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zelenskyy telling cnn in an exclusive interview that vladimir putin is weak, that his power is crumbling. you'll also hear what the ukrainian president said about the ongoing counteroffensive and what it will take for this war to finally end. turns out it was not just georgia. new cnn reporting that former president trump pressured the governor of arizona to overturn that state's election results in 2020. he pressured his own vice president to find fraud there. now mike pence is responding. new emails revealing more disturbing warnings about the safety of the titan submersible before its doomed trip, including one from a former oceangate employee who said you couldn't pay him to go down on the sub. we're following these stories all coming in right here to "cnn news central". ♪

vladimir putin has lost command of entire ranks of the russian military. that's what ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is telling cnn's erin burnett in an exclusive interview. watch this. >> translator: we sue putin's reaction. it's weak. firstly, we see he doesn't control everything. wagner is moving deep into russia showing how easy it is to take certain regions. putin doesn't control the situation in the regions. he doesn't control the security situation. all of us understand that his whole army is in ukraine. almost entire army is there. that's why it's so easy for the wagner troops to march through russia. who could have stopped him? we understand that putin doesn't control the regional policy and he doesn't control all those people in the regions. so all that vertical of power he

used to have just got crumbling down. >> zelenskyy did not pull punches in this conversation and you can watch the full interview wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. let's go out to some of the fiercing fiercing -- fearest fighting in ukraine ben wedeman. >> reporter: he's publicly acknowledging that it's been difficult, in fact, he said last week was difficult on the front line, but we are making progress, we are moving forward step by step. but i think it's becoming apparent just how difficult moving forward as become. just a little while ago the head of the spokesman for ukraine forces in eastern ukraine said on national television that they

estimate that the russians have deployed 180,000 troops in eastern ukraine. that's more than twice the size of the entire british army. around bakhmut alone, 50,000 troops. they've dug deep defenses and they have deployed basically the bulk of their armor and artillery along those front lines. it's getting difficult. the ukrainian deputy defense minister came out today and said they've managed in the last week to take 14 square miles. some of that in the east around bakhmut, some of that south in the zaporizhzhia region. but i think if we look at the totality of the amount of territory they've seized, it's still fairly modest. >> ben wedeman live for us in eastern ukraine. jim, to you. >> let's break down what this means, you'll see it with the general. always good to have you on.

you have been following the progress of this war extremely closely. tell us what we've learned about ukraine's capabilities in this counter offense so far and is the slower than expected progress worrisome in your view? >> it's not, jim. in fact, this morning i looked back through some writings that i made earlier in the year back in february saying when you're talking about a counteroffensive against the kind of obstacle belt that russia had been able to lay over a six-month period of time, having seen this kind of operation in both training and in combat, it takes a long time. everyone who is suggesting it's a slow movement is not taking into consideration how difficult breaching complex obstacles are. that's exactly what ukraine is doing. the enemy also gets a vote.

ben just mentioned bakhmut and how the eastern commander of ukrainian forces said russia has close to 180,000 soldiers there, i would suggest they're doing that purposely to try and trap as many ukrainian forces in that area of so they can't contribute more to the situation in the southeast. but what you're also talking about, jim, is we are seeing continued probe of action. that takes a long time. when you have released the main forces, ukraine has not done that yet. they have an estimated nine brigades worst of western offensive pieces of equipment to conduct attacks. they're going to be going in three, four or five different directions in their counteroffensive and that's when we'll see things start picking up. >> so, listen, we've done a lot of reporting about the depth of russian defenses there, the mine fields, et cetera, multiple layers, that kind of thing. but the fact is, from the

western intelligence perspective, they haven't made the progress they expected early on. are you saying that they're just probing now, looking for weak points and there will be a larger element to the counteroffensive coming forward? >> yeah, that's not what i'm saying now, jim. that's what i've been saying all along. i know how you approach these obstacles. it's difficult situations. we're seeing some film from the front line of ukrainian forces going into trench lines. it's one thing to attack across the obstacle belts, but afterwards, you have to literally get in the trenches and clear them of enemy activity. at the same time, you're under fire of both russian artillery and missiles. it is very difficult to go over territory that's been mined, it has trenches, it has ditches,

you're seeing some of the film of people pulling wire off right there. it's tough work. it takes a long time. >> no question. by the way, when i've seen those videos, i have to say, it looks like 100 years ago. it looks like you're looking at visions of world war i. before we go, you heard president zelenskyy say to our colleague erin burnett that it would not be victory without ukraine taking crimea. this is -- there's a lot of work to be done between now and then in the east. but do you think that crimea is a credible target for ukrainian forces? in other words, would they have what they need to take that successfully? >> i do, jim. i don't know how long that will take, but from the very beginning, zelenskyy has not changed his strategic objective. he wants to regain the territorial integrity of ukraine, he wants to protect ukrainian citizens and he wants

