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People Emerge Alive from Bombed Theater; Russian Invasion Remains Stalled; Biden to Speak with Chinese President; Errant Drone Crashes into NATO Countries; Gen. Wesley Clark is Interviewed about Weapons to Ukraine. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 17, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:19]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Some hope out of horror. This morning we are learning that some of the people sheltered in a bombed Mariupol theater are now emerging, miraculously, from the rubble. Local officials say that shelter was protecting more than a thousand civilians. Satellite images show that the word children, you can see it there circled, in Russian clearly visible from the air just outside the theater. A message intended to protect the civilians inside. Unfortunately, it may have turned them into a target.

Good morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

Repeated attacks as we have seen on civilian targets. Horrific evidence of those strikes. At least one person is dead, three injured, after a downed missile hit a residential building in Kyiv.

Yet amid these attacks there is a new assessment from the U.K. defense ministry saying Russia is actually stalled on all fronts as Ukraine fights back.

This as President Zelenskyy continues to speak with allies, pleading for help. Earlier today, calling on Germany's parliament to remember the horrors of Hitler and World War II.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): every year, politicians say never again. Now, I see that these words are worthless. In Europe, a people is being destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: He has customized his message to each audience.

We are following the war in Ukraine across the country there, and across the globe.

Let's begin with CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us now from the city of Odessa.

Nick, it is just remarkable, given the destruction we saw after this strike on the theater in Mariupol, that people seem to have survived. Are we learning that the bomb shelter there held?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It does appear at this early stage to be the case. And, Jim, I have to say, in the same way last night, that we didn't really know how many people were in the shelter when the bomb struck. We still don't know at this stage how many have survived and have emerged.

The major issue had been that that blast, which you can see totally destroying the outside of that building, seemed to have sealed the entrance in and out, leaving people to essentially have to wait for the intense shelling to stop, to be able to begin the process of clearing that rubble and getting people out.

The fear had been hundreds were in there. And, in fact, Ukraine's defense minister talked about 1,200 this morning, calling those behind this attack a monster. And I think it's pretty clear, frankly, that regardless of the casualty levels here, which thankfully appear to be small, we just don't have concrete figures, the decision seems to still have been taken to drop an air strike on a building which from space it was visible, in Russian, the words children on either side.

And, added to that, too, for days social media had been carrying video showing the intense conditions underground, the dark, the panic, frankly, of people sheltering in that underground space. So, yes, certainly a potential piece of good news here. Still early stages. But none of that detracts from the barbarity of the initial air strike in the first place.

Jim, you joined me here in Odessa, the third largest city, on what would normally be the busy tourist main strip here. But now, deserted, with these tank traps that run all the way down it. And during the morning here, we have heard sirens and also local officials, one talking about in response to videos circulating that showed Russian ships it seems or certain ally ships on the horizon off Odessa, the local officials saying these may be Russian ships, they may be maneuvering. There shouldn't be cause for anxiety. But, still, fears here building as the military pressure mounts around the east, where I'm standing, on the Black Sea coast that something may be headed toward Odessa soon.

Jim,

SCIUTTO: Yes, there'd been fears for some time of an amphibious landing. It would be devastating for that part of the country.

Nick Paton Walsh there in Odessa, thanks so much. Let's now go to western Ukraine, Lviv, where CNN international

correspondent Scott McLean is standing by.

And, Scott, a remarkable intelligence assessment from the U.K. defense ministry this morning that Ukraine continues to hold Russian forces at bay, which is remarkable given how outnumbered they are, but also the U.K. describing intense, extensive Russian casualties.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Jim. You know, in recent days we've seen the Russians resorting to simply lobbing bombs into civilian areas which perhaps explains this U.K. military assessment that the Russians, at least on the ground, appear to be stalled in many places. You also have an adviser to President Zelenskyy saying that Ukrainians are launching a counteroffensive that is starting to change the situation on the ground in many areas.

