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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Russia Escalates Assaults On Ukrainian Cities; U.S. Military Establishes Communications Line With Russia; U.S. Embassy In Ukraine Calls Nuclear Power Plant Attack "War Crime"; Ukrainian Leaders Call On Lawmakers To Back No-Fly Zone; NATO Not Considering No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine; Small Village Near Kharkiv Leveled By Russian Strikes; Blinken: No Strategic Interest In Reducing Global Energy Supply With Russian Sanctions; Google, Microsoft, FedEx Join Companies Cutting Ties With Russia; U.S. Economy Adds 678K Jobs In February, Smashes Expectations; Critically Ill Children Evacuate Ukraine On Harrowing Train Ride; AAA: Gas Prices Rise 11 Cents In One Day, National AVG At $3.84 A Gallon; Vice President Harris To Travel To Poland & Romania Next Week; Florida Lawmakers Pass Bill To Ban Abortions After 15 Weeks; Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence Of Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 04, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we've not seen significant Russian attacks taking place as yet in that part of the city. And so it kind of talks to that idea that as we're seeing the majority of the attacks in the north of the city, in the northwest of the city, now it's moving down to the south as well.

And so it just shows you, it illustrates that strategy that the Russians are pursuing to totally encircle Kyiv, the capital and to cut it off, and eventually, presumably, to take it. And so, we're looking very closely to see what else happens in those southern areas city.

I mentioned that the majority of the attacks over the course of the past 24 hours have been taking place in the northwest of the city, around Gostomel. Gostomel is that place, Jake, you may remember where I approached the Russian forces when they first landed as strategic airbase there. Well since that time, there's been a lot of toing and froing counter attacks by Ukrainian forces, and unclear who controls which part of which territory and those outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.

But the latest information that we've had within the past few minutes, Ukrainian Security Services say that Russian forces are holding about 40 civilians in a building in that region. And holding them as hostages is what the Ukrainian security forces are saying. So it's, obviously, a very fluid situation. And again, there seems to be some standoff with civilians caught in the middle between the two warring sides, Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And Matthew, you've also been trying to access subways and basements where many Ukrainians are living in shelter. Have you been able to get in there?

CHANCE: Yes, I went to that tonight. Actually, I went to a couple of shelters in the center of Kyiv, one of the deep in a subway stations -- was one of the deepest subway station I've ever been to. The, you know, the escalator went down and down forever into the depths of the city.

Once you got there, there were, you know, there's not fear shelling at the moment taking place in central Kyiv. But there was still a couple of 100 people down there. You know, some of them getting food and tea and bread being distributed by sort of aid workers, I suppose, people assisting the locals there.

People absolutely terrified. Some of them brought their children. I asked them why are you here? And they said, look, we're just -- it's just safer to be here. It's not the bombing happening above us right now. But it's just safe because people are genuinely scared.

The other important thing, what I did tonight is I went to a train station in the center of town. And that is really a hive of activity because the central train station in the city was absolutely packed with people crowding onto trains, trying to take any transport they can to the west of Kyiv. They want to go west, they're going to the west of the country. They're going to Poland, just to get out of harm's way, and they're taking their families with them, Jake.

TAPPER: Matthew Chance reporting from Kyiv. Thank you so much. Please stay safe.

Back in the United States, U.S. officials are urging Russia to cease its military activities in the area. Officials insists they are supporting Ukraine with intelligence sharing at a, quote, frenetic pace. Let's discuss with CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann and CNN Reporter Katie Bo Lillis.

Oren, let me start with you. The U.S. and Russia have established a phone line of sorts, so the two sides can notify each other quickly of any potential operations that might be happening in the region. This seems like a step in the right direction, maybe but will it yield any results when it comes to getting the Russians to get out of Ukraine?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jake, I don't think that's the goal or even the potential ability or capability of such a phone line. It's really purely a deconfliction mechanism. Because the skies over Ukraine are contested between, of course, the invading Russian Air Force and the Ukrainian Air Force.

And right next to that to the west of Ukraine, over several NATO countries, the U.S. Air Force is operating as our NATO countries. And the U.S. has made it clear, it does not want any sort of encounter that could lead to a confrontation that could lead to an escalation between U.S. forces and Russian forces. And at least so far, it seems that that's the goal of Russian forces as well.

