that Ukraine's actions, quote, cannot go unanswered. This as the U.S. has paused its bombing campaign on Iran.

President Trump says that he halted the strikes at Tehran's request.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: No, Iran took a beating over the last 14 days and they asked us very nicely, please stop. Let's meet. And that's

where we are right now. We'll see what happens. If we don't make a deal, we go back to the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Kristen Holmes is live at the White House. And, Kristen, I think -- the White House, the president might understand our skepticism because

he has said many times before Iran is willing to go back to the negotiating table and either that hasn't happened or there hasn't been any real

progress. So, what evidence are you hearing that the White House is seeing that Iran is prepared to negotiate again?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And we don't know, Jim. They have not given us any evidence of this. All that we have seen is

President Trump saying that Tehran wanted them to come back to the negotiating table.

Now, this is more of the same of what we have been hearing for the past five months. We see this kind of escalation from President Trump and

sometimes it has included repositioning military assets around Iran, repositioning fighter jets into the Middle East, looking as though we are

ramping up this potential for some kind of huge military escalation, only to have President Trump say that he's not going to actually go through with

it. He's walked it all the way to the brink and that instead Iran has come to the negotiating table.

What has changed? We simply don't know at this time. We do know that this is 14 days of consistent bombing in which what we were hearing from various

officials is that there wasn't going to be that much of a change in terms of the Iranian negotiation standpoint when it came to these bombings.

Now, there also has been a chokehold on Iran because of the naval blockade, because of the sanctions the United States has put in place. But right now,

we are waiting to see how again this plays out, if those negotiations actually take hold. We do know that Vance, Kushner, Witkoff, they're all

still having these behind-the-scenes conversations. Those had never stopped. President Trump said that himself. But if this goes anywhere, that

in itself, Jim, is the big question. And so, far, we have not seen any kind of movement that shows that there's going to be some kind of agreement.

Now, I will tell you, when talking to Republicans, you hear President Trump say stuff like, I have all the time in the world to get them to negotiate.

Republicans don't feel that way. They're up for re-election in November. They believe it's going to be catastrophic if the Iran war is still raging

on. It's going to impact everything, including people showing up to the polls, because this war is so gravely unpopular.

But these Republicans aren't sure that there needs to be an actual deal in place, that instead it might just need to be a ceasefire, so that during a

ceasefire prices could come down, we could get away, the United States could get away from talking about this war in Iran, and then they could

focus on other things like the economy.

But right now, whether or not that happens, that's what we're watching to see. We will tell you one thing. I mean, the issue of the munition

stockpile is something that is now really ramping up.

We know that the joint chairman chief, General Caine, has raised issue with this now twice, saying that they believe that there is a problem.

[18:05:00]

President Trump, even today on Air Force One, indicating that he'd like to have more munitions, though of course he still says that the U.S. has

everything that it needs. But that's obviously a clear consideration in this as well.

SCIUTTO: And one can imagine that U.S. adversaries, Russia, China, quite aware of that too, and wondering how they can take advantage. Kristen

Holmes at the White House, thanks so much.

Well, joining me now for Military Perspective, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe. Ben, good to

have you. Thanks so much.

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES, U.S. ARMY (RET.) AND FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, lots of questions for you. First on munitions here, because a CSIS analysis has said that it would take three or more years to replenish

missile inventories that have been diminished by the war in Iran. I wonder what effect that has, one, on the Iran war, the U.S. ability to continue to

apply pressure, military pressure, but two, on other spheres of conflict or potential conflict in Ukraine and perhaps Taiwan.

HODGES: Well, of course, Jim, as you and your viewers know, there are different types of munitions, different types of missiles. So, I think the

ones that are in, seem to be in greatest demand and shortage are the Patriot interceptors that are needed for ballistic missile defense. That's

the one I think that people are becoming increasingly concerned about because they're expensive, it takes a long time to make them, and we've

used a lot. In fact, we've used more in this war against Iran than was ever given to Ukraine. So, that's going to be a problem.

The other type of missiles we're talking about, of course, are the ones that are for offensive use to attack targets. It seems like that the

Central Command forces are using predominantly standoff munitions, which are precision, but can hit a target far enough away that it reduces the

risk to the pilot, which, of course, you would always want.

