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Kelly Izotic is Interviewed about the Toxic Chemical Spill in Ohio; Steve Anderson is Interviewed about Biden's Trip to Ukraine; Luliia Mendel is Interviewed about Biden's Trip to Ukraine. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 20, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: So, we will try to get on the phone and get some answers for you.

I do want to read Norfolk Southern's statement. The CEO said, we are working closely with Ohio environmental and health agencies on the long-term plan to protect the environment and the community. We are going to do the work thoroughly, completely, and safely.

Do you believe them?

KELLY IZOTIC, LIVES NEAR TRAIN WRECK SITE: No. It's little, too late. I mean the damage is already done. We're going to see the repercussions of this for the next 10, 20, 30 years. You know, our property values are plummeting. Our health -- who knows what's going to happen. The two days of it just smoldering and letting off those gas into the environment before the controlled burn, before they evacuated anybody, I believe the damage is already done. And there's not much they can do about it at this point.

SIDNER: Kelly, I want to say to you, from us here on the show, we're really sorry what you're going through. I know it's got to be extremely stressful for you and the family. And I hope this all gets sorted out in a timely manner because this is -- these are really concerns and, you know, Americans are suffering, trying to deal with all of this.

Kelly Izotic, thank you so much for joining us on CNN THIS MORNING.

IZOTIC: Thank you. Have a good day.

SIDNER: You too.

Ahead, more on President Biden's visit to Ukraine and the new round of aid that was just announced. The significance and how it could shape the war. Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson will join us next on CNN THIS MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:32] COLLINS: All right, welcome back.

President Biden has just departed Kyiv after he made a dangerous surprise visit to the war zone for the first time since Russia invaded. The president walked the streets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as you heard air raids blaring across the city. And we are now learning that President Biden decided only on Friday to make that final call that, yes, he was going to be going to Ukraine. He had been huddling with aides in the Oval Office, talking about the security precautions they would, obviously, have to take.

We've also just learned that the U.S. did notify the Kremlin in the hours before President Biden arrived in Kyiv so there would be no miscalculation. Obviously, that is a notable development coming from the president's team. A key calculus that they had to weigh as they were making this decision.

The president said it was important for him to be in Ukraine on and around the one-year anniversary of Putin's invasion to pledge U.S. support for Ukraine, saying that it will go on as long as it takes, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Kaitlan, thank you.

For more on the state of the war, as it approaches just a few days away from that one-year mark, retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson joins us now. He served in the U.S. Army for more than 30 years.

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I can't hear anything. I'm sorry.

HARLOW: General - General Anderson, we're sorry. Can you hear me now?

ANDERSON: I can't hear anything.

HARLOW: OK, we will get back to him in just a moment. Let's fix that technical difficulty.

Just, Sara, to you, as we try to - OK, let me bring Kaitlan back in.

Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Well, as we wait to fix his audio issues, I'm very interested to see what he has to say about all of this given, you know, this is a trip that does involve a lot of planning. And what the White House is saying is that it had actually months of planning behind this and what this was going to look like.

And there still is risk that the president had when he decided to take this trip. What the White House says, Sara and Poppy, is that they decided it was a manageable risk that they could take here, that they felt that it was something where he could go into Ukraine at a point where they believed it was safe enough. He only went with so few people, though. And that is, as you know, very rare for a presidential visit. SIDNER: He is the commander in chief. And, ultimately, gets to be the

decider of what happens. But there is nothing safe about Ukraine. There is nowhere safe in Ukraine. But he got in and out.

HARLOW: He did.

SIDNER: Yes.

HARLOW: Let's go back to retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

General, can you hear me now?

ANDERSON: I hear you fine. Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Hi. Good morning. We apologize for that. Thank you so much for being here.

Given all of your experience, your reaction to President Biden's commitment this morning to the Ukrainian president to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. What does that need to mean now in terms of tactical weaponry? Does it need to mean long-range missiles? Does it need to mean F-16s for Ukraine to win?

ANDERSON: Yes, it does. It means all of the above. I mean this is a great show of leadership by President Biden. I mean good leaders always go to the sound of the guns, go to the front. And, I mean, this is significant.

