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U.S. Defense Official: Mariupol Now Isolated By Russian Forces; Biden Bands Russian Energy Imports Over Ukraine War. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 08, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Also, we want to show you this new video of an armored Russian military train moving into Ukraine's Kherson region from Crimea. The letter "Z" is painted on some of the cars. That's a mysterious military symbol supporting Russia's invasion.

And in north, a temporary cease-fire that allowed civilians to evacuate just ended. The Russian defense ministry says 723 people made it out from the town from the town of Sumy, but that corridor was established only after a Russian air strike killed 21 people there, two of them children.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: According to a senior U.S. defense official, the port city of Mariupol in the south is now isolated by Russian forces. People there had been without running water, without heat, without electricity for days. Ukraine's foreign minister says Russian forces are committing war crimes by holding 300,000 people there hostage.

And today, more consequences from the United States. President Biden announced a ban on all Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports to the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports and American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine. This is a move that has strong bipartisan support with Congress and I believe in the country. Americans have rallied to support the Ukrainian people and made it clear we will not be part of subsidizing Putin's war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Lviv, in western Ukraine.

Anderson, Ukraine's first lady just posted a long, poignant message on Facebook. It says this, perhaps the -- Anderson, I understand you have the post.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. She has posted this and among the things she said, one of them is perhaps the most terrifying and devastating of this invasion are the child casualties. Eight-year-old Alice who died while her grandfather tried to protect her or Polina (ph) from Kyiv who died in their the shelling with her parents. A 14- year-old was hit in the head by wreckage and could not be saved because an ambulance could not get to him on time because of intense fires.

She goes on to write: Our women and children live in bomb shelters and basements. In some cities, families cannot get out of the bomb shelters for several days in a row because of the indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian infrastructure.

It's just one message we heard from her repeatedly over the days of this conflict rallying people here in this country. I want to go to southern Ukraine where there are new reports of shelling in Mykolaiv.

Nick Paton Walsh is standing by there for us.

What's the latest, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, thank you.

Over the last 20 minutes, hour or so, we have heard outgoing shelling here in Mykolaiv. I mean, we've seen obviously in the past, the Russian forces outside of this port city respond to that. But it is still devastatingly quiet yet again here this very normally bustling city.

I'm not sure if you can hear that, Anderson. That's the distant rumble compatible with what is probably likely the impact of rockets. Fairly distant from where I'm standing but let me give you the context of why the shelling is important right now. The flashing lights you're seeing there is not the shell impact themselves. That's the constant presence of police whizzing up and down the streets here.

So, we had a very bullish regional governor here who has been galvanizing locals on the telegram channel with constant messages saying we're doing fine, et cetera, et cetera. Yesterday, he talked about the international airport having the Russians kicked out. How well they were doing. We have seen ourselves how the Russians appear to be to blunder their way into the city here using the time that seemed like indiscriminate shelling rockets to try to exact a price upon the local population.

Today, the tone of his messaging changed significantly. He said that he felt the Russians were trying to take this port city, quote, at any cost. There were some suggestions. We see how there seem to be a Russian move to the north of the city. We saw the impacts of Ukrainian military shelling. We think towards those positions.

Now, we saw just down below me mere, people turning up randomly in cars and taking out of the trunk a tire and dumping it on a pile and we have seen this now across the city here and we recently just start a telegram message from the regional governor saying you're all amazing, speaking to the local population here.

[15:05:06]

In matter of hours, covered every intersection with tires. Please don't set fire to them. We have seen Molotov cocktails put next to them as well.

The trouble about this whole tire issue is it seems like the city is preparing itself for the possibility that Russians may enter into it reasonably soon. That seems highly unlikely a matter of 48 hours ago because of the resistance we have seen on the outskirt, because of the success for Ukraine forces have had depriving Russians of their armor. We have seen tanks abandoned, Russian soldiers captured.

But it does appear this vital sport city that is something that Russia has to have control over by encircling or bypassing it or even on the farther reaches of possibly of the capabilities trying to come into it. They seem to have kind of control over Mykolaiv before they move further west toward Odessa, the third largest city and a very strategic port.

But tonight, the blast we have been hearing around us here and in between that, the utterly deathly silence and the blackout. Let me step aside so you can see how utterly, deathly quiet this whole place is. This is really a sign of a city fearing what's to come -- Anderson.

COOPER: Tires at intersections by civilians.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

CNN senior international correspondent Sam Kiley joins me now live from Dnipro.

Sam, Russia announced a new cease-fire starting in the morning. How serious should people take that? What do we know about it?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the information just coming out now, Anderson. This is an offer from the Russians in cities like Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, offering a cease- fire, offering routes -- potential routes out.

I haven't seen the detail on the routes out for people to get out of the semi-besieged, in the case of Kharkiv or Kyiv, or completely deceived in the case of Mariupol. And those routes will be really determined whether or not this is a genuine cease-fire or a stunt by the Russians to try to appear to be particularly to their own military and their own population, trying to look after the civilian population of Ukraine because in the past, the cease-fire offers have all but one case focused on moving people out of these areas into Russia or Belarus, both of which are in the arms of the enemy effectively for those people who've been subject to ceasefire.

