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Biden Meets With World Leaders for Emergency Summits on War in Ukraine; Ukraine Says, Russian Ship Destroyed in Port of Berdyansk; U.S. Officially Accuses Russian Military of War Crimes in Ukraine. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 24, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That would increase the number of NATO forces in those eastern NATO alliance countries from 20,000 to 40,000 within days, doubling that number. We're watching all of this unfold very, very closely.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We are. Thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Poppy Harlow.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addressed NATO ahead of these critical meetings delivering an impassioned plea for even more military assistance. Listen.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: You have at least 8,000 tanks. Ukraine asks for 1 percent, 1 percent of all your tanks. Please give them to us or sell them to us, but we, so far, have not heard a clear response. This is the worst thing about war, would not to have a clear answer from U.S. to request for help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, today marks one month since this war began. This new video you're looking at coming in from Chernhiv, Ukraine, highlighting just a small example of the extent of devastation, look at this, that Russia has inflicted. This war creating heartbreaking humanitarian crisis. UNICEF this morning announcing one in every two Ukrainian children has been displaced since this conflict began, Wolf.

BLITZER: It's so heartbreaking indeed to see what's going on, now entering the second month of this brutal war.

Our Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins with us. Kaitlan, you're getting good information about what's been going on for these past several hours and you and I have been here. What's going on inside?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, President Biden has three extraordinary meetings today. He is in the second one now with leaders of the G7 nations. Those, are, of course, those industrialized nations. He finishes meeting earlier that stretched on for several hours with the other heads of NATO. And emerging from that, Wolf, the president put out a statement and he said, in part, NATO leaders met today on the month anniversary of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, to reiterate our strong support for the Ukrainian people, our determination to hold Russia accountable for its brutal war and our commitment to strengthening the NATO alliance. And, of course, those are all three of the top things that they've been talking about in that room behind closed doors.

But it came after President Zelenskyy himself addressed the group via video conference. He was not physically here at the summit, of course, he's in Kyiv, in Ukraine, in the capital, but he made this appeal for more assistance. He thanked them for what they've done so far. He said he wasn't blaming NATO given they're not the ones who are invading Ukraine or killing civilians but he said he needs more assistance. And part of that, Wolf, that he asked for were fighter jets. And that is something that, of course, the White House had said previously they were opposed to facilitating the transfer of that after Poland offered some of its used fleet.

I am told that despite this new appeal from President Zelenskyy today, where he said, NATO, speaking to all of them, you have thousands of fighter jets, yet you have not given Ukraine one of those. I am still told the U.S. is opposed to providing them with those fighter jets.

Now, what other conversations they've had behind closed doors? We'll likely hear from President Biden later on when he speaks to reporters to basically debrief us on how this day has gone, what progress they've made, what commitments they've made to Ukraine.

We should note that the United States is prepared to announce in a little bit that they are willing to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, of course, given the refugee crisis that this invasion has caused. About 3.5 million people have had to flee Ukraine because of this Russian invasion. And so we are told that they have said that they will accept up to 100,000, which is a huge deal, Wolf, because last year alone, the United States did not come close to taking 100,000 refugees, even if you're speaking of all refugees.

BLITZER: From all over the world, the U.S. didn't take in 100,000 refugees and now you're reporting that the U.S. is prepared to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

COLLINS: And they also say they are prepared to provide about a billion dollars in humanitarian assistance. That's, of course, for all of these nations that are taking in new refugees that say they've been overwhelmed by the numbers that have come into their countries. So, yes, you're seeing that aspect of the response too. We'll see more of that when President Biden goes to Poland after he finishes his meetings here. But these are very intense meetings that are happening behind the scenes and very extraordinary that you're seeing this, Wolf.

BLITZER: It's interesting. I spoke with the Pentagon press secretary, retired Admiral John Kirby, a little while ago, and I asked him about your excellent reporting that there were special teams now that have been created in Washington at a high level to deal with contingencies, and we know the military always has contingency plans, but in a serious way to deal with potential contingencies if, God forbid, the Russians were to start using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine that could spill over into the NATO alliance.

COLLINS: And the chemical weapon seems to be the number one concern based on officials that we've spoken with at the White House, the concerns they have. Obviously, you've seen Putin threaten nuclear weapons potentially.

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He's put his nuclear forces on a high alert. You've not seen the United States match that alert, saying that they don't have evidence to believe that they should be more concerned than you normally would be. But they do seem concerned about Putin using chemical weapons on the Ukrainian people.

And so one big question that happens here for these world leaders that are gathered in this building behind us is whether or not that would warrant a military response, what would the response look like. And, of course, they'd have to help in other measures when it comes contamination problems for people if there are these chemical weapon attacks.

