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CNN International: China Calls For Political Settlement On War's Anniversary; Ukraine Marks One Year Since Russian Military Invasion; Zelenskyy On Invasion Anniversary: Ukraine Will Prevail; Ukrainian President Speaks On Anniversary Of Russian Invasion. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 24, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, to the point of China, not an impartial player in this.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: No. Kristie Lu Stout, obviously, following us very closely from Hong Kong as well. They came out with a position paper, didn't they, today, China on Ukraine, but they didn't call it an invasion. And that's what people are picking up on.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because, you know, at the end the day, China wants to have it both ways. It wants to present itself as this responsible international peacemaker, while maintaining this No Limits alliance with Russia as it refuses to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

And on this anniversary, this first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, they released this document, this 12-point position paper on bringing about a political settlement in Ukraine that calls for the ending of hostilities, the ending of unilateral sanctions, but also the resumption of peace talks, but it doesn't really give a concrete map forward.

Earlier today, we heard a comment from the head of the E.U. delegation in China said that this paper is just that. It's only paper, it is not a peace plan. But we also heard from the Sharjah (ph) affair of Ukraine and China who called this document a good sign and also urged China to do, quote, everything to end the war in Ukraine.

Earlier, we heard these very interesting comments from a senior official at the U.S. State Department about a peace plan. A peace plan that would work is a peace plan that would be enduring and just. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA NULAND, U.S. UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: It can't simply be a cynical ceasefire that allows the Russians the time to go home, rest, refit and return. If Xi Jinping can get Putin and his army out of Ukraine, I think we'd all applaud and give a peace prize. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, in the last hour or so, we've been monitoring the daily Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing in Beijing and the MOFA spokesperson addressed this 12-point position paper that was released earlier today. I want to show you this comment. And this is what Wang Wenbin said.

He said this, quote, "On the basis of China's position paper on the political settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, China is ready to continue to work with the international community to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis in Ukraine."

No new language there, just a promise to play this constructive role, to be this responsible international peacemaker. But we are still awaiting concrete details of a Chinese peace plan. Back to you.

FOSTER: All right, Kristie, thank you very much indeed.

Nic, it was a year ago, beginning of this war, you were -- you happen to be in Moscow, didn't you? So you were there when the war broke out. Just take us through that day when you heard that they'd gone in.

ROBERTSON: There was all the speculation that it was about to happen. There were all the denials from the Kremlin that it was going to happen. There have been a number of diplomatic initiatives and last- minute visits by leaders.

I think Emmanuel Macron had been one of them, and perhaps the the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, had also been there is -- there was this sense that whatever Russia's troop buildup, that the United States and allies had been warning the world about, there was a sense that this could still be stopped.

But I think in the heart of the Kremlin, they knew it wasn't going to be stopped. And -- but on the streets of Moscow, this very weird dichotomy, you know, these huge red walls around the Kremlin, where Putin makes his decisions. But outside, literally outside where we were speaking to people on the streets outside just days before, they didn't think it was going to happen, because they thought that --

FOSTER: It was going to happen now.

ROBERTSON: Well, he said it wasn't and it was a brotherly nation.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: They've got friends there that would -- where we were speaking to Ukrainians who were married to Russians, you know, on the streets here outside of the Kremlin on Red Square. So there was that. But then the moment that it happened, there was this backlash in Russia and the world witnessed that as well.

Protesters took to the streets and Putin sent out the riot cops and they had literally one mission, which was to round up as many of them as possible. And within a few weeks, these protests frittered away because people have been arrested in some cases multiple times, were facing years in jail.

But just walking away from those protests, you could find stop the war spray painted on the walls. But the repression that exists in Russia has suffocated all independent voices and suffocated any protests at all in the past year, but there was a very weird dichotomy in the days leading up to the wall.

FOSTER: We're going to hear from President Zelenskyy many times today. We've got another meeting coming up. We've seen him speaking to his troops. It's really about -- his main message appears to be that we're going to win the war this year. We can do this. Look, no one expects us to be this successful on the battlefield and we were, we can do this. But what will be his message to G7 leaders, for example, and he speaks to them today?

ROBERTSON: That we can do this in a year, that we're going to try to do this in a year but we need your support.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia's National Security Council, former prime minister, former president who's been a real hawk and has the strongest lines to say, you know, who's today said Russia will have victory. And President Putin's message over the last few days is Russia will have victory. Everything is going according to our plan, though, more and more people in Russia don't buy that.

[04:35:21]

Even, you know, the military bloggers who support the army, even some of the private military contractors like Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin seem not to buy everything the Kremlin has to sell on the war. But I think what is absolutely clear when you listen to both sides, when you listen to Jens Stoltenberg, listen to Ursula von der Leyen, when you listen to President Zelenskyy, whoever you listen to, this is not a year of peace. This is a year of war, because both sides have to figure out, can they win it on the battlefield.

