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Multiple Weekend Mass Shootings; Russia Strikes Lviv. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired April 18, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: All kinds of things for kids to do, but centered really around what she cares about.

And, again it's just nice to see the White House back open with people there.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Gosh, it sure is. Looking at those images, it just feels like we're slowly getting back to normal.

Kate Bennett, thank you so much for that.

Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for being with us.

There is no safe place, deadly strikes in Western Ukraine, even as Russia intensifies its eastern assault. Russian missiles killed at least seven people in Lviv. The smoke billowed just 43 miles from Poland's border. For weeks, thousands fled violence seeking refuge in this city.

Now any semblance of security here is gone, and in the east, the barrage of bombs relentless. Video of this skyline shows buildings igniting upon impact. Overnight, the town of Kreminna officially fell to Russian forces.

But in Mariupol, it is still a bloody and extremely brutal fight to the end. Ukrainian forces are refusing to surrender. One Ukrainian commander is now begging Pope Francis to help, describing the horrors in that port city as hell on earth.

President Zelenskyy says talks with Moscow will end if Russia makes good on its threat to eliminate Ukraine's last troops there. Let's begin in Lviv. That's in Western Ukraine.

CNN's Matt Rivers is there with us.

Matt, Lviv, for the most part, has so far escaped the worst of the violence. But now we have this deadly strike just miles from where you are. What's the latest?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's exactly right, Ana.

I mean, for -- as compared to other cities in Ukraine, Lviv has generally gone unscathed, but that kind of peaceful lull was shattered this morning, frankly, with four different missile strikes landing across Lviv. At a midday press conference, we heard from Ukrainian defense officials who say three of the four sites that were attacked were -- had some sort of military infrastructure on them.

But the fourth site was simply an auto body repair shop. And I know that firsthand because my team and I went to visit that site. We saw the impact crater from where the Russian missiles struck. It was probably about five meters across. It was massive. And we saw two buildings that were still on fire when we arrived.

On one of those buildings, there was a sign that said auto body repair shop. And if you looked around, there were no signs of military bases. There were no military infrastructure there. This was simply a civilian target that Russia hit. Whether intentionally or otherwise, the end result is that multiple people died at that site.

We spoke to the owner of that body shop. He said that multiple of his employees died, several others were sent to the hospital. Buildings in the area were destroyed, definitely another example of Russian military brutality.

But I should add here that what is happening in Libya is nothing when you compare it to what is happening in other parts of the country. So let's move east to the region of Luhansk, where we have been waiting for this Russian offensive to really begin to ramp up in earnest.

And if you ask certain people in Luhansk, like the head of the regional military administration, he thinks the battle for the Donbass region, of which Luhansk is a part, has already begun, speaking specifically about the town of Kreminna, which has fallen to Russian forces.

Ukrainian forces have retreated from that town, with the administrator of that area saying that it no longer made sense for Ukrainian troops to stay there. He said the enemy fired everything from aircraft to mortars, artillery, tanks. He said, staying there, the defenders would simply die. They would be of no use. And that is why they ultimately chose to move the defenders away, what he describes as a tactical retreat.

But this is the kind of thing that we're going to be seeing play out over the coming days and weeks, as this Russian offensive really ramps up. You're going to be seeing fierce battles between both sides in the eastern part of the country, as the focus really shifts away from the northern part of the country, which we saw a few weeks ago ,now east to Donbass -- Ana.

CABRERA: Matt, I feel like I say this every time I speak to you and our colleagues, but I just pray you stay safe. Thank you for your hard work and your courageous reporting there on the ground in Lviv.

Let's focus in now on the key port city of Mariupol. An adviser to the mayor says Russian forces are blocking all entry and exit to the city after Ukraine rejected and ultimatum to surrender.Defenders are vowing to fight until the end. And the situation there is dire.

[13:05:03]

One Ukrainian commander in Mariupol just wrote a letter to Pope Francis describing what remains and pleading for help.

He writes: "You have probably seen a lot in your life, but I am sure that you have never seen what is happening in Mariupol, because that's what hell on earth looks like. I have little time to describe all the horrors I see here every day at the plant, Azovstal. Women and children and babies live in bunkers, in hunger and cold every day being targeted by the enemy aviation. The wounded die every day, because there is no medicine, no water, no food."

Mariupol was once a city of 450,000 people, but only an estimated 100,000 remain after 49 days of this Russian assault. Russians encircled Mariupol on March 1. And it's been the site of some of the most brutal attacks. And you can see where it is here between the Donbass region. Down there is Crimea.

Now, this is where Russia bombed that maternity and children's hospital. You probably remember seeing these types of pictures of bloody pregnant women on stretchers being carted out of the rubble. Russia claimed this hospital was a justifiable military target.

Just a week later, this theater, where hundreds sought shelter, and the word "Children" was written outside on both sides, could be seen from the sky, was targeted by an airstrike. Hundreds died. Four days after that, Russian forces bombed an art school sheltering 400 people.

By March 31, one month into the siege of Mariupol, President Zelenskyy said more than 90 percent of the city's buildings had been destroyed. April brought new horrors, including reports Russia was sending Mariupol residents through filtration camps to relocate some Ukrainians to Russia. And aid and evacuation convoys routinely have been blocked by Russian forces.