So, all of that is what they're getting into behind the scenes here as they're having meetings with NATO leaders, with the G7 allies, and, of course, one more meeting that President Biden has later on, all of this is on the table, Wolf.

BLITZER: You and I have been reporting for several hours and more to come. I think they're maybe halfway through this day. They've got a lot more work to do. Kaitlan, thank you very, very much.

Let's continue the conversation right now with Ambassador Daniel Baer. He's the acting director, the acting director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us.

Given your big picture right now, what do you anticipate will emerge from this extraordinary, hastily arranged summit?

DANIEL BAER, ACTING DIRECTOR OF EUROPE PROGRAM, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, Wolf, it's great to be back with you and, obviously, there are kind of three summits going on and President Biden's trip last summer to Europe was a dress rehearsal in a way for what's happening today. There's the G7 summit, the NATO summit and the summit with the European Union leaders.

And I expect that in all three of those, President Biden will be leading on continuing to deny President Putin his strategic objectives. President Putin had the objective of subjugating Ukraine, he had the objective of elevating Russia, he had the objective of dividing the west. And on all three counts, he has failed so far and President Biden's trip is to push back on all three of those objectives even further and that's why we saw the announcement of new sanctions today punishing Russia. We will see the announcement of force posture adjustments for NATO. We'll see the announcement of solidarity with the E.U. on refugees and humanitarian issues, and we'll see continued efforts to rally assistance to Ukraine.

BLITZER: You know, it's really been impressive to see how the first month of this war, how impressive the Ukrainian military has been under the leadership of President Zelenskyy. I know U.S. officials have been impressed and surprised. They didn't necessarily anticipate it would be that effective. What's your reaction?

BAER: I think there have been surprise on both sides of the ledger. There's been surprise at how poorly the Russian military has performed, and surprise on how well the Ukrainian military has performed and the Ukrainian people, how brave they've been. Although I would say the surprise is slightly less on that side because those who have been working with the Ukrainian military over the last eight years since the first invasion have seen steady progress. And, obviously, the Ukrainians have put to good use the Stingers and the Javelins that have been provided by the U.S. and allies.

One of the interesting things that's happened in the last month, really, is the total internationalization of the support of Ukraine. Wolf, an interesting statistic I heard last week is that before this latest invasion a month ago today, there were three countries that were providing direct military assistance to Ukraine. Over the last month, that number has gone from 3 to 30. It's really an unprecedented international effort to support Ukraine and the war of self-defense.

BLITZER: As you correctly point out, what the Russians have done is totally unify, unite this 30-member NATO alliance, very impressive what's been going on.

As you heard our reporting, a senior administration official, Ambassador, has told CNN that the White House has actually authorized a team of officials to quietly, behind the scenes, map out potential ways, potential ways the U.S. could respond if President Putin were to use extreme measures, weapons of mass destruction, for example, chemical, biological or even tactical nuclear weapons. What's your reaction to that?

BAER: Well, I think, going forward, the president will -- one of the reasons he's in Europe today is to make sure to do things together with allies and the time to arrange that is before things happen, not after. So, he's laying the groundwork for whatever might come next.

I'm deeply concerned, given, frankly, that the United States, that President Biden's administration had been right so far in their prediction of what has happened. They've obviously upped their level of concern, you've seen it in their public statements over the last weeks on both cyber and on chemical weapons. And we've also seen President Putin follow a pattern over many years where he often accuses others of what he is either about to do or already doing, and in that respect, the noises that the Russians have been making on this front are deeply concerning as well. As we go forward, I expect that there will be an effort stay lashed up with our European allies and to deal with situations as they unfold. I think it's really good news that the president and the national security adviser have already laid planning in place and have this so- called tiger team working on scenarios.

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And, obviously, every scenario will be different and the president is preserving the opportunity to change his assessment as the situation changes on the ground.

BLITZER: One major power clearly and obviously missing from all of these summits, as you correctly point out, three summits underway here in Brussels today, China. China appears to be playing both sides right now, keeping lines of communication open with the U.S. and some of the other countries, while at the same time making some minor moves that seem to be punitive towards Russia, all the while, tactically standing by Putin, at least in public. How much of a calculation is China taking in all of these talks? How much -- give us your sense of what China is up to right now because U.S. and the other NATO allies, the G7, they would like to see China publicly condemn Russia for what it's doing.

BAER: Absolutely. And if not publicly condemn, then they at least want to make clear to China that any effort that China might make to help Russia circumvent the sanctions would hamper the relationship with the United States and Europe. That's why you saw National Security Adviser Sullivan meet with his Chinese counterpart early last week. President Biden obviously had a phone call with Xi last week to send that message that there would be consequences for the bilateral relationship if China were to take those steps.

