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U.S. and NATO Struggle over Negotiations; Oleksandr Senkevych is Interviewed about Mykolaiv; Boeing Jet Crashes in China. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:33:40]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

Harrowing stories continue to come out of Ukraine. This one a Ukrainian mother protecting her newborn baby during a Russian missile strike on their building. That is the mother. Her name is Olga. She and her husband were at home feeding the baby when their building was hit. She used her body to shield the one-month-old from flying shrapnel and shattered glass.

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OLGA (through translator): I was wounded in the head and blood started flowing. And it all flowed on the baby. And I couldn't understand. I thought it was her blood. Demitro (ph) was taking the baby away. I'm screaming that she is covered all in glass, all in blood. He tells me, Olga, it's your blood, it's not hers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Wow. She sustained multiple injuries, the mother that is. She's recovering, as you can see, in the hospital. The baby's father, Demitro, was treated for wounds to his leg. Her doctor says that she is expected to be discharged soon.

Well, this morning, CNN has learned that U.S. and NATO officials are still trying to decipher the status of negotiations, what this might even look like between Russia and Ukraine as they weigh next steps. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has recently indicated he is willing to consider some concessions to try to bring an end to the violence, but says it would need to come with robust security guarantees.

[09:35:03]

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN White House reporter Natasha Bertrand is at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Natasha, you know, when it comes to the negotiations happening, what kind of evidence are NATO leaders looking for here? NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, they're looking for

concrete signs by Russia that it is actually willing to deescalate in this conflict, which, of course, they have not seen so far. Russia continues to bombard cities across Ukraine, and their tactics have only gotten more and more brutal even as these talks with Ukrainians have gone on.

And they're looking for evidence that Russia is going to put forward proposals that are actually deemed palatable and acceptable by the Ukrainians. Right now there is a huge gap, according to the officials that we speak to, between what the Russians are demanding and what the Ukrainians seem willing to accept. And part of what the Ukrainians and the Russians have put out there in terms of the proposals and what they're willing to actually implement is public. And the Ukrainians have said that they want a cease-fire, they want Russia to withdraw all of their troops from its territory and they want security guarantees.

But Russia is saying that they want Ukraine to recognize those separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. They want the full demilitarization of Ukraine. And they also want to de-nazify Ukraine. That is a preposterous claim that they have made as to why they've gone in. And so a lot of these proposals that the Russians are putting forward just do not seem like they are actually serious about this -- about finishing this conflict peacefully. So the Americans and the Europeans are kind of watching for any sign that those -- that that gap can narrow. Of course, they have very little visibility into these talks right now, so they're looking for those outward signs for any kind of guidance here on where they're going.

John.

BERMAN: Natasha Bertrand in Brussels. Much more from you as the week progresses. Thank you very much.

Still ahead, the reality in heavily bombarded southern Ukraine. We're going to speak with the mayor of the southern city of Mykolaiv feeling part of the intense pressure and shelling from the Russian forces.

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[09:41:37]

BERMAN: This morning, Ukrainian forces are making significant gains on a road between Russian-held Kherson and the strategic port city of Mykolaiv, exposing the limits of Russia's military power.

With me now is the mayor of Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us right now.

We've seen so much fights in and around your city. Can you tell me what's happening now?

MAYOR OLEKSANDR SENKEVYCH, MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE: Hello, studio. So, today we were bombarded again right -- right -- let's say an hour ago we were bombarded in the center of the city. A hotel was destroyed and one bomb fall in the center of the city right in park where kids were playing. Another bomb hit the ship building plant.

BERMAN: So you were hit in the center of the city, hit in a park where children play.

Mykolaiv has held out. How much longer do you think you can stand?

SENKEVYCH: For sure our troops can stand until the last ammo. And we pushed them back to the Kherson area. They fell back for about 60 kilometers out of the city, but they feel the weakness and they started to bombard the city with more power.

They run more missiles, the missile cluster bombs and just bombs from the aircrafts. Unfortunately, the first days, they ruined our anti-air artillery. So they keep bombarding us from the Kherson, from the Crimea area, and also with the aircrafts inside the center of the city.

BERMAN: It sounds like what you're saying is, as the Ukrainian military pushes them back on the ground, the Russian attacks from the air grow stronger and more devastating.

SENKEVYCH: Right. So, they feel like they lose on the ground, and they started to bombard us with aircraft, and with long distance missiles.

BERMAN: Now, I know there was also that devastating Russian attack on the 36 Naval Infantry Brigade not far from you. What's the latest on the situation there?

SENKEVYCH: For now we're getting people by buses from the places where -- that were took by our army. And we got more refugees from those territories and we put them in the city. We feed them. We give them places to live, and some of them moving to Odessa, to western Ukraine and outside of Ukraine.

For now, our territory has the connection with the territorial Ukraine, so we have products, food. Right now in the city with electricity, water, heating and also public transport works, not pretty well, but anyway, people are able to get by transport to get food.

BERMAN: Any thoughts of suggesting that people in your city evacuate or leave?

