Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

President Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Kyiv. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 20, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[06:00:31]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We do begin with breaking news this morning. President Biden makes a surprise visit to Ukraine. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York, here with Sara Sidner. Kaitlan Collins is live in Warsaw, Poland, where the president will be shortly. Don has the day off.

And here's what we know. A very significant moment in the world stage. President Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during this unannounced trip. It comes just days before the one-year mark of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

This moment is highly significant. This morning, Biden sending a strong message of support to Ukrainians as air raid sirens wailed across Kyiv, underscoring the very real risk involved in this trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(AIR-RAID SIRENS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Both leaders spoke a moment ago about the weight of this historic moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: President Biden, it is so important for us and all we are proud of it. Thank you very much for coming, Mr. President.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's good to be back in Kyiv. I was telling the president, staff members on the flight from Washington and Poland and asked me how many times I've been to Kyiv. I had to stop and think. This is my eighth trip. Much has changed. Much of it bad.

But also, the Ukrainian people have stepped up in a way that few people ever have in their own defense. And I have -- this breaks the notion of democracy and no longer discussion is about whether or not certain privileged people have control.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We have CNN coverage from all fronts this morning. Phil Mattingly is here with me in Warsaw. Clarissa Ward is standing by on the round in Kyiv. Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow, and Kylie Atwood is at the State Department.

Of course, this is a historic visit by President Biden. It is actually his eighth visit to Ukraine, his first, though, since Russia invaded. It's a visit that he has said he has wanted to make since 11 months ago.

But now, of course, President Biden has finally made it, under a shroud of secrecy. Clarissa Ward knows that well. She was watching this entire visit happen before it could actually be reported, Clarissa, that President Biden was there on the ground in Kyiv.

What could you see from your vantage -- from your vantage?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So Kaitlan, we're now here in the square where President Biden was. He was inside St. Michael's Church just behind me. And you could hear the air raid sirens start whaling.

There was a moment where everybody was wondering whether he was actually going to come out of the church. He and President Zelenskyy came out of the church. They met up with two soldiers who were carrying wreaths. And then they proceeded to kind of march over to this area where you can see several wreaths. You can also see a lot of television cameras.

Of course, this is a huge news story here in Ukraine. And you can see behind me, just there next to that reporter, this is the U.S. wreath that was laid as President Zelenskyy and President Biden looked on.

The two leaders then embraced. The air-raid sirens finally stopped wailing, and President Biden got into his motorcade. And I should say, it was an extraordinarily huge motorcade. This entire area was completely blocked off to traffic. The streets were empty.

Our live shot position is up on the balcony of the hotel behind me. And we had multiple visits from soldiers who told us, under no circumstances were we to go out on the balcony. At one stage, they came up even to tell us to stand back further from the windows.

So there was a lot of security that went into this. This is a trip that many people have been waiting a long time for. And as you heard from President Zelenskyy, talking about how meaningful this was, Kaitlan. What a strong signal of support. And that is something we're hearing reflected again and again, talking to ordinary Ukrainians. We needed this right now. And we greatly appreciate it.

COLLINS: Yes. And there's actual support that they are sending, as well. But of course, a remarkable moment, though, was as President Biden and President Zelenskyy were walking into that -- the church, I believe, that's behind you, air-raid sirens were actually going off in Kyiv as President Biden was on the ground, right?

[06:05:14]

WARD: And it's interesting. Because you know, the expectation had been that with the president here, it might be a quiet day. The Russians almost certainly already knew he was here. They'd be unlikely to do something like -- you know, extraordinary like launching a missile attack on this city while the president was hear.

But when we heard those air-raid sirens, the first thing you want to find out is what threat has been reported. And this case, it was MiG activity over Belarus. That is something that we have on an almost daily basis.

But it does take on pretty loaded significance when you have the president of the United States in a church in the center of town still miles away from the next border, the next border being Poland where we presume, obviously, he is on his way to now.

So it was definitely a tense moment, although you didn't see that necessarily reflected on the ground. I will say that when we were watching the movements of people who were accompanying President Biden and President Zelenskyy were very fast. A lot of running. This whole part of the puzzle only took ten minutes.

It was five minutes in the church. The air raids started whaling. Five minutes here on the ground laying the wreath. And then very quickly, President Biden was gone again.

