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Thousands of Ukrainians Attempt to Flee Country after Russian Invasion; Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Interviewed on Resistance to Russian Forces as They Attempt to Take Ukrainian Capital of Kyiv; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Refuses Offer by U.S. to Leave Ukraine; Kremlin Spokesman Says Russia Offered Talks with Ukraine but Ukraine Refused; Russia Citizens Protest Their Government's Invasion of Ukraine. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 26, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:22]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me for this special CNN coverage. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.

Fierce battles between Ukrainian and Russian troops in and near the capital of Kyiv continuing overnight both on the ground and in the air. A security camera caught the moment a rocket or missile struck an apartment building just hours ago, leaving several wounded. That blast just one of many explosions seen throughout the city. The U.K. Defense Ministry says the bulk of Russian forces appear to be within 18 miles of Kyiv.

And in a posted video, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is vowing to stay and defend the capital despite offers from the U.S. and others to help him evacuate.

And this, signs of desperation at Kyiv's train station with civilians frantic to try to escape the chaos. People are pouring into neighboring Poland and Romania by the tens of thousands.

Let's begin with that attack at an apartment building in Kyiv. CNN's Clarissa Ward was there in the aftermath and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're here in a residential neighborhood quite near to one of Kyiv's airports, Zhuliany Airport, and you can see behind me, I'm going to step out of the way so that my cameraman Scott McWhinnie can show you here the damage that has been done. Some kind of a projectile hit this apartment building at about 8:15 this morning, we're hearing. You can still see smoke coming from it. There was a big fire, still smoking. There are ambulance workers on the scene, and what they're doing now is trying to take some scaffolding up there to try to prevent the 22nd and 23rd floors from collapsing. But miraculously no one was actually killed in this strike. We're

hearing from Ukrainian authorities that six people were wounded. Frankly, it's hard to imagine how anyone survived that. But six people were wounded. They're being treated in various hospitals. And there's a little bit of a he said, she said going on about how this happened. Ukrainian authorities saying that this was the work of a Russian missile, and the Russians are saying that they believe -- excuse me, sorry -- it's very windy here and there's a lot of debris flying around. The Russians are saying that they believe that this was actually a Ukrainian missile defense system that somehow went awry and ended up hitting this apartment building.

Now, whoever was responsible and however this happened, the reality is, this is the sort of thing that does happen when you have a war playing out in a major metropolis like Kyiv. This is a city of nearly 2.9 million people. And we're in a pretty central area here. This isn't sort of on the far outskirts of town. You can just imagine how terrifying it was for the people who were sleeping or just waking up having their breakfast with their families on a Saturday morning already terrified about the situation, only to find their building hit in this attack.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Clarissa Ward.

Ukrainian troops are still in control of Kyiv at this hour, but for how much longer? Petro Poroshenko is the former president of Ukraine. He was in power in 2014 until his defeat to Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019. He's joining us right now. Mr. Poroshenko, good to see you. Today you have your Kevlar protective vest on. Where were you in relation to that apartment that was hit? Did you hear it?

PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: That happened about eight kilometers from my house. But we have a lot of bombing, a lot of missiles attack. And that was -- it's impossible to imagine and impossible to explain how we feel then, 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., we have missiles attack. But a loud blast and absolutely disastrous picture around Kyiv in the 21st century in the middle of Europe.

[10:05:01]

Now, this is disaster. And this is just a demonstration of how difficult in Ukraine and how crazy is Putin, from the hell, the aerial who come here to kill Ukraine and to kill Ukrainians.

WHITFIELD: You were on CNN air yesterday and you showed the arms that you have and the detail around you, how you all are protecting yourselves, how you and men between 18 and 60 are ready to fight. It's being reported that Russian forces may be only a few kilometers away from Kyiv. How prepared are you to confront them?