SENKEVYCH: I would say that once our -- the people left the city.

[09:45:02]

We count this by garbage collection and water usage. We are able to move people outside of the city using our transport. But not too much -- not too many people want to leave the city. I would say that about 300 people leave the city using this public (ph) transportation. BERMAN: Mr. Mayor, what message do you want to send to the rest of

your country, to the rest of Ukraine, and what message do you want to send to the world?

SENKEVYCH: I -- to the rest of the country, I would say that we will stand until the last person ready to defend our city and our country and to the last ammo. And to the world, I would say that this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine. This is a war between western civilization and Russian Nazis. They kill our children, women. They kill elder. They don't bomb military objects. They bomb our city where people live. And for sure we need more of this heavy little weapon to defend ourselves. I understand that NATO won't close the sky under -- above the Ukraine, but anyway, we are ready to close it by ourselves. Thank you -- thanks -- another thanks to the United States for providing us with this weapons that we will be able to close it by ourselves.

BERMAN: Oleksandr Senkevych, Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

SENKEVYCH: Thank you.

HARLOW: Wow, what a telling interview, saying our city will stand until the last ammo.

John, thank you for that.

Coming up next, we are following tragic, breaking news in southern China this morning where a 737 jet with 132 passengers has crashed in the remote mountainous region. We'll take you live to the latest details.

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[09:51:24]

HARLOW: Well, right now, search and rescue efforts are underway in the mountains of southern China after a Boeing 737 passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed earlier today. This is video of the crash site, and it shows a fiery scene. There has been no word yet on the number of casualties.

In a swift, public statement, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was shocked by the disaster and has ordered an immediate investigation into the crash.

Let's go to our CNN senior international correspondent Will Ripley, who joins us live.

Do we know anything? I mean what the weather was like? Any indication of the cause?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you saw the video there. It doesn't seem that weather would have been a factor in this incredibly terrifying descent that this plane made. You know, there was -- there's a chart that we can show you, to go from 25,000 feet to under 3,000 feet in less than two minutes, with a slight interval at about 10,000 feet trying to pull up, that had to be just -- if you were on that plane, if you're one of the 123 passengers and nine crew members, absolutely horrifying to experience that.

And, you know, we talk about this every time there's a crash. The families now that are waiting, wondering what happened. And all they have to look at are these videos that are either on Chinese state media or social media where you see the plume of smoke, you see this heavily, you know, forested mountainous area in Guanchi (ph) region of China. It's a very difficult location to get to. Pieces of airplane debris on the ground, you know.

And we're not showing these just, you know, as soon as they're posted. We're geolocating where these videos were taken. We're trying to authenticate them as best we can. So when you look at all of this and the fact that the Chinese president, within a matter of hours, made a statement saying that he was shocked by this, that he's calling for an investigation, sending a full team of not only investigators but rescuers to this scene, it does show that this is a very, very big deal in China, where they have not, Poppy, had an aircraft fatality in more than a decade. It was 2010 the last time that somebody died in a plane crash in China.

HARLOW: Wow.

RIPLEY: It was when an airliner overshot the runway, 44 passengers died. Nothing since then. Back in the '90s, yes, they had a lot of plane crashes in China. But the last two decades, they've really upped their pilot training, their air traffic control, you know, regulations. They have a young fleet of aircraft. This is truly devastating on many levels or people in China right now.

HARLOW: Devastating. And 132 people on board and their families waiting -- waiting for any word.

RIPLEY: Yes.

HARLOW: Will Ripley, thank you for the reporting.

Also more sad news to bring you this morning. The Marine Corps has identified four U.S. service members killed during a NATO training exercise in Norway. The four Marines died after their helicopter crashed in the Arctic Circle. This happened on Friday. You see their images there. These are the fallen Marines, as we remember them, Captain Matthew J. Tomkiewiczs, just 27-years-old, from Indiana, Captain Ross A. Reynolds, also 27-years-old, from Massachusetts, Gunnery Sergeant James Speedy, a 30-year-old Ohio native who had earned two gold stars, and Corporal Jacob M. Moore, a 24-year-old from Kentucky.

Officials stay the Marines were taking part in a NATO training exercise that was not linked to the war in Ukraine and it is an exercise that had been planned for more than eight months. The remains of the fallen Marines have been recovered. They're in the process of being returned to the United States. The cause of this crash is being investigated and our hearts are with their families. Still ahead in Ukraine, we are learning at least one man injured amid

gunfire at a protest in Russian-held Kherson. We are live on the ground in Ukraine.

[09:55:01]

John Berman is there with all the lates details ahead for us.

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BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman, reporting from Lviv in western Ukraine.

HARLOW: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, live here in New York.

New video just into CNN this hour. Frantic images of firefighters rushing to the scene of a major blast at an apartment complex in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. John spoke to the mayor last hour and he said a bombing targeted the center of the city, hit a hotel and landed near a playground where children were playing.

[10:00:03]

BERMAN: It comes as at least eight people are dead this morning following a Russian air strike on a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv.