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President Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Kyiv; Biden Has Left Kyiv After Surprise Visit to Ukraine. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 20, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage. President Biden is making a dangerous unannounced visit to Kyiv in the middle of the war.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow here with Sara Sidner in New York. Kaitlan Collins with special coverage anchoring from Warsaw, Poland. Kaitlan, you're getting new reporting?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. We have just learned, Poppy and Sara, that President Biden has now left Kyiv. Of course, the question is whether is he going next? Potentially, it is here where I am in Warsaw, Poland, which was, according to the last White House schedule, where he was going to be making his first stop during this trip to Europe, but obviously made that surprise unannounced, shrouded in secrecy visit to Kyiv this morning, his seventh visit -- or his eighth visit to Ukraine but his first ever since the invasion happened a year ago.

And, of course, these trips are always sensitive for a president, but this one especially given he went into an active war zone. The reporters traveled with him had their phones taken from them before the plane took off. He only brought a few staffers with him. The moment was never more obvious than when you heard the air raid sirens on the ground as walking around with President Zelenskyy. And he has now departed Kyiv, we are told.

We've been covering this from every angle on the ground in Ukraine. Phil Mattingly is here in Warsaw. Phil, obviously, this is going to be a big trip overall that President Biden is taking. Kylie Atwood is also at the State Department covering this aspect for us.

Phil, let's start with you in talking about this trip and the fact that it was shrouded in secrecy, and that President Biden did leave unannounced, obviously, because it has to be so sensitive given the danger to bring a U.S. president into an active war zone where there are no U.S. forces there.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, danger that it contributed to his top advisers saying he shouldn't make this trip for much of the last year. And as you know quite well, Kaitlan, it was something he wanted to do. He told reporters this is something he want to do when he came to Warsaw last year in March, the possibility of just shifting over the border, at least heading into Western Ukraine or Lviv, and was told it wasn't a good idea due to security precautions, also concerns about how it would be viewed from an escalatory side by President Putin and the Russian. That was one element of it.

But, Kaitlan, I think you made a really good point here. There is precedent for this. We've seen presidents, President Biden's predecessors, whether Iraq or Afghanistan, there is a way to do this and kind of a formula in terms of how it all works in terms of the secrecy and the process, what reports can and can't do, can and can't say throughout the process.

What is different about this trip, and which doesn't really have any near-term historic precedence, as far as I'm aware of, is a president going into a war zone that U.S. forces do not control. The U.S. forces are not in the country. And the fact that they were still able to do this logistically, it was quite a lift, security-wise. Preparations were intensive in the lead-up to it, more of which we're going to find out about, I think, in the hours ahead.

But I think what this gets to more than anything else is, for the last several months, advisers have alluded to the fact that the president was very keen on making this a very significant moment, this one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, underscoring that they knew the symbolism was important, underscoring that they knew, highlighting the durability of not just the U.S. support but western coalition support was critical in part because they know how long the road is ahead, in part because they know that the battlefield is very much in a stalemate right now and they know that there's no near term endgame when they look out into the future and that durability needs to be maintained. There is no better symbolism than the U.S. president standing side by side with the Ukrainian president in a capital of a country that I think a lot of people one year ago were not sure would still be standing as an independent democratic nation.

That was what they were going for. That was certainly what the president delivered. And I think in the president's own words, making clear, Kaitlan, that he wanted to show that the U.S. durability, the U.S. support was not just in words only, it was something that was going to last as long as it took, as he often says, and that the western coalition behind the U.S. in that support was not going anywhere either.

COLLINS: Yes. It's an incredibly symbolic trip and a ten-hour train ride, we should note, that these world leaders who have gone to Kyiv have been taking. Phil Mattingly, thank you.

Clarissa Ward is live on the ground in Kyiv, we watched all of this visit unfold even before it was publicly available information that the president was actually on the ground.

[07:05:02]

And, Clarissa, now that the president has left Kyiv, he has departed, he does have another train ride, we believe we'll get the full details of what that trip looked like, but the significance of President Biden now being another world leader to go into the heart of this war and of what's been happening on the ground, and the significance of it happening one year almost to the date of the Russian invasion.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kaitlan, I just spoke to a group of Ukrainian women who had come here to take photographs. And I said what is your reaction to the fact that President Biden came? And they said, wow, it's amazing, the big boss was here. And I think that gives you a feeling for the excitement at this moment which had long been hoped for, but it wasn't clear that it was going to happen.

I want to give you a sense, and our viewers, of where we are. This is the church where President Biden and President Volodymry Zelenskyy were inside. They were in there for about five minutes. Then we started to hear those air raid sirens goingn off. There is quite a lot of anticipation as to what impact that would have on their next movements. But we saw them exiting the church minutes after those sirens had started.

