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Russia Escalates Assaults; Russia Advances Bill on False Information; Virginia Dronova is Interviewed about Returning to Ukraine. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 04, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:34:18]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, we are seeing new video showing the horrific aftermath of deadly Russian military strikes that hit an apartment complex in Chernihiv in Ukraine.

And I do want to warn you, this video is graphic, and it is disturbing.

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HILL: It sends chills down your spine. You hear those screams, those heart-wrenching screams. Sirens blaring. In a split second, the apartment complex torn apart.

Ukrainian emergency services report 33 bodies were pulled from the debris, 18 more people were injured.

[09:35:04]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: This is a war waged on a human population here, civilian population of this country. It's what you're watching play out.

The mayor of the southern port city of Mariupol says that Russian forces there have now encircled the city. Intense military strikes have knocked out much of the city's power, water and heat. That's intentional. That's part of the Russian plan.

Joining us now to discuss, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Good to have you on.

And the Pentagon describing the Russian strategy now having lost their original battle plan, which was a quick strike, quick capitulation, perhaps in 24, 48, 72 hours. Now it's slow annihilation, and that includes of civilian areas.

Are we seeing that play out? And I wonder, is the sad fact, as Russian forces advance, particularly in the south, that it's working to some extent? COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Jim, good

morning.

From here, this is absolutely the Russian plan. Basically I think they had to -- kind of a sequel to what they had originally planned, and that was, you know, if this doesn't work, in other words, if the blitzkrieg-type operation doesn't work, they were going to go in and be as brutal as they possibly could be. Their goal is, in essence, to annihilate any opposition that's out there. And with the entire -- all the Ukrainian population seeming to rise up against them, they've become, in Russian eyes, a target. And that's why you're seeing the employment of weapons against them and against the civilians, and that's a very difficult thing.

HILL: These obvious attacks on civilian targets, in addition to cutting off water, as we know, cutting off electricity, concerns about gas, food and medicine in certain cities as we've been hearing in Kherson, in the south there.

When you look at this campaign, and then we look at what happened overnight with this power plant, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby was just asked about those actions, and specifically about the power plant.

I just want to play what he had to say for you.

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JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: This just underscores how reckless the Russian invasion has been and how indiscriminate their targeting seems to be. I mean it just raises the level of potential catastrophe to a level that, again, nobody wants to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You know, he was asked specifically -- after the U.S. embassy in Ukraine tweeted this morning that an attack on a power plant is a war crime -- John Kirby was asked specifically this morning whether or not he agree essentially, is that a war crime? He dodged, and said more than once, a response nuclear power does not attack a nuclear power plant.

Russia is now in control of that power plant. How do you envision they plan to use that?

LEIGHTON: So, Erica, what they'll do is they have several options here. They can keep things going and hang the threat of a -- cutting off that power over the Ukrainians. And since that plant produces about 20 percent of Ukraine's energy needs, that is a very viable threat.

They could also threaten to release radiation. They could threaten to detonate explosives in certain areas around the reactors. And that could, of course, create an absolute disaster.

So, this is a very serious threat that needs to be watched very, very carefully. And it is a war crime, by the way.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we should note, that is the U.S. intelligence assessment is that the plan was to take over those plants, perhaps cut them off from the grid to deny city power as part of the way to squeeze those cities, to pressure them.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, today, Russian lawmakers, they advanced a bill that could punish people with prison time simply for speaking badly, critically about the military. Independent news sources in Russia now all but gone. A look at Putin's propaganda machine and the power it has in that country, coming up.

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[09:43:46]

SCIUTTO: RT America, the U.S. version of the Russian state-funded network, has now shut down in the U.S., laid off most of its workers. It was one of Vladimir Putin's main mouthpieces in the U.S. Its coverage sometimes echoed in U.S. right-wing media.

In Russia itself, many there don't know the truth of what's happening in Ukraine because they're only getting information, often straight- out lies, from state media. The last independent news sources have been shutting down in the last 48 hours. It's a sad development for that country.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us now live from Moscow.

Nic, it's remarkable here because, you know, we talk alto about information silos, Russia, now, is creating its own in terms of the coverage of the war. I mean is any of the truth of this war, this invasion, breaking through to the population there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think, Jim, you can probably say that the narrative the Kremlin is pushing at the moment about what they're calling their special military operation in Ukraine, and they insist that it be called that, and that was one of the things that they said, one of the -- one of the charges, if you will, that they leveled against some of the independent media outlets that they are shutting down now, that the narrative that the Kremlin has been building is something that's been going on for a number of years.

[09:45:10]

Obviously, it's come to a crescendo, and to a specific point over Ukraine. And when you step out on the street here, and you talk to generally the older generation, they will repeat back to you the lines that you hear on state media, which is, we're not starting a war, we're stopping a war. Ukraine is the one that began it. And the government here is making it much harder now for independent

media. It issued some directives last week. It's been closing more of them down. It shuttered a lot over the past year and a half. There's barely any left. But a new law is going through parliament today and it -- well, it's passed the lower house, passed the upper house, just awaits for President Putin to sign it. And in that new law, if you call for sanctions, you could face a fine. If you report false information, that's three years in jail. If you are an official and you report false information, that's ten years in jail. And 15 years in jail if you seek to discredit the Russian military.

So, the Kremlin here is really trying to control the narrative across all spectrums of media here, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And, by the way, the Kremlin, of course, would decide what it considers to be false news in those cases.

Nic Robertson, in Moscow, thanks so much.

While most people are fleeing the danger in Ukraine, many are, one woman intentionally went the other way. She returned to her home country, Ukraine, to stand with her people. She's going to join us live, next.

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[09:51:12]

SCIUTTO: Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Brussels at the EU headquarters to discuss with allies the situation in Ukraine. He spoke to the cameras moments ago.

