. welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber in "cnn newsroom." >> translator: our soldiers in donbas are fighting to defend their people. all the aims of the special operation will be achieved. >> vladimir putin doubles down on his war of choice while

claiming that the west's sanctions are doing nothing to hurt his economy. donald trump fires back at the committee and his former vice president. and china is showing off its most advanced aircraft carrier in what appears to be a direct message to the west. live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with kim brunhuber. we begin in ukraine where russia is reportedly sending more firepower to eastern lines. russian artillery is pounding areas near sievierodonetsk, trying to cut it off from surrounding cities. ukraine says it intercepted two russian missiles near odesa and no one was killed. in kyiv, ukrainian and eu flags

flew side by side. the move doesn't guarantee membership, which would be years away, but president zelenskyy says it's still important. here he is. >> translator: ukraine deserves this positive. ukrainian values are european values. ukrainian institutions remain resilience, even in conditions of war. ukrainian democratic habits have not lost their power even now. and our approach with the european union is not only positive for us. it's the greatest contribution to the future of europe in many year. >> zelenskyy spoke after boris johnson made a surprise visit to kyiv, his second since the war began. he offered a training program that he said would fundamentally change the equation of the war. russian president vladimir putin

warred against the west and repeatedly continued to insist that the u.s. is to blame for this conflict and claimed that the era of american dominance soefr. h is over. here he is. >> translator: they declared themselves messengers of the lord on earth. >> putin is brushing off the impact of harsh sanctions insisting that russia will flourish. >> translator: the calculation was clear. to crush the russian economy with a swoop. due to the destruction of chains to hit industry, finance and the standard of living of people by freezing domestic assets. it did not work out. obviously, it didn't work out. >> cnn correspondents are

covering the conflict from every angle. barbara starr is at the pentagon. we begin in the ukrainian capital of kyiv. she explains the decision by the european commission is largely symbolic. here she is. >> reporter: one small step towards ukraine's major goal of joining the european union. the president of the commission recommending ukraine for status saying that ukrainians are willing to die for european ideas and welcoming people in in next step. president zelenskyy of course welcomed the news and said it would make ukraine safer and stronger. take listen. >> translator: ukraine deserve this is positive. ukrainian values are european

values. ukrainian democratic habits have not lost their power even now. and our approach with the european union is not only positive for us. it is the greatest contribution to the future of europe in many years. >> this past week has been very important in healing divisions in the european alliance. president zelenskyy has been vocal in tech against two leaders. he believes that they in the past were soft on president putin, soft on moscow and particularly his grievance with olaf scholz is around sanctions. germany has yet to outright ban oil and gas from russia. when it comes to emmanuel macron, he thinks he strikes too conciliatory a tone. that's why there was an

important meeting here in kyiv, a very important photo opportunity, and of course this trem recommendation for candidacy status to the eu trying to bridge the divide, trying to make clear that ukraine's commitment, ukraine's fight for europe at large is recognized. and president zelenskyy has repeated this over and over again. he brielieves those fighting on the frontline aren't just dying for ukraine but for europe at large. so a real recognition that the sovereignty of ukraine matters to the larger region. cnn, cnn, kyiv. >> earlier on cnn there was an appeal for military equipment. >> we are defending our country, push them away from the north of

the country. we're planning the action to counter attack to the south and of course to stand, you know, and defend the donbas and luhansk. we need those teaype of weapons. we feed need to get closer to t numbers of weapons. we need those weapons on the ground. >> the u.s. state department says it's seen new videos that appear to show two ou.s. militay volunteers missing in ukraine. barbara starr has more from the pentagon. >> reporter: it was north of kharkiv where two americans went missing last week, less than five miles from the russian border. the u.s. government, working with ukrainian authorities to find them. >> i have been briefed. we don't know where they are.