As of last week, the regional military governor says the death toll may be 22,000 or more just in this one city.

Joining us now is CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark. He's a former NATO supreme allied commander.

General Clark, thanks for being with us. Starting with what's happening in Mariupol, how is it that Russian

forces haven't actually captured the city when they have demolished it?

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they haven't actually captured it yet. There's still resistance in the steel factory. And there will be resistance as long as those men who are there can hold a weapon and fight, because they know what the alternative is.

If they surrender, they're going to be shot or tortured or both. And so this is a battle to the death for these men in this battalion who are holding on.

CABRERA: It really does speak to the will and the courage and the sacrifice of all the people in that town and the fighters for Ukraine.

The significance, as you see it, of Mariupol once it all falls, assuming that's where this is headed?

CLARK: Yes.

Well, it's got a symbolic significance, of course. It'll be a big victory for Russia, or wanting to be that. And it will also open the route between Southern Russia, Rostov, all the way out to Kherson, and the Russians hope eventually through Mykolaiv and into Odessa, if they take Odessa.

And it would seal off the rest of Ukraine from access to its port on the Black Sea. So, it is a strategic prize for Russia. But the Ukrainian defense has been incredibly tough and heroic there.

CABRERA: As we discussed with Matt Rivers, Russia's ramping up its eastern offensive, but it's also striking Lviv, which is located some 40 miles or so from Poland in Western Ukraine. What's Russia's strategy here?

CLARK: Well, I think Russia is diverting its -- and distracting itself.

I think the attack on Lviv was mostly revenge. And maybe they think it's a warning to NATO. But I don't think NATO is going to take that warning. I think the NATO nations are going to continue to support Ukraine to the best of their ability, as best they can, because this is what they're committed to.

But I think that Russian military assets would be better used with military targets in their center of concentration. But this is the Russian mentality. They are distracted. They are seeking revenge perhaps for the sinking of the cruiser Moskva.

CABRERA: President Zelenskyy tells CNN Ukraine will win this war.

[13:10:02]

And we all thought Ukraine's army won that early battle for Kyiv. But, as I understand it, the eastern Donbass region will be a different beast. Given what both sides strategically have right now, can Ukraine win again?

CLARK: Well, we don't actually know.

It is a function of information that we don't have access to and some processes that we don't see into. We don't know what the Ukrainian strength is on the ground. We don't know how effective the Russian maneuver forces will be. We do know that today, in this battle in this little town of a Kreminna, that the Ukrainian forces wisely pulled back.

They don't want to be encircled. They want to force the Russians to mass, then bring targeting their artillery on the massed Russian forces as they slip away. This is mobile armored warfare. It's not siege warfare. And they don't want to be caught by that.

But really, Ana, the question you're asking goes to the heart of U.S. policy. What is the U.S. policy? Is our policy to ensure that we provide the support that provides President Zelenskyy a win, or is the U.S. policy to do as much as possible before these imaginary red lines of Mr. Putin are crossed.

And we don't know what those red lines are. But President Zelenskyy is asking for fighter planes. Well, they haven't been -- he hasn't been given any fighter planes.

CABRERA: Right.

CLARK: He's asking for tanks and artillery. But there are some European nations, East European nations, that have this equipment that won't release it.

So we don't know whether he's going to get what he wants. And we don't know how hard the United States is pushing for this, because we don't actually have, at least publicly, a defined U.S. policy Is it to seek a successful into the war, which would be the Russians pushed out of Donbass, and then let the diplomats argue about Crimea?

That's what President Zelenskyy wants, or is it, well, NATO held together and the Ukrainians gave it a good fight, and they were very heroic, but now they don't have a country? That's not likely to be seen as a success in the West, if that's the (AUDIO GAP) that's emerged.

So, I hope, in the coming days, as this dilemma for the Biden administration sharpens, how much will we give them, that that policy will become clearer, if not articulated, then by action and getting the replenishments and extra ammunition and artillery and tanks in there.

CABRERA: And we were told over the weekend that some $800 million worth of additional weapons support was starting to arrive there in Ukraine, which had been committed by the Biden administration just last week, bringing the total from the U.S. commitment to $3.2 billion so far in this invasion.

Thank you very much, General Clark. It's great to have you here. Thank you for your expertise and insights.

CLARK: Yes, thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: A global pariah forever? The international outrage over Russia's invasion of Ukraine won't stop when this war is over. According to a new report, countries around the world are preparing to isolate the Kremlin for years to come.

And back here in the U.S. a violent and deadly Easter weekend, three separate mass shootings at a nightclub, a house party and a mall. The latest on those investigations.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:50]

CABRERA: Face to face with Putin.

Austria's chancellor says he confronted the Russian president about the atrocities Russia was committing on the ground in Ukraine, but Putin unswayed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL NEHAMMER, CHANCELLOR OF AUSTRIA: I think he is now in his own war logic. He thinks the war is necessary for security guarantees for the Russian Federation. He doesn't trust the international community. He blames two Ukrainians to -- for genocide in the Donbass region.

