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New U.S. Sanctions Target Key Russian Bank, Oligarch's Network; Biden Gives Update on Russian Invasion of Ukraine; Prime Ministers of Spain, Denmark to Meet With Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[10:00:03]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN NEWSROOM: Earlier this morning, the Biden administration announced a new program set to provide a streamlined process for Ukrainian refugees looking to come to the U.S. Biden has agreed to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians.

On Wednesday, the U.S. announced another round of sanctions, this time targeting a key commercial bank and a global network of more than 40 individuals and entities. All this as Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said his forces need more heavy weapons to beat Russia and they need them now.

All of this as Russian troops make significant advances throughout Ukraine. Right now, Vladimir Putin is claiming victory in the besieged port city of Mariupol. Russian forces are blocking all entry points into the city where some 200 people now are currently awaiting evacuation buses.

So, let's get back to Jim Sciutto for more on this. White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz also joins us along with CNN National Security Analyst Andrea Kendall-Taylor.

Let's go to you first, Arlette. What are we expecting to hear from President Biden in just moments?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, just a short while ago, we actually saw Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. leaving the White House. And a White House official says that they met with President Biden and national security advisers --

GOLODRYGA: Arlette, the president has just walked in, so let's listen to him speak. JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Sorry to keep you waiting a little bit. I had the honor of spending some time with the Ukrainian prime minister who's in town today and he is meeting with some of my cabinet members, including the secretary of treasury and others.

And we had a good discussion. I talked about what I'm about to tell you about today, as well as he was thanking the American people for their support, understands it's significant and we talked about keeping everyone together in terms of Europe, European Union and others, in the effort to stop Putin's brutality.

But before I head out to the West Coast, I want to quickly update the American people on the latest steps we're taking to support the people of Ukraine and to hold Putin accountable for his brutal an bloody war.

Russian forces retreated from Kyiv, leaving behind them a horrifying evidence, and you've seen it and you've reported it, you folks. And, by the way, I don't say this often but I think we should give enormous credit to folks in your agencies that are on the ground in Ukraine, in these spots, and they're really -- I've spoken to several of them, we owe them. But uncovering these evidences of their atrocities of war crimes against Ukrainian people, it's so clear to the whole world now.

Now, they've launched and refocused their campaign to seize new territory in Eastern Ukraine, and we're in a critical window now of time where they're going to set the stage for the next phase of this war. And United States and our allies and partners are moving as fast as possible to continue to supply Ukraine with forces that they need, weapons they need, excuse me, the equipment they need, their forces need to defend their nation.

Last week, I signed the $800 million package of security assistance to Ukraine and included new capabilities, like artillery systems and armored personnel carriers, equipment that's responsive to Ukraine's needs and tailored to support the intensified fighting in the Donbas region, which is a different war than in other places because both topographically it's different. It's flat, it's not in the mountains, and it requires different kinds of weapons to be more effective.

Today, I'm announcing another $800 million to further augment Ukraine's ability to fight in the east, in the Donbas region. This package includes heavy artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers and 144,000 rounds of ammunition to go with those howitzers. It also includes more tactical drones.

In the past two months, we've moved weapons and equipment to Ukraine at record speed. We've sent thousands of anti-armor and anti-missile helicopters, drones, grenade launchers, machine guns, rifles, radar systems, more than 15 million rounds of ammunitions have already been sent.

The United States alone has provided ten anti-armored systems for every one Russian tank that's in Ukraine, a 10-1 ratio. We're sharing and we'll continue to share significant timely intelligence with Ukraine to help defend them against Russian aggression. And on top of this, these direct contributions from the United States were facilitating the significant flow of weapons and systems to Ukraine from other allies and partners around the world, like the S- 300 long-range anti-aircraft missiles that Slovakia recently transferred to Ukraine. We are getting them in there.

We won't always be able to advertise everything that our partners are doing to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom but to modernize Teddy Roosevelt's famous advice, sometimes we will speak softly and carry a large javelin, because we're sending a lot of those in as well.

[10:05:15]

But we're not sitting on the funding that Congress has provided for Ukraine. We're sending it directly to the front lines of freedom to the fearless and skilled Ukrainian fighters who are standing in the breach.

And you've got to admit, you must be amazed at the courage of this country, the resolve that they're showing, not just their military but the average citizen, men and women, young men, young women as well. The sustained and coordinated support of the international community led and facilitated by the United States is a significant reason why Ukraine is able to stop Russia from taking over the country thus far.

