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Russia Launches Large-Scale Military Attack On Ukraine; Battle Underway For Key Port City Of Kherson, Ukraine; Soon: Biden To Announce New Sanctions As Russia Attacks Ukraine. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 24, 2022 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Really remarkable, amazing video to see 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time this morning, those are Russian heavy artillery guns rolling past our Correspondent Fred Pleitgen's live location right toward the Ukrainian border. Overnight, further evidence of Russia's full-scale air and ground attack on Ukraine, airstrikes, explosions, fighting had been reported in cities across the country, including the capital of Kyiv, where we also are seeing gridlock streets as people try to flee.

Turn you back over to Jim Sciutto in Ukraine, who's been on air since early this morning live in the East -- western part of the country. I was just handed this, Jim, a senior U.S. defense official saying that the world -- the U.S. and the world has not seen a conventional move like this, nation-state to nation-state since World War Two.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the ground invasion now, as we saw there with those pictures from Russia just across the border in the bright light of day. Pentagon believes this is the first phase -- just the first phase of a multiphase broad-scale attack on this country with the intention of taking much of it or perhaps all of it over. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has just crossed the border near Belgorod, Russia, that's across the border from Kharkiv. The last checkpoint before the front line of the battle here -- one of the frontlines.

Fred, you've seen heavy howitzers, mobile howitzers going, you've seen tanks, you've seen military trucks, how fast is the pace of those forces been going by you? Have you been able to count numbers? How big is the force coming across from Russia there?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, quite frankly, Jim, I've lost track of the numbers because there've been so many forces who have been going past us -- that have been going past this. In fact, just before we went to air, there was another massive convoy that just went past and move towards Ukrainian territory and we've been seeing that throughout the entire day.

What we've seen more recently is that's been more sort of personnel carriers with soldiers that have been brought into or towards the Ukrainian territory. But, of course, throughout the day, as you've mentioned, we have seen howitzers, we've seen main battle tanks, but we've also seen artillery rockets fired from here towards Ukrainian territory, and not just once but on several occasions. We later found out that it was apparently Smerch rockets that were fired. That's a -- you know, sort of medium-range rocket system. That's not the most accurate but certainly one that is extremely powerful. We saw a lot of those salvos being fired.

And I'd say about half an hour before we went to air right now, we saw another one of those salvos being fired and, of course, in the night, that is something that really does look scary, especially to folks who would be on the receiving end of that, like for instance in and around Kharkiv. So what I can tell you from this vantage point here right now, Jim is that the invasion that is going on is certainly not letting up. The pace of that invasion is also not letting up and just assets keep pouring into this area, some actually being staged around where I am right now as well and then being brought towards Ukrainian territory, Jim.

[11:35:00]

SCIUTTO: You know, it strikes me as I watched you there, Fred, just the complete lack of embarrassment on the part of Russia. They're driving those forces across the border right by our reporters in the bright light of day. Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.

Kate, you know, it was only a few days ago that senior Russian officials are saying we have no intention of invading Ukraine. Of course, they were lying. And we're seeing that play out right in front of our eyes.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Jim, we'll get back to you. You're the best. Thank you so much. Joining me right now for more on this is CNN Military Analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. General, thank you for being here. So you see what Fred Pleitgen is just talking about and what he's been seeing all throughout the day, these tanks moving from Russia toward Ukraine's border. What does it mean to you?

MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the first thing I'd say, Kate is I was on earlier with Fred when he was viewing those Smerch rockets fire, they have a range of about 50 miles, about, give or take, and they are firing from inside of Russia into Ukraine. And so they are outside the range of any kind of Ukrainian counterattack. And they usually are preparing the battlefield for the tanks, for the personnel carriers, the BMPs, as they're called, and for the mobile artillery, they follow in behind them.

So what you're seeing is the prep from long distances, and then a rolling in of the forces to go after the cities or the particular objectives that they're going to. It's the Russian way of war. They will prep the battlefield with long-range artillery, then, come in with helicopters, as you're showing right now, coming with -- come in with fast-moving jets, close air support, and then they bring in the conventional forces later on. All of that's going on while they're also conducting cyber activities and other kinds of asymmetric warfare attempts.

BOLDUAN: General, we also -- here's what we also know from a U.S. defense official, roughly more than 100 Russian missiles were part of the initial onslaught, we're told, that, includes short-range ballistic, medium-range ballistic missiles, and sea-launched missiles just to show some of what U.S. defense officials are saying, and have taken account of. What does that say to you? What should that mean to people who are outside of the military family?

HERTLING: Well, first of all, it's a lot of ordnance. But I got to tell you too, Kate, they're firing in a lot of targets, spread out across the country that's as big as Texas. And a hundred seems like a lot, and certainly, they're causing some damage, but they're going after some specific targets, key buildings, key communication centers, potential government buildings, and airfields because they want to stop any counterattacks by the Russian forces. But again, I'm going to go back to that hundred rounds plus, it seems like a lot. But there's an old adage that says if you attack everywhere, you attack nowhere.

