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What We Know with Max Foster

"Coalition Of The Willing" Meets In London On Ukraine; Sources: Kremlin Envoy Dmitriev Visits U.S. For Talks; U.S. Sending Aircraft Carrier Towards Caribbean; Prominent Trump Critic Letitia James Pleads Not Guilty; Ontario To Pull Reagan Tariff Ad After Trump Halts Trade Talks; Analysts Expect Gas Price Rise After New Russia Sanctions. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 24, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:28]

ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: A top Russian envoy in the U.S., while Ukraine's president visits London.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

Both Russia and Ukraine are rolling out the big hitters to try and shore up support amid a conflict that shows no sign of letting up any time soon.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London today for talks with European leaders, including, as you can see there, British Prime Minister

Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. They stood united in their support for Ukraine and praised new U.S. and E.U. sanctions on

Russia.

Meantime, a White House official says U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff would meet with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian sovereign wealth

fund, on Saturday in Miami. Dmitriev has long pushed for closer economic ties between Washington and Moscow. The Kremlin's top economic envoy

recently proposed a Trump-Putin tunnel that would run, if you remember, between Alaska and eastern Russia.

Let's talk to our Matthew Chance, who's live from Moscow who broke the news of Dmitriev's visit.

So, Matthew, just give us a sense of what Dmitriev's hoping to achieve from this visit.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isa, they're keeping it pretty vague by saying that, look, this is just an attempt to

make sure the communication channels between the United States and Russia remain open. He said this was a meeting a trip to the United States that

was arranged a while back. But because of the timing of it, it's taken on additional significance because obviously, it's just a couple of days ago

since President Trump imposed, quite tough sanctions against Russia's two biggest oil companies, which could deliver ultimately a big blow to the

Russian economy and its ability to fuel its war in Ukraine.

And, of course, President Trump also kind of erratically or irritatingly, you know, canceled the discussions for a presidential summit with President

Putin in Budapest as well. But I think this visit shows that, you know, at least from the Russian point of view, they're still trying very hard to

keep the channels of communication open. And of course, the United States could have canceled Dmitriev's visa. They could have called off the

meetings, but they didn't do that. And so, it implies that there -- the White House is also open to continuing to receive, Kremlin officials and

continuing to talk about the possible future economic relationship between the two countries.

SOARES: And while you're there, let me pick your brain about what we have been seeing. Of course, we've seen sanctions on Rosneft, Lukoil, as you

said, but we've also seen, Matthew, that 19th package of sanctions from the E.U. and very much a visible show of unity and strength alongside President

Zelenskyy here in Europe.

How -- how -- how is the messaging -- what are you hearing being based, being there in Moscow, how is this being covered?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, it is being covered, of course. The media is reporting, you know, that these new rounds of sanctions have been imposed

by the European Union, but also, of course, by the United States. It wasn't just about sanctions, it was about the idea that President Trump had in

some way turned against Vladimir Putin or turned against the Kremlin. That's always a possibility that people are speculating about here.

But in terms of what impact sanctions are likely to have, I mean, I've been out in the streets of Moscow today talking to people about whether they're

concerned about the sanctions on the oil companies or about new round of European Union sanctions, and they're just not and it's understandable

because, you know, this is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world already. There's been perhaps a more than a decade of

international sanctions that have been imposed against Russia because of its various actions in, you know, Ukraine, in Syria, in its meddling with

democratic elections elsewhere as well.

And the fact is that the people of Russia have got used to that to some extent, or at least come to expect it. And the economy has found ways of,

you know, kind of keeping afloat and winding its way through the various complex legal measures that have been imposed upon it.

And I think the expectation is, is that this latest round of sanctions from the U.S. and from the Europeans is going to be more of the same. It's not

going to force Russia to the negotiating table or collapse the Russian economy.

[15:05:06]

It's just going to provide another sort of ratcheting up of discomfort for the people here and for the government.

SOARES: Matthew Chance for us in Moscow this hour -- good to see you, Matthew. Thank you.

Well, ahead of the "Coalition of the Willing" summit in London, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held an audience with King Charles at Windsor

Castle. Their third meeting this year.

And during today's meetings, Mr. Zelenskyy touched on the U.S. giving Ukraine Tomahawks, saying it is obvious that Ukraine needs more access to

long range weapons.