If you're using those kinds of munitions for everything, including construction equipment and dump trucks, then, of course, you're going to

run low on those.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I think it was CSIS determined back in April that by that point, the Pentagon had already fired about a 30 percent of its Tomahawk

land attack missiles as well. Let me ask you now about another development, and that's seeing Ukraine attack ships going from Iran to Russia.

Ukraine says carrying military cargo, and we should note that's credible, given that Russia received its first batches of those Iranian Shahed attack

drones via the Caspian Sea early in the war. Is this a danger of expanding or combining these two conflicts to some degree?

HODGES: I think, Jim, that we should have been looking at these as connected conflicts from the very beginning. Russia and Iran have been

using the Caspian Sea for many years as a way to avoid sanctions or interference from anybody else, because obviously it's a direct link for

shipping.

The Ukrainians know what's happening there, and I think American intelligence has also said we know that Russia is helping Iran with

targeting information about U.S. bases. The president said, well, I'll talk to Putin about that, you know, to confirm that. This is unbelievable to me.

Everybody on the planet knows that Russia is helping Iran and that Iran is also getting help from China in terms of intelligence and targeting.

So, what we should be doing, basically what Roosevelt and Churchill did in World War II, they made the decision to defeat Nazi Germany first and then

the Empire of Japan. We should be looking at defeat Russia first. That would lead to the isolation of Iran and North Korea, by the way. And then

the Chinese would say, wow, the West has capability and willpower, so it would deter China also. I think linking these is actually the best way to

achieve a successful outcome.

SCIUTTO: Speaking of the Iran war, and taking a step back for a moment, we're nearly five months into a war. There is no clear or apparent, at

least articulated strategy from this administration as to how to change the current dynamic. I mean, they seem to keep believing that if they ratchet

up the military pressure, it will bring Iran back to the table. Hasn't worked yet.

If you were in General Dan Caine's position now, advising the president, would you feel obligated, obviously the president is the commander in

chief, but would you feel obligated to communicate that the military options aren't delivering the strategic objectives that the president

claims or believes they are?

[18:10:00]

HODGES: Well, I think that the leadership, the chairman as well as Admiral Cooper, the commander of Central Command, they are conveying that to the

president, as I would or any other responsible senior military leader would do. I think Admiral Cooper just the other day said, we have reached the

limits of, or the military strikes have reached the limit of their effectiveness of trying to change Iran's behavior. So, we are seeing the

limit of American military power.

Now, of course, anybody, senior officer that goes to our staff colleges, the war colleges, you learn early on that a campaign plan has to have, has

to address the end state, but also how are you going to do it and what resources do you need? And we always think in terms of diplomacy,

information, military and economic power, putting those together. There is no military solution alone ever.

And I think that -- I hope that General Caine, I suspect he has, and Admiral Cooper are telling the -- our political leadership that, you know,

we have to -- we need allies and we need all the elements of American power involved in this if you can clearly articulate the end state you want. It's

not going to happen just with bombing the heck out of facilities in Iran.

SCIUTTO: General Ben Hodges, always good to have you. Thanks so much.

HODGES: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, authorities are now urging tourists heading to Spain and France during Europe's high season to avoid regions affected by massive

wildfires. The Spanish prime minister is blaming a climate emergency as the broader fire zone fans out across Western and Southwestern Europe,

including now Southern Italy. The French president summed it up in grave terms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We must understand that dealing with today is the most severe we have ever recorded. The

toughest since the Second World War.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The most severe they have ever recorded. The flames are closing in on the French city of Bordeaux. Some people are leaving, but as of now,

there are no formal evacuation orders. Our Melissa Bell has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An inferno raging beyond all control. Five days in, the Gironde Fire keeps

growing despite the rotations day and night of 2,500 firefighters, plus the civilians who've been drafted in to try and tame a blaze that seems to have

taken on a life of its own, creating its own winds.

BELL: This is what the firefighters are dealing with. Even in those parts of the forest that the fire has gone through, that have been ravaged, where

the pines have been destroyed, as you can see, the ground, the soil, the nature of the vegetation are such that it is so hot that flames are

constantly popping up from it again.

