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What We Know with Max Foster

Trump-Putin Summit To Be Held In Alaskan City Of Anchorage; Dozens Of Nations Demand Israel Allow More Aid Into Gaza, Warning Of Famine; National Guard Troops Deploying In Washington, D.C.; U.S. Inflation Rate Stays Steady At 2.7 Percent; U.S. & China Agree To Extend Tariff Truce By Another 90 Days. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:22]

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Ukraine says Russia is preparing for a new assault just days before the U.S. and Russian presidents are due to

meet.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

Talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin now scheduled to be held in Anchorage in Alaska this week. The White

House is downplaying expectations for this summit.

Here's what Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had to say just a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think this is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this

war is going to be present. And so, this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully

bring this war to an end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That meeting set for Friday, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he'll host a virtual meeting on Wednesday that will include President

Zelenskyy and Trump.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us from Moscow.

How's Russia preparing for this, then, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, very diligently, the Russians are saying that their preparations are very much

in full swing. At the same time, though, it seems as though the Russians strategy right now is to let Donald Trump, the U.S. president, do most of

the talking and largely remain silent. The last time that we've actually heard max from a high level Kremlin official was last Friday, when the

Russians confirmed that this meeting was going to take place and that it was going to take place in Alaska.

Now, of course, it doesn't mean that the messaging has stopped here from Moscow. A lot of that happening through state media, Kremlin-controlled

media here in Russia, where the messaging there seems very clear. The Russians are saying that right now they have the momentum on the

battlefield. One of the things that they keep talking about is advances that are accelerating by the Russian military in the east of Ukraine, where

the Russians say that they're close to taking several key towns from the Ukrainians.

And at the same time, of course, telegraphing to the United States that Vladimir Putin is going into this meeting with President Trump with a lot

of momentum behind him and certainly some advances on the battlefield as well, that is something that seems to be very important for the messaging.

One of the things, Max, that a senior Kremlin official said at the end of last week is that the Russians have not changed their stance towards

Ukraine, and that essentially means that they want territorial concessions from the Ukrainians. Significant ones. They don't want Ukraine to join

NATO, and they all but want Ukraine to disarm. That seems to be what they're going to go into this meeting with, although they haven't confirmed

that officially yet. Again, they're remaining quite silent.

But I think one of the things that's also key that we've been garnering from -- from Russian politics here over the last couple of days, the last

couple of hours, Max, is that for the Russians? This meeting is not only about the conflict in Ukraine, but it's also about a broader reset of U.S.-

Russia relations. That's certainly something that the Russians hope to get out of it, if not from this meeting, then potentially somewhere down the

line -- Max.

FOSTER: It does feel over the last few days, America has been downplaying what might come out of this. Perhaps in reaction to Europe being pretty

frustrated by Zelenskyy not being involved in Europe, actually not being involved in this meeting either. So, when Donald Trump now talks about, you

know, a listening exercise, really, what do you think he means there?

PLEITGEN: Well, I think first of all, that's exactly what the Russians want to hear. It seems as though to them, that President Trump is not

necessarily going to press Vladimir Putin as much as the Russians may have feared on trying to get an immediate ceasefire, I think that's one of the

things that the Russians are going to glean for that, that perhaps there's a little bit more room for the Russians to negotiate a lot of this.

But the Russians, for their part, most probably are going to come with their view of things and how they want things to move forward. And it seems

as though they're going to go two tracks as far as that's concerned. On the one hand, the Russians have really been very clear about their aims in

Ukraine for quite a period of time now, where they had said that they want those territorial concessions. The Trump administration, this is also

something that's being played up a lot here in Russian media. The Trump administration, of course, and President Trump himself have been talking

about territorial swaps and the Russians moving out of places, the Ukrainians moving out of other places.

It's unclear how big a role any of that is actually going to play when the two leaders meet, but it's certainly something where the Russians seem to

be taking a step back, allowing President Trump to talk about it, but then not really commenting on any of that.

But for them, really, the bigger prize is and I think that's something that's absolutely clear also from other senior Russian figures, the biggest

prize could be a normalization of U.S.-Russia relations. That certainly seems to be something where they're trying to bait the Trump administration

into going for something like that, talking about how good business deals could be in the future, how the two nations could cooperate in places like

the Arctic, of course, also in terms of raw commodities like oil, gas and rare earths as well.

