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At This Hour

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield Speaks at U.N. Emergency Session; Mayor of Mariupol, Ukraine, Reports Mass Casualties from Russian Attacks; U.N. Says Nearly 836,000 Have Fled Ukraine; Russia Using Banned Cluster Munitions, Vacuum Bombs; Biden Says Putin Will "Pay a Price" for Ukraine Invasion. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 02, 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]

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Those were President Putin's choices. Now it is time for us to make ours.

The United States is choosing to stand with the Ukrainian people. We are choosing, in coordination with our allies and partners, to impose severe consequences on Russia. We are choosing to hold Russia accountable for its actions.

And we will soon turn to vote on a resolution that does just that. We believe this is a simple vote. Vote yes if you believe you and member states, including your own, have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Vote yes if you believe Russia should be held to account for its actions. Vote yes if you believe in upholding the U.N. Charter and everything this institution stands for. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank the distinguished representative of the United States.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Kate Bolduan. What we've been listening to is the ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas- Greenfield, speaking very starkly about what Russia is doing on Ukraine, as they continue their assault on Ukrainian people, even saying Russia has betrayed the United Nations.

We're going to be watching this very closely. We'll also continue to follow the breaking news on the war in Ukraine. There have been a lot of developments in the last 24 hours. Ukraine's emergency service now reporting more than 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the Russian attack began a week ago. That horrifying death toll comes as Russian forces are only

intensifying attacks on civilian targets across Ukraine. Overnight, Putin's military attacked a regional police department in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv. A university was also attacked.

Heavy shelling has been reported in the southern city of Mariupol, where the mayor there said there have been mass casualties and now there's no water supply.

Russia has taken control of Kherson, a major city in Ukraine. The U.S. has not confirmed that claim and the Ukrainian government denies it. Let's begin our coverage with Matthew Chance, live in Kyiv, on the devastating death toll and the overnight attacks.

Matthew, what are you hearing?

What are you seeing today?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm actually in Kyiv right now. It is one of the few cities that is very, very quiet. We're not hearing anything at all, which is in stark contrast to the kind of scenes and barrages we've had in the Ukrainian capital ever the last five, six, even seven days since this conflict began.

But those incredibly disturbing figures coming from the emergency services department here in Ukraine, saying that about 2,000 civilians have been killed so far in this conflict as a result of the fighting.

And, you know, that's because there's been fierce fighting and bombardments raging all across the country as Russian troops are advancing.

Here's the really disturbing thing as well, Kate, is that, if the Russians decide, as they appear to have decided, that that initial tactic was a little bit underpowered and they're not making the territorial gains they thought they would and they change that tactic to increase the pressure and make it harder for an attack position, to bring in weaponry and things like that and begin to target civilian areas, perhaps, obviously, that civilian death toll is going to skyrocket upwards.

So that's a very alarming prospect. Indeed, already today, there have been rocket attacks, airstrikes, missile attacks in various locations across the country. Kharkiv, the biggest city, has been pounded by Russian artillery.

Also attacks inside of the country, as Russian forces attempt to seize control of the port of Mariupol, the stretch of water between Ukraine -- one of the stretches of water between Ukraine and Russia. So these are all very disturbing figures.

There have been casualties on the other side as well. According to the Ukrainian security services, Russia has now lost more than 6,000 of its own troops in this invasion that started, what was it, six days ago. There is no way for us to independently verify that figure and the

Russians, even though they have acknowledged they have taken casualties, they haven't put a figure on it.

[11:05:00]

CHANCE: But that is an enormous price for the Russian artillery to pay as they continue this ongoing invasion of Ukraine -- Kate.

Matthew, thank you for being on top of this. I really appreciate it.

We are getting a first-hand look at the deadly airstrike that knocked out a television tower, reported yesterday from Kyiv. That also damaged a Holocaust memorial site, an area that's long been considered sacred ground. CNN's Alex Marquardt filed this report from the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): That attack on the TV tower happening right here, just three miles from the center of Kyiv. That's the tower right there. You can see some of the damage right there in the middle. There is a blackened area as well as windows that have been blown out.

We've been down to the buildings below it. A lot of destruction there, a lot of debris, a lot of broken glass. The tower hit by one missile. There were several others that landed here, were told by the guards of the tower.

You can all the destruction here on this street and the impact it has had on civilians as Russia claims they are not targeting civilian infrastructure. Just take a look at this.

These are power lines that the city's buses use. Back there, where you can see the smoke and you can still smell the smoke in the air, that was a gym. There is a fire smoldering inside right next to gym equipment, ellipticals and stationary bikes.

If you come around here, you can see this car that is now completely destroyed, its windshield blown in and, just beyond that, an auto parts store, where the owner and the staff are still cleaning up.

