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Russia Launches Large-Scale Military Attack on Ukraine; Russian Airborne Takes Over Airport in Kyiv; Biden to speak at 12:30 on Russia Attack on Ukraine. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 24, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:57]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is a difficult one. A sad one in many ways. I'm Jim Sciutto reporting from Lviv, Ukraine.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.

Happening right now Russian forces are invading Ukraine. Putin's army launching multipronged attacks across the entire nation. We are waking up to news of war in Europe and the fighting is already deadly.

SCIUTTO: Explosions rattling at least 16 cities across this country overnight and throughout the day, including in the capital Kyiv, Mariupol, Odessa, areas south of where I am here in Lviv, in western Ukraine. This bombardment truly extending across the entire country.

And new images coming into CNN this morning showing the area where a Russian helicopter was shot down. Also we're seeing widespread damage from the shelling near Kyiv, the capital. We had a reporter in the middle of a fire fight there earlier.

The latest U.S. assessment, I'm told, the U.S. is seeing, quote, "fairly good resistance by Ukrainian forces," particularly around Kharkiv. However, those officials tell me that Russia has already established air superiority over this country and the U.S. believes that Russia intends to control at least the eastern two-thirds of Ukraine. Their ambitions are big.

We're covering every angle of this breaking story as only CNN can. Our reporters and correspondents on the ground throughout the country and the region as well as in Russia and back home.

Let's begin here in the region. CNN's Fred Pleitgen, he is just across the border from Ukraine to the northeast in Belgorod, Russia. Sam Kiley is in Kharkiv just across the border inside Ukraine.

Fred, I do want to begin with you. A remarkable moment earlier this morning and continuing really since then of you watching the Russian army roll right by you on roads towards Ukraine. Remarkable to witness.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable to witness, Jim, and it's actually something that we're seeing sort of shape up again right here. As you've noted, we've seen a lot of military vehicles who have passed us, who have gone towards Ukrainian territory. And there in the distance, it's a little harder to see right now because that convoy is just gathering. It's a huge convoy of Russian military vehicles that no doubt, not too distant future is also going to be setting in motion and then probably also making their way to Ukraine, as well to Ukrainian territory.

We are actually here at the final checkpoint before you would get to Ukrainian territory, before the other side is Kharkiv, and we have literally seen a lot of action here from this vantage point as well. We saw artillery rocket fire aimed towards Ukraine. Firing towards Ukraine. We later found out that those were multiple rocket launchers. We also had main battle tanks that went past us.

They sort of left their positions here where they were dug in. They came up here on the main road, and then went on the main road towards that town of Kharkiv. Howitzers as well. You can really see the Russian military going in here in full force and doing so very swiftly as well. It's a lot faster than I think many people would have predicted. You see this military moving forward in full force.

One of the other things, Jim, that I also want to point out is that the area that I'm in right now, Belgorod, and south of Belgorod towards Ukraine, is one that does have a large concentration of Russian forces and seemingly also a lot of those forces that have those longer distance rockets. We heard that overnight as well, some pretty loud launches and then of course, later we know that many places in Ukraine were hit by longer distance rockets, by longer distance missiles as well.

So the Russians, we can see them out here in full force and we can certainly see them moving into Ukraine as that invasion continues -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, our Sam Kiley is in Kharkiv just across the border inside Ukraine.

And Sam, I don't have to tell you that many of those rockets and artillery shells flying over Fred's head have been headed to where you are. Tell us the intensity of the shelling and what kind of targets have they hit on the ground.

[10:05:02]

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there was an incident earlier on today, that first salvo of most rockets that were fired from where Fred's location. Fairly soon after that, there was a series, a very loud detonations here in Kharkiv or rather probably on the outskirts of Kharkiv. We're not exactly sure where. We're still trying to trace the impact of those rockets. But clearly, you see it outgoing and then you feel it incoming. We're

only about 50 miles as the rocket flies from Belgorod so it would make sense that this city of a million and a half people has been a target, and indeed it has been a target all day since about an hour or two before dawn.

Just as we've been coming up to this live, Jim, there was another salvo of explosions in the distance. Overwhelmingly the targets do appear to have been military installations or installations that could be used in support of the military such as airfields and communications networks. We still obviously have cellular network.

The mayor of the city here has asked his residents to stay home. Most have heeded that. We heard earlier on from Clarissa Ward who's in a very packed metro station being used as a bunkers for civilians to shelter in. This one just below me here. That's been largely empty today. Indeed the public transport system has been running throughout the day as people have tried to reconcile themselves with this extraordinary moment in history where their Russian neighbor is sending tanks across the border and threatening to potentially overrun this city of predominantly Russian speakers. This is 75 percent Russian speaking here.

