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Zelenskyy: "I'm Ready For Negotiations" With Putin, But If They Fail, It Could Mean "A Third World War"; Chinese Airliner Carrying 132 People Crashes In Southern China; Ukrainian Mother Of 3 Posts Video Diary Of What Family Life Is Like During Putin's Invasion. aired 2:30- 3p ET
Aired March 21, 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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[14:31:39]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Don Lemon here, live in Lviv, Ukraine.
A 96-year-old Holocaust survivor was killed by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine. His name is Boris Romanchenko (ph). He survived four Nazi concentration camps during World War II. That's according to the Buchenwald Memorial Institute.
His granddaughter told the institute that Romanchenko (ph) was living in an apartment in Kharkiv that was hit during a Russian attack last Friday.
The Memorial Institute said it was stunned to learn the news of this death. Very sad news there to report.
Victor, I'm going to send it back to you in New York.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Survived Hitler, killed by Putin.
Don Lemon, for us there in Lviv, thank you.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN that he is ready for negotiations with Putin and sees those talks as crucial to avoiding World War III.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready over the last two years.
And I think that -- I think that without negotiations, we cannot end this war. But if these attempts fail that would mean that this is a Third World War.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Garry Kasparov is the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and the Renewed Democracy Initiative. He's also a world- class chess player and longtime Putin critic. He's the author of "Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the
Enemies of the Free World Must be Stopped."
Garry, thanks for being with me.
Let's pick up with what we heard from President Zelenskyy. He says he's ready to talk, that negotiations are the only way to end this war.
Do you believe this can be negotiated to an end with Vladimir Putin?
GARRY KASPAROV, CHAIRMAN, HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION & RENEWED DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE & PUTIN CRITIC: Unfortunately, not. Judging from Putin's previous political record, he will never stop short of trying to accomplish his goal.
And his goal wasn't as clear. He does not believe Ukraine deserves rights to be an independent sovereign state.
And he had been very consistent in his attempts to destroy Ukraine since his annexation of Crimea and the beginning of war in eastern Ukraine eight years ago.
I understand why Zelenskyy is insisting on negotiations. He's the president of a country during an assault.
We have 10 million Ukrainians displaced and the refugees and thousands and thousands of civilians being killed. And the country is being tormented. And Putin's troops now intentionally destroying the country, leveling the country, attacking civilians.
But when Putin talks about ceasefire, he actually means reload. And that is why I don't believe that Putin will accept anything less but speedy Ukrainian ports.
And I don't see how President Zelenskyy can accept any concessions on Ukrainian territorial integrity.
BLACKWELL: So let's talk about what the West should be doing on in support of Ukraine and President Zelenskyy.
You tweeted that Putin feels safe to continue to escalate and to target civilians, destroy cities because the U.S. has already said that it would not fight him.
Do you think that it was a mistake to -- or the mistake was to say that the U.S. will not put troops into Ukraine?
[14:35:03]
KASPAROV: Nobody asked the troops on the ground. But the request was about a no-fly zone.
And I think it is always a mistake to limit your options, any negotiations, especially when you're talking to a dictator. Not that America planned any of these things. But denying it openly,
many times, obviously gave Putin and especially his generals and admirals more comfort.
At the end of the day --
(CROSSTALK)
KASPAROV: -- Americans are -- they should make a decision. So what is the strategic goal of the war?
Because I believe the only way to solve the problem is for Ukraine so win. And we have to help them to win without even crossing the line of military confrontation with Russia.
BLACKWELL: So the obvious variable here that must be dealt with is that Vladimir Putin has nuclear weapons. And U.S. Intelligence, senior defense officials have said that there's a potential for him to use a false-flag operation to invoke the use of those.
What do you want to hear from the president on Thursday when he is there in Brussels?
KASPAROV: Look, it is -- Russia has nukes, correct. But if the fear of nuclear confrontation with Russia is a dominant factor, then how is NATO going to defend the eastern flank, Lithuania, Poland and Estonia.
That's the same problem. It is an Article 5 is just a piece of paper.
So it is important to send a signal, not too much so to Putin but to his generals, admirals, officers that NATO will not dodge the confrontation. And it will be on Putin to start a war.
