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Don Lemon Tonight
Russia Launched Invasion of Ukraine. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired February 23, 2022 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST (on camera): Welcome back, everyone. This is our breaking news. The president of the United States, Joe Biden, condemning what he calls an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces on Ukraine.
The president putting out a statement just a short time ago, and I'm going to quote him here. He's saying that "President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable."
And just minutes after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced what he called a military operation to protect Donbas, minutes later, CNN's teams began hearing explosions in multiple cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv. Take a look.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- who resist -- oh, I tell you what, I just heard a big bang right here behind me. I told you we shouldn't have done the live shot here. There are big explosions taking place in Kyiv.
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LEMON (on camera): CNN's teams are covering every single angle of this breaking news for you. There you just saw Matthew Chance. He is in Kyiv. Clarissa Ward is in Kharkiv, Kaitlan Collins joins us from the White House, our Jill Dougherty is in Moscow, Frederik Pleitgen is in the Belgorod region of Russia, and Jim Sciutto joins us from Lviv in Ukraine.
Hello to all of you. Jim, I'm going to start with you. I understand you have some new reporting tonight about what the U.S. is saying. What do you know?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don. According to the early U.S. Intelligence assessments of what we're seeing and witnessing now in Ukraine, that one, the headline, that the invasion has begun, that these attacks we're seeing are part of that invasion planned by Russia.
The explosions in Kyiv, the capital, and Odessa in the south, according to the early assessments, are likely missiles, missile attacks. The explosions seen and observed by our teams there in Kharkiv in the northeast of the country likely -- more likely to be artillery. That makes sense given Kharkiv's distance -- close distance from the Russian border there, would be within artillery range. Odessa further afield as is the capital, Kyiv.
Again, that's the early U.S. Intelligence assessments. We should note, as we've been reporting for a number of weeks, it has been the U.S. view that the Russian battle plan would begin with what has sometimes been referred to as a shock and awe campaign but would begin with an aerial element, missiles, artillery, the possibility at least of aerial bombardment.
We reported just a few days ago that some 500 Russian fighters and fighter bombers have been deployed within range of Ukraine. A good percentage of Russia's medium to heavy bombers as well. But big picture, that the U.S. Military believes Russia is now enacting its comprehensive battle plan and that those explosions that we are seeing in those cities are part -- part of that Russian invasion.
LEMON: Jim, I want you to stand by. I want to get now to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who is joining us.
[23:05:00]
He is in Odessa. Nick, Jim mentioned the explosions and what you're hearing in Odessa. Talk to us. What's going on?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yeah, Don. I mean, you're getting the sun rising slightly here. We heard in the last half an hour, I would say, probably a total of three or four blasts, relatively distant compared to the central part of Odessa that I'm in. There's the port just over here as well.
And so, it was quite hard to assess exactly what those booms may have been targeting because of the distance. They were asked to -- I think woke me about 20 hours -- 20 minutes ago. So, the question really is, are we seeing something beginning in the regions around Odessa or were those blasts specifically aimed at targets and this was limited?
But to point out the importance of here, Don, this is the strategic port city for Ukraine on the Black Sea. It is the third largest city, predominantly Russian speaking. And possibly, many have been concerned that in the worst-case scenario, it could be a target for some sort of amphibious landing to establish control of this sort of vital part of Ukraine's economy.
But I should just stress, what we've heard so far, three to four explosions. Distant it seemed from where we are here in the city center near the port, but clearly something unfolding around Odessa as well as it does across the rest of Ukraine, Don.
LEMON: Yeah. It's 6:06 in the morning. The sun will be coming in soon. I would imagine, because it's just happened, Nick, no response from the folks there on the ground in Odessa, and I would imagine you haven't had a chance yet to even venture out to get a response.
PATON WALSH: No. To be honest, we're waking people up with the news at the moment to get them aware of what may be happening here. As I say, it is still limited, what we are hearing so far and what we can pass on to you, but certainly would suggest that Odessa is not excluded from whatever has been Vladimir Putin's plan.
And I have to say hearing the news of what we're hearing unfold here, it seems preposterous, frankly, when it was first suggested by western intelligence officials in the previous months that Vladimir Putin, who so many had thought was a comparatively rational actor on the world stage, might launch into something that at this stage appears to be a multipronged attack on different cities across Ukraine. And quite what the extent of his ambitions are, we don't know at this point.
But it is deeply troubling to have this worst version of the Russian president quite possibly enacting whatever we are about to see in the days ahead not just for Ukraine but for what that means for his interactions with the rest of Europe and for the years ahead, Don.
LEMON: All right. I want you to stand by, Nick Paton Walsh. And again, this is all happening, all coming in in real time and you're getting the information just as we are getting it here, certainly as I am getting it here at the CNN headquarters.
I want to get back now to CNN's Jim Sciutto. Jim, I understand you have some new reporting. I also have something here perhaps you can respond to. There's a CNN team saying that they are hearing jets overhead and also that there has been a restriction of airspace to civilian aircraft.
SCIUTTO: Well, first to that point, Don, because the U.S. assessment leading into this had been that the first phase would be something along the lines of shock and awe. Of course, we remember that phrase from the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But a similar combination of missile strikes, artillery strikes in this case given Russia's proximity to Ukraine, being within range. But also, aerial bombardment. So, if confirmed, the idea of jets in the sky and airspace closed fits in with the U.S. assessment of what that plan would be.
