Clarissa Ward visits Ukrainian city where Russian drones taunt and terrorize their prey
In Kherson, a war-battered city on Ukraine's southern frontlines, the drones above residents' heads are anything but a game despite Russian social media being awash with videos of Ukrainians there being bombed. CNN's Clarissa Ward speaks to residents who must risk their lives anytime they venture outside.
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CNN
15 minutes ago
- CNN
Andrew Cuomo campaigns for New York's redemption
New York CNN — In New York, Andrew Cuomo's comeback after resigning in disgrace could end up taking less than four years – with a scandal-plagued incumbent mayor, a disorganized left wing and a feeling that the city is on the brink paving the way. It's the latest saga in the long-running soap opera of New York politics. On the heels of a presidential resurgence from another brash guy from Queens and a Democratic Party with a loud socialist streak, Cuomo sees himself as the man for the moment as he campaigns to be the next mayor of New York City, even if that required moving into his daughter's apartment to be eligible to run. In public, Cuomo has kept mostly quiet, limiting himself mostly to surprise appearances where he stays a few minutes and disappears before he gets protested or takes any questions from reporters. In private, according to several who know him, he has been brooding about the investigation he is facing from President Donald Trump's Justice Department, orchestrating efforts to undermine his opponents and stressing over what positions to adopt to be taken more seriously as a progressive himself. He has been leaning on a sense of inevitability to press more potential supporters to get on board and leave others with the impression that he will remember those who don't, delighting in opponents who, struggling for momentum, haven't found an effective way to attack him. With three weeks to go before the Democratic primary, Cuomo's pitch has centered on how well he managed the state government – though not a single statewide official or previous city mayor whose terms overlapped with his would say they agreed with him when asked by CNN. He has not apologized or much addressed the series of sexual misconduct accusations that forced his resignation or the more than 12,000 deaths in nursing homes as he ran the state's Covid-19 response – yet few voters are saying they care much, or even remember, according to focus groups conducted by opposition campaigns. He never talks about redemption, though he has been chasing that since almost the moment he finished his resignation speech in August 2021. 'That's clearly what it is, but he doesn't talk about it that way,' said one prominent Democrat who's spoken to Cuomo multiple times about the race but has heard no sense of reflection. 'He talks about how the Democratic Party is so screwed up and it's too far to the left, he talks about what a disaster [former Mayor Bill] de Blasio was, what a disaster [current Mayor Eric] Adams is.' A limited campaign leaning into inevitability For years, New York has been tilting toward being a homegrown Dubai: a status playground for the rich steadily pushing out enclaves where the struggling working class tries to scrap by, with Instagram spots for tourists in between. Unlicensed marijuana stores, a surge of migrants that has strained the city's resources and a pervasive sense of rising crime (despite rates that are in reality dropping) have left many New Yorkers feeling the city is spinning out of control. 'We have known each other a long time and we have been through a lot together. We talk to each other, we're straight with each other,' Cuomo said at his sole rally last week. 'New York City is in trouble. You can feel it when you walk around the street. You feel it in the anxiety, in the frustration. You see it in the crime, you see it in the number of homeless mentally ill who are left on the streets. And you feel it in that New York City's just getting more expensive, and it is unaffordable for working men and women.' Rep. Greg Meeks, who also serves as the Democratic Party leader in Queens, said that not only does Cuomo seem like the only credible choice in this race, but he hopes his win reverberates among Democrats across the country in looking at what works with voters. 'I thought about where the city is, what the city needs, where we take the next step so that we continue to grow and produce jobs and housing and get things done – to me, there's only one person that is running that has done those kinds of things,' Meeks said. 