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Fierce Fighting for Bakhmut as Ukraine Tries to Defend City; Lightfoot Loses Re-election Bid; FAA Investigating Near Collision Between Two Jets at Boston Logan; Scientists Warn Antarctic Sea Ice Has Hit Record Low. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 01, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know what? You - you grow more beautiful with age, Don. That's what I have to say.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Amen.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

LEMON: I appreciate it.

HARLOW: You even surprised us with that. We didn't know --

LEMON: I had no idea.

HARLOW: We know you hate surprises.

LEMON: Yes.

ENTEN: I hope that was a nice surprise.

LEMON: You're aware?

HARLOW: Do you not think I would have had like a cake with candles up here? I'm aware.

LEMON: On the night show, they surprised me once they've rolled the breaking news thing and I'm like, what is going on? What's happening? What is the breaking news in there? And they were like it's your birthday. I'm like I hate surprises, don't do this.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Thank you.

LEMON: Thanks, Harry. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Happy birthday.

LEMON: Thank you. Have a great day, everyone. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Wednesday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

Happening right now, more than 4,500 civilians are stuck in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. This as Russian forces launched a barrage of attacks on the fiercely contested area. President Zelenskyy, calling it the country's most difficult situation. As of now, though, Ukrainian forces are still holding the line.

CNN is on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, and we will bring you the very latest.

Plus, a political -

SCIUTTO: Plus, a political -

Sorry, go ahead.

HILL: It's all yours.

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: Plus, a political shakeup in Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the first mayor in 40 years to lose a re-election bid in that city as concerns about crime and public safety rattle voters.

We're also watching the Alex Murdaugh murder trial. Jurors set to visit the crime scene any moment now before closing arguments begin there.

And take a look at this, aerial images from Southern California where a winter storm has already dumped feet of snow. That's Southern California, another 12 to 24 inches expected today.

We do begin, though, in Ukraine where 48 children are among the thousands still trapped in the city of Bakhmut as war rages all around them. Officials say they are urging everyone to get out, but some are in areas that are no longer accessible.

HILL: Yes. CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Eastern Ukraine this morning. So give us a sense. What is - what is the reality there in and around Bakhmut at this hour?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, tens of thousands of residents have left Bakhmut, but it is just extraordinary to think there are still that many civilians in the city. That city has just been pulverized. It is the site of the fiercest fighting in the country, according to President Zelenskyy and top military commanders.

Ukrainian forces appear to be on their heels as Russian forces press forward. There has been no decision whether to pull back by the Ukrainians, whether to surrender the city according to a military spokesman in this part of the country, but the Russians do appear to be trying to encircle the city. They have taken some areas north of Bakhmut.

Those forces have been primarily made up of those Wagner mercenaries and convicts for the past few months leading that fight. They have been backed up by regular Russian forces. Now the Ukrainians say that these are the top Wagner fighters that are leading this push.

Now we did hear from a Ukrainian soldier in Bakhmut yesterday who said, despite the dire picture that has been painted by Ukrainian officials, the actual situation is 100 percent worse. So Ukraine trying to hold on as their defensive positions get pummeled. If Russia were to take the city, it would be a significant victory. As you know, we've been talking about this fight for Bakhmut for months now. It would be a boost for Russia, a real blow for Ukraine. Both sides have lost thousands of men.

It would give Russia another foot hold here in the Donbas, in Eastern Ukraine, but Ukraine will try to make that as much of a symbolic victory as they can rather than a strategic victory. If Russia were to push them out, Ukraine would dig in just to the west of the city.

And at this point, in this very bloody fighting, they are trying to weaken the Russian forces as much as possible so that even if they did take the city, that there wouldn't be in any kind of condition to press forward after that. But the -- the fight is still very much ongoing, Russians trying to stand their ground. Jim and Erica?

SCIUTTO: Alex Marquardt, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, retired U.S. Army Major Mike Lyons. Good to have you on, sir. Thanks for taking the time this morning.

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Hey, Jim. Great to be with you.

SCIUTTO: You've been watching this battlefield very closely. Ukrainian officials say they have not yet made a decision to pull back from Bakhmut. They are clearly placing a lot of importance on this. There is a view that there might be room here for strategic retreat as it were.

What's your view? Should they hold that ground? Is it worth the price they're paying?

LYONS: Well, there is not a lot of (inaudible) taking place and that is evade when the enemy is strong, and Ukraine has got to take a hard look at that because they cannot afford to lose young men and women in this fight, given the fact that they're going to have to be deployed someplace else.

Bakhmut does not hold any strategic value on the ground really and - and they have to recognize that and understand that their forces are better used elsewhere at this point.