Now, last hour, Nic -- our chief diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, told me that other countries could step in and provide the missiles but are

unlikely to do so without, of course, a key player.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's still very much on Zelenskyy's agenda. It appears to be on the agenda of the British as well.

The British have Tomahawks. The Dutch have Tomahawks. The Dutch prime minister was there today. So, these countries could be providing those

longer range missiles. But it's clear that they're not going to go out on a limb, that they're going to want to bring President Trump along and on

board with this.

So that's -- it's going to be done through conversations. But you know, Zelenskyy thanked the U.K. for their Storm Shadows, which have been used to

military effect reaching inside of Russia, hitting energy -- Russia's energy production capability as well. That's important. The French have

been providing a relatively long range missile. I believe it's a SCALP as well. And Zelenskyy thanked them again for that.

But it's clear, the conversation continues. President Trump doesn't want to have his sort of hands on a decision that would send that kind of a signal

to Russia. That's what seems to emerge here. But it's -- but the conversation involving him to allow it to happen is still ongoing.

(END VIDOE CLIP)

SOARES: Nic Robertson there.

Well, the U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the Caribbean as part of a massive buildup of U.S. forces in the region. The Pentagon

announced it is being sent to, quote, dismantle transnational criminal organizations and counter narco terrorism. The aircraft carrier is

currently stationed in Europe.

Meanwhile, in what is becoming a familiar sight, the U.S. has struck another boat in the Caribbean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says it was

operated by a drug cartel and was smuggling narcotics. He says six people on board were killed. This is the 10th targeted boat strike since the U.S.

began its campaign last month. About 43 people are killed at this point.

Jennifer Hansler is with me.

Jennifer, let's start first with this massive buildup that we are seeing of forces in the region, bringing us up to speed on what this potentially

signals here.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, you said this is just an extraordinary show of force that we have seen in the Caribbean, in

the broader region. We have seen dozens, dozens of aircraft, helicopters, fighter jets, boats, ships. And now the world's largest aircraft carrier,

the USS Ford, is transiting over to the SOUTHCOM region of authority, which is, of course, the Caribbean and South and Central America.

Now, all of this is raising questions about what the administration's aims are here. They say this is part of their war on drug trafficking, part of a

larger campaign to stop narcotics from reaching the borders of the United States. However, there are a lot of questions about whether this is also

part of a broader campaign to force Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power. We know the president has been presented with the option of

potentially striking targets in Venezuela. We don't know that he's made any sort of decision on this front. He has also pointed the prospect of land

targeting for these cartels, these drug trafficking organizations that the U.S. has deemed as foreign terrorist organizations.

All of this coming, of course, amid this swath of strikes on these alleged drug boats, that was the third one just this week that occurred overnight.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth alleged that this boat was tied to Tren de Aragua, which is a transnational organization that the U.S. has deemed a

foreign terrorist organization.

But, Isa, a broader question here, too, is the legality of all of these strikes. Legal analysts, excuse me, have said that this does not count as a

capital offense. It is not necessarily legal to strike alleged drug traffickers if that is even what these individuals are, because that is not

a death penalty carrying offense, especially in international waters. The Trump administration has not really presented a lot of evidence to back up

their case on striking these alleged drug trafficking boats. They have just said that they have the authority to do so.

SOARES: And it's that legality, Jen, that we have seen President Petro of Colombia reiterate time and time again, of course.

[15:10:06]

He said that one of those that has been killed allegedly was Colombian. And now what we have seen since is this war of words right between President

Trump and President Petro of Colombia. And we have seen in the last, what, ten minutes or so the U.S. seems to be sanctioning the Colombian president,

the interior minister, but also, I think, going after his family.

Can you speak to -- can you speak to this?

HANSLER: Yeah, this just happened, Isa, as you said in the past several minutes, the Treasury Department came out with a statement saying today

that they are sanctioning President Petro because he has a, quote, "allowed" drug cartels to flourish and refuse to stop their activity. He

said that cocaine production in Colombia has, they say, exploded to the highest rates in decades under Petro's leadership.

They have also gone after his eldest son, Nicolas and his wife, the first lady of Colombia. This is just the latest in a string of actions targeting

the Petro government. We heard from President Trump earlier this week saying that they had cut off all U.S. payments to Colombia. We also saw the

Trump administration revoke Petro's visa as he was returning to his country after the U.N. General Assembly -- Isa.