but i want to reiterate. americans should not be going to ukraine now. >> reporter: now this photo from a russian blogger has emerged, the two appearing to be bound in the back of a russian military vehicle. video later emerging of an interview they did with pro-russian media. cnn is not showing the video as the two appear to be speaking under duress. now the state department is working to verify their status. >> they said that there is a photograph that is being circulated on the russian media, and they're working hard to verify it. we're very hopeful. >> reporter: retired staff sargeant druky served in iraq and kuwait. his mother bunny says he wanted to lend his skills to train

those who were coming to ukraine to fight. >> he felt that if putin wasn't stopped now he would just become bolder with every success and that eventually, he might end up on american shores. >> reporter: former corporal nguyen served from 2013 to 2018, last serving in camp pendleton, california. his fiance joy black described to cnn the last time she heard from him. >> he told me that he loved me very much and that he would be unavailable for two or three days. he really had this gnawing in his heart and burden to serve the people as much as he k i am very proud of him, and i want to see him back safely. >> reporter: one of their comrades in ukraine whose identity we are keeping hidden exclusively telling cnn they were captured repelling a

russian armored assault. >> we suspect they were knocked out by the blast of the mine. >> reporter: a kremlin spokesperson told cnn we do not know anything about it when asked about the missing americans. the u.s. also confirming a third american went missing in ukraine in april. cnn has learned he is retired captain grady kerpoz, a 20-year veteran of the marine corps. a friend who served with him says he has cell phone data that he could be held in a russian city but does not have proof that he is alive. >> just to be humanitarian, there was no real plan to his mission. just he wanted to go out there and try and help. >> reporter: all three of the missing americans having served in the u.s. military puts them in unique danger if captured by

russians. >> you routinely are swimming in or immersed in these sensitive programs. i'm not sure the level of that exposure, but i can guarantee you the russians are going to try to extract that information. >> reporter: barbara starr, the pentagon. donald trump is lashing out at the january 6 committee hearings, accusing them of doctoring videos that cast him in a negative light. they have consistently shown trump illegally trying to overturn the election. >> the sham is based on video. they're taking six, eight and nine-hour depositions, and they're putting up five-second clips. this guy led ig, whoever he is, they are saying pence had no

choice. why do they want legislation so that a vice president can't do? >> the former president's denials ring especially hollow after thursday's hearing. they say that he knew the plan to overturn the election was illegal but pursued it anyway. >> i never called mike pence a wimp. i never called him a wimp. mike pence had a chance to be great. he had a sclachance to be, fran historic, but just like bill barr and the rest of these weak people, mike, and i stay sadly, because i like him. but mike did not have the courage to act. >> reporter: former president trump using his platform at a conservative political conference to deny the evidence against hem and blast january 6 committee. >> they're con people, con

artists. >> reporter: this comes as the committee is gearing up for several more hearings. brad ravaffensberger will be at the meeting with his deputy. >> i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. >> reporter: they'll testify about trump's efforts to pressure them to change the election result. the committee also wants to talk to ginny thomas about her communications with trump attorney john eastman. eastman devised the scheme to pressure then vice president mike pence to block the certification of biden's 2020 electoral win. >> verified, appears to be regular in form and authentic. >> reporter: something pence ultimately refused to do. >> we have sent ms. thomas a letter asking her to come talk to the committee. >> reporter: ginny thomas issued

a short response, saying she can't wait to clear up misconceptions. i look forward to talking to them. eastman denying he ever discussed election litigation that might come before the supreme court with ginny thomas or justice clarence thomas, writing we would never engage in such discussions and did not do so in december 2020 or anytime else. while the committee has requested cooperation from witnesses, it has refused to share transcripts of all its interviews with the justice department. >> we are not going to stop what we're doing to share the information that we've gotten so far with the department of justice. we have to do our work. >> reporter: cnn has learned the panel is running into problems securing witnesses for an upcoming hearing about trump's efforts to pressure the justice department to support and promote his false election fraud

