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Biden Convinced Putin Plans to Invade Ukraine; U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Meet Next Week; Donbas Leaders Urge Residents to Evacuate to Russia; Olympic Figure Skating Body to Vote on Raising Minimum Competition Age; Record-Breaking Winds Wreak Havoc across U.K. Aired 2-2:30a ET
Aired February 19, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes, coming to you live from Ukraine.
The U.S. President says Vladimir Putin has made up his mind to invade Ukraine. Russia says that is just not true.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade, live from CNN's world headquarters, in Atlanta.
The Winter Olympics, in the final stages but the figure skating controversy is not going away. The international governing body is looking to raise the minimum age for competitors. We go live to Beijing, ahead.
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HOLMES: The U.S. President, Joe Biden, says he is convinced that Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has decided to invade Ukraine. Mr. Biden, adding, the attack could likely come in a matter of days and would target Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
Friday's comments marking the first time the White House has said, definitively, that they believe Mr. Putin has made his decision. But in the past few hours, Moscow responded, categorically denying that they are planning an attack, according to Russian state media.
Now the Russian foreign ministry, also suggesting, the U.S. is ignoring escalating conflicts in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine. This is as Putin prepares for what could be Russia's most dramatic show of force yet, a series of military drills on Saturday, where ballistic and cruise missiles, will be launched.
This video, from the Russian defense ministry, showing drills in Belarus, earlier this month.
Meanwhile, new satellite imagery shows just how quickly Russian helicopter forces are massing near Ukraine's eastern border as well, to the south in Russian held Crimea. And one U.S. Defense official, telling CNN, nearly half of Russian forces around Ukraine are, now, in attack position.
Now despite those dire warnings, the U.S. emphasizing that, a diplomatic solution does remain on the table at, least for now. Phil Mattingly, reporting from Washington.
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QUESTION: You are convinced that President Putin is going to invade Ukraine, is that what you just said a few moments ago?
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I did.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dramatic statement, for a world on the brink.
BIDEN: As of this moment, I'm convinced he's made the decision. We have reason to believe that.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): President Biden, with a significant shift and a declaration that U.S. officials have been unwilling to make, until now provide the clearest window into the plans for a Russian invasion of Ukraine. U.S. officials now see, as imminent.
BIDEN: We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to, attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days. We believe that they will target Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
MATTINGLY: Biden's remarks coming after a dramatic 24 hours of U.S. officials, across the globe calling Russian troop drawdown pronouncements a facade. An explicit strategy to reveal alleged Russian intentions in advance, one Biden made a point to underscore.
BIDEN: We are calling out Russia's plans loudly and repeatedly, not because we want a conflict but because we're doing everything in our power to remove any reason that Russia may give to justify invading Ukraine.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): And less than an hour after completing a call with key transatlantic leaders, ratcheting up the potential repercussions for Russian action.
BIDEN: The West is united and resolved. We are ready to impose severe sanction on Russia if it further invades Ukraine.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Still, Biden continuing to emphasize that a diplomatic pathway, even as it narrows by the day, still exists...
BIDEN: Russia can still choose diplomacy. It is not too late to de- escalate and return to the negotiating table.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- while also warning of the stakes, not just for the Ukrainian people but for the entire world.
BIDEN: The entire free world is united. Russia has a choice between war and all the suffering it will bring or diplomacy that will make a future safer for everyone.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): All coming as Vice President Kamala Harris took center stage at the Munich Security Conference, pledging U.S. support and solidarity for Baltic nations.
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We stand with you. I am here personally to say that. We stand with you on this and many other issues.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): And even with U.S. officials, keenly aware, there is little they can do to stop an attack if Putin decides to launch, a belief that the unity among Western allies and the consequences they plan to impose on Russia, will prevail in the long term.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: When we're acting in unison, I will take our side anytime.
MATTINGLY: And it is clear, tensions have reached their highest point.
[02:05:00]
MATTINGLY: With U.S. officials concerned an invasion could happen in the coming days. But everybody right now keyed on one day in particular, February 24th. It's six days from the moment the president laid out his remarks, laid out that dire warning.
That is when secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Now if that takes place, it is a signal, officials say, that diplomacy still has a possibility, still is an open doorway.
