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Huge Fireball Explosion Seen In Sky Over Ukraine's Capital Kyiv; Defiant Ukrainian Border Guards Refuse To Surrender To Russian Warship; Ukrainian Forces Struggle To Hold On To Kyiv Amid Russian Onslaught; Select Russian Banks Are Being Booted Off The SWIFT; U.S. Prepares For Possible Cyberattacks By Russia. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired February 26, 2022 - 21:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:00:38]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't trust, Putin. Don't believe, Putin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a part of building damaged by what the foreign minister says was a Russian missile strike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can see the invasion that Russia is conducting of Ukrainian territory, more of his heavy equipment has been moving towards the front line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many people are trying to cross the border on foot which would mean waiting outdoors in the frigid cold most often with small children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's this hours-long, agonizing journey of having to say goodbye to everything that you have known.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's strange to see civilians picking up leftover armor from vehicles here. It shows you how many people are involved now on a local level in this war effort.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Using their own personal body to stop a moving tank.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I will go and fight and I'm ready to die for my event for the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Europe should help us and the whole world should help us. We should not be left alone with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday evening. It is 4:00 a.m. in Ukraine's capitol and certainly a sleepless night for many of the people there. This is the view from Kyiv. And the upper right corner of your screen, a massive explosion on the outskirts of the city. One of at least two minutes earlier Ukraine's government warned this could be the night for a major Russian assault on the capital city.

And here's a closer view of the fire. The area southeast of Kyiv contains a large military base and many fuel tanks. CNN's Alex Marquardt was in Kiev when the last rattled nerves across the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There are fears that the Russians could carry out a large scale bombing campaign here in the Ukrainian capital. And just about seven minutes ago, in southwest Kyiv, we could see from our vantage point and hear a large explosion. I'm going to get out of the way so you can see what I'm seeing right now.

Again, this is in the southwest part of the capital. We heard a large blast and then since then, for the past seven, eight minutes, there has been this pulsing glow in the distance. You have to imagine that it is some kind of fire. It is a very eerie scene.

This city is right now, completely quiet. It has been quiet for quite some time. And then every so often, that silence is pierced by some sounds of fighting or war, whether it's gunfire or thuds in the distance. This was an explosion that was relatively close by we don't know what the target is. But that is the general direction, general location of Kyiv's second airport.

It is a location that we've been looking at earlier today because there was a missile or a rocket that hit a residential building near that airport. And that was that was the main incident today. I would say it has been otherwise a relatively quiet day.

But now we are taking -- we are -- we are trying to get a sense of whether this bombing campaign by the Russians is going to happen tonight. We are bracing for that, the city is bracing for that. There is a curfew that is not just overnight, but it is a 48-hour long curfew. The city has told its residents to stay inside when the air sirens go off to go into the air shelters.

And now I'm hearing something else in the distance. That sounded like gunfire, sounds like thunder. There are two waves of that. So this could be the beginning of a significant aerial bombardment by Russia's forces on the Ukrainian capital.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: That was CNN's Alex Marquardt. And now the view from the Russian side of the border. This chilling moment unfolding live earlier today a CNN viewers watched. CNN's Fred Pleitgen describes the activities swirling around him.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Right across from that town of Kharkiv which is where the US says that the Russians are facing the stiffest resistance yet.

[21:05:04]

And just as I'm talking to you right now, I can actually hear a salvo of Russian multiple rocket launchers going off. That's something that we've seen a lot more of today than we have in the past couple of days that we've sort of been out here.

And you know, it's very difficult to see from our vantage point whether or not the Russians are having any sort of problems or whether or not, you know, there have -- their offensive is sort of halting. But we do see the Russians moving a lot more heavy equipment than they have in the past couple of days.

And actually, as I'm speaking to you right now, I don't know how well we're going to be able to see this in the dark. But there's actually a massive column of Russian armored vehicles that are sort of going past us. Right now as we speak, I'm going to pan to them for a second.

We've also seen some really heavy rocket launchers, Fredricka, as well past here. What you're seeing right now I have to speak really loudly. That's a main battle tank, the Russians. That's a T72 battle tank, this one as well. So we're sort of seeing a couple of things. And those right now are taking a turn. And they're actually heading towards the frontline near Kharkiv, where you just said, where the heaviest fighting is going on right now.

So as we speak here, you can see the invasion that Russia is conducting of Ukrainian territory going on. And obviously moving forward as the Russians moving more heavy equipment towards Ukraine. This is something, Fredricka, that we've seen throughout the entire course of the day that more of this heavy equipment has been moving towards the frontline, towards Ukrainian territory.