Here, again, I think the so-called dress rehearsal, what I call the dress rehearsal of the trip last summer was really important because President Biden met with the same three groups then. And in all three cases, the communiques coming out of those meetings had content on China, which -- calling out the concerns, the challenges that China posed to the international system. Well, here we are, eight, nine months later, and the challenge is there. China's role in this conflict in its new partnership with Russia puts it in an extremely awkward position for Chinese foreign policy because Chinese foreign policy has long held the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity as something that is orthodox. And so they are in an awkward position where they are both supporting the junior partner and this new China/Russia partnership, as well as trying to maintain their relationship with U.S. and Europe and their longstanding international commitments. And we should put them on that awkward dance that they are doing.

BLITZER: It's very awkward indeed. Ambassador Daniel Baer, thanks so much for joining us. And we hope to continue these conversations down the road. This war, clearly, sadly, is not ending.

Poppy, back to you.

HARLOW: Okay. Wolf, thank you so much.

New this morning, Ukrainian Armed Forces say they destroyed a large Russian warship in the port city of Berdyansk. A video show fire, look at that, at the Russian-occupied port along with a series of explosions across the city. Ukrainian officials also say two other Russian ships were damaged, the strike also forcing a couple of landing ships to head west and away from the port.

Let's go back to John Berman. He joins us from Lviv, Ukraine, with the latest. Can you speak to how big of a loss this is for Russian forces?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, certainly, a public relations loss. This ship is the Orsk, which was a ship that he Russians had actually published video of arriving in the port city of Berdyansk, to say, hey, the Russians, we're here in this Ukrainian port city. So, they had put that out weeks ago and now it's that ship that's ablaze.

It's a large landing ship. What that means is it lands tanks, other large pieces of gear and puts them on to shore. We don't know if it was loaded with that type of gear there, but, clearly, a public relations success for the Ukrainians, also other explosions taking place at that port. Our Frederik Pleitgen, who has visited that area, says that a disabled ship in port there might very well close down the entire harbor. It's not that big, so it could be hard to get in and out.

It also, Poppy, shows, you know, people have been looking at our CNN maps, the areas in red, which is where the Russian troops are occupying or at least Russian troops are operating. What this shows is that even in those areas in red, the Ukrainians are able to strike back. Just because the Russian troops are there doesn't mean they will stay there or they're safe.

HARLOW: It's such a good point.

John, also, today marks one month, right, one month into this war, and we're getting a new look at what exactly Russia is doing in some of those hardest hit cities. As you see this, as you are there on the ground, let's talk about the efforts to escape and the devastating toll that it has taken even on people who are able to escape. You spoke to a teen that managed to escape Chernihiv but at a devastating cost. I mean, watching your interview with him earlier, John, just stopped all of us in our tracks.

BERMAN: So, Poppy, as you've been saying, UNICEF today says that one in two children in Ukraine have been displaced.

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And we did speak to one 15-year-old boy, Andriy, who's from Chernihiv, and he was forced from his house at gunpoint by the Russians and then later, he was in a car and drove over what he believes to be a mine. And he told us this incredibly tragic story. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDRIY, ESCAPED CHERNIHIV: I just remember, like I woke up in road. I see the broken car and I see my mother in fire. My mother was (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother still alive while she was on fire.

I started crawling away from the road and then I felt pain in my left clavicle.

ANDRIVY: Yes, I have broken -- I feel blood in my left ear. Then I hear shooting, not from weapons, rockets or something. And I cling to stairs and hide here.

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BERMAN: Again, he was able to get out of Chernihiv. His father is with him and is okay as well. They're both devastated, mourning the loss of his mother who did not survive that blast. And remarkably, Poppy, Andriy tells me he wants to go back to Chernihiv, that he wants to be part of the rebuilding there, that he knows that he and that city have a future and he insists that he'll be part of it.

HARLOW: Of course, right? It's his home and look at how much he's already lost, 15 years old. John, thank you, I encourage everyone to watch your entire interview with him. Thank you very much to you and your team for that.

Still to come, the United States is now officially accusing the Russian military of committing war crimes in Ukraine. This is a formal declaration, but what could that actually mean for Russia, right? How do you hold them accountable?

Plus, President Biden meets with European council meeting leaders later this hour on Russia's aggression before speaking this afternoon where we'll take his remarks live. Of course, we'll look at the one critical message that he has to send.

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HARLOW: New this morning, the United Nations says more than 1,000 civilians have now been killed in Ukraine in the month since this war began. That is the confirmed number, we should note. Obviously, they believe the real figure is considerably higher.