If it does not, President Biden making clear, that the diplomatic path the door would be slammed shut. Russian will have chosen war -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
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HOLMES: A second day of the Munich Security Conference will, soon be getting underway. But we still don't know whether the Ukrainian president will be there, as scheduled.
A senior Ukrainian official, telling CNN, Volodymyr Zelensky is, still, planning on attending but the security situation will be reassessed, in the next few hours. U.S. officials, have been privately urging him to not to leave Ukraine, over fears that Russia would, falsely claim, that he had fled the country.
Several leaders will speak at the Munich conference beginning next hour. That includes the NATO secretary-general, the E.U. Commission president and the U.S. vice president. We will bring all of that to you, live, when it happens.
Germany's foreign minister setting the tone for the conference on Friday.
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ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We have to be very careful about the way we frame this crisis. This crisis is not a Ukraine crisis; it is a Russia crisis.
We, therefore, urge Russia to withdraw its troops immediately. The first signals toward this and we have seen this again and again, in recent weeks and days, the first signals were a glimmer of hope. But we must now also see actions, not just words, because the Russian threat remains a real one.
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HOLMES: Eastern Ukraine, meanwhile, seeing an increase in fighting. Monitors observing a dramatic increases, they call it, in cease-fire violations. As Clarissa Ward reports, Ukrainian officials and pro Russian separatists are trading blame and making accusations.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The not so distant thud of shelling echoes through the city of Donetsk, its origin unknown.
Hours later, a jeep ablaze after an alleged bombing. The separatists say the vehicle belonged to the head of Donbas security. The Ukrainians say it's a staged provocation. The leader of the breakaway region claims that a full- fledged Ukrainian offensive is imminent.
DENIS PUSHILIN, DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC: The armed forces of the enemy are in combat formations and are ready for the forceful capture of Donbas. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, will soon give an order to military to go on the offensive and a plan to invade the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
WARD: It turns out he recorded the video two days ago. It's unclear why it was released now. He urges civilians to leave to escape the onslaught.
And within a few minutes, a video shows children lined up outside an orphanage allegedly to be whisked away to safety in Russia. It all looks very choreograph and as with so much in this crisis very unclear.
The Russian defense ministry says some units are going back to their bases after exercises but evidence on the ground appears to show at least some Russian armor is heading toward Ukraine. This rail convoy of tanks, geolocated by CNN, just miles from the border near the city of Belgorod.
But for now, the Ukrainians are focused less on the border and more on the self-declared republics in the east, worried they will be used to stage some provocation by Russia. OLEKSIY DANILOV, SECRETARY, NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE COUNCIL, UKRAINE: There's a great danger that the representatives of the Russian Federation who are there will provoke some certain things. They could do things that have nothing to do with our military.
WARD (voice-over): Clarissa Ward, CNN, Kyiv.
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HOLMES: Now Ekaterina Kotrikadze is a host and news director at Russia's TV Rain, one of the country's last independent stations, joining me, live, from Moscow.
And thanks for joining us.
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HOLMES: We've seen over the last few hours the separatists in the Eastern Donbas region, evacuating women and children, to Russia. They are blaming Ukraine for escalations.
What is your read on the tactics there?
And what do you think Putin's plan is?
EKATERINA KOTRIKADZE, HOST AND NEWS DIRECTOR, TV RAIN: It is not easy to understand what this person actually plans and what is he doing and when he actually plans this invasion, if, ever, the invasion will be complicated.
In it, the problem is that Vladimir Putin is trying to get his big geopolitical/strategic goals achieved at the moment.
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KOTRIKADZE: We can see that the escalation of the situation has started (INAUDIBLE) a week ago (INAUDIBLE) really, several months ago. And even in spring of 2021, there was an escalation, which was actually finished with the meeting of Vladimir Putin and Joseph Biden in Geneva, in June of 2021.
And now it is happening again. So there should be different goals that he is trying to achieve. The first -- and this is actually apparent (INAUDIBLE) -- he is really trying to make sure that NATO will not be on the ground in Ukraine.
He is afraid and he is sure, I believe, that he is convinced, that NATO is planning to put some weapons, strategic weapons, heavy weapons, on the ground in Ukraine.