So, the Russians are saying, look, there's a world of good that can happen if there's U.S. Russia relations.

[15:05:03]

And at the same time, of course, they understand that at some point, President Trump will press President Putin because he obviously wants a

ceasefire in the war in Ukraine as fast as possible, Max.

FOSTER: Fred, thank you.

Now, dozens of countries are calling for urgent action in Gaza, saying the suffering has reached unimaginable levels as famine unfolds. They're urging

Israel to immediately open all crossings into Gaza and allow established aid groups to operate there. Gaza's health ministry says five more people

have died from starvation and malnutrition in just 24 hours.

Now, the humanitarian crisis could get much worse if Israel moves to take over Gaza city in an effort to defeat Hamas. Today, the Palestinian U.N.

ambassador thanked European countries, including Spain and Germany, for going beyond calls for a ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: What is really significant that Europe is now acting in a practical way and thinking in a practical

way, in a fast way that should be complemented by all other countries in order to bring Israel into compliance. We hope that we can succeed in not

allowing them to execute the plan that they declared. But this requires more efforts, more pressure, more mobilization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem.

I mean, certainly, a lot of pressure coming from Europe and also internally, Oren, on expanding the war effort there in Gaza.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Absolutely. You see what looks like a very coordinated effort to try to increase the pressure as much as

possible to see if it's -- to see if there is a potential to head off what Europe and frankly, much of the world sees as, as an unfolding,

catastrophic situation in which Israel could or would occupy and take over Gaza City.

The humanitarian crisis, the cases of starvation that in and of itself is alarming enough. Thats clear from the letter we see from 24 countries, most

in Europe, although it also includes Australia, Japan and the European Union itself. They call on more aid to flow in and for Israel, not to

restrict humanitarian organizations and non-governmental organizations.

I'll read you one line from this letter. Quote, "All crossings and routes must be used to allow a flood of aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition,

supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water, medicine and medical equipment." These foreign ministers from these countries said in this letter, clearly

pushing for more. Israel has allowed these airdrops.

We saw five countries drop about 90-some pallets of aid, according to the Israeli military throughout the day. And we've seen drops like that over

the course of the past two weeks or so. But it's clearly not enough. And that comes across as the message from Europe.

The key question is how much leverage do they have for these changes to take effect? Frankly, the belief is that it's the U.S. that needs to put

that pressure on Israel to make sure more aid gets in. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel have repeatedly claimed there is no

starvation crisis in Gaza, that, as the ministry of health says, five more people died just today, bringing that total to 227, including 103 children.

President Donald Trump himself said fairly recently that there was, quote, real starvation in Gaza.

So, the concern is there. And now the eyes are on Israel to see how they respond. And if they push forward with the takeover of Gaza city. And

frankly, Max, it very much looks like that's the direction this is headed in, as stated by the security cabinet.

FOSTER: Yeah, it does.

Oren, thank you.

National Guard troops are beginning deployments in Washington a day after President Trump's federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. Police

Department. It's a move the mayor is calling unsettling and unprecedented. Still, Muriel Bowser, along with the D.C. police chief, have struck a

largely diplomatic tone.

Earlier, they met with Attorney General Pam Bondi to talk strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF PAMELA SMITH, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: We have been working collaboratively. I think this is going to be a good effort. It's going to

be an effort that's supported by both teams, the Metropolitan Police Department as well as our federal partners.

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: What I'm focused on is the federal surge and how to make the most of the additional officer support.

How we got here or what the -- what we think about the circumstances right now, we have more police and we want to make sure we're using them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Mr. Trump claims Washington is seeing a surge in violence, but the D.C. Metropolitan Police say overall crime numbers are actually

down this year. That includes a 26 percent drop in violent crime. What we don't know is what exactly will the National Guard troops be doing in D.C.?

Joining me now, CNN's national security correspondent, Natasha Bertrand.

What do you think, Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, essentially, Max, what we're going to be seeing is the National Guard taking a more

supporting role, a backseat role to the police officers and federal agents that are going to be fanning out across the city here in increasingly large

numbers.