claims. while squjeffrey rosen and rich donahue are expected to appear, the committee is so far striking out with pat cipollone, the former white house lawyer credited with talking some sense into trump by threatening to resign. sources say cipollone is not expected to join the hearing in person, despite already talking to the committee privately. and the "new york times" is also reporting that the committee could start sharing transcripts of those witness interviews with the justice department as soon as next month. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. earlier, we discussed the hearings with cnn legal analyst, lonnie colmes. she said so far it put pressure on the justice department to file charges against the major players. >> the committee hearings have really upped the pressure on the department of justice. with every hearing, the evidence has gotten stronger and

stronger. and i think that people are looking at this and not asking the question is there evidence to link donald trump to this, they're now saying why would you not file charges, and how many charges are you going to file? but this committee laid out at the very beginning that they were going to put out evidence that this was a sophisticated plan that he had to try and overturn this election and maintain power, and that's exactly what the evidence is showing. i think it's been a very compelling way to present it, with the multi-media, with the videos and the witness statements and the live witnesses, and that also the committee members coming on here, smexplaining exactly what going on and step by step and the timeline, everyone watching it can say look, this is very clear that donald trump did commit these charges. >> thanks to cnn analyst, lonnie coombs. our coverage is set to begin

1:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. in london. officials in moscow were able to visit paul whelan in a russian prison on friday. the first time he has been visited since last november. he has been in russian custody since december 2018 when he says he was wrongfully detained and convicted of espionage charges. still to come here on "cnn newsroom," china launches its most advanced aircraft carrier yet as the nation rushes to catch up to the military prowess of the u.s. a media set to square off in colombia's election.

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a forensic dental examination in brazil confirms that human remains found in the amazon belong to british

journalist dom phillips. he was reported missing from a remote area of the amazon two weeks ago. police have issued arrest warrants. the killings weren't part of organized crime but an indigenous organization disagrees with that assessment. colombians head to the polls to pick their next president. they'll be choosing between a former guerilla fighter and colombia's self-proclaimed king of tiktok. in colombia, presidents serve for one four-year term. some of the key issue, the country's economy, many in latin america have been battered by the covid-19 pandemic, income inequality, corruption, a rapidly degrading security

situation from drug gangs. tensions simmer with the west over china's action in the indo-pacific region. cnn's celina wang reports. >> reporter: china launched its third and most-advanced aircraft carrier on friday. it is a milestone in china's race to catch up to the u.s.'s military capabilities. experts are calling this china's first foray into the modern aircraft carrier. its launch system is similar to the one used by american ones and will allow china to launch more types of aircraft faster and with more ammunition. china's two other aircraft carriers had capabilities far behind the usa which has a total of 11 aircraft carriers.

china's other two were based on outdated technology. they have the largest naval force and aircraft carriers are critical to any major power's fleet. the massive ships are a mobile air base that allows quick and long-term deployment to combat areas. it comes amid growing tensions with the u.s. president biden has been trying to strengthen ties with allies in the asia-pacific region. but this aircraft carrier lags behind american ones which have more catapults, a large are airway and elevators. this one is believed to run on conventional steam poe pull shun which limits its reach. celina wang, cnn. president biden says he's

confident that america can overcome this slump. the cryptocurrency market is also having a really tough week with bit conecoin taking a big tumble. is this real money disappearing? we'll have the answer after the break. ststay with us. with fragrance that's always fresh, never overprpowering. air wiwick. connect to nature. - that moment you walk in the office and people are wearing the same gear, you feel a sense of connectedness and belonging right away. and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products to help u feel connected. upload your logo ortart your design today at customink.com moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq

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welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and all around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." it was another rocky day on wall street after the federal reserve hiked interest rates this week to tame soaring inflation. stocks tried to stage a comeback, but it failed to overcome the effects of the prior day's selloff.