[09:05:07] It is a hard decision, likely to take, and it would not necessarily mean retreat or a loss and let Russia do what it wants with it, but it's again, it's more of evade when the enemy is strong. With Wagner there, they have a lot more of that firepower.

SCIUTTO: We were back once again in a space we've been many times since the start of this war more than a year ago and that is a new weapons system is going in, a capable one. In this case, tanks such as the Leopard and soon, U.S.-made Abrams tanks but the focus is already on another weapons system. This one, the F-16, which U.S. officials have said consistently since the beginning of the war frankly that that's not the weapon that Ukrainian forces really need right now. And I wonder, do you agree with that assessment or should -- should the U.S. and its partners send them in?

LYONS: No, I do agree with that. I think applying F-16s to the battlefield right now immediately, first of all, just couldn't happen. It would take nine months to a year to train Ukrainian pilots to fly them and to coordinate a combined arms battlefield with tanks and communication systems and infantry on the ground would be very difficult.

The F-16s, though, give Ukraine attack capability inside of Russia. You know, in this war of attrition right now, the side that wins, attacks the other side's capability to wage war. Right now, Ukraine doesn't have that capability. Russia does. Russia is inside Ukraine and is attacking their infrastructure. So the F-16s, while they might solve a problem in the short term, if they're there right now, they're just not going to get there on time and I just -- I just don't believe they're going to have any impact on the battlefield.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about NATO expansion last June. We were in Madrid as NATO announced the accession or their support, unanimous support of both Finland and Sweden joining. Since then, Turkey has again stood in the way -- Turkey and Hungary of Sweden's accession. Finland now is prepared to take steps forward.

Do you think it is smart to split the two in effect? Start with Finland, possibly move on to Sweden if -- if the Turkish and the Hungarians end up allowing that to happen or is it better for them to go together and what's the risk for the alliance in the meantime?

LYONS: No, I thinks it's -- yes, I think it's better for them to go together. NATO has got to be strong here. The Turks have a number, whatever that number is that they want concessions in order for this to happen, to make it happen, that's the down side of the alliance and the fact that each NATO country has to approve acceptance into it.

I was never one for bringing actually a lot of those NATO countries that are close to Russia into NATO in the past because we can't have membership to NATO to be everybody but Russia in Europe because that creates the same problem we had during the first World War and that's really what Russia -- one of Russia's sticking points to be.

But now, the situation has changed on the ground. I think that both of them need to go in at the same time, the alliance has got to be strong. And then eventually now I could even see go five years down the road, once there is a peace settlement that Ukraine does get more security assurances from NATO eventually and maybe eventually 10 years is in the alliance itself.

SCIUTTO: Major Mike Lyons, thanks so much.

LYONS: Thanks.

HILL: At least 36 people are dead, dozens more injured after two trains collided in Central Greece. Officials say a passenger train, a freight train hit head on late Tuesday after that passenger train crossed into a cargo lane. A desperate search for survivors continues at this hour. More than 150 first responders there on the scene looking through the twisted train cars to hopefully find anyone who may still be trapped inside. More than 350 people were on board that train and passengers are now talking about those panicked moments after the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STERGIOS MINENIS, PASSENGER (through translator): It was panic for 10, 15 seconds. It was chaos, tumbling over fires, cables hanging, broken windows, people screaming people trapped. It was two meters high from where we jumped to leave and brief that was broken iron debris. But what could we do?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Earlier this morning, Greece's prime minister visited with rescue workers at the crash site and the country has announced three days of mourning for the victims.

SCIUTTO: Back home for the first time in more than 30 years, Chicago is saying good-bye to its incumbent mayor. Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for a second term after failing to make the top two in a race of nine candidates.

HILL: The top two vote getters, Paul Vallas, a longtime public school's chief and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, they are now headed to an April runoff.

Joining us to take a closer look at what happened there, "Chicago Sun- Times" Washington bureau chief, Lynn Sweet. Lynn, always good to see you.

So when we -- when we look at what happened here, what stood out to me, I have to say in Lori Lightfoot concession speech last night is she specifically touted her record number of guns -- getting a record number of guns off the streets, reduced homicides and progress on public safety is what she noted. It's impossible to ignore, though, these are some of the very things that she faced a lot of backlash over, crime and public safety. You spoke with voters, what did they tell you?

[09:10:01] LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, public safety or crime is public issue one, two or three. That's how Paul Vallas' campaign manager explained the issue to me and their focus on making law and order a major issue.