Now five people, we are told by the city, were killed in this strike, five civilians. And this strike takes on more significance when you take into consideration the fact that this is an area called Babyn Yar.

This is where one of the worst massacres in World War II happened; 33,000 Jews were killed on this site. There is a memorial not too far away. Luckily, that was not damaged.

So this attack, carried out by President Putin's forces, a man who claims he wants to denazify Ukraine, who wants to remove the Jewish leader of Ukraine, this was widely condemned, not just by Ukraine's president, who asked, how can we say never again and let this happen?

It was also called appalling by the secretary of state, Tony Blinken.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Alex Marquardt on the scene for us. Alex, thank you very much.

So as Russia continues to hit civilian targets for a second day, the humanitarian crisis is worsening by the hour. The number of people fleeing has surged by more than a quarter million people in the last 24 hours. Sara Sidner is live in Poland.

What are you seeing there?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're standing on the Polish border with Ukraine. This is one of the largest border crossings where you have cars crossing and people crossing on foot. They have allowed people to cross on foot all over the country now.

This used to be the only place where you could do that. We're seeing lots of people coming through in small groups. It's pretty orderly; we got to go close to the border. But there is this issue that keeps coming up of African and Indians and Nepalese and people who are residents of Ukraine but are not native Ukrainians, finding themselves in very difficult positions and not being able to cross or get on trains.

Here's the exchange I just had with an E.U. commissioner for crisis management, who was here talking about that issue and talking about the greatness of Poland but also the difficulties that happened with those Black and Brown people here, trying to flee the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANEZ LENARCIC, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Members of Ukraine parliament for Poland (ph) assured us that this is fake news, that this is not true and, honestly, we have not been able to corroborate that.

SIDNER: I have corroborated it. I have talked to Africans and Indians, who have both said -- they said that they were being pushed off trains, that they were being left behind. These are women and children.

LENARCIC: Any discrimination among people who are fleeing the conflict on the basis of any personal characteristic, including citizenship or skin color, is completely unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: "Completely unacceptable," you heard him there. He's also saying that people crossing the border from Ukraine will get special protection from the E.U. They have 90 days; they can go anywhere in Europe.

But after that they will be treated as refugees with special protection, which means they can get education, they can get food, they can get housing, they can get jobs, because they want to make sure that they are welcomed form this terrible, unnecessary and unprovoked war -- Kate.

[11:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Sara, thank you so much.

President Biden making his first public comments about Ukraine since last night's State of the Union address. This just happened a few minutes ago. The president saying nothing is off the table when it comes to punishing Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) banning Russian oil imports?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nothing is off the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Asked specifically there are about Russian oil imports. CNN's John Harwood is with us.

What else did the president say this morning?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was a striking statement for the president to make because, as you know, both European nations and the United States are reluctant to hit Russia's energy sector. They fear blowback on domestic constituents.

Energy prices are already high, they're afraid of them spiking further. But as we see the brutality of this invasion, more evident by the day, that made stiffened the resolve of Western countries to try to take additional steps.

In fact, President Biden told CNN's Jeremy Diamond said it's too soon to say if it's a war crime. But clearly Vladimir Putin and Russian forces are targeting civilians.

That's what has generated the change that last week saw sanctions escalate very rapidly from modest beginnings to then sanctioning the central bank, very tough blocking sanctions, that prohibited dollar transactions from major financial institutions.

All of that is now ramping up as Vladimir Putin sustains this invasion. And one things Biden talked about in the State of the Union last night, the ban of Russian flights over American airspace. Administration officials tell us that takes effect tonight at 9:00 pm.

BOLDUAN: And more to come. John, thanks.

Breaking at this hour, the Justice Department just announced it's launching a task force to target the crimes of Russian oligarchs. President Biden talked about this in his speech last night. CNN's Evan Perez is with us. Evan, what does this task force mean?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: What the Department of Justice announced a few minutes is a new task force that is specifically going after these oligarchs from Russia, from Belarus -- their yachts, their private jets, their luxury apartments in any location, including the United States and the European Union.

This task force is called Klepto Capture and it will include experts from the FBI, from the IRS, from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, who can specialize on money laundering, tax enforcement, even national security investigations, to try to find some of these assets and try and seize it.

Of course, the fact that these sanctions were announced before, in the last few days, means that some of these oligarchs have already started moving some assets.

Some websites that track these vessels show yachts going to Montenegro, to the Maldives, to try to perhaps evade some of these sanctions. It's going to be hard to but that's what the Justice Department says they're going to have this unit specializing. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Evan, thank you very much.

Coming up for us, the United States just accused Russia of using weapons and bombs against Ukraine that are banned.

Does this now amount to war crimes?