Let's have a listen.

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JOSEP BORRELL, VICE PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Good morning. I -- this is going to be a very important council meeting. We have with us the secretary of state, Tony Blinken. We already have -- already have the ministers of the United Kingdom and Canada and Foreign Minister (INAUDIBLE), who will explain to us (INAUDIBLE) the situation on the ground.

Today, what we see is the ugly phase of war erupting again in our borders. And the Russians are bombing and shelling everything. Hospitals, houses, schools, a lot of civilian casualties. This is a barbarian way of doing war. And human rights council will soon launch a mission in order to assess the violations of human rights what's happening in Ukrainian territory.

This is Putin's war. And Putin has to stop this war. We remain united in order to ask for this war to stop. To stop and avoid killing of innocent people. We are providing arms to Ukraine in order to let them defend their soil, their rights, their nation. We are providing help to the refugees. Over, I think, 1 million people have been crossing our borders. I know happily more will come. We are putting sanctions that are going to really affect the Russian

economy, the value of its currency. It's going to be having massive effects as we have already said before. So sanctions, (INAUDIBLE) refugees, arms for Ukrainian people to defend themselves. The start of violations of human rights and a strong unity among Europeans and with our partners, transatlantic partners on the NATO framework. That's why you're here. Thank you very much for being with us.

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you, my friend.

It's hard for me to improve on anything that Josep said. But just to say a couple of things quickly.

First, when President Biden took office a little over a year ago, his first priority was to revitalize, reenergize our alliances and partnerships starting with the European Union because of our conviction that we have to be partners of first resort. Virtually everything that we're trying to do around the world, it's affecting the lives of our citizens. We're more effective when we're doing it together. And we spent the last year actually making good on that commitment. And it's, I think, very, very instructive that now in a time of crisis the investment that both of us have made in this relationship is proving how important it is, how vital it is.

What the European Union has done over the space of a couple of weeks is quite simply remarkable. The speed with which it acted, the actions that it took, both with regard to the sanctions and also support for Ukraine. Our, I think, it's not an exaggeration to say historic and it only further validates for us the importance of this partnership.

As Josep said, we are faced together with what is President Putin's war of choice, unprovoked, unjustified, and a war that is having horrific, horrific consequences for real people, for mothers, fathers, for children.

[09:55:19]

We see the images on TV. And it has to stop. We're committed to doing everything we can to make it stop.

So, the coordination between us is vital. But, of course, it's beyond the United States and Europe. This is an aggression, a challenge, a threat that is relevant to the entire world because what's at risk first and foremost are literally the lives of Ukrainian men, women and children. But beyond that, the very fundamental principles that we've established together after two world wars that are so important to keeping peace and security for everyone, principles that President Putin is egregiously violating every single day. The notion that one country can't simply go in and change the borders of another by force or take it over. The principle that one country can't dictate to another the choices that its citizens would make about their future. The principle that we're past the time of spheres of influence where one country subjugates its neighbors to its will. All of those things are at stake. And if we allow those principles to be challenged, as Putin is doing now, with impunity, that will open a pandora's box of trouble for not just us, but, quite frankly, for the entire world. So, the stakes are high, but because we're doing this together, I am

very confident that we'll success.

I have to say, finally, the two of us have been working like this for many, many months and that collaboration, that partnership, that friendship is also what makes a difference and I'm really grateful for.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Secretary of State Antony Blinken there speaking in Brussels just after we heard from the vice president of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.

Blinken saying the allies working together, in his words, doing everything they can to stop the Russian invasion.

We should note that earlier in the day, though the secretary general of NATO took off the table the possibility of NATO war planes in Ukrainian airspace or NATO or U.S. troops on the ground here in Ukraine.

We'll continue to follow those meetings as they continue.

Erica.

HILL: We know at this point more than a million people, of course, have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. UNICEF says children are responsible for about half of that number. So about half a million children alone.

This is a look for you at a welcome center in Poland, which has taken in the largest number of refugees. As many people are leaving Ukraine, though, there is -- there are others who have chosen to return, including one woman who returned to join the resistance.

Virginia Dronova has been living in Canada for the last two years. Just days before Russia invaded Ukraine, she flew back to Kyiv to stand with her country.

Virginia is now in western Ukraine and joins us live.

It's good to have you with us.

You know, I'm not sure how much you could just hear there from Secretary Blinken and also from Josep Borrell, but, you know, talking about the ugly face of war erupting again, that this is Putin's war, that it has to stop.

You went back to stand in solidarity with your country, to help in Ukraine. Give us a sense of what are you able to do on the ground there? Is there, for you, about picking up a weapon, being out there to fight? Is it helping people get food? Is it helping refugees get out? VIRGINIA DRONOVA, UKRAINIAN NATIONAL RETURNED TO COUNTRY JUST BEFORE

WAR STARTED: Erica, thank you.

As you rightly said, this is an ugly war that was -- that is waged with Ukrainians, which is unjustified, unprovoked and absolutely ugly.

Here in Ukraine, I joined the team of the political party, European solidarity. I used to work as an international secretary of the body. So, right now, the party, and its wide network all across Ukraine, operates as centers with cover the needs of the war. We secure food. We secure everything necessary to fight. Our members -- the party members are soldiers, they are civil defense forces, they are medical volunteers. So, my job is to secure the -- reach out to the international audience, to political partners, to journalists in order to tell the truth about the war.

SCIUTTO: Virginia, whether you are a uniform member of the military or a civilian, in Ukraine today you're a target. We're seeing Russian forces deliberately target civilians, it seems, civilian neighborhoods, schools, et cetera.

[10:00:05]

Civilians are dying. Are you comfortable with that risk?