The U.S. was looking to set up a sort of deconfliction mechanism with Russia. The U.S. and Russia have that over Syria. But as Russia invaded Ukraine, such a line was not in place until just a few days ago. On March 1st, a senior defense official says that was set up. It has been tested. It operates between U.S.-European command and the Russian Ministry of Defense at a staff level. So this isn't at the highest levels there of officials in the military.

It was tested. It worked. The Russian answered, but we don't have a clear sense yet if it's been used yet for deconfliction to keep the sides away from each other or under what circumstances it would be used.

[17:05:04]

It is certainly a good thing if your goal is to avoid these two encountering each other to have this in place, how often it's used. We will certainly try to get a better sense of that. But I think it's tough to imagine this in and of itself leads to some sort of breakthrough there.

TAPPER: All right, Oren, thank you. Katie Bo, earlier this week I spoke with Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska. He's on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said the U.S. government is not sharing intelligence with Ukrainians at a fast enough real time speed. U.S. officials have now responded to this. What are they saying?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Jake, U.S. officials that we spoke to push back pretty strongly on any suggestion that they are either not providing enough intelligence to the Ukrainians, or that it's not getting there fast enough. U.S. officials told us that the U.S. is sharing intelligence on Russian troop positioning and Russian troop movements. They're sharing intercepted communications, detailing Russian military planning.

Officials say they've set up multiple channels for this information to get to the Ukrainians, including building a secure portal where the United States can put information, sort of post information, and then the Ukrainians can kind of pull it down securely on their side. Officials also say that this information, that this intelligence is getting to the Ukrainians quickly. In some cases, according to one source that we spoke to, as quickly as within 30 minutes to an hour of the United States itself receiving the information.

TAPPER: But Katie Bo, about there are some limitations on what the U.S. is sharing, I would imagine.

LILLIS: Yes, there are. So the U.S. is downgrading this intelligence, right? So it's scrubbing it for sensitive sources and methods. And this is a big concern for the United States right now, because getting any kind of secure communication lines into Kyiv right now, into anywhere in Ukraine in the middle of an active shooting war with Russia is incredibly difficult. Obviously, the United States doesn't want Russia to know what it knows, or even how it knows it. So that downgrading process does take some time.

And then there's also a practical limitation here, Jake. Some Republican lawmakers have said that they would like to see the Ukrainians get so called targeting intelligence, that kind of exquisite live motion video that we saw -- the United States be able to use so effectively in campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. The problem, Jake, is that that kind of intelligence comes from drones.

And by all accounts, our sources tell us the United States is not running the same kind of 24/7 drone coverage in Ukraine, a contested airspace that it was in places where the United States had uncontested air superiority and, of course, was itself in fact, a party to the conflict. And so, you know, at the end of the day, or in other words, like the kind of intelligence that some of these Republican lawmakers are asking for, might not be something that the United States even has to give, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Katie Bo Lillis, Oren Liebermann, thanks to both you. Really appreciate it.

Let's discuss all of this and more with Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. She's an Air Force veteran, and a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee. Her her father was also born in Lviv, Ukraine, I should note.

Congresswoman, I want to get your reaction to the deconfliction communications line that's been set up between the U.S. military and the Russian counterparts. Is this just to make sure that the Russians don't, quote unquote, accidentally kill any Americans or could it lead to something greater?

REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Thank you for having me. And I would have to agree with your prior guests that my understanding of the traditional use for those sorts of lines is for deconfliction, mostly largely. And so, while I would be -- it would be optimistic to hope for something larger than that. I think it's largely to make sure that we don't get in each other's way and that we're very, very clear with our intentions directly with one another.

TAPPER: The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said that Putin's attack on Ukraine's nuclear power plant overnight, the largest one in Europe, is in fact, a war crime. Is that how you see it? And would you like to hear the President's call it a war crime?

HOULAHAN: So I mean, I live here in Pennsylvania. And if you've been around Pennsylvania, you know that we have an interesting history with nuclear power ourselves. We have, just down the road from my district, we have the nuclear power plant in Limerick and we, of course, have the heritage of Three Mile Island. So we need to be very cautious and as a commonwealth, we are very cautious about nuclear energy. And it is scary what has happened.