The other challenge is this westerly wind that's been driving this monster fire always further to the southeast, where the biggest flames continue to

progress.

BELL (voice-over): And ever closer to Bordeaux and its satellite towns, forcing over the weekend an extra 55,000 from their homes. Overall, the

number evacuated so far, 220,000, according to authorities. Wendy and her family fled in the early hours of Saturday morning.

WENDY, EVACUEE (through translator): It's really not knowing why we're here in the first place, whether it's because the fire is approaching our

home or because of the ash that was blown our way by the strong winds, and, in the end, not knowing when we'll be able to go back home.

BELL (voice-over): Christophe wouldn't leave without his neighbors, both in their 90s and diabetic. The hard part, he says, was getting them out of

their homes with their medicine in time.

CHRISTOPHE, EVACUEE (through translator): We never knew the war, but we have known calamities. Nothing like this, though, this type of fire.

BELL (voice-over): Spain too is battling several wildfires, one on the outskirts of Madrid, another in the east of the country. Authorities say

that 60,000 people have now been displaced.

MARIA ANGELES SERRANO, EVACUEE (through translator): More than anything, I'm afraid because of what is being lost, nature itself. Material damage is

one thing, but that can be repaired, so to speak. What really hurts is emotional loss.

BELL (voice-over): A loss that will only be measurable when the fires are finally contained.

Melissa Bell, CNN, in the Gironde region of France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Melissa Bell and her team.

[18:15:00]

Europe deals with wildfires every summer. This year, however, the amount of land burned is far more than the usual annual average. According to the

European Forest Fire Information System, France has already had more than 300 wildfires this year. Annual average is 93. As the climate crisis drives

hotter, drier weather, it sets the stage for more severe wildfire seasons.

Joining me now, Noah Diffenbaugh. He's a professor at Stanford's Doar School of Sustainability. His research is focused on understanding the

impacts of the climate system. Good to have you. Thanks so much for joining.

NOAH DIFFENBAUGH, PROFESSOR, STANFORD'S DOERR SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABILITY: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, first on the issue at hand, authorities say the French wildfires will burn for weeks, perhaps even months, before firefighters can

fully extinguish them. Is there anything they can do now to decrease the duration, or do they just have to watch so much of the land burn, in

effect?

DIFFENBAUGH: Well, you know, one of the challenges of these really large fires is, you know, that they do cover a very large extent, and, you know,

that they're, you know, consuming fuel as the heat waves continue, you know, fuels continue to dry out. So, you know, we see this around the

world, where these really large fires actually burn for many weeks.

You know, the key question for people in the region is containment, and, you know, hopefully for everyone living there and visiting that, you know,

containment will come relatively soon.

SCIUTTO: A recent study published by the World Weather Attribution has found that the recurring heat waves in Europe would have been, quote,

"virtually impossible just a few decades ago." And, of course, they're not the first, like yourself, to draw a connection between climate change and

these longer, drier periods that lead to what we're seeing here.

Can you explain to our viewers why, how those conditions add up to what we're seeing play out across Europe right now?

DIFFENBAUGH: Well, with extreme events like heat waves, like these wildfires, you know, there's always a complex set of ingredients that come

together, and, you know, the weather conditions that create these heat waves, sometimes called heat domes, leading to these extreme wildfire

conditions, you know, these are naturally occurring, but what global warming is doing is putting a thumb on the scale.

What that means is that when we get the weather patterns that produce these heat waves, produce the kind of severe wildfire weather that is occurring

right now, they're more likely to be more severe. So, the heat waves, when we get those same atmospheric weather patterns, the heat wave is more

likely to be more severe. And then the vegetation is more likely to be dry, accumulating, you know, what, you know, the jargon often refers to as fuel

aridity, so just think about how dry and flammable that landscape is. So, it's really about, you know, pushing the extremes into an unprecedented

state.

SCIUTTO: I remember our colleague, Bill Weir, who, you know, I'm sure you're aware of, covers climate for us. He told me some time ago that when

folks like yourself were doing models of the impact of climate change a number of years ago, that the conditions we're seeing today outstrip even

those models. And I wonder, do you have a similar view, that what we're seeing now is at the worst end or even beyond the worst end of what the

models had predicted as to the weather impacts of climate change?