'No one can deny that as governor he was able to get things done that were innovative and creative, and that's what the city needs to continue to do now as we're moving forward into a more technological and interdependent world. Then finally, someone who can truly stand up to Donald Trump too.' Asked about the issues that forced Cuomo out as governor, Meeks argued, 'He's not like the president of the United States, who's a convicted felon. He's never been convicted of anything, and he has completely denied all of it.' Meeks added that his sense is of a man who is 'contrite,' though Cuomo has spent far less time expressing any public contrition than he and aides have put into trying to undermine the investigations into him. At the rally, Cuomo announced his support for a $20 minimum wage, boasting about how he had signed a $15 minimum wage as governor and leaving out that he had resisted the efforts to do that for years before backing it. The air conditioning couldn't keep up with the room's tightly packed clumps of members from a variety of unions in color-coded shirts, chanting their locals' names and slogans. John Costa, the international president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, led a round of cheers as he talked about Cuomo helping improve both safety and service on the subways. Asked afterward to explain why he was backing Cuomo, Costa told CNN, 'I've watched him, I watched his family, his father. I thought he was a great governor. I think he's learned a lot from his father and I thought he was great as a governor. You know, and then things happened and he had to step down for whatever reasons. Now he's back. I think he'll be a great mayor.' Cuomo's upward spiral of inevitability – from those either wanting to be with the guy who wins or worried he'll be vindictive against those who weren't with him when he does – also pulled in less enthusiastic union members, like one who asked not to give his name when asked why he was there. 'I came because we have dues we have to pay: if we don't come, we get docked $500,' he said. 'I got no choice.' A representative of that union clarified that the policy was not specific to appearing at the Cuomo event, but at political events in general and was an encouragement, not a requirement. Over several weeks, a Cuomo aide offered several different rationales to CNN for why he would not be available for an interview. The candidate has participated in only a handful of interviews since entering the race in March, leaving reporters after the union rally shouting questions at him through the closed window of his Dodge Charger as an aide tried to usher them out of the way while warning they were in danger of being run over. Cuomo smiled but did not engage, then made a right turn on a red light as he pulled away. (A Cuomo spokesperson told CNN the former governor 'pulled into the intersection while it was green but there was someone in the crosswalk so he let that person go.') One event he won't be able to outrun is Wednesday's city-mandated primary debate and Cuomo is holed up in prep – his aides worried that in his first competitive debate in 20 years, the risk for a bad moment is high. A frazzled, fractured opposition Cuomo's dominance to date might not have been possible if all the candidates and other city power players who agree that they don't want him as the next mayor could agree what to do to stop him. Instead, they have often added fuel to his argument that the left wing of the party is too much of a mess to run one of the largest and most complex municipal governments in the world. Cuomo isn't the only critic. Queens and Bronx Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive icon, has been chiding them for failing to mount an organized strategy against him, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations. What she's been getting back is a lot of frustration, and a bunch of complaints that actually she doesn't get how politics works. For all the anti-Cuomo memes and custom t-shirts they've inspired, talks between campaigns about coordinating spending on ads or other tactics broke down without getting anywhere. Aides to several top New York political leaders have been fuming privately that others think it was up to them to stop Cuomo, and most – including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Brooklyn-based House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries – have all said that they will stay neutral. No candidate was willing to risk a kamikaze mission of going hard negative on Cuomo at the likely expense of becoming too toxic to win. Jumaane Williams, the anti-Cuomo public advocate (effectively, the city council president) popular among many Black voters in the city, last Tuesday held an event in front of City Hall to announce he was jointly endorsing two candidates – city council speaker Adrienne Adams and comptroller Brad Lander. Then on Wednesday, Williams put out a video with another candidate, Zohran Mamdani, endorsing him. Leaders of the Working Families Party, for years a definitive force in galvanizing city politics with deep animosity for Cuomo personally – on top of policy and political disagreements that go back over a decade – have shocked allies by how flat-footed they've been in response to his candidacy. And though on Friday the group announced a recommended ranking order for several of the candidates, with Mamdani endorsed for first, slides obtained by CNN of the polling presentation officials made to candidates show that they acknowledged their endorsement would make little difference for who gets ranked first. With ranked choice voting, 'progressives are really trying to figure out what strategies work best in that environment in a way that moderates or the right really haven't had to wrestle with because there's one of them, where there's a slate of progressive candidates,' said Tiffany Cabán, a city councilwoman from Queens proudly risen out of the Democratic Socialists of America, in an interview on the steps of City Hall last week. The