[09:05:05]

And we're getting new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" as well that details one remarkable story of the Ukrainians managing to hold on to one small but strategic city in southern Ukraine called Voznesensk. This city has a river that runs through it that the Russians would have needed to cross to then open a new front going after places like Odessa. That battle lasted for two days and that was almost two weeks ago. And local officials there say they are still finding bodies. They're putting them in special freezer cars, train cars, in hopes of sending them back to Russia.

I can tell you, though, the CEO of Ukrainian railways has told me that they had offered to send those bodies from all over the country back to Moscow by train, but so far the Russians don't want them.

I want to just read you part of the reporting again in "The Wall Street Journal." It says Russian survivors of the Voznesensk battle left behind nearly 30 of their 43 vehicles, tanks, armored personnel carriers, multiple rocket launchers, trucks, as well as a downed MI-24 attack helicopter, according to Ukrainian officials in the city. Russian forces retreated more than 40 miles to the southeast where other Ukrainian units have continued pounding them, some dispersed in nearby forests, where local officials said ten soldiers have been captured.

Now, a local commander in that area also said that the Ukrainians were simply outgunned. They only had rocket propelled grenades, javelin missiles and artillery. They didn't even have a single tank at their disposal. He says that the Russians did not expect nearly this strong of a fight from the Ukrainians.

And of that equipment that was left behind, those tanks, those armored vehicles, they say that about 15 of them are going to be salvageable. They are looking forward to using them against the Russians again. That town, by the way, Jim, now has the power back, the gas back, has working Internet and supermarket shelves are stocked as well.

SCIUTTO: It's remarkable. This is an aspect of this war, right? Ukrainian forces taking Russian equipment, and then turning them on those Russian forces.

Scott McLean, thanks so much.

We are learning this morning that President Biden is now expected to speak with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, this morning. Tomorrow, rather. This morning, China stood by its diplomat in Ukraine's comments that that diplomat saying China will, quote, never attack Ukraine. Notable comments. Will send political and economic support to Ukraine. But the foreign ministry spokesman declined to say if that meant China would not offer the assistance that we have reported Russia has from Ukraine (ph). That includes military support.

HILL: Yes, and that is an important distinction.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond joining us now.

So, Jeremy, in terms of this call, one would imagine a lot of the focus is going to be on what's happening in Ukraine. Is there any sense that the president may push Xi on that point, as Jim just, you know, just pointed out, whether or not there would be a specific response to Russia?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is going to be a really interesting conversation between two of the most powerful people in the world. And the White House has said that the discussion will center, at least in part, on the situation in Ukraine, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This call will come after the White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Rome on Monday. And just before that meeting, the U.S. put out information, you know, leaked information about the fact that Russia had requested military and economic support from China, a move clearly designed to put pressure on the Chinese government.

And following that, we saw the U.S. officials repeatedly warning China against providing support to Russia, whether that is by helping them evade those U.S. and European Union sanctions, or by providing military support. And the U.S. has made very clear that there would be serious consequences for China should it choose to take that route.

So, very interesting that the Chinese president is going to be on this call with President Biden tomorrow, indicating that perhaps he hasn't entirely made up his mind yet about his position on this.

We know that while China and Russia have grown closer together in recent years, with Xi calling Putin his best friend just a couple of months ago, the U.S. -- China also has military -- sorry, economic considerations to take into account here. The U.S. and the European Union are China's biggest trading partners and they certainly don't want to face the economic consequences that the U.S. has warned about.

So, again, a very interesting call tomorrow at an inflexion point for China in this conflict. SCIUTTO: Yes. And, bigger picture, you have to wonder about the

lessons or China and Taiwan here, as (INAUDIBLE) learned that the economic and military costs of a potential invasion of Taiwan higher perhaps than they might have expected.

Jeremy Diamond, at the White House, thanks very much.

New this morning, CNN is learning that errant drones have landed outside of Ukraine, raising understandable concerns that Russia's war in Ukraine could spill over into other NATO countries, perhaps create the danger at least of direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

[09:10:09]

HILL: CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joining us now with more on this.

So, Barbara, last week a drone crashed some 350 miles beyond Ukraine's border in Croatia. What more do we know about that?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been one incident in Croatia, one incident in Romanian air space.