The other point to make is this. There's been some speculation in recent days after Russia's recognition of those supposed breakaway republics in Eastern Ukraine which actually are frankly part of Ukrainian territory as far as international law is concerned, but that there had been some speculation that Putin might limit his ambitions to that section of the east.
The U.S. assessment had been that his plans extended far beyond that. And what we're seeing tonight early on, again, we should state, because things are moving in the moment, but what we're seeing early on is that the plan extends beyond the east.
When you're targeting cities, including the capital, Kyiv, Odessa really in the central southern part of the country, and Kharkiv, by the way, which is outside of those again -- quote, unquote -- "breakaway republics," that is an attack on really all of Ukraine, not just the portions of Ukraine that Putin claims to be independent territory now. And that had been really the worst-case scenario, right?
[23:10:00]
That this was a plan designed to crush Ukraine as a whole. And when you hear the Russian president tonight use terms such as demilitarize but also denazify, again, based on a false claim that somehow the country is running rampant with neo-Nazis, you see the president creating at least the rhetorical justification, it seems, for a broader military plan.
I've been covering this since going back to November when I got the first warnings that had was what Russia was preparing for. When I first heard those assessments, it was eye-opening. You had the question would the Russian president go that far? Tonight, we're seeing that perhaps he is.
LEMON: Jim Sciutto, I want you to stand by. Jim Sciutto joining us from Lviv, where he has been reporting on this. I just want to get to -- tell folks what's happening here. We're getting reports of explosions from our folks on the ground in several different cities in Ukraine and also from our Frederik Pleitgen who is on the Russian side of the border in the Belgorod region.
I want to get to CNN's Matthew Chance because Jim Sciutto mentioned what's happening in Kyiv, and we should say near Kyiv because the reports are not confirming that these explosions that we're hearing are necessarily in Kyiv but near Kyiv. Also getting information, Matthew, that perhaps you can respond to.
I told Jim Sciutto about the jets being heard overhead. He talked about that. And that Ukraine has restricted airspace to civilian aircraft. But also, Ukraine's foreign minister --
CHANCE: Yeah.
LEMON: -- tweeting out just moments ago that Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is act is now. Ukraine is still defiant.
CHANCE: Absolutely. That message from Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of this country, is frankly it is the words that we've been hearing from them for many months now when it comes to the threat that Russia poses, calling for concerted international action to stop Vladimir Putin in his tracks.
They wanted sanctions to be imposed before this happened in order to prevent Putin from launching this kind of attack. And they wanted more weaponry so that they could defend themselves from this kind of attack. They didn't get as much as they wanted. They didn't get the sanctions before this. And so, I think those calls for more sanctions and more weaponry are going to be heard much more clearly by the United States and the international community.
I just want to go on to some of these explosions. We've counted about 12 or 13 at least salvos of what we're told are cruise missiles that have been fired at targets in and around Kyiv. We're right in the center of the Ukrainian capital. We haven't seen anything in this immediate vicinity. It's a historic area. There's some beautiful architecture here. The foreign ministry is just a couple of hundred yards away from where I'm standing right now. So, it's really the official center of the city.
But what we are seeing and what the indications are is that those explosions for the most part that we've been hearing seem to be located near the airport, Boryspil Airport, which is the main international airport in the city. It's to the east over there about 20 miles away. And it's there where we're told command and control centers, surface-to-air missile systems, things like that may have been targeted by these multiple cruise missile attacks.
And within the past few minutes, we've seen the direction of the attacks, if you like, changed from the eastern location over here to this area right behind me here, which is basically north. It's north over here. And there's another airport about, again, 21 or so miles away from here, just on the outskirts of the city as airports tend to be.
And there have also been explosions around that area as well. We can't confirm it's actually the airport, but it would make sense because it would seem that what is happening right now in the Ukrainian capital is that cruise missiles, which of course guided by GPS, are being used to target the air strips, being used to target the commanding control centers around those airports, and possibly to disable whatever military aircraft, it's not that many, frankly, that the Ukrainian Air Force have.
Why would they want to be doing that? Well, there's very intense cloud cover at the moment in Kyiv. Very hard for manned aircraft to target effectively the kinds of, you know, buildings or exact targets they might want to.
[23:14:57]
What it might be doing, this is coming from our security advisers here, it's speculative but it's a possibility, they might be trying to clear the way to neutralize the air defense systems to make sure that any sort of defense aircraft that the Ukrainians have are neutralized in preparation for, when the skies clear, manned aerial attacks.
That may be something that they may be planning in the future, which could be more targeted and pinpoint specific buildings. You know, we're talking about the various administration buildings here, the government to cut off the command and control center.
Obviously, the government buildings over here, the defense ministry, the police headquarters, the main headquarters for military intelligence, they're all here. And I think the concern is that we may just be at the start of a much broader attack on the Ukrainian capital. Of course, Vladimir Putin said he'd launch a special operation in Donbas, but it is obviously not just limited to Donbas because we are hundreds of miles here in the capital, Kyiv, away from that eastern part of the country, and we are seeing multiple attacks.