SOARES: Yeah, and I'm just seeing Jen as you're talking, the response for from Gustavo Petro, the Colombian president, who is not happy at all that

the U.S. is going after his family. He's gone on X saying what lawyer -- his lawyer will be, but saying fighting drug trafficking effectively for

decades. Bringing me this measure from the government or society, we helped so much to stop its cocaine use. He says, quite a paradox, but we'll never

back down, never on our knees.

So, one to point out, of course, President Petro calling for people to take the streets of Bogota tomorrow.

Jen, thank you very much indeed.

Now, a prominent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, Letitia James, pleaded not guilty today to federal charges related to alleged mortgage

fraud. James is a Democrat and one of three fierce Trump critics to have criminal charges levied against them in recent weeks.

Earlier, she was met by a crowd of supporters after her arraignment in Virginia. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES (D), NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: I will not be distracted. I will do my job each and every day, and that's why I'm headed back to New

York, because there's work to be done, standing up for the rule of law. God bless you and thank you all. And I appreciate you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: I'm joined now by CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz.

Very, very, very fiery there, Katelyn, in fighting spirits. Give us a sense of what she said and what we're likely to see in the weeks ahead.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: What she said outside of the courthouse, that's Letitia James after she pleaded not guilty to two

felony central bank fraud counts, one false statements making to a financial institution and one bank fraud count. What she said was that she

believes that the Justice Department has been weaponized against her, and that this is part of a revenge tour of Donald Trump. She is the person that

took Trump to trial on civil fraud charges, and one previously.

What that is likely to do is not just be something outside of court. We are also expecting that sort of argument to be front and center in this case,

in the path to trial. Now, it's not a long path to trial. The judge today at this arraignment, he set the trial date from three months from almost

today. He said it for January 26th. That's a very quick path to trial.

But from now until then, we're going to be seeing motions or requests, arguments from Letitia James defense team, telling the judge this case

should never have been brought, and it should be dismissed. She should not have to face a jury at a trial.

In those arguments, we do expect one of them to be that an argument that she has been essentially vindictively prosecuted, or that Donald Trump has

encouraged this revenge against Letitia James because of who she is as the New York attorney general.

We are also expecting a challenge to the authority of the prosecutor on this case. Her name is Lindsey Halligan, the former personal lawyer to

Donald Trump, who not only helped get this case through the grand jury or even took it herself. She also is the prosecutor in charge of the case

against James Comey, the former FBI director. Both of these things are going to be going hand in hand, and we're going to hear a lot from these

defendants about why they believe they're being wrongfully prosecuted.

Back to you.

SOARES: Katelyn Polantz in Washington -- thank you, Katelyn. Good to see you.

Now, new developments this hour, Ontario province in Canada says it will pause its anti-tariff political ad campaign effective Monday, so trade

talks with U.S. can continue. The ad used audio of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs, which prompted President Trump to say he

is terminating trade talks with Ottawa. You can see there, Mr. Trump says the ad is a fraud, and the Ronald Reagan Foundation says it misrepresented

the speech.

Paula Newton joins me now live from Ottawa.

So, Paula, let's start with this latest line. Now, it's happening. They're going to take it. They're going to get rid of the ad but only Monday. Why -

- why not now?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not until it airs during the World Series, of course. Just to remind our international audience, the Blue Jays, within

hours take on the L.A. Dodgers in Toronto. This is epic. For those who don't follow baseball game one of the World Series. Yes, the ad will air in

both Canada and the United States for that big, massive audience.

And Doug Ford making clear two things. One is that they've already gotten so much publicity from this. I think Ontario is pretty pleased in terms

that it got its money's worth. But this is also key, Isa, in that post on X, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, said in speaking with Prime Minister

Carney, Ontario will pause its U.S. advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume.

Okay. It is clear the prime minister, either before he boarded the plane to Asia or on it, had a conversation with Doug Ford and said he repeated what

he has said to Canadians for a few weeks now. It is not the time to retaliate. It is the time to negotiate.