one concerted effort to stop Cuomo came from Letitia James, who was urged into first running for state attorney general by Cuomo in 2018, and then led the investigations into the nursing home deaths and sexual misconduct allegations. After deciding not to run against Cuomo herself to focus on leading lawsuits against the incoming Trump administration, James joined with state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins in trying to recruit candidates, sources familiar with the efforts told CNN. Multiple prominent women in New York got calls, including Adams, the city council speaker, who is of no relation to the mayor. All turned them down. But when a combination of events, including the mayor's top aides resigning in protest in February over how the Trump Justice Department pulled back on the charges he was facing, Adams changed her mind and made a late entrance into race. She has struggled to raise money or gain any public traction, and while James has stuck by her, Stewart-Cousins hasn't said anything publicly about the race. An aide to Stewart-Cousins did not respond to a request for comment. 'The mayoral race has not gotten a lot of traction,' James told CNN in an interview. 'We've not broken through all of the executive orders, the tariffs, the chaos, the confusion, and other corruption. So it's difficult in this climate, this 24-hour media circus.' Both as a former Cuomo colleague and a lifelong Brooklyn resident, James says she knows the clock is ticking. 'Individuals have to think about what's in the best interest of the city, as opposed to what is in their best interest,' James said. 'And I don't know whether or not there are a sufficient number of individuals who can set aside their ego at this point.' The Cuomo foil who wants to make Cuomo a foil From even before he officially launched his campaign, Cuomo was talking privately about Mamdani as the foil he wanted: a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America who has a record big on marching with causes but light on substantive results, who could embody the caricature of a far-too-left turn in the Democratic Party talking about equity and inclusion while New Yorkers were scared to get on the subway. The 33-year-old assemblyman has become identified enough with the new young left that Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of Kamala Harris, endorsed him. But his views are so controversial that the former vice president has had to privately clarify that this does not signal her support, a source told CNN. But Mamdani attributes his rise at least in part to Cuomo. 'He's the perfect foil for this campaign because he represents the failed leadership that we've seen not just in City Hall from Eric Adams, but also from Cuomo himself in the governor's mansion in Albany,' Mamdani told CNN, standing in front of a Brooklyn brownstone where a fundraiser had been shifted to a no-donation meet-and-greet because he already raised the maximum allowed under the city's system. And at least, Mamdani charged, he would not be compromised by the donors Trump shares with the Cuomo-aligned super PAC that is preparing to come down hard on him in the final weeks of the primary. But as Cuomo has centered much of his campaign on denouncing antisemitism and talking up support of Israel – major issues in a city with such a large Jewish population – he has found an easy target in the Israel divestment-supporting Mamdani, both among Jewish voters and among those who see the far-left's identification with the anti-Israel cause as endemic to what is driving mainstream Democrats away. In the interview, Mamdani blamed Cuomo's attacks, which include demanding his opponents condemn the DSA for calling the alleged shooter in the killing of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington a 'political prisoner,' as part of the former governor's 'long track record of weaponizing very real concerns for his personal and political benefit.' When asked to clarify his own position on Israel, a Mamdani aide tried to stop the interview. Pressed multiple times to clarify if he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, Mamdani instead repeated a line he's been using that 'Israel has a right to exist as a state with equal rights.' A race that will run to November Candidates in New York can run on the ballot lines of multiple parties, even those they make up. Should he lose the Democratic primary on June 24, Cuomo will still be the nominee of the Fight and Deliver Party. If Cuomo wins, Mamdani – or whoever comes in second – is expected to be the nominee of the Working Families Party. After declining to run again in the Democratic primary, Adams, the incumbent mayor, is planning to run in the fall as the Safe Streets, Affordable City nominee, people familiar with his plans told CNN. Curtis Sliwa, who has made a personality and career of being a lifelong gadfly, is making a repeat run as the Republican candidate. That means the next mayor of New York could win without a clear majority of the vote – in a race with multiple candidates facing significant question marks about their candidacies and in what has the possibility of being the first competitive citywide general election in more than two decades, when ranked choice voting will not be a factor in determining the outcome.