And he thinks this is an existential (ph) threat for Russia. But you know, the problem is that Ukraine is not getting into NATO. No one is inviting Ukraine to NATO. So in my opinion, he is now in the middle of his -- you know, achieving his big, huge goal of rebuilding Russian empire, if I can say so.
HOLMES: I was going to ask you exactly about that.
How do you think Putin views himself, in terms of his role in the post-Soviet Russia?
Does he see the -- those agreements, made back in the 1990s, like Ukraine's independence, as mistakes, that he needs to correct?
KOTRIKADZE: Yes, he has called, it several times, to be the biggest geopolitical mistake, catastrophe of the century. I mean that (INAUDIBLE) yes, of course, he thinks that it is necessary to rebuild the empire.
And he thinks that his mission, after 20 years in his chair, can you imagine, he has been here, in Russia, for 20 years already. And he thinks that its time to write his name in the books of history.
So the main goal is to rebuild this Russia, Mother Russia, in which Ukraine is one of the main, the biggest parts and one of the biggest territories because, actually, he doesn't think that Ukraine is a state at all.
He thinks the Ukraine is some kind of a ridiculous territory, which should be back to Russia's hands and under Russia's wings. So on this stage, we understand that there, really, is a huge threat of the war, a big one.
But the question is, what is he going to do?
Is he going to take over, you know, to conquer Kyiv, for example?
Is he going to make a huge mess in the middle of Europe?
Or will he stay in the borders of this eastern part of the country?
His main idea, as I understand it, Michael, is to make sure that the West takes him seriously after he has threatened -- I think he has threatened NATO and the United States, waiting for some guarantees from Washington and Brussels, saying that NATO will not open its doors to Ukraine, Georgia and other post-Soviet states.
And after he has got the strict no on all his guarantees, requests, after that, he needs to show that he is really serious. So it depends on how --
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HOLMES: Right. I want to ask you this before we run out of time. Because you do, as we said, you work in one of the last bastions of independent media. So much of Russian media is state controlled. Therefore, so, too, the narrative.
Are ordinary Russians able to get a broader view outside their government's view? KOTRIKADZE: No, it is really a huge problem, Michael, because the millions of people in Russia, 140 people (sic) living in the country. The main part of them, you know, in the regions, outside of the big cities, they do not watch anything except the television state propaganda.
And they got the information that there was a genocide going on in Donbas, that people are killed, Russian people are being killed. And here, this idea, this propaganda, it is disturbing, it is annoying.
And people are trying to leave and I believe they believed it previously, too, that there is a huge problem for the Russian people in this region. And it is different from what was happening in Crimea in 2014, when the patriotic wave was so huge, that Putin was the most popular person in the world for Russians.
But on this (INAUDIBLE), it is still very, very strong. The propaganda is still very, very strong. Of course (INAUDIBLE) my station doors, we have millions of viewers.
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KOTRIKADZE: But mainly, they watch us online or on other platforms, not in cable networks, because we were banned back in 2014 and we don't have this kind of huge audience as state television stations have. And this is really, really -- yes, really serious, unfortunately.
HOLMES: Yes, that is a fascinating perspective and great analysis. Ekaterina Kotrikadze, thank you so much. I wish we had more time but we do not. I appreciate it.
KOTRIKADZE: Sure, thank you.
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HOLMES: All right, I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine, I'll be back with more at the top of the hour. But right now let's go back with Lynda Kinkade with the day's other stories.
KINKADE: Thank you, Michael. Great conversation there, really good to get that perspective.
Still ahead, we are entering the final days of the Beijing Olympics but there is still plenty of competition left at the Winter Games. What events are ahead coming up next.
Plus, scuffles and arrests in Canada, as police try to clear the streets of protesters. The latest from Ottawa when we come back.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
It's the final weekend of the Beijing Winter Olympics but there is still plenty of competition left in store at these games, including the pairs figure skating free skate. And U.S. skier McKayla Shiffrin has one more shot at a medal in her sixth and final event but it has been postponed Sunday due to the windy conditions.
I want to bring in CNN's Steven Jiang live for us in Beijing.