There are just one last thing, Jim. The local reports from the Ministry of Defense that they've knocked out four Russian tanks on the ring road around the city -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, Russian officials have said for weeks they had no intention to invade. Of course we know now they were lying. Lying.

Sam Kiley, Fred Pleitgen, keep your heads down. Literally.

We just learned that President Biden will speak at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Russia's attack on Ukraine. We will, of course, bring you those comments as they come.

In the last hour, Russian troops told CNN's Matthew Chance who was just outside the capital Kyiv that they are now in control of Antonov Air Base, this on the outskirts of that city, as Ukrainian troops were attempting a counteroffensive. Take a listen, have a watch at the tense moments he witnessed there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are here at the Antonov Airport, which is about 25 kilometers, 50 miles or so at the center. These troops you can see over here. Stand up, please. These troops you can see over here, they are Russian Airborne forces. They have taken this airport.

They've allowed us to come in and be with them as they defend the perimeter of this air base here where helicopter borne troops, these troops, were landed in the early hours of this morning to take and to form an air bridge to allow for more troops to come in.

You can see these are Russian forces. You can tell they're Russians. I've spoken to them already. You can tell they're Russians. They've got that orange and black bands to identify them as Russian forces, have spoken to the commander on the ground there within the past few minutes and he said they are now in control of this airport. And within the past few seconds, just before he came to us they were engaged in a fire fight presumably with the Ukrainian military which says it is staging a counteroffensive to try and take back this airport.

I can tell you now, I'm standing outside the perimeter of this Antonov Airbase and it has not been taken back by the Ukrainian military. It is the Russian military. You can see them now moving back to a different position. It is the Ukrainian military who say they are now in control. This is about, I would say about 20 miles from the center of the Ukrainian capital. So it just shows us now for the first time just how close Russian forces have got towards the center of the Ukrainian capital.

I spoke to officials earlier, Ukrainian officials, and they're saying that the plan isn't just to surround the Ukrainian capital. They fear now that the plan is to take the capital, to decapitate the leadership of Ukraine, and to replace that leadership with a pro-Russian government. That's what Ukrainian officials are telling us now, they think, is the Russian plan.

I can tell you it is a very tense situation. We're expecting to see Ukrainian military -- we didn't even know. Frankly, we didn't even know that, you know, that Russian forces are going to be here. We assumed this was the Ukrainian forces. So we went up to speak to them and say, hey, we've come from Kyiv, you know, but they only emerged during the conversation that they're all Russians and there were no Ukrainian military forces in sight, although I can't hear them because they've been shooting ferociously in the past few minutes.

And so we're talking in the defensive position behind this wall here, you know, I got our cot here with the crew here as well. And, you know, as the Russian Airborne troops defend this position that they've taken on the outskirts of Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[10:10:09]

SCIUTTO: Matthew Chance there witnessing the swift advance of Russian forces outside the Ukrainian capital. Thanks to Matthew and his team. We're glad they're safe.

President Biden met with his top National Security officials this morning a short time ago. Of course about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Then held a virtual meeting with other G7 leaders who have vowed to impose jointly severe sanctions on Russia.

CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins has been following.

Kaitlan, I wonder, what exactly are these sweeping, painful sanctions that President Biden and his team have been promising if and when Russia were to invade Ukraine? Exactly how do they plan to penalize Russia?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We're still waiting on the exact details of what those sanctions are going to look like. Obviously, President Biden will lay that out when he speaks here in just a few hours. We do know from reporting that they have intended to go after Russia's financial institutions, banks, maybe put in some export controls when it comes to technology.

President Biden has even laid out this idea of maybe sanctioning President Putin himself, to go after him. So we're still waiting to see exactly what that's going to look like but the White House has said that they will be decisive and severe. It remains to be seen, of course, just how it can punish the Russian leader who of course seems so intent on moving ahead with this despite the fact that they have been talking about these sanctions for weeks now.

And Jim, right now, President Biden is on the phone with other world leaders, other G7 leaders. Remember that's a group that Russia was part of not that long ago and they were kicked out of it in 2014 after they illegally annexed Crimea and now President Biden is on the phone with these other leaders of these industrialized nations talking about how they are going to respond and coordinate their response to what Russia has done conducting this attack in Ukraine as U.S. officials had feared they had been planning to do.

And last night as all this unfolded, President Biden was here at the White House within minutes of this attack beginning. He was on the phone with the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy who had reached out to him and afterward President Biden did put out a statement saying that President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.