COLLINS: Yes. And just a very small contingent with them. Typically, he travels with so many staffers with him, Clarissa.

But also, Phil Mattingly is live in Warsaw where President Biden is headed after this. It was actually supposed to be the first stop on his schedule, Phil.

But of course, the White House had this secret trip that they had been planning. That we'd not seen President Biden since he was out in Washington on Saturday night. And then he reappeared in Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local this morning.

What do you know about the planning, Phil, that went into this secret visit of President Biden's?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Look, Kaitlan, there are a lot of details that are still not yet public by design for security reasons.

But we do know that top Biden advisors have been talking for several months about how best to symbolize this moment. They really were looking at the one-year anniversary, the one-year commemoration, I guess, of the Russian invasion. They wanted to ensure they had maximum impact in terms of the president's efforts up to this point.

Not just from the U.S. support side, but the durability of the international coalition they put together, in part because they knew there was no clear end game coming any time soon. That is why they saw this as such a significant moment. Now, in terms of the trip itself, as you noted, the last time we saw

the president was on Saturday night. He was out to dinner with the first lady. We did not see him again until the video that you guys have been showing.

What happened in between, besides the White House putting out a public schedule that did not have this trip on it whatsoever was the actual trip going under way.

At 4 a.m., around 4:15 a.m. on Sunday, Air Force 1 departed Andrews Air Force Base. There was no notice. Reporters that were on the trip had to give their devices to staff before they departed.

The next time reporters were able to talk. The pool was able to give a time line was 8 a.m. is when they arrived in this area. By 8:30, he was in the palace to meet with President Zelenskyy. First lady, as well. He was joined, as you noted, by a small contingent of staffers: national security advisor Jake Sullivan; deputy chief of staff, Jen O'Malley Dillon; Ambassador Bridget Brink; and the deputy ambassador, as well, for their meetings.

And again, it's important to note this wasn't just a symbolic photo, a moment for pictures and cameras. They also did have a bilateral sit- down between the two presidents and their top advisors to discuss the current state of play.

And also, President Zelenskyy saying they were discussing defense assistance of which the president and President Zelenskyy and his team continue to ask for more and faster as U.S. officials are quite aware of at this point in time.

But I think more importantly, as you look again -- you know this has well as anybody -- what the president said about the importance of this showing that there is no doubt, that there should be no doubt about the U.S. support, about the durability of that support, and about the support of the Western alliance that it's been there since day one, I think was so critical.

And then one last thing I would say, is that the president referencing the phone call he had with President Zelenskyy on the night of the invasion, a moment where even top administration officials, top Biden advisors weren't sure that President Zelenskyy would be president that much longer. They weren't sure Kyiv would be standing that much longer.

Now, 361 days later, not only is President Zelenskyy still there, not only is Kyiv still standing, but President Biden was standing in Kyiv with him -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. What a difference a year makes. Just remarkable to see it and to reflect on that.

Phil Mattingly, we'll check back in with you. You know, Poppy and Sara, one thing that we were talking about earlier is I cannot remember or don't have any knowledge of the last time that a sitting U.S. president -- a U.S. president went into an active war zone where no U.S. forces are there on the ground.

[06:10:02]

You know, we saw presidents in the past go to the Middle East, go to Iraq, go to Afghanistan. Those are highly-militarized visits, where they would still leave in secrecy. But there are thousands of U.S. troops on the ground.

This is President Biden going to an active war zone, where there is not a single U.S. soldier on the ground. It's just a remarkable moment. It does speak to the broader context of what we're seeing.

But also, the difficulty in actually getting President Biden to Kyiv. And typically, the president flies wherever he goes. He actually did take the train this time. Just speaks to the level of difficulty in getting a U.S. president into this war zone.

HARLOW: It's such an important point, Kaitlan. I think it also speaks to how critical this is, not just as the president just said in those remarks a few moments ago, not just for Ukraine, but for the world and for democracy around the world.

Sara, you spent a lot of time over the last year in Ukraine, even on the front lines.

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Yes. We WENT TO Mykolaiv. We were in Bucha, Odessa, Kyiv. And I think what you're seeing here is something that the troops themselves -- and we're not seeing the troops. But they are all getting this information. They are all on social media. Trust me. They're all getting this coming to them.

