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Russia Approves Use Of Military Force In Ukraine; Terrorists Attack China

Aired March 02, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN HOST: The Oscars are just hours away and Hollywood is getting ready for its big night. The night's host Ellen DeGeneres. The awards program is being billed as one of the biggest shows ever. For the very first time it will be streamed live online.

Of course all eyes are going to be on who wins best picture. There are nine films vying for the top prize. "Gravity" and "American Hustle" top the list of contenders each with 10 nominations. You can count down to the Oscars tonight with CNN, our Oscar special Hollywood's biggest night, "the road to gold," airs at 6:00 p.m. after the Oscars, beginning at midnight, join our owe own Michelle Turner and Piers Morgan for our live post show "and the winner is."

Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us, I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Ukraine says it is on the brink of disaster as Russian troops moves to military bases in Crimea. This is about 15 minutes ago, NATO condemned Russia's military action after an urgent meeting.

And today, President Obama is meeting with his national security team on the crisis. He's expected to call key U.S. allies. All of this comes after Ukraine's prime minister says Russia's military moves amount to a declaration of war. Secretary of state John Kerry called this a stunning act of aggression and invasion.

And we have live coverage around the world. Michelle Kosinski live for us at the White House, Phil Black live in Moscow, Erin McLaughlin live outside NATO headquarters in Belgium, and Ian Lee is in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

We are going to fir start with the White House, with Michelle. The White House rallying allies to its side. They are trying to isolate president Putin, sort of push him so that perhaps he'll reverse his position. Is there any sense the White House feels it is succeeding?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We're not getting that sense. We're not hearing from the White House today. But it was made very clear yesterday what was talked about in these discussions that started yesterday.

First. President Obama spoke to the leaders of Canada and France saying we know he's going to speak to the UK and others. We should get a summary or read out of those calls later today after those happen. But for what was discussed yesterday, it want to reinforce the U.S. statements that a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty is unacceptable. To talk about working together, not only for populate organize response in the form of maybe even sanctions together but also to work together and how these nations might support Ukraine -- Deb.

FEYERICK: So John Kerry spoke today in all the media saying that Russia cannot get away with this. Is that, I suppose, short of the words, what do you know?

KOSINSKI: Yes. I mean, he really didn't mince words on this. Yesterday when we heard from the administration, it was more tempered, although several times we heard the phrases, you know, that Russia's actions were violation of Ukraine's sovereignty. State Kerry took this a step further calling this an act of aggression, saying it was brazen. Here is part of what he said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's an incredible act of aggression. It is really stunning willful choice by president Putin to invade another country. Russia is in violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia is in violation of its international obligations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: So he took it a step further from what the administration was saying yesterday that, you know, there could be repercussions or costs. Today, Kerry did more to spell those out saying absolutely sanctions are on the table, that in the near future we could see things like asset freezes or visa bans imposed against Russia. He even sort of hinted at the possibility the nations would work together to remove Russia from the G-8. We know already certain countries, including the U.S., Canada, UK, have pulled out of preliminary talks leading up to the G-8 summit in June in Russia. That Kerry said, you know, what Russia is doing, these are not the action of a G-8 nation. And if it keeps up, other countries will not participate in those talks.

He said basically Russia has other options. Why it's doing this us unknown when it things like U.N. monitors that it could allow in to keep track of its people there in Ukraine. Because that is the excuse Russia has given publicly. That it brought in troops to look after its own interest in that country. Well, Kerry said it's a pretext. He called it a trumped up pretext for invading another country -- Deb.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. And they were able to do it under the cover of the Olympics, it appears.

Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thank you so much.

We're going to move on now to Moscow. Phil Black is there for us live.

