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Russia Launches Multiple Attacks on Major Cities Across Ukraine; U.S. Officials Worried Putin Is Setting Stage for Chemical Weapons Attack; Biden: U.S. Banning Russian Vodka, Seafood & Considers Removing Russia's Most Favored Nation Trading Status; Biden: Russia Would Pay "Severe Price" if Chemical Weapons Used; High COVID-19 Levels in U.S. Wane on 2-Year Anniversary of Pandemic. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 11, 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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[14:32:34]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: There are some alarming new signs today that Russia is expanding its assault on Ukraine. Several cities are under attack right now as Russian forces widen airstrikes in the central and western part of the country.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: The airstrikes causing substantial damage to the central city of Dnipro. As you could see right here. Also airfields in western Ukraine.

Let's bring in retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni. He served as the commander-in-chief for the U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000.

General, thank you for being here.

Before we get to -- what is lapping across the country, could we talk about the convoy. Because we've been watching this 40-mile-long convoy.

We remember, two weeks ago, that convoy was seen on satellite images and you could see just vehicle after vehicle after vehicle for, we were told, 40 miles.

And everyone wondered what is happening with it? Why is it just sitting there? And some speculated maybe they're stuck, maybe they're out of gas.

Now we have new information. The clouds have cleared and new satellite images show this convoy now in three different towns.

So, here is some portions of it. I know it is hard to see. But it is now hiding in a tree line here.

So here are some of the vehicles from that convoy in the trees. And this is in LaBianca.

And then there's another town. And you could see the convoy is on a rural road, more stretched out near this town.

So what do we make of all of this?

GEN. ANTHONY ZINNI, U.S. MARINE CORPS, RETIRED & FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Well, Alisyn, I think that Russians originally thought they could storm in blitzkrieg style and overwhelm the Ukrainians and they hit several problems.

One was Ukrainian resistance. But they did a lousy job at managing their logistics. They reach what we called a military culminating point. Run out of gas and food and resources.

They got stalled on the roads. They became very lucrative targets for unmanned aerial vehicles and even Russian small units moving forward and hitting their tanks.

I think they have stopped to regroup at a moment and now are beginning a Plan B, if you will.

And I think that is going to involve pounding cities with air and artillery and rockets, attempting to slowly surround the cities.

[14:35:00]

Then they're going to have a big decision, whether they go into the cities themselves.

If the Ukrainians decide to defend inside of the cities, you're going to see some vicious house-to-house fighting and casualties on all sides are going to mount.

And I think what you're seeing on the off road is they've probably been hit, as the video has shown, several times and have scattered and tried to camouflage their vehicles.

BLACKWELL: General, let's talk about the westward expansion of the aggression from Russia.

Two of the cities hit, Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, in the western part of the country, which has not in the first two weeks of the war has been touched much by Russian forces.

First, your thoughts on why it focused on these two cities when they still haven't taken the capital now that we've entered the third week?

And, listen, Lutsk is just about 50 to 60 miles away from the Polish border. Of course, this territory all NATO country.

What do you make of what you saw overnight?

ZINNI: Well, I think one thing they're trying to do is probably stop the influx of weapons and support and resupplies that are coming in from NATO countries.

I'm sure that those Javelin missiles and the Stingers have taken their toll. So I think they may have assessed these are the routes they're using

and trying to interdict it at some level until they get -- they're able to surround some of the cities that their moving toward now.

CAMEROTA: General, U.S. officials worry that Vladimir Putin is setting the stage for a chemical attack, setting up this disinformation campaign, setting up possibly a false-flag event as a pretext for a chemical attack.

What happens if that -- if that does, indeed, happen? How does the U.S. or NATO respond?

ZINNI: Well, first of all, those attacks will create massive casualties and indiscriminate civilians and fighters and I would even say probably even with the Russian troops themselves.

I'm not sure how well fighting in the wintertime and chemical gear is going to be very difficult. And obviously, depending on weather conditions and winds, those kinds of chemicals can drift into neighboring countries.

But it would be a total disaster.

That is a tough political decision. But we establish a red line. If we do, what will we do about it.

It could lead to a confrontation with the Russians if it is deemed that unacceptable. But that is a political decision.

BLACKWELL: But, General, are there options that satisfy both of the promises that the president made today?

Early in the day, he said if there is evidence of Russia using chemical weapons, that Russia will pay severe price for that.

But in the afternoon, he said that the U.S. will not start World War III in Ukraine. And he qualified that by saying that sending in offensive weapons with U.S. military is the beginning of World War III.

So is there a space where both of those could happen and there be a consequence for Russia?

ZINNI: The only thing I can see is obviously economic sanctions, diplomatic sanctions, sanctions against oligarchs, and making them more stringent and trying to choke off Russia.

There are no measures that we could take short of military direct action to prevent the use of these chemicals or to attack the units that are trying to deliver them.

CAMEROTA: General Anthony Zinni, thank you. We really appreciate your time.

[14:38:35] More on what we were just discussing, President Biden's warning that Russia would, quote, "pay a severe price" if chemical weapons are used in Ukraine. So we'll talk with a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine about what this might mean.

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[14:43:29]

CAMEROTA: We do have some breaking news. New video shows what appears to be Russian forces arresting the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol.

This is -- on the top of your screen, you can see Russian forces dragging away Mayor Ivan Fedorov from a government building.

The prosecutor's office for the Russian separatist-region of Luhansk said they're weighing terrorism charges against the mayor.

Fedorov's detention is the first known instance of a Ukrainian political official being detained and investigated by Russia or Russian-backed forces since this invasion began.