And so, for that reason, that's what they're trying to do now. The big question president Trump leaves in a few hours for Asia as well. Will these

trade talks resume? Canada has pulled back a variety of things in the last few months to try and jumpstart trade talks. They thought they were so

close on sectoral deals on aluminum and steel, perhaps even signing them in the next few days. We'll see if President Trump decides that he can go back

to the negotiating table.

SOARES: Right. And important to point out for our viewers who may only be learning about this now, I know you and I spoke in the last hour, Paula, is

that Ontario is not pulling the ad because it is wrong or fake, as the president has suggested. Explain how we got to this point, because this was

part of a longer speech, right?

NEWTON: It is part of a longer speech. The actual portion, which has been posted by the Ronald Reagan Library, runs over five minutes. Donald Trump

said it was fake. It is not fake, but it is edited. And I think that the Ronald Reagan Foundation and the president himself took issue with the way

it was edited.

But it certainly wasn't fake. It wasn't disinformation. And I can tell you that firsthand, because Ronald Reagan came here to Ottawa in 1987 when I

was a young journalist and told parliament, I heard it for myself. And in his words, he said a trade deal between Canada and the United States would

benefit both countries and be an example to the world. He continued with that trade policy.

And this is a very uncomfortable truth for conservatives in the United States. Tariffs are bringing up prices for Americans right now. We had the

CPI, the consumer price index go up to 3 percent. That's not something many people are comfortable with. Yes, it was less than expected. But tariffs

are raising prices for Americans. And that might be why this really irked the president. And he decided, uh-huh, you are not using one of our

conservative icons to make your point.

SOARES: Paula Newton, good to see you, Paula. Thank you.

And coming up right here on the show, New York Attorney General Letitia James pleads not guilty in a mortgage fraud case. Will she be successful in

standing up to Donald Trump? And can she win the case?

I'll talk with the former federal prosecutor just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:47]

NEWTON: Welcome back. We want to take a closer look now at the Letitia James case. As we mentioned earlier in the show, the New York attorney

general pleaded not guilty today to charges related to alleged mortgage fraud. She is one of several prominent critics of Donald Trump that the

president appears to be going after.

Today, James said the U.S. justice system is being weaponized as a tool of revenge, but she will not be deterred. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES: But my faith is strong. And my faith is -- I have this belief in the justice system and the rule of law, and I have a job -- and I have a belief

in America and all of its individuals who have stood with me not only in New York, but all across this nation. I've heard from just about every

jurisdiction in this nation who have said, stand up and be tall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: What we don't know is will the case against Letitia James stand up in court.

Joining me now to help us answer some of those questions, Amy Lee Copeland, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Georgia.

Thank you for coming on the show. Really appreciate you coming on.

Emily, let me start off really with what we heard from Letitia James. Very fiery, wasn't it? I heard that as she came out, I heard her live. And what

struck me is that little clip that she played that we heard it when it was happening, where she was saying, I've heard from so many people up and down

the country who have written to me, showed support.

How much is this, I wonder, a major test for the U.S. legal system as a whole here?

AMY LEE COPELAND, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: Good afternoon.

It is a test for the legal system as a whole. What you have here is an indictment that was returned under highly unusual circumstances. There is a

saying among criminal defense attorneys that a prosecutor, if she wants to, can indict a ham sandwich, and this prosecutor is the interim U.S. attorney

for the Eastern District of Virginia. Usually, those folks are just administrators. You have line assistant U.S. attorneys who handle the

indictments.

She goes in there. She secures an indictment. To get an indictment, Isa, you just have to make a showing of probable cause. Is it more likely or not

a crime has been committed? You don't have to introduce any exculpatory evidence to a grand jury. I think when the exculpatory evidence comes

flooding in, Ms. James has a good shot at being vindicated.

SOARES: Let's talk about that in that case, Amy, because the enrichment -- that the indictment alleges bank fraud and making false statements, just

speak to what kind of evidence that would be provided, they will have to show here.

COPELAND: Sure. So the evidence centers around the loan that the government says that Ms. James didn't disclose, that she intended to use as rental

property. The differences, difference in interest rates. And the government estimates that this would be an under $19,000 loss to the bank over the 30-

year life of the loan.

The evidence that the government is going to introduce is the loan documents and any communications that she may have had with loan officers

or other witnesses, I've read reporting on CNN that those witnesses have all said that Ms. James told them that she was buying this house for her

niece.