DIFFENBAUGH: Well, as a scientist, I've tried to go back and actually ask that question systematically with my own papers that I published years ago

and then, you know, on record in the scientific literature and then coming back years or even a decade later and ask what's happened since we

published that paper.

It turns out that with, you know, these extreme events, it's actually been pretty consistent. And I think one of the challenges is that these -- the

frequency of these extreme events, particularly heat events, will tend to accelerate with each increment of global warming. So, as we get a half a

degree or a degree of global warming, actually the frequency of the most extreme heat will actually increase exponentially.

And so, it really feels like this is happening faster and faster, and that's because it is, and that's something that's linked to the, you know,

pretty basic statistics and physics of the climate system that's been known for quite a while.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, I just want to ask you, given that the politics intervene, right, just a fact of life, what is your reaction as a climate

scientist to see the U.S. as one of the world's biggest polluters, biggest economy, being led by an administration who not only has tried to roll back

climate policy, but even continues to dispute climate science? What's your reaction to that as you see impacts like we're showing on our screen right

now?

[18:20:00]

DIFFENBAUGH: Well, you know, as a scientist, I would hope that we're all, you know, motivated by discovering the truth and that we're all, you know,

committed to objective evidence regardless of what the results are. And certainly, in my own research and with my research group here at Stanford,

you know, we continuously remind ourselves to be skeptical, to be hypothesis driven and to stick with what the evidence shows.

And, you know, the reality is, is that I actually used to be a lot more optimistic about our ability to adapt to a changing climate. Certainly,

humans are ingenious, we're adapted to many different kinds of conditions around the world. But the reality is, is actually, you know, for these

extreme events, they're actually coming quicker and quicker. And the gap between, you know, what we're prepared for and what's actually happening is

growing.

So, you know, I think it's consistent with the evidence in terms of how the climate system works, where the gap is really growing is what we're

prepared for. And it's going to require investment and, you know, real proactive adaptation in order to catch up with what's already happened and

to leapfrog ahead to be prepared for the future.

SCIUTTO: Yes, hard to adapt to raging wildfires, of course. Noah Diffenbaugh, appreciate you joining.

DIFFENBAUGH: Yes, it's been my pleasure.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, the race is on to stop powerful A.I. models from wreaking havoc online. We're going to discuss a new cybersecurity

initiative led by major tech firms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. In today's Business Breakout, a mixed day on Wall Street. The Dow finished higher, but the NASDAQ pulled back as chip stocks

extended their losses. Oil fell sharply, with Brent Crude settling below $90 a barrel.

Investors are bracing for a busy week ahead, including earnings from Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, new inflation data, and a Fed policy

announcement on Wednesday. President Trump suggested today that the new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, has his hands tied when it comes to Trump's long desire

to cut rates.

[18:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: He's got a board. He wants to do the right thing. I know what he wants to do, but you need the consent of some people that have perhaps bad

intentions. Rates should be lowered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Many investors say that, in fact, the Fed's next likely move will be to raise rates. Why? Because inflation remains high. Major tech firms,

including Nvidia, Microsoft, and SpaceX, have launched a new initiative. They say it will build and share open-source tools for A.I. safety and

security. The group says an incident involving the company OpenAI revealed the value, even the necessity, of such tools. OpenAI built some models that

went rogue, carried out a cyber-attack all on their own. The breach was detected and contained using open-source A.I.

A closed system model for Anthropic was unable to fix the problem. That said, pressure is growing in Washington to limit access to Chinese A.I.

models, which often are based on open-source technology. The head of OpenAI is expected to speak with U.S. lawmakers this week about that alarming

cybersecurity incident, as lawmakers are struggling to figure out how to react.

Shelly Palmer joins me now. He is the CEO of the Palmer Group and a professor of advanced media at Syracuse University. Shelly, good to have

you.

SHELLY PALMER, PROFESSOR OF ADVANCED MEDIA, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY AND CEO, THE PALMER GROUP: Nice to be here. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: So, first, I want to get to your recommendations on solutions or responses, but first, now that we're a few days out, can you walk us

through what exactly went wrong with this OpenAI model that went rogue, in effect?