And again, it's not clear whether or not this means that the Russians need more of this, because it's really coming more difficult for them. But it's certainly a fact that we are definitely seeing a lot more of this stuff going towards Ukrainian territory.

Also, again, as I said, a lot of big multiple rocket launchers coming past rockets being fired. This is definitely sort of a very common occurrence right now.

One of the other interesting things is also is that a lot of these troops are actually parked in small villages around here. And it also shows Fredericka, that the Russians, if they are having trouble with their military campaign, they certainly still do seem to have the capacity to escalate all of this. We're seeing a lot of these kinds of vehicles parked around here at the ready to go anytime.

And as you can see, the Russians moving more forces now towards the Kharkiv region. You can see I don't know how well you're going to be able to see this. But if we go back in the distance over there, you can see the tanks, turning a corner over there. And what you're seeing right now is then going straight towards Ukrainian territory. This is the last checkpoint that the Russians have before you reach Ukrainian territory. And before you get to that region of Kharkiv. Those Russian forces route, taking that last turn past the last checkpoint, and a couple of miles down the road, you're already in Ukrainian territory. And then later you get to the frontline in Kharkiv.

So, again, whether or not they're having any sort of difficulties, whether or not this campaign is stalling. Very difficult to say from our vantage point, but what I can tell you is that the Russians definitely losing -- moving a lot more equipment right now towards that front line.

And it really is something Fredricka that we have been seeing throughout the course of this entire day, as we are in a town of Belgorod which is really one of their main places where they've set up these Garrison's and have a large troop concentration from which they keep feeding that frontline down in Kharkiv which as you've noted, the U.S. says is right now, one of the sort of main battlefields.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: All right, thanks to Fred Pleitgen. And just imagine standing there in Russian tanks going right by you. Ivo Daalder was the U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Obama. He is the co-author of "The Empty Throne, America's Abdication of Global Leadership." Thank you for coming on. Ambassador, do you believe NATO should have greater involvement in this conflict?

IVO DAALDER, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, I think NATO has decided, the United States has decided not to be directly involved. I think history will tell whether that was the right decision. If there wasn't involvement, it should have happened earlier in order to deter the attack in the first place.

But clearly, politics at home and politics abroad suggests that the concentration of NATO is on defending NATO territory and not Ukraine. That doesn't mean we can do much more to help the Ukrainians in the date, the U.S. is sending much more equipment, and now we even have the German government sending Stinger missiles and anti-tank weapons in order to help the Ukrainians defend themselves. They certainly have a right to defend themselves, and we want to help them as best we can.

BROWN: How significant is it that Germany will send weapons to Ukraine?

DAALDER: I think it's very significant Germany under its own laws and doesn't allow the shipment of armaments to nations in conflict. And it was really one of the reasons that refused for so long to provide lethal aid to the Ukraine back in 2014 and '15, when Russia first invaded Ukraine.

[21:10:00]

The Germany led the effort to prevent the delivery of even defensive lethal equipment. They've now turned 180 degrees. They're ready to help the Ukrainians with significant capabilities that are going to help the Ukrainian system, these tanks that we were just seeing and make sure that they don't reach their attempt to target.

So it is significant for Germany to do that, of course, following on the right decision to halt the North Stream 2 pipeline gas, pipeline to Russia as well.

BROWN: How much do you think the calculation by NATO countries to snot to put boots on the ground in Ukraine? How much of the calculation is due to the fact that nuclear -- that Russia is a nuclear power that has significant capabilities on that front and the cyber front in many other ways?

DAALDER: Yes, I think you have to be realistic, who is it that you are countering and in when it comes to Russia, the largest military power in Europe with significant nuclear weapons capabilities. And a leader who has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons, including as recently as a couple of days ago, you got to be careful. And then you also have to look at interest. And clearly the Russian interest in Ukraine is significant. It's why it went to war. And you have to compare that with the U.S. and NATO interest in preventing that war.

When you balance a low out, it's tough decision. And President Biden like others has made the decision that directly engaging in this conflict is not the right thing to do. At the same time, let's find other means to counter the Russians, whether it's through sanctions, which are beefing up NATO, and of course, helping the Ukrainians in order to ensure that whatever happens today or tomorrow, in the end, this becomes a failure for Vladimir Putin.