POROSHENKO: We do our best. We stopped Russia in 2014. We have an eight-year war. But now we have open aggression throughout the whole territory using the Russia missile and Russian aviation. And we -- I can tell you that we tried to transfer Ukraine to Switzerland, not only with the economic development, but also for the -- under the bed of every Ukrainian, we should have an automatic rifle. And that would be a hell for Russian who tried to storm Kyiv.

And Putin should explain to the Russians why already 3,500 Russians are killed during the 72 hours of the Russian aggression, 100 tanks, 20 airplanes, more than 1,000 armed personal carrier. And at the same time we have lost about 40 civilians, including two children. They attack kindergarten, they attack schools, they attack hospital. They have -- the Putin -- Putin attacked the whole western world. We are here fighting not only for our people, not only for our soil, but also for the freedom and for democracy.

And for Ukraine would be defeated, nobody knows where tomorrow Putin appears. And that's why this is the help in Ukraine, assist in Ukraine, this is the investment in your own security. And I think that Ukraine military displayed exceptional heroism. And we ruined the Putin plan for blitzkrieg. And the number of causalities among Russian soldiers, the timespan to attack Ukraine, this is absolutely unexpected for Putin. We need not talking the talk, we definitely need an action. Putin and Russia have to stop already now, because every single day of Russian aggression, this is a disaster in Ukraine.

And how we can do that, how we can stop Putin, definitely one of the mechanisms is sanction. And I'm very much happy and waiting in hours or maybe in the minutes the new sanction on the SWIFT which can make Russia weaker. We're waiting for the sanction to stop Russian planes, Russian ships around the world. And with this situation, definitely that can have an effect.

At the same time, we need to supply to Ukraine urgently antitank missiles which already very effective, including Javelin, including antiaircraft missiles which was effective against Russian helicopter who deliver to Ukraine the Russian paratroopers, and definitely to finish out the procedure for block Nord Stream 2 and to help us to protect Ukrainian air space against Russian air strikes that is disaster during the night to have these attacks.

And, by the way, a good idea to establish the international tribunal against Putin for having responsibility for this disastrous crime against humanity.

WHITFIELD: So Mr. Poroshenko, we're unable to verify the numbers that you have, you said some 3,000 Russian troops, you believe, have been killed. How are you able to verify that? How are you able to determine whether you, indeed, all have the upper hand over Russia right now?

POROSHENKO: We would be -- I think that would be right think if our vice prime minister said today that we invite Red Cross mission to transfer the dead Russians back to Russia and make it publicly.

[10:10:10]

And all the Russian mothers, all the Russian people should see what price their ordinary people paid for the crazy idea of Putin, for the crazy fact that Putin hate Ukraine, hate Ukrainian, want to change, not only to change the border after World War II, but to refuse us the right not only to be free, not only to be democratic, but to the free use -- Ukraine rights to live.

And this is the big 40 million nation who has a diaspora throughout the world. We are one of the -- one of the leaders in the reforming the program for transforming the economy, for the integration into the European Union, and this is without any -- our only is the fact that we want to be free, we want to be democratic, we want to be European. That's it. But it would be a great idea if Red Cross will invite for all the international journalists for the procedure for returning back dead Russian back to Russia.

WHITFIELD: Through sanctions, through banking measures, it's clear that the world community, a worldwide community is behind Ukraine, and it seems to be -- there is shrinking support, if any, for what Putin is doing. However, Putin and the Kremlin also want to win the information war. So it is saying that it did offer to talk with Mr. Zelenskyy, and because there was a refusal to talk with Mr. Zelenskyy while they had put a pause on military advancement, they have now put it back into place. Tell me how the messaging from the Kremlin is in any way impacting you and others in Ukraine.

POROSHENKO: Look, I want to ask all the CNN viewers, all the people of the world, with one very simple request. Please don't trust Putin. Don't believe Putin. And two, don't be afraid of Putin. When we have the first day of the hybrid war since 2014, we have lots of cases where, for example, in May of 17 when Putin and Russia has a version who is responsible for the disastrous terrorist attack on the almost 800 innocent victims, and Putin said that was a Ukrainian plane, a Ukrainian missile, some mistake of the dispatcher, many, many others.

