hello, and welcome to viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching cnn newsroom. just ahead, the russian president announces a partial mobilization, as a separatists in ukraine look set to vote on joining russia. the florida government is being sued after flying migrants out of texas, but the migrant crisis is so much larger than ron desantis. we explore what is driving people to the u.s.-mexico border. struck the force of hurricane

fiona pick cnn is on the ground in puerto rico to show you the path of destruction. live, from cnn center, this is a cnn newsroom, with rosemary church. >> thanks for being with us. we are following new developments out of moscow. vladimir putin is ordering a partial mobilization in russia to support his invasion of ukraine. the russian president says it begins today, and people in reserves, and those who have previously served in the armed forces, will be subject to conscription. let's bring in cnn's clare sebastian picture joins us live from london. what exactly will this order from putin for a partial mobilization mean for ukraine, and of course, for russia?

>> rosemarie, this is a significant moment for russia, it is a partial mobilization, not full-scale conscription but we know that russian forces have had trouble replenishing their ranks on the battlefield, they have been using prisoners to do that, freeing them and taking them to ukraine. as well as mercenaries. have a listen to what president putin had to say about this mobilization. >> i think it is necessary to support the decision to partially mobilize citizens of the russian federation. i would like to underline, this is a partial mobilization. >> so, a partial mobilization, taking into account the citizens who are in the reserve, that is about 2 million, the estimate as of february. those that have served in the armed forces and military specialties and relevant experience, is what he said, those will be subject to

conscription. so, that is highly significant. he also said the order would beef up the procurement of weapons, as well. he really made the point through this speech that he feels that russia is under attack. he talked about the western weapons supplied to ukraine being used to attack russian territory like the belgorod region and crimea. he said it russia and the west is trying to weaken, divide, and ultimately destroy our country, russia, was the quote. at the end of the speech, putin claimed without evidence, that nato members have been making explicit nuclear threats against russia. he said,", i want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction. he went on to say that if territorial integrity is present we will use all the means of our disposal to protect

russia and its people. this is not a bluff. a strongly worded speech from vladimir putin who, as we know, is currently facing extreme losses on the battlefield in terms of territory and personnel. >> claire, the other big issue is the plan to hold referenda in russian occupied territories of ukraine, this weekend, in an effort to join russia, a move which, of course, has the u.s. and europe on edge. what will be the consequences of this? >> that appears to have been the trigger, in some ways, for this speech. president putin says he supports the decisions of this region, which make up the donbas, and to others, the zaporizhzhia region and curzon in the south. we can see that russia's goal of taking the donbas has expanded to wrap around the southern coast of ukraine, as well. these votes are likely to be free and fair if you take into account the president of crimea in the context of this is a war, but could provide cover for russia to claim that this is now war footing, ukraine is

not only defending itself but of course, attacking with russia claims to be its own territory. >> clare sebastian joining us live from london with that report, thanks as always. with troop morale low, and territorial gains disappearing, russia is sending convicts and mercenaries to the battlefield, in parts of ukraine. nick paton walsh reports from the front lines in the eastern city. >> reporter: the mood here is black and old, from a time past , ukraine did not feel it was winning, taking heavy losses, struggling to hold on. but, the russian enemy is something you. knew. >> this is the front line with russian positions 100 meters away from where i am standing. >> the kremlin really wants the city, so here, on its edges, it has sent riskless mercenaries

from the wagner group to fight. the shelling, and was. endless. >> reporter: we are taking up to their vantage point, from where they see wagner fighters rush them, leading ukrainian forces to open fire. >> they say the russian wagner mercenaries appear to try to run at them, exposing ukrainian positions, so the russian artillery can hit where they are . >> reporter: the field between them, charred and pockmarked. they are almost eyeball to eyeball. the next attack is imminent. we can see a mortar unit, a drone operator says preparing to fire. down in the shelter, the commander says they have captured russian convicts who were recruited to fight. >> translator: it was get shot or surrender.

