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Putin Orders troops Into Separatist Regions of Ukraine; EU to Discuss Sanctions Against Russia in Coming Hours; Day 2 of Deliberation to Begin in Ahmaud Arbery Case; U.K. Prime Minister to Lift Remaining COVID Restrictions in England; . Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 22, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv in western Ukraine. And we are following the outrage over Russia's provocative moves that have escalated the crisis in eastern Ukraine and brought it to the precipice of war.

Russian troops could enter the separatist enclaves any now and may already be there. Russian media has been airing video of a military convoy in in the streets of Donetsk. Though it's still unclear who precisely the equipment belongs to.

Ukraine's president addressed the nation earlier insisting, quote, we don't owe anything to anyone and we will not give anything to anyone. And he also think the Ukrainian people for keeping their cool.

Now the British Prime Minister, he's going to address Parliament later today about what action the U.K. will take. Boris Johnson chairing a meeting of the Emergency Cobra Committee earlier and has called Russia's actions a very ill omen and dark sign. Sanctions appear to be a given. How strong those sanctions are remains to be seen, however.

The European Union on the verge, too, of slapping sanctions on Russia. Again, what kind has yet to be determined. Members will discuss that in the coming hours, according to the EU foreign policy chief. He stopped short of calling Moscow's actions an invasion but said, quote, Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil. Semantics perhaps.

And the president of the European commission tweeted this quote.

The recognition of the two separatist territories in Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law. The territorial integrity of Ukraine and the Minsk agreements. Going on to say, the EU and its partners will react with unity, firmness and with determination in solidarity with Ukraine.

Let's bring in CNN's Scott McLean who is live for us in Brussels. Sanctions are being discussed but the key question is what kinds of sanctions and what constitutes an invasion?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Michael. That is certainly the key question here amongst EU ministers that are going to be discussing those sanctions today. We know the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, had said yesterday before Vladimir Putin had made this announcement of recognizing these two break away regions in eastern Ukraine. He said that if Putin went ahead and did that, that he would put sanctions on the table and let European ministers decide on what to do. And that is precisely the situation that we find ourselves in right now.

Now foreign ministers from across the EU, all 27 member states, were here in Brussels yesterday. After that most of them left to go to Paris for a separate conference focusing on Indo Pacific issues. And so now we know that that is actually where this extraordinary meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council -- meaning all of the foreign ministers across the EU will be held to decide on what to do about sanctions.

We know that there has been plenty of statements coming in overnight. The condemnation has been universal but they will have to find a universal consensus on what to do. So, for instance, Ireland, Latvia, they are calling for sanctions point blank. France is calling for targeted sanctions and Germany and Spain for instance, they just said that they would convene with their partners and decide from there. So, in other words, stay tuned.

Remember also that sanctions had been prepared already and agreed upon all of the European countries. These are sanctions that would have cut Russia off from international financial markets and they also would have had an impact On the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. And so, now those sanctions were reserved -- or excuse me, those sanctions had been reserved for the event of an invasion, a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

So, what is it we're seeing right now? There are Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine. Russia says this is a peacekeeping mission. Josep Borrell was asked whether he believed that this is the beginning of an invasion. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEP BORRELL, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Well, the Russian troops entered the Donbas. We can see Donbas is part of Ukraine. So, certainly, when the Russian troops entering into the Donbas, of Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's a full-fledged invasion but Russian troops on Ukrainian soil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So Borrell was also asked whether he could get into detail about exactly what sanctions are being discussed. And he said, no. So again, the question here, Michael, is will these be targeted sanctions or is Europe prepared to throw the entire package at Russia and deciding this is, in fact, an invasion. That's the question that's still yet to be answered.