They came out here into this main St. Michael's Square. You can see there're a lot of journalists here. This is a big attraction for tourists, but also it's a place that world leaders come. You can see those tanks, those are destroyed Russian tanks in the background. The two leaders came out here, they linked up with two soldiers who were carrying wreaths and they marched over this way behind those soldiers to this wall over here that you can see, which is known as the wall of fallen defenders in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

And you can actually see, if we get a little bit closer, that's the wreath that was laid by President Zelenskyy and this is the U.S. wreath that was laid here. And the two men then embraced around this area. Again, it's not a secret that President Biden and President Zelenskyy have good chemistry, but it was a warm embrace. At that point then, President Biden got into the motorcade and took off in that direction.

The whole thing lasted just ten minutes. This was just one part of the entire visit. But still it was very fast, five minutes inside that church, five minutes standing outside. But as you can see, this is a large open space. So, you can imagine the challenges of trying to secure this entire area. Everything was shut off to traffic.

I don't know if you can see Scottie McWinney (ph), our cameraman here, the live shot position where we do our live shots from in the hotel there, we had soldiers coming up throughout the morning telling us we -- on no uncertain terms, we were forbidden from taking any photographs. They actually came up in the moments before Biden arrived and told us to step away from the windows. Then they came back again and said close the curtains. So, there was a lot of anxiety and a lot of security around this event.

This was something that people had thought maybe wouldn't be possible because of the security, because there are so many moving parts of the puzzle, because it takes nine hours on a train to get to the safety of Poland. And so that's why it means so much to the people of Ukraine and certainly the people we've been talking to today that he came and made this visit.

HARLOW: Clarissa, thank you very, very much. We'll get back to you in just a minute. We're going to stay in Kyiv because we have the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, joining us now. Mayor, thank you very much for your time this morning.

The president has come an unannounced surprise, history-making visit by a U.S. president to an active war zone with no other U.S. troops on the ground. President Zelenskyy, I remember, told our Jake Tapper in April in their interview how important he thought it was for President Biden to come to Ukraine, and now President Biden has come. What does it mean for your city and your country?

MAYOR VITALI KLITSCHKO, KYIV, UKRAINE: This visit is very important for Ukraine. It is a symbolic visit. It is a very important signal for our partners, for our coalition, also very important signal for Russians. But it is a tough decision because nobody had a safety guarantee in our hometown. I want to remind there are more than 750 buildings destroyed in our hometown and more than 150 civilians also killed from Russian rockets and drones. And during this time and during the visit, we listened in alarm, air alarm. It means that there is risk there, but, by the way, we, everybody, a very positive surprise of his visit and very happy to receive the support.

[07:10:02]

HARLOW: One of the other questions I had for you, Mayor, is the fact that the U.S., on this visit, Biden has announced an additional $500 million in assistance. That is more ammunition, more Javelins, more Howitzers, but it does not include anything new. Can Ukraine prevail? Can Ukraine win with that or do you need more?

KLITSCHKO: The Ukrainian soldiers who cries for war (ph), we're fighting already one year against one of the strongest armies in the world, the Russian army. And Ukrainian soldiers show the whole world how tough we are, how we have very important will and spirit to win. But we need -- it is enough to have just will and spirit. It is very important more than weapons. It's very, very important.

To be honest, we depend from help of our partners because it's -- it's our wish to build a democratic country. And Russians never accept our wish and want to bring Ukraine back to Russia, back to Soviet (INAUDIBLE), back to Russian (INAUDIBLE). And we want no USSR and we don't want back USSR. And we're fighting for our democratic future now in our country. And that's why it's very important to have support from the democratic (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: So, Mayor, you just said it is not enough. Do you believe that Ukraine can win this war without longer range missiles and without U.S. F-16 fighter jets?

KLITSCHKO: In this moment, we can tell it's enough. But right now, it's not enough. And, actually, we need more than weapons. It's very, very helpful because right now, without weapons, we pay the main price, the lives of our soldiers ,life of our patriots to defend, already one year to defend, successfully defend our home country.

HARLOW: You were just at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend. A U.S. congressional delegation was there. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was there. And I wonder if you had conversations with anyone from the U.S. Congress or from the secretary of state -- or with the secretary of state while you were there and told them what you believe Ukraine needs.

KLITSCHKO: Yes, of course. In Munich Security Conference, we had a lot of conversations with representative of White House, the United States government, talking (INAUDIBLE) about the future of Ukraine, about the help for Ukraine. And it's very important to give the signal and to give the clear information. We need much more tanks. We need more weapons. It's critically important, critically important for us, because until today, sorry, it's not enough.

HARLOW: Did you speak with the secretary of state?

