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Russian Invasion Faces Fierce Resistance In Ukraine; U.S. Cuts Off Russia's Central Bank From Dollar Transactions; UN: More Than Half A Million People Flee War-Torn Ukraine. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 28, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:46]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. We begin with breaking news. Officials from Russia and Ukraine are meeting face to face for the first time since the Russian assault on Ukraine began meeting in Belarus as fighting continues for a fifth consecutive day. Ukraine is demanding an immediate ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Russian troops. Ukraine is also calling now to be immediately admitted into the European Union. This morning the State Department announced that it is suspending operations at the U.S. Embassy in Minsk, as Ukrainian intelligence reveals Belarus could be preparing right now to join the fight with Russia.

Ukrainian military says Russian forces have slowed their offensive suffering multiple setbacks, including this reporting by Matthew Chance and his team in the outskirts of the capital of Kyiv. Demonstrations against the Russian invasion are growing, most notably in Russia, where police have detained nearly 6,000 demonstrators. And they're not alone. Around the world, people are uniting in support of Ukraine. We have reporters all over the region. Let's begin with CNN's Alex Marquardt. He's live in Kyiv. Alex, what are you hearing -- what's the latest with these talks in Belarus?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, Kate, it is encouraging when sides sit down and talk but there is not a lot of optimism that much is going to come from this. This is happening right along the Belarus-Ukrainian border. At first, Zelensky was invited or his delegation to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. He declined that because Belarus, of course, has been supporting the Russian side. And now their concerns the Belarusian forces may be joining Russian forces in this invasion. So this is not a meeting between the two countries presidents, they each sent a delegation, President Zelensky sending a top aide as well as the defense minister, President Putin sending a top aide as well.

The Ukrainians said from the outset that they're going to go into these talks demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and an immediate ceasefire. These talks have been going on about five hours now. So we will see hopefully, at the end, some sort of progress. Of course, you could speculate that the Kremlin may be doing this to buy some time or just to be able to say, hey, we tried, we failed or they failed. And now we're going to keep invading Ukraine.

Now, meanwhile, we are hearing much more from President Zelensky who says that now is the time for Ukraine to join the European Union. He wants Ukraine to be urgently admitted. And he said that the goal is to be with all Europeans. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINE (through translator): Europeans realize that our soldiers are fighting for our country and for all of Europe for peace, for peace for all, for all the countries of the European Union, for lives of children, for equality, for democracy. And this gives us a full right to do the following. We call on the European Union for Ukraine's immediate accession under a new special procedure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Now, there has been a positive response from the European Union, the President of the European Council, responding saying they are one of us, and that the bloc, meaning the European Union, does want Ukraine in. It is unclear when exactly that could happen. Of course, we've talked a lot about the fact that Ukraine is not in NATO, there is no discussion right now that they would -- that they are joining NATO anytime soon.

But the European Union is sending a lot of support. We have just heard that they are, for the first time, going to be giving some 500 million euros worth of military aid to Ukraine. That is mostly going to be lethal military aid joining many other European countries as well as the United States. So Ukraine, getting a lot of weaponry support from the outside, but make no mistake, they know that they are in this fight alone against one of the biggest militaries in the world. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Hi, Alex, thank you so much for that.

So as Russian troops advance on key cities in Ukraine, they are facing resistance and a tougher fight than many had expected and anticipated. One example is a highway on the outskirts of Kyiv where CNN's Matthew chants saw the wreckage of Russian military vehicles stopped by Ukrainian troops.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right within the past few hours. There has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of Kyiv and this is one of those Russian Soviet era vehicles which is completely burned out. You can see, this is a bridge actually is an access point to the northwest of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. And the Russian column that has come down here has been absolutely hammered.

