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U.S. Marine Trevor Reed Released in Prisoner Swap with Russia; Overnight Blasts Heard in Three Russian Regions Bordering Ukraine; People Fleeing Kherson Ahead of Russia's "Sham Referendum"; Russia Shuts Off Major Gas Supply to Poland and Bulgaria; Russian Forces Targeting Health Care Facilities in Ukraine. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 27, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:01:15]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto reporting from Lviv in western Ukraine.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York. We have breaking news this morning. Some good news for a change.

Russia has released U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed from prison as part of a prison swap with Moscow. This new video just into CNN from this morning from Russian state media showing Trevor Reed being escorted by officials in what they say is a Moscow area airport, Vnukovo airport in Moscow there.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. and Russia agreed to exchange Trevor Reed who was convicted and jailed in Russia for allegedly endangering police officers for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who was sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. prison for drug smuggling.

Last hour I spoke with State Department's spokesperson Ned Price about the swap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: This was a decision that the president made. It was a decision that was predicated on the fact that this Russian individual had served the majority of his prison sentence for a non-violent drug crime, and again, our overriding priority was the safe return of Trevor Reed, knowing not only that he'd been held against his will for far too long but that his health condition required urgent treatment.

I want to be very clear about this. In our engagement with the Russians in order to seek the release of Trevor Reed, there was one issue and one issue discussed. It was the case of Trevor Reed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Price also said that in the larger discussions about the war in Ukraine were, in his words, at a dead end.

Also this morning, as Russia's invasion continues here, officials acknowledging some losses in the east. Ukraine says that several towns and villages are now under Russian control.

GOLODRYGA: But first, more on the release of American Trevor Reed. CNN's John Harwood joins us from the White House and CNN's Kylie Atwood is at the State Department.

Kylie, over to you first. What more are you learning about this prison swap?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, senior State Department officials, excuse me, administration officials are saying that this was months in the making but that these discussions to secure this release really intensified over the last few days. And just to remind folks, Trevor Reed is a former Marine. He's about 30 years old. He had traveled to Russia in 2019 and that's when he was detained.

So it was years ago that he was detained in Russia and the U.S. ambassador to Russia said that he was charged with a crime that he simply didn't commit. The Biden administration has been clear about the charges against him being trumped up charges, not things that he actually did. And I think it's important to focus on the fact that his family has been very vocal in looking for his release, in hoping that he would be released, waiting for this day.

Just listen to what they said earlier this morning on CNN discussing what the last few days have been like and some of the confusion that they have been through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY REED, TREVOR REED'S FATHER: They have moved into a Moscow prison this week. We didn't know that. He's in -- went to the same prison that I think Paul Whelan was held in for a long time. Lefortovo Prison. And then they flew him from there to Turkey, and then Trevor quickly told us that the American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane and they walked both prisoners across at the same time like you see in the movies.

PAULA REED, TREVOR REED'S MOTHER: I'm going to try not to cry because he doesn't want me to cry, but obviously I'm going to cry a little bit and give him big hugs and just, you know, just give him hugs and it will be four of us together again in a few years, so it's going to be great.

J. REED: Well, I want to hug him and not let him go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, of course, given the ongoing war in Ukraine, this is a moment in time where there wasn't much optimism at all from U.S. officials or from Trevor Reed's family about his release.

[10:05:04]

So it is significant that it happened at this moment, but U.S. officials are saying that this release will have no impact on how they treat the war in Ukraine, saying that these were discreet conversations on a limited problem set -- guys.

SCIUTTO: Yes, Reed's family saying that a meeting they had with President Biden, they believe, helped move these things, this along.

John Harwood at the White House, President Biden in a statement said this exchange required some difficult decisions. Do we know what he was speaking about specifically?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think he was speaking about the release of that Russian prisoner. No doubt the meeting between Trevor Reed's family and the president had an influence on this, and we've seen the president put out a statement this morning saying that he heard in the voices of Trevor Reed's parents how much they worried about his health and missed his presence.

He was delighted to share the news today of his freedom, but he noted, as you indicated, that this required difficult negotiations that he doesn't take lightly. So this is tremendous news for Trevor Reed and for his family, for America, because this ill young man is coming home. Great news. Somewhat of a mixed bag for the president of the United States, though, in a situation like this for two reasons.