the nasdaq gained more than 1%, the s&p closed marginally higher. wages are climbing at the fastest rate since the 1980s, but since inflation has risen, americans have take and pay cut. president biden admits that inflation is taking a toll on families as cross the country. >> reporter: higher prices are plaguing president biden as he promises the nation he's working on bringing them down. >> i'm using every lever available to me to bring down prices for the american people. >> reporter: the white house growing only more concerned after mortgage rates surge over half a percentage point this week amid an interest rate hike from the federal reserve. biden defending his record. >> with russia's war driving up

inflation worldwide, threatening vulnerable countries with severe food short abance, we have to w together. >> reporter: larry summers, who was criticized bit biden administration for saying inflation would rise is now predicting a recession in the next two years. >> we are likely to have a recession. we have overheated the economy and gotten some bad luck. when the pendulum swings too far one way, it tends to swing back the other way. >> reporter: biden disagrees, telling "the associated press" a recession is not inevitable and declaring the u.s. is in a stronger position than any nation to overcome this inflation. still, the white house is scrambling for solutions. >> we understand the anxiety, the president understands the anxiety, is focussed on what he can do to lower costs for families, address the price of

gasoline although that is set on the world market. >> reporter: he debated sending rebate cards to hope pay at gas stations but that is unlikely due to the complicated logistics. >> all options are on the table because he understands the pain this is causing for families. >> reporter: biden telling the associated press that people are really, really down following two years of covid, a volatile economy and soaring gas prices. biden saying, quote, they're really down. their need for mental health in america has skyrocketed because people have seen everything upset. and also in this interview, president biden argued that the idea that the american rescue plan which he got passed through congress caused inflation and led to higher prices is bizarre. you've seen that argument made by republicans that it at least contributed to it. this was a rare interview for president biden to do, which does go to concerns the white house has about messaging when

it comes to the economy. the u.s. national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has fall and bit from its record high earlier this week. new figures from aaa put the average price at $4.98 a gallon. oil and gas prices have soared around the world since russia invaded ukraine in february. u.s. vice president kamala harris says the u.s. has made progress in alleviating the infant formula shortage. the u.s. will have brought in the equivalent 13 million eight-ounce bottles of formula. at banks raise interest rates, some traders have been

dumping riskier investments which include cryptocurrencies. b bitcoin has plunged and is trading just under 19,000, from a high of $69,000. people will ask, is this real money disappearing? well, it sure seems to be. scale those comparisons and billions of dollars actually being lost. joining me now is eva welsh, the professor of finance at the anderson school of finance. we've seen crypto values plummet, companies laying off staff, some have halted withdrawal. but it wasn't supposed to be like this. one of the points of crypto was meant as a hedge against inflation if the normal markets were flooded with cash, bitcoin

had a built-in limit in its supply, right? so with inflation soaring, this should have been crypto's moment to shine. why has it crashed now? >> this was only hyped by its advocates, so i don't think reasonable academics ever considered it to be a good hedge against inflation or for that matter against anything. >> so is it just that it's, even though it's supposed to be untethered from the main markets it's become more convergent? >> for the most part, it's not just about convergence. crypto was always some sort of ponzi scheme where people invested in pabecause they saw their friends getting rich and they thought money would fall from heaven , and if they put i some money that would come as well. to see this collapse, all the markets get rattled, all of them get worried.

some may have to pull money out because they have margin calls and something else. but crypto never was a great investment. >> the worst may be yet to come here, right? a company called tether has been called the lifeblood of crypto, it's the main issuer of table coin, and those are essentially tied to the u.s. dollar. and the point is that anyone who wants to exchange any of those stablecoins for u.s. dollars can do a do that easily, but if too many people try to do that at the same time, that would be a bank run essentially. how likely a scenario is that, do you think? >> almost surely it will happen. it's not just that the worst could come, it's almost surely that the worst is yet to come. in the end, most cryptocurrency is going to be worth zero. it is like a giant game of

