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Russia Intensifying Attacks Despite Claims; Russian Unites Return to Belarus; U.S. Says Russia is Repositioning; Oleksandr Senkevych is Interviewed about Mykolaiv. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 30, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:26]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight, no areas without air raid sirens. Major artillery and rocket fire near Ukraine's capital. As the Pentagon warns this is not a Russian withdrawal, but simply Russia coming to terms with its failure to advance on the ground around the capital Kyiv.

A very good morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

New video in to CNN this morning offers a devastating view of the extensive damage in the city of Irpin, that's near the capital. This following a wave of new strikes from Russian forces. This is what's left after Ukrainian forces were able to push Russian troops out of that city.

SCIUTTO: Yes, these are civilian areas. That should be noted and repeated.

We're also getting devastating new satellite images of Mariupol. Look at this. This is the extent of the destruction. Entire city blocks, again, of civilian structures leveled. Today, Ukraine and Russia have agreed at least to a humanitarian corridor to evacuate residents of Mariupol. We'll see if that holds. There have been reports in the past of Russia attacking those very corridors.

Right now at least 4 million Ukrainians, that's one tenth of the population, have been forced to flee the country. Another 6 million, including more than half of the country's children, have fled their homes, sometimes to other parts of Ukraine, just trying to find a safe place.

CNN's John Berman is reporting from Lviv, Ukraine, where many of those refugees have gone to seeking safety.

John, good morning.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to both of you.

Yes, so many of them passed through here. Quite a day in Ukraine today. Come -- trying to come to grips with the statements that were made yesterday, Russia suggesting they were going to scale back military operations in the area around Kyiv, and also Chernihiv, to the northeast of Kyiv.

I had a chance to speak to the mayor of that city, Chernihiv, this morning who tells me despite the Russian claims they were scaling back, they actually intensified the attacks on that city. He told me it's a confirmation that Russia always lies.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR VLADYSLAV ATROSHENKO, CHERNIHIV, UKRAINE (through translator): Today we've had a colossal mortar attack on the center of Chernihiv. Twenty-five people have been wounded and are now in hospital. They're all civilians. So, whenever Russia says something, this needs to be checked carefully. They're saying, for example, they're calling this war a special operation. That's a lie. Russia says that it is fighting the Ukrainian armed forces. That's another lie, because Russia is deliberately exterminating civilians. And all -- and all conscious Americans must know Russia -- this is important -- Russia is deliberately exterminating civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In case you're wondering, that building behind the mayor there as he was talking to me was a hotel. That's not a military installation. A hotel.

Want to bring in CNN international correspondent Phil Black here with me in Lviv.

And, Phil, it's something we really have seen over the last few hours. Whatever claims there were about Russian troops maybe repositioning, no letup on the aerial attacks.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. Indeed that's right.

So, the Ukrainian military says there is evidence that units and equipment are moving north across the border into Belarus. But the other part of that promise from Russia, or commitment if you like, was that they would ease off around Chernihiv, as you heard there that's not happening, and around Kyiv as well. And the Ukrainians say that hasn't happened either.

Notably in the area of Irpin, this is the area just to the northwest of the capital Kyiv, we've got some pictures to show you from there that were shot yesterday. So, on the same day that this commitment was made by Russia. A warning, some of them are graphic because they show people still lying on the road, where they were struck down and killed, presumably by Russian munitions.

You can hear the sound of bombardment in the distance. But, other than that, it's pretty quiet and eerie. This is a really quiet, desolate place now.

But the damage is extraordinary. This place has been really devastated.

There are very few people there. And the authorities there say that's a good thing because it's not yet safe to return. They say there are munitions lying around. There is still continued shelling as there was last night.

And in addition to that, we heard this claim from the Ukrainian government that says bodies have been wired with explosives to detonate when they are disturbed. That corpses have been mined. We can't verify that.

But what these images do show is that the damage is, as I say, extraordinary. And when people do get to return, they won't be returning to much, John.

[09:05:00]

BERMAN: That's a great point to make. And, again, Irpin is one of these places where Ukraine has claimed it has pushed out the Russians, but this is what they've gone back to. This is what they're returning to, just the utter devastation there.