PALMER: Nothing went particularly wrong. This was a test environment. They were testing in what's known as a sandbox. And a sandbox, by definition, is

a place where you can test out software and the software stays contained. What was very interesting is that the model, the OpenAI model they were

testing, figured out a way to get out to the public Internet and, in quotes, escape the sandbox. This shouldn't have been possible and everybody

was pretty concerned about it. And what's weird is that OpenAI didn't know it was them for like a week.

So, there was a comedy of errors and there was a bunch of really interesting events that made everybody quite concerned. And I think, you

know, for good reason, you shouldn't be able to escape a sandbox. And when you say going rogue, it's a little bit harder to -- it's a little -- I'm

going to say this is a little bit of an exaggeration. What it did, what it was able to escape this sandbox and no harm, no foul, when they figured it

out, they were able to contain it, of course. It's not like this thing escaped and went out on the internet and started doing hacking all over the

place. That is absolutely not what happened.

The response to this, though, is pretty impressive. There are two bills that have been put out by the government. One is the Frontier Act. The

other is the A.I. Kill Switch Act. They're both proposed in Congress right now. Two different groups are proposing these. And these are ways to

control A.I. And then as you brought up in the introduction, the industry has come together and said, you know what we really need? We need

transparency and open weight models. An open weight model is a model that you or I could download and we could tune and program to do our own work,

the work that we needed to do and call it our own model.

So, this is what the industry is saying. We need open weight transparency. We need models that are downloadable, that can be shared by everybody. And

this level of transparency will, of course, be safer as opposed to closed models like OpenAI or Anthropic or MNI, where you have no visibility into

what it's doing. You don't know how to fix it or what to do with it. So, if it goes rogue, bad word, you could do nothing. An open weight model, you

could figure it out is the theory.

SCIUTTO: Tell me why. Tell me why. Because that's what happened here, right? They needed, in effect, to go outside the closed system to solve the

problem. Can you tell why it's important to have this open weight or if I'm using the wrong terminology, open source options?

PALMER: Well, they're not interchangeable. Open source versus open weight. An open weight model, the weights are the mathematical values that are

given to the tokens and they really are what make a model smart, an LLM, a large language model smart, if you will, or give it what it knows.

And so, this idea that you have transparency and visibility into what the model is capable of is the thesis and theory behind all of the tech

companies getting together and saying, we need transparency. We need this to be open and transparent in order for every researcher and every

technician to be able to control what's happening.

SCIUTTO: Sure.

PALMER: Here's the thing, though, that they don't really mention. An open weight model can be downloaded by you or me. We can put it in our own

environment and once it is in our own environment, nobody can control it. So, all government regulation goes away at that point. Because if you have

your own model and I have my own model, it doesn't matter whether it's open weight, closed source or whatever it is, it's mine and you can't impact it.

[18:30:00]

So, what's interesting is that the closed models from OpenAI, from Anthropic, from Google, they could be under scrutiny by the government and

they could be controlled by these two bits of regulation that are just put out there. But open weight models, they're out in the open. You download

it, it's yours.

So, this is not an easy question to ask and answer. It is not guaranteed that we're going to have regulations like this. There's no -- the Congress

has proposed it but they haven't passed it yet. The three laws that are out there in New York, California, and Illinois, they have some A.I. regulatory

on the books already. So, it's coming slowly. This incident made everybody think about it really hard.

SCIUTTO: Sure. I mean, listen, it always strikes me that it's often a mishmash when government tries to respond to rapidly evolving technology.

Just very quickly, can you explain, and I know you've written that you support legislation but you want to have a balance, right? So, that there's

business continuity. Who would control the kill switch? Very simple question.

PALMER: It's not a simple question. Obviously, we already kind of have seen it because the government forced Anthropic to pull Fable and Mythos

offline a month or so, a month ago, and then they allowed them to put it back on. So, who's going to control it? I guess the government's going to

control it.

Look, I have written an extensive timeline and a really deep 7,000-word chronicle of this at shellypalmer.com. If anybody's really interested, I

have a decent timeline there and a good intellectual framing. This is a very important topic that everyone should dig deep into because we are

dealing with intelligence decoupled from consciousness. It is with us forever now. A.I. is not going away. And if you've got a strong opinion

about it, you should base that opinion in intellectual honesty and a lot of education. So, please get as educated as you can about this. It's really

important.

