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Reports Of Shelling In Ukrainian Port City Of Mykolaiv; Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukrainian Parliament Member, Discusses What She's Asking The West To Do As Zelenskyy Calls On The West To Do More To Stop Putin; Verdict Reached In First Jan. 6th Jury Trial. Aired 2:30- 3p ET
Aired March 08, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:33:46]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I'm Anderson Cooper in Lviv, Ukraine. We've got some breaking news from the port city of Mykolaiv where there's been new reports of shelling tonight.
I want to go to Nick Paton Walsh who's been reporting from that entire region now for this whole conflict.
What's happened? What do we know, Nick?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, Anderson, in the last sort of 20 minutes or so, we have heard what sounded like outgoing shelling from this -- frankly, until that moment, devastatingly quiet and blacked-out port city.
It's unclear what was being targeted. As we drove in here earlier on today, we saw that outgoing shelling seemed to be targeting, we thought, by the Ukrainian army, what must have been Russian positions to the north of this city.
And then, during the afternoon, the confidence that we heard from the regional governor, kind of a galvanizing force for locals on his telegram channel, seems to slightly ebb where he said that he felt the Russians would take this city, quote, "at any cost" or at least try and take.
COOPER: We just lost Nick's signal. We'll try to get that back --
Nick has been spending most of his time during this conflict traveling through Odessa and a lot of towns all around there. He was in Kherson earlier, which is also a city which is now in Russian hands.
[14:35:10]
And I'm told we have Nick back.
Nick, I'm sorry, we lost your signal there for a short time.
PATON WALSH: There we go. Coming back, coming back. COOPER: Hey, Nick.
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COOPER: -- with you.
You were talking about Mykolaiv.
PATON WALSH: Sorry. Thank you. Yes.
So, yes, absolutely. What you're seeing now is the police sirens and what's been -- the police lights. What's been devastating is how utterly blacked out and silent this whole place has been.
So the regional governor said, if you want to contribute, bring a share tire to an intersection now and leave it there. And so we saw pretty much from dusk, people bringing their tires to the crossroads all around us here and just random cars turning up and dumping them in piles.
And then, a matter of hours later, the same regional governor said to the population, you've all been incredible. You've managed to fill up every intersection with spare tires.
Don't set them on fire until I give the order, and then only do so where I tell you.
And that's been an extraordinary change for a man who was sort of celebrating having pushed the Russian military back out of the international airport just 24 hours ago.
There's now a fear, I think, that there's something new, potentially, about to happen, involving the Russian military's need to control this city before most analysts think they intend to move toward the third largest city of Odessa on the Black Sea port.
It is amazing to see how utterly silent this whole huge port city has become because of that order and that sense of fear.
On the way in, we saw the volume of traffic leaving. I mean, people we know here said, look, they don't really know what the balance of power around the town is, but they're tired of the shelling. They're tired of the bombing and they want to get out.
And so those outgoing shelling instances, we think we've heard in the last 20, 30 minutes or so, they normally receive a response from the Russian side. We don't know what they're targeting.
But we don't know quite what has caused this dramatic change in tone from the regional governor in the last 24 hours.
But we know that Mykolaiv is important for the Russian bid to move along the Black Sea coast towards Odessa.
And we know, to this point, they've been blundering and failing in their bid to move into the city center. What we also don't know is if they are trying to put pressure on this
port city, whether they intend to move into it.
It is just, by definition, of the amount of spare tires that have been dumped on the streets in the last three or four hours, very unwilling to see a Russian force inside it.
And so this unexpected chapter of the fight along the sort of southern Black Seacoast of Ukraine appears to be entering a different phase -- Anderson?
COOPER: Yes.
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you. We're going to check back in with you as events warrant it. Appreciate your report. Thank you.
Alisyn and Victor, as you know, as we've been watching, things can change here very quickly. In one town, day-to-day, it can be a completely different situation. So we'll continue to check back in with Nick.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Yes, and it's haunting, as you were saying, to see what the towns people are resorting to and waiting, just holding their breath knowing that Russia troops are coming.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: A pile of tires waiting for instructions from the mayor. It's remarkable what the people in these towns are doing to protect themselves.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
Anderson, we'll check back with you as well.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy speaking today to the British parliament and calling on the West to do more to stop Putin. So, up next, we have a member of the Ukrainian parliament on what she is begging the West to do.
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CAMEROTA: In an address to the British parliament, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy pleaded for the West to do more against Vladimir Putin.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Strengthen the sanctions against the terrorist state. Recognize it as a terrorist state. Find a way to make our Ukrainian sky safe. Do what you can. Do what you have to.
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CAMEROTA: Zelenskyy received a standing ovation from British lawmakers. Joining me now is Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the chair of the
parliamentary committee on Integration of Ukraine to the E.U. and former deputy prime minister of Ukraine.
Ms. Klympush, thank you very much for being here. I know these are very hard days.
You're inside Ukraine. Can you just tell us what the conditions are that you are seeing around you?
IVANNA KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE, CHAIR, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER & FORMER DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF UKRAINE: Well, thank you for having me.
And thank you for paying attention to this brutal war that Russia has waged against Ukraine and the way Ukrainians are fighting back.
This particular moment, we just received the news that, unfortunately, yet another city again was bombed and that is some 150 kilometers from Kyiv.
Kyiv was also under attack this night. And we are anticipating that the coming night won't be any easier.