Of course, the big question is what the response is going to look like when we do hear from President Biden shortly given of course just how Russia has tried to upend all of this. And we should also note, he's got that G7 meeting then he'll be speaking. We will hear from the press secretary later and of course it remains to be seen just exactly what those sanctions are going to look like -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: They promised a sweeping response, we'll see.

Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.

So for more on what this all means as we wake up to war in Europe, we're joined by former CIA director, also U.S. commander of Central Command, General David Petraeus.

General Petraeus, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Good to be with you, Jim, thanks.

SCIUTTO: You have years of experience as a military commander and observer. The NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this morning from Brussels that this is a new normal for NATO and that NATO and the West can no longer take their security for granted. I wonder, for people at home who might think that Ukraine is far away,

not too important to them, can you explain, have we entered a new Cold War?

PETRAEUS: Well, it appears that we have, Jim. We're still not sure how far President Putin wants this to go, but as your reporters, I think, have correctly noted, he clearly wants to take control of Kyiv, to topple the current government of President Zelenskyy, to put a pro- Russian government in place, to take control of the bulk of the eastern part of the country, it would appear at least that east of the Dnieper River, and I think also probably to take control of the southern part of the country, the coastline, to take away Ukraine's access to the Black Sea, to control Odessa and also Mariupol, and maybe even hook in to connect with the Russian Airborne battalion that's still located in the eastern part of Moldova.

And then we'll see from goes from there. Does he try to take the rest of the country? You of course are in Lviv, in the very western part. You've seen explosions, heard them, so forth. And the real question, I think, Jim, that we really should be trying to determine is how hard are the Ukrainians going to fight? Can they take that airfield back 20 miles to the capital? Can they knock down more helicopters, knock out tanks?

I've heard that there have been a number of tanks, you know, handful of tanks knocked out. If they can do that while the Russians are still moving pretty rapidly, that's fairly impressive. Sooner or later, the Russians have to stop, they have to refuel, they have to rearm, and then, of course, that's when the forces that Ukraine can muster with those Javelin antitank systems can make them pay for this.

But, again, the real question is, how determined are they going to be? They will not have cohesive defensive fronts or eastern defensive strategy. It's going to be, as we used to say in the airborne, little groups of paratroopers, in this case, little groups of Ukrainian fighters.

[10:15:06]

And if they're determined, they can make them pay a great deal. But again Russian forces will overwhelm what Ukraine has put together. And one last point if I could, Jim, because President Zelensky was so bent on not alarming his citizens, I'm quite confident they have not put in the kind of obstacle belts with mine fields and wire and fortifications and so forth that defensive forces normally would have put in, which means that they can literally drive right down the main roads, blast through what the Ukrainians have.

So, again, it's going to be what do they do when the Russians do inevitably stop, again, such as at that airfield. If they can take positions back, that will send a powerful statement, but still one has to assume that ultimately they will be overwhelmed and then it's going to be, then what? Does he keep ongoing all the way to where you are in western Ukraine?

SCIUTTO: Question for you. One lesson of all this is to listen to what Putin says. You might say he telegraphed this more than a decade ago, describing his ambitions. He made a threat as he launched this invasion. He said, whoever tries to interfere should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences, his words, that you have never experienced in your history.

Was he threatening NATO with war if it were to intervene?

PETRAEUS: I think it is probably threatening NATO countries because, of course, they are the ones on the periphery of Ukraine and of Moldova. If they support what could be an insurgency that develops guerilla warfare, that kind of activity, and if we seek to support them with, again, weapons, money, ammunition, various other systems and so forth, that presumably is what he has in mind. But of course, you know, what he has done in his effort to make Russia great again is also made NATO great again.

I was just at the Munich Security Conference. I've never seen such unity as we saw there at least since when I was a speechwriter for the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the Cold War days. So there's going to be enormous, again, the sanctions, the cut-off, presumably at some point from the SWIFT system, various other diplomatic legal and military actions. We're just seeing the opening salvos, literally, of this.

And you know, I have to also say, having been part of an invasion of a country as a two-star general division commander during the fight to Baghdad, in the first year in Iraq, the columns that we have seen that your reporter who have done a great job, especially out on the other side of the border from Kharkiv and in Kharkiv as well, they've been a little less than what I thought we would see.

Remember in the enormous columns, line-up for miles and miles and miles, and, you know, the logistics tucked right in behind them, all the rest of that, it seems a tiny bit more piecemeal than I would have thought, and so another question is, can Russia take advantage of its air supremacy? This isn't just air superiority. Can it integrate air and ground operations? Can it -- in direct fire? We saw these impressive multiple launch rocket systems salvos going overhead.