One exception where 700 or so mostly foreign students, it would appear, were evacuated from that city. In the case of Sumy, Kharkiv, those are two areas where the Ukrainians have been fighting ferociously and are very clearly held up the Russian advance in ways that I think have really rattled the Russians and arguably a lot of the cease-fire efforts are really efforts for the Russians to ask for a bit of a breather to reconfigure their own forces before trying to get on the offensive -- Anderson.

COOPER: Ukrainian official says that Russia is planning to encircle Dnipro, which is where you are. Are there preparations there for that?

KILEY: There are preparations similar to the one that nick was describing. They got to get through or around Mykolaiv where Nick is at the moment. They've got to push long way west if they're going to conduct that kind of an operation. They're going to need a lot of troops to do it and a lot of preparations are being made for that.

In Zaporizhzhia, which is south of here, also in the Dnieper, assuming we can come up with the Dnieper River, there is an even more intense effort being made. Very heavy fortifications being put on bridges, intersections all being guarded by citizens, militias. Bridges over the freeway guarded with huge pile offense these tires we're seeing all over the place.

But not just that, people are digging in, building trenches, heavy equipment being brought in. Proper old fashioned First World War style trenches with trees being cut down to try and protect against artillery, taking a stand. It would be a long hard slug for them to get up here. Doesn't mean they can't do it, the Russians, but none of the indications at the moment are that they have initiative, moment or indeed manpower to fulfill that ambition of cutting off Dnipro, where I am, Anderson.

COOPER: Ukraine's ministry of defense says that a very high level Russian general is killed near Kharkiv. What are the details?

KILEY: Well, this is a man, they say, is Vitaly Gerasimov, a major general, commander in entire army, the 41st army I think it was of the Russian armed forces.

[15:10:03]

Now, we have no independent corroboration for this death. There's been similar claims made by very senior officers killed in fighting north of Kharkiv a few days. There were claims of three different colonels having been killed in a fight over an airfield there.

I think what -- if this is true and, again, we have no independent corroboration for this, but if it is true, losing colonels is a sign that you've got a military on the back foot. Losing generals is nothing short of a sign of potential disaster. Major generals don't get killed in combat unless things are going really badly wrong or unusually unlucky major general.

Now, Gerasimov clearly a significant figure. He was -- fought in a Chechen war. He was also a part of the Russian operations in Syria. No stranger to the sort of military actions that we have seen taken against civilians in Kharkiv, the area where he was one of the senior commanders -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yeah. Sam Kiley, appreciate it.

Victor, Alisyn, the war goes on. Looks like it may be a busy night here ahead.

BLACKWELL: All right. Anderson, thank you. President Biden, today, announced his administration's latest tactic

to make Putin pay for invading Ukraine. Ban on energy imports to the U.S. from Russia.

CAMEROTA: Americans are seeing record prices already at the pump. Crude oil from Russia, though, makes up only about 3 percent of the U.S. supply.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is at a gas station in New Jersey.

So, Vanessa, what are you seeing there?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, drivers here are shocked by today's record price of $4.17 a gallon. You can see behind me $4.27 a gallon in New Jersey.

But drivers are surprised by how fast the prices have been rising, ten cents overnight, 55 cents in just the last week. Prices are rising faster than they did post-Hurricane Katrina when there were fuel shortages. But to put this into perspective, gas is less expensive than it was in 2008 during the previous record if you take inflation into account.

We spoke to one couple who says they say it's worth paying higher prices right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm willing to pay higher at the gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm willing to sacrifice and pay for the people suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, every single person that we have spoken to here feels the exact same way. They feel it's worth it to pay higher prices if it is supporting the people in Ukraine. But, Alisyn and Victor, some analysts are suggesting that we could see gas at $5 a gallon. Most of the people we spoke to here say they would be okay with it, but, of course, you don't know how you'll feel until you're paying those prices at the pump. $5 a gallon would be extraordinary for the American people -- Alisyn and Victor.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. It's interesting to here people willing to make sacrifices right now. Anyway, Vanessa, thank you for the reporting.

So, U.S. intelligence officials say Vladimir Putin will not be deterred by military setbacks that his army is suffering in Ukraine. They say he will likely dig in. What that means for Russia's next moves, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:57:43] BLACKWELL: A senior defense official said that Russia has launched 670 missiles since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. And this morning, the CIA director said that Vladimir Putin is determined to dominate and control Ukraine, despite Russia's slower than expected advances on some major Ukrainian cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: I think Putin is angry and frustrated now. He's likely to double down and try to grinds down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining me now is retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He is a CNN military analyst, former Army commanding general of Europe and the Seventh Army.

General, welcome back.

I want to start with the slower than expected advances. And what we heard from a NATO military official, quote, we see very little change. For the first time, we don't expect them to make any gains in the next few days.

