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Russia Steps Up Offensive; President Biden Warns Russia Over Potential Use of Chemical Weapons. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 11, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The secretary is pleased to be able to go in person and be there to meet with other defense minister -- ministers, whoever is going to be there.

And we know that there's a lot to talk about. I mean, there's an awful lot going on inside the alliance. The alliance is more relevant than ever. It's more united than ever. It's certainly a more viable alliance than it's ever been.

And, again, there's going to be a lot of material to go through, both in terms of what we're seeing happen in Ukraine, and the effect that that needs to have on the alliance going forward, including the application of the NATO Response Force and what that looks like, where and who and when.

All that, we expect will be discussed.

In the back there.

QUESTION: Thank you.

I want to follow up about North Korea. The INDOPACOM increased their readiness amongst the missile defense forces in the region...

(CROSSTALK)

KIRBY: Yes. Yes.

QUESTION: So, could you tell us a sense of, what steps the INDOPACOM has taken since then? What has changed before and after this new direction?

KIRBY: What has changed is we have increased ISR coverage in the Yellow Sea. And INDOPACOM has increased their ballistic missile defense readiness.

And I think you can understand why we wouldn't detail every bit of that effort.

QUESTION: OK.

KIRBY: Yes, and back there. QUESTION: On cold response, which you briefed on, on yesterday, the Russians told the Norwegians last week that they wouldn't send observers to exercise.

And we have seen Russian jets fly over Swedish territory in the Baltic Sea. So, are the forces involved in cold response on guard or wary about any attempted provocations or other interference?

KIRBY: Look, we always take force protection at a premium here.

It's always a factor. It is an exercise. And here's the deal. We actually announced it. In fact, we have been talking about the preps for it for quite some time. It's a defensive exercise.

And I stood up here the other day and walked through all the capabilities that we're going to be training to, and what those Marines were -- and sailors are up to. We will continue to be as transparent about the exercise as possible. There's no reason for anyone to view this as some kind of threat.

Therefore, there'd be no reason for anyone, including the Russians, to threaten it. But, obviously, force protection is always of paramount concern. We don't anticipate at this time that there would be a specific threat to the exercise.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, you have been listening to John Kirby at the Pentagon give an update on the, of course, war in Ukraine.

The big headline here, the dispersement -- or dispersal of that convoy miles long approaching Kyiv, he says that that's not really evidence of Russian progress toward the capital. But, of course, we have seen -- here are some satellite images of that convoy, and here's what is left now. It's moved off into forests and different areas.

We also saw some attacks overnight in the western part of the country. And, of course, we will get into that.

So, with that, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: So Vladimir Putin is expanding his offensive and regrouping Russian ground forces in Ukraine.

For the first time, Russian forces hit three cities in Western Ukraine, one of those just 60 miles from the Polish border, which, of course, is part of NATO. Here's a fireball that was unleashed at an airfield in Lutsk overnight. Russia has also wrapped up attacks in Dnipro, which is the center of the country, firing missiles at a kindergarten, an apartment building and a shoe factory.

BLACKWELL: And with those aggressions, more consequences from the West.

President Biden announced the United States is banning luxury Russian items, like vodka and caviar. And along with the G7 and the European Union, these countries will move to revoke Russia's most favored nation trading status.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Putin is an aggressor. He is the aggressor. And Putin must pay the price.

He cannot pursue a war that threatens the very foundations, which he's doing, the very foundations of international peace and stability, and then ask for financial help from the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The U.N. now says 2.5 million refugees have left Ukraine during Russia's invasion. Look at this. These orphans were just evacuated from the suburbs of Kyiv.

And the journalist who shot the video confirmed that some of the children at the orphanage were sick. They were being bundled into ambulances. You could see the chaos here to get them out. They were trapped, of course, during the fighting.

CAMEROTA: It's horrible to see these images.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is with us once again from Lviv. That's in Western Ukraine.

[14:05:00]

So, Anderson, it sounds like the attacks are now moving west.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: That's right.

They are moving West. You saw that in Lutsk, the airfield that was struck.

I want to bring in a CNN's Alex Marquardt, CNN senior national security correspondent here, joining me in Lviv as well.