Every American taxpayer, every member of our armed forces can be proud of the fact that our country's generosity and the skill and service of our military helped arm and repel Russia's aggression in Ukraine, to beat back Putin's savagery to try to seize Ukraine's capital and wipe out Ukraine's government. The battle of Kyiv was a historic victory for the Ukrainians. It was a victory for freedom won by the Ukrainian people with unprecedented assistance by the United States and our allies and our partners.

Now, we have to accelerate that assistance package to help prepare Ukraine for Russia's offensive that's going to be more limited in terms of geography but not in terms of brutality, not in terms of brutality. Combined with our recent drawdowns, it will ensure a steady flow of weapons into Ukraine over the next few weeks.

However, with this latest disbursement, I'm almost exhausted at the drawdown I had authorized that Congress authorized for Ukraine in a bipartisan spending bill last month. In order to sustain Ukraine for the duration of this fight, next week I'm going to have to be sending to Congress a supplemental budget request To keep weapons and ammunition flowing without interruption, the brave Ukrainian fighters who continued to deliver economic assistance to the Ukrainian people.

My hope and expectation is Congress would move and act quickly. And I want to thank the Congress, Democrats and Republicans, for their support for the people of Ukraine. Our unity at home, our unity with our allies and partners and our unity with the Ukrainian people is sending unmistakable message to Putin. He will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine. That will not happen. In addition to bolstering Ukraine's resistance on the battlefield, we're also demonstrating our support for the people of Ukraine. Today, the United States is announcing that we've intended to provide an additional $500 million in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government. This brings our total economic support for Ukraine to $1 billion in the past two months. This is money the government can help use to stabilize their economy, to support communities that have been devastated by the Russian onslaught and pay the brave workers that continue to provide essential services to the people of Ukraine.

You know, these past weeks have seen a terrible human cost of Putin's ambition for conquest and control. Approximately two-thirds, two- thirds of all Ukrainian children have been displaced from their home. More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled their country. It's an absolute outrage. The idea this is happening, approaching the second quarter of the 21st century, is just -- last month, when I was in Europe, I announced the United States would welcome 100,000 Ukrainians so that we share the responsibility of supporting the Ukrainians fleeing from Putin's war machine. We've already welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to the United States.

And today, I'm announce a program called Unite for Ukraine, a new program to enable Ukrainians seeking refuge to come directly from Europe to the United States. This new humanitarian parole program will complement the existing legal pathways available to Ukrainians, including immigrant visas and refugee processing. It will provide an expedient channel for secure legal migration from Europe to the United States for Ukrainians who have a U.S. sponsor, such as a family or an NGO. This program will be fast, it will be streamlined and it will ensure the United States honors its commitment to go to the people of Ukraine and need not go through our southern border.

We're also continuing to ratchet up the pressure on Putin and further isolate Russia on the world stage. Yesterday, the Treasury Department rolled out additional measures to crack down on the enemies and individuals attempting to evade our unprecedented sanctions, not just ours but throughout the west.

[10:10:04]

Today, I'm announcing that the United States will ban Russian- affiliated ships from our ports as they did in Europe. That means no ship, no ship that sails under the Russian flag or that is owned or operated by Russian interest will be allowed to dock on the United States port or access our shores, none, none. This is yet another critical step we're taking in concert with our partners in the European Union and the United Kingdom, Canada further to deny Russia the benefits of the economic system that they so enjoyed in the past.

We don't know how long this war will last, but as we approach the two- month mark, here's what we do know. Putin has failed to achieve his grand ambitions on the battlefield. After weeks of shelling Kyiv, Kyiv still stands. President Zelenskyy and his democratic-elected government still remain in power. And the Ukrainian Armed Forces joined by many brave Ukrainian civilians have thwarted Russia's conquest of their country. They've been bolstered from day one by an unstinting supply of weapons, ammunition, armor, intelligence, from the nations of the free world led by us, the United States, as Russia continues to grind out the military advances and their military advances and the brutalities against Ukraine.

Putin is banking on us losing interest. That's been my view. You've heard me say this from the beginning. He was counting on NATO, European Union, our allies and Asia cracking, moving away. He's betting on western unity will crack. He's still betting on that. And, once again, we're going to prove him wrong. We will not lessen our resolve. We're going to continue to stand with the brave and proud people of Ukraine. We will never fail in our determination to defend freedom and oppose tyranny. It's simple as that.

So, again, I want to thank the American people, thank the American people for their support of the Ukrainian people. This is our responsibility, it seems to me, and we've been able to hold the whole world together in this effort. So, thank you very much. Thank you.

I'm going to take just one or two questions. I've got a plane to catch.

REPORTER: What does Putin claiming control over Mariupol mean? How significant is that?