to bring russian war criminals to trial in the hague. when you're talking about regaining crimea, yes, he believes that that is part of ukrainian sovereign territory. it has been historically and i think he's justified in saying that's part of his political and strategic objectives. how long it will take is a different story. >> and the west is taking pangs to say it's up to you, ukraine, to define victory here. lieutenant general, always good to have you on. >> thank you, jim. now to the escalating violence in the west bank where israel has launched its biggest military operation in more than 20 years. the palestinian health ministry saying eight people have been killed, about 80 injured. the israeli military says its forces were targeting terrorist infrastructure in the city of jeanine. the area was filled with gunfire, explosions and smoke after the strikes. hadas gold is in jersusalem for

us. what's the latest? >> reporter: we're in hour 20 of this major israeli military operation, the largest of which we have seen since 2002, since the days, and we're hearing right now that women and children are leaving the refugee camp likely in fear of what will happen overnight. the israeli military saying that they undertook this operation starting overnight with what they called very targeted drone air strikes. there have been seven to ten of these air strikes. but these are in intensity that we have not seen in quite some time. i was in jeanine yesterday to speak with residents there because it has been already a very volatile situation there. jeanine has seen several israeli military raids but today residents are saying they've never seen anything like this. hundreds upon hundreds of israeli forces have been coming into camp.

they're tearing up the streets in order to remove ieds. of course, we have those drone air strikes. and then we've also seen actually israeli tanks outside of the city limits, but it's hard to overemphasize the size of tanks and what that brings to mind. the israeli military are saying that of those eight that were killed, they believe that all of them were militants, were c combatants. but benjamin netanyahu saying that this operation will continue. take a listen. >> in recent months, jeanine has become a safe haven for terrorists. from that safe haven, terrorists perpetrated savage attacks, murdering israeli civilians, men, women and children. as many children as they could find. as i speak, our troops are

battling the terrorists with unyielding resolve and fortitude while doing everything, everything to avoid civilian casualties. >> reporter: we wait to see what will happen in the ensuing hours, especially overnight, and whether this will turn into a broader situation that will affect all of the west bank. >> we'll be watching. such a critical time. hadas gold, thank you. i want to bring in a former u.s. ambassador to israel and a distinguished fellow on the council of foreign relationships. thank you for joining us at this critical point. tell us as you see it why we're here and do you see this as different from the other episodes of violence that we have seen before? >> thanks, brianna. this has been developing for six months now, since the beginning of the year, when palestinian

terrorist attacks coming from the northern cities in the west bank were stepped up. and their targets were hundreds of thousands of settlers that are now in the west bank, settled there over many years. and they present an easy, rich target environment for them. and the israeli army has been going into the refugee camps in particular because the palestinian security forces that were normally responsible for exercising control there have given up on that and the palestinian authority, which is essentially crumbling and has no legitimacy, is not willing to take responsibility. those raids by the israeli army produced a cycle of violence which is more terrorist attacks on israeli settlers. and the government put a lot of pressure on the israeli army to

take more measures because the far right ministers representing the settlers were getting excite exercised about it. what we see today is a step level up. a brigade-sized operation. hundreds of israeli soldiers going in as opposed to the much smaller raids that have been the norm. using drones and even aircraft. and it's another step up designed to try to exercise control, but it's unlikely to work and -- because simply the resistance will continue and the environment is such that it's very hard to prevent it from happening again. and so, therefore, i'm afraid that we're now on a slippery slope towards an eventual reoccupation of these cities by the israeli army which will only make matters worse and may well

precipitate the next battle. >> that's a big warning coming from you. the white house is obviously concerned about the same thing. and they are closely monitoring this situation. you led peace talks in israeli in 2013 and 2014. what role should the u.s. be playing right now? >> well, the united states, the biden administration, in particular, has been focused on the middle east, trying to calm things down. that's their motto. whether it's in the gulf against iran or the yemen war or in this case the israeli/palestinian conflict, they're trying to calm things down, not believing they can fix things beyond that, preoccupied with the war and ukraine and china's assertiveness in asia. they want to keep things quiet. i expect we'll see them coming in and trying to work with both

sides, with jordan and egypt to try to quiet things down. but the united states doesn't have the means to stop this escalating violence. normally you would talk about a political horizon, some kind of negotiated settlement, but that's long gone -- >> ambassador -- ambassador, i want to ask you this because i only have a limited amount of time here. what would prevent a third war? because, obviously, that is what everyone would want to avoid? >> well, the only thing that could -- might work is a concerted effort by the united states, egypt, jordan and israel to bolster the palestinian authority, get the palestinian security services willing to re-engage and exercise control