HOLMES: Yes, words are everything. Scott McLean in Brussels, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

All right, so, what would a Russian investigation into Ukraine look like should it happen? [04:35:00]

A new decree gives Russia the right to build military bases in these new regions. But of course, that violates international law. CNN's Tom Foreman looks at how the Russian military could use its superior fire power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ukraine is only about the size of Texas. So, why would Russia need so much force to go after this small area down here? Why would they have filled the region with so many different troops? Military experts have looked at this, say they believe it's because they want to have overwhelming power to support this peacekeeping mission in here, and maybe to carry it a lot further.

What kind of power are we talking about? Things like, the full-back bomber, capable of firing bunker-busting missiles in from across the border without even getting into Ukrainian airspace. Things, like the Iskandar-M short-ranged ballistic missile system. There are 36 of these just beyond the border, according to Ukraine. Range, 310 miles, that's almost half the distance across the country, again, without even crossing the border if they want to.

And then, of course, they would have the tanks that they normally send in with their troops. Their artillery all over the place. And then, beyond that, they might even have a very active role to be played out here by the Black Sea fleet and then other troops moving in from this area.

In the end, one of the concerns that military strategists have for the West is that, if they move into this area, Russia will not say merely that we're putting peacekeeping troops here. But that, they might say, let's carve out a land bridge to Crimea, which we want anyway, and because of the danger, why don't we have a zone a little bit further out here just to say we're just keeping everyone apart so there won't be much fighting. And then, maybe beyond that, the concern is what if they say we are going to push all the way out here to the Dnieper River and say all of this is for Russia.

And by the way, if the Ukraine army is in here resisting this, there is a real fear that what Russia might try to do is sweep in behind them, and essentially isolate them and come up with a very, very diminished remainder of Ukraine and a very different-looking map.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Tom Foreman reporting there. And joining me here in Lviv now is CNN's national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. Great to have you on set. Let's talk semantics. I mean, the idea is that an invasion is when a foreign army steps on the soil of an independent sovereign nation. Isn't that what's about to happen?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's interesting the administration, the Biden administration's response last night left some wiggle room on that, right. Because they said, yes, there will be a response to this. This is a violation of international law. But at the same time, they noted that, well, Russian troops have been in these areas prior and for some number of years, which seems to give them the opening to say how much of this is a qualitative change? Do they declare this the further invasion that had been set as a standard for a sweeping and comprehensive response from the U.S. and the West? We will get something of an answer later this morning U.S. time. Because they are saying there will be more sanctions, more responses than what we saw last night. But it raises a question.

Is this the further invasion? It has not been answered definitively.

HOLMES: Yes, the Ukrainians have a right to feel the West is viewing Donbas as lesser Ukraine, which is an interesting angle. I'm curious on your thoughts too of what Putin might do next. I mean, a lot of people, it's entirely possible. We saw on Iraq that ISIS would control an area and then move in and take it over and expand their caliphate in that way. Could Putin be doing something like this? Sit tight now, don't fully invade and just -- as Sam Kiley put it to us in an earlier life shot -- salami slices?

SCIUTTO: You know, it's a death by 1,000 cuts, right, or destabilization by 1,000 cuts. And many of those cuts, as you well know, have already been administered, Crimea. The control even before the recognition of eastern Ukraine. The true answer is, we don't know, right? The fact of the matter is Putin has options. He has options ranging from what he has done so far, which is this recognition. And the U.S. believes, by the way, that more Russian forces will swiftly enter that territory.

But I was also told last night by senior U.S. officials that the latest U.S. intelligence assessment shows continuing preparations for a broader invasion. Things like I will loading of amphibious ships. Things like loading equipment onto air transport for airborne battalions. Which is one of many indicators they been watching for that that force that has already been arraigned on the border will be ordered to go in.

So, they still maintain that capability to send it in. And it's possible Putin maintains it for a number of days more to could keep the pressure on without acting and testing in the meantime.

HOLMES: And we've only got a minute but I wanted to ask you this, too. To provoke an invasion, if you're going to have these Russian, quote unquote peacekeepers there, what's to stop these separatists firing artillery shells at the Ukrainian military.