>> reporter: wagner act professionally, not like usual infantry units. shells continue to land around them. buck mood is a mess. russia is edging towards it, but not inside. prepared for street to street fighting, meanwhile, 20 pieces. the losses are heavy, and exposed positions around the city, particularly here. tearing through the green treasured land claims to covet. >> reporter: they retreated elsewhere and need a victory, so they throw forces here. of course we have casualties. not today, in our unit, but you can't avoid dead or wounded or heavily injured. i lost my close friend five days after we came here. if you roads away, andre is

cycling home. his eyes tell you how life is, here. of course the shooting, but there is no ellipticity or waterpik it's not too bad, only every second house is ruined. there are still many people here, buying a lot of potatoes. natality sold half the time here, who knows of the shelling is coming or going. don't be scared, she said. >> reporter: 24 hours later, ukrainian artillery is hitting the city's edge, amid reports that russia has gotten closer. much fresh smoke, but it is always hard to know what moscow thought it was sitting. walking home with a squeaky wheel and food is maria, back to her son.

silence, and terror, enveloping the city. cnn, bakhmut, ukraine. back in the united states, attorneys for the group of migrants flown from texas to massachusetts have filed a class action lawsuit against florida's governor, and others, saying they defrauded them to advise a political motive. florida governor ron desantis arranged for two planes to fly nearly 50 migrants, mostly from venezuela to martha's vineyard last week. his office responded to the lawsuit on tuesday, saying the migrants were moved on a voluntary basis. the republican governors have also sent migrants to the so- called sanctuary cities, to protest what they have described as the failure of the biden administration to secure the u.s. that imported. cnn's reporter has more.

>> reporter: the streets around this city run migrant shelter in san antonio are confusing and overwhelming for hundreds of migrants who have crossed the border seeking asylum, and have stepped into the swamp of american immigration politics. >> reporter: we met these men, one from cuba, another from venezuela. they had heard about the plane florida governor ron desantis sent here to move 50 migrants out of texas last week. they told us they had just been offered a similar deal on monday. >> reporter: of course, he says, we were told there would be plenty of work is not so many migrants. >> reporter: they offered you a flight to another state but you did not know where? >> reporter: he says they pulled up next to us in beautiful trucks. they offered us hotel rooms with a pool and a gift card for food, and they told us they could take us on a flight where we will be taken to a refuge.

they rejected the offer, because they said, it felt strange. attorneys for some of the dozens of migrants transported from texas to martha's vineyard have filed a class action lawsuit against florida governor ron desantis in federal court, claiming they were deprived of liberty and due process over an unlawful goal and a personal political agenda. this, after the bear county sheriff in texas says his office is opening a criminal investigation into the matter. >> is, in fact, these people were lied to, like they say they were. if they were taken under false pretenses to another part of the country it could qualify as a human trafficking case. >> reporter: even though the migrants were not in his state, florida governor ron desantis has claimed responsibility for sending them to massachusetts, and he defended the process on tuesday, saying those migrants were treated poorly by the biden administration. >> they were hungry and homeless with no opportunity at all. volunteer, offered transport to sanctuary jurisdictions, because it is our view that borders should be secure and we

want to have biden reinstitute policies like remain in mexico, making sure that people are not overwhelming. >> reporter: state budget records shows that the florida department of transportation paid 950,000 taxpayer dollars to an aviation company based in florida. days after, mars migrants were flown to martha's vineyard. according to the governor's office, more than 8000 migrants have been bussed from texas to washington, d.c., and 675 to chicago. 2600 migrants to new york. a number which is expected to climb. >> i think the governor of texas, and others, are at fault for creating this man-made humanitarian crisis. >> reporter: several migrants, last week, told us there was a woman in san antonio who was involved in getting migrants on the flight.