Look, all the indications are both of these incidents were inadvertent and no reports of any injuries, thankfully.

But what it means is that something came into NATO air space, whether it was Ukraine or Russian. And it shows us how vulnerable that air space can be. And because there is concern that, you know, at some point you could see a Russian missile, either inadvertently go astray or some kind of provocation by Russia, there is some fail safe mechanisms that are being put into place.

So, we know, for example, there is this U.S./Russian deconfliction telephone line. They've tried it out. The Russians answered. There's been no substantive conversation on that line, we are told. But that is one of the mechanisms to get in touch with the Russians quick in an emergency.

We know that there are patriot air defense missile batteries across that eastern flank of NATO and more going in beyond the two in Poland. That is a mechanism to stop anything that would be coming into NATO air space.

But clearly a lot of concern about all of this, because, of course, just several days ago we saw the Russians strike a Ukraine target within miles of the Polish border. And now NATO is talking about upping its own presence along the border. The NATO secretary-general calling for more troops, more prepositioned equipment, more aircraft, ships, more readiness, higher levels of readiness of NATO's forces on that eastern flank.

So, all of this is bringing both sides closer together and raising the concern that both sides stay apart.

SCIUTTO: Yes, an errant drone is one thing. An errant ballistic missile, of course, another, if we see that.

Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

HILL: New this morning, U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner expected to remain in a Russian jail for at least two more months. A Russian state news agency reporting a Moscow court extended Griner's detention through May 19th. According to Russian authorities, the two-time Olympic gold medalist was arrested on February 17th on allegations of what they called smuggling significant amounts of narcotics.

Just ahead here, sources tell CNN the U.S. will be sending switchblade drones to Ukraine, Slovakia says it is also ready to send air defense systems. A former NATO commander joins us live to break down what that could mean in Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: Plus, the Russian president issues a stark warning to his people to fall in line or he will consider them traitors to the Russian nation. What this message tells us about his intentions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:22]

SCIUTTO: Live pictures right now from Bratislava, Slovakia, where U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has now arrived. His meetings with senior civilian and military leaders follow two days of emergency meetings with NATO counterparts in Brussels.

HILL: Slovakia, of course, a former Soviet Union satellite state, has preliminarily agreed to provide Ukraine with a key Soviet era air defense system, the S-300. You have heard a lot about this in the last few days, including a direct request for the S-300 systems from President Zelenskyy. What could that mean for Ukraine?

Joining us now to discuss, retired army general, former NATO supreme allied commander, Wesley Clark.

General, good to see you, as always, this morning.

Give us a sense, these S-300 systems, Slovakia, right, preliminarily agreeing to send those to Ukraine. How quickly could they be in place? How quickly -- how quickly could they be in place and what would that mean for Ukraine?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Probably talking about a week or two to get them disassembled, out of Slovakia, and moved into Ukraine. They've got to get in there safely. They'd be a significant augmentation to Ukraine's air defense capacity. They do have at least one operational SA-300 (ph) system now, maybe more than one. So, this is a big help.

The more the better. It's not the same as having manned aircraft. It's a supplement. But it is important. And it's a significant enhancement, and I'm really happy to see that Slovakians considering giving these out.

SCIUTTO: It's our reporting, General Clark, that the U.S. and NATO partners are also sending in other similar systems, but lower altitude, like the -- known as the SA-8, the SA-10, plus you have stingers, which are low altitude.

Does the combination of those air defense systems allow Ukraine to establish, if not a fully enforced no-fly zone, with NATO fighter jets in the air, something of safer skies, if not completely safe skies over their country?

CLARK: That's exactly right, Jim. It's much safer for them. It gives them the ability to provide point defense for critical locations, plus some broader coverage with this, a 300 long range systems. So, you know, it's a good step forward.

SCIUTTO: Gotcha.

HILL: The U.K.'s minister of defense this morning saying the Russian invasion has stalled, largely on all fronts, also noting that Russia is resorting to using different weaponry, less accurate, older weapons. This as Ukraine says it's launching these counterattacks.