[11:05:22]

Obviously, we're still in a very exposed situation right now, but just bring you along here. There's the debris everywhere, the twisted metal of these vehicles. This is obviously just the truck carrying supplies. We saw the armored vehicle in front there. I mean, looking around, absolutely, look at this. I mean, what kind of munitions does it take to do that to a car to a vehicle? You know, I know that I've just been local Ukrainian commanders here. They've been saying that they were using Western anti-tank missiles to attack these columns.

Look. So recent, the battle, this vehicle is still smoking, there's still smoke coming at the back of that. Ammunition boxes on the ground. There's unexploded grenades in various like, like pineapple grenades everywhere, you know, a real scene of devastation along this bridge. According to the local Ukrainian military that I've been speaking to, but maybe as many as 10, 10, I mean, look, I mean, this is a bit of almost a cliche, but obviously, somebody has brought a memento from home.

You know, and now it's scorched and lying with the debris of there, in this case, failed attack. I mean, you know, all along this bridge, which is an access point, there are these vehicles that have been hammered by the Ukrainian forces a bit of a Russian uniform there lying on the floor. I can tell you, I toured this area earlier. And there were some terrible things that we can't really show you on camera in terms of dead bodies, Russians still lying here on the ground.

This vehicle here is obviously from the Russian military, it's got the letter V, door on the side looking tape putting paint, that -- I think that stands for Vostok, which is the Russian word for East, which implies that these military equipments, they came from the eastern divisions of the Russian military. Whatever saying that, look, there's evidence and I'm going to show you this too much, but there's a body there. That's a Russian soldier that is lying there dead on this bridge. Laying there dead on this bridge, as at his column, has attempted to drive in and been thwarted.

Ukrainian officials and Ukrainian soldiers who I've been speaking to over the past couple of hours are absolutely enthused by this victory. They say that they've scored. And it's not just here. We've seen instances all over the country where the Ukrainians have really pushed back against the Russians. And it's really made them feel that they can win this war. But, you know, the big question is, what will Russia do now? If it has sent in as it seems it has an underpowered invasion? There is a very strong chance, I would say, you know, and I live in Russia, and I've covered Russia for many, many years, that they could double down and go in much harder and that is the big risk now for the Ukrainian military as they celebrate their victories.

Big question is what will the response of the Russian military and the Russian political leadership be?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Matthew Chance there on the outskirts of Kyiv for us.

So to Washington now, where the Biden administration is taking more severe actions against Vladimir Putin, the U.S. now cutting off Russia's central bank from U.S. dollar transactions. It's a move designed to ensure that Russia can't evade and get around sanctions that are already in place. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House. He's joining us now. Jeremy, how significant is this move now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a hugely significant step being taken by the U.S., Kate, essentially going at some of Russia's most powerful means to try and mitigate the effect of many of these sanctions that we've seen from the United States and the European Union and other Western allies. This will essentially stop the Russian Central Bank from transacting in dollars, preventing any U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the Central Bank of Russia as well as its sovereign direct investment funds. And essentially freezing many of its assets held here in the United States.

This hits at this rainy day fund that Vladimir Putin has been building up for years, $630 billion in foreign currency reserves that were expected to be used to help prop up what we're seeing right now, which is a plummeting ruble, a senior administration official saying that quote, fortress Russia will be exposed as a myth. The European Union is also taking similar steps in coordination with United States. And we're now learning as well that Switzerland, which has famously remained neutral in conflicts throughout history is also adopting many of these E.U. sanctions and freezing the assets of many of these Russian oligarchs held in Swiss banks, a hugely significant step.

