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Russian Troop Morale Problems; Russian Shelling remains Relentless; Putin Authorizes Draft; Biden to Announce Oil Release; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) is Interviewed about Ukraine. Aired 9:00- 9:30a ET

Aired March 31, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[08:59:50]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Heavy shelling overnight in eastern Ukraine. Those are civilian residents there. Russian troops slamming parts of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine as officials say that Russian forces may be regrouping, attempting to resupply north of Kyiv near Belarus.

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

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

Eleven civilians, including four children, were taken to the hospital following those strikes in Donetsk.

In Kharkiv, incredible new images in now of the destruction there. Officials say Russian troops struck the area at least 47 times yesterday.

Near Chernihiv, Ukrainian troops are regaining ground. New video shows a Russian tank on fire, a number of Ukrainian troops in a nearby village.

SCIUTTO: Yes, remember, these are civilian areas you're seeing repeatedly here.

And breaking this morning, Vladimir Putin is now looking to draft, to conscript more than 134,000 additional Russian citizens into the military. Officials say Putin has massively misjudged the situation in Ukraine, including the resistance put up by the Ukrainian military. The Pentagon believes he's being misinformed by his most senior advisers. All of this as British intelligence indicates that some Russian soldiers are now refusing to carry out orders, even sabotaging their own equipment, shooting down their own aircraft.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon this morning.

What more are we learning about this intelligence, because we've heard speculation about morale problems. It now sounds like U.K. intelligence has some evidence to back that up.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, let's start with what you were just mentioning. Actually, the Pentagon now believes, the White House, the Biden administration, that Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his own senior military leaders and he had very little idea of what was going on. And now a rift between him and his ministry of defense.

This comes as one of Britain's intelligence chiefs, the head of its cyber and intelligence service, GCHQ, gave a speech in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, where he talked in extraordinary detail about just how bad it may be.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY FLEMING, DIRECTOR OF BRITISH SPY AGENCY GCHQ: We've seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. And even though we believe Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Massively misjudging, but I think as everyone would agree, make no mistake, the Russians still have problems on the ground, yes, but extraordinary firepower still that they can and are unleashing against civilian areas all across Ukraine.

Jim. Erica.

HILL: Barbara, we're also learning that Putin signed this decree this morning to authorize drafting more than 134,000 Russians into the armed forces. This is this twice annual call-up, as I understand it.

Now, Putin has said, of course, and said initially that conscripts wouldn't be part of this invasion, but how these troops could ultimately be used is a big question.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

STARR: Well, I think it is. I mean the Russians say there's no conscript force in Ukraine, but all indications are that is not correct. And there are a fair number of conscripts.

And, look, in today's world, as always, a conscript fighting force is very difficult. These people are not there of their own free will. They are literally conscripted. They are brought in on a mandatory basis into a fighting force in order to do whatever they are told. That is not something that generally works out very well. We'll have to see what Putin does about it in the coming days and weeks.

SCIUTTO: Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

CNN's John Berman, he's reporting from Lviv.

And, John, the evidence every day is of, frankly, increased threat to civilian areas, right? I mean Russian strikes deliberately on apartment buildings, whole neighborhoods. It's just shocking to see on such a scale.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hotels, hospitals, theaters, civilian targets across the country. And, really, no city has been hit harder than Mariupol.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BERMAN: And we woke up to the news this morning that the Russians and Ukrainians had agreed to open up a humanitarian corridor out of that besieged city. Now, we've heard that before. So, no one wanted to get their hopes up there.

But I did have a chance, just a short time ago, to speak to the deputy mayor of Mariupol to get a sense of the situation, if, in fact, people, civilians, are getting out.

Listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Is it working? Are people getting out?

SERGEI ORLOV, DEPUTY MAYOR OF MARIUPOL, UKRAINE: Yes, we start this morning to move our buses, but we should understand that it not -- it not -- it is not absolute cease-fire and each 220 (ph) kilometers we check and correspond to our drivers, is it possible to transfer or not.

[09:05:11]

So, any way buses are moving through humanitarian corridor.

We estimate that at least 150,000 citizens is still in Mariupol, but they are living like mouses. So, all of them are underground in shelter, in bomb shelter, in some spaces below earth, so people just do their best to be alive in this situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And it is so hard. He estimated that up to 2,000 people have been able to get out today of Mariupol.

I want to bring in CNN international correspondent Phil Black.

Phil, while that's happening in Mariupol, and obviously we're watching that very closely, it's not far from where there does appear to be a new increase in Russian military activity. And this is in the east, in the Donbas region.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John. That's what we're hearing from Ukrainian military officials in the east. So, in the Donetsk region, they've noticed a big uptick in fighting. Another concerning allegation over the use of phosphorous weapons in civilian areas. Russia hasn't responded to these allegations before. Yet to respond to this one. But that is illegal under international law.