Those are enormous, but again, they're an area weapons system, as they say, in other words they're not precise, it's a blunt instrument. Can they integrate that with soldiers and conduct, how do we say, danger close artillery support if the fight gets sufficiently tough that that is required.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this because this week I've spoken in succession to the prime minister of Latvia and Estonia. Of course two NATO allies within the alliance but right on Russia's border and both of them said to me that they, without a proper sufficient response, could be Russia's next targets. Despite the fact that they're in the alliance, particularly when you go back to his address to his nation on Monday where he described it as madness, that these former Soviet republics were allowed to leave the USSR so quickly.

I wonder, do you share their fear that NATO allies, he could attempt to target them after this?

PETRAEUS: Well, they should fear this, but of course, this is why it was so significant that when President Biden announced the initial sanctions against banks and individuals and so forth that he also announced the movement into the three Baltic States of additional U.S. forces, including an F-35 fighter, the most advanced fighters in the world. Again, that would be quite something.

And also, Apache helicopters and also ground troops and of course there are already at least three battle groups, one in each of those countries, that's a small force but it's a very significant force.

[10:20:02]

It's much more than symbolic because if they set foot across those borders and attack on one is an attack on all, as you know, that's the Article Five. That is the cornerstone of NATO.

SCIUTTO: General Petraeus, I must ask you just before we go. You've served under both Republican and Democratic presidents. We have a remarkable dynamic here that as Russia invades a sovereign country without provocation, we have Americans cheering Putin, praising him, including a former president in Trump, a former secretary of state praising Putin's savviness, Mike Pompeo, who also served as CIA director like you.

Does that weaken the U.S.? Does that weaken the NATO alliance's response to this aggression?

PETRAEUS: You know, Jim, you've heard the statement that politics ends at the water's edge? Now it's never been completely true but this is a time when clearly politics should end at water's edge. Everyone needs to come together, Republican, Democrat, independent, and support our president, support our troops and frankly support the Ukrainians.

As a columnist said the other day in the "Washington Post," we are all Ukrainians now and we are. This is an assault on democracy, not just an assault on Ukraine. It is just completely violating all the principles that have governed, really, the world since the end of World War II in the U.N. charter and so forth. So this is vastly even greater than how substantial it is. Again, it has to be answered and I think it will be answered by a unified U.S., NATO, E.U., U.K., and around the world response and that needs to include everyone in the United States as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes. We'll be watching. General David Petraeus, thank you for your service and thank you for taking the time to join us this morning.

PETRAEUS: Thanks for your great reporting, Jim.

GOLODRYGA: And Jim, we should note that one Republican former president is not siding with Vladimir Putin. We have heard from President George W. Bush and he issued a statement saying, "I join the international community in condemning Vladimir Putin's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. The American government and people must stand in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as they seek freedom and the right to choose their own future."

Very powerful words and strikingly different than that from the previous president, President Trump.

Well, it should be packed with commuters but subway stations in Ukrainian cities under fire and now have turned into makeshift bomb shelters. Families having to protect their little children. We'll go inside and in the capital of Kyiv as air raid sirens are ringing out this morning. Much more reaction and insight from CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:38]

SCIUTTO: We have been learning and seeing more about the extent of Russia's aerial bombardment of Ukraine in the last, well, less than 24 hours and CNN has now just verified footage of a large explosion at Melitopol Airport. This is just a little bit north of Crimea in the south. We're going to play that right now. Have a listen.

As we've been reporting, the aerial bombardment of this country has included a number of weapons and weapons systems. There have been cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, there have been rockets as well as artillery barrages. Unclear what that was caused by, but yet one more part of this country and frankly we're now learning that these targets have been struck across the country from east to west, north to south. And you saw one vision of it right there near Crimea in the south of the country.

To the northeast in Kharkiv, Ukraine, CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward. She has been inside a subway station this morning that has now become in the midst of all this, a bomb shelter.

GOLODRYGA: A bomb shelter where you see average everyday citizens there now not knowing what their future holds. She spoke to one woman who says her world has completely changed overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came because one of my colleagues told me that it's now going to be the most dangerous time that we are going to be under (INAUDIBLE), and the safest place is to hide here. So it's like you wake up and 5:00 a.m. and you find out that the world is no longer the safe place you imagined. And it's hard to believe that it's actually our neighbor doing this because we never really believed that our like neighbor can just come and just (INAUDIBLE) and tell us what to do. And we are independent country of Ukraine and we totally not same as Russians.

And we don't want to be a part of Russia or any other country. It's really difficult and I can't believe it's happening really. And I just hope that some people in Russia --

(END)