But what me as a president do at the time? I just invite the international investigation team from the nation who suffered the most from this terroristic attack and now we have court cases in Netherlands, evidence that Putin is a liar. The same situation now, how we can -- Putin is lying, just open us. We would be more than happy to have as many international correspondents as possible. They should be there at the front line. They should be in Kyiv. They should see with their own lives the Russian plane, Russian missiles, and the victims among the Ukrainian civil population and among Ukrainian soldiers.

And you, dear journalists, dear CNN, which plays a very important role, is playing good things against the Russian information war. We are for peace. We are for cease-fire. We are for immediate withdrawal of Russian troops -- we -- people -- with a message -- they want peace -- and because we know what that means war. And this is just a -- person -- who come here just to kill --

WHITFIELD: Mr. Poroshenko, our signal -- we want to hang with you in this conversation. Our signal is a little spotty right now. But I want to hang with you in this conversation, if you are able to hear me. While you, the former president, is staying in country, willing to fight, the current president, Zelenskyy, says he's staying in the country even though the U.S. and other countries have offered him help to get out of the country. [10:15:13]

Is it more important for him to stay and fight, possibly get detained or captured, or to leave the country and be a president in exile? What's more important? What's better for the country?

POROSHENKO: I think it would be better if President Zelenskyy give the answer. But I think that now it's a decisive moment for my nation. And every single person make a decision for themselves. The millions of Ukrainians not only staying here, but they are fighting against Russian aggression with a very high risk to be killed.

And I think that this is normal when all Ukrainian are protecting our country, all Ukrainian are demonstrating Putin miscalculation about blitzkrieg. All Ukrainian is demonstrating that they are fighting against the aggressor. And when Putin said that Ukrainians will meet Russian troops with the flowers, the only flowers for Russian soldiers is the Molotov cocktail, which even the ordinary Ukrainian is preparing for protecting our cities against Russian tanks.

So this is very natural for Ukrainian to protect our nation. And that's why it is so difficult for Putin to fight big Russia, to fight against absolutely peaceful European country and European nation like Ukraine and Ukrainian. And so I think that this is a good idea to protect Kyiv, not only to stay in Kyiv, but to protect Kyiv, to increase the defensive capability of Ukraine together -- as I said, we need the weapons to make our armed forces stronger -- price for Putin's crazy idea to --

WHITFIELD: Mr. Poroshenko, you don't sound at all worried that you could die, that your life is in harm's way.

POROSHENKO: -- president of the country -- an easy answer. You should understand -- Russian position -- I have, in the year 2017 I go together with -- but me as a president of -- together with my soldiers. But you said, even though with me, because I want to see the real hero, Ukrainian marine. And I think that this type of approach help you to -- every person has a possibility to be afraid. But when you're protecting your nation, this gives you a unique opportunity to be above your fear. And I think that we tried to do our best to be above the fear.

WHITFIELD: I understand. And Mr. Poroshenko, do you -- among the fears that the Kremlin would want to install a puppet government in Kyiv, is that one of the fears?

POROSHENKO: We are a democratic nation. I'm proud that we established the good and important democratic tradition that Ukrainian people vote democratically for their leaders. And not the chief of the government be appointed with the influence of Russia can be accepted by Ukrainians. They simply cannot survive in Ukraine. And we don't allow them to do that definitely. This is only the miracle that Putin planned that he can do something like that in my free and democratic nation. We don't allow them to do that.

[10:20:00] WHITFIELD: And, Mr. Poroshenko, only because we had a signal problem, I just want to re-ask you, and I did hear you say that this is the time for you and everyone to rise above any fears. But do you believe that you are potentially giving up your life today, over the next few days, to help save your country?