When you pair that with what he heard from the DNI today, Avril Haines, who says that Putin sees this as a war he cannot lose. What do you expect will be the result of that?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: First, Victor, I'd like to talk about the operational plan that you talked about. The Russians have had four major access of advance. The one coming into Kyiv from the north. The other going to Kharkiv. The one in the south called Crimea approach that separates into two directions. And then one we haven't heard about is the situation in the Donbas. There hasn't seemed to be my movement out there.

In each of those access of advance into the country, there's been varying degrees of success and failure. And, yes, what I would say from a military perspective is none of them have accomplished their operational objective, and it's because of the extremely poor tactics the forces are using and a lack of logistic support.

Does that mean that it's not going to happen? Absolutely not, but it sure does look suspicious in terms of their advances. And in each of those accesses, you have major cities, cities with populations of a million, three million, over 500,000.

And as many people have said from the very beginning, victor, Russians just did not flat out have enough forces to control cities. Now you're seeing this strike, constant artillery and missiles, and as you've said, they launched 670 missiles according to the Defense Department as of today from the campaign.

[15:20:11]

That's a lot of missiles. It's certainly all directed primarily at civilian targets which is horrific and in my view a war crime.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about that because we had Ambassador Kurt Volker, former ambassador to NATO on last hour, which he says that it's time for the U.S. and NATO to consider a no fly zone over these pre-determined humanitarian zones. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: I do agree he is going to pursue a military outcome in Ukraine no matter the cost. That is what we have seen over the past several days as a civilian casualties mount. I think we will find ourselves not today then tomorrow then these are intolerable levels and it is worth some risk to airplanes and pilots to save as many civilians as we can. Putin does not want that a wider war with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Some risk to airplanes and pilots. Do you think that's feasible?

HERTLING: I have a great deal of respect for Ambassador Volker, but I got to tell you, I completely disagree with him, Victor. As much as everybody wants to air to be covered, it actually already is. The Ukrainian air force is doing a hell of a job against the Russian air force, number one. And number two, it just goes back, I'm surprised Ambassador Volker said this because it goes back to we're not talking about risk.

Commanders go into combat thinking what are the risk to my operations. What things could harm me and then how do I mitigate them. What you're talking about is expanding a regional conflict into a potentially a global war with the use of nuclear weapons. That's no longer a risk. That's a gamble.

If you think our political leadership should gamble on that, on the deaths of -- instead of a couple hundred people or thousands people, the deaths of perhaps tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands because of a global nuclear conflict between a Russian organization that has over 6,000 nuclear weapons and a leader right now that is backed in their corner, I'd prefer not to gamble in that regard. I don't consider that a risk at all like Ambassador Volker.

BLACKWELL: So, if not no fly zone enforced by the West, how about supplying jets to the Ukrainians. Poland said it's ready to deploy immediately and free of charge, all of their MiG 29 fighter jets to the U.S. Air Force. Here is the caveat, though: they're going to place them at the disposal of Washington and let the U.S. provide them to the Ukrainians. Of course, they want the U.S. to backfill those MiG 29s.

Barbara Starr got from a senior U.S. defense official that we have nothing to offer at this time.

How does that plan work? If you fry to keep U.S. forces out of this zone, they got to get the planes there. How does that work and is it a good idea?

HERTLING: Well, I wouldn't go into the details of it for two reasons. First of all, some of it may be classified and second, I don't know. It's going to be pretty dicey to transfer those number of weapon systems, I think the Poles said in the last two hours there's about 27 aircraft of which I would guess, these are old airplanes. Probably half of them are operational and could be put into the fight right away.

There's not only the transfer of the weapon system that the aircraft but also the maintenance of it, the arming of it, the pilot who is are prepared for it and even the small details like repainting it from Polish flashes to perhaps Ukrainian flashes on the wing, I don't know. But it is a long process.

This is an idea that came up this weekend, victor. What I suggest is it will probably take more than just a couple of days to get these into the fight. It's a good thing that Poland has done that. I really think the coordination between the State Departments and the ministers of defense and the Department of Defense will make sure this happens as fast as possible to provide aircraft to the Ukrainian forces.

It's not going to be something that happens in the blink of an eye. That's what Ukraine wants. They want the support the air battle. They are doing a very good job. I think in the next several days even though the Russian convoys are stalled, there's going be a whole lot of targets on the battlefield that the Ukrainians can go after. These airplanes could do some damage there. True.

BLACKWELL: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you.

CAMEROTA: More than two million people have fled Ukraine in less than two weeks. The United Nations says that number could double. What's being done to help them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:41]

COOPER: The United Nations now says the more than two million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began nearly two weeks ago. It's an astounding number of people for such a short period of time. The European Union is now being told to brace for a many as five million refugees from Ukraine. So far, more than 1.2 million people have crossed into Poland alone.

Chris Skopec is the executive vice president of global health at Project Hope. He joins us now from Poland.