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CNN International: President Biden Makes Unannounced Visit to Kyiv. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 20, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MAX FOSTER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Welcome to CNN. We've just had news that President Biden has arrived in Kyiv. We were expecting him in Europe to visit Poland, wasn't it? That was due to be in the next couple of days. And this is all ahead of the anniversary of the war on Ukraine. Let's speak to Nic, he joins us here at the desk. I mean, obviously, this was out of the blue because of the massive security concerns.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Shrouded in secrecy. It's not the first time the U.S. President has done this, has traveled without giving full disclosure on what's happening, so very tightly-held information, very important for Ukraine that the U.S. President should go there. Remembering, it wasn't so long ago President Zelenskyy himself visited the White House.

That was when the White House committed to tanks, so -- which was -- which was a big moment because it allowed and paved the way for other nations to commit their tanks to Ukraine. So, looking for what was said, what was discussed, what was announced, but the symbolism, of course, of President Biden visiting Ukraine just a couple of days ahead of the anniversary, the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This is very significant. So, President Biden sending a very strong message of support for Ukraine, by doing this.

BIANCA NOBILO, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: And Nic, do stay with us, CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Kyiv, following developments. Alex, the president has arrived?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: He has. Obviously, a historic and surprising visit. This came really out of the blue. We did expect him, obviously, to be visiting Poland this week to, again, show support and assure the Ukrainians that American support will continue. And now, he is demonstrating that by coming not just to Ukraine, but to the Ukrainian capital.

He is still here. We understand that just moments ago, he and President Zelenskyy were at St. Michael's Church in the center of Kyiv. They came out of that church together. They laid wreaths in front of the portraits of hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen who have laid down their lives in this battle against Russia over the past year.

But this is not just a surprising visit, but again, it is historic. We have seen a steady parade of foreign officials coming through Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy, but, of course, this is the first time since this war broke out a year ago that President Biden has visited the Ukrainian capital. This has been done under, as you can imagine, an extraordinary level of secrecy and security.

If he is following the model of other American officials and other foreign officials who have visited the capital, he would have taken the train in from Poland. And we expect he would do the same to leave the capital later today. There was no advanced warning to the Ukrainian public, to the press. Just moments ago, we learned that this trip was under way.

We know that the president met with President Zelenskyy and the first lady at the presidential palace. This, of course, highlighting the American support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. That support, at least, in financial terms is close to some $30 billion. When President Biden speaks, and for now, it's slated to be in Warsaw, we can expect assurances of more support. But here in Ukraine, when asking people on the street, what they feel about, you know, about Biden visiting Ukraine, for them, it's about the level of support.

It is about what the U.S. is offering Ukraine, in terms of material support. And there is some daylight between what the Ukrainians have been asking for and what the U.S. and other NATO countries have committed to the cause so far. What Ukraine would like to see in the very near future is longer-range rockets. Fighter jets.

These are things that neither the U.S. nor other countries have yet committed. But as we come up on this first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this is not just a symbolic time, it is a pivotal time as Russia is expected to mount an offensive in the coming weeks. They've already started the early phases of that, it has not gone well so far.

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Ukraine also expected to mount a counteroffensive of its own, likely in the southern part of the country. So, as we enter this second year of this war, the U.S. certainly hoping that Ukraine will be able to claw back some of that lost territory from the Russians with many of the weapons that have now been committed to the Ukrainian side.

FOSTER: Thanks, Alex. We've also got Clarissa Ward; our chief international correspondent in Kyiv for us. Obviously, this is a very clear signal of support, Clarissa, for Ukraine. But it's also a very clear message, isn't it, to Moscow, in terms of support for this -- for the Ukrainians in this war.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max, let me just tell you, because we just watched this whole thing take place behind us. So I want to give our viewers a feel for this momentous visit and what it felt like from this perspective, watching on the ground. You can see, that's St. Michael's Church in the background there.