SCIUTTO: I'll tell you what, I'm going to read that and I'm going to post it to my social media so folks who are interested, they can do the same.

Shelly Palmer, thanks so much for joining us.

PALMER: I hope you will. Thank you. Well, see you next time. Appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Well, checking some of today's other business headlines, shares of Chinese memory chip giant, CXMT, soared more than 460 percent on their

first day of trading in Shanghai. It is the biggest Asian IPO this year. CXMT is critical to China's efforts to build its own chip industry and stay

competitive in what, the A.I. race.

Apple is once again, the most valuable U.S. public company on Wall Street. The iPhone maker closed out today's session with a market cap of $4.9

trillion, beating out chip giant NVIDIA. Apple shares have risen 24 percent this year and are at record highs. One big positive for investors, it is

not spending as much as other big tech firms on what, A.I. A.I. is driving a lot of things.

U.S. restaurant chain, Cracker Barrel, is shaking up management after a logo change that triggered a big backlash. The company says CEO, Julie

Masino, who approved, which for a time was the new logo, is stepping down. She'll be replaced by restaurant and retail industry veteran, David Deno.

The chain brought back the old logo and business is improving. It recently raised its yearly outlook.

Coming up after the break, North Korea's role in supporting Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv claims Pyongyang is ready to send more

troops to Russia. We'll have a special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief," I'm Jim Sciutto and here are the international headlines we're watching today.

President Donald Trump has now paused a bombing campaign on Iran saying it asked, very nicely in his words, for the U.S. to stop. But Iran says it

will never allow the U.S. to determine the timing of war and peace. Trump says he's halting the strikes to give space for diplomacy.

Spain's prime minister is calling the wildfires ravaging parts of his country as well as neighboring France the most painful expression of a

climate emergency. Claims are getting dangerously close to the Spanish capital and to Bordeaux in southern, well, in western France. France says

they may not be extinguished for months. Tens of thousands of people have already been forced to leave their homes.

The Associated Press reports that police believe three shooters were involved in Sunday's shootout at a food festival in Seattle. One of the

shooters is believed to be among the three people killed. Another suspect, a 15-year-old boy, is in police custody. Authorities are still looking for

the remaining suspect.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the U.K. today, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with Britain's new prime minister, Andy

Burnham. The two met aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth at the Portsmouth Naval Base. Prime Minister Burnham's message to President Zelenskyy, the U.K. is

with Ukraine, quote, "100 percent."

They reportedly discussed Kyiv's need for more interceptors to shoot down Russian missiles. Zelenskyy next heads to Washington to meet with President

Donald Trump and attend the memorial service for the late U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.

Well, President Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of passing along intelligence to Iran about potential U.S. targets in the region. Kyiv also says another

U.S. adversary, North Korea, has been asked by Russia to provide them with more troops and military hardware for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Will

Ripley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a cemetery for North Korea's fallen soldiers this weekend, Kim Jong-un, his

wife and daughter, walked past the graves of Korean War dead.

Now, Ukraine says Kim could send 30,000 more North Korean troops into another war. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kim sent more than 100

soldiers to march in Moscow's Victory Day parade in May. South Korea and Western militaries estimate more than 10,000 North Korean troops helped

Russian forces recapture the Kursk region.

And soon, Putin may be getting something even bigger from his partner in Pyongyang, says Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelenskyy, set to meet

President Trump tomorrow in the Oval Office, a White House official says. Russia wants to bring in another 30,000 North Korean troops, Zelenskyy

says. Adding Ukraine's military has solid reports, preparations are underway to receive them.

He says they're headed to southwestern Russia, about 150 miles from Ukraine's border. Zelenskyy says Kim may also be sending several ballistic

missile launchers.

[18:40:00]

North Korean missiles are a lethal part of Putin's war machine. Ukraine says they're growing more accurate with every strike.

Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons, and gain real combat experience, Zelenskyy says.

