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Ukrainian Military Claim Defeat of Russian Tank Regiment Near Kyiv; Millions of Ukrainians Must Decide to Flee or Stay; Inside Hospital of Hard-Hit Mykolaiv. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired March 10, 2022 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
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MAJ. GEN. PAUL EATON (RET.), FORMER COMMAND OF OPERATIONS, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM: -- taken by surprise by a well orchestrated, well executed ambush with an antitank weapon. So that coupled with anything that you can deliver from helicopters or close air support would provide you the things that we've got right now.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. estimates that Russian losses, just two weeks in this war, have been significant. Up to 10 percent of its total force either destroyed or inoperable.
And they just greatly increased their estimate of Russian personnel losses. Earlier this week, they were saying 2,000 to 4,000 and now they say perhaps 6,000. I mean, that's coming up to the combined total of U.S. deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan over 20 years in just a couple of weeks here.
What is your assessment of the performance of the Russian military here so far?
EATON: Well, Jim, thank you. It's also approaching the half point of all losses by the Soviet Union and Afghanistan.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
EATON: What we're witnessing right now is an unexpectedly incompetent ground force. They've been unable to execute combined arms maneuver; they can't resupply their sources. Back in the Cold War, we used to worry about the 10-foot tall Russian.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
EATON: He did not appear, at the end of the day, to be anywhere near that. We've done it again. And the Russians have grossly underestimated their enemy. They have grossly underestimated the difficulty in maneuver in Ukraine. And we're seeing that play out on a daily basis.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND U.S. CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing that play out. We are also still seeing the devastating attacks on civilians and on civilian targets.
Looking at what we are seeing this morning, what more do you think Ukraine needs in terms of assistance from its allies and its partners?
EATON: We need to continue to do what we're doing. And the Ukrainians, who have spoken to us from vantage points in Ukraine, are asking for more air defense and more anti-tank, armored vehicle missiles.
And so we've got to keep that pipeline of Stingers going in, pipeline of Javelin going in. We're doing the right thing.
But what we could also do is provide -- we used to talk about linkage with President Nixon and his adviser, Kissinger. We need to provide a strategic distraction for Mr. Putin. Now the folks in J5, on the Joint Staff would be far better served than I to lay that out.
But we do have some options available to us that would not involve direct engagement with militaries, Russian and U.S. or NATO, but something to get Putin to take his eye off the ball, if that's at all possible right here.
SCIUTTO: Can you explain what a strategic distraction might look like?
Are you talking about something in the cyber realm?
EATON: It could be cyber; we're already working very hard on the economic front, on the diplomatic front. It could be diplomatic engagement with folks who are in a position to worry Mr. Putin.
China I think is absolutely a diplomatic opportunity that we need to engage. Reinforcement of Polish ground forces, Baltic forces; you know, it's -- that city, Kaliningrad, it's a lovely place. It would be terrible if something happened to it.
That's Kaliningrad Oblast is separated from Russia with two NATO countries bordering it. And with a -- it's just there. If we were to put substantial ground forces, that would be worrisome. We wouldn't have to do anything but station a more robust ground military and air military presence in Poland and the Baltics. We've started; we need to continue.
HILL: Major General Paul Eaton, always appreciate your insight. Thank you for being with us this morning.
EATON: Thank you very much. HILL: Still to come here this hour, stay or go?
It is a heart-wrenching decision.
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HILL: Many Ukrainians are facing that as Russia bombs cities across that country, a decision that could, of course, mean the difference between life and death.
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ANASTASIA PARASKEVOVA, KHARKIV RESIDENT: I don't know why we're being bombarded (INAUDIBLE) home.
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HILL: The decision to stay or to go: it's one nearly every Ukrainian is facing. In the two weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, we know that more than 2 million people have chosen to flee their homes.
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SCIUTTO: But millions more are choosing to stay, even if it means relocating to other cities within Ukraine. We've seen that a lot here in Lviv. Have a listen to the firsthand account of a young woman, who made the reluctant decision to leave her home city of Kharkiv.
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PARASKEVOVA: Last night was probably the most terrifying night of my life. Kharkiv was terribly bombarded. I'm not going to take much because I am hoping I will return soon enough. My sister says it's like going on a trip but an awful one, I guess.
So as my parents can no longer withstand it, the constant bombing, especially after last night, which was truly a terrifying thing, we are going to leave.
We leave that one, of course.
So I don't want to leave and I won't be leaving Ukraine. We'll be moving to somewhere just further away from Russian border. I don't know why we're being bombarded as easy (ph) (INAUDIBLE) your home.
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HILL: Today, Ukrainian officials are attempting to evacuate people from seven different areas. The destination for many is a city called Poltava -- you see it on the map there -- which has not yet seen a major Russian bombardment.
SCIUTTO: That's where we find our next guest, Anna Tymoshenko. She is a law student and the chief correspondent for JURIST News in Ukraine. She was studying in Kyiv before the war. But she's since returned to her hometown of Poltava just before the invasion to be with her mother.
It's good to have you, Anna, and I wonder if you could describe what things are like now in Poltava, because so many Ukrainians are now fleeing there from other cities that have been hit.