And it means a great deal to them who are fighting for their own country. But the support has been incredibly important. I learned that when I was there. They would thank me, and I would say, I'm not doing anything. I'm just --

HARLOW: For covering it.

SIDNER: -- a reporter.

HARLOW: Yes.

SIDNER: They would thank me for reporting it and they would thank America through me. And so I'm not sure people understand the impact it makes to have a president go into a war zone in which U.S. troops are not there but to show his support. It is a huge day for Ukraine and the rest of the world.

HARLOW: And I was struck by the fact, as we go to Kylie Atwood at the State Department, the fact that the president's closest remarks this morning by saying -- adding, as he was sitting with President Zelenskyy, my admiration for the people of Ukraine.

The big question now is you've shown the support. You've done this history-making visit, as Kaitlan laid out. Now what will the U.S. do? A lot of conversation over the weekend is about F-16s.

You had Mike McCaul, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, saying he's hopeful. He thinks momentum is building. This aid package and this weapons package just announced this morning is more money and more weapons but more of the same. So the question is, what is next?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I think we've seen mounting pressure on the administration, as you said, Poppy, to actually provide those fighter jets that Ukraine has been asking for. It's also pressure that's now beginning to come from other NATO countries.

We heard from the Polish prime minister and the Polish president over the weekend, saying that they would provide their kind of earlier era fighter jets to Ukraine if the United States did the same and provided a coalition of getting those jets to Ukraine.

So there's a lot of eyes on that, particularly because the Biden administration has said in the past that they wouldn't provide certain weaponry, and then they have shifted over time.

I think it's important to note the backdrop here, as well. President Biden said very clearly there is significant agreement in Washington, bipartisan agreement he's hinting at there, in terms of continued support for Ukraine during this war.

And you can't ignore the fact that there are a few Republican voices here in Washington who are quite loud, who have been in opposition to continued support.

But what he is saying is that I am here. I am leading the United States. We have agreement in Congress by many Republicans, even if there are some kind of members of the fray who don't want to continue supporting Ukraine.

And we are continuing to making a critical message here that the United States isn't going to step away. We also heard from President Zelenskyy there, saying that they were going to discuss how to win this war by the end of the year.

And that's significant, because what it demonstrates is that President Zelenskyy is saying, if you give us everything that we need, we think that we can really get this job done and in a certain time frame, which we really haven't heard from him in the recent year.

HARLOW: Yes. That's a very great point. OK. We'll get back to you very soon, Kylie. Thank you very much.

SIDNER: We also have Clarissa and, along with Kylie and Phil, who are -- they're -- Clarissa's there on the ground. So I'm curious from you. A lot of what we heard when I went in was regular everyday people asking to tell my president to send help.

Are you still hearing that, from just a regular person on the street? If they found out I was American, they would start asking me, like, is -- are you all going to continue to help us? We need help. WARD: Yes, it's funny you should say that, Sara. Because we were just

actually chatting to a group of young students from Harkiv (ph), which is a city in the Northeast. And they have come here, because today is actually a memorial day for those who were killed in the Maidan Revolution in 2014.

And they were looking at the wreath, and they were saying how excited they were that the U.S. president had finally visited Ukraine. But they did then quickly follow that up with we hope that the next step now will be fighter jets. We hope that the next step now will be long- range artillery.

[06:15:10]

Of course, we didn't hear anything like that coming from President Biden. Frankly, what we have been hearing from as recently as yesterday, the E.U. chief says that the much more pressing short-term need on the ground for Ukrainian forces is ammunition. There is an absolute dearth of ammunition.

But ordinary people here, I think, this visit did mean a lot to them. It caused some chaos in the city, because large parts of the center of town were completely shut down to traffic. There were huge traffic jams. Apparently, the metros were then totally overwhelmed, because people were trying to get to work.

And yet, all you hear on social media and talking to Ukrainians and already so many people are coming here and taking photographers and trying to capture the scene, is that this was so important. That this comes at a moment where the fight has been so bitter and so grim in the East; where it has been cold, with infrastructure being bombarded day in and day out.

And to have that -- that sort of vote of support from the U.S. with this major visit is a real boon to morale. And I think it also helps Ukrainians feel like, you know what? If we weren't going to win this thing, the U.S. President wouldn't come and visit.