President Biden and President Zelenskyy arriving in a huge motorcade, entering the church from behind. They spent about five minutes in there, just before they exited the church, we could hear the air raid sirens beginning to wail again. That was allegedly due to MiG activity over Belarus. It's a fairly common occurrence, but certainly, not so common or a little more nerve-racking, let's say, when the president of the United States makes an announced visit to Kyiv.

The two leaders then walked out of the church together. They followed behind two soldiers who were carrying wreaths, and went and sort of delivered those wreaths to this wall of the fallen soldiers, commemorating some of those many soldiers who have lost their lives. They stood there for a moment to pay their respects.

And then we saw them embrace, showing, I think, the sort of rapport that these two leaders do have. President Biden then re-entered his motorcade -- and I should add, it is a very large motorcade. There have been sightings of it across Kyiv all morning. There has been kind of an electric atmosphere with people popping up on Twitter and social media and speculating who is this foreign delegation?

Who is this visitor? Could it be President Biden? And even though, to a certain extent, the city was crippled in parts because of this visit, because so many of the roads were shut down, there were huge traffic jams, the metro stations were overwhelmed, you certainly haven't heard anybody complaining. There is a sense here that people are very happy to have received this visit.

It's a really important moment in this war where morale has been getting a little bit low. And this is a much-needed boost. And you've heard President Zelenskyy say that in the past that it would send such a strong and important signal across the world to have the U.S. leader visit here. And today, this morning, we saw that playing out. There was very tight security.

We're up here on this balcony. We were not allowed to come out onto the balcony. We were visited by soldiers on several occasions throughout the morning, warning us that there would be snipers on the roof that we needed to stand back away from the windows. Actually asking us to close the curtains at some point because this is a big deal. And there had been a lot of speculation that it might happen.

But a lot of concern as to how you navigate the security around that. And now as I mentioned, just however long ago it was now, 20 minutes ago, we actually watched this momentous occasion play out in real- time, Max.

NOBILO: Clarissa Ward in Kyiv, thank you. Let's go now to our Kaitlan Collins who is in Warsaw, Poland, where of course, President Biden was expected to be visiting. Now, Kaitlan, talk to us about a new announcement that we're hearing from Biden's team that he is offering half a billion dollars in assistance to Ukraine on the prized visit, and also following Biden as closely as you do, the significance of this trip and what it means? KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredibly significant. I

mean, presidential trips come with a lot of tight security as Clarissa was just noting there. Even when they are traveling somewhere in peace time. And the U.S. President has just gone to an active war zone where there is no U.S. military on the ground. I can't really think of a precedent where you've seen something like that happen before.

Where a U.S. President has gone into an active war zone where there are none of his own forces there on the ground, but that is obviously what President Biden has done this morning. He has made some news while he was there on the ground, announcing that there's a new half a billion dollars of additional assistance that's going to be going to Ukraine.

And they got specific about what that assistance is going to look like. Clearly, all things that Ukraine needs as they are preparing for the Spring offensive by Russia, more ammunition, more javelins, more howitzers.

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According to reporters on the ground, it doesn't appear anything new what's announced. Of course, there's been a lot of talk about those longer-range missiles that President Zelenskyy has pleaded for, also the F-16 fighter jets. No indications from these conversations, and they have gotten any guarantees of that.

And Zelenskyy actually told reporters that he and the president did speak about those, and that they may still be supplied to Ukraine, even though it wasn't supplied before. But it remains to be seen what that looks like. But just to the significance of this visit, in and of itself, I mean, these trips are typically very secretive. You think of when a president has visited the Middle East in the past years, Trump often went several times, those are trips where they leave the White House kind of in the shroud of secrecy.

There's no public notice that was given. According to the White House schedule, that was the last one sent out, President Biden was actually said to depart the White House at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Tonight. Obviously, he's already here, he is in Ukraine visiting with the Ukrainian president and the first lady of Ukraine as well.