And the sense of Ukraine's ally says they must be given the chance to do that, because it's important for the values of democracy, it's important for Ukraine's sovereignty. And Russia equally determined to fulfill President Putin's vision of sort of reuniting the old Soviet Union, the old Russia. This is at the core, and these two competing views of what the world order should be, have yet to meet and fully engage on the battlefield.

And Ukraine is getting more and more military equipment, which potentially could tip the balance, if you look at where they stood a year ago, facing Russia's army that is now depleted, but is not having all these nations coming to its aid with all the sophisticated air defense systems, longer range and highly accurate rocket systems, more sophisticated battle tanks than what Russia has on the battlefield. So if you if you take it at that, from that view, Ukraine is actually now getting the wherewithal to perhaps begin to fight the war on a more equal footing. So that's what has to be decided.

FOSTER: This was originally not if China supports Russia militarily. And if the intelligence is correct, and they are going to supply equipment that not just changed the dynamic completely, and perhaps does speak to Putin's confidence right now.

ROBERTSON: It speaks to potentially a further escalation. I think Putin's confidence is partly based because he has a narrative. And if he backs down from it, then he knows he's not going to survive long as leader of the Russian people.

China has a tremendous amount it can bring to the war. And it's not just ammunition, they can put their finger on the balance of the scales here. And they can say we're going to support Russia, unless you in the West come to terms that are more favorable to Russia, they can do that.

Russia is fighting a hybrid war. Russia has been using cyberattacks, not very effectively, because their cyber capability is not particularly strong. It is well recognized. And I certainly heard this last weekend in Munich, talking to a lot of officials there, that China has much better artificial intelligence, much better and stronger cyberattack capability. And many more people than Russia has to implement that.

This is also a way should China choose. And we've heard from the officials today saying there's no evidence China's has gone this far in and its support for Russia. But these are ways that the equation, the diplomatic equation behind the wall, can be shifted, as well as shifting it on the battlefield.

And I think this is also a moment where the world watches to see what role China is really going to play as independent broker. And there's a huge amount of skepticism from the west on that we've heard already today, or are they going to put their finger on the scale in the favor of Russia.

FOSTER: And Kristie, this idea that, you know, some -- it seems to be coming out from China that they do want to become an independent broker in this moment, which is being seen as very cynical by many in the West. I mean, that is a change in their sort of strategy that we -- they've sort of sold in the past, which is the, you know, other people's conflicts of their issue. We're not going to get involved just as you shouldn't get involved in ours.

LU STOUT: You know, it's interesting, because the issue of sovereignty, of territorial integrity have always been issues that have been close to the heart of the foreign policy of Beijing. But if you look again at this 12-point document, and it does talk about territorial integrity, but does it talk about the fate and future of Crimea or the Donbas? It doesn't address that, and China has not addressed that. And this war in Ukraine has put China in this very, very awkward position. You know, some analysts say that perceptions of Russia's failure in the battlefield is perhaps encouraging China to amplify these calls for peace and for peace talks. That call is just beginning to come out now with the publication of this 12-point position paper, but the devils in the details we're not getting those details yet.

FOSTER: OK, Kristie, thank you. We'll be back with you throughout the day. As well also, Nic, as we mark the one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:43:15]

FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top story this hour. It's been exactly one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence is warning of possible anniversary missile attacks from Russian forces. Plus, as the war crosses the one year mark, China is spelling out its ideas for how to end the conflict. Few hours ago, Beijing released a new position paper about the fighting in Ukraine.

CNN's Melissa Bell is live this hour in Kyiv. And we have a series of events which President Zelenskyy will be leading today.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and it is all about showing, on one hand, the resilience of Ukrainians, their determination to make this as President Zelenskyy has been saying throughout the morning the year of victory for Ukraine. But also a series of events that we've been covering here, Max, over the course last few hours designed to show the important solidarity of the rest of the world on this grim anniversary.

In the last few moments, we've seen here in Kyiv just behind me outside St. Michael's the Polish Prime Minister visit the Wall of Remembrance with his Ukrainian counterpart. And of course, we heard from President Zelenskyy himself at a very tightly secured as you'd expect ceremony outside St. Sophia's cathedral within the last couple of hours, where he spoke to Ukrainian soldiers and the families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers telling them that victory was going to be up to them. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): It is you who will decide whether we are all going to exist, whether Ukraine is going to exist. Every day, every hour, it is you, Ukrainian soldiers, which will decide it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:45:04] BELL: And of course, Max, even as Ukraine braces for those missile strikes that you mentioned a moment ago, they were warned of by the head of Ukraine's military intelligence only last night saying that it's the 23rd, it's the 24th. It could have been either they are bracing for that precautions have been made across the country to try and spare civilians, children being kept from the school, people being allowed remote working.

But beyond that sense of preparedness and bracing for what may come today, there is also that tremendous sadness, I think, here in Ukraine today at the huge cost of this war. Of course, not just for the military, Max, but for civilians, as well throughout the year. This is what we've seen, first of all, in those parts of the country occupied by Russia, Russian troops from which they then withdrew, but also more broadly, the victims of missile strikes and the broader effects of the war.