When we put all of that together, what does it tell us about the current situation on the ground in Ukraine?

[09:20:06]

CLARK: It says that Mr. Putin wants to stall through negotiations while he builds up his forces to try to turn the tide of battle. It's not going his way right now, but it's indeterminate. And so this is a struggle about competitive reinforcement, the development of forces on both sides, and about international will and whether Putin gets a secret supply from China, or it's the strength of U.S. and NATO reinforcement to Ukraine, and then what's the fighting will of the forces?

So, this is a battle that's joined. It will be fought on many fronts. Everything from Putin smashing his potential domestic opponents at home to strengthen the home front, to the negotiations that keep raising and lowering stock values in the west as people see hope for a resolution of this.

Putin wants this country. He thinks it's vital for the future of Russia. And he's not about to relent if he has any choice in the matter.

SCIUTTO: The most recent U.S. assessment of Russian losses, speaking mostly of equipment here, weapons system, and this is more than a week ago, was above 10 percent. And presumably, and we've seen evidence of this, they've lost more since then.

Can Russia back fill effectively those losses both of equipment, but also personnel? We see them shifting some units from as far as eastern Russia, thousands of miles away. Do they have the ability, the equipment, the personnel, to fill in the gaps? CLARK: He does have a lot of (INAUDIBLE) equipment that's back there

that could be brought forward. The Russians keep a lot of that stuff in storage, what they haven't sold overseas, old tank, old armored personnel carriers, old artillery pieces that are very, very destructive.

He has reservists he can mobilize. Some o these people have been previously trained. But he's got a morale problem and a logistics problem getting them there. And in the meantime, the Ukrainians, as your report showed, are doing their best to push back against the forces that are there.

You know, when you say it's a 10 percent casualty rate across the force, some units probably have no casualties and others, maybe 30, 40, 70 percent. So, they're out. And it's very important for Ukrainians to keep pushing this back, to seize that Russian equipment, to turn it around and use it. That's really their best source for a lot of this equipment, including -- I understand they've captured at least one Buk (ph) air defense launcher. So, the more they can do like this, the better.

SCIUTTO: Yes. We had the report of that one city in the south where they captured 30 out of 43, I believe, Scott McLean was saying earlier in the hour, Russian pieces of equipment.

General Wesley Clark, always good to have you on.

CLARK: Thank you, Jim.

Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Still to come, President Vladimir Putin issuing a dark warning to what he considers Russian traitors. So, who should be concerned about his talk of a, quote, cleansing? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:44]

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is appealing directly to the people of Russia, attempting to debunk lies spread by the Kremlin to justify its invasion of Ukraine, in a new video shared on both Twitter and Telegram.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: Ukraine did not start this war. Neither did nationalists or Nazis. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war. This is not the Russian people's war.

See, the world has turned against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine. Whole city blocks have been flattened by Russian artillery and bombs, including a children's hospital and a maternity hospital. Three million Ukrainian refugees, mainly women, children and elderly, fled their country and many more are trying to seek to get out.

It is a humanitarian crisis. Because of its brutality, Russia is now isolated from the society of nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Schwarzenegger calling on Putin to end the war, which has now killed thousands of Russian troops, labeling anti-war protesters in Russia as his new heroes, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And he has something of a following there. He hopes to get through to them.

This morning, as ordinary Russians feel the devastating effects of economic sanctions due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Russian president is attempting to put his own spin on the effects of sanctions in truly alarming terms, claiming that sanctions are opening up new possibilities for the country's economy, and also warning his own people, Erica.

HILL: Yes. Putin issuing a warning to Russians last night, urging them to reject fellow citizens who do not support the war. People he calls slaves and traitors.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): They will try to bet on the so-called fifth column on traitors, on those who earn their money here, but live over there. Live not in the geographical sense, but in the way they think with the mindset of a slave.

These people cannot live without oysters and gender freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:29:59]

HILL: CNN's senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann joining us now.

I mean it was quite the speech, rambling in many ways.