[15:10:02]

You know, we've seen this number 800 tossed around quite a bit when it comes to the number of National Guard troops that have actually been

activated, but only a small number of those troops are actually going to be on duty at any given time, around 100 to 200 of those National Guard

troops, you will likely see across the city supporting law enforcement in a physical capacity, but also doing things like administrative tasks in order

to free up police officers and other agents to do actual policing, kind of the things that aren't necessarily desk duties, right?

And so, we may see some of these National Guard troops physically supporting law enforcement kind of going on, them, going on patrols with

them fanning out across the city. But importantly, they're not expected to be carrying out law enforcement specific tasks like actually making

arrests. And they are not expected either to be carrying weapons. They will have rifles nearby, for example, in their trucks if they need to access

them for self-defense, but they're not going to be carrying their rifles and patrolling the streets of D.C. as of right now, that's not the plan.

They are going to be authorized, however, to carry out other tasks, such as detaining people temporarily if a crime is being committed, for example,

and there is no federal agent or police officer to make that arrest themselves. So essentially what these troops can do is they can detain

someone until a police officer arrives on the scene to actually make that formal arrest. It's very similar to what we saw play out in Los Angeles,

but it is unlikely to be as tense as that situation was. Just because you're not seeing protests here in Washington, D.C. and importantly, the

number of troops on the ground at any given time going to be very small as well, Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Natasha, thank you so much for that.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says consumer prices rose just 0.2 percent in July, despite the slight bump up the inflation rate stayed at 2.7

percent. Falling gas prices are largely being credited for helping to tame inflation.

Vanessa Yurkevich is standing by for us with that. What does it mean then, Vanessa?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, listen, its good news that inflation held steady, but it's not so good news

that were still not closer to that 2 percent inflation rate that the federal reserve likes to see. As you mentioned, the key contributor to the

falling prices was energy prices coming down 1.1 percent, led by gas prices falling 2.2 percent in the month of July.

Also, you had food prices here in the U.S. really just flat unchanged, and you even had prices at the grocery store falling by 0.1 percent. Shelter,

which is the biggest share of this report, it's what we pay for rent. That was really in line with historical data, up about 0.2 percent.

Core inflation, though, that's stripping away the volatile categories like energy and food did show inflation heating up to the highest level since

February on that annual rate of 3.1 percent, and then a 0.3 percent increase month over month. And when we look at some of the categories that

we've been following for months now that are very susceptible to tariffs, things that we import on your screen, their toys, furniture, apparel, you

are seeing increases. Appliances, we did see a decrease as many Americans may have front loaded those big purchases. So maybe there's not as much

demand on those appliances bringing prices down.

And then we added ground beef to that list, because even though prices at the grocery store max fell in the month of July, ground beef, steaks,

coffee, all very expensive record prices. That is largely because of weather issues, but certainly tariff pressures, like a 50 percent tariff on

Brazilian coffee, as well as tariffs on our trading partners like Australia and also Brazil for meat. That is certainly putting price pressures, price

pressures on those already record prices, Max.

FOSTER: We've also had this controversy, haven't we, about the leader of the Bureau of Labor Statistics going. We've also heard from the person that

Donald Trump wants to get into that job, as I understand it, at least nominated by Donald Trump. And they're already suggesting quite radical

changes to the organization, which is vital organization.

YURKEVICH: Yes, certainly. This is a -- excuse me, an organization, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is critical for business owners,

companies, investors to make decisions about their businesses and all of the data that comes out, including inflation data, including jobs data, is

really critical.

So, President Trump has nominated there on your screen, E.J. Anthony, who is an economist who has worked at two conservative think tanks, one of them

is Texas -- Texas Public Policy Foundation and the heritage foundation.

He has been critical of the BLS in the past, suggesting that the data is delayed. It's not accurate and that potentially there should not be monthly

jobs reports. He's also called the commissioner of the BLS, who was fired by President Trump, incompetent. And he's applauded a lot of the DOGE cuts

that we've seen over the past year, or, excuse me, six months or so.

Some of those DOGE cuts, though, Max, impacting staffing at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And they have said that because of that reduction in

staffing, they've had to really cut back on some of the surveying of this data, particularly in key metro areas, for these inflation numbers, so that

could cloud some of these reports going forward. Of course, July is backwards looking and that is before really the firing of the commissioner.

