hello, everyone, tlahank yo for joining me, i m fredricka whitfield. recovery efforts underway offer the south carolina coastline following the take down of a suspected chinese spy balloon on saturday. the u.s. military blasting the balloon out of the sky after it drifts over the atlantic near myrtle beach. president biden saying that he ordered the military on wednesday to take the balloon down as soon as possible. and now efforts are underway to recover the debris and analyze it to find out what it may have been doing as it drifted across the u.s. over the last few days. meanwhile china is accusing the u.s. of overreacing and expr expressing strong dissatisfaction and the balloons destruction. from all angles to the capital to the coast where the balloon was shot down. let s begin with dianne gallagher where she is live in surfside beach where recovery efforts is underway. what is being located and discovered? reporter: so, fred, we re in the surfside myrtle beach area
pete: will almost took out the entire fence line and the guy waving the checkered flag. will: you got me at that turn. pete: he got better as the whole thing went on, and i blocked hi- rachel: i feel like blocking interfered with [laughter] pete: that was after i said it was over. rachel: wow. will: was it over? rachel: it looked like you were going to win, will, for quite a while. and then, pete, you pulled it out. you said that this is go-kart season. for me, it s the summertime. my kids love to go go-karting in wisconsin, especially on those evenings after spending time on the lake. it s a fun activity will: that was really fun. rachel: and this one s indoors. will: we ll do it again. rachel: well, you don t get to do it again, because he won, and then you get to race the winner pete: you re going up against rick in the next hour. and i ll be racing rick in the 9:00 hour. rachel: we ll see, pete. yeah, yeah. pete: well, you said you were going to throw it. rachel: i
you re live in the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. spy balloon down. a single missile took out a chinese spy balloon that floated across america s skies this past week. that dramatic sound just off the coast of south carolina earlier today. recovery efforts offshore are now under way as u.s. intelligence officials want to gain insight what china was up to. president biden said the order to shoot down the balloon came directly from him. on wednesday, when i was briefed on the balloon, i ordered the pentagon to shoot it down on wednesday as soon as possible. cnn has team coverage of this very tense moment in u.s./china relations. i want to start with warren lieberman who is over at the pentagon. what are you learning about the recovery effort that is gong on? i say sum that officials want to get their hands on it as quickly as possible. absolutelily. but the debris, what was left of the payload, the length of three school buses has fallen in 47 feet of water.
Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk says the Russians have stepped up protection for their vessels since Ukraine's 21 April attack on the Kommuna salvage ship. Source: Pletenchuk during a broadcast of the Ukrainska Pravda.
A Russian salvage ship, the Kommuna, caught fire in the port of the temporarily occupied city of Sevastopol, Crimea, due to an operation by the Ukrainian Navy on 21 April. Source: Captain 3rd Rank Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, in a comment for Ukrainska Pravda Quote: "This event occurred with the direct involvement of the Ukrainian Navy.