Unfortunately, we are hearing the explosions and we are quite frequently have to go to the shelter in order to be able to continue work afterwards.
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CAMEROTA: I know that you are calling for the skies above Ukraine to be closed, in other words, a no-fly zone. And everyone can understand why you would want that and why everyone in Ukraine would want that.
The feeling -- can you understand, I guess, is my question, the feeling in the West that that would be a catalyst for World War III.
That that would set up such an escalation that only bad things would happen after that if a Russian jet were shot down?
KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE: I'm assuming that we are again altogether making a critical mistake or disastrous miscalculation.
When we don't understand that, unfortunately, Russia -- Russian Federation is already attacking the Western states and the NATO community, North Atlantic alliance states by its actions up to date.
Because it's acting not exclusively against Ukraine with military force but uses a whole variety of different instruments of attack against other countries.
So, I believe that Russia would also think twice before getting into this escalation on the military level.
And therefore, we are asking for any possibility, either closing the skies above specific critical objects like nuclear weapons, either having no-fly zone also around them and around cultural objects.
Also around those cities where we need people to be evacuated or provide us with additional serious air defense capability, with additional planes.
So that we can arrange for the no-fly zone on our own but with the reinforcement we need.
CAMEROTA: As I understand it, the U.S. and NATO have sent 17,000 anti- tank missiles, 2,000 anti-aircraft missiles. They're working with Poland on replenishing fighter jets there.
So here's what President Biden had to say about the support today.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ukrainian people are demonstrating by their physical courage that they are not about to just let Putin take what he wants. That's clear.
They'll defend their freedom, their democracy, their lives. And we're going to keep providing security assistance, economic assistance, humanitarian assistance.
We're going to support them against tyranny, oppression, violent acts of subjugation.
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CAMEROTA: So, what's your response to that?
KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE: We appreciate of all the moves that the U.S. has taken already.
And I am also welcoming the decision to cut off on importing Russian oil. I think it's that type of move that we hope will lead Russia to recalculate and to rethink its actions, further actions.
But I'm hoping also that other states will be joining on this leadership the U.S. is showing.
Obviously, time matters. Every minute, every hour for us is a matter of life -- is a matter of saving children, saving our women, our men, our elderly from killings that Russians are doing across the country.
So, whatever has been promised, I think the problem is also to have it delivered.
But also, I think we have not exhausted all the possibilities yet to pressure on Russia and to reinforce and back up Ukraine with its -- with our military capacity to be strengthened.
CAMEROTA: Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, take care of yourself. We'll check back in with you.
KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE: Thank you. CAMEROTA: Thank you very much for your time.
[14:48:46]
BLACKWELL: We're following breaking news here in the U.S. The first defendant to face trial for the capitol riot has been found guilty. What this means for others facing charges, next.
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CAMEROTA: A guilty verdict for the first capitol rioter to go on trial for the January 6th insurrection.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Whitney Wild is with us now, along with CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig.
Whitney, let's start with you.
Tell us more about the verdict.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: This is a huge win for the Justice Department. A jury here in Washington, D.C., finding that January 6th rioter, Guy Reffitt, guilty of five charges.
The most significant include obstruction of Congress and obstruction of justice. Those carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He's expected to be sentenced on June 8th.
Again, this is a huge win for the Justice Department because this was the first test where they had to prove that the actions of someone in the crowd tied directly to the riot and the attack on the capital.
There were moments of searing testimony. It was clear that the capitol police officers who testified in this case were really traumatized, emotionally damaged from cases like this, from their experience at the capitol.
The trial brought those very powerful emotional moments.
Further, in one of the most compelling moments of testimony, his own son, Jackson Reffitt, the son of Guy Reffitt -- Jackson is just 19 years old -- testified against his father for three hours that day.
Jackson Reffitt's testimony was critical to Justice Department securing this verdict. But it was critical to this case coming about to begin with.
[14:55:05]
Because it was Jackson Reffitt who brought evidence to the FBI, concerned his father had become radicalized, was worried about actions his father might take after the 6th.
And further, actually recorded his father making threats. All of this information turned over to the FBI.
That was one of the key buckets of evidence, which helped FBI build this case and has now resulted in a guilty verdict.
CAMEROTA: Those court illustrations look so emotional from his testimony.
Elie, what does this mean for other defendants now?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Alisyn, this is really a landmark verdict. This is a case the Justice Department had to win and they did.
As a technical legal matter, the verdict is not binding on any other defendant. Every trial stands on its own facts. Every defendant is entitled to a trial.
But as a practical matter, I guarantee you, every one of the hundreds of other defendants of defense lawyers who have been charged in this case were watching this trial, this verdict very, very closely, because it sends a message.
First of all, the Justice Department has the proof to back up these facts.
And second of all, that juries are not sympathetic to defendants like Guy Reffett, and are willing and able to return guilty verdicts.
So if I'm watching this as one of the other defendants, I'm thinking really hard about a guilty plea now.
BLACKWELL: Elie Honig, Whitney Wild, thank you.
CAMEROTA: There are new reports of shelling in the strategic port city of Mykolaiv. We'll head back there, next.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLACKWELL: Top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Victor Blackwell.
CAMEROTA: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.
[14:59:49]
We're following fast moving developments in Ukraine. In the south, reports of shelling in the crucial port city of Mykolaiv.
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CAMEROTA: We want to show you this new video of an armored Russian military train moving into Ukraine's Kherson region from Crimea.