BIDEN: Well, first of all, it's questionable whether he does control Mariupol. One thing for sure we know about Mariupol, he should allow humanitarian corridors to let people on that steel mill and other places buried under rubble to get out, to get out. That's what any, any head of state would do in such a circumstance. And so there is no evidence yet that Mariupol would completely fall.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE). Are you considering delaying (INAUDIBLE)?

BIDEN: No. What I'm considering is continuing to hear from my -- first of all, there's going to be an appeal by the Justice Department. Because as a matter of principle, we want to be able to be in a position when, in fact, it is strongly concluded by the scientists that we need Title 42, that we'd be able to do that. But there has been no decision on extending Title 42. Thank you.

REPORTER: Mr. President, how long can the U.S. maintain the level and pace of the military support for Ukraine?

BIDEN: Well, we have the capacity to do this for a long time. The question is, are we going to continue to maintain the support of the international community and keep the pressure on Putin to prevent him from overrunning the country, number one. And, number two, make sure we continue to maintain the economic sanctions, which, over time, and we're beginning to see, they are devastating their economy and their ability to move forward.

So, the most important thing right now is maintaining unity. So far, so good. Thank you very much.

GOLODRYGA: There you heard President Biden announce another $800 million in weaponry and military aid to help Ukraine, as it enters what he describes as the next phase in this war. This weaponry, he says, will be tailored for the battle that comes ahead.

I want to bring in Jim Sciutto. Jim, some of what is in this new package has been in your reporting. We're now at $1.6 billion in just the last two weeks of weapons going into Ukraine. Here he described this heavily artillery, dozens howitzers, 144,000 rounds of ammunition.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: Well, Arlette, just to take a beat for a moment, because as he was speaking there, we heard, you could probably still hear another air raid siren in Lviv, it starts with the kind of whine of the sirens and an announcement in Ukrainian, we'll tell you what follows that.

[10:15:06]

But in his announcement, yes, as you say, we reported earlier this week that the focus was going to on artillery and he mentioned there dozens of howitzers, 140,000 rounds of ammunition, and he references well why that is, because the U.S., its partners expect that the war in the east, given that the terrain is flatter, fewer places to hide and forests, fewer big cities to hide in, more open field battles, artillery on artillery, tanks on tanks, so they want to prepare and arm the Ukrainian military for that, because, as the president referenced, the Russians still do have a force advantage in terms of those heavy weapons.

So, they want to make it something more -- it's not going to be an even fight, just the nature of this battle, but make it something more of an even fight there and that, one, shows you the urgency with which the U.S. and its partners is treating the need for weapons by the Ukrainian military but also the kind of war they're expecting here.

We've talked about this before, earlier this week, Bianna, but folks keep saying to me, look for World War II-like battles there, right, trenches, lots of artillery, tank warfare, aerial bombing, and, of course, the sad fact of this, right, is that that fire is not directed just at military forces by Russia but at civilian targets. And that's what you're seeing in a place like Mariupol. They are leveling these places and that's part of the Russian military plan.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Jim, I wanted to get your thoughts on the president saying there's no evidence yet that Mariupol has fallen. He said these weapons are coming in right now, that the U.S. is not sitting on this funding, it is sending it in. What did you make about what he said about Mariupol in particular?

SCIUTTO: It sounds something of a sanguine assessment of the situation there, right. Because you just look at the map, Russia has virtually all of Mariupol, including what Mariupol is valued for. And that is the crossroads. It's got roads leading north, south, east and west out of there but also access to the coast there, and Russia controls virtually all of that.

It doesn't mean that they can get to these many hundreds of soldiers that are still holed up along with those civilians in the Azov steel plant. They may have just concluded it would be too bloody of a fight for the Russians, so they may hold. But as far as the city is concerned, it's hard to look at that as anything but largely in Russian hands at this point.

It doesn't mean it can't change, right? Ukrainians have proven very effective at counteroffensive, but the situation on the ground there, from what I'm told, is not -- it was dire, in fact, the word that's been used with me.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And the president said that any head of state would let those civilians out there that are holed up in that besieged city. Of course, Vladimir Putin is no ordinary head of state, and we know just by his actions how he values human life.

I want to bring in Andrea Kendall-Taylor. Andrea, the president was asked how long the U.S. could withstand all of this aid going in, and he said it all depends on the unity amongst allies and that's something that he said Vladimir Putin is banking on, that, at some point, there will be some divisions amongst allies given the impact this war is having on their own economies domestically.

Talk about some of the struggles there that he so publicly acknowledged may, in fact, happen in the next few weeks or months as long as this war continues.

ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think his message was actually quite optimistic and I think his words were so far so good. We just saw him talk with another group of world leaders and so we're seeing that the United States along with its allies and partners are committed to putting in the very hard work that will be necessary to help overcome any potential divisions and fissures.

