Return to Transcripts main page

At This Hour

Some Ukrainian Government Sites, Banks Hit by Cyberattack; CNN On the Ground Near Front Line in Donetsk; Biden Meets with Potential Supreme Court Nominees. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 23, 2022 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we do begin with breaking news. I'm Kate Bolduan.

Ukraine announcing it is imposing a state of emergency beginning tomorrow because the Russian threat is only growing. The prime minister of Latvia now telling CNN that Russian troops and tanks are already moving into the disputed Donbas region.

We are also just learning that banks and some government websites in Ukraine have been hit by another cyberattack. Ukraine's president is now ordering reservists to be called up for military training. The Ukranian government urging all of its citizens in Russia to get out immediately.

It comes as new satellite images -- we're showing you right here -- show Russia adding a field hospital and shelters near the Ukranian border. The West is beefing up its presence in the region, too, the Pentagon moving F-35 military jets and Apache helicopters to the Baltic states and about 800 additional U.S. troops are being moved from Italy to the Baltic region.

As you can tell, there is a lot going on on this front today. We have reporters covering all of it. Let's begin with CNN's Sam Kiley, who filed this report moments ago from Eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About 500 meters in that direction is the front line, effectively. On the other side of that, in the other part of the Donetsk oblast, are the Russian-backed separatists, possibly now supported with formerly recognized Russian troops.

But in the last 48 hours, this town has been the scene of intense shelling. It has been the scene of at least one killing, a chap called Roman, who was killed about 100 meters in that direction during a volley of fire that resulted here, the damage you can see, to a family's home.

Now this is a family and there -- I don't know if you can hear it but there was another shell landing in the distance there. It has been a steady drumbeat, a kind of relentless thunder all day of shelling.

This one happened 48 hours ago. Mercifully, nobody was actually killed, which is, frankly, a miracle. Irayna (ph) and her daughter, Veronika (ph), were actually hiding in here, in the kitchen. It's an outside kitchen. You can see the shrapnel blows -- strikes, rather -- that have torn into the building. Didn't go through the walls.

Now take a look at what the sort of damage you can get when a single artillery shell hits a civilian home. That effectively is the exit wound. That is the consequence. And there was another shell I just heard landing. These shells that are landing, they're not near us, they're about a half a mile away.

This is a shell that has blown out the far side, that is the exit wound to a home. But when you see what high explosives can do when fired into a civilian environment, it is quite terrifying.

Now earlier on, we were advised not to go upstairs but I think, having checked it out, I'm going to take the risk because it really is worth showing just how horrific the results of a single shell can be.

These were stud walls; all gone. The structure is very wobbly. There is a limited amount of masonry holding this place together; the family study and this is the bedroom of a 9-year-old. This is the bedroom of Veronika (ph). Luckily she was in the kitchen, lying on the floor, when these shells landed.

But it could have been so much worse. Truly, almost a miraculous survival.

All of the everyday manifestations of a young child's life being torn to pieces, utterly shredded. It is absolutely extraordinary that this could have been done by a single artillery shell.

There were four that landed in this town; part of an exchange of fire, some locals have said; others are claiming that it is just the worst level of shelling that they have seen in many years, not since 2014, which is when this war was started.

And, indeed, this town actually fell then to the Russian-backed rebels. And the Russian-backed rebels are saying, with Putin's agreement, that this territory is part of the land that they claim.

[11:05:00]

KILEY: They're not yet on it. This territory where I'm standing is still controlled by the

government, by government forces. They're here on the ground, many of them in a fairly covert environment, apart from those that are holding those already established front lines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Sam Kiley, thank you so much, Sam.

Also this: Vladimir Putin is under growing pressure right now from world leaders. Virtually every country, with the exception of China, has condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine. The U.S., Australia, Japan and Canada among the nations hitting Russia with tough sanctions, another round.

But is Putin deterred by any of this?

That remains a very big question. CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Moscow for us at this hour.

Nic, what are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Putin's message is I'm open for negotiations but our security is non-negotiable. That's the line that's he's had over the past weeks and months. It doesn't appear he's bending under the pressure.

The central bank says they're putting up $56 billion to help lending for other banks and for the government's borrowing need. So the message from the Kremlin is that these sanctions are not going to impact them, they've got work-arounds.

The foreign ministry says they also have plans for fine-tuning for what they call asymmetrical sanctions hitting back to the West. They said those sanctions will affect the American people. They're not saying what those are but that's what they're saying is coming.

CNN has done its own polling here in Russia and Ukraine between the 7th and 15th of February, so a couple weeks ago now. What we're discovering is half of the Russian people are willing to accept the Kremlin to go to war in Ukraine, to stop Ukraine from being a member of NATO.

That sort of indicates some of the success of President Putin's recent propaganda -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Nic, thank you so much.

The White House, on top of all of that, is now considering its next move. President Biden officially calling Putin's actions the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. is sending more troops and aircraft to the region. Jeremy Diamond is at the White House for us.

Jeremy, what are you hearing there this morning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We heard President Biden call this the beginning of an invasion by Russia of Ukraine, a flagrant violation of international law, the Biden administration cancelling these planned talks with the Russian secretary of state and the Russian foreign minister, which were planned for tomorrow.

