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Oscar Slap; Interview With Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; President Biden to Unveil Budget Proposal; Ukrainian- Russian Talks Continue. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 28, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. Victor is off today.

This hour, President Biden is expected to speak about his new federal budget proposal, which includes billions of dollars for Ukraine to fight Russian aggression. And the world will be watching for what President Biden says about those improvised comments on Vladimir Putin, nine words causing a diplomatic headache for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Now, the White House says that President Biden was not calling for regime change and that he meant to convey that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over neighboring nations.

Putin continues to wage war in Ukraine. CNN's teams in the capital say they have heard powerful explosions around the suburbs. And a woman in Kyiv that we spoke to last hour was interrupted by explosions nearby.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister said Russian forces are attempting to establish a corridor to block supply routes around Kyiv. But we're also hearing about gains by Ukrainian forces. The mayor of Irpin says that his city has been reclaimed. CNN cannot independently verify that claim.

Russia is also continuing its air assault on towns already destroyed by bombs. This is new video of a school in Kharkiv.

Tomorrow, officials from Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to meet in Turkey for peace talks.

CNN's Don Lemon is live for us in Lviv, Ukraine.

And, Don, it's great to have you there.

As we know, past negotiations have not yielded much progress. But Ukrainian President Zelenskyy now says that he is open to basically staying neutral. He's making a concession before tomorrow. So what does that mean?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: We have to see what it means, because we don't know.

They -- Russia, I don't even believe they're going to bring people to the table. But, Alisyn, Zelenskyy says that Ukraine is ready to accept a neutral, non-nuclear status under certain conditions, and that any deal would have to be agreed upon by the Ukrainian people in a referendum, for example.

So there's lots to discuss here.

We're going to start with CNN's international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen. Fred is joining us from Kyiv.

Fred, hello to you.

Tell us more about the fighting around Kyiv and Russia's attempt to block supply routes, because we were just speaking to a member of Parliament there just moments ago, and -- Inna Sovsun -- and she was interrupted. She said she heard some explosions.

What do you know?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what, Don? We have been hearing explosions the entire day in here in Kyiv.

And, of course, you know that this is a city that is very much on the front line, very active front line, and, of course, for a very long time, the Russians even saying this is one of the main places that they wanted to take. Now they claim that it's not one of their main objectives anymore.

But, certainly, the fighting here is as intense and ever -- as ever and I would say, compared to the last couple of days, even more intense. So we have been hearing explosions throughout the entire day, some of them extremely heavy, and very loud explosions.

We just heard one quite recently that looked like a lot of smaller explosions, which may have been some sort of smaller bombs that were exploding in very quick succession. So it has been an extremely active day here on the front lines, especially towards the northwest of the city.

You have basically two major front lines around Kyiv. One is toward the east and one is towards the northwest of the city. And that area in the northwest, that really seems where a lot of the fighting is going on. We have seen plumes of smoke around that area throughout the entire day.

And then we got that news that you were just talking about, that the mayor of Irpin us that that district had now been fully retaken by the Ukrainian military. And that's a big deal, because that's very close to the actual gates of Kyiv, to the actual city limits of Kyiv. And it's been a place that's been heavily contested over the past

couple of days, I would say even over the past week-and-a-half. And in the past days, the mayor has been telling us they have about 80 percent. Now they say they have gotten all of it back, but that there is still fighting in that area and that there is still heavy shelling as well.

The Ukrainians are saying, around Kyiv, around the Ukrainian capital, they believe that they now at least have the momentum on this -- their side. They believe that the Russians are on the back foot.

[14:05:04]

But, certainly, Don, from what we have been seeing today, the air raid sirens, the booms that we have been hearing, the explosions that we have been seeing, it certainly seems to us as though the Russians are still putting up a massive fight and might still be trying to also advance as well.