BROWN: That is clearly the goal. They've made it clear they're looking at the long game to making this a failure to Vladimir Putin. If Russian forces topple Ukraine's government, can Russia managed to maintain control over Ukraine?

DAALDER: Well, it's going to be very, very difficult. We're already finding that the Russians are having some problems actually even take gaining control of -- parts of Ukraine, let alone the capital. But once it is in control, once it has occupied it, we clearly have a Ukrainian population that has been mobilized in order to counter a foreign occupation.

Just recall what happened in 2003, the United States intervene -- invaded Iraq, a very quickly toppled Saddam Hussein and the regime. And today, we're still even there. Because a major insurgency kept us there for many, many years.

I think that's what we're going to be seeing. And I wouldn't be surprised to see the United States and other NATO countries helping the Ukrainians in that insurgency, to make sure that the cost of the Russian invasion is going to continue to grow so that Russia at one point or another, understands that it needs to reverse course.

BROWN: I'm going to get to this viewer question about the sanctions. This viewer asks, why did the U.S. government exempt almost all forms of Russian energy from its sanction list? Energy is a massive export for Russia. If we truly cared, wouldn't we be cutting off that lifeline as well? DAALDER: Well, the problem is is that, of course that we don't rely on much of Russian energy. The U.S., we import some oil. It's the Europeans who are highly reliant, particularly on gas. Some countries get 100 percent of their gas for electricity and heating from Russia to turn it off means to fact not have no electricity and no heating. It's the middle of winter in Europe and having countries make that decision is just one that is too difficult.

At the same time, but once again underscores the incredibly importance of Europe to reduce its dependence on Russian energy to start looking for alternative sources of gas. Just last month for the first time, more gas came through liquefied natural gas, LNG ports and ships was imported into Europe and came through the Russian pipelines. That's where the future lies. And over time, Europe will have to need less Russian gas. And at that point, cutting it off from the rest of the world is the right thing to do.

BROWN: Ambassador Ivo Daalder, thank you.

DAALDER: My pleasure.

BROWN: Well, tonight we're learning a startling development in a story that helped inspire Ukrainian defiance. You may remember the border guards who refused to surrender their tiny island to a Russian warship.

This was their last recorded exchange.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am Russian Military Ship propose to put down arms or you will be hit. Acknowledge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuck it as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just in case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russian warship, go fuck yourself.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

[21:15:10]

BROWN: Ukraine's government said they were all killed. But Russia media reportedly said that they are also rendered and are prisoners of war. We're going to keep an eye on this story and we'll pass along any developments.

Our breaking news coverage of Russia's assault on Ukraine continues in a moment. Our Matthew Chance talks to Ukrainian citizens who are trying to protect their country. You're in a CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Sirens blare and bombs blast in Ukraine. There is another story to tell under siege and outgunned. Many people in Ukraine are putting their lives on the line against an overwhelming Russian assault on their country. CNN's Matthew Chance has their story.

[21:20:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are Ukraine's civilian defenders, local residents taking up arms and ready to fight.

(on camera): And that's his blood on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His blood.

CHANCE (voice-over): Already here in a suburb of the capital of Kyiv, there's been blood spilled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people was here and covered by this.

CHANCE: Deadly contact between these volunteers and Russian forces. Oh, yes.

YURI, UKRAINIAN VOLUNTEER FOR TERRITORIAL DEFENSE: I've never been in here. I've never served in army.

CHANCE: You've never served in --

(voice-over): Volunteers, like Yuri, who was an economic analyst, he tells me before this Russian invasion made him a fighter. I shot a gun in school, you work in an office, but now you're defending your, your city?

YURI: Correct. I didn't think I would join this unit. Just two days ago. I thought that, you know, I don't know how to handle the guns. And yesterday, it came to me that, you know, Russians are in the city. I mean, it gets close to the point that I have completely changed my mind and I have decided that, you know, I should do something about it.

CHANCE: Just hours before, this northern Kiev suburb of Obolon was the scene of firefights as Russian forces probe the Ukrainian capital. The entire city and its residents are bracing and preparing for more.

(on camera): That's your Molotov cocktails?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: Show me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my (INAUDIBLE). This is what I have to use stops it down.

CHANCE: These are your monitor cocktails, your petrol bombs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. CHANCE: And you made these yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. The people from this bring me this.

CHANCE: The people from the local --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The buildings they bring me this.