Alex, talk about what Russia has done. They have launched missile -- multiple missile strikes on a number of targets. They are shifting their focus to the West. What's behind that?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, it remains to be seen whether this is a fundamental shift in their strategy, whether this is an enlargement of their tactics, whether they're now really going after all of the country.

I mean, until now, we have seen very little Russian action here in the western part of the country. Early this morning, air sirens went off in this city, this hotel, telling people to go down to the air raid shelter, even though we know now there were no explosions anywhere nearby, there were no strikes in or around Lviv.

And that just speaks to how jumpy everyone is, how nervous everyone is, particularly because there has not been much Russian aggression here in the western part of the country. The airfields that were targeted north and south of Lviv were near --

relatively near borders of NATO countries. And that is also raising some concerns in those countries. We know that four -- there were four strikes on the airfield in Lutsk, which is north of here. Two people were killed, we understand.

And then there was also a strike on the Ivano-Frankivsk airfield to the south of us. So, this is a continuation of the declared Russian agenda here of going after targets that can be used for military purposes. Of course, what is also of great concern is this strike on Dnipro, which is in the center of the country.

This is not an area where we have seen a lot of Russian military action either. There were three strikes on that city. We believe it's the first time that that city has been struck, including near a preschool, near a residential building and near a shoe factory. And that strike near the shoe factory left at least one person dead.

So, Anderson, this enlargement of the list of targets, if you will, is going to cause some panic in the center of the country. Here in the western part of the country, where there -- a lot of people have fled, but decided actually not to leave Ukraine. There are some two million people who have been displaced inside Ukraine, who have decided -- who have not yet at least decided to become refugees and leave the country.

So it's going to really raise fears here, but also, as I was saying, in the countries that border Ukraine, those Eastern European NATO countries, Poland, Romania, among others, where we have seen Vice President Kamala Harris visiting in the past few days to show U.S. support for those eastern NATO countries -- Anderson.

COOPER: Western officials have also confirmed that a third Russian general has been killed by Ukrainian forces.

When Russian generals are being killed, I mean, that -- it gives you a sense of just how kinetic the nature of this conflict on the ground.

MARQUARDT: It shows you how involved they are in the fights.

It shows you how well the Ukrainian forces are doing, that they're able to take out such senior officers. It shows you that the Russian forces are not accomplishing what they believed they could in now more than two weeks into this fight. So this is the third general just this week that we have learned has been killed by Ukrainian forces.

His rank is major general. His name is Andrei Kolesnikov. That is the third major general this week. The other two, we understand, had significant battlefield experience in Syria, in Chechnya, battlefields and wars there that now this war in Ukraine is being compared to, because of this sort of scorched-earth policy targeting of civilians that we are starting to see in residential and civilian areas by those Russian forces.

Anderson, we do believe that the Russian troops have sustained significant losses. It's very hard to put a number on that. The Kremlin is certainly not coming out with any sort of specific numbers. And they aren't broadcasting the losses of these top generals either.

But the U.S. intelligence community and Pentagon believe that Russian troop losses are in the 5,000 to 6,000 range. That is up from just a couple of days ago, when they said 2,000 to 4,000.

But they make that assessment with low confidence because of that lack of transparency, but that is -- Anderson, that is a huge number in just a short amount of time. And that's just those who have been killed. Of course, there are many who have been wounded. Officials believe the number could be as many as three times the number of troops who have been killed -- Anderson.

[14:10:10]

COOPER: Ukraine also says that it's lost communication with the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Are there any updates on the situation there?

MARQUARDT: This is obviously very troubling.

When you're talking about the status of nuclear power plants in a war zone, that is going to raise a lot of fears. Ukraine right now is accusing Russia of coming up with what they call a terrorist incident at this Chernobyl nuclear power plant to then be able to blame it on Ukraine.

There is no evidence of that. But we understand from the IAEA that there has been a loss of communication with that power plant, with the staff there. That is, of course, of great concern. The IAEA has not seen a spike in radioactive levels, a spike in radiation. They do not -- there are some questions about the power that is going to the power plant over -- the Ukrainians have said that the power is coming from emergency generators.

I did speak, Anderson, with an expert earlier today, Jeffrey White (ph), at the Middlebury Institute, who said that there is no real cause for concern right now in terms of a nuclear meltdown. Of course, that would be the biggest fear. But it is significant that there is no communication with the staff there, and the fact that the staff does not appear to be turning over.