And having these conversations as he's on the ground before he does head here to Poland. And so, these trips often come in the middle of the night, when the president leaves. He clearly, we believe, potentially has traveled by train. We'll wait to see what those details are. Those are being withheld until he leaves the ground for obvious reasons because this is an incredible risk, which is why you have not seen President Biden make a visit to Ukraine since the invasion has began.

He was actually invited by Zelenskyy about a year ago as Russia was amassing troops on Ukraine's border, he did not go, he desired to go, he said. But security essentially was deemed that it was too risky for the president to go. But now, he has made that trip to Ukraine, to Kyiv to visit with the Ukrainian president for the first time since the invasion happened.

FOSTER: All right, Kaitlan, thank you. We are also going to speak to Phil Mattingly, he's also in Warsaw, following this trip very closely. All eyes were on the president this week weren't they, already heading out to the anniversary and the optics around all of this. Many people framing it, you know, the war in Ukraine is a war between Russia and the U.S. So what do you make of the optics here? What is President Biden trying to say?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting, Max. The president has gone to great lengths to try and separate from the idea that this is a war between Russia and the United States, and that Ukraine is just a proxy for a wider ranging battle between the U.S. and Russia. But there is no question whatsoever, the scale of the U.S. support, the scale of the president's involvement in bringing together the alliance behind that support has been so critical over the course of the last year.

And a primary reason the president wanted to come to Warsaw to give his remarks on Tuesday was to underscore, A, the durability of that support, and B, the necessity of maintaining it as long as it takes as he often says. And I think everybody inside the Biden administration is pretty clear, there is no clear end game at this point.

And the length of this war could be significantly longer than perhaps people want or necessarily have the stomach for. It's part of the reason why they wanted to underscore this. And I think that, more than anything else is why the secret visit is so critical, a symbolism of the moment. What it says about the U.S'. commitment, but also the broader commitment of the western alliance that's been behind Ukraine over the course of the last 360-some odd days.

And really, underscoring that with that visit. Now, Kaitlan laid it out very well. This was done in secret. There was no notice that this was coming. Obviously, reporters with the president turned over their devices before they got to Air Force One and started to travel throughout the day. But we do now have a statement from President Biden acknowledging that he is in Kyiv, and saying in part, "when Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided.

He thought he could outlast us. He was dead-wrong." Part of the reason that the president is in Kyiv is think about it from this lens, guys, around this time, maybe about two weeks from this moment a year ago, the expectation was that Russia and Russian soldiers would be inside of Kyiv. Now, a little bit less than a year later, the president of the United States is inside of Kyiv, announcing more support, more assistance, both on the economic side, on the aid side, but also on defense assistance as well.

And I think it just underscores one, just almost how stunning this last 360-plus days it's been. But, two, just how steadfast the U.S. support, the support of President Biden and the support of the administration has been and will continue to be over the course of the coming weeks, months and years, guys. NOBILO: Phil Mattingly for us in Warsaw. Alex Marquardt in Kyiv, talk

to us about the impacts of this trip from the American president will have on morale for Ukrainians.

MARQUARDT: Well, Phil is absolutely right in terms of how far we have come. I mean, just a year ago, and I was here, we did think that the Russians were going to loop around the capital, perhaps cut it off from the rest of the country. There were all sorts of questions about what would happen to President Zelenskyy, whether he should stay here, whether he should flee.

The fact is life is relatively normal here in the capital these days. The fighting, of course, taking place hundreds of miles from here in the east and in the south. I've been here for the past five days, I have not heard any explosions. I have not heard any air sirens until about half an hour ago right when President Biden was in the center of Kyiv, as Clarissa was just mentioning.

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So, at the same time that life has gotten back to normal, relatively speaking here in the capital, of course, it is far from that, elsewhere in the country. Now, I do think that this visit will go quite a long way in showing and reminding Ukrainians of the level of U.S. support. But I was speaking to Ukrainians shortly before this trip was confirmed, because there was so much speculation.