And that the size and scope of this attack on the multiple cities throughout Ukraine, from a military perspective, has me a little worried because once they roll those forces in and the tanks and the BMP and the infantry, can they control cities that have 4 million in population, sort of like Kyiv does, a million and a half like Kharkiv? Can they control those large cities with a relatively small amount of forces?

That's -- 120,000 seems like -- or 190,000, whatever you give, it seems like a lot, but when you parse out the artillery pieces, the Jets, the naval forces, the supply, the logistics, there's not a whole lot of fighting forces that can really control those large cities with that amount of population. Those kinds of cities would have much more than that number in a police force surrounding it. So you know, the first two days are going to be tough for the Ukrainians, but I think after that, you're going to see a turnaround in terms of the insurgencies.

BOLDUAN: That's interesting. You know, James Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, I want to read for you something that he said this morning to NBC. He said there's really no mystery here. I think he's going to go full bore, meaning Putin, get to Kyiv, captures Zelensky. And we've got to protect Zelensky, figure out a way for him to have a government in exile, figure out a way to arm Ukrainian resistance. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. Zelensky's safety, what do you think of that?

HERTLING: Well, Admiral Stavridis was my old boss in Europe so I know the kind of things he's talking about. And yes, it's certainly important to protect President Zelensky and his cabinet because they are targeted by the Russians and that's disgraceful. But the key piece is, is how do you protect them? How do you reinforce the Ukrainian security forces? Or do you just pull them out and hand them as a government in exile until they can continue to get back under the safety of the capital? I'm not sure how to do that. I'm not sure I agree with Admiral Stavridis in terms of how we reinforce.

[11:40:00]

HERTLING: We've done a lot of things to reinforce in terms of the armaments of the Ukrainian military. We've just got to provide continual support for their actions. And yes, we certainly could contribute more to the potential upcoming insurgencies but it's a whole lot tougher to put forces on the ground to assist them.

One of the things -- you know, Kate, what I'm looking at is these Russian forces that are moving across. If we were involved, if we could be involved in Ukraine without threatening a world war, they would be easy targets for the American forces, for the NATO forces, they would be countered by air. Right now, the Ukrainian military does not have an Air Force, so that air superiority that artillery long- range fires from outside the borders are giving the Russians an extreme advantage. But you can't hold ground with airplanes or artillery. That's the key.

BOLDUAN: General, thank you so much. Just ahead for us. CNN is continuing coverage of this Breaking News, Russia's attack on Ukraine. It is underway, it is continuing. We're also standing by to hear President Biden speaking in the next hour.

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[11:45:00]

BOLDUAN: We have more Breaking 1News coming out of Ukraine just now. Ukraine's President Zelensky is saying that the biggest problem right now is in the southern part of the country near the Black Sea, troops fighting fierce battles there he says. Let's go there. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh was standing by. He's in the port city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. Nick, what are you seeing?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, Kherson City is sort of a key place on the way up from Russian-controlled Crimea, the peninsula of the south of Ukraine, heading up towards the capital, Kyiv. Now, there's always been thought that the isolated peninsula was totally inconvenient for the Russians to supply with goods, utilities, etcetera, and they may have wanted as part of this maneuver to push up from Crimea, and possibly connected to territories in the east or whatever wider scheme they have. That it seems to be certainly occurring.

This morning, we saw images of troops moving out from Crimea, essentially, towards this city where I'm standing, Kherson. We've seen ambulances go past us here, we've been down to the key bridge that connects this city with across the river, where we do know that the Russians have made significant gains, essentially, up to that bridge. We think the fighting may have got onto our side of the river at this point, but it is hard to tell, frankly, given the use of heavy weapons. And now it's often hard to tell what's landing, where. So as I say, it's certainly a tense situation in Kherson held by the Ukrainian government.

We did not see a particularly big military presence here that maybe because it's elsewhere, and further east along this river. There are signs of further Russian advances. There have been claims that they control a key hydroelectric power station up the river and then possibly further territory, further east as well. That will be in keeping with their -- the possible broad ambition, they would have to move round to the east. But this town here, very nervous people staying indoors and hearing the boom of artillery further towards the east here.

BOLDUAN: Nick, thank you very much for that. We'll get back to you. I'm going to bring in in the meantime, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. Chairman, thank you for being here. A full scale being here from --

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Adam Smith not Schiff, sorry. But --

BOLDUAN: Did I not say, Adam Smith? I'm Sorry.

SMITH: You said, Adam Schiff.

BOLDUAN: Oh, Adam Schiff.

SMITH: You said, Adam Schiff. It's a common mistake, no problem.

BOLDUAN: Apologies, Mr. Chairman. I -- you know, I know you well.

SMITH: Sure.