There's, in fact, the deputy defense minister of this country. She came out and she said she believes that the Russians are trying to create corridors around the city, which, once again, could also be part of the fact of what you were just saying, that the Russians, of course, are also trying to cut off some of the supply routes that the Ukrainians are using to resupply this city and, of course, their military fighting in it, Don.

LEMON: And despite what you said about the Ukrainians taking back some of the city, but there are still explosions going on, the mayor of Kyiv eased the curfew. And they're trying to begin remote schooling. What does that feel like in the city?

PLEITGEN: Well, you're absolutely right.

I mean, in the past couple of days, what we have seen is, it seems as though the mood here has eased a little bit among the citizens here. We have been out and about the entire weekend. And even at some of the checkpoints, you could see more traffic there, more people going around there.

But, of course, you do constantly get reminded that this is a city that is very much on war footing. You have a lot of checkpoints everywhere, you have a lot of fortifications everywhere, and then you have days like today, where you do have a lot of fighting that's still going on.

But you're actually correct to point out that the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitschko, he eased the curfew by two hours -- it now goes into effect an hour later and ends an hour earlier -- and that they want to start homeschooling again.

So there is certain signs of life that seemed to be coming back. But the people here are definitely under no illusion that this is still a tough battle ahead, and that those incremental gains that they have made are fragile ones, and that they could be reversed at any point in time, because, of course, the Russian military is extremely strong. It has some extremely powerful weapons, and those remain at the gates

of Kyiv. Even though right now the Ukrainian say they have the upper hand and certainly seem to be pressing and offensive, it's not something that couldn't still be reversed, judging by the fact that, of course, the Russians have an extremely powerful military, Don.

LEMON: We have been watching correspondents like Ivan Watson covering the area and covering Mariupol, doing -- driving with police and defense personnel. Weeks of attacks have devastated Mariupol, Fred.

The mayor there saying today that the city is -- quote -- "in the hands of the occupiers." What can you tell us about that? What's the latest?

PLEITGEN: Yes. Yes, that's a devastating situation, of course, awful for the people that are still stuck inside that city.

It's not 100 percent fear, whether he meant that all of the city has been taken by Russian forces or whether or not fighting is still going on there, whether or not the defenders of that city are still holding pockets of it. He does say not everything is under their control.

And the other thing that he also did is, he said that the civilians that are still inside that city need to be evacuated as fast as possible. With some of the reports that we have been getting from that place, the fact that there's shelling all the time, pretty much constantly, large parts of the city have been completely destroyed.

A lot of people a lot of civilians have already been killed. I think one of the figures that I saw was around 5,000 civilians apparently having been killed in that city alone. And then you have the fact that the people on the ground there, have no water, have no food, have no electricity most of the time.

He says it's absolutely necessary for people to be evacuated as fast as possible, because what's going on there is obviously an awful situation, with that city under complete siege by Russian forces, and then them shelling that city from the positions that they hold from outside, so a devastating situation.

Unclear, though, whether all that city has fallen yet, Don.

LEMON: Mariupol and so many cities to the east.

Fred, thank you very much.

That's Fred reporting the latest from Kyiv, and also around the region.

Another round of face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia set to get under way in Istanbul, Turkey, tomorrow.

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Istanbul. She joins me now.

Arwa, hello to you. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy now saying that he is ready to accept a neutral non-nuclear status for Ukraine as part of the peace deal with Russia. Please explain what that means.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as he himself said, this is pretty much what the Russians want to hear.

At least, it's the justification that Russia was using to launch this war, its concerns about Ukraine becoming a NATO member, NATO encroaching on its territory. And so, if we look at what that actually means, a neutral state, that means that Ukraine would not be able to be a third party to any sort of conflict, which effectively, if we toss the semantics aside, Don, means that Ukraine would not be able to become a member of NATO, at least not in the foreseeable future.

And so what Zelenskyy is saying is that, we're willing to give Russia this, and this was one of the key points that Russia wants us to see give space on.