[15:25:05]

So, we're going to hear from people. We're going to see some loan documents. We may have an expert witness talk about bank practices. The

trial currently has been set for January 26th. I think that that's not an optimistic. I think that's pretty realistic, because there's just not going

to be a whole lot of evidence on a single loan transaction. It's going to be a pretty narrow universe. Yeah.

SOARES : And so, given what you've just said, how do you think she's got a good chance here given everything you just lined up for us?

COPELAND: You know, Isa, I always have to say this. You never know what a jury is going to do.

SOARES: Yeah.

COPELAND: But just on the facts of the case, from the reporting, I've read, this seems to be a tough case for the government. You know, the if the

witnesses are all saying that she disclosed throughout that she was buying this property for her grand niece, and her grand niece says, yes, I was I

was living in it. That seems like awfully tough sledding for the for the DOJ.

SOARES: Amy, I mean, we've discussed this on the show numerous times because this indictment comes on the heels of social media posts, of

course, by the president calling James and others guilty as hell, demanding, quote, justice must be served now. We've seen similar language.

Our viewers will know if we cover this with Comey, with Bolton, how much is this going to be part of the case in terms of prejudicing the case here?

COPELAND: So that'll go into two different venues, I think, or two different things. First of all, the attorneys for Ms. James will almost

certainly file a motion for vindictive prosecution and attach these social media posts, attached statements by Mr. Trump, the president himself, to

this motion.

The other thing that this is going to do is going into venue and jury selection concerns. People will be asked if they've been exposed to these

text messages, if they have read the president's true social posts, if they've read his statements to the press and the ultimate touchstone for a

juror is can you be fair and impartial? And this will be something that they're going to be quizzed about during jury selection.

SOARES: Amy Lee, really appreciate you coming on. Thank you very much, Amy.

COPELAND: Thank you.

SOARES: And still to come right here, U.S. prices on the rise again. Inflation is at its highest since January as consumers feel the effects of

Donald Trump's steep import tariffs. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:46]

SOARES: It's the final moments of trade on Wall Street in U.S. stocks have seen some gains today. As you can see, the Dow Jones closing out week more

than as you can see, 1 percent higher.

And this is our business breakout.

The cost of living rose for Americans in September at the fastest pace since the start of the year. The annual rate of inflation rising to 3

percent. That's the highest it's been since January. That figure suggesting President Trump's tariffs are causing the price of some goods to go up.

Donald Trump's economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, has said there's been a thawing of relations with China over the past few days, ahead of a meeting

between Mr. Trump and China's Xi Jinping. The two leaders will meet in South Korea next Thursday. Mr. Hassett says the Trump administration is

hopeful of getting a trade deal with China.

And oil prices have stabilized today after surging 5 percent on Thursday. The price of Brent crude oil is sitting around $66 a barrel. This after the

U.S. sanctioned Russia's two largest oil companies, as President Donald Trump calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Analysts say U.S. drivers could see

prices rise at the pump in the coming days.

Our Matt Egan has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This is going to be a balancing act because on the one hand, the president is trying to really break the Russian war

machine, but he's got to do that without causing significant pain for American consumers at the gas pump. And that's not going to be easy,

because Russia is the second biggest oil producer on the planet. Look at this every day. Russia's producing almost 10 million barrels of oil.

That's more than Canada, more than Saudi Arabia, second only to the United States. And this is why the Biden administration and up until the last few

days, the Trump administration kind of tiptoed around Russia sanctions on their oil companies because everyone remembers that that $5 gas experience

of three and a half years ago. I mean, that was a nightmare for consumers. It was also, of course, a nightmare for the Biden White House when it comes

to politically.

But look, despite the spike that we saw in oil prices yesterday, crude does remain relatively low, $62 a barrel. Some context, that's 12 percent

cheaper than last year, and it is miles away from the $120 oil after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. And you mentioned gas prices. I mean, that's

really been one of the biggest bright spots in the Trump economy, 30 U.S. states averaging below $3 a gallon, including Georgia and Iowa, Wisconsin

and those two states that have big elections coming up less than two weeks away, Virginia and my home state of New Jersey.

And I talked to Patrick de Haan over at GasBuddy, and he said gas prices after these sanctions, they're probably going to go a little bit higher.