One, because of the Russian prisoner who was freed in exchange for Trevor Reed, and secondly, because this comes at a moment in the Ukraine war when Russia is being seen by the entire world as a savage assailant of the Ukrainian people, butchery occurring all over Ukraine. It can't hurt from a Russian perspective to have at least this small humanitarian gesture seen on the world stage, and I think that's why Ned Price and other U.S. officials are emphasizing this had nothing to do with the Ukraine war, and I think that's partly why we don't expect to hear from the president in person beyond that statement this morning today -- Jim.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and Paul Whelan, Brittney Greiner are still two Americans that are held in Russia and it is a priority for the Americans in this administration to have them released as soon as possible, as well. A joyous day for the country and for Trevor Reed's family.

Kylie Atwood and John Harwood, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Overnight here in Ukraine, and just across the border in Russia, several blasts specifically targeting things like weapons depots, fuel supply depots.

CNN correspondent Scott McLean, he's with me here in Lviv, Ukraine, international correspondent, I should say.

Scott, it's interesting because Ukrainian officials, as we have seen evidence of what at least are the hallmarks of potential attacks on Russian facilities, we've seen Ukrainian officials be very cagey about claiming any potential Ukrainian responsibility until today, raising the idea that this is some sort of debt being repaid by Russia. What do we know?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. So we know that the first round of strikes this morning was in the wee hours of the morning and that was that ammunition depot that you mentioned, Jim. A little while after that, there were a lot of explosions heard about 75 miles inside the Russian border and those explosions, local officials say, was evidence that the missile defense system or the air defense system in that area actually works. So it doesn't seem like anything was hit there.

Two hundred miles inside the border, a couple of hours after that, another city was hit. And officials haven't said what exactly was struck but we know that this city was a hub for military and transport. Now you mentioned the Ukrainian response. They didn't directly take responsibility for this, but frankly, they might as well.

I just want to read you a short excerpt from what an adviser to President Zelenskyy wrote saying, "How can this be explained? Very simply. If you, the Russians, decide to attack another country en masse, kill everyone there en masse, crush peaceful people en masse with tanks and use warehouses in your regions to provide the killings, and sooner or later, the debts will have to be repaid," adding, "karma is a cruel thing."

Jim, this comes just as fighting in the eastern part of Ukraine has really picked up. Ukrainians say that they have lost several villages and towns in the last 24, 48 hours. The Russians have a huge build-up of troops in that area. They're being resupplied from Russia as well. The Ukrainians say that they have managed to repel some of these attacks destroying in the last while, nine tanks, 11 artillery positions, and more Russian equipment than that.

But an adviser, a separate adviser to President Zelenskyy said just this morning that this is one of the most brutal battles taking place since the end of the Second World War. Talking about the fighting in the east right now because in part that huge concentration of troops. The Ukrainians say that in the Luhansk region, most of that area, a good swath of that area, has gotten some kind of shelling in the last 24 hours.

[10:10:05]

SCIUTTO: Big concentration of troops, also heavy, heavy weapons there, artillery on both sides.

Scott McLean here in Lviv with me, thanks very much.

Today in the Russian-held region of Kherson in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say Russia now plans to hold what it claims will be a referendum to try and claim then popular support for its taking over that town. Some people who live there are feeling very worried understandably about what this means and what would happen after the results of a sham voting there.

GOLODRYGA: Something we saw in Donetsk and Luhansk as well.

Joining us now to discuss is Oleksandra (INAUDIBLE), a member of the Ukrainian parliament. She is currently in Austin, Texas, and has lobbying U.S. lawmakers for additional support.

Oleksandra, thank you so much for joining us. If I could just take a bigger perspective as to how things have unfolded over the last couple of weeks, where you have U.S. officials from the Defense secretary on down, now saying that they believe that Ukraine can win this war and can defeat Russia. That on top of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley, telling Jim yesterday that this war isn't just about Ukraine, but it threatens to destabilize the international world order if Russia isn't held back.

What does that tell you about now the U.S. and Western allies, really coming in agreement with a message that President Zelenskyy has been sending even before the war?

OLEKSANDRA USTINOVA, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: So we are very grateful for the Western alliance and especially for the United States for taking the lead in this -- in support of Ukraine right now because we've been asking for more than two months to provide us with heavy weapons, to support Ukraine with arms and artillery mainly. You know Ukrainians have been begging to close the sky because that means basically providing weapons to Ukraine that would make our country be able to put down the airplanes and the missiles coming to the cities and destroying them just like Mariupol was destroyed.

And now when I see this alignment, when I see that the European leaders, the United States actually step up and said that we're going to help, we're going to be standing and backing up Ukraine, that means a lot for us. And when President Biden said two very important things, the first one, he said it was genocide. It was not a war. That meant a lot because that's what Ukrainians had been saying.

