Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Says If His Country Were To Reach A Peace Deal With, Giving Up Any Ukrainian Territory Is Off The Table; Zelenskyy's Call For Arms Comes As Russia Is Stepping Up Attacks And The Ukrainian Military Is Burning Through Ammunition; Parents In A New Jersey School District Are Demanding That Members Of The School Board Resign After The Recent Suicide Of A Teenager There; President Biden And The First Lady Are Offering Support To Senator John Fetterman. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 17, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says if his country were to reach a peace deal with Russia, giving up any Ukrainian territory is off the table. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he also made an urgent plea at NATO allies and asked world leaders to quickly deliver the weapons needed to win this war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: We need to hurry up. We need this speed -- speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery to strengthen our sling. Speed of decisions to limit Russian potential, there is no alternative to speed because it is the speed that the life depends on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Zelenskyy's call for arms comes as Russia is stepping up attacks and the Ukrainian military is burning through ammunition. There've been calls of warning from NATO leaders about the speed of production of some ammunition. My colleague Christiane Amanpour joins us now. Christiane, good to see you. You had an extensive conversation with Germany's chancellor at the conference today. We're coming up on the -- the one year mark of this war. What's his message?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT AND HOST: Well his message was unity and staying in it for the long haul. You just -- you just showed that little clip of -- of President Zelenskyy saying, hurry, hurry, hurry. Speed is of the essence. We need everything you promised us to get to us and to get to the frontline in time for it to be useful and to make a difference. You heard him talk about a sling. That's obviously his reference to David and Goliath. Ukraine is David. Putin is Goliath, but he says David can win if their friends, the NATO
allies speed up and increase their weapon's delivery. This is, you know, vintage Zelenskyy. He's been asking for this stuff from the beginning and the amount of hardware that he has received has been ramped up a lot. But there is a problem with ammunition and they addressed it here, but this is what Olaf Scholz talked about the long haul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: You, in your speech, said we have to be ready for the long haul. I mean, you much strategize. You must think amongst themselves how long this could last. Do you have a target date?
CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ: I think it is wise to be prepared for a long war, and it is wise to give Putin the message that we are ready to stay all the time together with Ukraine. And that we will constantly support the country, so it is not really a very good idea that in this conference or at this podium the two of us discuss the question when exactly in which this war will end. The really important decision we should take all together is to say that we are willing to do it as long as necessary and that we will do our best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:35:10]
AMANPOUR: So the message is one of rock solid support, but in terms of the length, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it must end this year. So that -- that is what he's hoping for, that is the bar that he is setting. Victor.
BLACKWELL: So we know also Vice-President Kamala Harris, she's there meeting with leaders to reiterate U.S. support for Ukraine in -- in this war. What do we know about U.S. plans and expectations moving forward?
AMANPOUR: Well interestingly, Olaf Scholz is going to the White House for a meeting with President Biden next week, after the anniversary. So that's going to be very important, because that's where they are going to strategize behind closed doors how they take this forward. You remember the whole tank situation was a carefully choreographed, sort of, first the Brits, then the Americans, then finally Germany decided to send the tanks. So there's a lot of politics around all of this as well and one of the things is they're saying is, not only do we have to physically stay in Ukraine's corner, physically ramp up our production facilities.
So we can get the spare parts so to speak at a very, very precise and quick and rapid time for all the weapon systems. But they need to keep their unity and their people onboard, so it's -- it's quite a thing for the western lives, but as I said, Zelenskyy says he wants it by the end of the year. You heard Olaf Scholz say and that's what the consensus is that it won't be. It will be a long war, and there is no indication, no consensus that Vladamir Putin shows any -- any -- any desire to enter any kind of negotiation in good faith. BLACKWELL: Christiane, I -- I understand that Ukraine is front of
mind, the war there, but this is a global security conference when you look what's happening in parts of Africa, South America, Haiti we've covered as well. Are these other threats, climate change as well, are they getting attention during this conference?
AMANPOUR: Not as much. It really has been billed as a one year anniversary, set piece if you like, taking stock over the war in Ukraine. That has sucked all the oxygen out of just about every other international crisis and every other international effort that this alliance is making. You know (audio gap) this year, it's not that they just didn't come. They were not invited. So the what this is about is trying to keep the unity promise and to figure out how to ramp up production of the ammunition.
But of course, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's here, the U.S. Secretary of State is here, who knows whether they'll speak together but the Chinese FM is going to speak tomorrow and, of course, perhaps about artificial intelligence and -- and the like. And also they're going to ask him to not support their questions about how much support, you know, is China giving to -- to Russia. I spoke with a German official who said, we must keep getting a clear commitment from -- from China to not actively support Putin.
BLACKWELL: Christiane Amanpour joining us from Munich. Thanks for bringing us part of that conversation. Thank you for the reporting. Ohio's governor says the city and village water in East Palestine is safe (audio gap), with their trust, what they're hearing from the state and Federal officials. We'll speak with one to find out.
[14:40:10]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Parents in a New Jersey School District are demanding that members of the school board resign after the recent suicide of a teenager there. Adriana Kuch was 14 years old. She took her own life after -- a few days after she was brutally attacked by other students in the school hallway and that attack was recorded, then posted online. The board held a meeting last night where students came forward with more allegations of bullying at Central Regional High School.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: We're here to protect the students. Like, the students do not feel protected. I am going home, scared and I am going home feeling threatened by so many people here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN's Athena Jones is covering this for us. It is heartbreaking to hear that account of feeling threatened even when you go home. What else are these students saying?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Victor. This was a powerful meeting. Hundreds of people were in attendance. Students, former students, parents, and members of the community and you saw that one student's emotional testimony. Much of the testimony was -- was like this. This is the -- this is the school board president was being called to help begin the process of healing at the school. So we saw current and former students, like you just saw, and their parents coming out to speak out about bullying that wasn't handled properly, or -- or according to some students not at all. They shared this emotional testimony about their own experiences, being called names, being jumped in the hallways due to their sexual orientation. One student talked about having photos taken of them and being posted and shared on social media. Here's a little more of what one student and also an aunt of a former student had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: I'm here because I've been bullied every single day since I've been at this school, since the seventh grade. People in this (inaudible) made fun of me and I don't even know why you're here. I've been called slurs, had stuff thrown at me.
