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Thousands Of Refugees From Ukraine Fleeing To Neighboring Nations; 40-Mile-Long Russian Military Convoy Stalled Outside Kyiv; Biden Addresses Anxious World Tonight In State Of The Union. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 01, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:24]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: As Russia's onslaught against Ukraine continue, so do the desperate attempts by Ukrainians to get out of the country, mostly women and children.

The U.N. says this could become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century.

Already 677,000 Ukrainians and foreigners who have been living here have escaped to neighboring countries.

CNN's Sara Sidner joins us live near the Polish/Ukrainian border. Sara has been updating us on the situation there.

I just understand her camera just froze so we are -- and she's back. Let's try to make contact with her.

Sara, you've been -- you were there last night as well. What have you been seeing today?

[13:35:04]

SARA SIDNER, CNN: Anderson, it is just a flood of people coming in.

But what is so incredible and so beautiful is that while you have these people who are filled with terror and had to leave everything behind, they come into the arms of people from all over Europe.

But particularly from those from Poland, who have literally just left their homes to help out their Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

I want to give you an idea what's happening. We're in Przemysl, about seven kilometers where we're standing from the Polish/Ukraine border.

This huge bus is filled with 20 million pounds of food. You see that heart there. You see that it says transport. It's helping people from Ukraine.

These are Germans, who have come in and they are offering to take people to berlin. And by the way, it will be full. That's what happens with each of these. They tell people where they're

going.

Let me walk down the line here. I want to give you some idea. These folks have come from Germany help Ukraine refugees. But what we have here are a lot of people from Poland.

Anderson, this isn't the government that has done this. These are regular everyday Polish people who said we cannot let our Ukrainian brothers and sisters suffer without any help. They want to be welcoming.

And so for the most part, they've welcomed refugees, have been coming in day and night.

These are people that got together on social media, they got together on Facebook, they got together on all kinds of different apps to coordinate what they could do.

And not only do they have food, but if you come with me and jerry is taking these pictures with me tonight, all of this is food. There's baby food, there's all sorts of nutrients for people. Anything that basically you can get from the store exists here.

You see that they also are cooking hot food, which, right now, you know and you've been doing some incredible reporting, it is freezing. I mean, truly, truly freezing.

Let me walk through this crowd of folks. Everywhere you go, you have to watch out because people have their bags. The things they could bring with them.

Then take a look at this. I'm going to try to walk a little faster.

Jerry, if you can keep up with me.

OK. So not only do they have food, not only do they have nutrients and sustenance and rides and offering places to stay, but they have clothing.

And there are all sorts of things. And toys. They've got toys for children. Adorable things that you would get in any store, right?

People are bringing their new things. They are trying to bring things that they would want to wear. And this is the beauty of the volunteers here in Poland.

Most of these people are from Poland but there are people from all over Europe who are looking at social media, gathering their things to give away, coming here to offer their time, to offer their homes.

There are signs letting people know that, hey, you can come into my home. You can come -- I will take you wherever you need to go in Europe.

So it is quite heartening to see this when, on the other side of the border, there's absolute heartbreak, absolute fear, and there's absolute sense of panic in some of the Ukrainian population, which I know you have seen and have experienced -- Anderson?

COOPER: And is it still as chaotic getting across the border? I mean, is it still -- you know, are you still hearing stories of people who it's taking 24 hours of sitting in a line or standing in a line or sitting on a bus waiting to go through processing or even longer than that?

SIDNER: Yes. We are hearing that both for Ukrainians, but those who happen to be black or brown, people from Africa, people from Afghanistan, Nepal, India, you name it.

People who are residents but not native Ukrainians are experiencing more hardships. Some of them say they're experiencing some brutality as they try to get on free trains that are taking people out of Ukraine.

And so, yes, you are seeing that. Yes, you are seeing a bit of the chaos where it's taking -- instead of two hours, it takes -- it took one family two days to get here. That was a Ukrainian family born and bred.

When I spoke with some of the black and brown folks who are here, who are residents or students in Ukraine, they say that, at some point, it's taken them five days to cross because of the lines, because they are kept back sometimes.

So there's a lot of consternation about that. People are very concerned with how the treatment of the minorities in the country.

But I do want to make this point. In all of the people that I talked to, they said we've lived in Ukraine from a long time. We're from Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria, India.