And along those lines, Phil, what we're seeing in Mariupol is -- it's a tragedy.

BLACK: Yes, so we've often talked in recent days about how Mariupol has about 90 percent of its residential buildings damaged or destroyed. Want to show you some satellite images that really show just what that means. The powerful thing about these images is because they are so high and wide, you're not just talking, not just seeing individual buildings, but what you see is that whole neighborhoods, whole blocks, whole communities have really been wiped out over the course of this four-week plus siege that has taken place there. The damage, again, just extraordinary. Very difficult to imagine this sort of firepower that did that. But important to remember when you're looking at those images that there were people there throughout. Hundreds of thousands of people, still about 170,000 people there right now living in those conditions.

BERMAN: The stories of the suffering we are hearing from the people as they get out. It is just devastating.

Phil Black, thank you so much for this reporting.

Jim. Erica.

SCIUTTO: Well, this morning, according to British intelligence, some Russian units are being forced back to Russia and Belarus to perhaps reorganize and resupply, or at least attempt to. An indication of the logistical problems Russia is having in Ukraine and also the tremendous resistance the Ukrainian military has been putting up.

HILL: Joining us now with more, CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

So, Barbara, what more do we know about these moves and what are we hearing from the U.S. in terms of that assessment?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to both of you.

The Biden administration just not having any of it, none of what Russia is saying is being believed from the White House to hear at the Pentagon. In fact, our own Kaitlan Collins talked to a U.S. official who told her this. And I want to read it to everybody so you'll understand. The official told Kaitlan, quote, we believe any movement of Russian forces from around Kyiv is a redeployment, not a withdrawal, and the world should be prepared for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine. That's a top U.S. official talking to CNN.

Here at the Pentagon, they are not buying it. They are watching very carefully. They do believe exactly that, it's a redeployment of Russian forces. You may not be seeing the Russians right now taking any major population centers on the ground, but the devastation, the brutality from the air continues, and that is something the Pentagon says is really the focus now. They believe Russian forces are going to continue to move east to the Donbas. That is an area the Russians very much want it take full control of.

Erica. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: Barbara Starr joining us with the latest from the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

Also with us, retired Army Major General Spider Marks.

Good to have you, as always, this morning.

You know, as Barbara laid out, any movement should be seen as a redeployment, not a withdrawal, as we heard from the U.S. official there. What are you watching for this morning? As you are watching movements, as you are watching what Russia is doing, not necessarily what we're hearing in terms of words, it's the actions that matter, what are you watching for?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, really, Erica, there are two things. One is the incredible tactical success of the Ukrainian forces, the withdrawal or pushing back of the Russian forces is not the -- not an independent decision that the Russians are making. This isn't a video game where they want to -- they're making some decision in isolation. They are pushing -- they are being pushed back because the Ukrainians are regaining the initiative and are reclaiming ground. I mean that's a tactical advantage that is -- that the Ukrainians now are certainly taking advantage of.

The second thing is, we've been talking for a while about the overall command and control of this campaign. And bear in mind, this is a campaign, a campaign (INAUDIBLE), they're based on conditions, but we haven't seen any synchronization among these various axes of advance into Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donbas and Crimea. These have been four independent operations by every evaluation of military maneuvering on the ground.

SCIUTTO: General Marks --

MARKS: If, in fact, the Russians -- oh, sorry.

SCIUTTO: Sorry.

MARKS: Go ahead, Jim. Sure.

SCIUTTO: Go ahead. I didn't want to interrupt you there. I'm just curious, when you look at this, my understanding is that, you know, let's set aside Russian claims because no one believes them.

MARKS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: But the U.S. assessment here is that because Russia ran into that brick wall, as you're describing it, of Ukrainian resistance around Kyiv, they're redeploying to focus their efforts on the south and the east.

Do you believe that's a short-term shift or a longer term one? That, in effect, they've given up on Kyiv?

MARKS: I think what the Russians -- short-term. I think it is a short- term move on the part of the Russians and that the conditions on the ground have now dictated a change in their strategy. Look, you have strategy, operations, tactics. I mean that's kind of how this stuff layers. Their strategy was to take over Ukraine.