I don't know necessarily that I'm looking for our President to call this a war crime. But I think we all should be pretty alarmed by what it would appear that Putin is capable and willing to do. It seems as though he's been pretty much lying about what has transpired there on the ground at that nuclear plant. And I think we should be alarmed at that propensity of his.

TAPPER: Yes, I remember the Three Mile Island meltdown as a Pennsylvanian. Today, you formally requested that President Biden discontinue United States purchasing Russian fuel, Russian petroleum.

[17:10:01]

The White House says that they're not going to do that, there isn't strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy and they know that it would, of course, raise gas prices for Americans here in the U.S. and which are already going up. I think it went up 11 cents just yesterday. What do you tell your constituents when gas prices rise? And are you not concerned about that, if we were to cut off all Russian oil imports?

HOULAHAN: Jake, of course, I'm enormously concerned. And I did lead a letter to the White House, a bipartisan letter asking the White House to reconsider on their decision not to divorce the United States from Russian oil and gas supplies. I think it's the right thing to do for a variety of different reasons by funding the war, by our purchasing of Russian oil and gas. We are complicit in what's happening to the Ukrainian people.

And I know the American people to be an empathetic people who understand that they can participate by understanding that they can contribute possibly with their wallets, frankly. But I also understand that the administration really hasn't explored, in my opinion, all the other options that they have to be able to lower gas prices as well as and to be able to dual source other places for us to get that energy supply from.

We've been increasing our supply from Canada. A lot of the oil rigs that have been dormant for a long time have been increasing their supply. And so I'm not necessarily willing to see that we will see that increase in gas prices. But I am very interested and I know bipartisanly, we are collectively very interested in asking the President and his administration to reconsider.

TAPPER: Do you think it's hypocritical of the United States to be imposing all these economic sanctions on Russia and urging companies to take their businesses out of Russia while we take hundreds of millions of gallons in petroleum from Russia? I mean, is that hypocrisy?

HOULAHAN: I think it's an incomplete solution. I think we've levied some of the most draconian measures on the Russia at this point in time to punish them for Putin's actions. And it sort of is inexplicable that one of those is not separating ourselves from the Russian oil and gas supply.

TAPPER: There are two Republican lawmakers, which is not a lot of lawmakers pushing for a no-fly zone, meaning NATO would, and the U.S. would prevent Russian planes from flying over Ukraine or carrying out airstrikes. The concern, obviously, I don't need to tell, you as an Air Force veteran, but the concern is that, that would be in the United States would militarily enter into conflict with Russia, and potentially that could lead to an escalation, perhaps even to World War III.

Here is what Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said about the no-fly zone issue yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINE (through translation): How many arms and legs and heads, how many should be severed so that you understand? Now I'm asking for a no-fly zone. And if you don't have the strength to provide a no-fly zone, then give me planes? Would that not be fair?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: At what point would you support a no-fly zone? And should we be giving the Ukrainians planes?

HOULAHAN: So the short answer is, at this time, right now, I do not support a no-fly zone. Although I do respect Representative Kinzinger and his position. I don't think at this time that this is the right move for both the United States and all of our NATO allies to exercise because that is indeed engaging in war with Russia directly. And that is something that I don't think that the American people are able and willing to tolerate at this point in time.

I very much, however, do empathize with Zelenskyy. And you can hear it both in his voice and the voice of his translator as well, that he is very much asking for anything that can help his people and help his nation survive. And so actually today, one of the other things that I called for from the administration was to consider aircraft being sent to Ukraine as well.

Specifically, I asked them to investigate A-10, which are anti-tank aircraft. And I recognize that there are some complications to that. And that's not necessarily something that's easy to ask for or to look into. But I'm asking the administration and anyone who's willing to listen both publicly and privately to make sure that we consider every single option that we have, and that will leave nothing off the table.

TAPPER: Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan from the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thank you so much. Good to see you again.

HOULAHAN: Nice to see you too. Thank you.

TAPPER: They open their homes to shelter Ukrainians trying to escape Russian strikes in one of the hardest hit cities and then the Russians came for their village. That story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:19:18]

TAPPER: In our world lead, there were no clear military targets, none. Just a small village near the Russian border full of people offering shelter for their fellow Ukrainians running from the Russians. And now that village is leveled.