I was asking people around here, what they would think if Biden were to visit. And the range of reactions went from somewhat agnostic, but certainly, positive. But the resounding response was, you know, essentially, we need to -- you know, the U.S. and President Biden needs to put their money where their mouth is. And so, what we've heard over the past year from Ukrainian officials is certainly a huge level of thanks to the U.S. and to other NATO countries for these billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of aid that have poured into Ukraine.

But then, that is quickly followed up with, we need more. There is still daylight and we're seeing it yet again today, between what the Ukrainians are asking for and what they are being offered. Now, last month, in January, we saw two of the biggest American military aid packages to be offered to Ukraine, more than $2 billion and $3 billion each.

Today's half a billion dollars is, of course, smaller than that. I have to admit that I'm a little bit surprised that on this anniversary and on this major trip that, that package isn't larger, and does not, as far as we understand now, include any new types of weaponry, any new types of arms. These are things that they have received in the past.

You note there that President Zelenskyy did say that he spoke with President Biden about those longer-range missiles that they have been asking for, for a very long time. So, there is going to be some disappointment on the Ukrainian side about what is being offered today. Ukrainians have insisted that there are Russian targets that are out of their reach, particularly in the southern part of the country, in Crimea, where Russia has been launching attacks from, that they cannot reach.

The U.S. is not only afraid about its own supply of weapons, its own military readiness. They're also worried about the possibility of escalation and offering more and more sophisticated weaponry to Ukraine in a way that Russia would see that as a significant escalation and a provocation and respond in kind. At the same time, Bianca and Max, there is a certain level of confidence from the Ukrainian side, saying it's just a matter of time until we get these things that we're asking for, including fighter jets.

They note that just a year ago, we were talking about whether the Ukrainians would get those javelins and stingers to take out Russian aircrafts and Russian tanks, of course, they got those very quickly. And over the course of the next few months, the sophistication of the weaponry accelerated extremely quickly, HIMARS, air defenses, et cetera.

And so, a lot of Ukrainian officials do believe that it is just a matter of time, but they do say, and we heard this from President Zelenskyy just a few days ago, that time is of the essence. It is not just the quantity of military aid that is coming in, it is also the speed that they needed right now.

FOSTER: OK, we're going to be turning to Nic Robertson now because you've been pouring over the diplomatic sort of statements that we've been getting out. What are they -- how are they framing this in terms of diplomacy?

ROBERTSON: The fact that the president's there, the greet -- the actual greeting itself to be expected, not just the handshake, but a hug. And we'll very likely be seeing a lot more of this image later today. But President Biden also framing this as not just his administration's support for Ukraine, but saying that despite differences within Congress -- because this gets talked about what happens if there's a Republican leadership in the future?

But he pointed to Congress, we have our differences there, he said, but on the issue of Ukraine, we are united. And that was something that we saw over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference.

FOSTER: This is the first video we've just received, it's coming in right now of Biden arriving there in Kyiv. Take us through the security considerations. I mean, you can't begin to think what his detail are going through.

ROBERTSON: The security you would have, expect to have, would be a lot of it unseen. Snipers on roofs of buildings, absolutely, we saw that in Munich's Security Conference over the weekend. You would have a backup for the president, multiple backup-armored vehicles. You would have a safe and secure location to take the president.

You would have an armored ambulance vehicle for -- with blood supplies available for the president. You would have everything available to sustain the president's life and fend off an immediate attack. So, although, we know that there are no U.S. forces committed to the fight in Ukraine, we can be assured that there were special forces there in -- U.S. forces in very close proximity to the president there to --

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FOSTER: We've seen these visits --

ROBERTSON: Protect him --

FOSTER: Haven't we? But you know, this is obviously on a different level with the U.S. president arriving.

NOBILO: Exactly, and as Nic was saying to us earlier, obviously, very unusual that we'll be told that the president was making a visit, just flying into Europe on Tuesday, but obviously, he had other plans. Let's go back to our Clarissa Ward who is in Kyiv. Clarissa, you were describing how you witnessed these events unfold.