over these cities in the west bank, and, therefore, stalling the need for the israeli army to engage in the way it is doing today. >> this is one of those incredibly difficult problems and it's so important to have you here telling us all about it. ambassador, thank you so much for your time. we know that you're watching this very carefully. >> thank you. new emails from former oceangate employees reveal repeated warnings about the doomed titan sub. one of them reading, quote, there's no way on earth you could have paid me to dive the thing. we're going to have a submersible pilot joining us in just a moment. mike pence speaking out about an alleged white house pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election. what the now 2024 hopeful is saying about allegation that is his old boss and current rival pushed arizona's governor to overturn the vote there. and if you're thinking about a trip to china, the state

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an accident waiting to happen, that's how a former employee of the company behind the doomed titan submersible described the vessel years before it imploded on a mission to the titanic. david lochridge sent an email to a colleague raising red flags about the sub and the company's ceo stocken rush writing, quote, i don't want to be seen as a tattle tale, but i'm worried he kills himself and others in a quest to boost his ego. rush was among five people who died in the tragedy last month. as lochridge claims, he was terminated for bringing up these concerns. it reveals an extensive paper trail of missed warning signs.

here's part of the writer's conversation with brianna. >> this tragedy comes down to hubris. it was a matter of this kind of, you know, silicon valley disrupter attitude. it was about trying to beat physics and you're not going to win that. and they didn't win that. the boundary break was to try to do it in a sub that was unclassed and was clearly designed to do what it did, which was to fail. >> joining us now is max millen kramer. he's a director of the university of hawaii marine center. thanks so much for being was this afternoon. the more we're learning about the titan submersible, the more it sounds like there were a lot of missed red flags. do you think this tragedy was preventable? >> yes, it was. it was preventable and entirely unnecessary. the company, to my knowledge, was advised for years, more than

half a decade, that this was not the way to go into the deep, especially not beyond the deep sea boundary which starts at 200 meters, about 600 feet. so it's -- yes, no question about it that there were many warnings and i believe that the deep diving community did whatever was in their power to try and prevent it and it did not work. >> so in your mind, who should have interfered and who should be held accountable? >> well, i'm not sure. since the legal situation is so murky in the national waters, once you go out there, i suppose you could float around in a wooden raft and go into the bearing strait if you have to, as long as you're in

international waters, there's not much jurisdiction that can all it off. >> it seems that there was a debate at least among stockton rush and employees over innovation versus safety. in your mind, how much leeway should he have been given in trying to produce something like this submersible that had not been tested at length in those depths before? >> there's really not much leeway there at all. if you -- in the deep sea, under high-pressure physics, if you want to introduce new materials, alternative ways of doing it, you can. you do it unmanned, and you built pressure at increasing, increasing size and increasing depth, and you have to perform hundreds and hundreds of tests

with the appropriate engineering and independent oversight. it's just very strange and unusual thing to do in this type of environment which is ultimately and supremely hostile to humans to turn to untested and uncertified materials and take people down with it. >> yeah, incredibly adverse conditions at those depths. you spoke about the sort of uncredited nature of this submarine, should a ceo like stockton rush, somebody who is trying to push the limits, have the ability to decide whether their technology, their sub is going to remain unclassed and uncredited. >> in my opinion, no.

this is -- it really is a different purpose that oceangate and stockton rush had in mind here. oceangate was trying to open up the deep ocean to commercial touristic observational activities, disguised by the term mission specialists to evade yet another legal hurdle. in our business, i want to say in the serious professional deep-diving business, we do not experiment. we have proven technology for decades. it's known what steel and titanium will do at depth, and we news these machines to fulfill a purpose on the floor. we take samples, we do video recordings, we deploy censors.

it must be sblaabsolutely assuro be in tiptop shape. if there's any doubt about the integrity of the pressure hull that is protecting the human crew, then we don't go. we don't -- it's an instant showstopper. >> max kramer, we very much appreciate your perspective and sharing your time with us. >> you're welcome. >> the more we learn about it, the more damning the questions are. mike pence weighing in on cnn reporting that former president trump pressured the governor of arizona to overturn the 2020 election results there. what pence is saying in response. plus, why the state department is telling americans to reconsider traveling to china. at you need. that's my boy. ♪ stay off the freeways! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. libeberty. liberty. ♪ bath fitter is a better way to remodelel your tub.

