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Key Ukrainian Cities Continue to Face Attacks; CNN Investigates Mariupol Maternity Hospital Strike; Border Towns Plan for Onslaught of Refugees; Air Raid Sirens And Explosions Heard In Lviv, Ukraine; Biden And Xi To Talk For The First Time Since Invasion; Expert: China Trying To Be Neutral In The War; Military Drones Raise Fears Of International Escalation. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 18, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine.
We've been hearing air raid sirens and loud explosions in this western Ukrainian city this morning which just past 8:00 a.m. New video shows large clouds of smoke on the horizon coming from the direction of the airport in Lviv. We're not sure if that was the target, but there are indications that potentially it was, indeed, what was hit.
Lviv has largely been spared from Russian bombs and missiles. That could be changing, though, based on what we are seeing this morning. We are working to get more information on exactly where the explosions happened, and we'll bring you details when we know more. Again, this happened around 6:30 a.m. local time after air raid sirens sounded across the city.
Now, in other parts of Ukraine, dozens of people have been killed in Russian attacks just over the past 24 hours. Authorities in Kharkiv say Russian shells hit a sprawling market. That caused a huge fire with plumes of black smoke that spread to nearby homes. Kharkiv's mayor says a rescue worker fighting the blaze was killed. Another Russian attack on a nearby school and arts club killed 21 people, according to local officials.
And in the southern coastal city of Mariupol, survivors have started to emerge from the rubble of a bombed-out theater. Authorities say more than a thousand people were sheltering inside when it was hit by a Russian bomb. It's not clear how many survived the attack. The city is under siege by Russian forces and emergency services have just broken down there. So, residents are having to dig through the debris by hand. Absolute hell there.
And drone footage shows the aftermath of a missile strike on an apartment building in Kyiv. Ukraine -- Ukraine's defense minister says Russian forces have made no significant progress around the capital in the past two days so that they are resorting to chaotic shelling.
U.S. President Joe Biden will speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in the coming hours with a warning that Beijing must not support Russian aggression in Ukraine. Mr. Biden met virtually with the Irish leader on Thursday, offering some choice words for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And, you know, other public standing together against a murderous dictator, a pure thug who was waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (on camera): Well, Ukraine's president delivered another stern speech, this time to German lawmakers, for not doing more to end the war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned German businesses with ties to Russia and said that economic sanctions had come too late. He also made reference to the Berlin Wall and to the holocaust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, PRESIDENT OF 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)
GORANI (on camera): In Northern Ukraine, near Belarus, Russian forces have stepped up their bombardment of the city of Chernihiv. Local officials report at least 53 people killed since Wednesday, including an American.
Fred Pleitgen has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As Vladimir Putin military rains bombs, rockets, and artillery on Ukraine, civilians are paying the highest price. Scores killed and maimed.
In Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, rescue workers dig out the bodies of an entire family killed when a residential building was hit. Dozens more civilians lost their lives in attacks. The Ukrainian government now confirming that U.S. citizen James Whitney Hill was among those killed.
I asked Chernihiv's mayor to tell me about the situation in his city.
VLADYSLAV ATROSHENKO, CHERNIHIV, UKRANE MAYOR (through translator): The intensity of the shelling is increased. It has been indiscriminate, apparently random. We are not talking about certain military infrastructure buildings being bombed. In reality, houses are being destroyed. Schools and kindergartens are being destroyed.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): This graphic video shows the gruesome aftermath of an attack on people waiting in a bread line in the same town. Witnesses say at least 10 civilians were killed. Russia's military cynically claiming it wasn't them.
IGOR KONASHENKOV, RUSSIAN ARMY MAJOR GENERAL (through translator): All units of the Russian Armed Forces are outside Chernihiv blocking the roads and no offensive actions are being taken against the city.
[02:05:03]
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Other cities are getting shelled, as well. One of the hardest hits, Mariupol in the southeast. Several were killed and wounded, mostly women and children, when a maternity ward and children's hospital were hit last week.
And then, the main theater where the U.S. believes hundreds of people had taken shelter was bombed. A small miracle, the bomb shelter under the building held up, helping some of those inside survive, though it's still unclear how many.
Authorities say efforts to pull people from the rubble are being hindered by the total breakdown of public services and the threat of further Russian attacks.