[04:40:00]

Ukrainian military, they've got to sit there and take the shelling? If they fire back Russia says here's our excuse.

SCIUTTO: It is or Russia just makes it up. We've seen that in recent days and the U.S. is been forward leaning in terms of exposing Russia's attempts at false pretext for an invasion. And we've seen some of that. CNN's done some reporting where they even look at the videos where you can tell they were filmed on days other than -- as claimed in evidence that they were manufactured. So, we need to watch for that. But also, as you say, those forces are very tight and forces in close proximity sometimes shoot at each other and sometimes kill each other, and sometimes make mistakes.

HOLMES: Yes, and now there are Russians there to respond.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HOLMES: Great to have you here, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Nice to be here.

Jim Sciutto, there joining us with great analysis. All right. Now I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. We will have more ahead on the Russia/Ukraine crisis coming up on "EARLY START" in 20 minutes. Anna Coren will be back with more CNN NEWSROOM ahead. Do stay with us here on CNN.

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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Jury deliberations will resume this morning in the federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery nearly 2 years ago. The prosecutor say the three men pursued Arbery in a fit of vigilantism because he was black. CNN's Ryan Young has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The jury now has the case in the federal hate crimes trial for the three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery's mother says she hopes to have guilty verdicts by Wednesday which marks two years since her son was murdered.

WANDA COOPER-JONES, MOTHER OF AHMAUD ARBERY: I think that the DOJ presented the case well. I think we're going to get a good verdict at the end. The anniversary date is on the 23rd, and hopefully we'll have a good verdict by the 23rd.

YOUNG (voice-over): Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan are charged with interference with rights, a hate crime and attempted kidnapping.

[04:45:00]

The McMichaels also each face a weapons charge. Convictions in this trial could bring steep fines and add on more life sentences.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, find the defendant Travis McMichael guilty.

YOUNG (voice-over): In November, during a state trial, all three men were sentenced to life in prison for the felony murder of Arbery. Only Bryan is eligible for parole after 30 years. Arbery's murder caught on camera leading to outrage across the country. COOPER-JONES: Ahmad was chased down for like five minutes.

YOUNG (voice-over): During closing arguments today in the federal trial, government prosecutors said Arbery's murder was about racism, going on to say the men hunted him like an animal. Arbery's parents agreed saying this on Friday.

COOPER-JONES: They killed Ahmad simply because Ahmaud was black, and what we heard over the last two days, these guys was racist.

MARCUS ARBERY, SR., FATHER OF AHMAUD ARBERY: There's too much to say, but just know that he just was killed racially.

YOUNG (voice-over): The defense disagreed during closing arguments acknowledging their clients used racist language in the past but denied Arbery's race motivating his killing or their actions toward him. The defense pointing out the men did not belong to any hate groups.

During this trial, jury heard testimony from more than 20 witnesses, several of who spoke about racist language used by the defendants including the "N" word. The defense only called one witness who talked about the Georgia neighborhood Satilla Shores where the men lived and where Arbery was killed. She had never met the McMichaels or Bryan.

YOUNG: Yes, you notice here we didn't have any video from inside the court. That's because this is a federal court case. So, no cameras are allowed inside the courtroom. But prosecution really hammering home today the idea that these three men treated Ahmaud less than human even after the shooting occurred. Saying that even when he was shot and struggling to live that they didn't provide them any assistance as he lay there on the ground dying.

Reporting in Brunswick, Ryan Young, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, we are now bringing you a tweet from the Ukrainian President, I believe. And he's meeting with the Estonian President Alar Karis in Kyiv. He said, arrived in Kyiv. Next up meeting with the Estonian Prime Minister there -- President, I should say. We stand united with Ukraine. We will not walk away. We will continue to support you in every possible way. I beg your pardon. The tweet is from the Estonian President and his meeting with the Ukrainian President. Have seen much more. Stay with CNN, much more after the break.