So it sort of makes everybody feel like things will be OK. And we can get through this, and we can do this. Even though -- in no uncertain terms, we have to be clear about this. It is a very tough fight at the moment.

HARLOW: Clarissa, just quickly, we all remember vividly how you were there for the weeks before the Russian invasion. And then you stayed. And I just -- all the talk of Kyiv will fall in days, if not weeks; and you were in Kyiv. And Kyiv has not fallen, and the U.S. president is there on an extraordinary visit.

WARD: It does make you -- you sort of, like -- you can't quite believe it. Because during those first few days, there was so much pressure to evacuate. And it really looked like, according to various international intelligence services, that Kyiv would fall.

Let me tell you now, Poppy, you can't get a seat in a restaurant without a reservation here in Kyiv. OK? Not only did Kyiv not fall, Kyiv is bustling. Kyiv is buzzing.

Now Kyiv is a microcosm. It's not necessarily indicative of what a large swath of the rest of the country look like. But I do think it's fair to say that it's been pretty extraordinary to see how this city, in the face of constant air-raid sirens, regular bombardment, drone attacks, manages to keep on moving. And to sort of really keep this posture of defiance and resilience that has come to embody Ukraine's response to this entire invasion.

HARLOW: Clarissa, it really is. Thank you very much. We'll get back to you in just a minute.

Kaitlan, back to you in Warsaw.

COLLINS: Yes, CNN's Fred Pleitgen is tracking all of this. There's a big question here, Poppy and Sara, is how the Kremlin is going to respond to this. He's live in Moscow.

And Fred, a big part of this is we've been talking about this speech that President Putin is going to be giving tomorrow, I believe. That's also when President Biden himself is going to be speaking.

We're going to see these dueling remarks as we are closing in on one year of this anniversary, as remarkable as Poppy was just noting, of where we are now. What's the expectation of how the Kremlin is going to respond to Biden now making this historic trip to -- to Kyiv?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. First of all, this is huge news, obviously, in Russia, as well. In fact, we've been watching that state-run, Kremlin-controlled media. And it is all over the place, the visit of the U.S. president there in Kyiv.

And you have all sorts of commentators who are sort of scrambling with commentary, as well. Some of them saying that President Biden is doing this for domestic purposes, to increase his poll ratings in the United States.

But there are also some -- and this is quite important -- who are saying that they believe that this shows that the United States is in fact de facto, a party to this war, a party to this conflict. And that's really important, because that's obviously what the Russians have been saying for quite a while now.

Ever since they've been doing badly on the battlefield against the Ukrainians, Russian state media but also the Kremlin has essentially tried to frame this as being a war of Russia against NATO. Russia against the West and specifically Russia against the United States.

Now you can imagine with President Biden there on the ground in Kyiv, in Ukraine, many Russian commentators are saying exactly the same thing. And we haven't heard from the Kremlin yet. But Kremlin- controlled media certainly pushing that narrative in a very big way.

Now, that's something that, of course, potentially could be quite dangerous. But also, of course, it is something where Vladimir Putin uses that to try and rally the nation here. And I think you're absolutely right. That speech that Vladimir Putin

is set to give tomorrow in front of the Federal Assembly of both houses of Russian Parliament, is seen here.

[06:20:08]

And I've spoken to a bunch of people here in Moscow the past couple of days, and that could yield something very important as far as Russia's what they call special military operation is concerned. It's unclear what he's going to say. But it's certainly something that's seen as a landmark.

But really, this entire week seems to be laced with events meant to rally Russians behind the special military operation. On Wednesday, there's a big event in the biggest stadium here in Moscow on Thursday. Those are the defenders of the fatherland, then, and of course, on Friday, you have the actual anniversary of the war.

We're not exactly sure how big the Russians are going to mark that.

But certainly, you can see that at this point in time, Putin is trying to rally Russians around the fact that this is going to be a long, protracted and tough war for Russia, as well.

Obviously, things have not been going the way the Russians had hoped on the battlefield and at the same time, I think the message that the Kremlin is trying to send and certainly will send also after the visit of the U.S. president there in Kyiv is that Vladimir Putin is nowhere near backing down. In fact, he is ready to keep this going for a very long time -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. And that's such a big part of this, is what is Russia going to do next? Because what we hear from U.S. officials is obviously, they're worried about the spring offensive and what that can look like.