CHANCE (voice-over): And they may be needed soon. Very soon. As we left the building more shots ring out as Russia's assault on the city seems at hand. Matthew Chance, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: Just incredible result from the Ukrainian people and as Ukraine struggles to hold itself together from Russia invading, President Zelenskyy is pleading for the European Union to accept Ukraine as a member. Twitting today quote, it is a crucial moment to close the long-standing discussion once and for all and decide on Ukraine's membership in the EU. Discuss with EU President further effective assistance and the heroic struggle of Ukrainians for their free future.

Ukraine tried to join the EU back in 2013 when talks fell apart, it led to violent demonstrations that lasted several weeks. While they were the focus of an Oscar nominated documentary called "Winter On Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: European Union leaders and Ukraine have failed to sign in store free trade deal after last minute U-turn from Kyiv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The film's director Evgeny Afineevsky joins me now. First off, Evgeny, given your knowledge of the Ukrainians and the kind of people they are. What are you hearing from those in Ukraine right now?

EVGENY AFINEEVSKY, DIRECTOR, WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM": First of all, thank you for having me here. And thank you for bringing every possible voice that standing for Ukraine.

I am in touch with all my team. And I'm in touch with all my friends in Ukraine because they're dear to me. And since my time there, I kept in touch. But right now is more than any time it's important to bring their voices out to the big world and to bring attention to the situation.

What I hear, like in the last few hours, I heard that Lviv had airstrikes, and we've actually only Polish kind of side, literally all around the Polish border. And before it was kind of sounds that will be more safer place than Kyiv. Today, there is no much safer places in Ukraine. Ukraine is in a fight. And you know what it's like being on fire to Ukrainians fight for freedom. It's like the repetition of what's happened before but today is the massive scale. [21:25:02]

And what I hear and what I see, and I'm all the time following different sources of my friends, I seen videos from different places like Kyiv right now have a lot of fire. But people are fighting. People are standing for their grounds. And that's what I read this when I was on the grounds of Ukraine, that people are determinated, people believing for what they fighting. They're fighting for their freedom. They're fighting for the future of their kids.

And if -- before it was maybe the sort of the Soviet government, that they will take it fast. No, it's not what happens, because Ukrainians are determinated to stand for every piece of their lands. And that's what they believe. And that's what they achieved during 92 days of Maidan. And that's what they achieve right now. They will be standing for every piece of their land. They're determinated to stand for the land.

BROWN: And you're seeing that determination. I mean, the Russian assault has been slower moving, based on what intelligence assessments were predicting, in large part because the Ukrainians have showed so much defiance.

Of course, it is a much smaller military than the Russian military. But you're not only seeing civilians picking up arms, we're seeing, you know, just average people trying to join this fight. You're seeing Ukrainian stand in front of Russian tanks, to try to keep them from invading. Tell us more about just the patriotism, the patriotic spirit, because I just think people all around the world are just struck by that and struck by the president there, President Zelenskyy, he refuses to leave the capital.

AFINEEVSKY: You know what, like I said before, what I witnessed in Ukraine, patriotism for them. If we will go back to Maidan, the first person who died there was Serhiy Nigoyan, (INAUDIBLE) Armenian, who was speaking fluently on Ukrainian and who was determinated to stand for this land. The second was Belarusian Zhyzneuski.

So again, the patriotism there is to stand for the land, where they live, and where their homes. And I think today we seeing the entire world supporting this thing, supporting Ukraine because everybody understanding, this can happen anywhere in the world if we will allow somebody to come and instead of knocking on your door, enter without permission and try to take your home.

And I think for Ukrainians, that was the land and they will be standing like the standard (ph). The cold winter of 2013-'14 they will be standing right now in front of towns. And I will tell you something, it was also during my dad when people were standing in front of the armory of the police or barefoot and covering others from the bullets. So at the end of the day, it's in their blood and they will be standing until the last drop of their blood they will be standing for their lives.

BROWN: Thank you so much Evgeny Afineevsky, appreciate your time tonight. And tonight, new massive explosions shaky the capital of Ukraine. Will it foreshadow a bigger more intense fight for the city that the government there is morning about. CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger joins me next to talk about it.

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[21:33:11]

BROWN: The sound of small arms fire tonight in western Kyiv as Ukrainian forces battle to keep Russians from capturing the capital city. Look at that right now. Already this evening we have seen two massive fiery explosions one on the outskirts of Kyiv near a large military airfield with multiple fuel tanks. Many people have fled to the borders. They are desperate to escape what could be an all-out assault on the capitol city. But many Ukrainian, civilians have chosen to take up arms and fight.