we asked the sheriff as they have been able to identify that women. the sheriff says they know several people who were involved in getting migrants on those flights, but he would not identify exactly who these people are. he says right now, they are trying to figure out exactly what they were up to, when they were hanging around this migrant shelter in the city. cnn, san antonio, texas. earlier, i spoke with adam isaacson, the director for defense oversight of washington office unless in america. he has spent nearly 3 decades working to solve migration problems at the root of crises like this one. listen as he describes the tremendous challenges that migrants face. >> it is a remarkable journey. in some cases, they came from as far south as you can go. more than 6 million people have left venezuela, out of 30 million, in the last seven years or so. many of them tried to settle in

south america. a lot of the people on that plane had been living in the southern part of southern america. they ended up crossing about 10 countries on their way to the u.s.-mexico border. whenever i talked to migrants who have taken this route, but they always talk about is a place called the darien gap. it is where the pan-american highway ends along the panama and colombian border. you need to walk through 60 miles of jungle which is completely ungoverned and i've had migrants tell me, and some of these venezuelans have said, i saw dead bodies. i heard of women being raped. because of that, the darien gap has been a barrier for migration for a long time. no longer. last month, 31,000 people migrated through the gap on their way to the united states. 82,500 of them were venezuelan. this is a route that has opened up, now, despite the dangers and shows how desperate people are, but it also shows that they are willing to take on

this arduous journey without a penny in their pockets, just to try to escape repression in venezuela and make a living in the united states. >> let's get to the root of that. when they are confronting a journey as dangerous as that, as you mentioned, they must be in very desperate circumstances in their own country, to want to flee. what are they fleeing exactly? >> venezuela, over the course of this country, has devolved from democracy to one of the most repressive dictatorships in the western hemisphere. at the same time, that dictatorship mishandled the economy, so venezuela used to be one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere and is now one of the poorest. power is rarely on even in large cities. potable water is hard to get. the health system has collapsed. if you don't have access to dollars, because of inflation and devaluation, if you make the equivalent of maybe four dollars per day, you are putting your kids to bed

hungry. people have fallen out of the middle class into poverty. so you roll all of that together, repression and need, and you have had this wave of migration starting around the middle of the 2010s, and now, really just since the middle of last year, starting to make its way up to the u.s.-mexico border. >> our thanks to adam isaacson for his insight, there. still to come, gathering in crisis. the u.n. general assembly begins day to in the hours ahead. but, ukraine is not the only issue at the top of the agendad we are back with that in just a momement. - custom ink helps us motivate our students with custom gear. we love how custom ink takes care of everything we need, so we can focus on the kids. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products to help you feel connected. upload your lo or start your design today at customink.com

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welcome back.

ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy will address the 77th session of the u.n. general assembly today. on friday, the world body voted down russia's objection to letting volodymyr zelenskyy speak virtually. u.s. president joe biden will use his speech to rally the world against the war. he is expected to argue that the information is a violation of the un's 1945 charter. >> u.n. secretary-general antonio gutierrez kicked off tuesday's session with an impassioned plea for action on the environment. he wants higher taxes on energy companies windfall profits to help countries hurt by the climate crisis, and global inflation. >> let's have no illusions. we are in rough seas. a winter of global discontent is on the horizon. a cost-of-living crisis is raging, trust is crumbling, inequality is exploding, and our planet is burning.

>> president biden also has meetings planned with the u.n. secretary-general, as well as british prime minister liz truss. for more now on day two of the general assembly from senior u.n. correspondent richard roth. >> reporter: it is rare for the u.s. president to adjust his speaking slot at the u.n. general assembly. instead of going in the traditional u.s. slot behind brazil, he will go later today. in fact he will be going several speakers after the president of iran. u.s. officials say president biden will condemn russia strongly for the invasion of ukraine and also comment on security council reform. many world leaders criticized russia during their speeches on tuesday. the french president denounced russia for its invasion, and condemned those who were trying to remain neutral on the affair. >> translator: those who are

keeping silent, today, are in a way complicit with a wave of new imperialism. a new order that is trampling over the current order, and there is no peace possible, here. >> the french president, denounced as fake the plant referendums announced in eastern ukraine, yesterday. as for iran, the french president also met with uranian president yesterday the two men discussing the stalled nuclear deal.died after president trump withdrew the u.s. from the agreement. the iranians want guarantees, western countries feel they have gone far enough. the french president said the ball is in iran's court. cnn, the united nations. all eyes will be on the u.s. federal reserve on wednesday with another interest rate hike expected. wall street has been on edge, with the dow dropping another

