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U.S. Warns Russia Could Launch Chemical Attack; Kharkiv Resident Documents Life Under Heavy Bombardment; Ukraine's top Prosecutor calls for New War Crimes Tribunal; U.S. Slams Kremlin claims of Bioweapons Labs in Ukraine; Kuleba: Raised Issue of 24-Hour Ceasefire but made no Progress. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 10, 2022 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Isa Soares. The latest news out of Ukraine this hour is the meeting of the Russian Ukrainian Foreign Ministers taking place this hour their talks, of course, coming against the backdrop of the bombing of a maternity ward and Children's Hospital in Mariupol.
You can see those images there. There is broad condemnation for the attack the local officials they killed three people, one of them a child. New satellite images showed the widespread destruction in the southern port city six humanitarian routes is expected to be open today, including one for Mariupol.
Less than a kilometer away from the bombed out Children's Hospital a city building a university were also hit by an apparent Russian strike then this in Central Ukraine. Well, the video that shows an airstrike - the City's Mayor says the strike hit a power plant and a civilian building. All the windows were blown out at two hospitals, including a children's hospital, but there were no casualties.
A senior U.S. defense official says Russian forces are getting closer to Kharkiv and Mykolaiv. The U.S. officials are warning Russia could launch chemical attack or stage a false flag operation that uses them. They Mayor of Mykolaiv have reason to believe it is possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDR SENKEVYCH, MYKOLAYIV MAYOR: Our city was bombed for three last days with the cluster bombs which are actually illegal. So and the aim of these bombs is human. I mean humanity not the machines or something like buildings, but everything that is a life. So they use cluster bombs to kill our people. I won't be surprised if they use chemical and et cetera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Incredibly chilling now while in North Eastern Ukraine the Russian military is unleashing massive firepower on the nation's second largest city. The British Defense Ministry tweeted Wednesday that Kharkiv is now completely encircled. Its mayor says heavy artillery and airstrikes are constantly pounding the city often targeting civilian areas. One resident documented her life under siege and bombardment. ITM's Dan Rivers has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, ITM (voice over): Kharkiv increasingly resembles the 21st century Stalingrad. And at this time, it is Russia laying siege to a city which is defiantly resisting. Somehow amid all this its residents are surviving.
The day after a missile slammed into Kharkiv's Town Hall. We asked a resident of this city Annassia Paraskayvova to document what's happening to her home.
ANNASSIA PARASKAYVOVA, KHARKIV RESIDENT: My city Kharkiv is under constant attack bombing, rocket fire, artillery fires all day non- stop. Just today four Russian warplanes flew or near my house.
RIVERS (voice over): Annassia is trying to keep her body mind and soul together with her family in their apartment where they're sheltering from the bombs.
PARASKAYVOVA: This is our hiding place. It's vegetable area between two walls with no windows. We also have a little bit of space for our bunny rabbit. I just found out Russians have bombed my favorite place in Kharkiv - street. I feel really angry. Look what they done? I celebrated my birthday one time in this war.
RIVERS (voice over): As the siege tightens Annassia struggle to survive forces her to venture outside.
PARASKAYVOVA: I and my sister are going to pick some water. My sister is going to fill this bottle. Well, the elevator is not working for 10 days now.
[04:35:00]
PARASKAYVOVA: So we need to walk on stairs. That's how we do it.
RIVERS (voice over): Annassia's sleep is now often interrupted by the sound of war plane circling as the bombing of Kharkiv intensifies.
PARASKAYVOVA: Have some good news. My family is alive. I am alive. My house is still standing. My friends are OK. No one I personally know has yet died during Russian invasion of Ukraine. I have electricity, drinking water and some food. Not much but enough.
RIVERS (voice over): Each day the bombs are falling closer. This is the university sports complex.
PARASKAYVOVA: We heard a very loud explosion. The doors shook and windows two. And this was it. Apocalypse now and among the ruins we have found a little dog. Look at him? My sister says he's really trembling really hard. Last night was probably the most terrifying night of my life. Kharkiv was terribly bombarded last night. Airstrikes all over the city dozens of buildings destroyed civilian buildings where people live. I'm not going to take much because I'm 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 the constant bombing, especially after yes last night, which was truly a terrifying thing. We are going to leave if we live that long of course. So I don't want to leave. And I won't be leaving Ukraine. We will be moving to somewhere just further away from Russian border. I don't know why. But being bombarded is easier to live in your home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Dan Rivers there with that report. Well, because of the attacks like you just saw Ukraine stop prosecutors calling for a special war crimes tribunal for her country. But she says the current legal structure is just not enough. So she's calling for what she described as the new mechanism to investigate alleged war crimes in Ukraine. And earlier, she spoke with my colleague Michael Holmes in Lviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PARASKAYVOVA: What we have now in Ukraine every day, we have innocent civilians who are killed murdered. Yesterday, you remember it was a Maternity Hospital in Mariupol. Every day we see them bomb attacks to kindergartens to schools, to just civilian houses and to everyday we have more and more deaths.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): War crimes are often hard to prove. Are you confident that there will be the proof of war crimes and the evidence to hold those responsible?