Aerial images show the building was clearly marked as having children inside, leaving Ukraine's defense minister irate.
OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: You can see from the maps, from the drones that are around this, there's big letters of children were written so the pilot of the plane which was throwing the bombs could see, and still, in spite of that, this monster has bombed the theater.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Russia has denied it was responsible for the attack and the Russians claim they only target military installations, sending out this video of them allegedly destroying Ukrainian howitzer.
But the U.K.'s defense ministry says the Russians are increasingly hitting cities with heavy and less accurate weapons because they're simply running out of precise munitions as the war drags on. Experts believe it will only get worse.
MASON CLARK, LEAD RUSSIAN ANALYST, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: They're very intentionally targeting water stations and power supplies and internet towers and cell phone towers and that sort of thing in a very deliberate attempt to make it more difficult for the defenders to hold out and try and force them to capitulate.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): But despite bringing massive firepower on civilian areas, the U.S. and its allies say Russia's offensive in Ukraine has stalled and recent territorial gains have been minimal.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine. (END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI (on camera): Earlier, I spoke with CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. I asked him if he agrees that the Russian ground offensive is stalling and that Russia is compensating with heavy weapons that are more likely to hurt civilians.
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CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: It's a symptom, I think, of their failure to advance. When you look at, you know, where they are on the map in and around Kyiv, in and around, you know, any of the other major cities like Kharkiv, it's very clear that they are not advancing in the traditional sense. They've been stalled and the resistance has, I think, surprised them.
So, the typical Russian answer to this, and historically we have seen it before, is to bring up the big guns literally. In this case, the artillery and a bombing campaign from the air. And that's what you are seeing. And they do want to soften up the population that's remaining in those cities. They want to make it absolutely miserable for anybody to remain there. And it's going to be a very rough and, I think, a deliberate campaign on their part of intimidation.
GORANI: And achieve what, in the end?
LEIGHTON: Dominance. I think total dominance is what they are trying to achieve, Hala. I think Vladimir Putin wants to subjugate Ukraine. I think he wants to take over the territory, and if possible, eliminate as many Ukrainians as he can. And that is how we're -- how we're seeing this.
I think it's going to be a very brutal way forward if he gets his way. And the Ukrainians, I think, are realizing this and that it's basically a fight for not only their territory but their very lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (on camera): That was Cedric Leighton. We now want to dig deeper into one of the most horrific events of the war in Ukraine so far. On March 9th, a Russian airstrike hit this maternity hospital in Mariupol, killing at least five people and leaving more than a dozen injured and countless people completely traumatized.
Much of the world was shocked by the sheer brutality of that strike. Russia said the attack was legitimate because Ukrainian troops had allegedly overtaken the civilian facilities.
Well, CNN looked into this incident using modeling technology, satellite images, and witness' account. As Katie Polglase reports, there is not a shred of evidence to support the Russian take.
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KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCHER (voice-over): Kharkiv is fume (ph). Melitopol. Now, Mariupol.
(CRYING)
UNKNOWN (on-screen translation): It happened on March 9. In hospital number 3.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Despite being an apparent war crime, medical facilities have been repeatedly hit by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. And with each hit, a new justification.
For Mariupol, Russia set the stage days before the attack happened.
[02:10:01]
VASILY NEBENZYA, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. (through translator): The armed forces of Ukraine have set up a fire position there.
MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Expelled the staff and patients from the maternity hospital and equipped combat positions in it.
POLGLASE (voice-over): CNN has found zero evidence such military positions were present at Mariupol's maternity and children's hospital on the afternoon of March 9th, and it was civilians that emerged from the buildings. Pregnant women injured and distressed.
City officials say 17 people, including children, women, and doctors were injured. Since then, at least five people have died.
CNN built a model that revealed many signs that civilians were still using this hospital and, therefore, it was not a justifiable military target. This satellite image taken just hours before the attack shows cars parked outside. This is the crater left behind. War crime investigators Truth-Hounds (ph) told CNN it is consistent with a 500- kilogram high-explosive bomb dropped from an aircraft.
Just meters away, this sign reads "children's diagnostic consultancy unit." According to the hospital website, it housed children with immune diseases, among other illnesses.
Over here is where people began emerging after the strike. Women, heavily pregnant, being carried with arms draped over the shoulders of others helping them get out of the chaos. And here, firemen can be seen running inside, assisting people to escape.