300 points on tuesday. investors are bracing for interest rates to rise another three quarters of a percentage point. if the fed can strike a delicate balance between bringing down inflation and preventing a recession. you can see, in the negative territory, in anticipation of what lies ahead. then, a quick look at how markets in asia are looking. you can see all the negative territory there, the nikkei index down 1.3 6%. going against the grain, but only just come up for the rest in negative territory. still to come, questions swirl over donald trump's claims that the documents found at mar-a- lago were declassified as the special master holds his first hearing. the details, just ahead. ck to .

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let's get you up to speed on our tops story this hour. russian president vladimir putin is ordering a partial mobilization to boost his military readiness in ukraine. members of the reserves, and people with previous military experience, will be subject to conscription. take a listen to the russian president in his address which aired last hour. >> translator: their goal is to weaken and destroy our country.

in 1991 they broke up the soviet union, and now, it is time for russia, russia must fall apart into different regions. >> back in the united states, the judge tasked to serve as a special master over documents seized at mark donald trump's mar-a-lago resort, the issue of whether or not those documents were declassified was front and center in court. jessica schneider reports from washington. >> reporter: tonight, the special master brings together trump's lawyers, and attorneys for the justice department, to hammer out how to proceed with the review of the 11,000 documents taken from mar-a- lago, including 100 documents marked classified.

>> i have the absolute right to declassified. absolute. >> reporter: trump has repeatedly argued he has the power to declassify documents and that he did declassify the documents at issue but his legal team has yet to make that claim to a court or provide evidence that trump did so. in a new filing at the 11th circuit court of appeals, responding to the doj appeal, trump's team has said it is on the government to prove they are classified. the government presupposes that the government documents it claims are classified are classified, however, the government has not yet proven this critical fact. tonight, judge raymond deary, who the trump team had a direct hand in choosing, telling trump that he may have no choice but to accept the government's claims that the documents are classified if he is given no proof to the contrary. from's legal team arguing it is too early in the case for them to have to reveal any evidence of declassification since that

could be there defensive trump is indicted. the special master telling trump's team, you can't have your cake and eat it. trumps allies continue to classify criticize the search of mar-a-lago last month, and now, 11 republican-led states have filed a brief in the 11th circuit in support of trump's bid for a special master review in light of the extraordinary circumstance of a presidential administration ransacking the home of its one time, and possibly future political rival. >> no one gets to keep classified information outside of the place classified information should be. for the department of justice to behave the way they did, by raiding the home of a former president, is absolutely outrageous. >> republican congress woman liz cheney, who serves as vice chair of the january 6th committee, pushes back against the idea that the doj acted politically. >> elected leaders of my party are now willing to condemn fbi agents, department of justice officials, and pretend that's taking top-secret sei documents, and keeping them in a desk drawer in an office at mar-a-lago, or in an unsecured location anywhere, is somehow

not a problem. bit by bit, excuse by excuse, we are putting donald trump above the law. >> reporter: the next move in the court fight could be from the 11th circuit court of appeals and they could be inclined to move quickly since the special master is ready to review those documents. the doj wants to keep away from the special master and trumps legal team. the doj attorney told the special master in court that if they lose in the 11th circuit, they are ready to appeal, meaning this case could go to the supreme court. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. still to come, hurricane fiona strengthens to a category four storm. we will track its path as it moves further into the atlantic. we are back in just a moment. go betetty! let's be more than our allergies! zeize the day. zyrtec.