Of course, E.J. Anthony has to go through the Senate approval process. This is an individual who is very open about his feelings about the Bureau of

Labor Statistics. He's sort of a political person in going into and signing up for or trying to get a position that is known to be quite apolitical.

We'll have to see what that -- that Senate hearing looks like. No doubt he'll be questioned on where he stands with things, Max.

FOSTER: Indeed. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much for that.

YURKEVICH: Thanks.

FOSTER: Now, the world's two biggest economies have agreed to hold off on raising tariffs for another 90 days, at least.

U.S. and Chinese officials have been attempting to reach a trade deal for months now.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has the details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days. That's according to a White

House executive order. Without the extension, tariffs would have snapped right back up to ultra high levels, that would be on par with the trade

blockade.

Now, this latest extension gives the world's two biggest economies some breathing space. It keeps lower tariff rates in place through early

November, just in time for that surge of exports to America for the holiday season, like electronics, clothing and toys.

China's ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson said this, quote, "We hope that the U.S. will work with China in accordance with the important

consensus reached during the call between the two presidents to leverage the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism and strive for

positive outcomes based on equality, respect and mutual benefit."

But sticking points remain. There is a long list of contentious issues in the U.S.-China trade relationship, including U.S. curbs on high-tech chips

including HBM or high bandwidth memory critical for Chinese A.I., China's export curbs on rare earths, critical for U.S. tech and defense, China's

soybean purchases -- in fact, Trump says it's not enough. He wants China to quadruple it.

China's purchase of sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil, Fentanyl, namely the flow of Fentanyl precursor chemicals from China and the fate of TikTok

with the deadline for a deal approaching on September the 17th.

That is a long list, but analysts say the extension will give both sides more time to untangle them. It could also set the stage for a meeting

between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

The former senior U.S. trade official, Wendy Cutler, says this, quote, "It's positive news combined with some of the de-escalatory steps both the

U.S. and China have taken in recent weeks, it demonstrated that both sides are trying to see if they can reach some kind of a deal. That would lay the

groundwork for a Xi-Trump meeting this fall."

Now, just last week, Trump said that the U.S. and China were getting close to a deal, and in the event of a deal, he would meet with Xi before the end

of the year.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Coming up, with no end in sight to the war in Gaza, more and more countries are pledging to recognize a Palestinian state. We'll speak about

the movement with the former Pentagon official.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:32]

FOSTER: Well, as Israel threatens to intensify the war in Gaza, more and more countries are pledging to support a Palestinian state as a way to

bring peace to the region. More than 145 nations are now joining the call for international recognition. You can see them on this map. The orange,

representing countries that have already recognized a Palestinian state, the light blue countries whose formal declarations are pending, absent from

that list, notably, the United States.

We're joined now by CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh. She's a former deputy Pentagon press secretary.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I think what's notable is how many key allies of the U.S. are now coming out and vocally saying they're moving towards recognizing a Palestinian

state, and it's making America look more isolated on the issue, isn't it?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think that's exactly right. I mean, it was just two weeks ago that France was the first of the

G7 countries to say that France would acknowledge a Palestinian state. And soon you saw Canada and the U.K. follow France's lead.

You know, the United States is still among other countries that have not recognized a Palestinian state. But I do think that you are seeing

countries use their leverage right now. The United States, of course, has different types of leverage. The United States continues to supply arms and

different types of weapons, both offensive and defensive, to Israel as they conduct military operations within Gaza. And then, of course, for their own

protection.

Countries like France, the U.K., they don't supply those level of arms. So you're seeing them use these different levels of power in order to assert

you know, a very clear and strong position that they are taking when it comes to Palestinian statehood.

FOSTER: But it's not going to make any difference, is it?

SINGH: Well, I think that remains to be seen. I think this administration has made it pretty clear that they're not going to acknowledge or not going

to recognize a Palestinian state.

But that being said, you are seeing this administration react to the imagery that you're seeing coming out of the Gaza strip. I mean, you're

seeing the president react to those pictures of starving children, of people waiting in these long lines just to get access to food and water.