We see the United States continuing not just to flow in military assistance but the president talked about the way that they're doing sanctions maintenance. So, they're tightening and heightening U.S. sanctions to make sure the sanctions are as effective as possible so that we are positioned for a long-term confrontation. We're doing that in conjunction with all of our allies and partners, both on the sanctions front and the military aid front.

What the president didn't mention is that we see European allies and partners also continuing to make very significant contributions of military aid contributions, tanks, heavy armor in conjunction with the United States.

So I, at this point, share the president's optimism that, so far, allies and partners are united. They seem to have the will to be in this for the long-term. But it will continue to require the hard work, the in-person meetings and the communication because that doesn't happen in and of itself, right? That kind of unity and cohesion takes hard work. And it seems at this juncture that all the allies and partners are committed to doing this and recognize that we are in for a period of prolonged confrontation with Putin's Russia.

[10:20:00] GOLODRYGA: Yes. We have an important presidential election to watch in France just this weekend. It could impact France's role at least in this war there. Marine Le Pen closely or has been closely aligned in the past with Vladimir Putin, though she herself has condemned this war.

Arlette Saenz, it was interesting to hear the president go into more detail about new plans, new policies that he's going to announce to get as many as 100,000 Ukrainian refugees processed through the United States in a more expedited fashion.

SAENZ: Yes, that's right. The administration today announcing this new program called United for Ukraine, that would essentially allow these refugees seeking on humanitarian grounds. Now, the president has pledged to bring up to 100,000 Ukrainians into the U.S. it's unclear whether they would actually meet those numbers, but any Ukrainians coming to the U.S. would be sponsored by a U.S. citizen or individual.

This could include refugee and non-profit organizations. They'll also have to go through specific security vetting. And that is, additional, not just for the Ukrainians coming but also for those that are sponsoring them, but the U.S. trying to show that they're setting up a system for these Ukrainians to try to come to the U.S. 100,000 is just a small number of the 5 million Ukrainians who have fled their war- torn country since this war began.

Additionally, one point that was interesting in the president's remarks is that he did say that he would need additional funding from Congress in order to continue to provide the military assistance to Ukraine. He will be asking for that next week.

And I think one quote that really summed up the president's view about this assistance they're sending, he tried to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt and said, sometimes we will speak softly and carry a large javelin.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, that did stand out to me as well.

Just a couple of their headlines out of his announcement today, $500 million in additional aid to the Ukrainian government there to help them economically as they weather this war and also a new U.S. ban on Russian-affiliated ships coming into U.S. port, just some more sanctions leveled against Russian-affiliated companies there.

Arlette Saenz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, thank you so much. Jim, stay with us.

And still to come, we speak -- Jim speaks with the French ambassador to the U.S., his message to other countries as France returns its embassy to Kyiv and his message to Russia as more sanctions are on the horizon. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00] SCIUTTO: This morning, the prime ministers of Spain and Denmark are in Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The U.S., though, however, has still not announced any visit by any senior U.S. official to Ukraine. More than a dozen world leaders have come so far. France has announced its diplomats will come to the capital, return to the capital of Kyiv, but Zelenskyy is personally appealing to French President Emmanuel Macron to come see the devastation for himself, just as he's done with many world leaders.

I spoke just a short time ago with the French ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Mr. Ambassador, France has announced that its diplomats will be returning to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. I wonder what the importance it is, in your view, to have diplomats on the ground here in Ukraine as the Ukrainian president has requested.

PHILIPPE ETIENNE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Jim. I think it is important. Our ambassador in Ukraine has never left Ukraine, actually. He was among the last ones to leave Kyiv but he worked then where you are in Lviv for some time. I know he's back in Kyiv.

And I think it is important, first, for practical reasons to be directly in touch with the Ukrainian authorities, but also to show our solidarity and our active collaboration.

SCIUTTO: I wonder, and, by the way, France is not alone, there have been a number of European countries, including NATO allies, doing the same as well as European countries, NATO allies that have sent their leaders here. What is your message to countries, including the U.S., of course, the leader, the leader of NATO, which has not returned either its diplomats or sent a high level visitor here? Do you think that's a mistake?

EITENNE: I would say that it's for each country to decide. We, of course, have, each of us, our own regulations, for instance, to ensure the security of our own staff, which is, frankly, legitimate also. So, each country has its own rules. We could get the solution to have our people always in Ukraine. I'm sure that the U.S. has other -- a lot of other methods and ways to keep also in close touch with Ukraine. So, I would not say -- I would not say to them, a mistake.