So, you know, one thing that is so interesting about this, these protests in Ukraine began in late November just as Moscow was gearing up for the Olympics. It looks like the Kremlin was very ready to go in while everybody else was focused on sort of this goodwill gesture, this party that Russia was hosting.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Deb. I think there has been a lot of speculation through the Olympic period, about just what Russia was thinking, planning, just what it's reaction would be in the events in Ukraine, which were really holding up over that Olympic period. I think there was something of an expectation that once the Olympics were out of the way, we would see perhaps a tougher Russian line on the ongoing revolution and political crisis in Ukraine. And really, it was only as the Olympics started to draw to a close that that crisis hit its peak and we saw the government of president Yanukovych fall. And so, now that the Olympics is out of the way, there's, I guess, no doubt whatsoever Russia is taking off the gloves and they are going in, even though Paralympics are just around the corner, Deb.

FEYERICK: Are you hearing anything on Russian TV, quickly, just about more justification as to why Russia is doing this?

BLACK: Well, Russia believes very strongly that Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine, Russian citizens who are in Ukraine are under threat. This is what they have been saying and reporting on Russian television consistently through this political crisis leading up to beyond the revolution that is taking place. The position of the Russian government, position as reported by Russian state television is that Ukrainian nationalists have been threatening to rights, interests, even lives of people who have close ties to Russia and that continues to a significantly be the decree to be the justification to this Russian action, Deb.

FEYERICK: And clearly right now, no evidence of that putting the Russian story very much into question.

Phil Black for us there in Moscow. Thank you so much.

We are going now to Belgium where NATO ambassadors met on the crisis in Ukrainian. Erin McLaughlin live Brussels, outside NATO headquarters.

And Erin, I was listening to what the secretary-general was talking about. And it was interesting only once did he make reference to the fact that Russia has to pull out of Ukraine and go back, withdraw to its military bases. But other than that it was sort of condemnation, great concern. What did you take away?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these would be considered strong words from the NATO secretary-general. The press conference he held following hours of meetings, two separate meetings here at NATO headquarters in which he strongly condemned what he characterized as the Russian federation military escalation in Ukraine. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: NATO allies have agreed a statement, which sets out our position. We condemn Russia's military escalation in Crimea. We express our grave concern regarding the authorization by the Russian parliament on the use of the armed forces and Russian federation on the territory of Ukraine. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: So that is NATO secretary-general on behalf of 28 NATO ambassadors speaking their -- really what he's doing is putting a name and a face to what's happening inside the Ukraine and condemning it, effectively calling out federation for what's going on there. He also went on to call for peaceful resolution through dialogue as well as through dispatch of international observers under the auspices of United Nations security council. He also reiterated NATO support for sovereignty. It's territorial integrity. And he called for in inclusive process.

He also went on to say that NATO would be open to engaging with Russia at the NATO Russian council. Now, the Ukrainian ambassador following that made his owned statement expressing his hope this all could be resolved through peaceful channels -- Deb.

FEYERICK: All right, Erin McLaughlin for us there at NATO headquarters, thank you.

And Ukraine isn't worried yet. That may only be a matter of time. Kiev is mobilizing troops and calling up reservists and calling Russia's intervention a declaration of war. Ian Lee is in Ukraine's capital and joins me from there.

Ian, the Ukrainians were so focused on what was going on with the economy and trying to stabilize what was a very dicey situation, are they now ready to sort of switch gears and go to war with Russia?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The economy here is doing horribly. This is a very new government. It's about a week old. And so, they were hoping just to go on the business of the day. But now, with this new incident, they are focusing on this Russian incursion into the Crimea. They have said, the government here has said that all available funds will go toward the military to make sure it is prepared. And when it comes to what government officials here say, it is pretty straightforward with what they want. Vitali Klitschko said, came here and told us and he did not mince words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VITALI KLITSCHKO, UKRAINIAN POLITICIAN: The Russians have to take away Russian forces from Crimea. It is a main point territory, if we talk independence of Ukraine, it's old military forces have to remove for Ukrainian territory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: So what we essentially have right now is we have Ukrainian forces on the highest alert possible. We have reservist, people who have military experience being called up to register to be prepared for any sort of military conflict. The people here are gearing up for what could be a war if the Russians try to push further into Ukraine.