[09:10:02]

We saw that from the outset. That went sideways real quickly.

This is a short-term adjustment to go reclaim and get a foothold where they had been enjoying success. We can describe success in a whole bunch of different ways. But they've leveled Mariupol. To the Russians, that's a success. That's a brutal war crime. But to them it's a success. They want to be able to reinforce success. You don't reinforce failure. And they're getting their butts kicked in and around Kyiv. They cannot move forward. They have been stalled.

So, it will probably be a repositioning. But, again, it kind of defies the synchronization that would be necessary (INAUDIBLE) with an overall command and control architecture, (INAUDIBLE) this.

HILL: Human Rights Watch, this morning, said Russian forces have used these band anti-personnel mines in the eastern Kharkiv region. Can you just tell us what these -- why are these so dangerous, right? Why are these land mines banned, and are you surprised at all if that is, in fact, the assessment from Human Rights Watch that they are being used?

MARKS: Well, truly, these are stay behinds, like all land mines. You put them in place and then you depart and whoever comes walking across them has to be able to detect, avoid, render safe and all that and certainly civilian populations don't do it.

When you lay a landmine or at least a minefield down to try to deny terrain, and that's what mines are all about, you want to keep your opponent pushed in a certain direction because they realize they're mines to the right or the left or in front of them or whatever and you direct their movement. When you put these in civilian populations, these are innocents that have no ability to detect, render safe, move these things away, et cetera. That's the biggest challenge with landmines.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, listen, it's across the board, right, because they're --

MARKS: And it's -- and they're --

SCIUTTO: They're dropping bigger bombs, right, on civilian targets too, you know, on a daily basis.

I do want to ask you, General Marks, before we go, there's evident now of Russian units returning to Russia and Belarus, perhaps an attempt to resupply. Is there, though, in your view, a Russian reboot of this? I mean it's the U.S. understanding that they're running low, for instance, on ballistic missiles. They've lost a whole host of forces. There are command issues there. There's a lack of NCOs. That's stuff you're not going to create in weeks or months.

Do you think Russia can reboot this invasion effectively?

MARKS: Well, if you -- if you reboot what we've already seen, sure. I mean logistics is fundamental to military operations. You know, everybody -- you know, the old expression, everybody can do tactics, only professionals can do logistics. And logistics is all about pushing logistics and support forward. You don't want to move units back to get reset and then put them back in the fight and reclaim ground that maybe they've already won. So, logistics is absolutely essential here.

And -- but the Russians, a reboot for the Russians is more of the same that we've seen, this level of brutality.

SCIUTTO: Yes, possibly more even.

Major General Spider Marks, always good to have you on. Thank you.

MARKS: Thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: This morning we learned at least 15 people, 15 people were killed in a Russian strike on a government building in Mykolaiv, not a military target. A city that has seen some of the heaviest fighting so far. We're going to have the mayor next live.

HILL: Also new this morning, new Republican support for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court.

And American Astronaut Mark Vande Hei back on solid ground after setting a record for consecutive days in space. Details on his trip home with two Russian cosmonauts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:03]

SCIUTTO: Despite Russia claiming it is somehow reducing its military operations in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say there has been no shortage of bloodshed, including among civilians. We now know that at least 15 people were killed, dozens injured, following a Russian strike on a government building in Mykolaiv Tuesday. Look at that, a hole blown right through the middle of it.

The mayor of the southern city recently spoke to "Vice News" about the havoc that Russia is wreaking on the region. We want to warn you, some of the video you're about to see, it's true, but it's disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The casualties we met at the hospital came from just one single attack, lasting a matter of seconds. The blast shattered through a supermarket and a nearby apartment block, which we visited just an hour later.

MAYOR OLEKSANDR SENKEVYCH, MYKOLAIV UKRAINE: All the people were standing in the queue to the shop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were waiting to go to the supermarket?

SENKEVYCH: Yes, the supermarket to buy some food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And is this an unexploded one in the ground?