You know, Lori Lightfoot didn't catch a break in the four years she was mayor. She had the COVID pandemic, where at one point, she almost seemed like a hero, closing the lakefront, issuing this order and that, but it was that kind of dictatorial style that played well at the very beginning of the pandemic that ended up hurting her. And then she was hurt during much by the civil unrest and the backlash after George Floyd. That left the city throughout many neighborhoods on edge, big parts of the downtown area obviously where you walked down that you see retailers gone, and there is, many places just more fear now than ever of carjacking. So there's a perception about crime and numbers and that's what she was up against.

SCIUTTO: Well, the crime numbers are real, and we have seen in other cities, look at Eric Adams in New York, for instance, a Democrat but someone who had a tough on crime message. I wonder is this -- when you look at developments like this in Chicago -- a warning perhaps to other mayors of cities like this as to what that could do to their political prospects?

SWEET: Well, yes and no, because we also have in Chicago, as New York and Los Angeles does, all cities led by Black mayors, by the way. We also had some intra issue here between unions. Paul Vallas ran with the endorsement of the FOP, the Fraternal Order of Police, Jim, that's the police union.

Brandon Johnson, who is a paid staffer for the Chicago Teachers Union, ran with the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union. So you have in this backdrop two unions at odds with each other running in the background of this race. And that might not be true if we want to carry what happened in Chicago too far.

Brandon Johnson was bank rolled by millions of dollars from the Chicago Teachers Union and its parent, the American Federation of Teachers.

Paul Vallas will go into this general election being backed by a union whose president is a big backer of President Trump. So you have these political dynamics set in place that may not exist other places.

SCIUTTO: Lynn Sweet, fascinating political results there. Thanks so much.

SWEET: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, the FAA is now investigating a fifth close call this year involving U.S. airliners. Details on what led to a near collision between two planes at Boston's airport. Way too close.

HILL: Plus, CNN's Bill Weir is going to join us live from Argentina's southern tip with some alarming details about how quickly the sea ice is melting in Antarctica. And President Biden set to introduce his nominee for labor secretary this hour. They've confirmed that Julie Su will be the first Asian American to hold such a high-ranking position in his cabinet. We're going to bring you those remarks live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:30]

SCIUTTO: Look out your plane window. The FAA is now investigating the fifth dangerous close call involving a commercial airline on a U.S. runway this year alone. This time, in Boston and this was on Monday night.

HILL: So the two planes came within 565 feet of each other. A little too close for comfort. CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean explains what went wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the latest incident of a near-collision at a major airport. Monday night, a JetBlue flight and a private Learjet nearly running into each other on crisscrossing runways at Boston Logan International Airport.

UNKNOWN: This was a mistake that was made by the pilot and it was caught by air traffic control, which is their job. So, they were able to catch it.

MUNTEAN: The Federal Aviation Administration says as JetBlue Flight 206 was coming in to land on runway four right, the Learjet took off from the intersecting runway. Air traffic control recordings detail the pilot of the JetBlue flight being directed to abort its landing, the FAA classifying the move as evasive action.

UNIDENTIFIED JETBLUE PILOT: Clear to land 4 right, JetBlue 206.

UNIDENTIFIED CONTROLLER: JetBlue 206 go around.

206 fly runway heading, maintain 3,000.

UNIDENTIFIED JETBLUE PILOT: Runway heading up to -- sorry, say again the altitude.

UNIDENTIFIED CONTROLLER: 3,000.

UNIDENTIFIED JETBLUE PILOT: 3,000. JetBlue 206.

MUNTEAN: Worse yet, the FAA says the Learjet did not have takeoff clearance. Instead, the crew was told to line up and wait on the runway for the landing JetBlue flight. The FAA says the Learjet pilot read back instructions clearly but began a takeoff roll instead. Air traffic control brought the JetBlue flight back in for a landing all onboard unharmed.

ADAM JOHNSON, PASSENGER ON JETBLUE FLIGHT: The pilots did a really incredible job. We came in, it was a scary situation but it was very smooth. Like it wasn't like it was a jolting experience. It wasn't a jerky experience. We just went back up into the air and came back around and landed.

MUNTEAN: The incident is the fifth of the type this year following similar close calls at New York's JFK, Austin, Honolulu and Burbank.

Last month, the FAA's acting administrator told Congress that recent events remind us we must not become complacent and vowed a sweeping safety review.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: There is a lot of pressure right now on our airspace. And so we need to make sure that our regulatory system is as safe as it can be, that the aviation system is safe as it can be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN (on camera): The NTSB is not investigating this incident just yet, but we do have some preliminary data from flight radar 24.