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the u.s. has just issued a travel advisory for americans to reconsider if they're planning to visit mainland china which is exactly what treasury janet yellen is doing later this week. the advisory is that the second most severe level, just one notch away from an explicit do not travel, a treasury official saying yellen's trip will be the first face-to-face meeting since a new economic team took over in beijing. we have kylie atwood with the story for us. the state department warning

that americans risk getting detained in china. tell us about this. >> yes, as you were saying, they haven't changed the level advisory. the level is still number three, reconsider travel out of four levels in the travel advisory that the state department puts out. but there's a new significant reason listed for why americans should reconsider travel and that is wrongful detention. previously that had been listed as a reason that americans should reconsider. think about their travel, exercise caution on the ground. but now this is one of the reasons that americans should think twice about if they even want to travel to china at all. and i want to read to you a line from this travel advisory saying, quote, prc authorities appear to have broad discretion to deem a wide range of documents, data, statistics or materials as state secrets and to detain and prosecute foreign nationals for alleged espionage. they go on to say that there is

increased scrutiny on u.s. and third-party firms in china and even things such as conducting research or accessing publicly available information in china could be one of the reasons that americans could be wrongfully detained in the country. we know there are currently three americans publicly known about who are wrongfully detained in china right now. >> really interesting warning, especially ahead of this trip. kylie atwood for us at the state department. jim? former vice president mike pence is responding to new reporting about a white house pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state of arizona. sources tell cnn that soon after the election, former president trump called arizona's then-governor trying to enlist him to find nonexistent widespread fraud in his state. trump also pressured pence to help him in that effort. kristen holmes is here with the

details. kristen, first let's begin with the substance of the reporting here which is that trump pressured ducey but also got pence to help him pressure ducey, is that right? >> the reporting is this, we know that the two of them had a call, ducey and trump talked on the phone. now i have learned from sources that ducey said trump was putting pressure on him to help him overturn the election results in arizona. this is something we knew trump was fixated on. he was losing the state and he wanted the votes just like we've seen in other states and the pressure we've seen him put on the election officials across the country. we also know separately that trump was putting an enormous amount of pressure on pence during this time to try to find widespread fraud to overturn the election and not certify the election on january 6th. we also learned this weekend from sources that pence made a series of calls to doug ducey. sources tell us he was not pressuring ducey, but he was

asking about any instances, any evidence of widespread fraud so he could report it out. and pence was asked about our reporting. take a listen to what he said. >> i did check in with not only governor ducey but other governors in states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results. but there was no pressure involved, margaret. i was calling to get an update. i passed along that information to the president, and it was no more, no less than that. >> and there is a follow-up there where margaret says you were not pressured by the former president. and he say, no, there was no pressure there. again, we know during this time that trump was putting an enormous amount of pressure on the former vice president. the -- >> you're saying the former vice president's description of that is not accurate. i'm saying i don't know about it in relation to ducey. we just know that overall and we've seen testimony in the january 6th hearings from aides who overheard trump pressuring pence, we know that was

happening countrywide when it comes to the election. i want to point out one other thing, one call that we reported quite a bit on was the call to the georgia secretary where trump is recorded and he is saying we want to find these votes to overturn the election in that state. we know that the special counsel has met with raffensperger, he has this recording that is part of his investigation into trump overturning the 2020 election. when it comes to ducey, it's not the same situation. there's no recording of that call and we're told that he has not been reached out to by the special counsel's office. >> by the way, as it relates to georgia, that means you basically have two entities looking into that call, the fulton county prosecutor, but also the special counsel and other efforts. kristen holmes, thanks so much as always. boris? still to come, an update on the driver of this car sent rolling seven times at 180 miles per hour during an indycar race. we'll be right back.

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the kremlin is stepping up its drone attacks in northeastern ukraine. at least two people were killed there and over a dozen injured. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says vladimir putin is losing control of his own people. he told erin burnett that putin's response to the wagner uprising the weak. "the lead" is up next on cnn. so let's turn to senior

political correspondent abby phillip who is filling in for jake tapper. you have a member of the house intelligence committee, congressman jim hines on. it was fascinating that admitted that his secret meeting became public. >> it's not surprising that a meeting with a high-level official in the intelligence community, they would want to keep that private. one, it came just before this rebellion of prigozhin against putin. we don't know what was discussed. u.s. intelligence, according to our sources, had some inkling that something might be happening. whether they communicated that to zelenskyy, we don't know. but the other thing "the washington post" kwt was reporting was how this war in ukraine would come to an end.