This is not about just the war, this is about the genocide in the Ukrainian nation, that Putin wants to destroy, and the second thing was that Ukraine will win the war. That means a commitment. We would be very grateful if also the United States would pass a bill on the land lease and that's what I'm, as a parliamentarian, have been asking the Congress to do. Because that was the main reason that helped Great Britain in the Second World War to win the war as well because once you have the support and provision of arms and financial support because you know that the losses, the estimate of the losses for Ukraine right now is over $600 billion.

And we need a lot of arms and weapons to fight with Putin. So that would be very helpful. But now as we see the world coming together, the world saying that we can live without the oil and gas coming from Russia, that we can provide heavy weapons to Ukraine, that means we can win the war.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

USTINOVA: Because Ukrainians have proved that we can do it on our own. We're not asking your soldiers to come and fight for us but just give us the arms.

SCIUTTO: Oleksandra, if I can, what we're seeing happening in Kherson is it comes right out of the Russian playbook. You took over the land and then you hold a sham referendum to somehow legitimize seizing the land. We saw that in Crimea as Bianna was saying. We've seen it in eastern Ukraine.

Do you fear that we're going to see this more in Ukraine and that Russia will try to steal more parts of your country, claim that it's legal?

USTINOVA: Of course. Unfortunately, we see this happening right now, and to be honest, I still have people that I know that are still there in occupied Kherson, and they are crying every day asking when Ukraine is going to come back. Unfortunately, at this particular moment, that would mean thousands of lives for us to be done. You've seen what happened in Mariupol but I know that Kherson is a Ukrainian city so is Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk, so I'm pretty much sure the Ukrainian army will fight it back.

But unfortunately, Russians keep playing the same game as they did eight years and they're doing it now. This is the fake referendum. People have been protesting on the streets today with the Ukrainian flags that could be shot any minute for just hanging the Ukrainian flags saying we're not Russians, we're Ukrainians, and we want to stay in Ukraine.

[10:15:12]

GOLODRYGA: Oleksandra, before we go, our viewers should know that you not only have been campaigning on the part of your country and traveling around the world, here in the United States as well, but you're also the mother of a 2-week-old baby, and congratulations on the birth of your baby daughter.

I just wonder, when you look at this happening in the midst of a war and the fact that the majority of children in Ukraine now are displaced, what are your biggest hopes for your baby and the future of Ukraine's children going forward?

USTINOVA: Well, to be honest, my baby is blessed that she was born not in the subway or in bomb shelter, and that she was born here in a safe place in a hospital. I named her Victoria because I believe we need more victories in Ukraine right now, and I believe this is a small victory because every little born Ukrainian right now brings us closer to our victory.

But unfortunately, there are so many kids that -- and so many babies that did not make it because people do not speak about it because we have so many atrocities committed in Bucha and other cities and Mariupol. But we have a huge problem right now in Ukraine that a lot of babies are being born premature. They don't have enough care because they're born in the subway and the bomb shelter.

So these babies cannot even make it and there is a very high death rate in mothers and among the babies. So I really hope that this hell will be over soon, and we will have more babies. You know, I have a lot of friends now that committed to get married or have more kids after the war, and I really hope this will be very soon, and we will have more little Ukrainians to change the world. SCIUTTO: We met this morning actually a Ukrainian refugee here in

Lviv, who's pregnant, due I think next month, who said she very much wants to have her child here, too. Sort of an investment in the future of this country.

Oleksandra Ustinova, we're glad you and your little girl are safe and we wish you the very best. Thank you.

USTINOVA: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, a Russian company has now halted its gas supply to both Poland and Bulgaria. European officials call the move blackmail.

GOLODRYGA: And bidding farewell to a D.C. icon. A global icon. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will be laid to rest soon. President Biden set to deliver her eulogy in the coming hours.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:22:15]

GOLODRYGA: New overnight, Russian gas company Gazprom shut off its natural gas supply lines to Poland and Bulgaria. This comes after both countries refused to pay the Russian energy giant in rubles.

E.U. chief Ursula von der Leyen now accusing Russia of trying to blackmail the European bloc.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Clare Sebastian joining us now live from London.