At least 13 salvos we've been counting since we've been on air at CNN. And each of those salvos with multiple explosions at various locations around the city. And as I say, it could be just the start, Don.
LEMON: Yeah. And we saw just the start of it just moments ago as you were reporting live here about an hour or so ago on CNN, just over an hour ago. Matthew, I want you to stand by.
I want to get now to our Clarissa Ward who is in Kharkiv. Clarissa, you heard Matthew talking about, you know, this was supposed to be an operation. According to Vladimir Putin, that was protective of Donbas. But we're getting reports from at least seven cities from our folks on the ground and also residents who are hearing explosions.
European aviation regulators are warning that planes could be shot down over Ukraine. This operation seems to be in full force now, at least the start of it.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly does. And, you know, you heard President Putin, as you mentioned, say that this is all about Donbas. Well, he also said his stated goal was to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. So, clearly, he has much greater ambitions.
We're also not on the front lines with Donbas here in Kharkiv. We've just heard another boom in the distance. There was a steady stream for a couple of minutes after President Putin made his announcement. And since then, we've heard sporadic -- what sounds like indirect fire coming from the north. We also saw a surveillance jet up above at one stage, and we've heard a couple more booms just in the last 10 minutes or so.
So, this is clearly just the beginning. The question is, what is it the beginning of? And the reality is nobody really seems to know yet. And certainly, here on the ground, as people are waking up, they're waking up to a very different country and a very frightening reality.
And there isn't a clear sense of what people here in the city of Kharkiv, 1.4 million people, are supposed to do. Are they supposed to evacuate? Because this city is actually uniquely vulnerable. You have a huge build-up of Russian forces just on the other side of the border. You heard our Fred Pleitgen who's been reporting from there hearing a sort of steady stream of outgoing artillery. And we know that troops have continued to mass along with heavy weaponry and armor.
So, the question is, do we start to see some kind of a ground invasion? Is this a sort of prelude to that as they go about softening military targets? An interior ministry adviser told CNN that they believe the strikes here that we've been hearing around Kharkiv are military targets. We don't know exactly what they are yet. I assume we'll get a better sense now that the day is beginning as to what the targets were.
But there are real questions now as to what to do with the people who live here, because this could quite quickly become isolated or cut off if indeed, we do start to see a more forceful incursion coming in involving Russian ground forces as well as cruise missiles and indirect fire.
LEMON: All right. Clarissa, I want you to stand by. We'll get back to Clarissa as well as Matthew Chance and our other folks who are there in Ukraine.
I want to get now to our Kaitlan Collins, who is joining us from the White House. Kaitlan, the president releasing a statement -- I understand you have some new reporting but releasing a statement just a short time ago, and I quote here -- "President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable."
Kaitlan, at the White House, what more do you have for us?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and when it says holding Russia accountable, we will hear from President Biden on this tomorrow. He said he'll make those announcements for what exactly they are going to do.
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My colleague, Phil Mattingly, is reporting it. Tomorrow afternoon, we should expect President Biden to come out and announce the full sanctions that he has been talking about for weeks now, saying that they would have those ready to go if you saw what we are seeing tonight and what our colleagues are reporting tonight that's happening inside Ukraine.
And so, we don't have all of the specifics of exactly what those sanctions are going to look like. We know that the president, his team have called them severe and said that they will be swiftly imposed on Russia. So, we should expect President Biden to detail that tomorrow.
Don, expect it to be about banks, export controls when it comes to technology. President Biden himself has said maybe it will be sanctions on President Putin personally after, of course, they have threatened to go after his inner circle, concerned about where he stores his health.
And so, you will see those sanctions laid out in detail by the White House tomorrow. Of course, we know those are the sanctions that the White House has been threatening for weeks, saying that they believed they would hopefully deter President Putin. Clearly, he does view this decision as an emotional one, as a hysterical one. The White House is talking about how bizarre and chilling they found his speech that he gave recently that is driving his actions that he has tonight. And so, people will be standing by to watch that.
We will hear from President Biden on this tomorrow. And Don, we should note that he said tonight he and the first lady are praying for the people of Ukraine who are waking up to this horrible news that's being reported this morning.
LEMON: I want you to stand by at the White House. Do we have our Jill Dougherty with us who is in Moscow? Let me get to CNN's Jill Dougherty. I want you to respond please, Jill, if you will, to what the White House is saying. The president said that Russia alone is responsible for this bloodshed. You heard Kaitlan saying they were hoping that these sanctions would be a deterrent. Obviously, they are not. At this point, we are beyond sanctions being a deterrent. Can you hear me, Jill?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I can, yeah. Hey, Don.
LEMON: Go on, please.
DOUGHERTY: Obviously, the president, the Russian president is not talking about sanctions. This is -- as we get more and more of the translation, this is a very angry speech and it's directed not only at Ukraine, it's also directed at NATO. He says that NATO supports those neo-Nazis. And he goes back into history about Crimea, et cetera.
But I think what -- two really important things. He is actually directly talking to the Ukrainian army and saying that you should -- don't follow the criminal orders coming from the Ukrainian government. I urge you to lay down your weapons immediately and go home. And he says, let me make it clear that all servicemen, if they do this, they will be left in peace.