The internal devastation is significant. The voice you are hearing is one of the survivors speaking to "Associated Press" who gave birth shortly after.
UNKNOWN (on-screen translation): We were lying in wards when glass, frames, windows and walls flew apart. We don't know how it happened. We were in our wards and some had time to cover themselves. Some didn't.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Another seen here being stretchered out later died alongside her newborn baby. These women's stories have epitomized the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. And yet, even their suffering has been questioned with Russian officials claiming on Twitter and in news programs that they must be actors.
ALEXANDER VASILIEVICH SHULGIN, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO NETHERLANDS: This is only one woman rushing down the stairwell. Here, she changed clothes and she has been brought on the stretcher.
UNKNOWN: You are showing this to me, but if you have any real evidence --
VASILIEVICH SHULGIN: Yes, this is real evidence.
UNKNOWN: That is not -- why did you show it to me? I am just a journalist in the Netherlands. Why didn't you show it to the United Nations?
POLGLASE (voice-over): While Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov returned to the original line, this attack was justified.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): This maternity hospital had already been seized by the Azov battalion and other radicals. All the pregnant women, all the nurses, all the service personnel were already expelled from there.
POLGLASE (voice-over): As these attacks on hospitals, clinics, even ambulances continue, CNN is tracking each one. In total, we have verified 14 incidents across Ukraine. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has confirmed at least 31. And with each hit, the ability of people in Ukraine to get medical help during this conflict is made more and more difficult.
Katie Polglase, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI (on camera): And coming up on CNN, millions of refugees are flocking across borders trying to escape the fighting. But what to do with them all? We'll take you to a Romanian town trying to plan for even more in the coming days.
And Poland has become one of the largest refugee hosting countries in the world, practically overnight. I will speak with a representative from a major NGO on the frontline just after the break.
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[02:15:00]
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GORANI: Well, countries dealing with a massive flow of refugees are having to figure out what to do with them when they arrive. Romania, for instance, has already taken in nearly half a million displaced Ukrainians and more are coming every single day.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is in one Romanian city that is having to scale up its services.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Who are all these people?
(Voice-over): Friends, fellow citizens and colleagues, she says, family, too. All from Donbas in Eastern Ukraine. Refugees after the war there in 2014, refugees again.
Some people cross the border on foot, she says. Two borders. Not everyone is lucky as this 86-year-old Antonina Mikhailova who had arrived. She survived World War II. Now, she's in an apartment in central Romania with her daughter, lots of friends, and her cat named Musha (ph).
My childhood was spent during the war, she says. Now in my old age, there is war again. And for what? In the name of all people. God, please stop the war.
The medieval city of Brasov, not far from Dracula's Castle, is preparing a thousand beds for Ukrainian refugees. Those beds in a hotel in its historic center, a business development center, and a brand-new apartment building in the new part of town.
ALLEN COLIBAN, BRASOV, ROMANIA MAYOR: The main challenge is how to scale it up because this is only the first wave of refugees.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Olga Keeper from Odessa is here with her two daughters.
(On camera): How do you feel being here?
OLGA KEEPER, REFUGEE FROM ODESSA: Oh, very per -- perfecto.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Other than perfect, she says, they gave us medicine and new beds. They fed us. Then added, it's very, very, very good.
The city of Brasov preparing for even more refugees where the mayor believes will need even more support and possibly stay for a long time.
COLIBAN: If you are a mother with a child, you can come to Brasov. We can offer you a job. We can offer and we are discussing about solutions for daycare for children, how to integrate them in the educational system.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The city planning the future, but meeting basic needs, too. Coordinating with local restaurants providing thousands of meals.
[02:20:00]
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Today, on St. Patrick's Day, prepared by Deane's Irish Pub. Luck of the Irish.
ALINA COLCERU, DEANE'S IRISH PUB AND GRILL: It's more than just providing meals. We're kind of providing hope to them, and they do need that. And you can see that on their faces, and I think that's really important.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Tatiana Kiriukhina and Natalya Zhivilka, mother and daughter from Mykolaiv, got here only three days ago.
If not for the help here, she says, I don't think our nerves could have taken it. There were air raids day and night. We couldn't eat. We couldn't sleep.
In Mykolaiv, she says, the planes were flying right over our heads. Flying, flying, flying. I can't find words to explain. It's very scary.
Antonina Mikhailova has a simple wish. In my old age, I only wanted peace and prosperity, she says. Then added, I like everything to be okay. But for now, it's not.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Brasov, Romania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI (on camera): Refugee numbers are growing by the day as more Ukrainians flee. According to the U.N., more than 3.1 million people have now escaped to other countries. Poland, alone, has taken in nearly two million Ukrainians. The U.N. says more needs to be done to support the countries dealing with the massive influx of refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAOUF MAZOU, UNHCR ASSISTANT HIGH COMMISSIONER: With the current phase of refugee outflows, the capacity of neighboring countries is being tested and stretched. We can and must do more to support, and we must do it now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI (on camera): Well, Nancy Dent is a senior communications officer with the International Rescue Committee, and she joins me now from Lublin, Poland. Thanks for being with us.
What's the situation that the International Rescue Committee is witnessing and dealing with when it comes to refugees fleeing to Poland, in particular, Nancy?
NANCY DENT, SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Thank you so much for having me. So, as you mentioned before, there is around two million people who have arrived in Poland now. It's mainly women and children who are arriving. They are arriving without their fathers, their sons and partners.
And compared to recent weeks, people are steadily starting to arrive more on foot with smaller backpacks. It's very clear that they're less prepared and less equipped for what lies ahead of them. One woman I spoke to collected her daughters from other side of the border just wearing their pajamas. So, it's very clear that people really now are fleeing, you know, active conflict.
This week, the IRC has actually been carrying out a need assessment throughout different cities and towns across Poland like Warsaw and Krakow. And what we are seeing is, you know, people are being offered shelter and they are being offered hot food, but what they really need is access to information. But also, access to cash.
They have brought across their Ukrainian currency, which has got huge exchange rights and high office fees, and the money that they have brought with them is actually worthless now. So, people are finding themselves unable to buy some supplies like food, and that is a really big issue that we are seeing.
GORANI: And how do you solve that problem? How do you get refugees access to cash that they don't have? What needs to be done?
DENT: So, that's a huge part of humanitarian programming across the world. We do it in lots of countries like Afghanistan. And what it means is that we go into communities. We provide them with a set number of cash sent by the United Nations. And it really means that people are able to decide for themselves what it is that they need.
For example, if we are handing out supplies like blankets and food, you know, people have different needs. So, a family of five with three children under the age of three might have different needs to a family that have got two teenaged sons.
And so, having that cash really kind of empowers people to make decisions about what they need and, yeah, it's commonly used across the world.
GORANI: And this is obviously a short-term solution. Long-term, if this war continues and it still remains dangerous for civilians to live in some of these hard-hit areas. You're going to have to look at resettling people, enrolling their kids in school. There is a language barrier in some countries. I mean, what -- this could really be an unfolding years-long crisis in the worst-case scenario here.
DENT: Exactly. The International Rescue Committee does do that kind of programming, integration programming, already across Europe in places like Greece, for example.
I think what's really striking is that people we've spoken to so far have been adamant and are really hopeful that they will be returning to Ukraine in the coming weeks and months. We've been in these shelters, in places like Warsaw and Krakow, people are describing, you know, the fact that they want to be able to return home.
[02:24:57]
DENT: And enrolling their children in school might not necessarily be their first priority, but that really is going to become part of the humanitarian response and we really are going to have to kind of figure out ways to make sure children are getting back into school, people have access to jobs.
And like you said, you know, the language barrier is really addressed and people have access to language lessons so that they can really kind of make the best of their new communities while they do wait to return home.
GORANI: Yeah. And people seeing this happen in Europe. It's interesting to me because we've covered crisis in Syria and Iraq and -- I mean, those who resisted immigration from those parts of the world somehow believe that people leave their homes for economic opportunity, when really it is because they have no choice in the matter, because it is an existential question, they absolutely have to flee.
I wonder, at one point or at some point, is there a concern, a small concern, that the welcoming countries, the countries that have been so generous so far, that there would be so much of a -- it will tax their system, their utilities, and their services so much, that there might be some resistance to this flow of refugees streaming through?