[14:10:07]

Is this going to be enough, though, for some sort of realistic cease- fire to come to fruition, for this to actually lead to peace talks? That, at this stage, we don't know.

And then you have what you heard Fred there talking about as well, and what you're very well aware of too, being on the ground, is the need for these humanitarian corridors. The Ukrainians and many others want to see more humanitarian corridors. And they also want to see more guarantees that those humanitarian corridors are actually going to be safe and secure.

But if this conflict has taught us anything up until this point, that it's very hard to predict which direction anything is really going to go.

LEMON: Arwa Damon in Istanbul. Arwa, we will check back in with you.

So our thanks to Arwa and Fred Pleitgen.

That is the latest from the region.

Alisyn, I'm going to send it back to you in New York now.

CAMEROTA: OK, Don, thank you. We will check back with you soon.

Again, we are minutes away from President Biden unveiling his new budget plan. We understand that he will ask Congress for more defense spending, including nearly $7 billion for items related to the war in Ukraine.

CNN's M.J. Lee is at the White House.

M.J., give us the details.

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, a reminder that a White House budget is just a request to Congress. So this is not a binding document by any means.

But it does give us some insight into what an administration's top priorities are. And it is clear looking at the budget that national security is one of those priorities. There are hundreds of billions of dollars set aside for national security spending, including if, you look here, $6.9 billion to counter Russian aggression and to support Ukraine, other billions of dollars going towards military spending.

Of course, there are also other domestic and economic agenda items, including a tax on billionaires and funding for police departments across the country. And what is very clear is that, national security aside, inflation remains a top, top priority and concern for this White House and White House officials talking about the fact that because of the -- Russia's invasion in Ukraine, they do expect that prices will continue to go up for families across the country.

And they're being pretty frank in saying, this is a concern that is going to take some time to come down and that the White House can't do a ton to fix overnight. Now, we do expect that the president is going to be talking about this just any moment now at the White House. So we will see what his economic outlook is.

But we're also waiting to see if he gets questioned by reporters about those comments that he made in Warsaw that were unplanned, that were off-the-cuff, when he said about Vladimir Putin, "This man cannot remain in power."

Of course, as we have covered the last 24 hours or so, those comments really making waves here in the country and across the world. So we will see if we see that opportunity for the president himself to directly sort of clarify what exactly he meant, the administration making clear that he was not referring to regime change in those comments, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I can't imagine he won't be asked about those comments.

LEE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So, M.J. Lee, thank you very much.

So, as you have heard, President Zelenskyy says he's ready to accept neutral, non-nuclear status for Ukraine, which would effectively end his country's bid to join NATO.

But the head of Ukraine's military intelligence describes a potentially different ending to this war. He says Vladimir Putin may be looking to split Ukraine in two, similar to North and South Korea.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:05]

CAMEROTA: Russia's failure to capture Kyiv may be leading to a new plan, according to the head of Ukraine's military intelligence. The Ukrainian general says Putin could try to divide Ukraine -- quote -- "There's reason to believe that he is considering a Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is, Russian forces will try to impose a dividing line between the unoccupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine."

Joining us now is former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Secretary Panetta, thanks for being here.

Is that a possible outcome, as you see it, this bifurcated Ukraine?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, there's no question that, even from even before the invasion, that there was talk about the Russians wanting to take control of some of these other areas.

And I think it's only been emphasized through this last period of 30 days, in which the Russians clearly have been stalled in terms of their major invasion goals, but, at the same time, have sought now to try to reinforce their position in some of these separatist areas.

I think -- I think, though, that, in the end, I can't see President Zelenskyy agreeing that they should get the benefits resulting from their invasion in terms of territory. In the very least, what those areas ought to be able to do is conduct a referendum as to whether or not they want to be Russian or Ukrainian.