But then this really chilling warning at the end where he says, anyone from the outside who's tempted to interfere in ongoing events, whoever tries to interfere with us and even more so to create threats for our country, that would be Russia and for our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history.
So, that is really a blood-chilling threat, and it sounds like it's a threat to the outside world, to NATO or to the United States, who might want to intervene to stop this. So, this is really extraordinary.
And Don, I go back to -- and this is just an impression, he is wearing in his speech, he is wearing the very same tie, very same suit, and sitting in the very same position that he was in on Monday when he gave that very long speech, and just raising the question, could he have actually recorded this on Monday? It is now Wednesday night going into Thursday. It could be that this was all planned even -- obviously, it's been planned, but maybe even this was planned for a couple of days ago.
LEMON: All right. Jill, I want you to stand by and perhaps you can help me out with this conversation. I want to bring our Jim Sciutto. Jim, Jill is reporting on what the Russian president said earlier. And I want to talk about the Ukrainian ambassador because you know there's this meeting at the United Nations Security Council. I want you to respond to what the Ukrainian ambassador is saying.
He is saying it is too late to speak about de-escalation, that the UNSC needs to help stop this war. He said it was the responsibility of this body to stop the war. The Russian ambassador responding to him, saying, this isn't war, this is a special military operation in Donbas.
SCIUTTO: Well, first of all, the evidence before our eyes and through our ears this evening is that it is not just an operation in Donbas because of those explosions witnessed in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, or just outside, as we saw Matthew Chance reporting, and in Odessa, and as I reported just a few minutes ago, that it is the early U.S. assessment that those explosions were part of a broader invasion plan.
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By the way, Kharkiv as well in the northeast of the country is outside of those supposedly independent republics as declared by Russian- backed separatist and recognized just in the last couple of days by the Russian president.
So, again, you know, let us remember what the Russian president -- perhaps listen to what he says, but believe what you see with your own eyes or hear with your own ears.
I will say again, as the U.S. is watching this and watching this very closely, at this point, I'm told there has not yet been observation of Russian ground forces going in. Again, this is early. But it is still the expectation, the U.S. Intelligence assessment, that that is part of a broader invasion plan.
Of course, with all these steps, it remains to be seen what happens, what Putin orders. But again, from the beginning, going back months, frankly, the U.S. assessment of Russian plans had been to begin with an air assault, missiles, artillery, aerial bombardment, soften the battlefield, you might want to say, and then follow with a ground force.
The other point I would make is this, Don, and you've covered on your broadcast and CNN has been covering this for some weeks now, that it is the belief of the U.S. and NATO Intelligence assessments that part of the plan as well is to install friendly in effect government officials, right, to remove those who were elected by the Ukrainian people serving those positions and replace them, replace them with people friendly to Putin and his government.
A comprehensive military and political plan. Again, that's the assessment. Our job here is to watch what we see with our own eyes and see what comes to be. But the early signs tonight foreboding. LEMON: Vladimir Putin has been doing what we say, throwing rocks and
hiding his hands. Also, just using double speaks, saying, we are not invading, we're sending a peace team in there, peacekeepers in when it is clear he was sending military equipment and assets.
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
LEMON: To your point about what you said about Vladimir Putin and what he's saying and what he's doing with his cronies, the Russian federation ought to relinquish the responsibilities of the president of the Security Council and yield to another member of the council that is respectful of the U.N.'s charter. So, the Ukrainian ambassador there really not happy with how the U.N. is handling this and especially not happy with the Russian ambassador, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. You know, Don, to that point, this idea of peacekeeping forces, again, let's talk about reality rather than Putin's claims here. This was a peaceful country before this started. I was in Kyiv. I'm in Lviv. We have CNN colleagues all around this country, in cities that before tonight were more peaceful than he claims them to be now.
And we do know -- and again, this was part of the U.S. and NATO assessment going in, that false flag operations, that there would be disinformation, that there would be claims of attacks by Ukrainians on ethnic Russians in the Donbas or perhaps even across the border in Russia. And we saw those claims. But the fact is they really fell on deaf ears because many of them were so obviously false.
That's what Putin is blaming this on, right, claiming the justification is due to those threats. Those threats were by and large just frankly not true. So, when you hear peacekeeping from him, well, there was peace and there appears to be peace no longer.
LEMON: Yeah. Jim Sciutto, I want you to stand by. This is happening in the moment and no one is more in the moment than our Matthew Chance who is in Kyiv. And just a short time ago, Matthew was giving his live report when he started to hear explosions near Kyiv. He is on the same balcony that he was on earlier. And I understand you have some new reporting. What are you seeing and what are you hearing, Matthew?
CHANCE: Yeah. I mean, it's -- I have to say, Don, it's been pretty noisy here for the past half an hour or so. We've been hearing more volleys of explosions, this time coming from the north of the city, which is in this direction. It's getting a bit lighter. So, we can get a bit more visibility on what's going on.
About 20 miles from here toward the north, there is a military air base called the Vasylkiv Air Base. It's where fighter jets and interceptor jets of the Ukrainian military are based. And what the interior ministry is telling us now is that many of the cruise missiles that have been fired at Kyiv by Russia over the course of the past hour or so have been targeting those military jets, that military air base about 20 miles away to the north.
[23:30:04] The Boryspil Airport as well, which is the main international airport, which also has a military component and missiles, that's also been targeted.