POROSHENKO: Look, I hate the pompous words, because people don't believe in the pompous words. But if you stay in Kyiv when you have Russian troops around, you should be ready for this tragical development of the situation. If I'm ready, unfortunately, yes. I hate the idea to be my country occupied. And I think that we should do our best to protection the nation, to protect the nation against Russian aggressor, definitely bring the risk of your own life. Everybody here, all the young and old people fully understand that we have this risk. Somebody has a choice to go abroad. Somebody had a choice to be the refugee on their -- some regions of Ukraine. But many, the biggest part make a decision to take the rifle and to protect the nation. I'm proud for these people. I'm proud of this country. And I'm proud to be Ukrainian.

WHITFIELD: Petro Poroshenko, former president of Ukraine, thank you so much, and all the best to you and everyone there in Ukraine.

POROSHENKO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All the best. Be safe.

POROSHENKO: Thanks a lot.

WHITFIELD: Alex Marquardt joining me now in Kyiv. Alex, that's incredibly powerful. This former president saying everything is on the line, and everyone must rise above their fears. And they are ready for whatever may come to protect their country, their freedom, their interests, their way of life, their culture, everything.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Fredricka. We heard a lot of bravado and a lot of patriotic statements in the lead-up to this Russian invasion. Ukrainians of all ages, all walks of life, telling me that they're ready to take up arms. And that is what we are starting to see. There has been a general mobilization of Ukrainians. Ukrainians, if they want, can go get a weapon from the Ukrainian military and start fighting.

So in addition to the Ukrainian military, which has gotten a lot stronger over the past few years, we are seeing all kinds of Ukrainians take a weapon, take an AK-47, and take the fight to the Russians. We are seeing significant Ukrainian resistance to this Russian aggression, and that is perhaps why Russia has not made as much progress as had been predicted before this invasion started. You heard former president Poroshenko there saying that they have ruined Putin's chances for a blitzkrieg.

There had been some very dire warnings about the capital of Kyiv, that it could fall in 24 to 48 hours. But now more than 48 hours since this invasion started, it is still very much standing, and it is still firmly in the control of the Ukrainian government. There has been significant fighting all around the city, evidence to suggest that Russian forces are encircling the city and coming at it from all sides. We have seen some of the toughest fighting within the city limits. That picture that you're showing right there, a rocket slamming into an apartment building within the city limits. Just to the west of here, we saw Ukrainian forces overnight destroying what they called a column of Russian vehicles.

But President Zelenskyy, former President Poroshenko, making the point that Ukrainian forces are having significant success at keeping the Russians at bay. We heard from President Zelenskyy earlier today, he said we have survived and are successfully repelling enemy attacks, but he did caution that fighting continues in other cities and other parts of the country. Take a listen to a little bit more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Good morning, Ukrainians. Currently there are a lot of games appearing on the internet, like I am asking our army to put down arms and evacuate. So I'm here. We are not putting down arms. We will be defending our country because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this. That is it. That is all I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So President Zelenskyy there dressed in military garb making it clear that he has no plans of going anywhere.

[10:25:01]

We now know from western officials, from E.U. and American officials, that President Zelenskyy has been offered an opportunity to leave the country and to be evacuated, and that he has rejected that. In fact, he said, according to the Ukrainian embassy in London, I need ammunition, not a ride. And that is what we are hearing from all kinds of Ukrainian officials. I just spoke with a Ukrainian defense official a short time ago repeating the call for more weapons, for more ammunition. This official telling me, we need it now, not tomorrow, and that they are in continued discussions with the Biden administration. They are thankful for $350 million that have just been allocated to the Ukrainian military.

But it is clear that they feel they need more and they need more sophisticated weaponry, including antiaircraft weapons to fend off Russian helicopters and jets. This official telling me that so far they have not gotten an answer from the Biden administration on that increased demand.

Fred, the last thing I'll note is there is now a curfew in effect. It went into effect just a short time ago, at the top of the hour. That is a curfew for 48 hours until Monday at 5:00 p.m. local time. The streets now empty. There is a lull in the fighting. Every so often, we'll hear some small arms fire, a thud in the distance. For now, that fighting is not raging. But the mayor of Kyiv asking citizens to stay off the streets. We are seeing an increased security presence in the streets. But the mayor of Kyiv saying that if citizens are down there, they will assume that they are Russian saboteurs, that they are Russian forces. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Alex Marquardt, thank you so much. We'll check back with you. Appreciate it, stay safe yourself.

President Biden is speaking with his national security team right now. CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz is with the president in Wilmington, Delaware. And so Arlette, what are we hearing about the discussions and whether hearing the demands from Zelenskyy and others, whether arsenal will come more immediately. They appreciate the designated funds, but they need armor.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, President Biden is holding a call with his national security team this very hour as the U.S. continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine as this Russian attack is now extending into the third day.

Now, the White House had said that the president and vice president would be on a call as well as members of the national security team. And he is holding it from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he is spending the weekend. While the president is here, he has all of those capabilities to be able to conduct these secure video calls.

But it all comes as the White House has been watching this around the clock as the Russian attack in Ukraine continues. Yesterday, President Biden spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy for around 40 minutes, and one of the things that he sent in that message was he commended the Ukrainians for the fight that they are putting up against the Russians as well as discussions about assistance when it comes to defense. That is something that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has been pushing for.

And last night the White House announced President Biden authorized $350 million in security assistance to Ukraine. An administration official saying this now brings the total security assistance to Ukraine over the course of the past year to over $1 billion.

And so what does this assistance look like? It comes from existing Defense Department supplies that will include antiarmor and antiaircraft systems, as well as small arms and various caliber munitions and body armor. But one big question is, how exactly they get these supplies into the country as that airspace in Ukraine is currently contested. So the White House trying to make clear that they are fully supportive of Ukraine. They are trying to get that defense material to them as quickly as possible, but there are still questions about how exactly they're getting that into the country. Fred?

WHITFIELD: That's a big challenge. Thank you so much, Arlette Saenz, appreciate that in Delaware.

Coming up next, a history-making pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Who is she, and will her Senate confirmation be a swift one? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:33:26]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said today that Russian President Putin ordered a halt to attacks in Ukraine on Friday pending negotiations, but claims that Ukraine refused to talk. A Ukrainian presidential adviser denied Peskov's claim.

CNN's Nic Robertson joining me live from Moscow now. So what's the psychology of why the Kremlin said this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think we can unpack it a bit here, Fred. This is unusual for the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, to speak over the weekend. Typically, he'll talk to the media once every day, questions can be answered, he'll give his answers. They're not really very forthcoming on many issues. So this is sort of a little bit out of the ordinary that there's a short notice announcement that he's going to have a call with the press.

We can read into that that the Kremlin wants to get its voice into the narrative here. So we can read into that it's not happy with the narrative at the moment. We also know that defense officials in both the U.S. and the U.K. are assessing that Russia has taken probably somewhere around 400 to 500 deaths in military forces as part of this invasion so far. None of this has been announced to the Russian people.

So what we are hearing from the Kremlin is an effort, it appears, to say, hey, we're trying to be the good guys here. We're trying to give them the opportunity to get into talks. But they didn't, so now we're going to have to continue with the offensive.

[10:35:02]

There have been huge efforts here to demonize the leadership in Ukraine, say that they're going in to demilitarize the country and essentially take out the leadership. But they haven't told Russians yet about the costs to them, to their troops, to the parents of all those young men and possibly women as well who now won't be coming home.

So perhaps the Kremlin is trying to create a narrative to prepare Russians for some slightly worse information than they've had so far, but I think very much it's designed to convey that they are still trying to be, in their own eyes, the good guys here. They believe their own narrative. They believe their own views on all of this. And I don't think the Russian leadership perhaps is fully caught up with what the rest of the world is thinking and doing.

It's possible also that they're looking now at more European leaders sort of swinging in behind the possibility of pushing Russia out of the SWIFT, global SWIFT financial system, and perhaps the Kremlin is trying to get its voice in there. Again, I don't think they really realize that the lack of trust that they've established over the past couple of months just means there's very little credibility left in what they say. But this is what the Kremlin appears to be doing, to have that international message, but a domestic one as well. I don't think it holds much water outside of Ukraine -- outside of Russia, to be honest.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you so much. We'll check back with you. Appreciate it.