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caribbean, at least five deaths have been reported. puerto rico has managed to restore power to 300,000 customers. but, more than 1 million remain without power on tuesday, amid the difficult cleanup. let's turn to meteorologist pedro, what is the latest? >> this is a category four hurricane with the potential to strengthen beyond where we are seeing it right now. the incredible size of the storm as well. you look at fiona's cloud feel from its northern to southern fringe, essentially inside the state of alaska running almost 600 miles towards its southern friends. notice this, 130 mile sustained wind at the eye wall. we are still seeing some of the outer bands impacting the turks and caicos as the system poles north eight miles per hour. that is the good news for turks and caicos as they have been battered here with more than 10 inches in the past 24 hours.

moving into favorable conditions when the water temperatures climb into the middle 80s. well warm enough to allow the system to flourish, and possibly get into a healthy category four or borderline category five in the next couple of days. cooler waters eventually ahead of it, and the forecast is guys does not want to bring this uncomfortably close to bermuda. you will notice across bermuda that government has issued a hurricane watch in advance of the system. we expect this to strengthen to 140 miles per hour to maintain that intensity through to thursday night, possible closest approach about 150 miles west of bermuda at this point into early friday morning. the storm, because it is so large, the outer bands could still send tropical storm force went into the bermuda. it eventually ends up into the canadian maritimes here, this could bring snow showers across portions of canada. the first of the season across the region. the system had tropical characteristics, eventually producing snow showers into canada. >> thanks so much, again, for tracking all of that. appreciate it.

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we are learning more about what happened, and who was there, the day a georgia county voting system was breached. new surveillance video shows pro-trump operatives and a fake trump elector inside a restricted area for hours, in january of 2021. the video is part of a years long investigation into

election interference in georgia. cnn's senior investigative correspondent reports. >> reporter: the newly obtained surveillance video shows a republican county official and a team of operatives working for trump attorney sidney powell inside a restricted area of the local elections office in georgia. among those seen, kathy latham, a former gop chairwoman of coffee county, under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elect door in 2020. although she can be seen escorting the team latham previously claimed she was not personally involved in the breach. the video appears to undercut that claim, showing her inside as a team of republican operatives work on computers in your election equipment, and proceeded to access voting data. scott hall, and atlanta bail bondsman and republican poll watcher is one of the people who spend hours inside the restricted area.

paul later described what he did. >> i'm the guy who chartered the deck to go down to coffee county, to have them inspect all of those computers. and i have heard zero. i went down there, we scanned every freaking ballot, and scanned all the equipment and all the hard drive, and scanned every single ballot. >> the georgia secretary of state's office called what happened in coffee county criminal behavior, and a state criminal investigation is underway. but, election experts say the damage could be even bigger than the illegal accessing of voting equipment in georgia, and other parts of the country. these operatives may be undermining the security of elections in the future. >> in most cases, to complete a successful attack you may need

a physical access to the machines. so, these efforts to unlawfully gain access to the machines opens up a new threat but we have not seen in the past. >> reporter: the video shows access to this restricted elections office went on for weeks. people connected to efforts to overturn election results kept showing up. new video shows an i.t. specialist working with election deniers named jeffrey lindbergh, entering the restricted area more than two weeks after the initial breach. dan burn is under criminal investigation by a special prosecutor in michigan. in a series of voting system breaches there. in a recent interview, he said he did not personally breach the machines, in what he called, testing. >> all of the testing of equipment was operated by the local election officials there. we did not touch it. >> reporter: one person is adamant in all of this that they did nothing wrong which is kathy latham. she is the republican party chairperson who let those

people into that elections office, according to an attorney, she says that ms. latham has not acted improperly or illegally. we will find out, as investigations in swing states across the country proceed to find out what was going on with visa data breaches. cnn, atlanta. donald trump ally and my pillow see eo mike lindell is challenging the seizure of his cell phone in court. it was done as part of any litigation into a colorado election security breach. lindel alleges it may have been an illegal search without having properly explained his rights. he wants to block the justice department from having access to his phone data, which he says he uses for his business, and other personal matters. the department of justice had obtained a warrant approved by a federal judge to perform the

search according to the court record. the final farewell to queen elizabeth drew global attention and an outpouring of support for the royal family. there has also been scrutiny aimed at prince andrew, as the world is reminded of his ties to jeffrey epstein. jake tapper has more. >> reporter: for some, in the uk, prince andrew's pain and loss of his mother, the queen, does not let him off the hook for his close friendship with jeffrey epstein, and alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl. the prince may prefer to stay mostly out of the limelight as he grieves the loss of his mother, queen elizabeth ii. but, public appearances are bringing renewed public scrutiny of his relationship with underage sex trafficker and pedophile jeffrey epstein, which has been immeasurably difficult for his victims.