KLITSCHKO: Actually, everyone understands how dangerous Russia is right now. Everyone understands Ukraine needed help. And everyone in the world sees real face of Russian aggression. It's not a war. It's terrorism. If Russia destroys the villages, cities, kill civilians, and actually it's very important to win this war. And we're more than sure. It's our home country. We defend our families and our children. And that is why we'd better die but never give up. And (INAUDIBLE) for everyone of Ukrainians to win this war. But we need the help. And we're very thankful for everything we do at the United States to support Ukraine.

HARLOW: One thing that makes this presidential visit to an active war zone different than previous ones to, for example, Iraq or Afghanistan, is that there is no U.S. military control or presence on the ground in Ukraine. So, it makes it more dangerous for the president. Can you speak to the security that was provided from your end to the U.S. president during this visit?

KLITSCHKO: It's my -- it's not my responsibility but it's a risky trip. It's a tough decision. But it's very important and have symbolism in history and show the whole world United States support Ukraine. It's very important and give to us much more energy to fighting if we feel our friends behind us and very important message. Unity around Ukraine, together with Ukraine is key for peace and freedom in the world, peace and freedom in our country, peace and freedom in Europe.

[07:15:00]

HARLOW: Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko, thank you very much for being with us on quite a remarkable morning. We appreciate it.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It's great to see you alive and well after all that's happened. I met him back in 2014 when there was the revolution there in the Maidan. And he was really serious about trying to join with Europe and to push out sort of Russian-backed candidates, and he still there fighting. HARLOW: There were so many questions then about what the United States should do, how far in terms of defense of Ukraine and aid to Ukraine. The Obama administration should give within Vice President Biden and really coming full circle now.

SIDNER: It really is. The fact that they are still in war and still fighting against Russia is actually remarkable considering what people thought of the Russian military, which we are now learning wasn't exactly what had been said by Putin, no surprise there.

Let's go back to Clarissa Ward. She is in Kyiv for us. She has -- you were there before the war started. You were there after the war. You have been in and out that country for the duration of all of this. Can you give us a sense, from your perspective, where we are now? How people are faring in a place like Kyiv? Describe Kyiv to us. Because a lot of people don't realize what Kyiv looks like now in comparison to when the war started. It isn't a city that is completely shut down and destroyed. People are going about their business the best they can. It's remarkable.

WARD: It is remarkable. It is a vibrant, bustling city. People go about their daily lives. They have their families. They have their jobs. But it's also not necessarily, I would say, Sara, a reflection of what the rest of the country looks like, right? If you travel towards the east, towards the Donbas region, of course, where there is very heavy fighting, but also to the south, to Kherson, which was recently liberated a few months ago but still continues to be shelled day in and day out.

And in many of these recently liberated areas, life is far from rosy, right? I mean, you have minimal electricity, minimal running water. You have regular bombardment often. You have the challenges of trying to rebuild in a situation that is very insecure.

And I thought it was interesting listening to the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, he said one thing that stuck with me. He said, listen, Ukrainian soldiers have showed how tough they are. And we have the will and spirit. But that's not enough. And we heard President Zelenskyy earlier after meeting with President Biden say, this conversation brought us one step closer to victory.

And the one thing they did discuss, although there were no promises made possible weapons that could be supplied in the future. And that is the really key issue for Ukrainian authorities at this stage. They say, we have got to get the long range artillery. We have to get fighter jets, for example. No sense that that will happen, but, really, this is an inflection point in this war where you see that it could quite easily devolve into a grinding stalemate with very high attrition rates on both sides. The fighting in Bakhmut in the east has just been horrendous with massive casualties on the Russian side, we know, but also really high casualties on the Ukrainian side too.

And that's why this visit is so crucial. It's given a much needed boon or boost, a much needed sort of injection of morale, which has been a little low right now. But the key, according to Klitschko, as you just heard, but also President Zelenskyy, is they've got to get those weapons if they're going to be able to finish the job.

SIDNER: Clarissa, You know I love and respect you and all the work you've done there. And I do want to mention that some of the people that have always helped us on the ground in places like Ukraine that are in war, people like Sasha and Kosta (ph) and all of the people that are local producers there, they're having to live through this and work and watch what is happening to their own country. And I just cannot say enough about the bravery and help that they have given us.

HARLOW: Yes, I'm glad you said that.

Kaitlan, let's go back to new Warsaw, Poland. Do we know if that is where President Biden is headed now?

COLLINS: We're still waiting to get an update from the White House. One part of this, and I'll explain why there is secrecy still on what Biden is actually doing in the moment is there is always the group of reporters known as the pool that travels with the president wherever he goes somewhere. They are on this trip. They have been sending updates on where he is, what he's doing and a little bit of a delay. That is for security purposes. That is an agreement that they made with the White House obviously to go on this trip. But it's obviously for the security of the president as not giving away where he is in real-time, like typically reporters do.