And as ITN's Dan Rivers reports, there's no safety here, not even for children. We want to warn you some of the images you're about to see, thanks to the Russians, are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first glance, it appears a peaceful sanctuary, which is why those bombed out of Kharkiv sought refuge here. But a closer look shows the village of Yakivlivka was anything but safe. It was devastated by what locals say were four Russian airstrikes. And this was the result.

[17:20:15]

RIVERS (voice-over): The body of Victor [ph] lies in front of the home where he perished. As firemen search for that of his wife Oksana [ph], still buried under its ruins.

(on-camera): What we're seeing here is the true face of this Russian invasion. President Putin doesn't seem to care for the civilians are caught by his shells and rockets. He's not liberating this country is destroying it.

(voice-over): There is no hearse for the bodies. (INAUDIBLE) in this war has already robbed the dead of their dignity, and left the living seething with fury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).

RIVERS (voice-over): Putin, you should die, he says. In Natasha's garden, they're sifting the rubble for anything worth salvaging. She was sheltering nine people in her home, including several young children. Their car had been shot as they ran the gauntlet from the city.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With children.

RIVERS (on-camera): And two children were here?

RIVERS (voice-over): She shows me where they were sleeping when the first missile hit. The shockwave ripped through every room, lacerating them all with glass. The children escaped without major injury.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).

RIVERS (voice-over): Across the street, a garden hewn apart by the impact. The blast is so powerful it overturned cars. The crater so deep you could bury one inside it.

People are left sifting through what's left without the support of any aid agencies, wondering what will come next. Is the shelling continues to echo across this shattered community. There is no obvious military targets here, just a village which tried to offer shelter to those in need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Thank you to ITN's Dan Rivers reporting from outside Kharkiv for us. Is this the cost of doing business? Some of the biggest companies in the world staying silent when it comes to their operations in Russia. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:27:42]

TAPPER: Welcome back in our world lead, moments ago, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned NATO's decision to rule out enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. But today, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that would only lead to a, quote, full- fledged war between the West and Russia.

Let's get right to CNN's Natasha Bertrand in Brussels. She's traveling with Secretary of State Blinken. And Natasha, tell us more about what Zelenskyy had to say.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN REPORTER: Well, Zelenskyy had some very harsh words tonight for NATO. And he really did not hold back here in response to those comments from Secretary Blinken and Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg saying that a NATO -- a no-fly zone over Ukrainian skies is really not on the table right now.

Zelenskyy says here, "We believe that NATO countries have created a narrative that closing the skies over Ukraine would provoke Russia's direct aggression against NATO. This is the self-hypnosis of those who are weak, insecure inside, despite the fact they possess weapons many times stronger than we have."

Now, this is a stark shift from President Zelenskyy. We've seen him kind of be careful when it comes to criticizing NATO because, of course, he's been asking for these favors. His country is the middle of a war. He's been asking for a no-fly zone, pleading even. He has been asking for planes, more fighter jets from NATO countries that could potentially shift the balance here in favor of Ukraine.

He has not been getting favorable responses to any of that. NATO has been saying, no, we cannot get involved in direct shooting war with the Russians, which is what they say would happen if they did try to enforce that no-fly zone over Ukrainian skies. And so, clearly, we're seeing some kind of a shift here from Zelenskyy getting deeply, deeply frustrated, given how aggressive and how brutal the Russians have begun to be in their targeting of Ukrainian cities and civilians, Jake.

TAPPER: And Natasha, Secretary Blinken also pushed back against the calls to sanction Russian energy directly, why? What did he have to say?

BERTRAND: They don't want to roil the global energy markets too much, essentially. They said that changing this kind of supply of global energy and oil and gas would not be in the United States interest and it would be very harmful to Europe. Sanctioning the energy sector would kind of -- have catastrophic consequences for the global economy. That is what they're saying.

They're saying that canceling Nord Stream 2 that Russia to Germany gas pipeline was a big victory and that is something that was highly valued by Russia and that is something that they believe will have big consequences for the Russian economy moving forward.

But that sanctioning Russia's energy sector in and of itself is probably not the best move at this point. That very might well be a last resort. We do know that the White House is considering cutting off oil exports -- imports from Russia. It is not a massive part of the U.S. imports already for oil and gas. They don't import much from Russia as is, but it would be a symbolic move.