And so, while I don't know that the United States or this administration will change its tone necessarily, you are seeing actions and behavior

change, certainly by some of the images that you're seeing on your screen right now.

FOSTER: The typical sort of comment you would get from the Israeli ministers, for example, is that recognizing a Palestinian state would

reward Hamas, but it was interesting, wasn't it, hearing the Australian prime minister speak to this, saying, you know, one of the assurances he

looked for from the Palestinian authority was that Hamas would in no way be involved in any future leadership of a Palestinian state.

So trying to address that issue, trying to take that off the table.

SINGH: I think that's right. I think that no matter what, it is very clear from the United States perspective and other countries that Hamas can have

no role in what happens in the Gaza Strip. No, in terms of political leadership or any type of occupation of the Gaza Strip. And so, I think

that's really important that countries and you know, citizens, whether here in the United States or all around the world standing up for Palestinian

rights and standing up for statehood for Palestine is not in any way supportive of Hamas.

And I think it is very clear that Hamas can have no role in in terms of a governance or leadership.

[15:25:04]

But we still don't have a clear understanding of what Israel's goals and accomplishments are going to be as they conduct operations within the Gaza

Strip and what their plan is for day one, when they are done conducting those operations.

FOSTER: Where do you think, you know, were going to have this big meeting, aren't we at the U.N. in September, where, you know, it's going to be the

big story? You know, many of the G7, as you suggest, calling for a Palestinian state. I mean, what does that actually mean?

SINGH: Well, you know, I think it's very important that it's going to be done at the U.N., which will be in the -- in New York. Look, it's here in

the United States, I think that sends an incredible message. You are going to have, you know, nations coming from all around the world convening for

this very important meeting that, as you mentioned, happens in September. Even if that doesn't change where the United States stands, I think that

still sends a very strong message to the world of where European countries are and, frankly, where they are when it comes to supporting the

Palestinian people.

Again, you're seeing other countries, sovereign countries make their own decisions and using their own levers of power that they have. And that's

really going to come to a head when they all meet in September.

FOSTER: Okay. It's really interesting. New Zealand as well, talking about doing a similar thing.

CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh, thank you for your time.

Still to come, Ukraine warns that a new Russian offensive is in the works with a U.S.-Russian summit just days away now. We'll break down where the

major players stand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:02]

FOSTER: Ukraine's president says Russia is preparing for a new offensive just days ahead of Fridays meeting between president Donald Trump and

Vladimir Putin. This as 26 E.U. nations all but Hungary voiced their support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, saying the path to peace must

be decided with Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns Russian troop movements indicate the preparations for a new offensive in September are in the works, saying

Moscow's goals for the summit have nothing to do with peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: He is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war. Putin is determined only to present a

meeting with America as his personal victory, and then continue acting exactly as before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Ukrainians who've heard President Trump's comments about potential land swaps are nervous about their future as they await the

outcome of Friday's meeting.

Nick Paton Walsh spoke to some of them in eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): When President Trump talks about what parts of Ukraine to, quote, "swap" with Russia, this is ground zero -- real towns where bomb shelters

loom over beaches.

MYKHAILO, SLOVIANSK RESIDENT: I feel like I just float away from this reality.

WALSH: Here in Donetsk region, diplomacy has turned dark and surreal and threatens local journalist Mykhailo's medicinal swim.

What do you think about the idea of Trump and Putin meeting so far away in Alaska and deciding the fate of a place like this?

MYKHAILO: We all -- people I know -- will have to leave. But frankly speaking, I don't think it's going to happen. What Trump did wrong, just

pull him out of the bog, right. Putin was just drown in the bog and he took him out and say, Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I like you. He didn't

care that everyday Ukrainians die.

WALSH: Beaches, births and deaths, they all persist in ravaged Sloviansk. They've dug defenses around it to stop a Russian military advance but never

imagined high level diplomacy might just give their town and future away.

Taisiya gave birth to Azul (ph) yesterday. The calm of her maternity ward bed, now riddled with complications she never saw coming.

TAISIYA, NEW MOTHER: That would be very bad. I saw the news. But we have no influence over it. It's not going to be our decision. People will just give

away their home.