PARASKAYVOVA: We prove everything. Now we have 1000 cases in Ukraine. We have big murder case against top military shuttle and political in Russian Federation and the propaganda agent because what we see now, yesterday before this bomb attack on the maternity hospital, Russian Speakers Foreign Ministry of Defense told that additional troops were in this hospital.
[04:40:00]
HOLMES (on camera): Yes, those Ukrainian troops were in there, yes.
PARASKAYVOVA: It's absolutely untruth and we are ready to prove. It's a question of life and death actually. I am from Kharkiv. I'm Russian Speaker, and my - 100 percent in Kharkiv people who spoke Russian before this war. That's why for Ukrainians very important to stop this war. This is cruel, brutal war. You remember Chechnya?
HOLMES (on camera): Yes.
PARASKAYVOVA: You remember Syria?
HOLMES (on camera): Yes.
PARASKAYVOVA: What are these people who are responsible for Chechnya and Grozny nothing? And who would just look at the - and now I'm very scared. That whole civilization war decided that Ukraine oh, OK. Let's speak about this later, but not gentlemen and women. It's very, very important. If we not stop Putin, now the war will be in other houses in houses of Europe and other parts of the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: The Prosecutor General also said in her opinion, Russian President Vladimir Putin can personally be charged. Well if you like to help people in Ukraine who may need or may need of shelter, food and water many do as you've seen here on CNN, please go to cnn.com/impact. There you'll find several ways that you can help. We'll be back after this short break.
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SOARES: Well, as the Russian invasion drives on Ukraine is becoming increasingly dangerous for journalists. Stefan Weichert freelance journalists at "The Daily Beast" and "The Danish Newspaper Ekstra Bladet" and his photographer was shot and wounded while trying to cover a reporter Russian bombing of a kindergarten in North Eastern Ukraine. They both are now OK. And Weichert spoke to CNN about the incident.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFAN WEICHERT, FREELANCE JOURNALIST FOR EKSTRA BLADET, DAILY BEAST: My colleague and I was in constant contact with Ukrainian military about you know getting access to that kindergarten which was on a territory controlled by the Ukrainian military.
[04:45:00]
WEICHERT: And you know as we got there and I was almost at the kindergarten. There was a Russian artillery attack, which made a lot of confusion in the area. And that prevented us from going there. And instead, my colleague and I decided to drive to the outskirts of the city to get away from potentially what could be a new Russian invasion.
And when we did that, a car with a gunman just approach from behind the stepped out with an automatic rifle and just shot into our car. And I just want to add that our car was labeled, press, you know, it was labeled, so it was obvious that we were journalists. We did not expect that, that, you know, they'll be shooting directly at what will be the press, right? I mean, that that's not what we were expecting. That's not what we heard has been the case.
But I think what we have seen here also, in the last few days have been that numerous journalist have been shoved right driving around in their cars labeled press. So it seems like this is handling deliberately right? And that was something I couldn't really - I couldn't really grasp at the beginning, because we seemed my colleague and I to be the first ones who were deliberately shot after.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Glad to hear that they aren't doing OK. Well, inside Russia, journalists are facing a crackdown, as the Kremlin looks to control the narrative on the war in Ukraine. CNN Contributor Jill Dougherty, you can see that took this photo before she left the CNN, Moscow Bureau. She tells us why it's such a troubling time for independent journalists.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: When I took that selfie, I took it, because I really wanted like a symbol for me, perhaps the last time that I'll be there, I honestly don't know, I want to go back. You know, I'm not a full time reporter. But I go back a lot. And it's a place that I'm very interested in.
And I think it's so important to be able to have not only foreign journalists, but also, you know, Russian journalists able to cover whatever is happening. And right now, the independent media are decimated. There is no way that they can, you know, recover much of anything in an objective way, because they are not allowed to.
In fact, right around that time, I was talking to friends. I had some coffee with some friends. And most of them were saying, you know, they're trying to figure out where to go next. When you just stop independent broadcasting, and that approach to news, and then see what Russian State TV is doing. It is just all day, 24 hours a day, showing pictures not even of what's going on in Kyiv.
It's not showing that war, it's showing the Donbas region and saying now it's being pacified. And everything's fine. It's a completely non- real image of the world. And younger people don't watch TV for the most part, they really don't. But older people do and older people live people who vote for President Putin, and they make up the majority of the country. So that's what the Kremlin watches and looks at.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Jill Dougherty there. Well, along with Russia's control on war coverage comes of course, it's misinformation campaign the White House and the U.S. State Department of blasting Russian claims alleging U.S. chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine. CNN's Katie Polglase, look at how these debunked claims are finding new life?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCHER (voice over): The foreboding music biohazard warnings this Russian state media footage from 2015 claims to show America running facilities in Ukraine and Georgia that caused deadly outbreaks of disease and killed local livestock.