And of course, the United States has been very reluctant to do anything unilaterally. They've been wanting to do it with allies. The allies, of course, very reluctant to do anything that might harm the Europeans ability to import that oil and gas, especially in winter. So right now, the energy aspect of this does not seem to be very much on the table apart from restricting those oil imports into the United States.

But they still say that all options here on the table and things that we might not have imagined they would have imposed a couple weeks ago, they have been. So they are not ruling anything out at this point, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Natasha Bertrand traveling with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

In the money lead today, more U.S. companies cut ties with the Kremlin. Google stopped advertising in Russia altogether. Microsoft suspended new product sales. FedEx stopped all services in Russia and in Belarus. But brands such as Marriott, McDonald's, Burger King, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, all have yet to say how or even if they'll respond to Putin's unprovoked invasion in Ukraine.

Let's discuss with CNN's Matt Egan. Matt, after a week of Putin's invasion in Ukraine, why are some of these companies staying in Russia when so many others have left and pulled operations?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jake, as this war and its atrocities drag on, the public pressure on Western brands is only going to grow to cut ties with Russia and this corporate exodus from Russia has really been staggering. Companies from virtually every sector have left the country or at least paused relationship with Russia. Even Big Oil is cutting ties with Russia. Think about that for a minute.

And yet some of these Western brands are staying silent, at least for now, at least publicly. And one of the reasons is because some of them have been in Russia for a long time. McDonald's has been there since 1990. Today, it has hundreds of locations. It spent considerable amount of time building up its brand there.

Also, this is not some small market, there's more than 140 million people that live in Russia. That is a very lucrative market for consumer brands. Pepsi, it made more than $3 billion last year alone. Stellantis, the company that owns Jeep and Chrysler, they're trying to draw a line between the people of Russia in the regime of Russia and they're saying they don't want to hurt the workers. But again, Jake, the pressure is only going to grow in these companies to make a stand. TAPPER: Might there be moral repercussions for appearing to put money first and not severing ties right now, might the brand names take a hit? I heard from a -- there's a Ukrainian friend I have in that country who keeps railing to me against Burger King and McDonald's for staying there.

EGAN: Jake, absolutely. I mean, the reputational risk here is massive. Jeff Sonnenfeld, the Yale professor known as the CEO whisperer, he told me, he thinks that the companies that are staying in Russia are being very short sighted, because he said right now, there's no other issue in the United States that unifies people like Russia in the stand against this war right now. So there are some risks.

And Sonnenfeld also pointed out that history was not very kind to the companies that continued to do business with Germany during World War II. Now, that's not a perfect analogy, but I think it gets the point across. I don't think that Vladimir Putin ever had a great brands in America. But right now, it's pretty toxic.

TAPPER: Big news here in the U.S. with the economy adding 678,000 jobs last month, that's the best month of job growth since July. But is the U.S. job market, is it back to pre-pandemic levels yet?

EGAN: Well, Jake, this is a hot jobs market but no, it is not fully recovered the losses from COVID. The United States is still 2.1 million jobs shy of where it was before the pandemic began. That is a lot of jobs. But you got to remember, the economy lost 22 million jobs after this health crisis began. So there has been a ton of progress.

One economist said this has been mind-boggling fast recovery. The unemployment rate is down to 3.8 percent, the lowest level of the pandemic era. Remember it peaked, as you can see it on that chart, at nearly 15 percent in April of 2020 down to 3.8 percent. Now, all of this shows that the U.S. economy and the jobs market in particular entered the Russian-Ukrainian crisis from a position of strength.

The question is whether or not is strong enough, Jake, to withstand this inflationary pressure especially at the gas pump.

[17:35:06]

TAPPER: All right, Matt Egan, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

These children were fighting to stay alive before war began, before Russia invaded. And now Russian strikes have forced these kids from their hospital beds. CNN is on the train with them as they head to safety. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our world lead, children so sick, they already spend most of their time in the hospital. When Russia invaded and started bombing Ukraine, those children were forced to leave their hospital beds in Kharkiv and make their journey to a train that would then carry them to safety in Poland. CNN's Arwa Damon joins them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A train speeds through the darkness and crosses the Ukrainian border into Poland. Most of these children are from hospices in and around Kharkiv. It had the best palliative care for children in Ukraine. Now, one of the area's most intensely bombarded.