In the Kharkiv region as well, also in the east, they've talked about a massive increase overnight. One official there says that they were attacked by Russian rockets almost 400 times, which is an extraordinary figure. And they attribute this sudden uptick to new units, new troops, new Russian hardware moving into that region on Russia's side and joining the fight.

So it helps build this picture of a transition that we are seeing across the various battlefronts, where, yes, Russia says it is focusing attention on the east. They're already seeing that on the ground. And Russia says it is pulling back from some regions, Kyiv, Chernihiv and so forth, to the north. We're hearing about in the north even around Chernobyl, the nuclear site as well, Russian forces being pulled back there. Some directly across to Belarus to be re-equipped and we understand they will probably rejoining the fight. Others, it would seem, perhaps being redirected immediately to other front line fighting positions.

BERMAN: Yes, what might be a relief for Ukrainians in some areas like around Kyiv has tragic consequences potentially for the people in the east if the Russians do, in fact, increase their attacks there.

We did get word this morning, Phil, that Sloboda, which is a suburb of Chernihiv, that city you were talking about, really attached to it, that the Ukrainians have retain some of the ground there.

BLACK: Yes, a small town just to the south. And we see video of the aftermath of that attack. And, by all accounts, it seemed fairly intense, but the Ukrainian forces were victorious. This is important because Chernihiv is surrounded, it's blockaded. There's still, we're told, about 100,000 people there. And I know you've been in touch with the mayor a lot in recent days and he's talked about the growing humanitarian problem there. They're running out of food. They're running out of medicine.

This is also an area where the Russians have said they will ease off their operations against the Ukrainians. But we're yet to see that. They're still hitting it with artillery and so forth every day. So, the hope that Ukrainian forces have is that they can break that blockade to provide direct access to the city of Kyiv.

BERMAN: He told me yesterday they have seven to 10 days of supplies left in that city. So essential to find a way to get more relief through.

BLACK: Yes.

BERMAN: Phil Black, thank you so much for that.

BLACK: Thanks.

BERMAN: Jim. Erica.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we should always remember that that's an explicit part of the Russian strategy, to extract a price from cities, from civilian areas. It's not collateral damage, it's part of the plan.

John, thanks so much.

HILL: Yes, part of the plan.

Well, we know Russian forces have suffered heavy losses. That was likely not part of the plan initially. And now battlefield radio transmissions verified by "The New York Times" are giving us a new glimpse into their struggles.

Take a listen to these Russian dispatches from the early days of the war as they were invading Makari (ph) to the west of the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I urgently need refueling, water, food supplies. This is Sirena. Over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Urgently need fuel. Urgently need fuel. Vehicles stalling in the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Looking for retreat routes, looking for retreat routes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Buran, go home. It's better to be a deserter than fertilizer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Better to be a deserter than fertilizer. I mean it gives you such a window into what those Russian forces are facing there.

We're joined now by retired General Wesley Clark, former, of course, supreme allied commander of NATO.

General Clark, good to have you back on this morning.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, I want to talk about Russia's moves now in response to the troubles they've been having on the ground. The president now talking of drafting more than 100,000 people into the army. Can a draft of that size turn the tide for Russia in Ukraine?

[09:10:00]

I mean is it able to regroup, resupply, reinforce or have we seen issues exposed that are deeper than that for the Russian military?

CLARK: Remember, Jim, that war is competitive. And so it's not only what's happening on the Russian side, but it's what's happening on the Ukrainian side. So the Ukrainians have basically been subjected to a pretty intensive air campaign. We're reporting on the civilian damages. But what's being hit is fuel depots, ammunition supply points, repair shops for equipment and so forth. And they don't have any air support. So, try to bring columns of trucks and tanks in and railroad cars full of equipment, it is going to be seen and taken out. You may be able to smuggle in javelin missiles, but you can't get the big, heavy equipment in that they need. So that's the Ukrainian side.

On the Russian side, yes, at the bottom, they're not very effective. They're going to put more firepower in there, more armored vehicles, more untrained semiskilled troops. Their losses will be terrific. But it's competitive. And if the Ukrainians cannot acquire the necessary munitions, the heavy equipment they need, they're not going to be able to stand up on the battlefield for the next Russian assault.

HILL: So, speaking specifically of some of that equipment, we learned yesterday these switch blade drones are in the process of being delivered as part of this package of military assistance that was announced earlier this month by the president.