And so we do know that he's left Kyiv.

[07:20:00]

We believe, likely, his next stop is going to be here in Warsaw. But it is a ten-hour train ride to get out of Ukraine because you cannot fly. And so that's a huge aspect of this before then he actually gets to that border with Poland and then can safely get back on Air Force One and continue with his trip. So, we're monitoring to see where it is he goes next, what that looks like.

Poppy and Sara, one big aspect of this is that President Putin himself is set to deliver a speech tomorrow, his state of the nation address. This visit has just raised the stakes for what we may hear from President Putin. We'll check in with Fred Pleitgen who is live on what the Kremlin and how Moscow is responding to this, that's next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Freedom is priceless. It's worth fighting for for 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. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: President Biden there pledging the U.S. support for Ukraine, saying it will be there as long as it takes, as he made this historic and surprise visit to Kyiv overnight, leaving Washington under a shroud of secrecy but arriving in Kyiv as he met with the Ukrainian president and first lady, pledging the commitment to Ukraine as they continue their battle against Russia's brutal invasion.

[07:25:20]

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in Moscow. Fred, I know president Putin is suppose to be giving this big address tomorrow that we were already expecting to be kind of hawkish. How much do you think it's going to change? What kind of tweaks are they going to make to that speech now that they've seen President Biden on the ground in Ukraine?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's a good point, Kaitlan. I think it could actually become more hawkish. In fact, there are some analysts out there who are already saying that they expected this to be a fairly hawkish speech to begin with, that he was obviously going to try and rally the Russian nation by his side and sort of portray all of this, what is going on in Ukraine, as a larger war, a larger conflict between Russia and the west, between Russia and NATO, and, of course, specifically between Russia and the United States. Of course, President Biden's visit today in Kyiv is something that has sort of fueled those flames a little more than it already has. So, there are some people who believe that they might tweak Putin's speech but, in general, of course, this is going to be a very strong speech.

And I can tell you, Kaitlan, I've been speaking to people here in Moscow who are involved in Russian politics, also analysts and media people as well, and all of them believe that that speech is going to be key. All of Moscow is looking towards what Vladimir Putin is going to say. Because, of course, here in Russia as well, it is a really pivotal time also for them, for all the same reasons as it is in Ukraine. Things obviously have not been going well for the Russians on the battlefield. They thought that all of this was going to end very quickly.

We've been talking so much about how people, you know, we're not sure at this time last year whether Kyiv would still be standing a couple days later. Well, the Russians certainly thought that they would be doing a lot better than they actually have. So, Vladimir Putin really gearing up the population here for what could be a very long and protracted war and it's certainly something where we do believe that the visit by President Biden today, we're already seeing it, by the way, on Russian media as well, that definitely is also going to play into that as he tries to rally the Russian nation, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes, notable that they're already talking about this on Russian state media. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.

Sara, just a remarkable moment here as we're seeing not just how world leaders are weighing in and supporting President Biden but also the calculus this changes for the Kremlin as well.

SIDNER: Yes. This is a big deal, for lack of a better, smarter sentence. Thank you so much, Kaitlan, there in Warsaw for us.

We're now going to speak to Kira Rudik. She's a member of Ukrainian parliament. And I want to ask you, because I know you've talked a lot to us, and I really thank you for coming on at such a historic time. This is perhaps the first time a U.S. president has gone into a war zone. There are no U.S. troops on the ground. He went there to be very specific, to show his support of Ukraine saying, for as long as it takes. What does that mean to you?

KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Well, the visit is indeed historic. And it brings us the most important thing that we need right now, the fuel that we're running on, and the fuel is hope. It was a bold move. And we have been saying for a long time the tipping point in this war will be not when we will receive another set of weapons but when our alliance will stop playing reactive roles to what Putin will do.

So, right now, President Biden is playing the upper hand. He is actually making step one. And, tomorrow, Putin will have to reply to what happened today. So, this historic visit is not only symbolic, is not supportive, is not only assuring us that we'll receive enough weapons for as long as it takes, it also shows that Putin doesn't have an upper hand in this anymore

SIDNER: I really think it's important and interesting what you say about the alliance not playing a reactive role to Putin, not letting him dictate where this goes and where the war goes.

I know that it is grinding on. I know that it has been horrible. I have been there on the ground several times talking to families who have lost loved ones, and some of them died since I was there. I want to ask you, Kira, how you're doing and what it really is like being in your position right now, watching what is happening to your country, especially in the east? Can you give people a sense of what is happening?

RUDIK: Well, I can tell you my mornings begin same as all Ukrainians' mornings, was air raid sirens and having breakfast in bomb shelter or under the stairs where we usually hide.

[07:30:03]

We still have the curfew and energy outages and we -- every single day is a fight. But what is the alternative for us?