according to spencer kuvin, who represents nine of epstein's survivors, telling us that while the victims he represents one of the world to mourn for the queen, he says, quote, and we should not be able to rehabilitate his image through this tragedy. the only thing that will help his past conduct is a full accounting of his past, and sitting for interviews with u.s. authorities regarding his conduct. then there are the specific allegations andrews sexually assaulted an underage girl, virginia defray. she said she met at the royal through his longtime friend, epstein. >> he knows what happened. i know what happened. there is only one of us telling the truth and i know that is me. >> the prince has denied these accusations. >> i can tell you, categorically, i don't remember meeting her, at all. i do not remember a photograph being taken, and i have said consistently, and frequently, that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatsoever. >> the royal, prince andrew, remerge to be the queen's

favorite paid an undisclosed amount to defray in a undisclosed settlement. still, andrew remains eighth in line to the throne and has had a conspicuous role in funerary ceremonies. he is an official counselor of state, meaning he could temporarily fill in for king charles iii, if necessary. calling the late queen, quote, dear mommy, mother, your majesty, three in one. ", mommy, your love for your son, your care and confidence i will treasure forever. following the payment to his accuser, the prince claimed in a statement that he would help u.s. officials in their investigation of epstein. of course, i am willing to help any law enforcement agency with their investigations if required, he said. it appears that the prince was

actually less than willing. the former top u.s. prosecutor on that case, jeff berman, told me that prince andrew was uncooperative to say the least. >> what we wanted was the information. he said he was willing to give it to us. he did not give it to us but he stonewalled us. as of the day i left, he was stonewalling. >> reporter: berman revealing to cnn that he got nowhere with the palace or uk government in his efforts to talk to the prince. >> his lawyers gave us the runaround. we even filed a official request to interview a foreign witness with government officials in the uk, and that got stonewalled. >> now it seems even less likely that prince andrew will ever be held to keep his promise, leaving those seeking justice to wonder what else officials could learn about jeffrey epstein, and his perverse circle of associates. >> our thanks to jake tapper for that report. the washington monument was temporarily closed on tuesday, after being vandalized. the u.s. park police say a man splashed red paint and wrote a profane message on the face of the monument. he was taken into custody a

short time later. >> united states park police took an adult male into custody for vandalizing the base of the monument. he was transported to our station and the investigation at this time. we will take an assessment of everything in totality of the circumstances, and we will determine the most appropriate charges for the individual. >> the attraction was due to reopen today. park police do not know yet if the temporary closure will affect visiting hours. >> the national park service has a conservation team. conservators have already been notified that they will be out first thing in the morning to begin the removal process. marble is a very porous material so we need to get to it quickly before it absorbs much of the paint. >> the iconic structure on the national mall is named for george washington, the country's first president. the obelisk was completed in

1888. scientists have finally answered the question which has probably been eating away at them for ages. how many ants are on earth? the answer, 20 quadrillion. that is a 20 with 15 zeros after it. a number they describe as unimaginable. scientists from the university of hong kong analyzed almost 500 different studies to come up with that figure. if you took all the ants and put them on a scale, it would way more than all the mammals and birds on the planet, combined. can you believe that? once more, they say there are 2 1/2 million ants for every million human on earth. thank you for spending part of your day today. i am rosemary church. the news continues with christina mcfarland, next. have a great day.

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. . our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. i'm christina mcfarland in for max foster. russian president vladimir putin takes a drastic step. we'll break down where things go from here. plus, more fallout after florida's governor sends more than 60 migrants to massachusetts. wall street is on edge with the federal reserv