musical chairs. the vast majority are going to be left holding the bag and get nothing for their money. i don't know whether it's going to happen very soon, in three years or five year, but intrinsically, online stock or anything else that gives you a dividend flow, earning, there's nothing intrinsic to these cryptocurrencies' value. they're essentially useless. if i were an investor, i would make sure that i can afford losing whatever money very in cryptocurrency, because there is a very good chance that it may lose everything in the end. >> yeah, you've been a long critic of crypto. the problem is that wholesale crash in crypto could affect non-crypto markets as well, right? we're all kind of tied together. >> a little bit, but i'm less

worried about that as i'm worried about the small little investors who really can't afford to be in there who leveraged themselves because they thought this was a quick g get-rich scheme, and i'm more worried about what will happen for them. in the scheme of thing, even though crypto is a lot of money over the years, it's not that large within world markets, so. >> let me jump in. you're worried about small investors. what would it mean for a country like el salvador that's invested heavily in crimypto and plannedo build its economy around it. >> el salvador is really msmall country in the scheme of things. not everyone in el salvador is invested in crypto that much either. it's not trivial, and it's not

nothing, but it's not major. >> finally, this may highlight the need for more regulation. would you agree with that? >> if it was regulated, it wouldn't exist, so it's really hard to recommend more regulation for it. >> all right, we'll have to leave it there. thanks so much for being with us. appreciate it. >> been a pleasure. a city near the front lines holding out against a russian military onslaught. next we take to you a place in eastern ukraine where sheer survival has become a way of life. stay with us. i'm jonathan lawawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the thr ps.

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negotiations are under way to evacuate hundreds of civilians stranded at a chemical plant in sievierodonetsk, from a ukrainian regional official who

says the talks include a possible cease-fire. but russian attacks are taking a devastating devastating toll on a city just across the river from there. ben wedeman reports. >> reporter: a city that has been in the line of fire for months. a school basement serves as shelter for dozens of residents. she shows us where they sleep. the only light provided by our camera. everyone is outside now, she says, because it's too dark and hard to breathe down here. outside they wait as soup cooks over a fire. there's no gas, no power, no water, she tells me. we have nothing. most are old, tired, terrified and beyond can despair. i'm alone, says 82-year-old

masha. my legs are tired. i can't go anywhere. ludmilla is leaving. we thought it would calm down, but it only gets worse and worse, she says. i can't take tehese sounds anymore. natalia is leaving, too. the win dmoes my house are broken, she says. there's a huge crater by my house. it's the end of the world. the sunny weather belies what has become a post apocalyptic existence. resident line up for unfiltered water so they can wash and flush toilets. almost four months of war with no end in sight. frustration flares. where's our mayor! where's our governor! they should have come here at least once. just across the river, the savage street fighting rages in

sievierodonetsk. this isn't thnear the front. it is the front. at 3 check:00 in the afternoon, russian aircraft hit this building. it was serving as a shelter. three people were killed. it goes to show that there is nowhere here that is safe. ludmilla was in that building. her husband injured in the strike. yesterday he was crushed under the rubble, she says. she can do nothing but weep. she waits for a ride to see him in hospital. ben wedeman, cnn. last hour i spoke with a man who knows that area of eastern ukraine very well. h he is an economic expert who

lived in sevievierodonetsk. >> i was involved in fund raising and coordinating with local volunteers to get civilians evacuated from the city. and the conditions have become just absolutely hellish. people are afraid to even get out of their bombomb shelters. despite urgent pleas to government. unfortunately, there's just total war in our city right now. i spent six years in sievierodonetsk in the luhansk area. and for me, it's intensely difficult to watch. everything that i knew there be destroyed or occupied and placed under a regime of intense

ideological pressure and terror by russian occupying force. >> he spoke with me a short time ago. a dangerous heat wave is affecting much of the u.s. this weekend. we'll get the details from the cnn weather center, plus city officials in rome are waging war against electric s scooters. that's ahead. stay with us. provides an ununn on 24 hour dried-on stains. skip the rinse with finish to save our water.