POLGLASE (on camera): This story is false, but that has not stopped at continuing to circulate, evolving from biological hazards to biological weapons, and becoming a key part of Russia's disinformation campaign justifying the invasion of Ukraine.
POLGLASE (voice over): The claims were debunked several years ago when in 2020, the United States issued a statement to "Set the record straight", explaining the facilities are in fact for vaccine development and to report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats. But this week, the story was back.
MARIA ZAKHAROVA, SPOKESWOMAN, RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: We are confirming the facts that were unveiled during the special military operation in Ukraine that indicates an emergency cleanup of military biological programs by the Kyiv regime. They were carried out by Kyiv and financed by the United States of America.
POLGLASE (voice over): Multiple times the Russian Foreign Ministry has resurfaced to the debunked story. On Tuesday it was mentioned by a Russian ally.
ZHAO LIJIAN, SPOLESMAN, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: It is reported that those bio-labs store a large number of dangerous viruses during Russia's military operation, it was found that the U.S. is using those facilities to conduct Biological militarization activities.
[04:50:00]
POLGLASE (on camera): So alongside these official statements is being repeatedly shared across social media from Facebook to Twitter to Telegram. And CNN has been tracking its spread. And you can see here, it's been posted in Canada, Australia and Germany. And this tweet is one example. You can see it's been re-tweeted over 500 times already.
POLGLASE (voice over): The theory is now attracted the attention of figures and platforms with significant followings in the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go into Ukraine and take out the Bio-Labs.
POLGLASE (voice over): Such as the conspiracy theorists - Peters, and has been featured on the far right platform Info Wars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. bioweapons labs in Ukraine.
POLGLASE (voice over): And so Russia's false narrative on American Bio Labs in Ukraine continues to spread. Katie Polglase, CNN London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And coming up, global oil prices see a steep decline while the U.S. stock market rebounds. We'll have all the numbers for you next.
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SOARES: Now I want to take you to Antalya, Turkey where Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is speaking out after meeting with his Russian Counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Let's listen in.
DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: And basically follow these traditional narratives about Ukraine. The most tragic situation is currently now in Mariupol, on the Sea of Ossoff. City is bombarded - I came here with a humanitarian preparing to walk out from the meeting with the decision to arrange a humanitarian corridor in and from Mariupol.
From Mariupol for civilians who want to flee this area of fear and struggle and humanitarian corridor to bring in Mariupol humanitarian aid. Unfortunately Minister Lavrov was not in a position to commit him to it, but he will correspond with respective authorities on this issue.
[04:55:00]
KULEBA: We also raised the issue of a ceasefire 24 hour ceasefire to resolve the most pressing humanitarian issues. We did not make progress on this since it seems that there are other decision makers for this matter in Russia. We agreed to continue efforts to seek a solution to the humanitarian issues on the ground.
I will be ready to meet again in this format. If there are prospects for substantial discussion and for seeking solutions, I believe that when two foreign ministers meet, they have, by definition, the mandate to negotiate issues of peace, security, the mandate entrusted in them by their leaders by their parliaments and I'm ready to continue this engagement with the purpose of ending the war in Ukraine, stopping the suffering of Ukrainian civilians and liberating our territories from the Russian occupying force. I will not say a couple of words in Ukrainian for Ukrainian commerce--
SOARES: You have been listening to Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister who has been meeting in Antalya in Turkey with his Russian counterpart, Lavrov. And he's - the meeting was very short. In fact, probably about an hour or so let me give you an idea - said.
It doesn't seem like it was a very positive meeting. He said that he came here with a purpose of humanitarian purpose to try and arrange a humanitarian corridor for the City of Mariupol. The main city, he says is that one thing they're most worried about, given what we have seen in the last 24 hours that maternity hospital being shelled.
And he said, unfortunately, Mr. Lavrov, his Russian counterpart was not in a position to commit but will continue corresponding with the local authority so no signs of agreement on the humanitarian corridor for the City of Mariupol. That's been under siege now for nine days on the question of a ceasefire.
Well, it seems that didn't go well, either. He's saying that they didn't make any progress. Those were his words. But they will continue these efforts, and they'll continue talking and ready to meet again. Clearly Mariupol it comes as huge importance to Ukraine. We've seen the good this backdrop, really, of this children's hospital being bombarded overnight. And there's been broad condemnation that local officials to that attack - we've seen local officials there saying it killed three people, one of them a child. And we have seen Mariupol that we had from our teams on the ground they had no water, no electricity, no food, completely under siege.
And away of course, from any support any humanitarian corridors and that is really what we - what Ukrainian Foreign Minister was hoping to negotiate here. That was the aim of this meeting. So we heard from the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, I want to take you now to the Russian Foreign Minister to his analysis of that meeting. Let's have a listen.
SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen, today we met with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. And then we had a trilateral conversation, attended by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. This meeting took place at the initiative of the Turkish side as a result of the conversation between Presidents Erdogan and Putin.
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