These guys work on shifts. And it appears that the staff is not working like that right now. And that is of serious concern. And then it then -- there's the bigger question of ,as Russia takes more and more control of these nuclear facilities, what does that mean in terms of the power, the electricity here in Ukraine and how Russia plans to control that and use that to their advantage -- Anderson.

COOPER: Alex Marquardt in Lviv.

Thanks so much, Alex. We will check in with you shortly.

President Biden today is taking another step to try to isolate Russia, announcing that the U.S. and other allies are going to revoke Russia's most favored nation status. That essentially means that normal trade relations will end.

I want to go to CNN's M.J. Lee at the White House.

So, talk about this move that and how it could impact Russia.

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the idea is basically to make Russia more of an economic pariah than it already is.

The U.S. and its allies saying that it is going to revoke Russia's permanent normal trade relations status, which essentially means, as you said, that it is going to become even more difficult for Russia to do business with all of these countries. These countries can now, for example, raise tariffs on Russian goods.

And then the president also announcing additional exports and imports bans related to Russia. So things like caviar, like vodka can no longer be imported to the U.S. and other luxury goods. We're talking about things like alcohol, tobacco, jewelry, and expensive cars. Those things now cannot be exported to Russia.

So the idea, as administration officials have explained to us, is that they want to continue squeezing some of the -- Russia's most richest, wealthiest oligarchs, and make them sort of really feel the pain, when they are already being squeezed out of these other sort of traditional methods of banking and doing -- managing their money, doing financing.

But one important thing from President Biden's remarks just now in Philadelphia, even as the U.S. is trying to continue squeezing Russia economically, there's one thing that the president reiterated the U.S. will not do. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're showing a strength and we will never falter.

But, look, the idea, the idea that we're going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, just understand, don't kid yourself, no matter what you all say. That's called World War III, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: So the message is clear. No U.S. military personnel will be sent to Ukraine, the president says, but he did reiterate that other forms of aid, like weapons and humanitarian aid, that those will continue -- Anderson.

COOPER: The president also warned Russia about their potential use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, but obviously was vague, didn't get into details.

LEE: That's right.

He was being asked about this new disturbing assessment from the U.S. that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in U.S. or at least use them to create a false flag operation.

The president, when he was asked about this, said that he's not going to get into sort of the intelligence details behind this assessment, but he did say Russia will pay a severe price if they were to go ahead and use chemical weapons.

[14:15:05]

Now, some of the more context behind this assessment is that basically Russia, the U.S. believes, is making these false allegations that the U.S. or Ukraine are developing these kinds of chemical and biological programs to use against Russians, while the U.S. is saying that that is very much a Russian playbook that we have seen in the past that this is a country that will accuse, falsely, other countries of developing these kinds of programs, while they are the ones actually using these kinds of chemical weapons.

So, in terms of what the price is that Russians might pay, as we heard the president saying, that is a big question. We don't know, because, again, the U.S. and the president himself has been reiterating over and over again that the one thing that the U.S. is not willing to do is send U.S. military to Ukraine -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes.

M.J. Lee, thanks very much.

Victor and Alisyn, obviously, the disinformation campaign being waged by Russia here is ongoing and extensive.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it has been one of their tools throughout this invasion. And the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. slammed that today.

Anderson Cooper, we will get right back to you. Thank you.

And, of course, we will have much more on Russia's shift in offensive in Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: Plus, new satellite images show that 40-mile Russian military convoy appears to have dispersed and repositioned. We will show you where they are now and what they're doing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:55]

COOPER: Today, Ukraine announced 12 new evacuation corridors aimed at helping innocent civilians escape the horror that Vladimir Putin has created.

Others, though, are determined to stay behind, to stay in Ukraine. We have seen more than -- as many as two million people internally displaced within the country.

That includes Alex Dayrabekov, a father in Kyiv, who says he lost his home in a strike. And in a Facebook post this week, he wrote: "My son turned 1 month yesterday. Last two weeks, or half of his life, he was lived in -- he has lived in war. We have no home, no belongings. But we have lives."

Alex Dayrabekov joins me now.

Alex, thank you so much for being with us.