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parts of western europe are coping with a dangerous heat wave. in france, two locations reached all-time temperature records on friday. and other places set monthly records. heat is expected across much of the area. including paris, which could see the hottest june day yet. in london, a hottest level three has opinion in effect. average liz cheney is requesting emergency assistance from the biden administration as yellowstone park remains closed.

ch cheney is asking pete buttigieg for money to make repairs. it is called a one in 500-year event, which has a one in 500 chance of happening any year. it forced 0,10,000 visitors outf the park. elsewhere, americans are sweltering in a heat wave. a new june record for electricity demand was set on thursday. in texas, they are determining whether a possible human smuggling event was behind the deaths of heat exposure. it is a serious problem for many people across the country. >> it's interesting that you brought up the tennessee situation. weig we are testing the limits of our electrical grid. especially when we have power outages from severe weather and

you combine that with extreme heat you are putting those transition lines under serious pressure to perform, especially when you need to cool homes. well that is going to be a problem going forward here. because look at what we have ahead of us. within the next week we have a potential to break over 130 record high temperatures across the central and eastern u.s. here we go again, right? heat wave round two. at the moment, we're kind of in between the most excessive heat. so we just got past what was a brutal, brutal week of heat across the ohio riff river valley. and now heat watches taking place across the nation's mid section for our next round of heat. here it is. the heat dome. we talk about theiis so often. it literally is trapping the hot air near the surface where we all live. and we're going to see that build across the nation's mid

section and settle in across areas that were impacted so hard this past week. here's a look at the temperature trend. you can see how daytime highs will start to flirt with 100 degree mark for indianapolis, chicago, 99. the urban heat island effect. it could easily feel like 105 degrees in the windy city. atlanta, you're going to get hot and break that 100-degree mark. now across the other part of the world. this is in france. this is serious heat as well. on friday alone, they had set all-time record highs for the country of france, never been that high in those two locations. what an incredible amount of heat. the earliest they've ever record 102 degrees this early. >> thanks so much, derek van dam, appreciate it. tourists are roaring back to the streets of rome, and now

they have a new problem, the use of e scooters. >> reporter: rome has battled many invaders in its nearly 2,800 year history. but perhaps none quite like the electronic scooter. first introduced in the city three years ago as an ecological alternative during the pandemic, they have now become an invasive species. there are more than 14,000 registered e-scooters for rent in the italian capital, but very few are actually used. >> number of the scooter that is used in this moment is 2%. >> reporter: and that is a problem. head of the italian union for the blind and visually impaired tells us it is a particular challenge for disabled people. >> translator: there are many problems with the scooters. first is the parking, they

should be installed, not all o over the sidewalks. because people who cannot see and elderly and people with a stroller have to walk. >> reporter: arebut the streets aren't safe either. >> to ride around town where it's nearly impossible in a car, this is it. >> reporter: the scooters are used mostly by tourists who don't always seem to follow the rules. the scooters are supposed to have only one person on them at a time many they are not allowed on the sidewalks and share riders are supposed to be at least 18 years old. in june, an american couple was fined over $800 for throwing a rented e-scooter down these steps, causing $26,000 worth of damage to the marble steps, and

now the city council says it will reduce the number of scooters from 14,000 to 9,000 and the number of companies renting them from selfven to three. they were supposed to help stifling traffic but they are actually making it worse. >> it is very dangerous. >> reporter: rome, as the saying goes, wasn't built in a day, and its scooter problems won't be solved in one either. cnn, rome. >> that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm kim brunhuber. i'll be back in just a moment with more news, please do stay with us. why choose proven quality sleep from the sleep number 360 smart bed?

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♪ hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and all around the world, i'm kim brunhuber. ahead on "cnn newsroom" -- >> but i never called mike pence a whimp. i never called him a whimp. >> donald trump is backlashing out at the january 6th hearings and contradicting testimony given under oath. this has the committee struggles lining up key witnesses. ukraine is one step closer to joining the european union. president zelenskyy says it also