But it all points to this -- we don't know what he's up to exactly, Vladimir Putin, what the Russians are up to, but it all points to this idea that they are neutralizing Ukraine's air defenses, trying to.
Ukraine's air defenses aren't very substantial, it has to be said. They've got very old aircraft. They don't have very sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry. But what they have got, it seems, is now being taken out by these cruise missile attacks.
We've counted, I think, 15, 16 volleys so far, each with multiple explosions in different parts of the city, to the east toward the international airport, to the south, and now, of course, I've just been explaining, to the north as well.
Why they would be taking out these air defenses? Obviously the first reason would be to make sure that Russia has air superiority, that Ukraine can't launch surface-to-air missiles against Russian planes that may soon come in the sky and also can't launch air assaults on ground forces perhaps in Donbas, which is several hundred miles away, and which Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, says is the focus of his special military operation as he calls it.
It's not being called that by Ukrainian officials. They're calling this the start of a full-scale invasion. And there are concerns this morning, as the sun starts to rise and the street lights have just gone off here in the Ukrainian capital, there are concerns this is just the start of something much, much bigger, a much broader invasion.
It's been said by the United States in their intelligence assessments that have been passed on to Ukrainian officials that it's not just going to be air strikes. It will also be the whole range of military tactics, cyberwarfare, psychological warfare, possibly the deployment of ground forces as well. That might be one reason why these air strips and these airports are being targeted.
Why would they want to do that? Well, it's unclear. We're getting into the realm of speculation. But, you know, I can tell you that what we thought, what many people thought, what I thought actually was unthinkable just a couple of hours ago is now starting to unfold.
It's not going to just be me that thinks that. There are 2.8 million people in the Ukrainian capital. I haven't spoken to any of them yet but I can imagine how alarmed, how terrified they're going to be hearing these explosions, in some cases shaking them out of their beds this morning, Don.
LEMON: Matthew Chance, thank you very much. You can see the sun is coming up in Ukraine where Matthew Chance is and several of our reporters throughout the region in Ukraine on the Ukrainian side and the Russian side of the border, deep into the evening in the United States. And there it is, you see on your screen, a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the foreign minister in Ukraine.
And also, U.S. sources saying the U.S. assessment here is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has begun.
The worldwide resources of CNN will continue right after this break.
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LEMON: We are back now with our breaking news. The invasion of Ukraine has begun. That is according to the Ukrainian interior minister and also sources for the United States, saying a full-scale invasion by Russia of Ukraine has begun.
Also have some breaking news. I want to get to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Odessa. Nick, the information I'm getting is that troops have landed in Odessa, crossing the border in Kharkiv. Talk to us about that.
PATON WALSH: Yeah. Obviously, Kharkiv is far out east. But here in the southern central port city of Odessa, you're right that the interior minister has said troops have landed here. Now, I have to tell you from our vantage point in the center of the port city, we've not heard information to necessarily support that, but I'd obviously imagine the interior minister knows more about what's going on than we do here.
We have heard in the last 10 minutes two distant thuds. Doesn't seem like they were from much of the city center here. And that's in addition to three or four explosions we heard about an hour or so ago now.
So, clearly, something is happening around this key vital port city. It is essentially Ukraine's access to the Black Sea, the outside maritime world, a key place that you would imagine that, if they're dealing with the wider-scale nightmare version of the Vladimir Putin operation that western officials have talked about, that might be within Russian crosshairs at the moment.
And certainly, the blasts we've heard, as I say, it seemed distant from the city center here. About five or six of them at this point would seem to support that something is occurring in the outskirts of the city at this time.
But the sun has risen here, Don, on an incredibly calm place. We are waking up, locals here, to tell them at times the news of what has happened. And so, certainly not a panic yet in this town, but it is a place that has police on the streets in larger numbers last night because of the state of emergency.
LEMON: Nick, I hate to interrupt you. I need to get to -- Nick is in Odessa. I need to get back to Matthew Chance. Matthew, I understand that you're hearing explosions and a report of casualties. Am I correct with that?
CHANCE: Yeah, Don, I'm going to bring you those reports in a minute, but there's been some really, really loud explosions when you were talking to Nick just a minute ago. Much, much closer. Just to the east of us here. Really feeling the vibrations so obviously, the -- the vibrations. Obviously, those attacks, those missile strikes coming in much closer.
Here's the sort of news that we've got from the defense officials, saying that this is now -- and this is a quote I'm getting from the president's office at the moment. A full-blown nationwide attack with military infrastructure that is being attacked nationwide. So, the emphasis being on the military infrastructure that they say is coming under attack.
We've also spoken to, again, our contact at the interior ministry, an interior ministry official, saying that across the country, as a result of these attacks, there are hundreds of casualties. Now, we don't know how many of those people are dead, how many are injured or whether that figure is accurate. But we do know that the interior ministry of Ukraine is putting the number of casualties so far in this nationwide assault, missile assault at this stage for the most part, in the hundreds, which is, you know, I mean, incredibly alarming obviously if it's indeed accurate.
But I can tell you, we've heard about 18, 19 salvos of cruise missile attacks in just this city, in the capital Kyiv, within the past hour or so since we've been talking to you here on CNN. And those attacks have been focused on, it seems, the air infrastructure here. There may have been other locations targeted as well.