Still so much happening. But let's start with the figure skating international union, saying they are going to vote later this year on raising the minimum age of competitors. Of course, it comes after that intense scrutiny of the 15 year old Russian skater.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: That's right, Lynda, yet another indication of how the doping scandal surrounding 15 year old Kamila Valieva is still casting a long shadow, not only on these Olympic Games but on the sport as a whole.
Now even the Russian government has weighed in after IOC president Thomas Bach criticized how she was treated with quote-unquote "tremendous coldness" by her entourage after that disastrous performance on Thursday night.
A Kremlin spokesperson insisted that the quote-unquote "tough tactics" that Bach did not like is actually the key to victory by Russian athletes.
But now back to these games. As you mentioned, gusty winds on the mountains where a lot of skiing events are taking place Saturday seems to be the biggest story. Winds are so wild, not only affecting athletes' performance but also forcing the organizers to postpone, as you mentioned, that ski event.
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KINKADE: Australia's two most populous states are easing their COVID rules as cases decline. Victoria and New South Wales are eliminating restrictions on indoor gatherings and allowing dance clubs to reopen if they use contact tracing apps.
On Monday, Australia's reopening its borders to vaccinated travelers. Of course, it's a very different picture in Hong Kong. The city has seen escalating COVID cases in recent days. And it has forced officials to postpone the all important vote for chief executive, to take drastic action, such as rolling out mass testing and setting up temporary quarantine facilities.
Scuffles broke out in Canada's capital on Friday, as police tried to clear demonstrators, who have been clogging streets around parliament for three weeks now. Ottawa police say more than 100 people were arrested and 21 vehicles towed.
Police say some protesters assaulted officers and tried to take their weapons. At one point, police on horseback moved in to help disperse the crowd. A bicycle was thrown at one horse, causing it to trip. The protests began as a move by truckers unhappy with Canada's vaccine border mandate.
And powerful wind tears through the U.K. We will go to London for the latest and a look at how the region is dealing with the aftermath -- when we come back.
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JERRY DYER, BIG JET TV: Easy, easy, easy. Go on. Oh, OK, tiptoe. Tiptoe. Yes. Big swing, man. Surely not. Surely not. He's going to do it, he's going to do it. Oh, he is down. Fair play, mate. Fair play.
KINKADE (voice-over): Dramatic commentary on Friday coming from Jerry Dyer on his YouTube channel Big Jet TV. Thousands tuning into his livestream to see planes struggling to land at Heathrow and windy conditions from storm Eunice.
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KINKADE: Parts of the U.K. and northwest Europe are trying to recover from what's been called one of the worst storms in decades. The hurricane-force winds caused huge waves along the coasts, uprooting trees and ripping off rooftops. Joining me now from London is CNN's Nada Bashir.
I have to say, looking at that vision of the plane trying to land at Heathrow, I would not want to be on those planes in the middle of that storm.
NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Lynda, some pretty dramatic scenes across airports in the U.K. yesterday. Today we are not seeing as many disruptions to the airports.
But I can tell you that we are standing outside one of London's busiest train stations. And we are seeing delays there as a result of the destruction caused by storm Eunice. Network rail is advising passengers not to travel.
Still, that's due to the fact that there were several bits of debris and trees on the tracks across several train lines bound for London. And also experiencing severe delays as a result of this storm.
We have seen huge infrastructural damage across the capital, the iconic London Millennium Dome at the O2 Arena, seeing part of its roof ripped off. This capital has a (INAUDIBLE). We've seen that across the country and across the continent. Ireland in the southern part of the country, thousands of households there were without power overnight.
And we've seen these warning across parts of Europe, in France, Belgium and the midlands. Now the U.K. has downgraded its red weather warning. We are now at a yellow weather warning.
But we are seeing Europe prepare for storm Eunice. In France, they have said that they are prepared to declare a state of emergency in parts of the country if needed.
And in Belgium they are currently at a yellow or amber weather warning for strong winds. So we are expecting to see the storm pass through the U.K. today. The Met office, the U.K.'s weather authority, has said it is getting milder. But of course, we will have to wait and see how this will impact the wider part of the continent. Lynda.
KINKADE: Exactly and still plenty to clean up across the U.K. and parts of Europe. Nada Bashir, great to have you with us. Thanks so much.
And thanks for joining us for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Lynda Kinkade. "LIVING GOLF" is up next. Stay with CNN.