Associated Press
24 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Putin's uncompromising demands emerge after the latest round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks
Russia took weeks to present to Ukraine with a 'memorandum' setting out its conditions for a ceasefire, as well as key guidelines for a comprehensive treaty to end the more than 3-year-old war. To practically no one's surprise, it's a list of the Kremlin's longstanding, maximalist demands that Kyiv and its Western allies see as nonstarters. Ukraine had set its negotiating stance before Monday's direct peace talks in Istanbul, emphasizing its readiness to declare a 30-day ceasefire immediately without preconditions that was proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Kyiv reaffirmed its refusal to abandon a bid for NATO membership and rejected acknowledgment of Russia's annexation of any of its regions. Both sides have established mutually exclusive red lines that make any quick deal unlikely. Moscow's demands, published in the Russian media, make it clear that President Vladimir Putin is determined to ensure the fulfillment of the goals in Ukraine he set when he launched the invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Key points of the Russian and Ukrainian documents: Moscow's conditions for a 30-day truce Russia offered Ukraine a choice of two options for establishing a 30-day ceasefire. One option is that Ukraine must withdraw its forces from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. The second option described by Moscow as the 'package' proposal, presses Ukraine to halt its mobilization efforts and freeze Western arms deliveries — conditions that were suggested earlier by Putin. On top of that, the document also demands that Ukraine begin demobilizing its military, halt any redeployment of forces and ban the presence of any third-country forces on its soil. The 'package' option further proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty. Russia's terms for a comprehensive peace treaty The Russian document declares that conditions for peace must include the 'international legal recognition' of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its 2022 annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. It says a future peace treaty should have Ukraine declare its neutral status between Russia and the West, and abandon its bid to join NATO. The document demands that Ukraine limit the size of its armed forces, recognize Russian as an official language on par with Ukrainian, ban 'glorification and propaganda of Nazism and neo-Nazism' and dissolve nationalist groups -– conditions reflecting Putin's goals from the outset of his invasion. The false allegations that neo-Nazi groups were shaping Ukraine's politics under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, have been vehemently dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies. In Russia's view, a comprehensive peace treaty should also see both countries lift all sanctions and restrictions, abandon any claims to compensation for wartime damage, resume trade and communications, and reestablish diplomatic ties. It also suggests that the peace treaty between Russian and Ukraine be endorsed by a resolution of the U.N. Security Council. Ukraine's ceasefire position also remains firm The memorandum that Ukraine submitted to Moscow before the talks and shared with its allies emphasized the need for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to set stage for peace negotiations. It reaffirmed Ukraine's consistent rejection of Russian demands for neutral status as an attack on its sovereignty, declaring it is free to choose its alliances and adding that its NATO membership will depend on consensus with the alliance. It emphasized Kyiv's rejection of any restrictions on the size and other parameters of its armed forces, as well as curbs on the presence of foreign troops on its soil. Ukraine's memorandum also opposed recognizing any Russian territorial gains, while describing the current line of contact as a starting point in negotiations. The document noted the need for international security guarantees to ensure the implementation of peace agreements and prevent further aggression. The Ukrainian peace proposal also demanded the return of all deported and illegally displaced Ukrainian children and an 'all-for-all' prisoner exchange. It held the door open to gradual lifting of some of the sanctions against Russia if it abides by the agreeme The opposing positions make peace seem elusive The sharply conflicting demands leave little hope for any quick progress in talks. By maintaining its maximalist demands, Moscow is seemingly unfazed by repeated threats of sanctions by the West or other pressure to make real concessions. Some observers see the Russian memorandum as a way by Moscow to formalize its negotiation position. 'Even an unsigned document gives the Kremlin a firmer diplomatic foothold,' said Moscow-based defense analyst Sergei Poletaev. Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center noted that the document reflects Putin's key goal of of securing a 'friendly' Ukraine without a full-fledged military or ties of any kind with its Western allies. She noted the Russian document offers Ukraine a choice between the two options because Moscow knows that a Ukrainian withdrawal from the four regions 'is not viable and seeks to push Kyiv toward the second as the primary course.' At the same time, Moscow's memorandum appears to indicate that 'Russia is open to considering leaving parts of the annexed regions that it does not control to Ukraine.' Stanovaya said Moscow's maximalist demands mean that 'the fighting is set to continue, even if bilateral interactions persist.'