The U.S. is now also officially accusing Russia of committing war crimes. Let's talk about what that actually means with CNN National Security Analyst Andrea Kendall-Taylor. She is a senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Andrea, thank you for being here.

Yesterday afternoon when this news broke, it certainly is symbolically significant for the U.S., for Blinken to formally state that Russia has committed war crimes, but I think the obvious question is, and then what, right, especially without the U.S. as a party to the International Criminal Court. They talk about possibly some trials and abstentia. But what do you think that actually means for the ongoing conflict now and for any accountability of Russia?

ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it is necessary in a very welcome statement that we heard yesterday. But you're right, the question is what. We have seen in the past that there are cases of holding these authoritarian leaders accountable for their crimes. We saw, for example, Chile's Pinochet and Serbia's Milosevic were extradited and held accountable for their crimes. But there are also a number cases where that doesn't happen.

But the symbolism is still important. When you think about the calculus Russian fighters, the fact that they know that they cannot be acting with impunity can affect their calculus. So, if you believe that the international community is there collecting data, building cases, I think the goal is to dissuade Russian fighters from using such indiscriminate force.

So, even if we aren't able to get leaders like Putin into an international court, it can still affect the calculus of the fighters on the ground and that's really important.

HARLOW: Can we also talk more about how you think this might affect Putin's mindset, because you said something interesting earlier? You said, if Putin expects he'll be tried for war crimes and end up in jail, he will fight bitterly to ensure that he's never removed from office. Do you think a designation like that, a formal designation like that would actually change the decisions, the calculation that Putin makes?

KENDALL-TAYLOR: Well, I think that is the downside or at least the dynamic we have to be aware of. There is actually quite a lot of political science research that talks about what leaders expect to happen to them after they leave office does, in fact, affect their decisions that they make while still in office.

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And so if a leader like Putin expects that he's going to be dragged off to the ICC jailed or worse, then it makes him really double down and dig in, and I think to use all means necessary to preclude that kind of outcome. He will fight more violently in order to preclude that from happening. So, I think it's a necessary step, but we just have to be aware of the dynamic and the way that might shape Putin's calculus.

HARLOW: One of the video messages posted by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, this one on Facebook, seemed to be a message directly to Putin, to those inside of Russia who are being fed so much propaganda by the Putin regime. And part of the message said, save your sons from the war. Could you speak to how much of that would even be able to be seen by those sacrificing?

KENDALL-TAYLOR: Yes. So, that's -- you know, that's a dynamic that's quickly changing as Putin has taken steps to really bring down the hammer on repression. This has been a long trend with Russia, especially in the year leading up to this conflict. We've seen Putin really tighten the screws, but this has only accelerated. And with all of these banning of Twitter and telegram and others, it is getting increasingly difficult, I think, for Russian citizens to see what's happening on the outside and to receive these messages.

But I do have the sense that there are some really tremendous efforts that are being held by individual actors, non-profits, Russians who are leaving Russia, by the way, there's 300,000 Russians that have left. They have networks where they can directly reach back in. So, the goal, I think, for the west is to find innovative ways to try to circumvent this iron curtain that Putin has brought down so that Russians can access and see these types of messages.

HARLOW: Well, one thing -- just one final note, Andrea, that I think is so interesting that you rightly point out is that you've been rather surprised that Russia has not deployed its cyber tools in a meaningful way or the extent of its power, to really issue a massive cyberattack. I wonder why you think that is.

KENDALL-TAYLOR: Yes, I have been surprised, and even, I think, the U.S. government when they were thinking about how Russia would roll out its operation, anticipated that cyber would be a key component of that. In Ukraine, I think one element of that is that Putin thought this was going to be a quick, sharp war. He tried to limit the number of people who are aware of the operation to begin with, such that the cyber operators weren't incorporated into that plan.

But now I think Russia has a bandwidth issue. We know that the war is not going well, and so a lot of their government actors are trying to rectify what's happening in Ukraine. And the other bandwidth issue is I think that Russia itself is the target of numerous cyberattacks, whether it's from Ukrainian actors or non-state actors, and so they're playing defense.

The critical thing though is just because we haven't seen the cyberattacks yet doesn't mean that they're not coming, and that those are the warnings we're hearing from the Biden administration. We know that Putin thinks the U.S. sanctions are an act of war. I also think, you know, for Putin, the cyber will be critical because he's trying to break western societies, right? He wants to insert pain that our people will feel so that our societies won't be willing to provide the support to Ukraine and sustain the pressure against Putin. So, I do think it's coming.

HARLOW: Andrea Kendall-Taylor, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

Still ahead, we are learning that NATO has a plan to reinforce chemical, biological and nuclear defenses on fears Russia may plan to use such weapons against people of Ukraine. We're live from Brussels ahead.

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