DENT: I think we have seen across Europe and the world so far is a huge outpouring of support for the people of Ukraine and ultimately, you know, seeking asylum is a human right. It should not just be afforded to one nation more than the other and it is really important that country nationals are also receiving that kind of welcome and integration support that Ukrainians (INAUDIBLE).
GORANI: Uh-hmm. Nancy Dent, thanks very much for joining us. Appreciate it. Not everyone in Ukraine has military training or even knows how to fire a weapon, but those living under Russian shelling are finding other ways to support frontline troops. That is ahead. Stay with us.
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[02:31:32]
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST (on camera): Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani in Lviv, Ukraine, where we've been hearing air raid sirens and loud explosions this morning.
GORANI (voice-over): New video shows large clouds of smoke on the horizon coming from the direction of the airport. Unclear though if the airport itself was hit.
The mayor's office says at least one Russian missile struck a location in the city, and in a post, the mayor says the airport itself was not hit. No reports of casualties so far, but we will bring you more information as we get it, and with our crews on the ground working as well on this story.
Now, Ukrainian authorities say Russian attacks against civilians have increased in intensity in recent days. Russian shells hit a big market and Kharkiv, near the Russian border. It created a huge fireball. Kharkiv's mayor says a rescue workers fighting the fire was killed. At least 21 people were reported killed in other attacks in the city. In Chernihiv, at least 53 people have died since Wednesday. Rescue workers clearing bombing debris, discovered the body of an entire family of five people. The youngest victim 3 years old.
And in the key coastal city of Mariupol, survivors have started to emerge from the basement of that bombed out theatre we told you about over the last 24 hours.
And authorities say more than 1,000 people were sheltering inside when it was hit by a Russian bomb. It's not clear how many survived the attack.
GORANI (on camera): Well, Ukrainians apparently have no illusions that their backs are against the wall in this war, but that has only motivated many of them to fight back any way they can, even if they don't carry a gun.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has their story.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): At the youth library in Lviv, the old adage rings true, necessity is the mother of invention.
Here, eager volunteers are cutting old clothing into strips, reading and tying it to large pieces of mesh and making camouflage netting for the frontline troops.
Lead coordinator, Natalia Tamavasca (PH) tells us everyone here feels a sense of purpose.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or they will be more powerful because each lady, each child, and each grandmother are with our army.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could help my country --
ABDELAZIZ: 18-year-old Maria Yalova (PH), fled Kyiv with her family about a week ago, leaving her cat behind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel (INAUDIBLE), because I don't want to leave my home.
ABDELAZIZ: When you look around you, how do you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel very happy, very strong, and a bit safer, and calm.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): In the war effort, nothing is spared. Every single scrap is put to good use. Russia might have the more powerful military, but Ukrainian say it's their resourcefulness that will win them the war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll go to Wood Park.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In peacetime, Andrei Lovetteski's (PH) workshop mix household furniture.
You make these doors?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, we make like this doors.
ABDELAZIZ: But they've stopped making money and started making anti- tank barriers for checkpoints.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Did you ever make things for the military before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, because now it's necessary to help our soldier, our refugees, and so on, and so on. So, we are looking in Internet how it's --
ABDELAZIZ: You looked up online to figure how to make it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, yes. yes. And as to said --
ABDELAZIZ: You watch like a YouTube tutorial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And when tens of 1000s fleeing violence flooded Lviv, the left core bus theatre set the stage for their most important role, hosts.
[02:35:08]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These beds that you see here are not beds at all. They're parts of our foldup theatre, she tells me. The few at the frontline are supported by the many of us at the rear.
Creativity and tenacity bolstering a nation's resistance against the superpower reliant on brute force.
Salma Abdelaziz CNN, Lviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, if you would like to help Ukrainians who may be in need of basic necessities, go to cnn.com/impact, you'll find ways to help there. Our breaking news coverage continues with Kim Brunhuber at the CNN Center after this quick break.
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[02:40:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta.
In the coming hours, the presidents of the U.S. and China will speak by phone. It's the first time the two have spoken since Russia invaded Ukraine.
And there's worry at the White House that Chinese President Xi Jinping will take up Russia's request for help in the war.
Kristie Lu Stout joins us live from Hong Kong with what we can expect in the next few hours.