We've been treated beautifully by the Ukrainians while living there. But when war showed up, things seemed to change. There was this mentality of Ukrainians first.

[13:40:05]

And so as you can see -- I'm going to move out of the way here. But I wanted to give you a last look at the scene.

There's a beauty happening here alongside the heartache. And that is, there's absolute love being shown here. No other way to put it. They've got a pile, a mountain of diapers for children here.

I mean, you would be surprised, honestly, at the number of people who are spending their days and nights here, leaving their jobs, so that they can help in any way that they can -- Anderson?

COOPER: The horror of this war brings out the worst in some people and the best in so many others.

We have seen that here in Ukraine, all around the world, people uniting, rejecting the hate, the horror, the criminality of Vladimir Putin.

Sara, appreciate you being there. We'll continue to check in with you.

The invasion of Ukraine just one of the crises President Biden will be addressing in tonight's State of the Union address. A preview of that, next.

We'll be right back.

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[13:46:02]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: The U.S. says Russian troops in Ukraine may not be up for the fight that Vladimir Putin is waging.

And that morale may be fading, according to a U.S. defense official, who also says Russian forces may also be running out of fuel and food.

Let's bring in Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, how does an army run out of food and fuel?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: In fact, one of the largest armies, one of the largest armed forces on the planet far from 10 feet tall right now.

That big convoy just north of the capital of Kyiv appears to remain stalled for another day, according to a senior defense official. And these are some of the factors that you just mentioned. Food, fuel, morale.

They're not really -- the U.S. isn't really sure at this point.

They are sounding an important caveat. Look, the Russians could still sort all of this out. They still have plenty of heavy weapons. They have plenty of firepower, plenty of combat capability. And at any point, they could unleash it against Ukraine.

That is so important to remember. This whole thing, in the beginning stages, far from over.

But for right now, it does appear that these troops north of Kyiv are stalled and not getting the support that they need from their own commanders -- Ana?

CABRERA: I was talking with Steve Hall earlier who talked about how people among Putin's supporters are actually feeling about this.

What are you learning about morale among those Russian troops? Are they committed to this mission?

STARR: Well, many of these Russian troops are young conscripts, basically brought in on a mandatory basis.

There's a lot of indications that many of them didn't even know where they were headed, didn't know that they were going to war. Had minimal training.

They don't have food, fuel, spare parts, all the things that a trained military needs to carry out an operation.

And look at that convoy. You know, they are operating bumper to bumper. They are making themselves very vulnerable. They're not maneuvering in any kind of way to avoid being fired upon.

The real question, I think, the bottom line here is Russian leadership. Every indication, we're told, is that Russian commanders are in charge. They are issuing orders.

But what nobody can say is how deeply involved is Vladimir Putin in these day-to-day military orders. Is he giving his military his own people that he is ordering into combat, is he actually giving them what they need?

Right now, it appears inside Ukraine many Russian troops say no. And they -- some of them voting with their feet. Some of them very concerned.

And these indications that they don't have enough food or fuel is not something that the U.S. really expected to see, by all accounts -- Ana?

CABRERA: Barbara Starr, thank you for your reporting.

[13:48:57]

Up next, what CNN is learning about how President Biden will address this invasion in tonight's State of the Union address. Stay right there.

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[13:53:30]

CABRERA: The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the worst inflation in a generation, the pandemic that is still killing almost 2,000 Americans a day, and an optician party rallying around a former president who was impeached for inciting a deadly attack on American democracy.

Now, any one of these issues would be a monumental challenge for a presidency, but President Biden is contending with all of them.

And during his first State of the Union address tonight, he'll have to convince an increasingly skeptical public that he is up to the task.

John Harwood is live in Washington for us.

John, talk to us about Russia's invasion of Ukraine impacts the president's approach tonight.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, it has completely changed the context for the president's speech. COVID, inflation, the economy, more generally, those are all huge

issues. He's going to talk about them tonight. They're very close to people's day-to-day lives.

But all of a sudden, Joe Biden is, as George W. Bush once said of himself, a war president now.

Not in the sent that he is commanding U.S. troops, because NATO and the United States say they're not going to put troops on the ground in Ukraine.

But in the sense that he is leading a coalition of Western allies to post punish Russia economically with sanctions and try to supply and support the Ukrainians.