And again, without even sending American planes -- pilots into the skies of Ukraine, Ukraine can receive missiles to hit Russian planes and especially Russian warships because they're the warships are being used most effectively to bomb the Ukrainian seas.
BLACKWELL: You say signal. What is the signal that the U.S. has not sent that you think it should?
KASPAROV: Oh, unfortunately, they are sending the wrong signals.
I don't believe that many Russian pilots, if any, that are willing to die for Putin, and Russian generals and admirals that are willing to become heroes to die for the war. They understand it is not in the interest issue for our country.
But, again, NATO should demonstrate its readiness to meet whatever threat Putin is posing. Because if nuclear blackmail works now, then this blackmail will be used to spread Putin's influence to NATO countries.
BLACKWELL: Garry Kasparov, thank you.
KASPAROV: Thank you. BLACKWELL: A Boeing 737 with 132 people on board has crashed in China. Search-and-rescue operations are happening now. We'll have the latest on those efforts, next.
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[14:42:26]
BLACKWELL: A closed-circuit camera in China appeared to have captured the moment a plane plunged to the ground. CNN has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the video or that the aircraft is China Eastern flight 5735.
But the plane with 132 people on board went down in the mountains of the southern Guangzhou region overnight.
Another video shows a huge plume of smoke rising from the crash site.
CNN senior international correspondent, Will Ripley, is tracking this story for us.
Will, update us on the crash and this video.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have to always use caution when we see these videos, Victor, because, as you know, a lot of things pop up on social media.
But we are doing our best to show you only what is authentic. And this video is being shared on Chinese state media claiming to show the final terrifying moments of this China Eastern flight, which had 132 people on board.
And if this video is accurate, it shows the plane basically nosediving straight towards the ground where it then -- there was a deafening explosion witnesses have described.
This is consistent with what witnesses have been telling Chinese state media, that they saw the plane hurdling headfirst into the ground.
No smoke plume. Only -- the smoke only rose after it made impact with the mountain. And there were flames visible and explosions that could be heard as well.
So, in terms of what could have caused this to happen, it is still far too early in this investigation.
But this is a Boeing 737-800, one of the most widely used narrow-body aircraft in the world. Airlines everywhere are flying this plane for the short-haul flights like this flight that was headed toward Guangzhou at the extreme southern tip of China.
If this Boeing 737-800 in any way is now some sort of -- if there's some sort of safety question about it, well, China has now grounded all of this particular aircraft.
Which by the way, is not the 737 MAX, which had its own accident history that is still under investigation. China has not allowed the Boeing 737 MAX in the air. Now they've grounded all 737-800s as well.
The Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a full investigation of this. He said he is shocked by the crash.
And for the family members who are gathered about 12 hours away from the crash site, Victor, seeing these videos and knowing that likely this is an un-survivable event, if, indeed, that video of a plane plunging headfirst is this aircraft.
[14:44:59]
It is absolutely horrifying for people wondering are they going to have any remains to identify. And with crashes at this speed, what investigators are saying and telling me is that the answer is probably no.
But more information certainly to come in the coming days and hours ahead.
BLACKWELL: And we could see from that video there of the crash site, that it is difficult to access and we know bad weather is in that area as well.
RIPLEY: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Will Ripley, thank you.
Russian shelling battered Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, overnight. There's now a curfew in effect. We'll get the latest on that.
Also, a mom who has been sheltering with her three children, she's been keeping a video diary of the situation in Kyiv. And we'll talk to her next.
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[14:50:25]
LEMON: So right now, the city of Kyiv is under a brand-new curfew, prompted by renewed shelling there. It is in effect until at least Wednesday morning.
The Ukrainian woman, her name is Olga. She was injured while protecting her newborn during a Russian missile strike on Kyiv.
She used her body to shield her one-month-old daughter from flying glass and shrapnel during the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): 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.
Dmytro (ph) was taking the baby away. I'm screaming that she's covered all in glass, all in blood. He tells me, Olga, it's your blood, it's not hers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Olga is now recovering in the hospital and is expected to be released soon. We wish her the very best.
I want to go now to Olena Gnes, another Ukrainian mother sheltering with her family. She regularly posts a video diary of her and her family's life to a YouTube channel. The YouTube channel is called "What Is Ukraine."
And there you see Olena joins me now.