So is there a way to answer, what is Putin's strategy beyond just taking Kyiv? Let's bring in Angela Stent, she's the author of "Putin's World, Russia Against the West and with the Rest." She's also a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, and professor at Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Professor Stent, I always love talking to you because you're the only one who really seems to able to get in the mind, so to speak, of Putin as best that can be done. So what do you suppose is happening right now? Is he, in a way, acknowledging that he's losing the misinformation war by sending out a message saying, I've been trying to talk with President Zelenskyy, but because he hasn't talked, I'm going to go ahead and resume forging toward Kyiv, essentially blaming Ukraine for the ongoing conflict?

ANGELA STENT, AUTHOR, "PUTIN'S WORLD, RUSSIA AGAINST THE WEST AND WITH THE REST": Well, it's very hard to judge what's going on in Vladimir Putin's head. And he seems to have really misjudged. I don't think he understands really what's going on in Ukraine. But I think his strategy, if we just look at the terrible fighting that's happening and listening to former President Poroshenko, the strategy is still to take Kyiv and to try and install a puppet government, a government that will listen to Russia and do its bidding. That's been his goal all along. It's really to subdue Ukraine and to bring it back into the Russian fold.

WHITFIELD: That clearly is the objective. You listen to former President Poroshenko, unbelievable strong words, right, about just really staying there to try to protect the country. You have to rise above your fears. And clearly, President Zelenskyy is not taking up the U.S. or anybody else's offer to leave the country. Ultimately, do you think that the Ukrainians are going to be able to stand in the way of Putin's objective of trying to install a puppet regime?

STENT: Well, I think Ukraine, unfortunately, is militarily significantly weaker than Russia, and the Russians do have, they had 190,000 troops amassed around Ukraine. Not all of them are in Ukraine, but they're moving there. I think if the Russians try and install a puppet government, it's going to be very difficult for them. You've seen the resistance already in Ukraine. Ukrainians are fighting for their country, and I'm not sure how long a puppet government would last even though that clearly is the Russian design to do that.

But we will have to see what happens in the next few days or even weeks, because the Russians can't occupy Ukraine. They would need about 900,000 troops to do that, and it would be expensive for them. I don't think they have thought about that. But whether they can keep a puppet government in there without occupying it is very hard to imagine.

WHITFIELD: And then let's talk about what is happening in country Russia. We're seeing pictures of antiwar protests, including ordinary citizens, including professionals, including families, journalists, who are being punished for their outbursts against the protests.

[10:40:01]

Do you believe that, while Putin and the Kremlin has cut off social media connections, and while they're limiting independent news organizations, does it still appear that Putin has a handle of the messaging in country, or is it backfiring?

STENT: I think a lot of this is backfiring, because the Russian population were not prepared for a war. They didn't think this was going to happen. You have to commend all of those brave Russians going out and protesting, and the 170 journalists, for instance, yesterday who signed a major petition against the war.

Putin's Russia has become increasingly repressive, particularly in 2021. Most opposition figures have been jailed or they are in exile, and the people who are out demonstrating, many of them are being arrested, too. It's not going to bring down the regime at the moment, but I think what Putin also hadn't reckoned for is his own people aren't buying this. They've been told by Putin that the Ukrainians are their brothers and sisters, that they're one nation, and now they're supposed to go out and fight a fratricidal war with them. They don't want to do that.