[04:50:00]

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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We will remove all remaining domestic restrictions in law. So, let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson there telling Parliament on Monday, it's time to get on with living with COVID-19. As part of that plan the United Kingdom will offer an additional booster vaccine dose within weeks to some of its most vulnerable.

On Monday, the Prime Minister outlined England's path forward with more restrictions to be lifted on Thursday. However, Mr. Johnson also made clear the pandemic is not over.

Well, CNN's Anna Stewart joins us from now from Windsor, England with the latest. And, Anna, what's been the reaction to the Prime Minister's declaration that it is time for the country to learn to live with COVID and end these restrictions?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's certainly, no surprise. And there were really two key points I think coming out of the living with COVID plan. One is that come Thursday in England, people who test positive for COVID-19 won't legally be required to self-isolate. They can use their own judgments. And from April, well people might not know whether they even have COVID-19. Because that is when the mass free testing, we had ends. That happens 1 April.

Now in terms of the reaction to that. It's a little bit mixed. Some people feel that they are ready to live with COVID. Lots of people have had COVID multiple times. Vaccination rates are very high. People want to be able to make their own decisions. They're fed up with mask. They're fed up with being swabbed up their noses and up their children's noses. But others say there is huge concern here. Not least because without this free testing, the mass testing of the population, it could be very hard to identify and track new variants of concern moving forward.

One of the biggest arguments for removing the testing was the cost. Just last month alone, the Prime Minister said it cost 2 billion pounds. Which is around $2.7 I believe billion That was an incredibly expensive testing and contact tracing program that we've had.

Now I feel that he gave a bit of an outlier being a guinea pig for the world to see what happens feels. But actually, we're following in the footsteps of Denmark and Sweden who have also removed all the restrictions as well. It remains to be seen whether some have to be reintroduced further down the line. It has said that in terms of testing, they could reintroduce mass testing if needed in the months to come. But for now, the wheels are off -- Anna.

COREN: Anna, very quickly, any update on the Queen's condition after she tested positive to COVID-19?

STEWART: No news in terms of her health. And I believe that will news is probably good news. I don't think we're going to get any running commentary from the palace on her health. That's definitely been a message we've heard so far. She did send a message of condolence yesterday to the president of Brazil regarding flooding. So, we know that she still continuing with light duties. So, hopefully no news is good news.

COREN: Anna Stewart outside Windsor Castle. Many thanks.

Well, Canada's House of Commons has approved the passage of the emergencies act first invoked by the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week. The law could remain in effect until mid-March. But the Prime Minister says he'll rescind it as soon as national security allows. The act gives Canada's government sweeping powers to confront what it calls illegal blockades. Amid a weekend where police arrested nearly 200 people linked to the protest.

[04:55:00]

Well, Colombia is the latest country in Latin America to partially decriminalize abortion. The constitutional court ruled on Monday in favor of legalizing the procedure up until the 24th week of pregnancy. Abortion at any time afterwards remains a crime. The ruling is a watershed victory for the nation's feminist movement. And it reflects a wider shift in views across the region where the Catholic Church holds major influence. Mexico's Supreme Court and Argentina's Senate have also decriminalized abortion in recent months.

And Michigan University has suspended its men's basketball coach for the rest of the season. It comes after Juwan Howard threw a punch at an opposing coach after a gallon on Sunday. Howard said he was upset the coach called the time-out late in the game when they had a large lead. He was also fined $14,000.

And the man who's likely the world's most famous unvaccinated athlete just won his first match of the year. World number one Novak Djokovic defeated Lorenzo Musetti in round one of the Dubai tennis championships, a tournament he has won five times. The Serbian superstar was allowed to compete in Dubai after being deported from Australia last month over his vaccination status. And missing out on the chance to defend his Australian Open title.

Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. "EARLY START" is coming up next. You're watching CNN.

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