this is a critical moment for ukraine. but it is going for slowly. and they have goals here, you heard him talking to erin burnett too about the fate of crimea, russian-controlled part of -- historically a part of ukraine that russia has controlled for some time now. the question is, what is ukraine's plan to regain territory, to end this war and eventually perhaps get to a negotiating position with russia. >> the fascinating thing is the dichotomy between the public statements where zelenskyy says that crimea is a nonnegotiable, that is ukrainian territory, and then what's been reported in private, him saying that they're looking for a cease-fire before the end of the year, perhaps crimea not a part of that. >> and we will see how that unfolds. and we should also keep in mind as we talk about all of this, zelenskyy's interests are not always the same as his allies, the united states and even europe and even capitol hill, i think, congressman jim himes who we'll be talking to in the next

hour, congress has its own interests as well. how they all feel about those objectives i think the really open for debate over the next several months. >> zelenskyy talked about the importance of bipartisan support for ukraine over the last week. look forward to that interview. great to see you as always. she'll be on the lead starting at 2:00. next on "cnn news central," the last thing anyone wants to see on a roller coaster is this, a giant crack. do you see it there? in a key support beam as a train goes round the track. we'll have more on what was a near disaster next. hen we metamorphosize into our new evolved form, we carry that spirit with us. because you can take alfa romeo out of italy. but you best believe,

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now to some of the headlines that we're watching. a frightening moment at an indycar event in ohio. a driver rolling his car seven times before landing on the side of the car. thankfully, amazingly he walked away unhurt here. the driver said his brakes failed while he was going about 180 miles per hour. he was evaluated and released by doctors, but he is not yet cleared to continue competing. also, file this under things you definitely don't want to see on a roller coaster, especially if you're the one riding it. a huge crack, you see that thing moving there. that is a crack right through a crucial support pillar on this ride. the fury 325 coast er shut down as investigators look into it. in new york, buffalo bills safety damar hamlin will hold a cpr training class at yankee stadium today. for the last few months, hamlin

has been on a multicity tour to teach the techniques that helped save his life. he was saved after going into cardiac arrest after a tackle during a game in january. jim? >> so great to see him back on the field. that's just a story with a happy e ending. thousands of unionized hotel workers in southern california are on strike. they walked off the job yesterday in los angeles and orange counties after their current labor contract expired on saturday. that leaves 65 major hotels short staffed just as tourists are pouring in during this busy fourth of july holiday week. the union is pushing for better pay and benefits. cnn has more live from los angeles. i know you spoke to hotel workers. what are they holding out for? >> reporter: hey, jim. a couple of things that they're telling me. they can't afford to live where they work, and they say they have to take multiple jobs

because of the same reasons, because they are not content with the moon of money they have because they can't support their families with that money. so they've been doing this for the last two days, starting at 6:00 in the morning, they are shouting, banging drums, and just walking outside of many of the hotels here in downtown los angeles trying to express their demands. among them, of course, is more money and a better pension. they're specifically asking for a $5-an-hour increase in pay. they also want better health care, they're asking for safer workloads, and housing fund to essentially live where they work. i want you to listen to what one of the union members told me earlier. >> it's not only my fight, it's everybody's fight. everybody wants a raise because we all have needs. i see my future fighting for what we need, better wage, better everything. so our future children have, you know, a better job.

>> reporter: the hotel will remain to be open, working with whatever they can do. it's unclear how long this strike is going to go on. >> listen, it's a common phenomenon. folks can't live close to where they work, trying to find ways forward there. reporting from los angeles, thank you so much. boris? are you ready for it? taylor swift's team was not. we're going to show the major malfunction that had her swiftly hauling it across the stage mid concert. first, cnn's july 4th special returns tomorrow night with an all-star lineup, celebrate with spectacular fireworks and performance was demi lovato, duran duran, shania twain, brad paisley to name a few. the "4th in morning live" starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern in dana bash, myself, and a few others. tune in.

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taylor swift may have reached a new era in her career as a track star. ♪ >> run. ♪ run. >> at the concert in cincinnati on friday, swift's stage

malfunctioned. it was supposed to drop her down below for a costume change. she stomped her foot, you may have noticed, but after that didn't work she had to book it. she had to run as fast as she could. ann taylor commented saying, quote, still swift af, boy. >> it's amazing how often our little elevator doesn't drop below for our costume change. isn't that upsetting? >> i've been wearing this the whole show today. >> she also -- inhaled a bug, is that right, during one of the performances? >> she gives us good content. >> a little rain. she's tough, and she's still -- >> she's a superstar. this tour might be the first ever to make $1 billion. isn't that crazy? >> unbelievable. >> she deserves all the praise she gets. >> sure does. and "the lead" starts right now, boy. an incremental gain for ukraine,