That's next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BOLDUAN: We do have breaking news. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations now saying they've seen video that suggests to them that Russia has used weapons and bombs that are banned against the people of Ukraine. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We've seen videos of Russian forces moving exceptionally lethal weaponry into Ukraine, which has no place on the battlefield. That includes cluster munitions and vacuum bombs which are banned under the Geneva Convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Ukraine's emergency services says that more than 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have died in just this first week of this war. Joining me now is John Herbst, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Also with us, CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Ambassador, I want to get your reaction of what we just heard from Linda Thomas-Greenfield, saying that they have seen video, cluster munitions, vacuum bombs, weapons banned under the Geneva Convention.

What do her words in front of the U.N. General Assembly mean?

JOHN HERBST, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Those confirm reports coming from Ukrainian authorities in the last several days about the Russian use of both cluster munitions and thermobaric or vacuum bombs.

So this is clearly a war crime and it seems to be an indication that Putin is going to move from a straightforward invasion into the use of massive bombardments against civilian populations, tactics which bought him victory in Chechnya and Syria but which are clearly war crimes.

We should have taken Putin down for that in '15 and '16 in Syria and before that when he did it in Chechnya. But we really need to place an emphasis on this now.

BOLDUAN: Don't want to miss this moment, though, Ambassador, because we did hear President Biden just say also it's too early to say whether Russia is committing war crimes.

You think it is no longer too early?

HERBST: Well, if our ambassador to the U.N. confirmed those Ukrainian reports, that suggests it is a fact. And if that's the case, then maybe President Biden is doing that.

[11:20:00]

HERBST: I would say, out of overcaution, a characteristic we've seen of the Biden administration throughout this crisis although their overall response to the crisis has been sound.

BOLDUAN: Colonel, talk to me about the lethality of these weapons; cluster munitions, vacuum bombs, why does this take the fight to a new level?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: As the ambassador to the U.N. said, these are weapons systems that are banned by the Geneva Convention.

Cluster bombs are munitions that are designed to explode and carry out projectiles over a large distance. In essence, what they do is they are designed to be anti-personnel devices, which means they're designed to kill troops.

But when they're used on the civilians, they can kill a wide area of people, if you are going after people in a public square, for example. It could potentially devastate everybody within a large city square. When you look at the thermobaric bombs, that is a weapon that is

designed to go after people in enclosed spaces. So what happens it's, in essence, it's a kind of glorified, if you will, flame thrower.

And what it does, it attacks an area that, I believe, is used it in an enclosed space. And it sucks the air out of people's lungs who are targeted. So it's a very grotesque weapon and what it does is it asphyxiates people. And it does it in a way that is heinous, that is absolutely cruel.

So these weapons don't work as well in an open area but they work extremely well from a lethality standpoint, in an enclosed area. So they're used against bunkers, buildings, trenches and that kind of area that could potentially be an obstacle to the Russian forces.

BOLDUAN: Colonel, I also have new reporting that I want to bring to everyone as well, that U.S. sources say that the Ukrainian military, their capability losses have been worse than the military losses for the Russians to this point.

This reporting from Jim Sciutto, Barbara Starr and Katie Bo Lillis says Russia has lost 3 percent to 5 percent of its tanks and other assets compared, to Ukrainian losses of roughly 10 percent of its capabilities.

What does that mean?

LEIGHTON: It's not surprising to me. It just means we're dealing with a David and Goliath issue here. Ukraine's military is about a 10th of Russia's military. So a loss for Ukraine makes it even more difficult.

It's not surprising because Ukraine is operating in an enclosed area, their country, where the Russians are spread out in the largest country on Earth in terms of geographical area.

BOLDUAN: Colonel, Ambassador, thank you so much for coming on.

Coming up next, President Biden vows Putin will pay the price for the deadly invasion of Ukraine. How President Biden's State of the Union address laid out this war and more.

Also, Ukrainian children battling cancer and other diseases, now huddling in a basement to hide from Russian attacks, while they have desperate need of continuing to get their medical care. I'm going to speak to a doctor, trying to treat these young patients in the middle of a war zone.

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[11:25:00]

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BOLDUAN: President Biden took aim at Vladimir Putin in Biden's first State of the Union address last night. The president insisting that Putin's attack on Ukraine is backfiring, further isolating Putin from the rest of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Putin's latest attack on Ukraine was premeditated and totally unprovoked. He rejected repeated, repeated efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn't respond. He thought he could divide us at home, in this chamber and this nation. He thought he could divide us in Europe as well.

But Putin was wrong. We are ready. We are united and that's what we did. We stayed united.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now for more on this is David Gregory, CNN political analyst.

It's good to see you, David.

What do you make of those 12 minutes on Ukraine?

Did he effectively explain to the American people why this matters to them and also where this is headed?