There was an indication about an hour or so ago, that roads were being blocked off, there's traffic jams reported in Kyiv, obviously now, we know why? Can you tell us more about what details we're learning about the meeting?

WARD: So, Bianca, we were able to watch it really all unfold, although we had to stand quite a distance back from the windows. We had different security personnel coming in at different times, asking us to close curtains, to turn off cameras, and they did not allow anyone, needless to say, to step out on to the square. But you can probably see behind me, this is St. Michael's Church, and then just down there by the wall of the fallen soldiers, I believe you can still see the actual wreaths that President Biden and President Zelenskyy laid by that wall.

They walked behind two soldiers who placed the wreaths. They were out for about just really five minutes, coming out of that church and standing in the main plaza there. But it was not an insignificant moment. There were air raid sirens wailing, due to MiG activity over Belarus. That's a fairly normal circumstance that happens pretty much on an almost daily basis here.

But obviously, it takes on added significance when you have unannounced visit from the president of the United States. And it was very interesting just to see, talking to Ukrainians about their feelings about this visit. Obviously, it had a big impact on the city. Parts of it were shut down this morning for hours. There were traffic jams. The subways were very crowded with people who were trying to find alternative ways to get to work and to get out and about.

But definitely, the predominant feeling from people here is one of gratitude and one of enthusiasm, and one really, I think, Bianca, of a much-needed morale boost. This has been a grim Winter for Ukraine. The fighting in Bakhmut is heavy. The rate of attrition is high. The battlefield is not looking great for the Ukrainians in that town. And so, this really, I think, most Ukrainians take as being a sort of statement of support, but also a statement of you guys have got this, and you can do it, and we will continue to support you in making that happen.

So, definitely, a difficult visit to pull off in terms of the secrecy and the security. But also, a very much needed one for many Ukrainians who see and felt this as a strong signal of support.

FOSTER: Looking at these images, pretty extraordinary, aren't they, Clare Sebastian? I mean, we're waiting, obviously, for a response from Moscow. They're going to consider it, are they going to feel threatened by this? Are they going to feel concerned about this? What would be your view about seeing Zelenskyy and Biden walking up the stairs at this -- you know, this was just in the last few minutes, wasn't it?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think this is going to be received -- well, they will probably publicly dismiss it, and say, you know, this is just symbolism. But I think this will be something that rattles them, and don't forget, for the past few months, the rhetorical line that Moscow has been taking is that, this is not just a war with Ukraine, this is a war with the West and NATO, and in particular, the United States.

Just last week, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman accused Ukraine not of choosing its own targets, but are relying on the U.S. to choose them for it. To agree them in advance with the U.S., they have been very clear that they think that is what is going on here. But we are going to see this week, just as President Biden is scheduled to arrive in Poland, we're going to see a big speech from President Putin to the federal assembly.

It's likely that he'll talk about his goals with a special military operation. Going forward, we're going to see him meet with the Chinese top diplomats and a sign to the world that Russia is not isolated by this conflict. So I think we will continue to see defiance from Moscow, even as exactly what they wanted to not happen, Ukraine moving closer to the West appears to be here in sharp focus.

FOSTER: It was going to happen at some point, wasn't it, this image? But I guess just seeing it is pretty striking, particularly when we consider the week that we're in.

NOBILO: The symbolism and the historic nature of the visit is simply immense. And when you consider this is Biden's first trip to Ukraine, I believe, as president, obviously, he's no stranger to the country. I think he made six or seven trips in as many years as vice president.

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Let's go back to our Phil Mattingly now who is in Warsaw. Phil, bring us up-to-date. What are you hearing from President Biden's team?

MATTINGLY: Well, first to tell you what you're watching right now, the president after he entered the palace with President Zelenskyy, taking time to sign the guest book at the palace, which presidents often do whenever they're visiting a foreign country. I think the ability to separate the normalcy of that moment in any presidential visit with the extraordinary element of this particular visit, it's almost something you're coming to terms with as you watch it in real- time.