Now, if you look at it, though, from who would win in a war, there's not much of a question that the Russians would win if they were to go to blows. That's why we're seeing such a strong diplomatic effort that you were just talking about with the other correspondents. It's that big of a deal for this government to have a peaceful solution and they don't really want to see this go to any bloodshed.

FEYERICK: Yes. And not only that. You just can't underestimate the impact that Russian aid was having in the Ukraine. There was a $15 billion bailout package, plus cheap gas. All of that now is seems in question. So Ukraine has certainly a lot of things that they are working out right now.

Ian Lee in Kiev, we thank you.

Well, does the U.S. have any leverage in the Ukrainian crisis? In a minute we're going to ask if there's any real appetite for a fight on either side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, the crisis in Ukraine when dealing with Russia's Vladimir Putin, the Obama administration, they have to find the right buttons to push. Isolation is one way to go. But what real leverage can the U.S. and international community bring to bear. Putin is putting on the guise of old cold warrior. And though, actions speak louder than word, there doesn't seem to be much of an appetite for a real fight, at least not yet.

Josh Rogin is senior national security correspondent for "the Daily Beast" and he joins me from Washington.

Josh, what is Vladimir Putin going to listen to, if anything.

JOSH ROGIN, SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: The calculation here by the Obama admission is that they can put pressure on Vladimir Putin, mostly through economic means. Of you listen to what John Kerry said this morning on three different stations, he said that they are considering asset freezes, visa bans, trade, penalties, and other mechanisms that will squeeze the Russian economy which they view as fragile. And they believe that's the best way to affect the calculus of Vladimir Putin.

Also Kerry interestingly mentioned sanctions against Russian businesses. This is sort of a warning against Putin they could go after his friends, oligarchs, the people who support him in his region and keep him in power to some degree. The idea here is that these warnings, that these threats will encourage Putin not necessarily to reverse course today, but over time well constrain decision making so he might be incentivized not to expand Russian aggression in Ukraine pats Crimea.

Let's remember here, this is the beginning of a long crisis in Ukraine, not the end. And it just doesn't affect Crimea, it affects all of the other places in Ukraine where Russia might claim to have interest. So, that's the game here right now.

FEYERICK: So what do people have to understand, for example, in the United States, in Europe, to really understand that this is -- there's a domino effect at play here. If Ukraine falls or becomes so financially destabilized, you know, that's going to impact European Union. That's going to ultimately impact the United States. How does that message get out there?

ROGIN: Right. So what's important to remember here is that the Russian strategy in Ukraine is two-fold. One, it's to change the facts on the ground so the situation in Crimea will prevent the government in Kiev from establishing itself as stable and credible and legitimate government. That's a big deal because Ukraine is in the middle of a deep financial crisis.

So, if you listen to John Kerry today, he was calling for Congress to pass a huge aid package to Ukraine. If Ukrainian economy collapses, the Ukrainian government as it stands will have difficult staying in power and that could result in another turnover which would be in the Russian interest. So what they are projecting here, the Obama administration, us that in order for us to have international stability, we first have to have international economic stability. That means shoring up Ukraine economically so that Ukraine can stay in one piece politically.

FEYERICK: And you have to think about Ukraine. It is one country but it has got the two government. It has got the new one in Kiev and then the new one in Crimea. We sort of saw this with, really, during the Arab spring. There was ultimately the question who is really in charge and do you just sort of have these super powers trying to affect the outcome of the situation in the country itself.

ROGIN: Right. What we're looking at here is not so much situation like Egypt where you had one government turning over back and forth but maybe a situation like we have in China and Taiwan where you have two -- one big country run by a government and then one small part of the country run by another government and both claim to be the legitimate governments of the entire country.

Another comparison a lot of people make is the frozen conflict in Georgia, where Russian troops invaded in 2008 and they remain to this day. So, what we're going to have essentially is a difference of recognition where the west recognizes government in Kiev and Russia recognizes the government in Crimea possibly with tacit endorsement of the ousted President Yanukovych, the ousted president who is actually in Russia, speaking Russian. And that could be a problem that lasts for a very, very long time.