WALSH: Staying here has been, for many, an act of defiance and bravery. But for Sviatoslav and Natalia it did not spare them pain. This is their

daughter Sofia, with her husband Nikita and the grandson Lev. They moved to Kyiv for safety.

But 11 days ago, a horrific dawn Russian airstrike killed them and 28 others in Kyiv. Their three bodies found together in the rubble.

NATALIA HAPONOVA, SOFIA'S MOTHER: They left from the war and it was quiet there. And you see how it is in Sloviansk. But the war caught them there.

SVIATOSLAV HAPONOV, SOFIA'S FATHER: To come to terms with that as a person is impossible. Impossible to come to terms with the loss of children.

WALSH: They had been due to visit days later, bringing news that Sofia was three months pregnant.

Do you remember the last time you spoke?

HAPONOVA: Yes, it was 8:30 p.m. She was walking with Lev. She really wanted to come to Sloviansk to tell everyone the good news. But they didn't come.

They arrived in a different way, all together.

WALSH: They came together to be buried on the town's outskirts, where the war permits no calm for grief. A Ukrainian jet roars overhead.

At the nearest train station, Kramatorsk, as many are coming as are going. Serhiy was allowed two days off from his tank unit to see Tetyana, his

wife. The sirens greet the Kyiv train.

SERHIY, SOLDIER: Four years of war, how do you think it is? It would have been better if she had not come. Calm down.

TETYANA, SOLDIER'S WIFE: I just want my husband to come home. I don't care about those territories. I just want him to stay alive and come home.

[15:30:04]

WALSH: Soldiers, worried if they'll see their loved ones again, families torn apart by this war.

Imagine scenes like this to the thousands in the event of what seems to so many people here to be the surreal idea that a deal on Friday on the other

side of the Earth, almost as far away as you could possibly imagine in Alaska, between an American president and a Russian president. Without a

Ukrainian there, could potentially give this bustling town over to the Russians after them fighting for it for so many years and failing to take

it.

So many lives lost here. And those traumas born out on this platform every time a train comes in.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: So what we want to know is will Ukraine accept Donald Trump's terms for a deal?

Joining me now, Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of the European parliament, thank you so much for joining us.

I mean, the reason we're asking that question is because it was all about a deal, wasn't it, a few days ago. But Donald Trump is really tempering his

language now, just describing this summit with President Putin as a listening exercise. Do you think the terms of this meeting have changed?

OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Hello. I really don't know. And in general, I can tell you that we have this meeting in Alaska.

It gives a lot of hopes to Ukrainians because we want to end this war as soon as possible, but also a lot of fears and concerns, because we see

clearly that President Putin tries to play games with President Trump.

And unfortunately, he was quite successful in the beginning at meetings with Mr. Witkoff. So, we are very worried that Putin will again continue

this. So, I hope that President Trump is prepared for this meeting and he understands that the only language Russia understands is the language of

force.

FOSTER: But clearly, they're going to discuss the issue. Are you concerned that it might put Donald Trump into some sort of corner if he agrees to

something at this meeting, that he then has to take to your president?

GONCHARENKO: I think he should be prepared for this meeting, also from Ukrainian side. I know that there are consultations on the level of

presidents and the level of national security advisors and other levels. So, President Trump should clearly know Ukrainian red lines. And knowing

this and respecting these red lines, he will never be cornered.

And in general, I think he should corner Putin because Putin is aggressor. Putin is the person who started this war. Putin is a war criminal. So let

us not forget this.

I understand why President Trump is meeting him because he wants to achieve peace and we want peace here in Ukraine. But also we shouldn't forget who

is who.

FOSTER: And the red line for you is that you don't give up any land. But Donald Trump has made it pretty clear that you're going to have to give up

some land as part of this process.

GONCHARENKO: We need to be clear. What do we mean by saying giving up or ceding territories? We will never accept Ukrainian territories to be

Russian, but we can accept the fact that they are controlled by Russia. And we can't kick off Russians, at least for the moment, from these

territories.

So again, we will never de jure recognize them as Russian because this is Ukrainian international territory -- internationally recognized

territories, and it's clear. But how much time will it take to restore our integrity? We don't know.