But he said not dramatically higher, going from maybe 3.07 nationally to around 3.15. So not an earth-shattering increase here.

Bob McNally, he's a veteran energy analyst. He told me that he thinks the Trump administration is going to try to thread the needle here, right.

They're going to try to make it harder to get Russian oil, but not impossible. So, it will drive down the value of Russian barrels hurting

their revenue. But not send gas prices skyrocketing. But like I said, it's not going to be easy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Still to come. The tropical storm that is about to level up details of how strong it could get when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:28]

SOARES: And returning to our top story tonight, a special envoy from the Kremlin is now in the United States and planning to meet with top U.S.

officials on Saturday, Kirill Dmitriev is expected to meet with Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Miami. That is according to a

White House official, and that comes just days after new U.S. sanctions were announced on Russian oil companies. It comes as Ukraine's President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met. We've seen that today with European allies in London, where he stressed the need for continued international pressure on

the Russian economy.

And staying in London today, the Ukrainian president said there's no way this war ends without the U.S. being involved. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: We're not fighting and we're not searching the way how to stop Putin and how to finish this war without the United States. So, our plan is

to make strong steps together. That is the plan, by the way, of Putin. He wants to divide us, to make us weaker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Let's get more on this. Timofiy Mylovanov is Ukraine's former trade minister. He's now president of the Kyiv school of economics. He joins us

now from the Ukrainian capital.

Great to see you, Timofiy. Great to have you on the show. Let me pick up, first of all, were not just Zelenskyy's message, but the message we heard

from so many European leaders out of London tonight, very much a show of unity, calling, of course, for pressure to be dialed up. But nothing really

has come out of it.

What was your takeaway?

TYMOFIY MYLOVANOV, FORMER UKRAINIAN TRADE MINISTER: Well, yeah. So, you're absolutely correct, Isa, that the pressure could have been much stronger.

Putin always manages to pull some kind of trick and derail or maybe slow down the process. This time, however, Ukraine didn't get Tomahawks from the

United States, but the sanctions were imposed and the sanctions are hurting Russian economy and Russian economy structurally is not doing well.

So, yeah, the sanctions are creating conditions. But it should be much more -- should have done before. And the support should be serious. I think

Putin will only stop if he understands that the U.S. cannot be sidelined on this.

SOARES: And it's clear not just from what we just played there, Timofiy, from President Zelenskyy, but from every other European leader making it

clear that the U.S., the President Trump, is a part of this. I wonder at what point you feel the President Trump will decide on giving Ukraine those

Tomahawks because the Europeans have been talking about how potentially long-range missiles.

We know the Germans talking about tourists as well, but that I'm guessing, Timofiy, will be dependent on the U.S. and when it moves. At what point

will that decision be made? Because we've seen so many U-turns from this U.S. president.

MYLOVANOV: Yeah. And in some sense, there is a pattern. But there is also a trend. And the trend not in favor of Russia, but the pattern of U-turns is

absolutely there. Now, I think the trend will continue, and the pressure, on Russia will increase and Ukraine will eventually get weapons and support

it needs.

And the entire fight right now for Putin is to try to weaken Ukraine for the winter, to kill the critical infrastructure. And they are more

successful this time. So, Ukraine is striking back. So they actually quite an active phase of the conflict right now. And diplomatically we see that

not much is going on except the sanctions.

So, I think at which point, President Trump will truly move in. It's either when the situation in Ukraine will become truly dire or when Russia,

insults in some way President Trump.

SOARES: And, Timofiy, look, I think you're in a petrol station. I spoke to a spokesperson from President Zelenskyy this week. And, you know, in Kyiv,

and it wasn't lit up behind me. It was pitch black. And exactly to your point, we have seen the past few weeks these relentless attacks from Russia

on Ukraine going after energy infrastructure time and time again, making it very cold, very dark winter.

Can you speak to just the frustration right now? I know President Zelenskyy is on a diplomatic push trying to get that support, but he's going home in

many ways without the long-range missiles. He's going home with unity, but no longer missiles.

How frustrating is this as Trump keeps flip-flopping?

MYLOVANOV: Yeah, it is getting cold in Ukraine. The blackouts are back. Russia usually starts its, energy grid attacks on October 10th. But this

time, the attacks are prolonged, more systemic because they have this they have scaled up production of drones.