This is a war that has really left no one untouched. And I think today is also for ordinary Ukrainians about remembering and marking, and paying their respects to that. Max?

FOSTER: Ursula von der Leyen describing this as the Ukrainians fighting for everyone here, and this is a fight about principles, about European principles. And, you know, Ukraine has to become part of the European Union coming out of this, because that's the side that Ukraine has chosen today.

BELL: That's right. And that, that ceremony, that press conference, we were just listening to are just across the border from Russia. I mean, this was surely, in fact, in a very stated way. Vladimir Putin's worst nightmare only 18 months ago that there should have been this determined effort by NATO and the European Union on his doorstep, that there should have been -- and this was precisely what he was talking about before the invasion -- missiles within striking distance of Russia and Ukrainian territory.

And here we are, the direct result of all this unfolded over the course of the last year. And, of course, the important words from Ursula von der Leyen, there is time, an incompressible time when it comes to having a candidate country joined the European Union. But it is clearly being fast tracked for a number of different reasons, practical reasons, pragmatic reasons, those eastern flank countries who've been pushing for even more support to countries like Ukraine.

And one was struck listening to that press conference as well about the history of Estonia, also a former Soviet state now within the E.U., now within NATO. This is exactly the fate, hope, the leadership of Ukraine of their country as well. So important words, then an important show of solidarity that's going to continue by the way throughout the day, Max.

And what we're going to see later on is President Zelenskyy taking part in a virtual meeting of G -- with G7 leaders who vowed already to be putting more sanctions on the table against Russia, to continue piling on their pressure onto Moscow, but also continuing to show their steadfast support for Ukraine, Max. FOSTER: OK, Melissa in Kyiv, thank you. Back with you later.

We'll be right back with more on the anniversary in the world news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:51:58]

FOSTER: Well, it was this time a year ago that CNN was covering the sirens being heard over Kyiv and the first troops moving over from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side of the border. Nic Robertson was in Moscow at the time but, you know, we've been expecting something to happen because of this buildup of forces.

I'm actually going to go to President Zelenskyy who is speaking at a German events to mark this one year anniversary.

ZELENSKYY (through translation): For Europe and the whole free world, what -- the free world got used to this turning to something that need (INAUDIBLE). Diplomacy did not work. The existing security architecture of the word failed. The old European hope that economic relations could stop Russian tanks did not work.

But something did work indeed, unity, the unity of Ukraine, Germany and the free world as a whole and the resolve, the resolve to defend the foundations of our coexistence. On Ukrainian soil, we are fighting for something without which you, dear friends, could not fathom and then visit your own life.

It's security, basic security, freedom and laws, human dignity and the right of each and every human being and each community to be respected. The blessing to live in a family and the opportunity to dream of a safe and secure future for their own children. It's the simple thing.

1,877 Ukrainian cities and villages are denied of this opportunity. The Russian invaders want to add more and add more of the destinies of millions in our city that was invaded and occupied by Russians in Mariupol. There are no intact buildings anymore. Russia did everything to kill everyone there.

We almost had 1.5 million people living in Mariupol. Mariupol is destroyed up to 90 percent. The remains, the ruins of buildings that were burned down and destroyed by Russians are being destroyed and done away with. The rubble is done away with and these ruins are turned into rubble that is to be used for the construction of new roads.

We need to do everything in our power to do -- to not allow Russia to occupy Ukraine and our neighbors and turn our cities into rubble. Do we have the resolve and the power? Yes, we are indeed to do so. We're in unity. We stand together. We are capable to end the Russian aggression this year.

[04:55:07] From the very beginning, the first minutes of the Russian invasion, Germany stood by our side, Germany helps us to protect Ukraine from Russian terror. And Germany will be on our side on the day of victory and in day of freedom. Germany will stand by our side when we rescue our cities from Russian terror.

Mr. President, Mr. Chancellor, German people, today, now is the time to restore peace with our courage and with our weapons and to create a security for all. No one will attack us anymore. No one will attack freedom. If he knows that the free world is resolved enough to defend this freedom, no one will repeat the 24th of February of last year.

If he knows that, on the whole of territory of Ukraine, there is no more aggressor, no more occupier. We can make sure that this happens together with you, together with everyone around the world who value life.

I thank you for your support. I thank you for standing by our side this past year. Thank you, Mr. Federal President. Thank you, Olaf, for your confidence and trust in Ukraine, in our citizens and in our shared values of a free united and peaceful Europe.

Glory to those who fight for freedom, Slava Ukraini. Glory to Ukraine.

(APPLAUSE)

FOSTER: Listening there to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has been speaking there at an event in Germany to mark the one year points for the war in Ukraine. And we'll be also hearing I think from the German President and Chancellor as well.

For our viewers in North America, Early Start with Christine Romans is coming up. For everyone else, we'll continue to cover today's events. President Zelenskyy leaving a series of events throughout the day, marking this momentous moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)