The reason I say that is because the president over the course of the last year has several times mentioned that he wanted to visit Kyiv. That he wanted to visit Ukraine. And that his advisors said -- recommended against it because of security concerns, because of potential concerns of what it would mean, the significance of that, and how it will be perceived by Vladimir Putin and the Russians in terms of this process.

And now, he's here. And what we've been hearing over the course of the last couple of months, I will say even late last year, shortly after President Zelenskyy had his own surprise visit to the United States to sit down with the president to have a bilateral meeting with the president. Several White House advisors were talking about just how important this moment, this one-year commemoration was for President Biden.

That they spent a lot of time preparing for how they could both mark this moment, how they could kind of address symbolically the importance of this moment, but did not give a lot of details. I think the idea had long been that there was something that was going on behind the scenes that could be planned to try and mark this in a particularly poignant manner.

Clearly, that was what they were able to pull off today with the president making that surprise visit to Kyiv. I also think it's worth noting as was just mentioned, this -- the president -- this is the first presidential visit to Kyiv since two administrations ago. And the highest ranking official to make a visit to Kyiv, prior to this visit by President Biden was Vice President Biden in January of 2017.

He ran point on the Ukrainian portfolio after the invasion of Crimea back in 2014. This was really his -- one of his primary responsibilities as vice president, visited the country six times while as vice president. Former President Trump never visited the country. Biden had not visited the country up to this point. So, the kind of -- coming full circle moment for the president who has spent so much time in this country, working on issues related to this country back while he was vice president.

Now, back in Kyiv once again. One thing that we do know from the readout of the president's remarks that had been given, we haven't seen them yet, but from the -- our poolers on the ground representing the White House press corps, said the president really used the moment to both call attention to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, called attention to the resistance over the course of the last 360- plus days.

But also make very clear, and it's clear, and kind of almost abrupt way as possible that this was important in his mind, to show the United States support, if there were any questions whatsoever. And I think U.S. officials think there shouldn't be. If there are any questions whatsoever, the president showing up in Kyiv, standing side- by-side with President Zelenskyy, having a bilateral meeting, his top advisors and President Zelenskyy's top advisors really making this a very much an official visit, not a brief stop-in and shoot out. But really sit down and talk and have moments together. Was this much

about showing that the U.S. was not going anywhere anytime soon. As many times as you say it, actually doing it and showing up in Kyiv was incredibly important to the president. He reiterated that in his remarks that he's made so far. And obviously, we'll hear and see more from this meeting, from this arrival, from this event, as the day progresses, guys.

FOSTER: OK, we're also going to speak to our Kaitlan Collins, she's also in Warsaw, following the president's trip. Kaitlan, I mean, in terms of the entourage around President Biden, what would we expect to be with him, because presumably, he's got to be discreet, but also he's got to be secure, of course.

COLLINS: Yes, that's one of the biggest parts of this, is doing it in secrecy, and maintaining the idea that it is so closely-held that the president is going -- and I will note, you know, Saturday night in Washington, he did something that he and the first lady rarely do, which is leave the White House and go to dinner. They did do that, though, just hours before President Biden got on Air Force One and left Washington to head here.

Where he is now visiting, to head to Ukraine, where he obviously got on the train and took that trip there as well because of the security risks and the concerns that you can't just fly into Kyiv like the president would typically do. And so, they left about 4:15 in the morning, they already had reporters on Air Force One. That's a departure from the protocol that they typically follow, typically, reporters are outside the steps of Air Force One as the president is climbing up.

Then they did not even do that. Instead, they already had the reporters on board, then President Biden got on and they made that announcement that he had arrived. And that is when Air Force One took off and then they made their way, you know, while according to the schedule, he was still in Washington, but in reality, he was already half a world away here to make this highly secretive trip.

And what we are told from the pool report is he's also only traveling with really a handful of staffers with him. And they only list three names on here. I'm told there's a few more than that.

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