Kim built a new war memorial in Pyongyang with thousands of graves and space for many more. Ukraine's military estimates more than 6,000 North

Koreans have already been injured or killed fighting for Russia, part of Putin and Kim's deepening anti-West, anti-U.S. alliance. A drastically

different outcome than the vision of Kim's grandfather, North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung, who once hosted former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

MIKE CHINOY, FORMER CNN BELJING BUREAU CHIEF: And I recall Kim Il-sung saying to me, we want to have good relations with the United States. That's

all gone now.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Former CNN Beijing bureau chief Mike Chinoy made 17 reporting trips to North Korea. He says after Trump's diplomacy collapsed,

Kim made a hard pivot to Russia and never looked back.

CHINOY: And I don't think he's interested anymore in having that kind of relationship because I don't think he trusts the United States.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Instead, Ukraine says, Kim is betting big on Moscow, a bet that could soon mean another 30,000 North Korean troops fighting for

Russia.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now is Evelyn Farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, currently executive

director at the McCain Institute. Evelyn, good to have you back.

EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER. U.S. DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR RUSSIA/UKRAINE/EURASIA AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MCCAIN INSTITUTE: Thank

you, Jim. Likewise, it's great to be back.

SCIUTTO: So, first, the experience of North Korean soldiers on the Ukrainian front lines has not been good based on CNN and others reporting

that the casualty rate has been enormously high, much as it has been for Russian forces there. Is this strategically significant for North Korea if

they were to send 30,000 troops? Do you see that changing the dynamic on the front line?

FARKAS: Yes. I mean, I just want to first add to what Mike Chinoy said because I went to North Korea, including to Yongbyon, the nuclear facility,

in 2008, you know, when President George W. Bush was trying to make a deal with the North Koreans also to freeze their nuclear weapons program.

So, you know, unfortunately, we are way past that time, and North Korea really is clearly aligned now with Russia in a way that actually makes

China somewhat uncomfortable. But the North Koreans, this providing 30,000 troops isn't going to change anything radically on the battlefield, you

know, between Ukraine and Russia.

But what it does for North Korea, Jim, is it gets North Korea some deals. I mean, we believe, we have reason to believe, based on reporting and sources

in the U.S. intelligence community that the, and which were reported upon, that the North Koreans got some technology from Russia to improve their

missile capabilities, so space, you know, intellectual property pertaining to space, that they also are helping the North Koreans, that Russia is also

helping the North Koreans with nuclear submarine technology.

So, these things are really valuable to Kim Jong-un, so I think he'll say, yes, I'll keep sending the troops.

SCIUTTO: So, this is already an expansion of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, to have North Korea, a fellow nuclear power, involved. Now, you

have Ukraine striking Iranian ships, bringing drones to Russia, and, of course, those Iranian Shahed drones have had enormous deadly impact on

Ukraine. And you also have, of course, the Houthis now threatening shipping in the Red Sea.

Just as you see a new front in the Iran war and a connection between the Iran war and the Ukraine war, does that give you fears of just a broader

regional escalation?

FARKAS: No, Jim. Only because they've been helping one another all along. It just hasn't been as public. You heard Zelenskyy saying that Russia

provided, you know, intelligence to the Iranians to target U.S. forces in the Middle East. The Iranians have been providing -- first, they provided

the first Shahed drones to Russia, which then Russia improved upon and then sent back the technologically improved drones to Iran. So, they've been

collaborating all along.

China, of course, sells to both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but I think we need to understand that these are adversaries working together,

and this just makes it much more obvious because it's out there now in this -- in the Middle East.

SCIUTTO: Well, speaking of being out there, for Ukraine to publicize to some degree, at least that's what the world knows about, its attacks on

Iranian ships carrying weapons to Ukraine, do you see any effort there to ingratiate itself with the Trump administration to say, in effect, hey, you

got a problem with Iran, so do we.

[18:45:00]

FARKAS: Yes, a very clever question, Jim, yes. I mean, I think that President Zelenskyy, you know, walking into this next Oval Office meeting

with President Trump wants to indicate very clearly, we are on your side, and frankly, Russia is not. I mean, he has every advantage in the Middle

East and, you know, everything he's doing also to -- you know, let's not forget, provide drone technology and techniques, you know, procedures to

our allies in the Middle East is --

SCIUTTO: I think we lost your audio there, but our thanks to Evelyn Farkas for walking us through all the implications of the expansion of this war.