CNN
29 minutes ago
- CNN
A fugitive who escaped jail 2 weeks ago seems to pop up on video, saying he's innocent and asking Lil Wayne and Donald Trump for help
People in entertainment Donald TrumpFacebookTweetLink Follow A serial escapee who vanished from a New Orleans jail two weeks ago appeared to show up in someone's kitchen, claiming his innocence and invoking rapper Lil Wayne and President Donald Trump in a video posted to social media. Antoine Massey and nine other inmates broke out of the Orleans Justice Center on May 16 – taking advantage of bad locks, stolen bedding and a hungry jail employee to avoid capture. Eight of the escapees have been caught – mostly in New Orleans. Only Massey, 32, and convicted murderer Derrick Groves, 27, are still on the run. Massey has evaded hundreds of authorities in a multistate manhunt. But over the weekend, a man who strongly resembles the fugitive – including with three distinctive tattoos on his face – appeared in a video on Instagram. 'My name is Antoine Massey. I'm asking for help. I was one of the ones that was let out of Orleans Parish jail,' the man says in the video, shot in the kitchen of an unknown home. 'I'm asking – please – for help: YoungBoy, Meek Mills (sic) … people that have been through the system that we know is corrupt. Lil Wayne. Donald Trump.' He made a personal appeal to Lil Wayne, claiming the two share longtime family connections. 'Please help me. Lil Wayne: This is Big Antoine's son that's talking right now. I'm Little Antoine. I was in your mama wedding when she married. I was the ring boy. Lil Wayne, please help me, bro.' The man also holds a document to the camera – what he says is a stamped affidavit that proves his innocence. Massey was charged with domestic abuse involving strangulation and motor vehicle theft. But he said his ex-girlfriend, Diamond White, recanted her allegation of abuse in the affidavit. White has not responded to CNN's request for comment. She was arrested after allegedly helping Massey after his escape, Louisiana State Police said. In the video, the man says White 'thought that I was dealing with another woman. That's why she did what she did.' While some of the stamped affidavit is blurry in the footage, it includes the words 'MASSEY never physically came in contact with me.' CNN has asked the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office about the authenticity of the affidavit shown in the video. The video was posted on what appeared to be a burner Instagram account and has since been deleted. Authorities have not confirmed whether the man in the video is Massey, but 'there's a good chance it's him,' Deputy US Marshal Brian Fair said. 'If he's saying he is innocent, he can come turn himself in,' Fair told CNN on Tuesday. 'He can go through the legal process, and it will resolve itself one way or another.' Louisiana State Police, the agency leading the manhunt, declined to verify whether the man in the video is Massey. 'All video and surveillance evidence is part of the ongoing investigation and search for the escaped inmates,' state police said, and providing additional information 'may hinder investigative leads or law enforcement operations.' Identifying himself as Massey, the man in the video refuted claims he threatened to shank jail maintenance worker Sterling Williams if he didn't turn off the water in a cell to aid the escape. Williams told investigators he was instructed to turn the water off inside that cell, and one of the escapees threatened to 'shank him if he did not.' Instead of reporting the inmate, he turned the water off as directed, allowing for the successful escape, the attorney general's office said. Williams was one of the first suspects arrested in connection with the jailbreak. He faces 10 counts related to the escapees and one count of malfeasance in office for acting 'under the order of an inmate,' his arrest warrant affidavit states. His attorney has said one of the jail's deputies asked Williams to fix the toilet because it was overflowing. In the video, the man says it's ludicrous to think he could threaten to shank Williams because maintenance workers at the jail are usually accompanied by guards when around inmates to help prevent possible contraband or bribery. 'The guy who said that I threatened him with a shank – the maintenance guy – how could I threaten you with a shank, if you can't come around me?' he said. 'You cannot come (near the inmates) without a deputy right behind you. Because if they just let you (near the inmates), you could be persuaded to run drugs or anything like that.' Massey's history of escaping custody dates back to 2007. When he was 15, Massey broke out of a New Orleans juvenile detention center after being arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and aggravated assault, according to A broken lock at the center allowed Massey and five other juveniles to access metal shackles, which they used to shatter a window and escape, reported. The teen remained on the run for more than two weeks before authorities found him on an interstate in east New Orleans. Two years later, Massey faced a charge of attempted simple escape in Orleans Parish, according to online court records. CNN reached out to the parish sheriff's office for more details about the charge. Then, when he was 27, Massey and another inmate broke out of a detention center in northern Louisiana in broad daylight by cutting and slipping under a chain-link fence in the exercise yard, Chief James Mardis of the Morehouse Parish Sheriff's Office told CNN. Authorities believe the two fugitives were picked up by a vehicle with Texas tags. Massey was captured later that day in Texas. Massey has also twice cut off electronic ankle monitors, according to Matt Dennis, an employee with the company that operates the monitors, who spoke to CNN affiliate WDSU. Court records from late 2023 alleged Massey had 'tampered and/or removed the court-ordered GPS monitor.' Dennis told CNN affiliate WVUE he was 'astonished' that someone with Massey's history of escape was being held on the first floor of the New Orleans jail. 'There isn't an ounce of this man's history that doesn't say 'escape,'' he said. As for the most recent escape, authorities are searching Louisiana and beyond – 'following leads all over the place,' Fair said. Officials announced $50,000 in reward money for anyone with information leading to the arrest of either Massey or Groves. The combined $100,000 offered comes from Crimestoppers Greater New Orleans, the FBI and other agencies. CNN's Jason Morris contributed to this report.