And just moments ago, we learned that a six-year-old boy was killed several others wounded during heavy fighting in the western district of the capital.

Joining me now, CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He is the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times and author of "The Perfect Weapon." I just, you know, that news, David, that a six-year-old boy died. I mean, it's just -- you just think this just didn't need to happen. This just did not need to happen.

I want to ask you about the U.S. response what we're seeing from the west. There are these new sanctions tonight from the U.S. and major European nations expelling several Russian banks from the high security SWIFT network. This is a quick escalation in response. What makes this different from what Biden announced the other day?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the other day, he began going after a number of specific entities, banks, and the oligarchs and put them on sanctions lists, but you can make your way around that. So he's done two things now that really required the Europeans to take the lead. The first one is they have begun selectively closing down SWIFT, the global financial messaging system that's used to move money from one international bank to another.

[21:35:07]

So that's going to pretty well freeze the individual banks or oligarchs or others mentioned it, to either find another way to move their money that's slow and dangerous for them, or keep their money in, Moscow.

The second thing that they've done that was really more notable is go after the Russian Central Bank, so that it can't intervene to try to stabilize the ruble, the rubles fallen about 15 percent since all of this happened.

And clearly what the administration is trying to do here is touch off inflation in -- throughout Russia, and try to bring and encourage more of these protests and dissent about Putin's rule. That gets pretty dangerous, Pam, because of course, Putin is going to be looking for a way to retaliate.

BROWN: And what might that look like? I think a lot of people are concerned about Russia retaliating.

SANGER: They are and, you know, the only way that Putin can reach the United States, since he can't cut off our banks and so forth the way we can using the Western financial system is with cyber. And we've been a little bit surprised. We haven't seen yet. The major cyber- attacks that we know Putin is capable of. We know that he's implanted code and part of our utility grid in some of our financial systems, and the United States has done the same to him.

But it's early days yet, and he may be looking to take his moment carefully. But there's a reason the U.S. government has been out with this Shields Up campaign for the past month, to try to harden the resiliency of American banks, utilities, and so forth.

BROWN: We talked about the sanctions earlier, but so far, no boots on the ground from the Western countries, the U.S. and NATO allies. Do you think that that will change?

SANGER: I don't. You know, at the end of the day, Ukraine is not a NATO country. So we're not under a treaty obligation. We could argue we would be under a moral obligation. But for all of the scenes of heroism, and it's been inspiring, and all of the heartbreaking scenes, including the six-year-old boy you described before, the U.S. national interest in being in a conflict like this is pretty low. And you've got a president who has vowed to get us out of forever wars. I think he's looking at this and thinking Vladimir Putin just got himself into one.

BROWN: Absolutely. And on that note, what you were just saying about U.S. interest, I want to bring in this viewer question. And this viewer asked, Do you think that response from the U.S. and the NATO alliance would be different if Ukraine was a major exporter of oil and gas?

SANGER: Might be, might be. I mean, obviously, George H.W. Bush came to the aid of Kuwait when a smaller power than the -- than Russia. Iraq, Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait. That was 30 years ago. And it was a different global time.

But remember, there's a difference. Russia has a superpower, it has nuclear weapons. Once you start going in against a superpower with nuclear weapons, you have to be very sure you know how to control the escalation. And I think that's a very big reason, you know, had if it was not Russia and not a nuclear power, it might be a different calculus.

BROWN: I think that's such an important point. David Sanger, thank you.

SANGER: Thank you, Pam. Great to be with you. BROWN: We're getting a new video from Kyiv. Explosions followed by fires just outside the Ukrainian capital. Stay with us for the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:43:21]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRA RUDIK, MEMBER OF UKRAINE'S PARLIAMENT: The most complicated thing is to explain to children like what's going on. So there is this little game it's called the Turtle Game to explain to them how to act during the attacks. So you tell them that you will go down on your belly, your open up your mouth, you close your ears with your hands. And that's how you pretend you're a turtle. And we had to pretend that we are turtles quite, quite a few times today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I just, you know, as a mom myself, thinking about these kids, it's too much. That was Kira Rudik, a member of parliament in Ukraine speaking earlier tonight with CNN Wolf Blitzer. And she recently posted a picture of herself and her rifle, saying she was learning to use it as she stays in Kyiv to fight for her country. The burning night sky less than 20 miles from Kyiv, this is just one image of Russia's invasion. There are so many more showing the terrible plight Ukrainians face.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The world has seen that Ukrainians are powerful. Ukrainians are courageous. They're on their native lands and they're never going to give up to anyone. They will never betray it.