Well, a search now for answers in Germany after a deadly attack on one of Europe's largest pride celebrations. A suspect shot dead by police. We

don't know yet if others are involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: President Trump is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let him curtail mail-in voting just months before midterm elections in this country

in November. He wants the nation's highest court to allow his administration to implement a sweeping executive order.

That order would let the Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security screen voter rolls from U.S. states for the potential of non-

citizen voters. Nearly two dozen Democrat-led states have challenged the order on the grounds that the U.S. Constitution leaves the running of

elections largely to the states, not the president. It's there in writing.

In Germany, there are now growing questions over how the suspect in a deadly attack on a Pride celebration was released from prison pending

appeal despite a prior conviction over his ties to ISIS. A woman was killed, more than two dozen others injured in Saturday's attack in Berlin.

Nearly 24 hours later, the suspect was shot dead by police after a massive manhunt. More now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Berlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're actually on the scene where all of this happened, and this is inside a

public park, one of the main parks in Berlin, called the Tiergarten. This is actually a footpath and bike path here in this park. It's not a public

road.

Nevertheless, the attacker drove the car down this footpath, ramming into lots of people. And I want to show you something here because it's actually

this tree that the vehicle rammed into, which then stopped that driving rampage.

[18:50:00]

If the attacker hadn't have driven into this tree, potentially even more people would have been injured and potentially killed. As it stands, the

authorities are saying 29 people were injured, one person was killed, and afterwards, the attacker apparently left the vehicle, and as he made his

getaway, started stabbing people along the way.

Now, there's several questions that the authorities here are answering. First of all, they say that this is an Islamist-motivated terrorist attack,

as they put it. They've named the attacker as a man named Abdul B, who was born in Berlin, is 21 years old, is of Lebanese descent, and apparently

tried to go to Syria to join ISIS in the past. So, he had already been convicted by a juvenile court here in Germany and was on probation,

actually, when all of this happened.

Now, the authorities are also questioning how the vehicle managed to get into this park because, of course, there was that big Pride event going on.

There were a lot of barriers that were actually set up in the days prior to this event, so that's one of the things the authorities are looking into.

And one of the other things they're also still looking into is whether or not there might have been others who were also involved in this plot. They

say right now that's still very much up for investigation, but as you can imagine here, City of Berlin very much in shock. Of course, the Pride

community are also very much in shock as well.

The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, he came out and he urged people to stay strong in the face of acts like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our Fred Pleitgen there in Berlin, thank you. Extremely dangerous. A tornado tears into parts of the U.S. State of Wisconsin and

the danger may not yet be gone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has a message for what he called World Cup haters. Infantino posted an open letter on Instagram to

all the critics of the men's tournament. It is 15 slides long. FIFA faced backlash, you'll remember, on multiple fronts over the recent World Cup

including high ticket prices, allegations of political interference, particularly over one red card, and the handling of the Iranian national

team.

Infantino has these words for his critics. Sorry that you were so consumed by hate and criticism that you missed it all. We experienced no violence,

no incidents, 100 percent safety and security, only joy and happiness, exclamation point. That is even though Argentina shocked the world when

multiple players physically attacked their Spanish rivals once the final was over.

Another story we're following, a tornado described as extremely dangerous hit parts of Wisconsin today. New video shows trees uprooted, roofs torn

off, downed powerlines, piles of debris, entire neighborhoods disappearing. Powers knocked out for thousands of people. Authorities are asking

residents to stay indoors and off the roads for their own safety.

The tornado finally dissipated over water, but the storm that spawned it could spawn more tornadoes as it heads south.

[18:55:00]

In today's Good Brief, this is not for the faint of heart. You are looking at the victor in the freestyle event of the Highline World Championships in

Switzerland. Sebastian Egger's gravity-defying flips gave him the title. In his words, he's super happy with how it turned out. On the women's side,

Cecilia Stock soared to first place for her second straight world title. In multiple events, she said she managed to overcome her nerves and a shaky

start to stand on the podium again. That looks crazy. I'm going to say it right out loud. I don't know how they don't fall.

Well, thanks so much for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciuto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:00]

END