FEYERICK: Very long time.

ROGIN: Continue to irritate U.S. and Russian relationships.

FEYERICK: Yes. Ukraine has a larger problem and that is the new prime minister said basically the treasury has been robbed and that $70 billion has left the country. So they have got a lot of issues they are going to have to deal with.

Josh Rogin, thank you so much.

We're going to hear from a former NATO commander in just a couple minutes about the military options.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: So if the Ukraine is, as the prime minister there says, on the brink of disaster, what is the U.S. going to do about it? Americans are war weary. And as the world watches Russia to move troops into Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, president and members of Congress are talking tough. But can we do any more than that?

CNN's Candy Crowley is joining us now from Washington, our chief correspondent and anchor for "STATE OF THE UNION."

And Candy, you interviewed Ukrainian ambassador and talked to two U.S. senators. Despite President Obama's threat that there would be costs, Russia did exactly what it wanted to do. Will the U.S. and its European counterpart take meaningful action against Russia?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's in the definition of meaningful. If by meaningful, you mean something that will talk Putin to moving back across the border, that may be difficult, as a number of people I talked to today said what would move them. How about not going to G-8 in Sochi? Everyone said, no, he doesn't really care. So, it's finding first of all, the unity between EU and U.S. and others. And then, it is finding something that might actually work to put Putin a more diplomatic mode where everybody gets together and talks about how to solve this.

Now, having said that when he talked to U.N. ambassador from the Ukraine, he made it pretty clear it's possible they may want military help from other nations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YURIY SERGEYEV, UKRAINE'S AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: We are to demonstrate we have our own capacity to protect ourselves as it was decided today in the parliament and we are preparing to defend ourselves. And naturally, if aggravations is going in that way, when the Russian groups are enlarging their quantity with every coming hour, naturally will be ask NATO for support and other kind of support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: So Candy, the Ukraine will ask for military help. But how does this play out here in the United States? Does Congress need to approve this? Is this going to be a coalition force involving other countries? Is this even on the table right now?

CROWLEY: Not on the table right now. Probably never on the table, if by military help they mean boots on the ground. There will not be U.S. boots on the ground. U.S. military equipment if need, I think it is premature. But it is very much in the U.S. interest. This is more an EU problem. If you look at the economics of it, the fate of Ukraine and, you know, certainly the fate of Crimea inside Ukraine is much more important to Europe, certainly on economic basis than U.S. Having said that, U.S. has an interest keeping Russia contained and not spreading out into the former east bloc nation.

So I think anything the U.S. does will be with EU leadership NATO or under some umbrella like that, not a U.S. unilateral action. And certainly I don't think under any circumstances no matter who joins us with any boots on the ground?

FEYERICK: Yes. And it is interesting because you have to think that the European union is dependent on 25 percent of all natural gas coming from that region. So clearly significant and clearly what happened in the EU is great interest to the U.S. and its interests there.

Candy Crowley in Washington, a lot to keep our eyes on. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Deb.

FEYERICK: Well, more than 100 million people in the path of another winter storm. How bad will it be? You need to fly out early? You need to buy groceries? We have got all that coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Bottom of the hour, welcome back, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick to look at your top stories.

Ukraine's prime minister says the country has reached the brink of disaster as what are presumed to be Russian troops take up post at multiple bases in Crimea. The uniforms are unmarked but they are not Ukrainian. And CNN's team in Ukraine say that they are being told they are Russian. Ukraine says this amounts to a declaration of war. World leaders are condemning Russia's action.

The Academy Awards are now just 11 hours away. You still have time to watch movies. Ellen DeGeneres is this year's hosting duties. Tonight's show could be one of the biggest audiences ever and that is because it's being streamed live online for the very first time.

There are nine films up for best picture Oscar, "Gravity," "American Hustle," top the list with ten overall nominations. And CNN's own Oscar special, Hollywood's big night, "the road to gold" begins right here 6:00 p.m. eastern. We'll be watching it all together.