And President Biden issuing a slew sanctions on two of Russia's main banks as well as sanctions directly against some of these Russian elites and their families for the first time as well.

At the same time we're seeing military moves by the United States, once again seeking to shore up the NATO alliance. President Biden authorizing the movement of 800 troops from Italy to the Baltic region, also several fighter jets, helicopter battalions moving from Germany to the Baltic as well as to Poland.

At the same time President Biden is making clear, as he did yesterday, that he does not intend to send U.S. troops to Ukraine. He does not want a war with Russia, saying that these are defensive moves.

But we are seeing some concerns on Capitol Hill; 43 lawmakers yesterday sending a letter to President Biden, urging him to consult with Congress, reminding him of his duty, frankly, to consult with Congress before sending any U.S. troops to Ukraine or before going to war against Russia.

Not saying that he's going to do that but urging him that, should things escalate, that is what these members of Congress would like to see. It ranges on the spectrum from all the way on the Left to all the way on the Right, which is particularly interesting.

But again, just a sign of how concerned folks on Capitol Hill are, at the real prospects for some things to get much, much worse -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right, the continued fear it may start in Ukraine and it can spill over its borders very, very quickly. You can see that in that letter. Jeremy, thank you so much. We're going to stick with you today. There's a lot going on.

Let's put together this moment and what it means. Joining me now, Nick Paton Walsh in Odessa.

Let's start with this report that's come in. It looks like a pretty specific cyberattack in Ukraine, another cyberattack.

What do you think this means?

What are you hearing?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It is always unclear when we hear of cyberattacks against a variety of government ministries. It does appear to be something occurring now against various government websites. The significance of that is not that you can't access the foreign ministry website at this hour.

[11:10:00]

WALSH: It's always been suggested by Western officials as being potentially the prelude to some sort of broader, full-scale invasion. Now the cyberattack, of course, most people suggest might try to knock out power, critical infrastructure or do something like this, which seems to be a denial of service attack against certain prominent ministries' websites.

That's why people are paying attention to this, Kate, and because this growing fear, after hearing Vladimir Putin speak again and again in not entirely rational terms, if I'm being diplomatic, about Ukraine, about Ukraine's fictional desire for nuclear weapons and today about how great Russian weaponry is, that his mindset is headed in one specific direction.

And the clock ticking, too. According to Western officials I've spoken to, he can't keep those troops sitting on the border forever. He has a matter of days before they have to go back or their morale becomes intolerable. So these are things that have people deeply on edge at the moment.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And adding to that, the Latvian prime minister spoke to Jim Sciutto. And he seems to think there is no ambiguity in what is happening now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISJANIS KARINSJ, LATVIAN PRIME MINISTER: According to the information at my disposal, Putin is moving in additional forces and tanks into the occupied Donbas territories. By any definition, that's a crossing of the sovereign territory into a neighboring country. That is an invasion. It is the military that is doing this.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So you're saying you've seen new Russian units move into Donbas since this declaration of supposed independence?

KARINSJ: Yes, according to the information at my disposal, this is exactly what we're seeing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Exactly what he's seeing.

What do you think his words mean right now?

WALSH: Yes, I mean, Jim really hit it there with his question. This is about new Russian, formal units going into an area since Vladimir Putin said he would send in peacekeepers, what he called peacekeepers, rather than a continued buildup of the informal presence when everyone knows the Russian army has been there for basically eight years.

The fact he said that and we're hearing from the U.K. foreign secretary, that was ambiguous in terms of evidence. And we heard from the White House yesterday that an invasion is an invasion from President Biden, the beginning of the invasion is happening.

That shows you I think that the intelligence may not be entirely clear. It may not be something which everyone is willing to share publicly. It may be something which is entirely conclusive.

But it is what's key here, Kate, because, until you actually have new Russian formal units heading into these areas, we are still in that sort of gray area of, has it started or has it not started?

And have these sanctions announced yesterday, come a little early or come without evidence of an invasion actually being there?

It's in a gray area at the moment but the problem I think we're in now is the tone of Vladimir Putin's speech, which suggests it may not be a gray area in the days ahead.

BOLDUAN: The top Ukranian security official is also saying now that Ukraine's response to a Russian attack -- and the way he put it is "will be instant."

Is it clear to you, in all of this gray area, we're discussing what that means?

WALSH: Yes, I mean, look, there is no secret here that Ukraine's military, despite the assistance given by the United States, European allies, NATO allies, that's been pouring in over the years and specifically the last months, that Ukraine's military is not a match for the Russian military.

This had so much investment put into it by the Kremlin. People are wondering what that was really for. We may find out in the days ahead. So I think Ukraine will answer any Russian attack the best it can. It may have patchy success. It may have losses, too. It's unclear what scale of an attack it may face.

I'm in Odessa, a strategic port city, so far away from the eastern areas that are under discussion at the moment but still a place we've seen police on the streets just in the last hour because of the state of emergency called around Ukraine.