[11:10:22]

Separately at this hour, President Biden he will be meeting with NATO leaders and other Western officials to talk about these latest steps and further sanctions on Russia, especially as Russia is now talking where we've heard Vladimir Putin talk about putting his nuclear forces on heightened alert. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Jeremy, thank you. So the sanctions on Russia are having a major impact on citizens in that country. The Russian Central Bank is more than doubled, a key interest rate. And Moscow stock market was closed today after the ruble plunge nearly 30 percent, worries that sanctions are going to be triggering cash shortages is leading to this what you're looking at massive lines at ATMs across Russia right now. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Moscow with more on this.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Kate, 36 different nations now have barred Russian aircraft from flying into their airspace, mostly European nations, Canada as well on that list, it means Russia is becoming increasingly isolated, even Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who was due to go on a trip to Geneva in Switzerland that has now been canceled. And the sanctions, the European and U.S. sanctions are beginning to bite home. President Putin appeared on television earlier on today with his Prime Minister accusing the West of being an empire of lies as he lashed out about the sanctions. He said he was meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the finance current financial and economic situation.

What we know from the Kremlin spokesman is that Putin is meeting not only with the Prime Minister, he's meeting with the first deputy prime minister with the head of the Central Bank, and the heads of other banks as well. The spokesman of the Kremlin said, look, Russia was planning for this all along, has been creating this rainy day fund $630 million in that fund to deal with sanctions. Now, he said we're implementing that. But the big shocker here for Russia is what the United States is doing, what the European Union is doing as well, which is blocking Russia's access to that rainy day fund and they are struggling. The ruble drop 30 percent of its value at the beginning of the day, the stock market here was shut.

The interest rate by the Central Bank was put up from 9.5 to 20 percent. So Russia is now reeling under the impact of these sanctions. This is much bigger, as promised by President Biden and other European leaders, much bigger than Russia has experienced in the past. Obviously, they've seen the ruble tank in 1998. They've undergone sanctions in 2014 for Russia first invasion of Ukraine, but this seeming to be much bigger. Putin seems to be incredibly angry about the situation, the Russian Government still figuring out what to do about it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Nic Robertson in Moscow. Nic, thank you so much.

So this morning, we're also getting a clearer picture of the growing refugee crisis, Russia's invasion is creating. The United Nations now reporting more than half a million people have been forced to flee the country in the last five days. CNN's Scott McLean is in Lviv, Ukraine with much more on this angle of the story.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia now says that they have opened a corridor for residents of Kyiv to get out of the city safely. There have already been more than a half a million Ukrainians flee abroad to other countries. And surely now, there will be even more and they will end up at transit points like this one. This is the Lviv train station. And everyone on this platform is waiting, hoping for a train to take them to Poland.

You'll notice that is almost exclusively women and children. Police have only almost exclusively been allowing that group onto the platform. And that led to scenes earlier today, where children were literally being grabbed out of the stairwell and onto the platform in a desperate attempt to get them onto the train. There was one mother in particular who managed to get her two-year-old child and herself onto the platform and she was absolutely wiped, absolutely exhausted when she finally got on the platform and realize that she was going to get on this train.

Now the preference for women and children has meant that there has been frustration amongst the single men who would like to leave, many of them are foreigners who are simply trying to go back to their home countries any way that they can.

BOLDUAN: Scott, thank you so much for that. Joining me now for more on this is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power. She is now the administrator for USAID, the U.S. government's International Humanitarian Aid Agency. Ambassador, thank you for being here. You have fought to protect refugees and have covered so many, too many refugee crises. What did you hear when you were at the border crossing? What struck you?

[11:15:18]

SAMANTHA POWER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: Well, First, Kate, and you've covered many of these crises yourself, it was just there are no men. So it's just a reminder of the extent to which basically all men in the society have shown up to be part of the territorial defense or to perform some role in this war effort in the self-defense effort. But seeing those women and children, of course, the challenges they face, the heartbreak they're carrying of having had to say goodbye to their husbands, their sons, their fathers, you could just see it in the faces of the people who were there. It's very chaotic at a lot of the most populated border crossings, you've seen the reports of people having to wait now days, to be able to cross it's not because of any unwillingness on the part of the frontline states, I actually just met here in Brussels with the European ambassadors from Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and they're really being as welcoming and as open as they can.