We have example of Baltic states, which were occupied and then for more than 40 years, occupied by Russia. But still they were occupied

territories, never the world recognized them to be Russia. And then they restored their independence. So that's very important to understand when

we're speaking up about territories.

FOSTER: Do you regret that Donald Trump has given what is a to many will be seen as a reward to President Putin? Because, you know, this is a huge

moment for President Putin, isn't it? Exactly what he's looking for in terms of optics that he can promote within Russia itself? This meeting?

GONCHARENKO: Yes. But I should be frank with you here in Ukraine the most - - what we are worried about is to end this war. So, if the result of this step by President Trump to meeting in the United States with Putin will be

the end of the war, then we would just say, thank you very much, Mr. President Trump, thanks to Americans for all support and thanks for leading

us out of this war.

If the end of this meeting will be no peace, but just Putin will show to the world that he is -- can be handshake, that he is meeting with American

president on the equal level and so on, that would be a loss for President Trump, for United States, for Ukraine, definitely, and big victory to

Putin.

[15:40:17]

But I think that Trump doesn't want to be in any way a loser comparing to Putin. So, he should be a winner.

FOSTER: Yeah, okay. It's going to be a huge meeting. We'll all be watching.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, thank you very much indeed for joining us from up there in Ukraine.

Now, whilst robots doing police work is years away, artificial intelligence is helping police with one tedious aspect of their job by some experts are

warning against it though.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Now, some police departments in the U.S. are using A.I. to write their reports. The new system uses a modified version of ChatGPT called

Draft One. While some officers say it helps them save time and manpower, experts warn that the A.I. generated reports could include biases or

inaccuracies.

Clare Duffy is with me.

Probably right, aren't they? But I'm sure there's a lot of police officers that would love to spend less time on paperwork.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah. Max, I mean, a lot of the concerns here are similar to the concerns that we've heard around other applications

of artificial intelligence. But the police officers I've talked to said this really is an efficiency tool. How this software works is it takes the

audio from a body camera. And A.I. uses that to create the first draft of the police report.

This is something that is billed as a time saver for officers to let them spend more time in the field, especially in light of hiring challenges that

departments across the country have faced.

I visited Fort Collins, Colorado, which is one of a handful of departments that has been piloting this technology since it was released last year.

They gave me a demo of Draft One, and in that demo, I was able to see some of the safeguards that have been built into this system, namely these fill

in the blank prompts that are meant to get officers to read through a draft report in full, to add detail to correct errors, and really just make the

report their own.

[15:45:13]

But I will say I also saw that its fairly easy to just delete those fill in the blank prompts, and once you submit that report, it's unclear how much

an officer did or didn't change.

And this is really important, right, because police reports are at the heart of the criminal justice process. I spoke with Andrew Guthrie

Ferguson. He's a law professor at George Washington University. Here's how he described their importance to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW GUTHRIE FERGUSON, LAW PROFESSOR, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Police reports are like the lifeblood of the criminal justice system. Every day,

several times a day, police officers go out on patrol. They're interacting with people, and their job is to memorialize that interaction. In a police

report, the police report might be the only memorialization of a particular incident. It can be the reason and the way that a prosecutor decides to

sort of paper a case, take a case forward and keep charging it. It can be the document that a judge looks at to decide whether or not an individual

should be held over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: Now, this is why police officers say it's really important for them to get things right in their police reports, but also why some experts are

concerned about the use of A.I. for this application.

The ACLU is already calling on departments not to use this A.I. draft technology because of concerns that biases could be trained into these A.I.

models, or even just about errors. If the body camera transcript hears something incorrectly during an interaction, could that get incorrectly put

into this police report if the officer isn't careful?

Other reports, other experts I should say, are just calling for more transparency here. The company that makes this technology, Axon, does allow

departments the option to put a disclosure at the top or bottom of these reports, noting that they were created with A.I., and in Utah, they've

actually started requiring that disclosure with the new law passed earlier this year.

So, certainly, something we'll keep a close eye on as more departments start to adopt this technology.

FOSTER: Clare Duffy, it's fascinating. Thank you.