How are you and your son doing?

ALEX DAYRABEKOV, RESIDENT OF UKRAINIAN: If I can say this, we are OK.

This may sound funny, but after two weeks of this hell, we are kind of -- we are kind of -- we have accepted it.

COOPER: My son just turned 1-month-old. I can't imagine having a 1- month-old in the midst of all of this? What -- how do you do that? How do you do that?

DAYRABEKOV: Oh, that's a good question.

I mean, millions of Ukrainians are in the same situation now, in the same situation, and we share the same emotions. The emotion I felt on the second or third day of the war couldn't be called anger. It's not anger. It's fury. I was furious.

On the first and second day, I cried like baby. I cried. My wife cried. But on the third day, I got really, really furious, and I wanted to do something. And now I know that every single Ukrainian feels the same, because we have kids here. We have homes here. We have belongings here. And we are a really peaceful and hospitable nation.

Everybody who has ever been to Ukraine can say that. But if enemy comes to my place, I will fight to the end. I will fight to death. I will protect my land. I will protect my kid, protect my home.

COOPER: You have been documenting some of your experiences. And I think it's so vital for -- to help people understand this conflict.

I just want to play for our viewers something you say was filmed shortly before your apartment was destroyed. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAYRABEKOV: I'm here in my residential apartment complex, where I live -- I lived happily.

And here, you hear that?

(EXPLOSIONS)

DAYRABEKOV: You hear? You hear? Are you afraid?

People are not afraid of this anymore, because, starting from the morning, they hear it all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: So are you -- where are you now? Where are you living?

And have you lost -- were you able to get anything out of your apartment?

DAYRABEKOV: Actually, we made a conscious decision to leave the second day of war. And we (AUDIO GAP) and now people suffer.

And you know that, for the past several days, it was hell there. And it's hard to evacuate anyone. I was able to evacuate a family -- one family last week, last Wednesday. Last Thursday, when I tried to evacuate another family, I wasn't let in.

The army, Ukrainian army, didn't let me in because it was already a hell. So, now we are in safe place out of Kyiv. But I cannot just sit and read the news. So, we created a volunteer group of people helping bomb shelters in Kyiv underground.

[14:25:00]

And we deliver stuff. We get donations. Lots of people help with money. And then we buy food and basic stuff for the people in the bomb shelters in Kyiv.

COOPER: What will you say when your son grows up? What will you say to him about this time, about what is happening here, about what he lived through and won't remember?

DAYRABEKOV: I actually say it to him now.

I think this is a historical moment. It's a historical moment for Ukraine, historical moment for Europe.

(AUDIO GAP) proud I'm a Ukrainian. I'm proud I'm staying here in this country. And I don't want to leave, I don't want to -- I want to stay here. And I want to fight. I cannot fight, fight with a weapon, unfortunately. I don't have this experience.

I fight with whatever I can, with information. I talk to lots of Russians, Kazakstan people with -- I fight with information. And I will tell my son that he started his life in this very historical moment.

COOPER: Alex, I appreciate you talking to us. And I wish you and your family the best. And thank you for taking the time.

DAYRABEKOV: Thank you. Thank you.

COOPER: Please be careful.

For more information about how you can help humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, go to CNN.com/impact.

Alisyn and Victor, I mean, there are so many people like Alex who are doing whatever they can wherever they are. If their homes have been destroyed and they're living somewhere else, they try to gather together volunteers. They try to help those who are in worse-off situations than they are.

It is one of the extraordinary things about what is happening here, is how many people feel united in this and are united in this in the face of this invasion.

CAMEROTA: That was a remarkable conversation, Anderson, because his resiliency.

I mean, him describing, two weeks ago, they were devastated, but the adaptability, I guess, of the Ukrainian spirit, now he accepts it. Now he accepts it. He feels OK where they are now. And he can't fight with a weapon, so he's going to fight with information.

BLACKWELL: And to do this with an infant. I mean, you look at these pictures of this beautiful child, and to think about all that that requires, and then you have got a war going on around you, it is just remarkable. It's remarkable.

Anderson, thank you.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says there have been certain positive advances in negotiations with Ukraine, but Vice President Harris says Putin is uninterested in serious diplomacy. So, where do talks go now?

We will discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]