Ukraine is behind it's scaling up production of interceptors. And Russia currently has this innovation gap, which is trying to take advantage of to

make sure at least that the east of Ukraine, closer to the front lines, are really suffering, and are without electricity and sometimes even without

water. Kyiv is not so bad. Although blackouts here are regular now, and the west of Ukraine is going to be okay.

So, you know, the situation is dire. People are pretty frustrated and tired. And they are upset both at the Ukrainian government and at the

global community, because everyone understands that maybe a percentage of the world GDP or G20 GDP, G7 GDP would stop this war if -- but on the other

hand, why should taxpayers of other countries foot the bill for someone else's war? So, there's that kind of discussion. A resignation to the hard

winter, resilience and determination to fight and hold on against Russia and hope that the war will be over in 2026.

SOARES: Admirable resilience from the Ukrainians. I've seen it firsthand.

Timofiy, great to see you. Thank you very much indeed. Live from Kyiv in Ukraine.

Now, tropical storm Melissa is crawling through the Caribbean will likely strengthen into a major hurricane by the weekend. It has already reportedly

killed three people in Haiti and brought flooding to the Dominican Republic. But it is Jamaica that is bracing for the brunt of the bad

weather. The storm's outer bands already brushing the island and is expected to rapidly intensify and become a category four hurricane this

weekend.

For the latest forecast on Melissa, here's our meteorologist -- meteorologist, if I say correctly -- Allison Chinchar -- Allison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Isa, the most interesting part about this particular storm is the incredibly slow forward movement. Right now,

Tropical Storm Melissa is moving at only two miles per hour. Just for some perspective, the average human walking pace is three to four miles per

hour. So, you and I could walk faster than this storm is moving.

And the reason why it's really not going all that anywhere is we've got a lot of stuff around it. So you've got a high pressure to the east, a high

pressure to the west, and this deep trough to the north. And it's essentially kind of trapping tropical storm Melissa where it is.

But we're going to start to notice a breakdown of some of those things over the next 24 hours, finally allowing Melissa to break free and begin its

trek off to the west. And then eventually, it's going to make a sharp turn off to the north.

[15:45:00]

Now, the real question is how far west does it go? Because we do anticipate it's going to enter a much more favorable environment. This means the storm

is going to intensify. We expected to get to hurricane strength Saturday, and even major hurricane strength by the latter half of the weekend. But

how far west it goes is going to be really the key here.

And a lot of the models just don't really know what to do. They all agree it's going to make that sharp turn to the north. But when is the ultimate

question. Some have it making it much earlier than others. But the concern here, especially with a lot of these purple lines, is the farther west it

goes, the more likely it is to strengthen.

And that's because the farther west it goes, it enters this reddish orange color you see here. Thats incredibly warm sea surface temperatures. And we

all know warm sea surface temperatures are fuel for storms like this. So, the farther this system goes, the more likely it is to intensify.

Right now, the forecast officially from the National Hurricane Center calls for a category four, but a category five is not out of the question,

especially the farther west the storm ends up going. But by far the biggest concern with this system is going to be the rainfall. You see a lot of pink

and even white color here, not just in Jamaica, but also portions of Haiti and even Cuba. Now, you're talking at least ten inches of rain with

possibly as much as 20 inches.

For comparison, we're talking roughly 250 to 500 millimeters of rain just over the next several days. And a lot of that has to do with the

topography. So, in a lot of these mountainous areas, especially southwestern portions of Haiti, that's where you're going to see some of

those extremely high amounts.

Same thing for Jamaica. Again, you're talking widespread totals of at least ten inches of rain, but it's not out of the question for some of these to

get even more than that, especially as we head into early next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Thank you very much, Allison.

Now, Ecuador's president tells CNN that someone is trying to poison him. Daniel Noboa claims there have been several attempts on his life in recent

months. He told CNN En Espanol that three toxic chemicals were found in chocolates and jams that he was given as a gift.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL NOBOA, ECUADORIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I can tell you what I know, but I'm not a chemical engineer.

INTERVIEWER (through translator): Neither of us are chemists.