ANNA TYMOSHENKO, JURIST NEWS CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Hi, thanks for having me. Well, in Poltava, it's relatively quiet. For example, today here, we've been in the shelters for three times.
But the air raid sirens are not really long these days and, recently, it's been really quiet in Poltava and, thankfully, we have not been bombarded yet. So we don't know about any destructions in the area, at least.
HILL: Are you concerned that Poltava could become a target?
TYMOSHENKO: (INAUDIBLE) yes. There is a denture (ph) as we have an airport, which is used for military purposes. But it has not been -- it has not been targeted yet. But all of the population of Poltava knows about it and is cautious about it.
SCIUTTO: Anna, there have been a lot of attacks on these so-called humanitarian corridors. And Ukrainian officials believe they're deliberate attacks by Russia.
When you speak to people there, do they trust these escape routes?
TYMOSHENKO: Well, it depends on what we mean "to trust," because, for now, we do trust our authorities, Ukrainian authorities, that try to organize these corridors.
However, we do not trust the enemy's side. And as we have seen so much -- so many of their promises just break in the five minutes after this promise is made. So therefore, everyone just has to hope to get evacuated, to get the help they need.
And we are of course ready to meet them here and to provide what everyone needs from those territories.
HILL: As you're doing your best to meet those needs, I'm curious, what are the conversations?
Is there talk with people?
Do they want to try to return home or is it simply looking at this day by day -- or even hour by hour?
TYMOSHENKO: Well, the talks are -- they're really that everyone requests (sic) that their home is bombarded and some of the people actually lost their home forever because it has been destructed. So therefore, people are just curious why they are the targets, what did they do wrong to get such a treatment from the Russian side.
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TYMOSHENKO: And of course, everyone just wants their family to be not in danger. And just every mother is really nervous about their kid. So everyone is just worried about being in a safe place and the war to be over.
SCIUTTO: Yes, well, we're with you, Anna. We do wish you safety and all those that are with you there.
TYMOSHENKO: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Well, lost loved ones, their own futures full of uncertainty. The stories from inside Mykolaiv hospital, another hard hit area, coming up next.
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SCIUTTO: In cities bombarded by the Russian military, it is the civilians who are often suffering the most. CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh was inside Mykolaiv, a city in the south, right in the middle of the shelling. He spoke with people dealing with injuries as well as the loss of their homes and loved ones.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): This is probably when Russian forces tried to cut off Mykolaiv, pushing to its North to encircle it. Ukrainian shells here not holding them back.
The governor told locals to bring tires to the streets, which they did fast. And in the dark, Russia's punishment of just about everyone here did not let up.
An airstrike flattened this warehouse. And if you needed proof the Kremlin seeks to reduce all life here. 1,500 tons of onions, beer and pumpkins were an apparent target for a military jet.
So Rezhenya and Radmila (ph). In the back bedroom when a missile hits, Rezhenya (ph) built this home himself 43 years ago and knows he lacks the strength to do so again. Radmila (ph) says she doesn't even have her slippers now.
The hospitals are steeped in pain. Their corridors running underground. Svetlana lost three friends Tuesday when Russian shells hit the car they were traveling to change shift and to disable children's homes. When she ducked, she saved her life. She names her three dead friends. Nikolai (ph) was badly burned by a missile in his yard. Moscow targets hospitals and so they perversely need their own bomb shelters where sick children wait for the sirens to end.
Stass (ph) is 12 and alone but he doesn't know the reason his father is not here just now is because he is burying Stass' (ph) mother and sister.
STASS (PH) (from captions): I was in the neighbor's basement when the bomb hit the roof on my side. We ran to my granny's house, another hit there. My arm is broken. My dad and neighbor brought me here. I was in coma for two days.
WALSH: Sonia (ph) has shrapnel in her head, causing her to spasm. A mother explains they were outside taping up the house windows when the blast hits, while all the time trying to get Sonia (ph) to keep still.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): I cut the tape, turned around to hear a noise and I saw the missile flew behind us. and I said, Sonia, let's go. We ran, Sonia in front of me and then I heard the blast. Little Sonia, quiet, quiet. Sonia, little Sonia, don't worry everything will be OK.
SONIA (PH) (from captions): I am cold.
WALSH: Outside, it is cold and loud.
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WALSH: Now since we recorded that report, the regional governor, who called people out on the streets, suggested they had some success using airstrikes against Russian convoys outside.
[10:55:00]
WALSH: And they've also accepted they've had losses at checkpoints around the city and even posted essentially a leaflet, suggesting Russian troops who don't want to advance but can't go back because they fear being arrested, how they could essentially surrender themselves.
We can't verify that but essentially it says how the fight around this vital port city of Mykolaiv is continuing here, though, Jim, in Odessa, I think there is an elevated sense of concern. We heard the sirens more regularly than before.
And in the last half hour or so, I think there must have been some anti-aircraft gun shooting something further along the coast. Haven't heard that for a while. So elevated concerns here.
SCIUTTO: Just a devastating cost for the civilian population. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for bringing it to us.
I'm Jim Sciutto in Lviv, Ukraine.
HILL: I'm Erica Hill in New York. Stay with us. "AT THIS HOUR" with Kate Bolduan starts after this quick break.