CAMEROTA: Here's what President Zelenskyy seems to be willing to concede, though I don't know if this is a significant shift. But let me play for you what he said today about neutrality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Security guarantees and our neutrality, the non-nuclear status of our state, we are ready to pursue this. This is the most important point. This was the first point of principle for the Russian Federation, as I recall.

[14:20:09]

And as far as I remember, they started the war because of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so he's ready to pursue neutrality for Ukraine, he says.

Is this an inflection point in the negotiations that will be happening tomorrow?

PANETTA: Well, I think it's a major point that clearly was involved in why the Russians went into Ukraine, or at least that's why Putin said he was going in, was because he feared that Ukraine would become a NATO -- part of that alliance.

And so Zelenskyy saying that Ukraine will remain neutral and have neutrality and a nuclear-free area really does concede a major point to the Russians. I mean, I would think Putin would say he has clearly achieved the most important point he was after, which was to make sure that Ukraine would not be part of NATO.

But it's hard to tell how this plays out. But I would hope that this could be the beginning of maybe some serious negotiations that might result in a negotiated settlement of that terrible war in Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: We will see tomorrow if it's a possible off-ramp. I mean, it sounds like, as you say, something that, I don't know, could end this hideous war that's happening.

About President Biden and what he said on Saturday, these nine words where he said, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," how big of a problem is that?

PANETTA: Well, I think the administration has pretty much cleared up when he said.

Look, it's understandable. The president was there for three days looking at the horrors that have been unleashed on Ukrainian people as a result of Putin. So I can understand his emotional feel about Putin not staying in office. I think a lot of people would probably agree with that.

But at this point in the game, you have really got to keep your messages very simple and very direct. And I think this created some confusion that wasn't helpful.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, President Macron has said as much. This has created, I think, more than confusion in terms of the tension that it has for people trying to negotiate with Putin.

And so why do you think President Biden made that mistake?

PANETTA: I happen to think that Joe Biden is Irish, really has a great deal of compassion when he sees that people are suffering.

And I think it overwhelmed him, in the sense of seeing all of the horrors that were resulting from this war. So, from a personal point of view, I understand why he said it. But, at the same time, when you're president of the United States, you just have to be disciplined to make sure you don't make comments that ultimately have to be clarified by the White House.

CAMEROTA: Secretary Panetta, great to see you. Thank you.

PANETTA: Good to be with.

CAMEROTA: OK, back here, it's the slap that everyone is talking about.

CNN is now learning that members of the academy have held a heated meeting to discuss a response to Will Smith hitting Chris Rock live on stage.

We have all of the new details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:17]

CAMEROTA: OK, this just in.

At least a dozen members of the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences met virtually Monday, today, to discuss how they will respond to this moment from last night's show, Actor Will Smith hitting comedian Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.

In case you missed it, here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: Oh, wow. Wow.

Will Smith just smacked the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of me.

WILL SMITH, ACTOR: Keep my wife's name out your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mouth!

ROCK: Wow, dude.

SMITH: Yes.

ROCK: It was a "G.I. Jane" joke.

WILL SMITH, ACTOR: Keep my wife's name out your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mouth!

ROCK: I'm going to, OK?

OK. That was the greatest night in the history of television.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so, 45 minutes after Smith slapped Rock, he was back on stage accepting the Oscar for best actor for his role in "King Richard," where he plays the father of tennis phenoms Venus and Serena Williams.

Joining me now, CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas and journalist Mara Schiavocampo, who hosts "Run Tell This," a weekly podcast presenting news, analysis and pop culture from an African-American perspective.

Ladies, great to have you to help us digest everything that happened.

Chloe, you have new reporting.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes. OK. Well, so you mentioned the fact that about a dozen Academy members --

now, there's over 9,000 of them -- but celebrities, actors, directors, getting together to just process this, and that they were very divided in this heated Zoom meeting this morning, because they felt like some people were upset that the Academy just released one statement, just a sentence, saying that they don't condone violence.

[14:30:00]