WHITFIELD: Georgetown University Professor Angela Stent, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

STENT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll take you back to Ukraine in just a moment. But first, President Biden makes history. What's next for the confirmation process for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:55]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. President Biden made history on Friday by nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his U.S. Supreme Court pick. If confirmed, Judge Jackson will be the first black woman to sit on the highest court. She currently presides on D.C.'s federal appellate court and had been considered the front-runner for the vacancy since Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement. Her selection is drawing both praise and pushback. CNN's Eva McKend is on Capitol Hill. So Eva, what more can you tell us about where things stand and what this process is going to be like?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Fred, Senate Democrats are elated. They are moving as quickly as possible to try to get this judge confirmed. Senator Dick Durbin, he chairs the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, that's where these all-important confirmation hearings will occur. He indicates they are trying to get this done by Easter. We actually have new video this morning from President Biden tweeted out of the moment that he informed the judge that she was his choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Hello?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Judge Jackson?

JACKSON: Yes.

BIDEN: This is Joe Biden. How are you?

JACKSON: I am wonderful. How are you, Mr. President?

BIDEN: Well, you are going to be more wonderful. I would like you to go to the Supreme Court. How about that?

JACKSON: Sir, I would be so honored.

BIDEN: I'm honored to nominate you.

JACKSON: I am just so, so overwhelmed.

BIDEN: Well, you deserve it. You deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So lots of happy moment there between the president and his nominee, but no jubilee from Republicans who have come out early really against this. They're raising concerns about her -- making an interesting argument about her education, making this anti- intellectual argument, since when is it a bad thing to have Ivy League credentials, but also poking at her record on criminal justice issues, as well as her support from liberal groups.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with a really interesting statement. He, of course, no stranger to money in politics, but he says of the nominee that "Judge Jackson was the favored choice of far- left dark money groups that have spent years attacking the legitimacy and structure of the court itself."

So if Democrats stick together, they should be able to get her over the finish line. The question in the days ahead, though, is will they be able to peel away some Republicans to support them in this effort. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Eva, don't you have to wonder, before she actually heard the president's voice, did anyone give her a heads-up, this call could be recorded? Just in case, she didn't drop the phone after hearing his name?

(LAUGHTER) MCKEND: Yes, the adrenaline and everything, she probably forgot all about it.

WHITFIELD: Right. Eva McKend, thank you so much on Capitol Hill.

Straight ahead, support is growing among European Union countries for banning Russia from the service that links thousands of banks and more than 200 countries worldwide. And just moments ago, President Biden weighed in on that. We'll have a live report coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:37]

WHITFIELD: This just into CNN, President Biden is seriously weighing whether to remove Russia from SWIFT, the high security network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world. Already a growing number of European Union countries have expressed support for that very idea. Anna Stewart joins us now from London with more on this. So Anna, bottom line, if Russia were to be cut off from SWIFT, might it have dire consequences for its economy?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. You can see this economy shrink by five percent in one year. That was certainly the case that was outlined by Russia's finance minister in 2014 when this was first mooted. But the issue has been the resistance within the E.U. There was resistance then and there has been resistance in recent days. And that's because this wouldn't just be damaging to Russia. It would be damaging for any country that relies on Russia for products like oil, gas, wheat, metals. And, of course, there are many, including Germany which is the biggest economic powerhouse really of Europe, and they're very reliant on Russia when it comes to oil and gas.

The other holdouts that we were aware of earlier in the week seem to have fallen away. So we had Cypress and Hungary, who now deny being holdouts, Italy in the last few hours say they will back this measure. So you can see that resistance beginning to crumble within the E.U. And certainly, the pressure from outside the E.U., from other international leaders is growing, from U.S. president Joe Biden, but also the prime minister of Canada and the U.K. Boris Johnson tweeting just a few hours ago again saying they support taking this measure.

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So while there has been resistance and this has been the last measure really on the sanctions list, it feels like they're all coming together. And showing unity has been really critical with every round of sanctions we've seen in the last few days, and it feels like the international community is coming together here. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Anna Stewart, thank you so much, from London.

Across eastern Europe, the humanitarian crisis is growing worse by the day as more than 100,000 Ukrainians flee the war. We'll take you to a train station in Poland coming up.

And look at this chilling video of Ukrainians huddled in a shelter in Lviv singing their country's national anthem.

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