[23:40:00]
But definitely a couple of airports have been targeted. We've seen images of Boryspil Airport, the main international airport that's been attacked. There would be surface-to-air stations there, military personnel station there. But then there's that Vasylkiv Air Base about 20 miles to the north where we have heard multiple strikes taking place over the course of the past 15 or 20 minutes.
So, there is going to be quite a few soldiers, quite a few military personnel rather, not just the pilots but also the cruise and the technical stuff that go with that. So, we're trying to get some more clarity on that. But again, the interior ministry of Ukraine saying that nationwide, there are hundreds of casualties as a result of these Russian missile attacks, Don.
LEMON: All right. I want you to stand by, Matthew Chance. Obviously, a lot coming in. This is all happening in the moment. Again, it's all breaking. We're getting it just as it's happening here.
I'm getting some information that there is some news from the White House. I want to get back to CNN's Kaitlan Collins joining us from the White House in Washington, D.C. Kaitlan, the president speaking earlier. New information about the response to this invasion. What do you have for us?
COLLINS: We'll hear from President Biden in person tomorrow around noon, Don. That is what we are told by the White House. Remember, he's got that call with G7 leaders here at the White House in a meeting that was already scheduled in advance. It is a virtual call. Of course, the subject was what is happening in Ukraine. And now that things have changed, that is certainly going to be at the forefront.
We're also told that tonight, President Biden is expected to speak with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Obviously, he is in Kyiv. He delivered that heartfelt plea just a few hours ago, speaking in Russian for most of it, making this direct appeal and trying to push back on a lot of the lies that have been spread by President Putin over the last several weeks.
And so, President Biden is expected to speak to President Zelenskyy. Of course, this is coming at a terrible time for the Ukrainian leader in the middle of what Matthew Chance is reporting is what is happening in Kyiv. We should expect to get a White House readout afterward of what was discussed between the two of them.
And Don, remember, it was just a few weeks ago or a few days ago actually that my colleague, Natasha Bertrand, and I reported that White House officials had had discussions privately with the Ukrainian president about basically preparing a contingency plan if what is happening now was going to happen, if Russia was going to go in and attack Ukraine in the way that we are seeing happen right now, about President Zelenskyy potentially leaving Kyiv and maybe going to another city, one closer to the Polish border.
Now, that doesn't mean that that is in any way something that President Zelenskyy is planning to do. But it does give you some insight into the way that White House officials have been approaching this and how they've been preparing for this and thinking about what the backup plan is going to be if something like what we are seeing right now is happening.
And so, of course, we're waiting on this conversation between President Biden and President Zelensky to happen, and we will hear from President Biden tomorrow when he announces that full raft of sanctions that he has been promising would happen if Russia did what they are doing tonight.
LEMON: All right, Kaitlan Collins, I want you to stand by as well as the rest of our correspondents who are actually on the ground in Ukraine and also in Russia. That was Kaitlan joining us from the White House.
I want to get now to Sen. Ben Cardin who has been sitting by very patiently, listening to all of this unfold. We appreciate your patience. He joins us this evening from Florida.
So, we heard from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. And then shortly, thereafter, the explosions were heard and felt by our correspondents who are there on the ground shortly after the president of the United States releasing a statement and then the Ukrainian foreign ministry as well -- interior ministry, I should say, releasing statements. Your assessment of what's going on in Ukraine.
SEN. BEN CARDIN (D-MD): Well, Don, this march to war has been transparently exposed hour by hour. So, what we're seeing is not a surprise, but it doesn't diminish the tragedy of the moment. What Mr. Putin has done, this unprovoked attack on Ukraine, the tragedies that will be -- on the casualties that we're going to see, this is just an unprovoked invasion, sovereignty of a county.
So, we have seen it unfold, we know exactly what is happening, and Mr. Putin is continuing to use his propaganda and lies in order to justify this grab of territory. There is no justification for it. And I can tell, you, there will be strong bipartisan support in the United States Senate and Congress for the strongest possible reaction by the United States and our allies.
LEMON: I wonder what you make of this. This is just in to CNN. According to our Kaitlan Collins and our producer, Kevin Liptak, President Biden and President Zelensky are currently speaking. That's according to a White House official. What is to be done at this moment for both men?
CARDIN: We know the United States and our allies have provided the weapons and equipment to the Ukrainians to help defend themselves.
[23:45:00]
We recognize the lack of balance on the military capacity of Ukraine and Russia. But we do know the Ukrainian people are tough people. They're going to stand up for their independence. They're going to protect their country. We got to make sure that we are on their side.
We can help, I think, the supplying of equipment and the strong sanctions that will be imposed and the fact that it will not be business as usual for Mr. Putin. We need to organize the international communities that support Ukraine in its effort to maintain its sovereignty.
Make no mistake about it. Russia's desire, Mr. Putin's desire go well beyond Ukraine and has a direct impact on the security of Europe and the United States national security. So, we need to stand with the people of Ukraine.
LEMON: So, senator, what is -- senator, what indication that you have -- I haven't seen any, perhaps you can, you have -- that Biden -- excuse me, that Putin will abide by any sanctions or that sanctions will be a deterrent in any way?