This is something that has dramatically clarified the stakes of fight that the president's talked about since the beginning of his term between autocracy and democracy in the 21st century.

That's going to be a theme of the speech again tonight.

CABRERA: And, John, you've covered several administrations. President Biden now has the second-lowest approval rating on record for any president heading into a first State of the Union, eclipsed only by Trump.

[13:55:08]

What is driving that? And how pivotal is tonight's speech?

HARWOOD: Well, the speech is less pivotal than State of the Unions used to be, Ana. It's very difficult to move numbers for presidents now.

The polarization that exists in our politics puts a ceiling on how high presidents can go, puts a floor underneath them.

This president took a big hit last year after a solid start for the first several months, from Afghanistan, people didn't like what they saw, from the resurgence of COVID, and from the surging of inflation in the second part of the year.

Those are all things that he is going to be able to talk about tonight. But it's difficult to move numbers quickly. A speech isn't going to do it.

It's possible that improved conditions of COVID, inflation coming down toward the end of the year -- analysts expect that to happen -- that could make a difference.

But an hour addressing the American people, as large as this audience is, and it's one of the largest presidents ever get, is not going to do it by itself.

CABRERA: John Harwood, I appreciate you. Thank you so much for joining us. We're getting more insight on the president's thinking and his

approach tonight.

I want to go to our colleague, Jake Tapper, at the White House, who just had lunch with President Biden ahead of the State of the Union.

Jake, can you hear me? It's Ana. You're live with us. Can you tell us about your lunch with President Biden?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD": Yes, of course.

So, Ana, this is a tradition that I've known about since I became a journalist in Washington, which is the day of State of the Union, the president has a lunch with, you know, roughly 10 anchors from various channels.

And this didn't happen last year before the presentation to Congress because of COVID. I don't think we had a lunch. But there was a meeting of some sort.

During the Trump years, it was hit or miss whether or not CNN got invited.

But what I can tell you is that the entire luncheon is off the record, so all of the topics that he talks about.

But usually there's negotiated afterwards some question. And in this case, it was asked of the president, if we're allowed to get one thing from you on the record, what's the most important thing that you want the American people to understand about what's going on right now?

And obviously, there's a lot going on right now. And he said something along the lines of -- I don't have the actual quote. The White House is going to be sending it. But I did take notes.

And asked what we could share with the American people, President Biden said something, and I'm paraphrasing here, but this is pretty close.

Something along the lines of, my determination to see to it that the E.U. -- that's the European Union -- NATO, and all of our allies are on the same exact page in terms of sanctions against Russia.

And how we deal with the invasion of Ukraine, and it is an invasion. It's the one thing that gives us the power, the unity of NATO and the West.

And that was what he thought was the most important thing.

And I think thematically, you can probably take from that, that not only does he think the unity of the European allies and NATO acting together, not only is that important in terms of confronting Russia, but that unity, as a general notion.

I mean, this is something that he talked about during his campaign, is also something that's very important. So, that is the message that he said was most important for the

American people right now, in terms of what we could share from this hour-long, off-the-record conversation.

CABRERA: Because it was off the record, I know there's not a lot of content you can provide.

But I'm curious as to his mood at this luncheon and his, you know, kind of tone that he spoke from, given he has the weight of the world, essentially, on his shoulders in this moment.

Certainly, a lot of pressure from inside this country with, as we mentioned, the poll numbers that have taken hits in recent days and the many crises his administration is facing.

TAPPER: I guess his mood is my interpretation, so that would theoretically be on the record, because it's just my take.

But he seemed upbeat. He seemed optimistic. He seemed clear-eyed about Russia and Putin and the horrors going on there.

As the president has made clear many times in on-the-record venues, he is determined to make sure that the United States and NATO allies defend NATO territories. And he obviously thinks that what Putin is doing is horrible, an invasion.

He seemed -- you know, obviously, there are a lot of other topics he's going to discuss in the State of the Union address. It wouldn't be a State of the Union address if he weren't to do so.

[13:59:50]

And you know, I don't think I'm breaking any rules when I say most presidents discuss the economy. Most presidents discuss kitchen-table issues and what voters want to hear about in terms of how their own lives can be improved.

That's a general observation that presidents talk about that.