SENKEVYCH: Yes, there is one explode -- one exploded just hit down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, please don't touch.

Must be very difficult for you as a mayor who, you know, has this big responsibility. It must be personally very difficult for you.

SENKEVYCH: Yes, sure. But I am trying not to think about it. It's war here, as you see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what if the Russians come? What then happens to you?

SENKEVYCH: We'll fight with them. We'll fight with them. We will kill them because they are trying to kill us. Our families, our women, our parents, our children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: They're trying to kill us, our children. Joining me now is the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevych, who you

saw there.

Mayor, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

MAYOR OLEKSANDR SENKEVYCH, MYKOLAIV UKRAINE: Hello, Jim.

SCIUTTO: I think it's important for our viewers here in the U.S. to see what war looks like on the ground in Ukraine, and the suffering that civilians are seeing there in the face of Russian attacks. We now know at least 14 people are dead in that particular attack on the government building.

[09:20:00]

Do you have any doubt that Russia's plan here is to deliberately target civilians, to try to bring Ukraine to its knees?

SENKEVYCH: First of all, I should mention that missile that hit the building was the guided, like cruise missile, that was operated by someone. So, these -- it's not (INAUDIBLE) just (INAUDIBLE) that can be, you know, miss something.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SENKEVYCH: By the way, there are no military objects there. So, this was the -- the aim of this strike was governor (INAUDIBLE), who was sitting in that building with a lot of civilians. So now our original administration works on humanitarian situation, getting products to the region from the city, evacuation and other humanitarian things. So, there were only maybe two or three armed people on the first floor as security.

SCIUTTO: How are people surviving this? Are they spending, are you spending much of your day in shelters? It's a dangerous, dangerous time.

SENKEVYCH: For sure people are trying to hide in shelters. Let's see about one thirst of people that already left the city. We count this by garbage collector -- collection and water usage. We give people ability to leave the city using our public transportation buses. And now they work as evacuation transport.

But a lot of people who are left in the city, they are trying to hide in bomb shelters, trying not to be outside as much as they can. But we never know when the hit can happen.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. view is that while Russia will continue to bombard places like Kyiv, that the Russian military is going to focus its attacks more on the south and the east because they've run into so much resistance in the north. Are you worried that that means your city is going to see more and more attacks in the coming days and weeks?

SENKEVYCH: I hope not. But, anyway, we are ready for that. We are preparing for this type of actions. I could say that yesterday the evening we had about five hours fight. They pushed our troops a little bit, but then we pushed them back to Kherson direction. So back north, northeast.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes, there was --

SENKEVYCH: And they will try to attack the city again.

SCIUTTO: The resistance down there has been brave and remarkable.

Do you get -- are you, is the Ukrainian military in and around Mykolaiv, getting the support it needs from the U.S. and NATO to continue their resistance?

SENKEVYCH: I think, first of all, what Ukraine needs now is heavy (INAUDIBLE) weapon that we are getting from NATO and from U.S. This is really valuable thing for us because for sure Russia has big amount of the troops and big amount of heavy armored vehicles, but we don't have such amount in life force and let's say machine force. But this type of weapon helps us to stand and to defend our land. Moreover, I can say that the troops afraid of this type of weapons some day run (ph). They (INAUDIBLE) we got about 28 items of this vehicles, cannons, tanks and our services -- I mean city service companies bring them to the city. We repair them and send back to army, to our (ph).

Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych, we know you're facing a real trial there and we wish you and we wish the people of your city safety. Thank you for joining us.

SENKEVYCH: Thank you for your help and your assistance. Thank you.

HILL: Still ahead here, President Biden's pick for the Supreme Court locking in her first Republican vote. Why Susan Collins says she now supports Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

And we're just moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Dow futures down slightly as you see there as hopes wane that the Russia/Ukrainian negotiations will lead to any concrete results. Stocks getting a big boost yesterday when initial reports from those talks did seem more promising.

Also this morning, a report that showed private sector employees added 455,000 jobs in March. That's slightly above the forecast. The government's monthly jobs report will be out Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:59:57]

HILL: New this morning, GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine says she will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

[09:30:05]