Clare, I wonder, do Poland and Bulgaria have alternate supplies of natural gas they can draw on now?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, Poland certainly says it does. There's a pipeline under construction from Norway. It has options with liquefied natural gas, LNG, it has a terminal. This is something that's going to be crucial for Europe going forward as it tries to find alternative. Supply, overall, the sense is that the impact economically to Poland and Bulgaria will be mitigated. They rely fairly heavily on Russian gas.

As it stand for Poland in 2020 it was about 45 percent, Bulgaria, more exposed at about 80 percent. That number is from 2019. But as a percentage of their overall energy consumption it's relatively small in the lower teens. So they will be able to mitigate this they said.

The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has also said today that other neighboring countries are going to provide gas to Poland and to Bulgaria. This is the E.U. putting on a united response in the face of Russia deploying essentially what is its most effective economic weapon. They are trying to say to Russia, look, we stand united. In actual fact, they don't.

There are some countries, including Hungary, who have said they are willing to pay for gas in rubles, but look, this just got very real. I think this isn't just about the economic impact to Poland and Bulgaria. This is a warning to the whole of Europe. They need to get ready.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And as we saw in that graphic, three major Russian pipelines flowing through Ukraine as we speak. Gives you a sense of this war and, you know, thousands of people are dying and Russian gas are still flowing through.

Clare Sebastian, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, Russian forces are attacking another critical target in this country. They have attacked more than 160 health care facilities -- 160 -- since the start of the war. This according to the World Health Organization.

I spoke with Dr. Atul Gawande, he's the assistant administrator for Global Health at USAID, to discuss not only the effect of those attacks but how they factor into Russia's deliberate strategy here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ATUL GAWANDE, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR GLOBAL HEALTH, USAID: Reports confirmed by WHO missiles hitting maternity hospitals, children's hospitals. We know 38 hospitals have been destroyed and then you go into the occupied siege areas, we see more than half of health care facilities are non-functional. This is indeed in Putin's war part of the approach which is an attack on health facilities and civilians.

[10:25:07]

SCIUTTO: General Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and others are now speaking of this war, not in weeks or months but years. And I just wonder, is the U.S., is USAID and other groups responding to those health care needs now? Do they have the resources, the ability to stick it out for that long?

GAWANDE: Well, there's a couple of things to understand. I think there's different zones now. We have the western areas where you have the least attacks and you have some degree of, you have people returning to homes, getting to work and health care facilities are up and running, and the Ministry of Health has gone a long way towards restoring order. Then you have areas that are newly liberated and have lots of damage and rebuilding and recovery to do.

And then you have the places under siege and each of those need different parts of the plan. The siege areas are now in the south and in the east, and so, you know, the amount of economic damage here is huge. We have to get to the point that we can get as much of the country to normalcy as possible. It will only be possible if the economy here can start to get on its feet.

Ultimately, you hope that they can end the war. If it can't be ended, then it can be contained in parts, return to normal, and we're positioned to help with managing and supporting everywhere we can. For example, we have been able to position for more than 150,000 HIV/AIDS patients who are on treatments to stay alive, been able to position that supplies and medications that they need are there for the next year. So we are thinking not in weeks, but thinking in months and further in.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's remarkable to think of going through this war, suffering through AIDS or cancer as so many people are. As you know, recent history of refugee crises like this show that sometimes, the right and ability to help, frankly, wears out over time. A lot of this response has been dependent on the generosity and the patience, really, of neighbors, such as Poland the U.S. has been operating out of and other neighbors.

Are you concerned that that welcome doesn't last? Doesn't last forever?

GAWANDE: I'm in Poland. I'm in Warsaw right now having the border of Ukraine, and the generosity of surrounding countries like Poland open up the doors and welcome people into their homes has been remarkable. People will fatigue. We're entering a phase now, Poland has made Ukrainians who needed to escape across the border, made them fully -- have full membership in the health care system to be able to get their treatments and care.

But getting people into the system, making it possible for them to get care in their own language. Getting prescriptions so that you can fill them here. You have to get doctor's orders and everything else arranged. All of that process is getting under way, and that is taxing on a whole country. You know, the length of waits for everybody increases when you add a million or two million people to the needs.

But so far, you know, Poland and other surrounding places see these attacks as threats, not just to their neighbor but on themselves and they see it as a common cause and that's I think part of what's bringing people together.

SCIUTTO: Dr. Gawande, thanks so much for joining us.

GAWANDE: Glad to be here, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: So much generosity, trying to help these refugees. Really important reporting there.

Well, one of the world's leading banks is warning the U.S. is heading for another major recession. Up next, what Deutsche Bank says is the driving force and is it too late to turn things around? We'll discuss up next.

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