But just in the course of processing people getting them registered, it is causing some backup. And most of the backup is on the Ukrainian side, because the numbers are just the likes of which no one really had contemplated inside Ukraine, it's just very hard for people to believe that their Russian neighbor would turn on them in this way. So it's going to take a little bit of time to get that flow going. And hopefully, then people will have to wait less time in, because the conditions out in the freezing cold really, really tough on these families.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I mean, the U.N. now saying this is more than 500,000 people have left Ukraine, how much worse do you think it is going to get?

POWER: Well, I mean, all of us have to be working and praying for a diplomatic solution because the escalatory path that President Putin is on is an incredibly dangerous one, just sending more troops, you know, in more directions, all that's going to be in is more heartache and more loss and more refugee flight, so there's that. In terms of the humanitarian response, I do think that opening up a corridor for the people of Kyiv, you will start to see some flow out. And, you know, our planning assumptions range, there's a very wide range.

But I think, you know, it would not be crazy if the war were to continue to see as many as, you know, 3 to 5 million people flowing into these neighboring countries. So getting this flow going and ensuring that the welcome mat, that the arrivals are receiving in each of the frontline countries that that continues. And I want to stress, it's not just governments responding which they are along the Ukrainian border, they are universally, it is the citizens in those countries who are showing up becoming mini Uber drivers on the fly, and just deciding I'm going to go to the border, and I'm going to meet with a family. And I'm going to ask them, where do they want to go, and I'm going to take them to my home if they had no place to go that is happening across these borders.

But again, the logistics of getting people across. And I should say, Kate, getting the flow of humanitarian assistance also into Ukraine, as the stockpiles of food in places like Kyiv run low, that also is acutely urgent. And with the population on one side of the border, you have to move people and goods in both directions. And so getting all of that organized in really a matter of hours, not days is essential.

BOLDUAN: I have to say I always remember one of your final speeches at the U.N. back in 2016, when you called out Russia, along with Syria and Iran, over the atrocities in Syria. And back then you said simply you looked up and you said, are you truly incapable of shame? Is there no act of barbarism against civilians and no execution of a child that gets under your skin? And I've been thinking about that, that there's little proof that anything has changed. What does it going to take to stop Putin now?

POWER: Well, what democracies, what Europe and the United States, and also Japan and New Zealand and Australia and countries all around the world have mustered is far more formidable than what happened in the face of the atrocities in Syria and Russians involvement in the bombardment of places like Aleppo, which you remember well. So I do think that these sanctions, that the security assistance, the humanitarian assistance, the show of solidarity, but the practical manifestations of that solidarity are materially different.

So this unity is a prerequisite but it is also going to take Putin making the judgment that it is in his interest to cease and desist from this brutality and, you know, that Putin's calculus is something that has been hard to affect. But if we are going to affect it, it is going to be this way with this kind of unity and this kind of severe and proportionate response to his actions.

[11:20:21]

BOLDUAN: Ambassador, Administrator, thank you for coming on. Thank you for being there in Brussels, I really appreciate it.

Coming up for us, Ukrainian officials are calling now for a no fly zone over their country. But the Biden administration says that it will not be deploying American troops to create an enforced one. I'm going to speak with a member of Ukrainian parliament about this next.

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[11:25:03]

BOLDUAN: And welcome back Russian forces are facing fierce resistance now as they continue their push into Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance and his team they captured the aftermath of a battle on the outskirts of Kyiv. You can see just twisted metal that was Russian tanks, some still smoking as Matthew finds them, and also unexploded grenades, and even Russian casualties still laying there on that bridge amongst the wreckage. This as the first talks since this fighting began between Ukraine and Russia are underway in Belarus.

Joining me now for more on this, some important perspective is Lisa Yasko. She's a member of Ukrainian parliament, and also with us is Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell. Well, thank you for being here. Ms. Yasko, it was -- probably I hope you've had a chance to see Matthew Chance's reporting on these Russian vehicles destroyed on their way to where you are, we've also seen the satellite images of a three mile long Russian military column about 40 miles from Kyiv, where you are. So day five of this war, what is it like for you?