UNKNOWN: Why did it have to take a student taking her own life for us to hit rock bottom.
[14:45:10]
UNKNOWN: It should have never gone there, rock bottom should have been the first time a student was bullied and should have been taken care of from that point on. We should be teaching our children tolerance and love and respect for everybody's differences. But no, you all sit there silently --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: So you can just see the emotion and this was a -- a-- a meeting that lasted some time and -- and some students also spoke about how the way they were bullied effected them emotionally, and psychologically. You heard some of that there. One student talked about acts of self-harm, another about contemplating, even contemplating suicide. One woman -- little -- one young woman talked about cutting herself and calling it the only escape she had. That same woman saying, you know, she felt threatened everyday. These students described pleading with the faculty and administration of these schools to do something about this bullying and meanwhile a parent also spoke up saying, you know, we -- we're committed to -- to holding the spotlight on you guys until you resolve this situation in a way that we are satisfied with and/or we remove you from your positions of power. So clearly a very emotional meeting and -- and -- and people who want to see the school district do more.
BLACKWELL: Yes, Athena we talked about this onset. Especially in this case of Adriana Kuch that bullying, especially in this era of social media is so much worse because, when I -- and I was bullied as a teenager, as a kid. You could go home and it was gone for that moment, but now that it's on social media and played over and over and the comments that stream under, it's inescapable for some teenagers, for kids and -- and hopefully it does not reach the point it did with Kuch for other children. Athena Jones, thank you for the reporting. Listen, there is help available for you, for the people you love. You can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the number is 988. Connect with trained counselors, anytime of day or night. It is free. It is confidential. The number is 988. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:10]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: President Biden and the First Lady are offering support to Senator John Fetterman. He checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center for clinical depression. The president tweeted, getting the care you need is brave and important. We're grateful to you for leading by example. A source tells CNN Fetterman will not resign his office because of his depression treatment. The Pennsylvania Democrat was elected in November after suffering a stroke in May. Clinical Psychologist Jeff Gardere is with us now.
He's also Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Tura University. Jeff good to see you. Jeff, let's start with what we've learned about some of the -- the challenges, the symptoms according to his office. They say he lost weight. He wasn't eating or drinking water. You remember that just last week, he went to the hospital because he was feeling lightheaded after the Democratic event there. Are these typical signs of severe depression? Are there typical signs?
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST AND PROFESSOR OF BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE: Yes and you're absolutely right Victor. This is a typical sign of a severe depression. Most people usually have a sadness, the emptiness, feeling hopeless, but here we're seeing for him to stop the intake of water and food really does speak to something much more severe going on. They've identified it as a clinical depression. He's hospitalized for it. So it does seem to be something that is severe but the good news is, of course, there are treatments, the psychotherapy, the antidepressants and other medications and, of course they're going to stabilize him while he's in the hospital and he went in voluntarily. That's also good news. He didn't have to be committed for some sort of 72 hour hold.
BLACKWELL: Yes, that was my next question. I want to hear more about that. The antidepressants, the psychotherapy, those are things that can happen outpatient, but he is voluntarily checked himself into Walter Reed. What does the inpatient care look like more than making sure he gets the sustenance that he needs?
GARDERE: Well I'm sure they're going to run all sorts of, you know, physical and psychological tests to identify exactly what's going -- what's going on with him. They're going to look and see whether the stroke that he had in May, may have effected that depression, because reportedly he's had some issues with depression on and off in his life. We know that he's had some issues with regard to being able to process, speak and that's been a bit of a problem. So they want to see whether those situations are exacerbating whatever depression he may have had, sort it all out, but the most important thing hopefully is that he gets some physical and mental rest while in the hospital because then he's forced to take a break and that's something that he really needs, in addition to being stabilized on treatment whether antidepressants, psychotherapy and so on. And I think it's going to be a combination of all of those things Victor.
BLACKWELL: Is it possible that there could be some medical connection, I don't know if it's -- it's a causel relationship between the stroke and the depression?
[14:55:01]
GARDERE: Well what we tend to see when someone has a stroke and they have perhaps some sort of aphasia or speech processing issue or cognitive issue. That in itself, you're losing those abilities whether it be temporary or something worse tends to make you depressed, and so between that, between a history of some depression as they reported and then all of the challenges of still being able to serve, you know, as a Senator. And all of the accommodations, it seems like this is someone who is being worn down, I mean that is a Herculean effort on this part, but the great thing here is that he's getting the support of so many people across the aisle, you know within the Democratic party, from Republicans from everyone, as he should. So many people have depression, 8 million, I'm sorry, 8 percent of U.S. adults have depression and it just shows that you can live with it, that you can conquer it. That you can have a productive life.
BLACKWELL: Right. Jeff Gardere, always appreciate your -- your expertise on this. Thank you so much. The Shelby County District Attorney's office says it is reviewing as many as 100 cases related to the Scorpion Unit and another officer involved in the beating death of Tyre Nichols. You know, Scorpion Unit was just shut down after that -- that beating and that traffic stop. We'll have an update ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