[17:40:08]

The carriage is filled with the sort of emotion that is too intense to in comprehensible for words, but it is also filled with so much love. Love among strangers seen and the tenderness of the touch of the medical team, the whispered words of, you're safe now. Love of a mother who will take up superhuman strength just to keep her child safe.

(on-camera): Hi, Victoria. Hi. Oh, look at that smile.

(voice-over): Victoria who has cerebral palsy can't set up. Her mother Ira (ph), doesn't know what to say. She has so much pain in her soul. Her tears just won't stop.

They had to get closer to the border with Poland before this humanitarian train could pick them up. Ira (ph) carried Victoria for three days, through the panic of others trying to flee. Train so packed, she could not even put her down until now.

Dr. Oginia Sheshkiewicz (ph) work to bring the families together inside Ukraine to get on this train organized by the Polish government in Warsaw Central Clinical Hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I just have a storm of emotions. My biggest fear did not come true.

DAMON (voice-over): It's a trip that could have killed any one of these children even without a war. That reality had the medical team so understandably anxious. We were not permitted to film anything until the children were safely on board and stabilized.

(on-camera): How old are you, Sophia (ph)? Five, thank you.

SOPHIA (through translation): Mom, what do I say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): What do you want to say?

SOPHIA (through translation): To say there is ware there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Then say it.

SOPHIA (through translation): It's war there. And now we'll live in another hospital.

DAMON (voice-over): While this train was heading towards safety, Ira (ph) heard that her town was bombed.

IRA (through translation): My husband, my mom, sister, everyone, my dad. Nobody is picking up the phone. There are just the beeps, and that's it.

DAMON (voice-over): Ira (ph) follows quietly as Victoria is carried off the train. They are now away from their home that was filled with such love. A home and family that may no longer be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: And Jake, now those children will be moving on to different hospices, some of them here in Warsaw, some of them in other parts of the country. But as you can imagine, for those mothers who you saw there, I mean, their heart, their mind is with everyone who's also been left behind in Ukraine.

TAPPER: Arwa, tell us what else this train will be used for?

DAMON: Well, they're hoping to be able to get more children out who are in dire medical condition just in the Kharkiv area alone. The doctors were telling us that there were a total of 200 children in need of safer ground, safer space just to be able to survive all of this. And then, of course, you have preparations that are being made with this train, with others that they'll eventually be getting online to try to begin to evacuate other injured as hospitals inside Ukraine or rather in preparation for hospitals inside Ukraine to potentially become overwhelmed with numbers of civilian casualties.

They're also setting up hospital spaces here in Poland as well. So there is a sense that Poland is really trying to get ready for what everyone is fearing and that is more civilian and also military casualties in this horrific war.

TAPPER: Arwa Damon in Warsaw, Poland, thank you so much for that important report.

Coming up, it is the largest overnight spike in gas prices since Hurricane Katrina. Is there any relief insight? That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:48:41]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, growing momentum urging President Biden to not only sanction Russian oil but to ban it from the United States outright. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski are leading a bipartisan bill to do just that. The move could be punishing for Putin, and also costly for the U.S. and economies around the world with gas getting even more expensive.

Let's discuss with our panelists. Kristen, the national average price for gas hit $3.84 a gallon, that's a hike of 11 cents in just one day. 42 cents in the last month. How long are Americans going to be willing to pay more in exchange for this moral stance and national security stance of punishing Russia?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We know that cost of living particularly cost of gas have been huge issues for American voters going back months now and President Biden's ratings on how he's handling the economy have taken a hit as a result. But at the same time, polls also show Americans pretty willing to engage in strong economic sanctions against Russia in a bipartisan way.

So there may be a little bit of runway here for Biden to sort of weather the storm of these higher gas prices, because now Americans have someone to blame, Vladimir Putin. They can point to overseas and that sort of chaos and blame that for what's going on at the pump rather than just looking to blame Biden and his policies.

[17:50:15]

TAPPER: Valencia, nearly 20 senators, Republicans and Democrats have signed on to this legislation to ban Russian oil from the U.S. Do you think President Biden has enough support at home to put this kind of pressure on Putin that will also frustrate American voters?