But the United States needs to make a decision, are we in it to ensure that the Ukrainians simply not lose, or are we in it so they can actually win? In order to do that, we've got to be able to surge a lot of equipment forward. They need more aircraft. They need more drones. They need more long-range artillery. And something that hasn't really been discussed much, they need logistics. We've given them a lot of great equipment, billions of dollars of equipment that they can't maintain. I've heard anecdotal reports from the theater that perhaps only half of the equipment that we've given them is fully mission capable now. They don't have the maintenance training. They don't have the repair parts. And so we've got to be able to surge that forward, particularly if we want them to actually win.

HARLOW: One of -- to do that, you have really been advocating for the Biden administration to authorize U.S. contractors into Ukraine.

ANDERSON: Yes.

HARLOW: Explain why that is so critical in your view?

ANDERSON: Well, it's absolutely critical, because you've got to have U.S. and NATO expertise on the ground to be able to train them on how to use this equipment. They don't know. They're smart, resourceful, industrious people, but we've got to train them. They've got to have the repair parts.

Now, we've got 800 contractors supporting the State Department running all over Ukraine, which is great. Why can't the Department of Defense do the same thing? It would not represent a significant escalation and it's the kind of capability that they've got to have in order to conduct offensive operations to actually win this war.

HARLOW: Yes. But I think that's your view. I think the risk calculation from the White House would be, what would that signal to Putin in terms of escalation?

ANDERSON: Well, if it's so - if it's not risky enough for the president to go visit Kyiv, I mean, come on.

[08:40:00]

We've got -- we had 120 contractors killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that's a terrible thing. But if we're willing to shed blood there, I mean this is a far more existential threat to our nation. We simply must win this war. The Ukrainians must prevail or the entire world order as we know it is going to change.

HARLOW: That's what we heard from the president this morning certainly there in Ukraine.

Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson, thanks for your expertise.

ANDERSON: Thank you, Poppy.

SIDNER: On another international front, North Korea is escalating tensions in a really big way. What we're learning about its latest missile test, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: I love this segment.

As you get ready to start your day, here are five stories you need to know.

President Biden making a surprise and historic visit to Ukraine this morning, in a striking show of solidarity, just days before the one- year anniversary of Russia's invasion into Ukraine. The president met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and announced a half-billion dollars in new aid.

HARLOW: Also this morning, tributes pouring in for former President Jimmy Carter after it was announced that he will be receiving hospice care at his home in Georgia.

[08:45:03]

This comes four months after he celebrated his 98th birthday. Carter suffered several health issues in recent years.

SIDNER: North Korea launching two ballistic missiles into the waters off its east coast this morning. It's the country's second test launch in three days. And it comes after it vowed a strong response to U.S. and South Korean joint military drills. HARLOW: Comedian and actor Richard Belzer has died at the age of 78.

He died at his home in France. He was best known for his acerbic detective John Munch character on several TV shows like "Law & Order: SUV" and "Homicide: Life on the Street."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a wrap!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is over!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Yes, that is a jaw-dropper. Bam! That's Mac McClung, the NBA slam dunk champion, dazzling the audience and other players in Salt Lake City for the all-star weekend. I wish I could have been there. Hey, Chris, maybe you could take me? Sorry. The 6'2" point guard flew through the air and stunned with his gravity-defying dunks.

HARLOW: I loved seeing that.

SIDNER: Only in my dreams.

HARLOW: And that's like, you know, was he on the g-league before? Like so -

SIDNER: I don't know where he came from with that?

HARLOW: But now he has arrived.

SIDNER: He has arrived.

HARLOW: The "5 Things" you need to know this morning. More on these stories all day at CNN and on cnn.com. Don't forget to download the "5 Things" podcast every morning. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes, a lot going on here this morning, including back here in Warsaw, Poland, where we're waiting on President Biden's arrival. We'll talk more about his surprise trip to Kyiv. It's being felt across not just here in Poland but also Ukraine as well. We have a former Zelenskyy adviser who's going to join us live with her perspective. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:08]

COLLINS: It's a symbolic step at a critical moment. President Biden visiting Ukraine in his first trip since the Russian invasion, just days before the one-year anniversary.