Now, an American icon could soon fade to black after 132 years. Kodak says it may not survive much longer. The reason behind its struggles next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:01]

FOSTER: Iconic photography company Kodak is warning it might not survive much longer after more than 130 years in business. The company says it

doesn't have the funds to pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. This, despite inventing the first digital camera in the 1970s at a time

when it had more than 85 percent of U.S. film and camera sales. Kodak has had a rocky time in recent years, let's say, as it struggled to modernize.

Let's zoom in now, Daniel Burnside, clinical professor of finance at the University of Rochester. He joins me now from Rochester, New York, where

Kodak is based. And it is a fascinating case study, isn't it, because, I mean, younger viewers won't be aware of how ubiquitous kodak was, how it

pretty much owned the photography industry.

DANIEL BURNSIDE, CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: Quite right. Kodak was a titan. It completely dominated the photographic

industry, which it basically invented.

FOSTER: Yeah, so it invented it, and it made a lot of money from it. And it did the right thing, didn't it, in theory, by inventing a digital camera.

But tell us what went wrong.

BURNSIDE: Well, you know, companies don't like changing gears once they've invested a great deal in selling products and services that they're used to

selling. You know, it's very difficult for them to change. Change gears.

And I actually know the engineer who invented that camera. You know, he's here in Rochester. I've spoken to him about it. You know, he faced the same

kind of corporate things that any anybody working in a white collar corporate environment would recognize.

You know, they were all, he was told many, many reasons why his idea wasn't good, wasn't going to work, and was going to cannibalize profitable parts

of the business.

And, you know, it was too soon to experiment with things like that. All those type of things, so Kodak missed the digital boat and you know, that

business went on to other firms.

FOSTER: I'm just interested in what he told you about why they said no to the digital camera. Did they really believe that paper printing was going

to last forever?

BURNSIDE: Well, the problem was, Kodak was an immensely profitable company at that time. This is like in the mid '70s, right. And, you know, Steve,

Steve Sasson is the name of the engineer that I'm referring to. You know, he was just a recent college graduate who was given a project to kind of

experiment with some new technology. And he came up with this digital camera.

And if you saw the output from this camera, you wouldn't have been impressed. I mean, no one, no one would have looked at it and thought, oh,

well you know, Kodak's going to be out of business. Everybody's going to be using digital cameras now.

But some people looked at that and realized that in the future, with technological advantages, you know, advances that that that's' exactly what

would happen. But Kodak missed the boat on that.

FOSTER: So, then it went into this long, slow decline. And other companies came in to replace Kodak in a market, a segment that they created. So, you

know, who stepped into that void and who saw the opportunity?

BURNSIDE: Well, mostly it was firms outside the United States. And so, all the big names that we that we know about Fuji and Sony and Canon and so on.

It really -- they don't really have a comparative advantage to do digital photography. It's just they had the first mover advantage. They got there.

They -- they didn't have as much film legacy to worry about. They weren't going to cannibalize a lot of their own business by doing that. And Kodak

had a lot of -- a lot of people who were, going to be, going to have to change what they were going to have to do, you know, and like any

corporation, things move slowly.

But, you know, I don't want to Bash kodak too much because, you know, it's the exception, not the rule, that companies can make changes like this.

Okay?

FOSTER: Yeah.

BURNSIDE: When big companies face technological watershed developments usually they are overtaken by other firms. They don't change gears.

Okay, so if you go back a little, a few more decades and look at cars, right? There were companies that made horse carriages that were really very

well-positioned to make cars. They had the right kind of labor factories, you know, inputs and so on. But none of them made cars because, you know,

that would be cannibalizing their own business. They were replaced by new companies.

And that's usually what happens. So. I don't want to -- I won't be too hard on Kodak. This is just the nature of business, and it's transformation.

FOSTER: And it will happen again. I'm sure.

Daniel Burnside, thank you very much.

BURNSIDE: Absolutely, will.

FOSTER: Finally, tonight, Billboard reports the song "Golden" has clinched the number one spot on its hot 100 chart.

(MUSIC)

FOSTER: Certainly, catchy. The popular hit by Hunter X is featured in the animated film "K-Pop Demon Hunters". Billboard says this is the ninth song

associated with K-Pop to take the top spot on the 100 or the hot 100, and the first by a female lead singers. Destinys Child was the last all women

collective of three or more members to hit the top 100, and they did it 24 years ago.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" up next.

END

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