BLACKWELL: President Biden announced new sanctions on Russia today. The United States will ban luxury Russian items like vodka and seafood.

Plus, along with the G-7 and the European Union, the U.S. will move to revoke Russia's most favored nation trading status.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Revoking PNTR for Russia is going to make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States.

And doing it in unison on with other nations to make up half of the global economy will be another crushing blow to the Russian economy. It is already suffering very badly from our sanctions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's welcome Ambassador William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Mr. Ambassador, these sanctions have increased over the last two-plus weeks now. What is the impact of what the president announced today?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: So, Victor, this increases the pressure. This just adds on to the pain that the Russian economy and that really means Russian families are bearing.

[14:45:08]

It also must be dawning on President Putin that these sanctions are only going up. These sanctions are only getting worse. These sanctions are only becoming more painful for him and his economy, his future, for the Russian people.

And this discussion about other kinds of weapons that he might use, this may be an indication -- the rising sanctions and other problems that he's got, maybe an indication that he is looking for a way out.

He's backed into a corner. It is clear he's made a horrible decision and sanctions make it even clearer.

BLACKWELL: So I want to talk about the potential for chemical weapons in a moment.

But Putin said, to the contrary, the sanctions have benefited Russia. He said that Russia, quote, "acquires new competencies and restores one at a new technological level."

Essentially, that Russia can innovate their way out of this. Maybe this is putting a party hat on a pile of sanctions. But I wonder, what do you make of that assessment?

TAYLOR: Rubbish. Rubbish, Victor. It is clear that his economy is hemorrhaging. The exchange rate, the investors fleeing, the businesses fleeing. Individual Russians are paying the price.

If President Putin thinks that he's benefitting from this, he's in a dream world.

So on the talks, there's this conversation that President Putin had with the Belarus President Lukashenko in which he said that "there has been certain positive advances in the negotiations with Ukraine."

Vice President Harris said that Putin is not really interested in serious diplomacy.

The talks in Belarus, the second round didn't -- there was no fruit from those. There was nothing from the meeting between the foreign ministers yesterday in Turkey.

Do you see any evidence of positive advances?

TAYLOR: No evidence so far of positive advances on the Russian side.

I will say that the Ukrainians have been very serious. The Ukrainians were serious obviously when Foreign Minister Kuleba was there in Turkey. He was ready to talk and it was clear that Foreign Minister Lavrov was not.

And on the Belarusian/Ukrainian border discussion, they've had, what, three sessions now. Nothing has come out of those.

And again, Ukrainians have been serious. They sent a defense minister and a senior person in Zelenskyy's political party. And the Russians sent a former minister of culture. So they're not --

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: So it is not obvious that they're serious. However, the door is open. The Ukrainians are ready to discuss.

President Zelenskyy is ready to have a conversation with President Putin.

So the Ukrainians are ready to have this conversation. They've got demands. Ukrainians clearly have demands. And the first one is ceasefire. That is the first issue on the table.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

On the chemical weapons, the president said today that, one, there will be severe consequences for Russia if they use chemical weapons in Ukraine.

He also said that the U.S. will not start World War III, which he said would be going in with the offense weapons system with the U.S. military.

If it is left to just sanctions, is there a diplomatic option commensurate with using chemical weapons? Or do you believe there should be a military response if that red line is crossed?

TAYLOR: So, Victor, the response -- the first response will be horror. The first response will be disgust. And this is around the world. This will further cement Russia as a pariah state.

And that has implications, Victor, for him. Because of the mass casualties, that you just talked about with the general, that will be just a demonstration of the depravity, of the brutality. And it will just further isolate Russia. Number one.

Number two, there are additional sanctions that could be taken. We just talked about the effect of sanctions so far and those can certainly be continued.

TAYLOR: So that --

BLACKWELL: All right.

TAYLOR: That is still to come.

BLACKWELL: Ambassador William Taylor, thank you.

TAYLOR: Thank you.

[14:49:32]

CAMEROTA: Believe it or not, it was exactly two years ago today --

BLACKWELL: I believe it.

CAMEROTA: -- March 11th, 2020, that COVID-19 became real for millions of Americans and upended life as we knew it. So up next, we're going to take a look back at that day and where we are now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: A new coronavirus outbreak of the Omicron variant in China has forced officials in Shanghai to shut down all schools starting tomorrow.

Chinese government officials say the country is experiencing its largest daily outbreak since the Wuhan outbreak two years ago.

Now, here in the U.S., a lot has changed since March 11th, 2020, exactly two years ago. That's when the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "A.C. 360": An outbreak can touch everyone, not just in America, but around the globe.

[14:55:04]

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't have sight on this right now. We don't have clear vision on how widespread this is in the country.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, "DON LEMON TONIGHT": Breaking news tonight. The NBA announcing they are suspending their seasons until further notice upon the completion on tonight's games.

The decision was made after a player for the Utah Jazz preliminarily tested positive for coronavirus.

Tom Hanks, the actor, announcing tonight that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, also an actress, have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I mean, time has lost all meaning.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: I don't know if that was 10 years ago or two months ago. But since then, almost a million Americans have died from COVID-19.

Today, the CDC says only 2 percent of the us population lives in communities with high levels. Nearly 3 percent live in a county with low COVID levels.

About 65 percent of the U.S. population is vaccinated with at least one shot and 29 percent have received a booster.

BLACKWELL: Two years.

CAMEROTA: I mean. BLACKWELL: All right, new NATO surveillance planes are capturing intel that Russia has been using Belarus as a springboard for many of its operations. Ahead, CNN takes you onboard one of those surveillance flights.

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