ALENCIA JOHNSON, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think he does have the support, as was just mentioned, this poll that Americans are somewhat understanding where this inflation is coming from, at the gas pump. But it is interesting that this is all happening in the midterm year when we've been talking about inflation, we've been talking about getting people back to work, we've been talking about the economic impact that this pandemic alone is already having on Americans.

And so, ideologically, so many people are supportive of these sanctions to hopefully push back on what Russia is doing right now. But eventually Americans will feel it. And so this is a tight rope that the Biden administration is walking on. And I'm sure that they are grateful that they have some bipartisan support. But it'll be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks.

TAPPER: Kristen, today, we learned that Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Poland and Romania, U.S. allies, next week to show support for them and support for Ukraine. What signal do you think the Biden administration is trying to send by dispatching the Vice President to the region?

ANDERSON: I think they're trying to send a message that they are engaged in this. Because at the moment, to the extent that Americans are frustrated with what's happening in Ukraine, and America's response to it, they tend to think we're not engaged or tough enough. Now, that doesn't mean that Americans want military action. Polls pretty consistently show they're not eager to have American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

But sending the Vice President sends a signal that we understand this is not just something that's happening on the other side of the Atlantic, that doesn't affect us. So I'm assuming that the administration wants to be engaged and believes that this will be a way to turn the page from what's been a very challenging political last couple of months for them as well and put the administration in a new light.

TAPPER: Alencia, as President Biden ways how to respond to Putin day by day, he does have this great economic news today. 670,000 jobs added, the U.S. is nearing pre-pandemic levels on employment and jobs. Once again, of course, gas prices inflation. Do you think that continues just to overshadow the job gains?

JOHNSON: Unfortunately, it does overshadow the job gains. And you know, it also gives rhetoric to the Republicans who want to blame President Biden for everything that is impacting his administrations gains from the pandemic as well as what is happening between Russia and Ukraine. But I do think the Biden administration as he did, President Biden's, earlier in the week in the State of the Union, yes, he came up very strong against what is happening in Russia and Ukraine and talking about America's position, but he also was talking about the gains.

He's also talking about the fact that economically here, domestically, we are getting back to work and that he can -- that the American people can trust the policies that his administration is putting forward to hopefully alleviate some of what they are feeling in their pocketbooks.

TAPPER: And Kristen, in Florida today, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, is set to sign a bill that will ban most abortions altogether after 15 weeks of pregnancy. No exceptions for rape, no exceptions for incest. It does allow exceptions for involving serious risk to the pregnant woman and fatal -- fetal abnormalities.

Florida had been the last state in the south with less restrictive abortion laws. How much do the continued drumbeat of southern states and other states passing these restrictive abortion laws become an issue for voters in the years ahead, whether Republicans, Democrats, people who support these new laws, people who oppose them?

ANDERSON: I think a lot is going to depend on what happens with the Supreme Court this summer. Texas has passed a law that's far more restrictive than what you just described from Florida. And yet it did not seem at least in any of the analysis that I've seen of Texas primary results from this week to have been a major issue. Six weeks is something that consistently in polls that's much earlier than most Americans comfort level when it comes to banning abortion. And yet in Texas, the bigger issues there seem to be things around cost of living and border security.

So I expect for the midterms, that's it to hold as well, unless the Supreme Court, when it's looking at Mississippi's law, which I believe is about the same length of time about 15 weeks of pregnancy like Florida's. If they change the precedent set by Roe versus Wade in that ruling, then that may elevate it to be a bigger issue in the midterms, but there's still a lot going on and a long way to go.

[17:55:02]

TAPPER: Kristen and Alencia, my thanks to you both have a great weekend. Thanks for joining us today. The legal fight --

ANDERSON: Thank you.

TAPPER: -- just ended for the Boston Marathon bomber, that's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our national lead today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers responsible for the 2013 terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon that killed three spectators and a police officer and wounded numerous others. It's unclear if Tsarnaev will actually be put to death. There's currently a moratorium on all federal executions as the Biden administration evaluates the issue.

Be sure to tune in this Sunday morning for a special edition of CNN's State of the Union. We're live at both 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern. We'll be talking to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, among others.

Our coverage continues now with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I will see you Sunday morning.