LISA YASKO, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Well, I've been living in this horror for like five days already. And I actually left Kyiv a few days ago, after I spent two completely sleepless night in the central Kyiv, with the sound of explosions being in shelter. But it would not be possible to even just speak to you, if I stayed there, because all the people right now are in shelters in underground if they hear serenas.

And no matter where you are actually, even in the west of Ukraine, it's still very, like very dangerous and not safe situation. Putin definitely got absolutely crazy killing civilians. We just heard very bad news from Kharkiv. There are like dozens of civilians who are killed. It looks like a real genocide. Well, my heart is screaming. We are all exhausted, but at the same time, very determined to win, because we know that we just cannot stand this evil, and we need to protect ourselves. And we need to protect humanity.

BOLDUAN: And all reports like that CNN is on the ground, looking to confirm and verify all of the things that you're talking about here. You know, what is your view of, Ms. Yasko of the talks underway with Russia today? Ukrainian officials, Russian officials meeting in Belarus, do you have I don't know any level of confidence or hope that it could lead to progress?

YASKO: Well, of course, there is a hope. And we are happy that it's happening because it's already fifth day. And so many like streets, cities, infrastructure destroyed. Of course, talks are always good. But we also don't have illusions because we understand that Russia wants just to get Ukraine in the pocket, but it's not going to happen. We're also very much worried about the position of Belarus. And we hear different information about Belarus being prepared to send also troops to Ukraine to fight against Ukraine. But let's see, hopefully, there could be some progress. But I don't think it's going to end today, unfortunately,

BOLDUAN: You want to see the U.S. impose help impose a no fly zone right now. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. was asked specifically about this yesterday by my colleague, Dana Bash, and she made clear that there are no U.S. troops will be on the ground. And that also means no U.S. troops in the air. Ms. Yasko, what's your response to that?

YASKO: Well, we are calling all the worlds to impose as many sanctions as possible. No fly zone is very important cutting on financial tied with Russia, isolating Russia, this is exactly what is going to help. I'm sure but -- because Russian citizens are not necessarily presenting their opinion of Putin, they want also peace, many of them. They want to be connected to the world. But isolation will bring that awareness so that hopefully Putin will change his mind. I don't think it's going to happen. But at least there is a chance to change the system there. So it's not such a crazy dictatorship with very sick, unhealthy thinking just to conquer countries and with bloody tools.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, this is an important question for you right now. Because when you were on with me on Friday, we had a conversation. And you said it is time for the U.S. to start punching back on Russia more significantly, and some have suggested that can mean at minimum sending in convoys to deliver more military hardware to Ukraine. Would you support the U.S. military heading in to do that?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Yes, yes, absolutely. I think we need to make sure they continue to have a supply of weapons intelligence, right? So information as to where are the Russians so that the Ukrainians know where to put the X to hit back against them and also to continue to tell Americans why we have to care about this. I met Ms. Yasko at the Munich Security Conference with my colleagues Ruben Gallego and Seth Moulton. We were so moved by her call to service and her belief in our own country where they have their own culture, their own language, their own democracy.

[11:30:20]

And we have to understand in America that history shows that evil like this, what Vladimir Putin is carrying out will come to us eventually. And so we have to stand with Ukraine. And Kate, I'm a big believer with someone as evil as Putin, you don't take options off the table. That doesn't mean we have a no fly zone yet. But he needs to understand that we don't take options off the table.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, thank you very much, a significant statement from you. And Ms. Yasko, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. We'll definitely stay in touch. Thank you both so much.

Coming up for us, the Supreme Court we're going to turn there because they're hearing arguments right now in what could be the most important environmental case before that court in more than a decade. We're going to layout what's at issue and what is at stake, that's next.