How important are those switch blade drones? What could they do for the Ukrainians?

CLARK: They're like a small mortar round, 100 of them. I mean they're symbolic. They're great for special forces operations. If you find the Russian general standing on the battlefield smoking a cigarette and you can see him and you launch this, you can target it on him.

But, look, what they need now is not just the stuff the U.S. is providing but the stuff that our NATO eastern European allies have. The 152 millimeter artillery and the munitions for it. The multiple launch rocket systems, the Grod (ph) and the Smersh (ph), they have to come in. And our eastern European allies are sort of torn. They want to give it, but what are they -- they're going to give up their own defenses. And what are we going to do to backfill them? And how quickly is -- it's like the MiG story all over again. And we've got to resolve this and get the Ukrainians what they need to stand up to the next wave of Russian assault.

SCIUTTO: General Clark, in the discussion, in these negotiations, there is discussion, open discussion, of Ukraine giving up parts, formally, of eastern Ukraine, granting that Crimea is now part of Russia, as well as possibly pledging at least for a number of years not to seek NATO membership.

I wonder, are those proposed concessions, is that warranted or is that defeatist, right? I mean, is that, in effect, rewarding Russia for its brutal invasion of Ukraine?

CLARK: It absolutely would be rewarding Russia for an invasion of Ukraine. And President Zelenskyy is -- he's -- he's shadow boxing with these proposals. Maybe they're real. Maybe they aren't real.

You know, the peace talks that are going on, it's a game that amuses the west, it amuses Putin, and it gets newspaper headlines. Oh, maybe peace is near and the Dow rises by 400 points. But this is going to be decided by the situation on the ground. If Ukrainians push the Russians out, they won't give up ground. If Ukrainians run out of ammunition, run out of heavy equipment and are simply blasted as they have been in Mariupol, then you'll get a much different outcome.

And the rest of it is shadowboxing (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: General Wesley Clark, always good it have your insight. Thanks for being here this morning.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CLARK: Well, thank you.

HILL: Just ahead, President Biden may release a million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Reserve to try to combat rising gas prices. So, would that really have an impact?

SCIUTTO: Yes, what percentage of our use is that?

Plus, I'll speak to the co-chair live -- co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, that's Democrat Mike Quigley. What he says the U.S. must do now to support Ukraine, to help it stand up to Russia.

And, later, Cindy McCain visits Poland as the number of Ukrainian refugees soar just past 4 million people in just over a month. CNN spoke to her about a looming food shortage now.

Stay with us.

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[09:18:55]

HILL: President Biden set to address the nation's rising gas and energy prices in a matter of hours. The White House is now considering releasing millions of barrels of oil from the nation's emergency stockpiles. It's part of an effort to lower those skyrocketing gas prices that are now at an average of well over $4 a gallon nationwide.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joining me now from the White House.

So, Jeremy, we're waiting to hear this officially from the president. Anything else that could be involved here as the president tries to ease this pressure on Americans?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, we do know that President Biden is set to address the nation this afternoon to talk about actions to reduce the impact of what the White House is calling Putin's price hike on energy prices and efforts to lower gas prices for Americans. That could be, according to a source familiar with the matter, this decision to release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And this would be potentially the biggest release of oil from that reserve, if indeed the president does this for what is being discussed, which is potentially six months, 180 days, 100 million -- 80 million barrels of oil per day.

[09:20:02] This would be the third time in just the last about four months that President Biden has decided to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try and combat rising gas prices. He did so earlier in November, releasing 50 million barrels of oil, and then earlier this month, 60 million barrels of oil in coordination with allies. Half of that actually came directly from the United States Strategic Reserves.

And, listen, the question is, how much of an impact this will have. It will depend, of course, on the size of this release, whether he does do this full 180 days with a million barrels of oil per day. Traditionally, these smaller releases have done little to actually impact the price of gas. But it is a way of signaling politically to the American public that the president is on top of this and trying to do something.

But, potentially, a record release of oil here could have some kind of impact here. And, once again, expect President Biden today to put the onus of this directly on President Putin.

Erica.

HILL: We will be watching for that.

Jeremy, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, Republican senators are calling on the Biden administration to move faster, do more on getting military aid to Ukraine. That comes after a classified briefing on the war on The Hill yesterday. Many Democrats defending the president. But the fact is, there are some Democrats, including my next guest, who are urging the administration to do more as well.

Joining me now, Representative Mike Quigley. He's a Democrat from Illinois and sits on the House Intelligence Committee, as well as co- chair, I should mention, of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus.

Congressman, thanks for taking the time again this morning.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Thank you. Good morning.