So, for more on this, I want to bring in Ukrainian journalist and the former spokeswoman for President Zelenskyy, Luliia Mendel.

Thank you so much, Luliia, for being here. I mean you have the perfect perspective on this historic trip that President Biden made.

I know it was something that President Zelenskyy had been wanting for some time to happen because he did believe it would be incredibly symbolic, not just for all of Ukraine, but especially for those fighters who are on the front lines.

LULIIA MENDEL, UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST: Well, yes, thank you, Kaitlan.

I've been actually to the front lines in Kherson region. And that was very significant that I saw near there a flag of Ukraine, that Ukrainian military had the flag of the United States. And though there are no American military here on the ground fighting for us, there is definitely the spirit, the belief in the American spirit here. And we definitely know that every American appreciates freedom as much as every Ukrainian.

And definitely I was working with the president for 25 months. And I know that when President Biden already was, you know, coming into power, like President Zelenskyy was mentioning when I was working there and after that he wanted President Biden to visit Ukraine really a lot. Like, that was his personal desire. And president Biden selected such a significant moment. This is the moment before the first year of the war, Russian war against Ukraine. But also it's -- the President's Day, right, in the United States. And here in Ukraine, we have even a jog (ph) that probably there is no better place to celebrate the President's Day than in Ukraine and there is no better company than with President Zelenskyy.

And let me mention that every Ukrainian is almost celebrating this visit for the reason that the last American president who was coming to Ukraine was President Bush in 2008 and that was a completely different country. That was the country before all those critical reforms that we have done to join the European Union. But also it was the country before the war. And now we see that President Biden selected the most, you know, crucial moment actually in the history of Ukraine to come here.

COLLINS: Yes.

MENDEL: And, believe me, this is the most significant way to show the support by the United States.

COLLINS: And, Luliia, there was only a few hours that President Biden had on the ground there. His aides said they wanted to make the most of it. That he wanted to make the most during that time in the room with Zelenskyy. What's your sense of the urgency of Zelenskyy's message that he had for President Biden?

MENDEL: Well, definitely the most important point here is that President Zelenskyy underlines that he wants to see the peace in Ukraine this year. And he mentioned this publicly, too. And there is this, you know, major logistics that needs to be negotiated with the (INAUDIBLE) partner, how to make this peace come so that we do not lose, so that democracy actually wins, but the peace is here, people don't die, Ukraine is back to its territory, you know, recognized by the international partners. And there are a lot of questions that they needed to discuss. So definitely this was on the table.

And definitely the most important thing is that Ukraine is approaching the pivotal moment in this war. Will we be able to make the counteroffensive so successfully that we regain all our territories? Crimea and Donbas, you know, part of Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Kherson. So how will this counteroffensive look like? Are we prepared enough? What we will need more for this. So, these questions are really crucial for the Ukraine's victory and survival.

[08:55:00]

COLLINS: Yes, those are major questions going ahead of what that looks like, if there is a negotiation.

Luliia Mendel, the former press secretary to President Zelenskyy, thank you for joining us this morning.

MENDEL: Thank you for having me.

COLLINS: And we'll be right back in a moment with more coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It is time for the "Morning Moment." Austin Butler won the best actor award for the BAFTAs for his leading role in the Elvis biopic. He thanked Elvis' only child, Lisa Marie, who died last month. After the ceremony, Butler told the press, I feel honored to have been welcomed into the family. It is a bittersweet time.

And this one very close to home for us. Another big win at the BAFTAs.

[09:00:01]

The CNN film "Navalny" won best documentary. It follows the assassination attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic, Alexei Navalny. It is an extraordinary film if you haven't seen it and I'm very proud of our whole team, Amy Entelis and that whole team behind the film.

SIDNER: Absolutely. I've seen it twice and I cannot recommend it more.

HARLOW: Yes.

SIDNER: I hope it wins a lot more.

And that does it for us. CNN's coverage of President Biden's visit to Ukraine continues right now.