[09:20:02]

It says, at these plane's closest, they were 565 feet away from one another. Put that into context, that's about two football fields, not even, Jim and Erica. So, so close in this close call. The good news here is the safety system worked but the disturbing part is this has happened so many times, something likely to come up in the Biden administration's nominee to lead the FAA, Phil Washington. He's having his Senate confirmation hearing this morning.

SCIUTTO: Yes, 565 feet at that speed, that's nothing.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Pete Muntean, thanks so much.

Coming up next, we are live in Southern California where, if you can believe it, they're digging out from yet another unusual to say the least snowstorm. And even more snow is on the way.

HILL: Plus, CNN's Bill Weir is joining us with Antarctica in sight as scientists warn the climate crisis is having a visible impact on the sea ice there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:25]

SCIUTTO: As parts of the Northern Hemisphere experience another winter with near record warmth, the effects of climate change also resonating further south.

HILL: As scientists are warning Antarctica's sea ice is now at its lowest point since satellites began monitoring those levels in 1979. CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, is live with us this hour. He is in the southern tip of Argentina. This is before you make your way to Antarctica. But are you seeing any signs even where you are in Argentina in terms of this change and its impact?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, we're a good five-day boat ride from Antarctica which is on the other side of those cloudy mountain peaks, that's the Chiloe National Park. So we are ways from the Antarctic Peninsula.

What they are seeing down in South America are melting glaciers on land and the risk of this glacial outburst floods in communities that live below melting glaciers. But this new report is what's making headlines as we make our way there actually with whale scientists. We got new word out of the National Snow and Ice Center in Colorado that for the second year in a row, Antarctica set a record low for summer ice extent.

Now this is the bottom of the world here, so their peak summer is in late February and that is when the ice around this continent at the bottom of the world shrinks to its lowest level.

Now for perspective, in 2014, that ice was about 7 million square miles but now it's less than 700,000 square miles, over 90 percent disappearance there, which opens up the ice shelves around Antarctica to more sea wave action and weathering which attacks those shelves that keep all that land ice in place. If that melts and slides into the oceans, it will forcibly rearrange every coastal city from Miami to Shanghai to Boston and New Orleans.

And that's just for starters, not to mention the ecosystem collapses at the bottom of the food chain and all of that. So scientists once again sending a warning that we have to pay attention to this most remote corner of our planet. We didn't discover Antarctica until 40 years after humans discovered the planet Uranus and we are just learning about what's going on down there and all the warning signs as they put sort of robotic cameras under these glaciers and seeing how they're melting from the bottom and from inside out. It really is another red -- blinking red light at the bottom of the planet. Meanwhile, the top of the world, the Arctic melting twice as fast as the rest of the planet, all adding up to some pain.

SCIUTTO: The way you describe it there, forcibly rearranging coastal cities. That's what we need to prepare for with ocean rise. Let's hope folks hear those warnings.

Bill Weir, good to have you there. Travel safe.

HILL: Well, we've been talking about this sort of crazy winter we've been having here in the U.S. As Jim noted, in some areas, much warmer than usual. And then you've got Southern California, which is expected to get hit again today with a whole lot of snow. This latest winter hit with these back-to-back storms, parts of the Golden State, as you know at this point, already buried under more than 6 feet of snow. That storm system is now moving across the southwest and it's increasing the threat of severe weather east of the Mississippi. SCIUTTO: It's hard to keep track, hotter in some places, colder in other places where you don't expect it. CNN's Stephanie Elam, she is joining us live from San Bernardino, California, not a place I normally associate with parkas. But tell us what you're seeing there and icy roads, et cetera. What are the effects of all these?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm trying to use up all the verbs that we have, Jim and Erica. It's blanketed. It's -- you know, it's snowing intensely. Everything that's an adverb, but I know.

Anyway, turn around, you look, you can barely see the top of the San Bernardino Mountains. In fact, you can't. We were up there yesterday, and the roads were still a lot of places, still just one way through because there's so much snow and they're plowing it.

We know this last system that came through dropped about seven to eight feet of snow. And then this system that we are in right now, overnight, it has been going to town. So another three feet is expected here and that's just in San Bernardino. We know up by Lake Tahoe some 40 inches have fallen there as well.

Just a ton of snow that has fallen and making it very difficult for people to get resources up there. We saw that it was hard for trucks to get up. The reason why this roadblock is here is because they are not letting anyone up right now. But when they do open up, they are making sure that everyone has chains so that they can get up there.

We saw a bunch of cars going towards Crestline that were just on the sides of the road. I talked to one group of friends who are coming up here to celebrate their buddy's 26th birthday, and at one point, they just had to ditch one of the cars because they needed to get into the bigger truck that could make it all the way up the hill.

[09:30:00]