SCIUTTO: So, first, I want to get your view, given that you're getting these briefings regularly, of the situation in the war on the ground. U.S. intel indicates a refocusing of Russian forces on the east and the south. It doesn't mean they don't change their minds later, but they haven't done so well around Kyiv.

Do you believe that is a turning point in this conflict or is it just a pause as Russia attempts at least to regroup and possibly come back again?

QUIGLEY: Yes, certainly this is more of a repositioning. We met with five members of the RATA (ph) who came and spoke to us this week.

SCIUTTO: OK. QUIGLEY: And I agree with them. One of the things they said is, it's not just a repositioning, it's Putin saving face. They were shocked that they got stymied at the gates of Kyiv. And so, you know, they can say whatever they want that this is humanitarian, or repositioning, but the fact is, you know, they need to refit reconnoiter. And this is their way of saving face while they do it.

SCIUTTO: There is, as you know, and I know that those members of the Ukrainian parliament communicated this on The Hill, a mismatch between what the Ukrainians are asking for and what the U.S. is giving. Yes, they're getting a lot, the stingers, the javelins, these air and missile defense systems, but they want reconnaissance and attack drones, they want tactical radars, they want electronic warfare. They also want close air support aircraft.

And you're a Democrat who's pushed for things like that, you know, greater aid. Does that mismatch mean the U.S. might let this war turn around, let Russia regain its footing and push back against Ukraine once again?

QUIGLEY: You know, and I wouldn't just say it's the U.S. I think the Biden administration has done a masterful job uniting NATO and uniting the west and getting the sanctions put in place and the aid needed. But that makes it all the more difficult for the administration to move as one entity. So that's difficult.

Having said that, these more powerful meetings with members of the RATA (ph), our guests this week were all members of the RATA (ph), they were all women, they were all mothers. One showed me an alert on her phone that her two-year-old child was under an air alert. So, we have to do and we can do much more.

SCIUTTO: I always say to people, don't mess with the women of Ukraine. I met a lot of female soldiers there, members of parliament, and other civilians who were standing up right now.

Let's talk about the peace talks because as those go on in Turkey, you have Ukrainians presenting at least the possibility of concessions, including territorial concessions, perhaps giving up formally areas in the east or even swearing off membership in NATO for a period of time here.

In your view, is that warranted or defeatist? And might that signal to Vladimir Putin if he invades, he may not get all that he wants, but he gets something?

QUIGLEY: You know, a couple things. First of all, what's happening on the battlefield does affect negotiations as I guess it always has with war. All the more reason to give Ukraine all the resources they need. You can't half fight a war.

One of the thing the RATA (ph) members told us was, Russia is just waiting until we run out of weapons and ammunition.

SCIUTTO: Yes. QUIGLEY: So we need to -- they asked for a long-term commitment to let Putin know that we're going to give them all the weapons they need, not just what we've done so far, for the duration of the war. And I think that will help because most people believe the negotiations are a farce, it's just a tactic by Putin, and, unfortunately, Ukraine is battling with negotiating with a gun to their head.

[09:25:07]

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you now about statements of the former president who once again, and as you know it's not the first time, has, in effect, called on Russia, a foreign power, to interfere in U.S. politics, saying if Putin has dirt on President Biden, he should release it.

Why hasn't Congress, and under Democratic control, passed a law to ban requests by Americans to foreign governments for help in U.S. elections?

QUIGLEY: You'd like to think those laws exist, but they don't.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

QUIGLEY: And it's something that has to be first and top of our agenda.

You know, yesterday I addressed the House and I talked about useful idiots. There are a lot of members from the conservative right, not just elected officials, who are saying things that are being used, as you know, on Russian media to help their cause.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

QUIGLEY: They're helping Ukraine fight. They're helping Russia fight against our ally Ukraine. They have to be held to account.

SCIUTTO: Why not pass a law then? You've got both Houses of Congress and the president.

QUIGLEY: Yes, I'm not sure we have both houses of Congress, I think the Senate is as close to a tie as you possibly can. So, unless you got 60 votes, it gets tougher. But it's certainly worth the fight.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Mike Quigley, always good to have you on.

QUIGLEY: Thank you.

HILL: Any moment now Blue Origin set to launch into orbit for a fourth trip to the edge of the earth. We are monitoring this. We'll bring you a live report just ahead.

We are also just moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures largely flat amid diminishing optimism around a Russia/Ukraine cease-fire agreement. Investors have managed it stay calm in the face of those ongoing -- of the ongoing Russia/Ukraine crisis focusing on hopes instead that inflation could ease. Oil prices tumbling on reports President Biden plans to release some oil from the U.S. Reserves. We'll continue to watch those.

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