Thank you so much, Olena, for joining us.
By the way, I understand Dolena (ph), your baby, is joining us as well. Dolena (ph) looks beautiful. So we really appreciate it.
Kyiv is under a new curfew. What is that like for you guys?
OLENA GNES, UKRAINIAN SHELTERING IN KYIV WITH FAMILY: For us, it means for the next two nights and the next day will spend in the basement of the building.
But we have batteries. We have some food, some water. We have electricity in the basements. But in case we don't have it, we have some like lighters (ph).
So it's fine with us to be in this curfew if it's needed. So we take it as if it's needed then OK, there's a reason behind it.
Of course, it would be better to come back to our normal life, to take children to school, to go to the garden, to go for a walk.
I have three children. This is one of them.
Yes, we have what we have right now.
LEMON: You know what's interesting to me, Olena, is that I've been speaking to a number of mothers, and almost every mother, especially if you're a young parent, a young husband, it's a single mom because the husband, the men are fighting war.
You're left at home to fend for yourself, to take care of the kids, the family, to make sure that everyone is taken care of and resources. It's tough.
GNES: It's very tough. It's very tough. But it wasn't our choice. We're not us who started the war. We were just attacked suddenly.
And we, the local people did not expect it's going to happen because what's happening is just complete nonsense. It's so cruel. It's so not fair. We had no choice left.
Yes, so my husband, on the second day after he started, he is a journalist but he just joins territorial defense unit. He was given a weapon and he's, right now, helping the army to defend the city.
Yes, I was left with three children alone in Kyiv. This is the war and it's really difficult and surreal.
But it's not the movie that you can turn off. It's not the bad news you turn off. You're in the needle of this nightmare. There's no way you can wake up.
So this is reality. We need to face it. Yes, we have been in the state of denial but now we accept it and do what we can do in this situation just to survive and to win and to win the war.
LEMON: That was something that really struck me as I've been going around here in Lviv talking to people that most of the women, especially with young children, with young husbands, are single mothers right now trying to make ends meet.
You wouldn't think about that. Most people don't have to think about that.
Let's talk about that attack that we saw near the shopping mall in Kyiv. What are your concerns about the city being encircled and your safety?
GNES: I have very big concerns. This shopping mall is not far away from where we are right now.
From the very first days of this war, I was yelling and crying and saying, if Putin wants to do, he wants to destroy Ukraine as a nation, destroy Ukraine as a country.
Because he told this to everyone on TV that Ukraine does not deserve to be a country. It's not a state. It's a misunderstanding. And Ukrainians are not a nation.
[14:55:08]
Yes, so what he wants to do is to eliminate us. You know? And this is what he is doing right now.
You see what he has done in Mariupol, in Kharkiv, Kharkiv. What stops him from doing the same in Kyiv?
LEMON: Yes.
GNES: He's using some --
LEMON: I want to show the video --
GNES: -- airplanes. And what he wants to do -- if we don't give up. And we won't give up. We will resist. We will not surrender.
Most probably, he will try to level to the ground to Kyiv and take it. If the West, NATO countries will do nothing with it, he will go forward.
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
We want to thank you.
Before we let you go, I want to show the video. This is a video of your YouTube channel. Just put it up for a moment so we can -- it's usually up. It's called "What Is Ukraine."
And now, Olena Gnes -- there it is. That's what she usually does. And now she's in a shelter, as you can see, with her baby.
Thank you, Olena. Best of luck. Be safe. We appreciate you joining us.
GNES: Thank you. Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you. Thank you.
That is normal life, Victor, here. Again, sometimes you don't realize, all of these moms are just out here doing it on their own. They have to take care of their kid, their family, they have to make sure they have groceries.
They have to do all these things with the husband who is more than likely off fighting the war and, suddenly. It happened overnight.
BLACKWELL: I don't know if you have a monitor there, Don, if you could see it or not. She was bouncing the baby, kissing the baby while answering question
LEMON: Yes.
BLACKWELL: -- trying to navigate what's happening.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Multi-tasking.
BLACKWELL: She has to. She says she doesn't have a choice.
All right, Don, thank you.
LEMON: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: We'll get back to you.
Any minute, Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, will give her opening remarks on Capitol Hill. That historic moment is just ahead.
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