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This week's other new films, "Son of GOD" came in second with $26.5 million. The "Son of God" movie is based on "the Bible" TV series.

And you really need to see this, whether you're a golfer or not. Pro golfer Paula Creamer sank a 75 foot putt to win a golf tournament today. The putt itself remarkable. The ball takes a hard left near the hole, rolls on and hits its mark dead center. So Creamer's reaction, priceless. It is the thrill of victory personified and the unbridled joy too. Collapsing on the green in happy disbelief. What a great feeling.

About nearly one in three Americans is going to suffer through another winter storm. It started in California and now it is developing into a major winter storm that could hit 106 million people.

Take a look at this stunning satellite photo from NASA. You can see this monster storm basically covering more than half of the United States. I don't know why I'm laughing. I'm not used to seeing that tip of Florida sticking out there. it is pack of freezing rain, snow and ice, ready to hit folks in the Midwest, southeast and northeast. And look at this live look from a driver's perspective in Oklahoma. This is where it gets dangerous. You can see all those cars. You can see just how treacherous it can be trying to stay on those roads. Not fun.

About a short time ago "the Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon proved he is a man of his word, or at least his tweet and that's what matters. That is him taking the polar plunge jumping into a below freezing lake Michigan. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel challenged Fallon last week via twitter saying that he would come on the Fallon show if Fallon is toughened up and took the jump. Well, he did, just as he tweeted he would. So did mayor Rahm Emanuel and hundreds of others. They did it to help raise money for special Olympics. A little bit of the chill, a lot of goodwill.

OK. Well, you'll learn a lot more about Mayor Rahm Emanuel and how he's changing the city in the CNN original series, "Chicagoland" from executive producer Robert Redford. "Chicagoland" premiers Thursday at 10:00 eastern, 9:00 central right here on CNN, and it is incredible.

Within the past hour NATO has condemned Russia's movement into Ukraine. But will the western alliance do more than just talk. We are going to be speaking with a former supreme ally commander coming up straightaway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: NATO has spoken out against Russia's actions and NATO ambassadors have been meeting on what options the western alliance may have to confront Russia and crisis in Ukraine. One man who knows NATO very well former supreme allied commander of NATO retired army general Wesley Clark who joins us by Skype in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Let's talk about the connection with NATO. Is this just about the European Union or is this about all of NATO as we were sort of discussing during the break?

GEM. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Right at the heart of NATO. When the soviet union fell apart and NATO began to reach out through the partnership for peace, one of the things we established with all the nations in eastern Europe that wanted to be affiliated with United States and with NATO was that they could consult with NATO. And NATO would serve to extend the security umbrella of the Atlantic alliance eastward. So Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Voltex stage (ph), Estonia, when you have all joined NATO. Georgia was interested in joining. Ukraine was ambivalent and that was OK because we knew Russia was highly sensitive about Ukraine joining and that was fine. But Ukraine is a member of partnership for peace. So they have every right to come to NATO and ask for consultation in this. And this is really the fundamental purpose of NATO, is to provide the bedrock of stability in Europe.

FEYERICK: You know, when you look at the precision of this invasion, did Putin do this under the cover of Olympics. Knowing that things in Kiev were heating up, did he amass his troops and put into plan an action or put it to action a plan that would effectively allow him to step in without anyone firing a shot?

CLARK: Right. I think probably there was some existing plans. Normally countries have these plans on the shelf, so to speak. They pull them off, they dust them off, they look at them, they update them. I imagine that was being done while the Olympics went away. But here is the thing, everybody need to (INAUDIBLE). The Ukrainians in the street, in Kiev, knew the hammer was coming as soon as the Olympics was over. That's why they forced temple of action to keep Yanukovych the previous president out of there. They knew if they didn't take action before the Olympics was over that Russia would come in and squash it. so, they took advantage of the Olympics just like Putin did.

FEYERICK: Although interesting, it doesn't appear they had a military plan in order to combat any sort of troops on the grounds. I do want to talk to you about really what is a second battleground and that involves natural gas. You know, there are so many transit routes into Europe, prices paid by the Ukraine, in terms of the pipeline. There is expectation there is going to be gas shortages in Europe. How does this play out and how does this affect everyone?

CLARK: Well, it is natural gas. Everybody is concerned about it and what would happen if Putin turned off natural gas. He's done it before, he sent Europe into shock waves about energy security. The European Union has recently decided to go ahead with fracking. There is a lot of natural gas potential in Shales inside Europe. It's in Spain. Spain has Shales at every bit as good as what we have in buck of Shale of North Dakota. There is a lots of natural gas shales like Marcellus in Poland. Hundreds of millions of acres of shale there.

So, it's just a matter of getting it out and developing it. They could be potentially self-sufficient in natural gas. And so, one of the things that Putin has to be aware of this, if he shakes his energy tree very hard, he's going to persuade the Europeans that they can no longer afford to rely on Russian natural gas. They will be able to go their own way with a combination of shale from Europe, shale England, shale, a gas importer from the United States. And of course, Carter (ph) and others states in the Middle East are more (INAUDIBLE) natural gas to Europe, and many of these countries are actually building receiving stations to take that LNG now.

FEYERICK: Yes. Clearly, the immediate impact is a massive destabilization of the Ukrainian economy. Maybe they underestimated the amount of the aid that was propping up and Ukraine could also be a factor. No? CLARK: It's a big factor. And Ukraine is going to be destabilized economically as a result of this no matter what. Because even if Putin decides to let go of Crimea, pull out, Ukraine owes billions to Russia for natural gas. And so, if the European and United States want to step in, we are going to essentially be subsidizing Russian natural gas. It's being exported to Ukraine at a price far in excess of what we pay in the United States and well above any economic costs. It is pure gravy or Russia exported to Ukraine.

FEYERICK: All right. Well, General Wesley Clark in Little Rock, Arkansas, always a pressure. And thank you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Russia has approved using military force in Ukraine. They say the move was necessary to protect Russian citizens from potential violence. Well, not many people are really buying that claim. And there's little evidence to back it up. At the same time, Congress is weighing what to do in whether to punish Moscow for intervening in Crimea. Ohio congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is co-chair of the House Ukraine caucus. Her grandparents came to the U.S. from Ukraine and her great uncle was imprisoned by Soviet authorities in the Gulag for 20 years. She joins me from Toledo, Ohio.

And Representative Kaptur, in an article in BuzzFeed you're quoted as saying about Crimea that quote, "the party of regions kept it civil. Some group had to step in to mediate that. At the moment, it appears to be Russian troops. Now, what do you mean by that? How do you clarify?

REP. MARCY KAPTUR (D), OHIO (via phone): I think that what happened was the world community has been not as focused on Ukraine as they should be and they left a vacuum. First they left a security vacuum. And in view of what was happening in Mayodan (ph) and other communities across Ukraine, there should have been contingency plans to deal with any potential unrest as a result of a collapse of the party of regions. That didn't happen. And so, you know the old rule when there's a power vacuum, bad things can happen and it does.

And so, I think it's incumbent on the world community, and there, started today with NATO, issuing ultimatum and set of alternatives to president Putin of Russia to find an alternate means to assure security in the Ukrainian new government has to be vigilant in its efforts to seek that. It has to appeal to the world community, to the U.N., to obviously NATO and to the OSCE. There was, in my opinion, there was a vacuum. This could have been well anticipated and it wasn't dealt with and provided the opportunity for this to happen.

FEYERICK: But you know, you say the new government has to be vigilant. But the problem is that right now there are two governments. There is a government in Kiev. There is also the government in Crimea. And each of those government is being backed by very different countries. KAPTUR: Yes, and you prove my point. In other words, there should have been greater security in any region where there was the potential for this kind of power vacuum and unrest. That didn't happen. There wasn't a mechanism. And you saw what happened through the back door. So Crimea is a part of the Ukraine. This should have been anticipated. By the way, there were demonstrations in the eastern Ukraine, not just western Ukraine.

FEYERICK: Right. And so, when you talk about security and filling the vacuum, you know, let's deal with the situation on the ground now. Do you believe that there should be some sort of a peace keeping force in Crimea? And do you think that all countries, all NATO countries should be involved in that?

KAPTUR: I do. And I think any country in which there are large numbers at the Ukrainian Diaspora (ph). If you look around the world, countries as far at Portugal, Canada, Argentina, obviously Poland, certainly Canada, the United States, you look around the world, Kazakhstan, all of these nations understand because of the people who live there. The suffering of the people of Ukraine over the last century. And I think it is incumbent on the world community. Frankly, in the way take a look at the world, the world owes it to the Ukraine. No place has suffered more. No place lost more lives. First with Stalin and then with Hitler.

Most of the west doesn't know the real story of Ukraine because during World War II, technically, Joseph Stalin was our ally. So, there have been many things that have been abuses inside of Ukraine that are often as historical tragedies and (INAUDIBLE) right to do this. It is morally right.

FEYERICK: That's why also focusing on this, you have to realize, that this is within a historical context. You just can't look at it within the last couple of months.

All right, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, thank you so much. It will be interesting to see what Congress does within the coming weeks.

Stay with CNN. At the top of the hour, we are live from Kiev, the White House and Crimea with all the fast-moving developments on the crisis in Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And today, I would like to show you a different side of Dubai. Certainly at the city known for the sky scrapers, their beaches and their shopping. But Dubai also has a lot of different types of activities including skiing, Yes, now skiing.

I have never seen anything quite like this. Something kind of intuitive about skiing indoors. Now, as you might imagine, they provide you with all the equipments you need including a helmet. Over here, as a neurosurgeon, I personally think this is the most important piece. Let's go.

Looks like the real thing. I'm going to give it a shot.

There is some sort of unnatural about skiing in the middle of the desert. But I think just the novelty of it makes this pretty extraordinary. A lot of fun.

S, who would have thought I come to the desert here in Dubai and I get to go snow skiing. What a terrific day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Well now to China where authorities say at least 29 people have been killed, more than 130 wounded in night attack. It happened in the south western part of the country where Chinese authorities are describing the attackers as quote " terrorists."

CNN's David McKenzie has this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bloody optima o the horrific attack. Bodies (INAUDIBLE) station in southwest China. The suspects wielded knifes and machetes as they struck.

Authorities described it as a coordinated attack. They say ten attackers mostly dressed in black perhaps including one woman and started hacking and stabbing people in this community.

I saw four people die right here, says (INAUDIBLE). It was such a terrible sight. One person was lying face down with a knife still stuck in their back. She says hundreds, many of them wounded, fled for their lives.

They came running towards here trying to find a place to hide, says (INAUDIBLE). We let them all in so they could stay safe. Chang said they have washed away the blood now. They are trying to move on.

But his 3-year-old son Julio (ph) witnessed the terror, he can't sleep. The emotional wounds have cut too deep. The physical wounds are still being counted.

This ward is overflowing with victims from this attack. Many of them, in fact, most of them that I have seen have wounds directly to the head. It is clear that these attackers were aiming to kill.

So 58-year-old street vender Dong Win Chang (ph) is lucky. He was taking a train to visit his sick mother. His wife is still in shock.

We never could have imagined this happening she says. Dong (ph) slips in and out of consciousness. Bits of blade still stuck in his skull. His daughter hopes he will make through surgery OK. But mostly, she is angry.

I just feel those people are horrible, she says, and I hate them. Like many here, she is searching for answers as could have been stays stuck of its lost.

David McKenzie CNN, (INAUDIBLE) China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Well, that will do it for me. I'm Deborah Feyerick. The NEWSROOM continues now Jim Sciutto from New York.