BOLDUAN: We saw Nick Paton Walsh there in the port city, off the Black Sea, what he's seeing and hearing there, we've got correspondents all over the country reporting fighting and seeing it firsthand. This full-scale assault by Russia, in Ukraine, what is your reaction, what are we seeing?

SMITH: What we're seeing, exactly what our intelligence told us, that Russia was planning and then President Biden and his national security team have been very clear about this for weeks. I was in Poland last week on my way to the Munich Security Conference and was briefed by our military there and they laid out this was what Putin was prepared for, it was a full-scale assault from Belarus from the south across the border, to try and take the whole country. It is -- it is on audacious -- an audacious move and one that the world must condemn.

I mean, it is -- that there are certainly been conflicts since the end of World War Two, but as you have very well reported, this is unprecedented. This is a change since the end of World War Two that we have not seen as a full-scale military attack on a sovereign nation completely unprovoked. And we must condemn this and do everything we can, support the Ukrainian people and crucially shore up our NATO allies because there's no reason to believe that Putin is going to stop at Ukraine.

BOLDUAN: Chairman Smith, what do you want to hear from President Biden? What does he need to do now?

SMITH: Well, number one, he needs to make the clear case for what this is, as I just said and as you have been reported, to alert the world to the crisis that this creates.

[11:50:00]

SMITH: Certainly, it creates a crisis in Europe but it also sends the message globally to you know powerful nations that they can reshape their borders to military might. And that is something that the International Order has been fighting against for 80 years. We can't let this stand. He has to make that message clear, then I think he has to make it clear our support for the Ukrainian people, our support for the legitimate Ukrainian government, and then to our NATO allies in the region.

As I mentioned, I was in Poland, I was in Estonia as well, our NATO allies in the Baltics, Poland, and Romania are justifiably nervous about what Russia might do next. We need to make it clear that we will support them and we will reinforce them with our other NATO allies as quickly as possible.

BOLDUAN: You know, I just saw that Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK is saying that Ukraine does not have enough equipment to repel the Russian attack saying this. We have enough people, we don't have enough equipment. Does that something that you would like to see the U.S. step in to fill that void in terms of supplying them with more equipment? Can that happen in real-time?

SMITH: Look, I mean, just to be honest about the situation, the odds of us being able to do that, you know, in a rapid enough fashion to repel the invasion is remote. I mean, Ukraine has been trying to rebuild their military for a number of years now but it takes time and it takes development. So I don't think it's realistic to think that we're going to be able to reinforce them enough in the short term to repel the invasion. We do need to try to help them as much as possible. And it is quite possible that what we're looking at here is a more long-term insurgency.

They may not be able to stop the invasion. But sadly, as we've seen in a number of countries, in our own experience, and our fight in Afghanistan, for instance, you know, even if you can overwhelm a country with force if that country is unwilling to accept, you know, the fact that they have been taken over, a very strong insurgency can be built. And I think that may well be what we're looking at in Ukraine. And I think we need to be prepared to support the Ukrainian people in that effort.

BOLDUAN: Ominous words from the Chairman. Chairman Adam Smith, thank you so much for coming on, sir.

SMITH: Thank you, Kate. I appreciate the chance.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. Just ahead, we're going to continue this coverage -- Breaking News coverage of what is playing out, a surreal scene playing out in Ukraine right now. Russia's assault on Ukraine continues. You're standing by for much more, that's ahead.

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[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: We are keeping a close eye on the White House right now as we keep a very close eye on Ukraine. President Biden is expected to announce new sanctions against Moscow in his first public speech since Russian forces unleashed their assault on Ukraine. CNN's Kylie Atwood is live at the State Department for more on this. Kylie, whatever the sanctions are the President is about to announce, they do come on the heels of a slew of other sanctions already applied. Walk us through this.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so already this week, Kate, the Biden administration has rolled out sanctions on a few things to state-controlled Russian institutions, making institutions, a few Russian elites, and they've also gone after Russian sovereign debt. But when you talk to folks about what they've done thus far, they say these aren't the behemoth of sanctions that will really have a true impact on the entirety of the Russian economy. And President Biden, of course, promised in his statement last night, after this all-out invasion happened, that the entire international community would hold Russia accountable. The White House has promised that as these escalatory aggressions from Russia come so too are the costs going to go up that escalating ladder here.

And so there are a number of things that we're looking for President Biden to potentially layout in his remarks today announcing these new sanctions on Russia, but there is one interesting area to watch and that is SWIFT. It is an international messaging tool for banking and it is something that Ukrainians are coming out very clearly today and calling for the international community to take Russia off of. Now, it's a bit complicated. The United States can't do it alone. We don't believe it's something the Biden administration is looking to do right now. But that is something that the Ukrainians are very clearly asking for.

BOLDUAN: Kylie, thank you so much. Coming up more of CNN's continuing special live coverage of the Russian attack on Ukraine, as we are watching the war unfold and underway in Europe right now. We're also standing by to hear from President Biden.

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