That's why Zelenskyy has been talking about getting the equipment that they say they need now. When it comes to what Russia is planning, though, there's not necessarily a guarantee that that spring offensive is going to be successful, given what they've done so far. The idea that Kyiv was going to roll over in a few days never actually materialized. What is the sense there?

PLEITGEN: Yes. I think you're absolutely right. I think the Russians are actually quite concerned about the way things are going on the battlefield and certainly right now, what you don't see here officially in Russia, I've spoken to a couple of analysts -- I've spoken to some people who are in politics here, as well -- is any sort of quick victories that happen.

Certainly, they do say that there is going to be something big that they are planning in the spring of this year. But there's no guarantees that it's something that's going to yield quick results.

And we've seen that on the battlefields there in Eastern Ukraine where some of the mobilized troops that Vladimir Putin mobilized at the end of this year have already arrived on the battlefield. And you see the Russians sort of putting more pressure on certain places. But not really gaining much in the way of territory.

It was quite interesting, because I spoke to a very important analyst here on the weekend. And he said right now, he believes the big problem that Russia has is that they have mobilized a lot of people. They could probably mobilize a lot more.

And, of course, on top of that, you have private organizations like the Wagner private military company using people that they recruit from jails on the front lines.

But they say Russia also has a lot of problem getting these people modern and adequate weapons. They say it's not about rifles but certainly, when you're speaking about tanks and other modern equipment, Russia also having some trouble supplying people, supplying those who are mobilized with that, as well.

So one of the things that we sort of ascertain is that the Russians are gearing up for this to take a very long time. That the spring offensive that people are talking about might not be something, you know, sort of along the way of trying to blitz into Ukraine, trying to make quick territorial gains.

But more something that could be a very slow buildup, where the Russians try to suffocate the Ukrainians and, essentially, hope that nations like the United States and especially European allies might not have the wherewithal, might not be in it for the long run, essentially that Putin could outlast them, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. Those are critical questions there, Fred. Thank you so much for that coverage from Russia.

Also this hour, as we are covering this historic visit that President Biden has made, his eighth trip to Ukraine, his first, though, since Russia invaded nearly a year ago today.

We're going to get perspective from Colonel Cedric Leighton next on what players (Ph) are talking about there, what's happening on the battlefield, and what could be next for Ukraine? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:27:38]

BIDEN: Freedom is priceless. It's worth fighting for, and as long as it takes. And that's how long we're going to be with you, Mr. President. For as long as it takes.

ZELENSKYY: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You saw a handshake there. Also, a hug earlier this morning. We are glad you're with us for this breaking news. A remarkable moment, one that will be remembered and go down in history as President Biden makes an unannounced trip to an active war zone, landing and meeting with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, pledging really unlimited support, saying as long as it takes, we will be there.

And also, Kaitlan, the president saying that this is far bigger, as he has, than -- than Ukraine. This is about democracy. This is about the ability for the free world to continue to operate in it. It is stunning.

And you're there in Warsaw. This was not supposed to happen in terms of the presidential schedule. Right, Kaitlan? But it did. And then he will be where you are after this.

COLLINS: We had a feeling that something may be going on. The president wasn't scheduled to depart Washington until 7 p.m. tonight. And it had been very quiet coming from the White House.

Obviously, there were questions on whether or not he'd go to Ukraine, given he was going to be in the area. He had not visited yet.

I will tell you, we've been here in Poland for a few days. And the bigger questions are what the president was referencing there, saying that the U.S. will be with Ukraine as long as it takes.

The big questions are, of course, how long it is going to take. What is the future of this? And if the U.S. is going to relent and give Ukraine those long-range missiles that they want, the F-16 fighter jets. Those are going to be the big questions once President Biden leaves there.

But he is still on the ground visiting the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. It's just remarkable to see him actually walking around there where, you know, a year ago as you were noting with Clarissa, major questions on what Kyiv would even look like today.

SIDNER: Kaitlan, thank you so much, and thank you for braving the rain there. You're doing great work, as usual.

We are going to -- we are now going to bring in Col. Cedric Leighton.

You have been watching this since the beginning. You have been talking about this since the beginning. The invasion happened, I think, on the 24th. I ended up in Poland on the 26th as thousands of refugees were coming over the border from -- Ukraine.

[06:30:00]