NOBOA: But there were three different chemicals with a very high concentration, and it was practically impossible for these three chemicals

to be together at those levels in a particular product. It's impossible that it was accidental, or that it was the packaging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Ecuador has been gripped by violent clashes over rising fuel prices and, a crackdown on drug gangs. We'll keep that story for you.

There's an old saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That's just what one German company, Germany company, did when they equipment was

used in one of the biggest jewelry heists ever. How they're stealing the spotlight after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:25]

SOARES: And finally, tonight, a German company is proving there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Bocker is the firm that made the furniture lift, that one right there, apparently used in the jewelry heist at the Louvre. In a social media post,

the company used an image of their equipment on the scene, as you can see there. And it reads in part, the next time you need things to move quickly.

More than $100 million worth of jewels were stolen from the Louvre on Sunday.

So, what we want to know is how does a company decide to advertise off the back of a heist?

Joining us now is Alexander Bocker, the owner and CEO of Bocker.

Alexander, welcome to the show. Can you hear me?

ALEXANDER BOCKER, OWNER AND CEO, BOCKER: Good evening.

SOARES: Great to have you with us. Just tell our viewers -- tell our viewers around the world when -- who decided and how did you come up with

the idea?

BOCKER: Well, on Sunday when my wife found the message on a German news site, we were, of course, shocked at first. Then she zoomed in and said,

isn't this our Bocker Agilo lift? And I could identify very easily because we have a very unique style of leathers and further zooming in, I could see

also our Bocker sign. So, it was a definitely a shock.

And then we followed the news entire day and we didn't want to see our equipment used in such a context, of course. But once we knew no one was

harmed, we decided to approach it with a bit of humor. After all, if even art thieves choose our lifts, we must be doing something right.

And, well, we Germans are maybe not popular or well known for our sense of humor. So, we decided -- well, let's give it a try. And, we were --

actually lots of employees texted us after it was clear that nobody was harmed.

And then Julia came up with the idea or with the slogan you just mentioned. And this slogan, it implies what our machines in the regular usage are

famous for. So, you are they are easy and quickly to set up. They are safe. They are quiet. And so, you get your -- I mean, normally no jewelry, but

maybe your materials safe and proper in the height.

And on Monday, Julia, my wife designed this post. We bought the picture from an agency, and then we said, well, let's not wait. Because normally on

social media, you should be quick. And that it was a relatively spontaneous decision made by my wife and I.

SOARES: Alexander, wife is always right. And that's a very good lesson for you to learn first of all. But the other point I want to ask, what is your

sense then giving? And I don't want to put a damper on this story, but you know, these are jewels worth over $100 million as part of French cultural

heritage.

Have you been criticized at all by the French side for actually making fun of something like this?

BOCKER: We have, not only by the French, also some German commentaries or some emails receiving us and some French, maybe in particular. We

definitely completely understand that perspective. Our intention isn't to trivialize what happened, but maybe to show that we can find a bit of light

even in an unexpected, also a bad situation.

And I must say that the vast majority of posts or reactions I would say 98, 99 percent is very positive, and most of the people are getting this kind

of humor.

SOARES: Yes. It has been very popular. Indeed. I wonder how that has impacted your sales. Have you seen a rise at all in sales off the back of

this, or is this more just for fun and publicity?

BOCKER: It is. It is. We are actually producing very specialized machinery, working in the height and most of our customers already know us, so there

were like two or three inquiries, but our order book is not or hasn't changed.

SOARES: Yeah. Very quickly. Were you surprised at all when you first saw you and your wife first saw, of course, the German lift, your German lift

being used in this way in broad daylight, seven minutes, this all happening very quickly?

[15:55:00]

BOCKER: Absolutely. It is a material hoist. We have also, like cranes or platforms, which can use also for personal transportation. We didn't first

even know if the hoist was already there or if it was brought with or from the thieves. And we, we said its not allowed to use a personal

transportation with this kind of lift. And of course, we do not want to be see our lifts are used for criminal activity.

SOARES: Yeah. Alexander, really appreciate you coming on the show. And like you said, Germans do have a sense of human after all. Great to see you.

Thank you.

And that solves it --

BOCKER: Thank you so much. Thank you.

SOARES: You're very welcome.

And that does it for me for this hour. Do stay right here. Richard Quest will have much more after this, a man plenty of humors, next.

END

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