So, Kristie, the two leaders will speak for the first time, as I said, since the invasion, so how is the upcoming call being framed in China?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Kim, it's interesting. Because according to Chinese state run media, when Xi Jinping and Joe Biden speak in this phone call the hours ahead, they will be exchanging views on issues of mutual concern.
But according to the White House, they will be discussing managing competition and Russia's war against Ukraine. Those two issues not mentioned at all on Chinese state-run media. In the run up to today's phone call between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, Biden administration officials have been making the assertion that Russia is seeking economic assistance, military assistance from China, an accusation that both China and Russia deny.
We also heard from Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary on Thursday, we said that there is "high concern" that China could still support Russia.
The Biden administration has also warned China that it will impose costs if China supports Russia.
Now look, Biden officials, they also have to grapple with an additional thing, clarity.
What is trying to support on this, especially given the mixed messages that we've been seeing in recent months? For example, let's go back to February. We'll remind our viewers of this image taken in Beijing this summit, between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, which these two leaders declared that the relationship between Russia and China had "no limits".
And then a very interesting meeting that took place earlier this week in Lviv, where China's top diplomat in Ukraine, met with Ukrainian officials, shook hands, and China declared that it would never attack Ukraine, and it was willing to provide support economically, to Ukraine.
But then yesterday, there was an additional meeting between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official and Russia's ambassador to China.
Interestingly enough, those two meetings, the one in Lviv, the one in China, not mentioned in Chinese state-run media. This is the balancing game that China has been playing. And when you talk to analysts, they say this is the position that China is going to present in the phone call. This position of being a neutral third party.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) YUN SUN, DIRECTOR, DIRECTOR, CHINA PROGRAM, STIMSON CENTER: So, neither leaning towards Russia, nor leaning towards Ukraine, and instead they try to present itself as a neutral third party and communicating with the United States about the China's position, and also the injustice if U.S. decides to pursue secondary sanctions on China because of his --this economic relationship with Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Yun Sun of the Stimson Center there. So, is China on the side of Russia or Ukraine? According to Yun? And the answer is both, as China plays out this strategy of balance diplomacy. Back to you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, a lot of stake in that call. We'll be following that story throughout the day.
Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Thank you so much.
And do stay with us. Our break news coverage continues after this quick break.
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[024743]
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. reportedly plans to hand over some military drones to Ukraine to help it fight the Russian invasion. Two sources told CNN, the White House has approved sending the portable Switchblade drones like this one.
But since the war began, military drones have flown into other countries airspace at least three times. And that includes a drone that crashed all the way in Croatia, hundreds of miles from Ukraine.
Those incidents didn't prompt a response from NATO countries in the region. But there's a concern things could turn out differently next time around.
For more, we're joined by Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and he's speaking with us from Canberra.
Thanks so much for being here with us.
So, first, tell me a bit more about the use of drones in this conflict. How widespread are their use? Who is using them? And for what?
MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST FOR DEFENSE, STRATEGY, AND CAPABILITY, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, look, it's very interesting in the sense that we fully expected the Russians to use large numbers of drones. And by drones, we're really talking about loitering munitions, which are essentially intelligent artillery shells that can essentially fly through the air, basically, a circle above a battlefield, identify a target, and then strike that target. You saw the sorts of capabilities used extensively by the Azerbaijanis in the recent war with Armenia back in 2020, to great effect against the Armenian armor. But instead, what we've seen in this particular conflict with the Russians is they haven't really used drones at all, which surprised us because the Russians have been investing heavily in drones.
So, I think that what you'll see with Switchblade is the Ukrainians getting a very effective loitering munition capability they can use to great effect against Russian armor.
BRUNHUBER: So, if Ukrainians, I guess, have been using them more so, is that right? And in the case of that drone that crashed in Croatia, they weren't able to identify whether it was Russian or Ukrainian, but what was the likelihood then?
DAVIS: Well, look, I think that what you're seeing so far is not so much loitering munitions, per se, but reconnaissance strikes. In other words, the sorts of things like a reaper or a predator that the Americans have used. But the Ukrainians using something similar to identify targets, and then carry out attacks on those targets.
[02:50:05]
DAVIS: The Switchblade is a next step along in the sense that it is a loitering munition so it's actually lethal weapon in itself. The drone that crashed in Croatia, as you correctly say, it's more a reconnaissance drone rather than an attack drone. And I think that's the difference.