[21:45:20]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: it is necessary for my family deeply, Ukraine, I will stay here but the main thing is for my family to leave Ukraine and not feel the threat of attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a missiles attack, very loud blast and absolutely disastrous picture around the Kyiv in the 21st century in the middle of Europe. Now this is a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Europe should help us and the whole world should help us. We should not be left alone with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Organizations around the world are on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring countries to help people with shelter, food, water and more. Find out how you can help humanitarian efforts in Ukraine at cnn.com/impact. And tonight, the White House and America's allies are kicking several Russian banks out of a vital global banking network. The former spokesperson of the Treasury breaks it all down for us coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:51:34]

BROWN: Tonight, the White House is taking another extraordinary step to choke off Vladimir Putin's ability to wage war in Ukraine. The U.S. along with a number of Western nations will move to expel selected Russian banks from SWIFT. That is the high security network that links financial institutions around the world and is vital for conducting global business.

This is just the latest round of economic sanctions since the invasion began. In the first round, Thursday, Russia's top financial institutions were cut off from the U.S. financial system, 13 major Russian companies lost the ability to raise money from U.S. markets. Russia's so called elites, members of Putin's inner circle had their U.S. assets frozen. Russia's military got blocked from certain imports and the financing to expand. And the sanctions also blocked Russia's non-military high tech imports.

The Western alliance raised the stakes Friday with both the European Union and the U.S. announcing direct sanctions on Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

And earlier, I spoke with a former Treasury Department spokeswoman and asked her to explain how swift works and how these sanctions may impact us here in the US.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAGAR CHEMALI, FORMER TREASURY SPOKESWOMAN: So SWIFT is -- the good way to think about SWIFT is kind of like the WhatsApp of financial messaging. That's not my term. That's a term from my colleague at the Atlantic Council. It's -- the SWIFT is a messaging system. And it is there to send secure information about transactions, right?

So that a bank in the United States or a financial institution, if anybody abroad is sending a financial transaction here to the United States, the bank knows who's sending that money, the instructions related to that money, and so on. So that's what SWIFT is, it is purely a messaging system. Money doesn't actually go through it.

But nearly all financial institutions use SWIFT in order to pursue those financial transactions. So the reason why cutting a country out of SWIFT which, by the way, is not what was announced today, what was announced was cutting off certain Russian financial institutions from SWIFT. And there's a reason. Yes, there's a reason that was so targeted.

The reason that's a big deal is because we have a lot of trade with Russia, Europe, in particular, has a lot of trade with Russia, in particular, for them with oil and gas. For us it's related to fuel minerals, to iron and steel, and platinum, these are things that are very important, obviously, to our industry.

So, they've obviously targeted the financial institutions where they can isolate them from the international financial system further, but it's clear they're trying to be surgical, so as to limit the backlash on the U.S. and European economies.

Well, it depends. So if in Europe, for example, they import 40 percent of their oil and gas from Russia. And if all the Russian financial institutions with which they do business were to be isolated from SWIFT, and then they would not be able to purchase that oil and gas, meaning they'd have to find another source immediately. Not only would they have to find another source, but they would have to set up the infrastructure to receive gas from other areas.

Now, we know that countries like Germany and Italy who import this gas the most, they are behind this move, right? That was a very clear announcement made today that this was united with our multi -- our European partners and other partners around the world.

But what that could do it boiling gas retargeted which I believe that what from what I've heard from my government friends is that they're trying to figure out ways to carve out, trying to figure out creative sanctions where perhaps Russia could continue selling its oil and gas, but perhaps not benefit from the proceeds of those sales.

[21:55:015]

Those are the types of oil sanctions we had imposed on Iran. And the way that -- the reason for that is to not cause global gas prices to skyrocket around the world. But that is something that could happen.

In the United States, if we weren't able to import iron, steel, platinum, mineral fuel -- minerals from Russia that would impact our manufacturing. And those businesses wouldn't be able to sell what their manufacturing jobs would be lost.

So these are all things that the Treasury Department analyzes, with economists, with folks at the Commerce Department, State Department, and they really try to be very deliberate in how they craft the sanctions to hit the target as much as possible and inflict financial pain without causing a backlash. But there will be some, I'm certain of some increase in prices you'll see.

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BROWN: Well, thousands of Ukrainians are trying to cross the borders desperately right now to get to safety. Our Erin Burnett was with some of them, and wait until you hear what she witnessed. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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