And a strategic place which many are concerned might be in the middle of the Russian crosshairs if there were a nightmare scenario of a full invasion transpiring, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Nick, thank you for being there.

Up next, President Biden is near nearing a decision on a Supreme Court nominee. Who he's met with and soon an announcement will come, up next.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BOLDUAN: President Biden is closing in on one of the longest-lasting decisions of his entire presidency, his Supreme Court nominee. Multiple sources now tell CNN the president has interviewed at least

three potential picks. The president is expected to make his announcement ahead of his first State of the Union address which is next Tuesday. Let's get the latest on this. Jessica Schneider live in Washington.

Jessica, this process is always tightly controlled and coordinated.

What's the latest you're learning?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very tightly controlled, Kate. We are just a day or a few days away from that big reveal announcement by President Biden.

What we do know is the president has interviewed those top three candidates already but we have learned that the president has not yet made up his mind. Ultimately it's one of these three women who will be the president's pick.

The likely frontrunner there, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She's been on the federal appeals court here in D.C. for almost a year now, before that on the federal district court here.

[11:20:00]

SCHNEIDER: Notably she wrote an opinion in 2019 knocking down the Trump administration's argument that Don McGahn didn't have to testify for a congressional committee. She wrote that presidents are not kings. That was widely cited.

She also notably ruled against Trump's claims of executive privilege recently. She sided with the unanimous three-judge panel back in December, when Trump tried to stop his White House records from going to the January 6 committee. Those were ultimately released.

Also a frontrunner here, California Supreme Court justice Leondra Kruger. She worked for the Obama administration.

And there is federal judge Michelle Childs out of South Carolina. She's a little lesser known but has been championed by Jim Clyburn, a top Biden ally in the House.

Whoever is select, they will have to hit the ground running. The next term's cases include big cases on affirmative action, whether businesses can refuse services to same-sex couples. We should know very soon since the end of February is just days away -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you for laying that out. Joining us now is Jeffrey Toobin and CNN political correspondent and host of "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" Abby Phillip.

It's good to see you guys.

Jeffrey, you've covered the process for multiple Supreme Court judges now.

What do you think this one will be like, expected and unexpected?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think the most important fact about this vacancy is that a Democratic president is replacing a Democratic appointee, so that the balance of the court is not going to change. There are six conservatives and three liberals. And that will be true after whoever this is is confirmed.

The big fights you get are when the balance might change; when Justice Barrett replaces Justice Ginsberg. That's a tremendous change in the court. When Justice Kavanaugh replaces Justice Kennedy. That's a big change in the court.

Here, I think you have a narrow but real Democratic majority in the Senate, Democratic president, Democratic vacancy. I think this is unlikely to be World War III the way some Supreme Court nominations are.

BOLDUAN: But, Abby, there is a heavy dose of politics throughout all of this, of course. Some Republicans have been angry over the last few weeks over Biden's pledge to nominate a Black woman in the high court. But one took a very different approach to this yesterday. Let me play for you what Senator McConnell said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I heard a couple of people say they thought it was inappropriate for the president to announce he was going to put an African American woman on the court.

Honestly, I did not think that was inappropriate. President Reagan promised to put a woman on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor. President Trump promised to put a woman on the court when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away. So I'm not complaining about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What did you think about that?

What does it say about the politics of this process?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think first of all, Mitch McConnell doesn't say much by accident, so it's intentional that he's sending that message.

McConnell does not want this to be a circus, not just for all the reasons that Jeffrey just outlined but because he actually thinks that Republicans have a shot at a Senate majority and part of the argument for that is that they can be a check on a President Biden.

And that is undermined when the nomination process becomes a circus, becomes an exercise in grievance politics, which is what a lot of this is about.

When you have senators like Ted Cruz and like Josh Hawley complaining about putting a Black woman on the Supreme Court, a lot of that is to signal to white voters, even to Latino voters, that this is something that is being done against you.

And I think Mitch McConnell is basically saying that's not the fight that we're going to have today on this, for all the reasons Jeffrey outlined but also because we want to be seen as, you know, the party who is capable of governing after these midterm elections, if they were to win control of the Senate.

BOLDUAN: Jeffrey, Jessica Schneider laid out the three candidates, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger and Michelle Childs.

[11:25:00]

BOLDUAN: What can you say about them?

TOOBIN: What you can say about Ketanji Brown Jackson is she was confirmed by the same Senate. It will be difficult to give reasons why she's become unqualified in the last year.

In addition, she has the greatest formal requirement. She was a Supreme Court law clerk for Stephen Breyer. She has been a federal district judge and a federal appeals court judge.

Leondra Kruger has the advantage of being somewhat younger. She's about five years younger than Judge Jackson and about 10 years younger than Judge Childs.

But she's never been confirmed by the Senate. She's a California judge. Judge Childs is less well known to Washington insiders.

That may be an advantage. She didn't go to Harvard or Yale like the other two candidates. That may be an advantage. But I think the stars really do line up for Judge Jackson in a way that I would be very surprised if she's not the nominee.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you guys. Thanks for coming in.

Coming up for us, one of the police officers involved in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor goes on trial today. But her family says this case will not bring them justice. Details in a live report, next.