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has been saying he's going to increase sanctions, they're going to be harsher, they're going to be stronger. Still, what it all has led to is an invasion of Ukraine. At this point, is there anything, you believe, will get Vladimir Putin's attention?
CARDIN: Well, the cost will be reflected in the performance of the Russian economy, and the support for Mr. Putin's criminal type activities will be reflected by these sanctions. So, he will have pressure on the government itself.
We're talking about cutting off Russia from the international banks. We're talking about personal sanctions against those that are closest to Mr. Putin who support his illegal activities, these oligarchs that supply the resources for Mr. Putin, and perhaps even sanctions against Mr. Putin himself.
So, we are talking about the strongest possible way that will make it more difficult for Mr. Putin to perform for his country. There will be a heavy price to pay. It will go into the equation. The only way that he'll get relief is if he backs off this invasion.
So, we recognize that Mr. Putin does things and sometimes sanctions won't stop him from doing it. We've seen this before. We need to be very strong and we need to be resolved that this may take some time. But we got to stand with the people of Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky has asked for these sanctions. The international community needs to speak with a strong voice.
LEMON: I'm wondering if you have -- I know that you have been here watching and waiting. I'm wondering if you have been briefed on what is happening.
Sen. Marco Rubio is tweeting this, and I want you to respond to it. "To clarify what is underway is full-scale comprehensive military assault throughout Ukraine. Airborne and amphibious landings, missile strikes from air, ground and naval forces, electronic and cyberattacks, and a large ground force to occupy a large swath of territory." What's your response to that? Have you been briefed on this?
CARDIN: Well, we've been briefed regularly throughout this process. As I said, we've had transparency hour by hour as to what we expect Mr. Putin to be doing. So, a lot of what we're seeing happening in regards to the apparent air attacks on the defense issues -- infrastructure of Ukraine was all part of what was expected we would see. So yes, we've been briefed as to what to expect.
There will be a senators' briefing tomorrow that we will be participating in with the White House. We will be getting a full briefing tomorrow to update us as to the current plans. But this administration, the Biden administration, has been briefing us almost on a daily basis, giving us information on a daily basis, members of the Senate. So, we're fully aware of what was transpiring.
LEMON: I'm just getting more information as to what you were saying. And this is from our Manu Raju. All House members are receiving a unclassified briefing call on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. According to a source familiar, the briefing is expected to -- to be to at this briefing, I should say, briefers are expected to be Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, Chairman Milley and Secretary Yellen. This comes as the Senate is having an unclassified briefing.
I imagine this is the one you're talking about at 5:00 on Thursday. They are unclassified, these briefings that we're hearing, because members are back in their home districts and states during the president's day recess. Can you confirm?
CARDIN: I think that's accurate. As I said, we've been informed there will be a briefing tomorrow. The information you have is accurate. It will be unclassified. But I will tell you this.
[23:49:56]
A lot of the information has been made available to the public in an effort to counter what we knew would be propaganda by Mr. Putin in trying to blame everybody but himself for the invasion.
So, we expect that we will continue to be very transparent so that the world understands one person and one person alone is responsible for this tragedy and that's Mr. Putin. Now, we need to stand strong. I expect tomorrow, we will hear about the specific sanctions and the cooperation --
LEMON: Senator -- thank you very much, senator. I appreciate you joining us. I appreciate you standing by patiently until we got to you this evening. Thank you so much.
I need to get back now to Kyiv, though, in Ukraine. We will have you back soon. I want to get to Matthew Chance. Matthew, what is going on?
CHANCE: Yeah, hi, Don. Yeah, so it's -- just over the past few seconds, we have seen a couple of helicopters fly across the horizon there and coming from the direction of that military base which we mentioned to you. (INAUDIBLE) as well still going off in the background. It is very, very noisy here indeed, I can tell you. There are regular explosions that we are still hearing coming from the north of the city, which is just over there, right over in the east and to the south as well.
Just to remind you -- obviously the light has come now, dawn has broken, thank heavens, so we got a bit more clarity and what we can see ahead of us, you can see the visibility is -- the cloud cover is quite low.
Boryspil Airport, the international airport over there, I know from my sources in the government that there are at least five explosions that have taken place at that international airport, targeting command and control centers, the missile system there, the defensive barrier that has been put up there.
The other base, the military air base to the north of the city about 20 miles away, that's also come under repeated attack, according to the Ukrainian interior ministry. It's a place where military fighter jets are located.
Clearly, the intention seems to be to take out the air capability, the air defenses of Ukraine to make sure that the Russians have complete air supremacy in the skies over Ukraine so that they can conduct the operations that they say they are going to conduct in Donbass, if those operations are not already underway. Of course, we are hundreds of miles from that location right now here in the center of Ukraine. That's right over in the east of Ukraine. I can hear some aircraft, helicopters, I think, in the skies now as well. But I can't see any one right now, any of them right now. So, the situation is obviously incredibly tense. We don't know what's going to follow.
There's been an announcement coming from the authorities in Kyiv, the city, telling residents not to panic. The panic is the main enemy, they say no. Telling people to stay indoors to get a backpack, in case they need to flee, which is quite ominous obviously. Only people involved in critical infrastructure and jobs are being advised to go to work to make sure that the city still runs. The truth is nobody really knows at this point what Russia is up to.