BRUNHUBER: So, then, how likely is this type of potentially disastrous scenario, a Russian drone, let's say hitting a NATO country. And then, you know, NATO having to respond?
DAVIS: Look, I think if the Russians were seen to be targeting a NATO country, for example, attacking the supply column of weapons into Ukraine by attacking it on NATO soil, that would be disastrous, because then that would be an attack on NATO, which would require an Article Five response.
If on the other hand, it's just basically a drone that has lost its way and crashes after it runs out of fuel, there is a deconfliction line between NATO and the Russians that would be used to try and sort that out. We know --
(CROSSTALK)
BRUNHUBER: Right. But on that -- just want to cut in there, because on that note, I mean, there is that de-escalation line, as you said. But, at least, when NATO tried to use it, apparently, Russia wasn't answering. So, how useful is that?
DAVIS: Well, very good point. I mean, the deconfliction line is not that used with the other side, doesn't pick up the phone. So, I think that in a crisis, we would hope that the Russians would pick up the phone, particularly if the incident involved loss of life on NATO territory.
If the Russians didn't pick up the phone, if they ignored any attempts by NATO to deconflict or deescalate, well, then we have to make some decisions as to how we respond.
BRUNHUBER: Just looking at the state of the conflict now that U.K. Ministry of Defense highlighted one of the reasons the Russian invasion is stalling, and that's a lack of logistical support, things like resupplying troops with food and fuel. I mean, that seems quite remarkable that they're unable to do this. Is that what you're seeing? And why would that be?
DAVIS: But for years, we've been watching the Russians modernize their military forces since their disastrous outing in the 1994 Chechen War. They fought wars in Syria, where they've effectively use Syria as a battle lab to try new techniques and new technologies.
And yet, here we get to Ukraine in 2022. And it seems like they've learned nothing in terms of logistics support, in terms of combined arm operations, in terms of control of the air, and indeed, in terms of use of technologies like drones, and loitering munitions.
So, it is mystifying as to how the Russians have fought this war so badly. And I think it is probably going to cause a reassessment of the Russians, in NATO and in the United States in terms of just militarily at the conventional level at least, how effective really are they.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. We only have about 30 seconds left. But I mean, on that note, and you mentioned Syria, but it's been argued that this lack of competence is what is making this war now so brutal for civilians, that that's why they have to terrorize the population. Do you -- do you agree?
DAVIS: Yes, the Russians are reverting back to their traditional mode, which is to be -- to put it bluntly, to be brutalizing civilians and attacking indiscriminately urban areas. That's what they've done in in 1994 with Grozny, which they reduced it to rubble.
I suspect that's what they're going to try and do in Kyiv. And I think that the world is -- it has to be primed and ready to respond, particularly, if we do see the Russians take the next step, which is to use chemical weapons against urban areas.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, let's certainly hope we don't see that. Malcolm Davis, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
DAVIS: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Well, yesterday, we told you about Russian prima ballerina Olga Smirnova, who announced she is quitting the Bolshoi Ballet to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): More in her statement, Smirnova wrote, "I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia, I've always been proud of talented Russian people, of our cultural and athletic achievements. But now I feel that the line has been drawn that separates the before and the after."
Well, CNN has spoken with the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet company, who's welcoming her with open arms. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED BRANDSEN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET: She is one of the most important artists in Russia, and she's, you know, considered an international star of ballet world.
And it is a big move. I think she's the biggest name artist who has spoken out against the war and against Putin. And I just asked her now, weren't you at all scared or worried when you make this statement?
And she said, no, I just had to. I couldn't sit by and let this happen and not react. There was no -- there's no fear. She said, and I knew that I had to eventually leave the country and that I had to find a future somewhere else.
[02:55:09]
Because for the foreseeable future, there is not going to be any international art coming through Russia. There is not going to be any exchange, and we're separating ourselves completely, and we're locking ourselves away from the rest of the world. And as an artist, she can't deal with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Smirnova isn't the only ballerina who's resigned. Two other Bolshoi members left the troupe last week.
Well, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Our breaking news coverage continues after a break. Please do stay with us.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.
[03:00:01]
GORANI: Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from the Lviv in Ukraine.
The mayor here in Lviv says several Russian missiles hit an aircraft repair plant near the airport, earlier this morning.