I think he believes he is winning the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Let's bring in CNN global affairs analyst and "TIME" magazine contributor Kimberly Dozier and CNN White House correspondent M.J. Lee.

Kim, Putin thinks he's winning. And, in the meantime, he is continuing to obliterate Mariupol. He's now targeting even Western Ukraine. It sounds like he has no plans to stop. If the West doesn't get more involved right now, what does that mean? Is that like a green light for Putin?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it sounds like Putin has shifted gears. He understands that this is going to be a long, grinding fight, like it already has been in other parts of the Donbass, to secure his victory, as he sees it, of seizing Crimea and taking more territory.

We're hearing from the Pentagon and from Ukrainian officials that the Russians have mostly moved in the troops that they need to conduct this new offensive. And I think all this severe fighting that we're seeing pop up, especially in the past 24 to 48 hours, that's the start of this uptick in this -- what will be artillery and just tank-on- tank, troop-on-troop battle over the east that is going to cause the kind of destruction we have seen in Mariupol, but on a larger scale.

CABRERA: Oh, my.

M.J., how far is the Biden administration willing to go in terms of supplying military support?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anal, this is probably one of the most critical questions facing the administration, as we all expect this war to sort of enter the next phase.

[13:20:06]

And that next phase is expected to include a lot of heavy fighting, particularly in that Eastern Donbass region. And the concern right now is that Ukraine could sort of start running out of ammunition and important weapons to fight back.

By some estimates, tens of thousands of artillery rounds could be used up in a matter of days. This is the kind of assistance, of course, that the U.S. has been offering Ukraine. And we have, important to note, seen the U.S. offering the kinds of assistance that has become heavier in terms of its capability.

So we're talking about drones and other heavy machinery. And so the question that is facing the U.S. administration is, how much more of that kind of weaponry is the U.S. willing to provide? But what Zelenskyy has made clear is that they simply cannot reach his country fast enough.

CABRERA: Well, and as we have been reporting as well, some of the ammunition that the U.S. has already sent that way could be used in a matter of days. That's how much they're going through it, so quickly.

Kim, Putin has already succeeded in making Russia an international pariah? Will Russia, do you think, have any standing in the world left after this?

DOZIER: It depends on which part of the world you're talking about.

There are countries like India, parts of Asia, parts of Africa and Latin America that voted with or abstained from votes that would have been damaging to Russia at the U.N., and that are continuing to do business with Russia, and not pledging, like Germany has, to slowly wean themselves off of Russian energy supplies.

And that's where the next intensifying phase of this battle is the only thing that could change their calculus. If Putin is not satisfied with the pace on the ground -- we heard the warning from the CIA director last week and from President Zelenskyy in his interview with Jake Tapper -- that Putin could resort to nuclear weapons.

Only then, something extreme and drastic, do I think you could see some of these nations that are still at least being mute on the war or noncommittal changing their calculus and joining the West with regards to Putin.

CABRERA: There is growing pressure on President Biden to visit Ukraine.

I want you to listen to President Zelenskyy in his exclusive interview with Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Do you want President Biden to come here?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes.

TAPPER: Is there -- are there any plans for him to come?

ZELENSKYY: I think he will. I think...

TAPPER: You think he will?

ZELENSKYY: I think he will. And I think he -- but it's not -- I mean, it's his decision, of course. And about the safety situation, it depends. I mean that.

But I think -- I think he's the leader of the United States, and that's why he should come here to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: M.J., is this something the White House is considering?

LEE: Ana, the short answer is no.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a recent interview that there aren't active discussions right now for President Biden to travel to Ukraine. But what we do know is that there have been early preliminary conversations about the possibility of sending some kind of high-ranking U.S. official to Ukraine.

So, whether that is the secretary of defense or the secretary of state, we don't know. But ,obviously, what U.S. officials have made very clear is that security concerns are number one, that they need to make sure that, whoever goes over there, if such a trip were to happen, that they need to make sure that that person is safe.

But it is just so striking, to see the Ukrainian president directly making an appeal and saying, I would like to see the U.S. president come to my country.

He obviously understands better than anybody else the symbolic significance that such a trip would have, Ana.

CABRERA: M.J. Lee and Kim Dozier, thank you, ladies. I appreciate you.

Nearly 400 million people in China are under a COVID lockdown. The ripple effects of this could go far beyond China's borders, a new threat to the global economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:29:17]

CABRERA: Authorities are searching for multiple suspects in a mass shooting that left two teenagers dead and several others wounded.

It happened at a large house party in Pittsburgh early yesterday. Police describe a chaotic scene, with people running for their lives, even jumping out of windows, to escape the hail of bullets. They say more than 90 shots were fired. This was one of several mass shootings over the Easter holiday weekend.

And CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz reports on the latest round of deadly gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have multiple shootings.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Pittsburgh, a mass shooting at a large party held at a short-term rental property.

Two 17-year-olds were killed and police say at least eight others were wounded by the gunfire early Sunday morning.

SCOTT E. SCHUBERT, PITTSBURGH POLICE CHIEF: It's heartbreaking.