I mentioned last time we spoke, about the casualty figures. The interior ministry telling us that there were hundreds of casualties across the country in this nationwide campaign, as I described, against the military infrastructure of Ukraine. We don't know if that figure is accurate. It is just what they have told us. It is very alarming. We are doing our best to try and get some clarity on that figure.
LEMON: Matthew --
CHANCE: But clearly, with so many barrages of cruise missiles being launched just at kyiv --
LEMON: I want to get to --
CHANCE: -- places in the country as well.
LEMON: I want to get back to Clarissa.
CHANCE: The expectation is that there will be --
LEMON: Matthew, stand by. Clarissa, please, go ahead. I lost Matthew. Clarissa, can you hear me?
UNKNOWN (voice-over): You're live.
WARD: I can hear you. I can hear you, Don.
LEMON: Yes, go on.
WARD: I don't know if you're able to hear that. We just had a steady stream of strikes went on for about 30 seconds or so. But it was -- it was a very steady stream. It had been quieter for a few minutes before that.
And we know -- we sent one of our colleagues over to the bomb shelter. There is a public bombshell. It's about 200 yards away. That bomb shelter is now open and there are police there. There is no sign yet that people have turned up at that shelter.
But that might change, obviously, throughout the course of the day if we continue to hear steady streams of strikes like those, because we are just over 20 miles from the border with Russia. [23:54:59]
And we have seen through images on satellite images but also from the reporting of our own Fred Pleitgen, who is just on the other side, that there is a massive buildup of Russian weaponry and Russian troops just over in that area.
Also, our Fred Pleitgen was reporting earlier that he was hearing a lot of outgoing artillery. We've certainly been hearing quite a bit of that landing around the city of Kharkiv. It is a city of 1.4 million people.
I'm just getting a little bit more information here. This is coming from the mayor of Kharkiv. It says, dear citizens, please do not leave your homes today. Due to the complicated situation, schools, kindergartens, other institutions will not be operational today until the situation becomes clearer. Public transport will work as usual. And I will keep you informed of what is happening and the actions of city authorities throughout the day."
This was published on his Facebook page about 10 minutes there. But you see a pretty sternly worded message there for the 1.4 million residents of Kharkiv. This is the second largest city in Ukraine. The mayor coming out and telling people, don't leave your homes, don't go to work, don't send your children to school.
It's been a very busy few hours since this all started, Don, and there is no sign at this stage that it is letting up. And while it's one thing to be hearing strikes like that, missile strikes, one can assume, it is quite another thing to see ground forces crossing. We haven't seen that yet, but that is certainly what people in this city so close to that border, Don, will be bracing themselves for.
LEMON: Clarissa, so it's sporadic, these strikes, as you say, sporadic and then it is a barrage and then it stops for a moment?
WARD: That's exactly right. At 5:00 in the morning just after Putin gave his speech, we heard a barrage, a series of barrages. Then it was quiet for a while. Then it was sporadic. We heard indirect fire coming from the north, which is that way. That is the direction of the Russian border. And then just as we were coming onto air with you, we heard another barrage.
What we don't know is what the target is. We've been led to believe by an adviser to the interior ministry that these are military targets. But the sun is only just rising here. So, we're only just starting to get some kind of a picture.
And you saw in that message, Don, that I read out from the mayor of Kharkiv. Even the picture does not really seem to be really clear to them yet. And I think it's important to remind our viewers here that up until this moment, there has still been this underlying conviction that many Ukrainians have shared, that President Putin would not actually go through with this, that he would not actually launch this kind of military campaign. Because as Putin himself has said, Don, the people of Ukraine and Russia are deeply connected spiritually, historically, familial. There are millions of Ukrainians and Russians living in each other's countries. These people are not enemies per se at all.
And so, I think people are shocked, frankly, to see that this is actually happening now, and they continue to brace themselves to see what comes next. Is it going to be more of these strikes targeting presumably primarily military installations or could it ratchet up even further? We just don't know yet, Don.
LEMON: Clarissa, while you're there in Kharkiv, the mayor is saying to remain calm. He wants people to stay at home. Right? For safety. There have been several explosions around other Ukrainian towns and they are currently calm, and people are actually going to work. So, it's a tale of many different cities depending on where you are.
WARD: It's a tale of many different cities, but I would say what we've all been struck by, Don, is just -- we have crews literally fanned out across this entire country and almost everyone is hearing something in the place they are, teams in Zaporozhe, Odessa, Kyiv, of course here in Kharkiv, and everybody is hearing something.
So, when President Putin talks about an operation to protect the people of Donbas, he's trying allegedly to talk about quite a narrow area of territory. What we're seeing is much wider and broader and deeper in scope than that.
We're not near Donbas here. Matthew Chance in Kyiv is nowhere near Donbas. And yet, here we are, a new dawn, a new day, reporting on Russian strikes here in Kharkiv and across the country.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Clarissa Ward. We appreciate it. Clarissa, we want you to stand by as well as all of our correspondents throughout the region. CNN's teams are covering all of our breaking news.
An adviser to Ukraine's minister of the interior saying that Russian troops have landed in Odessa. They are crossing the border near Kharkiv. President Biden spoke to Ukraine's president just tonight.
