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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Eastern Ukraine Under Siege; Europe Targets Russia with New Sanctions; New England Bracing For 2-Feet of Snow; Egypt Blames Riot on Stampeding Fans

Aired February 09, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ending the crisis in Ukraine, President Obama and other world leaders trying to stop the violence. The U.S. considering arming the country's military against the pro-Russian rebels. Will that escalate the bloodshed and what might Russia do to respond? We have team coverage breaking down the very latest this morning.

A new monster storm slamming the northeast again! Records could be broken again. This morning, flights are grounded. Schools canceled. People warned to stay off the road and the morning commute to be treacherous. We will tell you what you need to know for the snowy day ahead.

And a memorable night at the Grammys, surprising performances and big wins. We break it all down for you ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. It's 31 minutes past the hour. Christine Romans is off today. We begin with the west struggling to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets face-to-face with President Obama in Washington this morning.

The German chancellor favors sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a plan to end the fighting in Eastern Ukraine by Wednesday. President Obama is facing mounting pressure to arm Ukraine. Something that Germany strongly opposes.

Our Frederik Pleitgen is live in Kiev this morning. There may be differing opinions on how to get there, but there is unity that something needs to be done -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there certainly is. If you ask the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, he said it is absolutely key to get some sort of cease-fire agreement, of course, there were talks that happened over the weekend.

There was a phone call yesterday between Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko of Ukraine that also involved Merkel and the French president where they decided to get these peace negotiations going for Wednesday in Minsk in the capital of Belarus. And one of the things that Poroshenko said is that he wants this to be an unconditional ceasefire, which seems to indicate that the first order of business for the Ukrainian government, at least, is freezing the conflict, getting the fighting to stop.

Of course, one of the reasons for that, John, is because the Ukrainian forces are on the defensive. They have lost a lot of territory in the past couple of weeks. Therefore, one of the things that is going to be interesting at those talks in Minsk is what sort of ceasefire lines these two sides are going to agree to.

There was an agreement from the past, but since then the pro-Russian separatists have gained a lot of ground. Meanwhile, the fighting continues unabated in the region of Eastern Ukraine.

Early this morning, there was a massive explosion that would appear to be an arms depot from the pro-Russian separatist that was hit by Ukrainian artillery. Both sides keep going at it in that region.

So on the one hand, there is the ceasefire agreement that the Ukrainians are looking for that they want the Russians to sign on to and at the same time, they are still asking, as you mentioned, the U.S. to give them what they call defensive weapons.

Which on the one hand would be sort of anti-tank weapons but also, and this is probably most important to them, anything that has to do with electronic warfare. Things to help them pinpoint, for instance, the place where is artillery is coming from and where mortars are coming from.

They feel overmatched on the battlefield. Ukrainians, of course, are saying that the pro-Russian separatists are getting very modern weapons from Russia itself. It's something the Russians still continue to deny -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Frederik Pleitgen for us in Kiev monitoring the situation there. European leaders are moving forward with the new round of sanctions against Russia targeting nine organizations and nearly 20 Russian or Ukrainian individuals. The highest profile target is the Russia's deputy defense minister.

I want to go live to Moscow right now and bring in senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, for the Russian perspective this morning. Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. These latest round of sanctions being discussed by European foreign ministers right now are probably not going to have much of an impact on Russian policy.

There are already stiff sanctions enforced against the country both from the European Union and from the United States. They don't appear to have had any discernible impact on what the kremlin does in Eastern Ukraine. Although, of course, they continue to deny that they are engaging in military activities on the ground there. Much of the diplomatic emphasis right now isn't on sanctions. It's on the talks that are planned for Wednesday between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine as well as France and Germany. There has been a peace plan, of course, that was forged last September.

The current plan that is under discussion is going to be very similar to that although details of it have not really been made public. Some is understood that it will involve a big buffer zone, a demilitarized zone running along the frontline as it exist right now in an attempt to freeze the conflict and prevent more bloodshed.

So that is the emphasis of the diplomatic efforts. If not, the expectation in Europe is there will be more efforts under way and more sanctions to try and further isolate Russia from the rest of the world.

BERMAN: Sanctions have done little to stop the actions so far in Eastern Ukraine. Matthew Chance for us, thanks so much.

Secretary of State John Kerry insists the west does have a unified front in its effort to stop the conflict in Ukraine. There is disagreement over the issue of whether to arm the Ukrainians in the struggle against Russia and the pro-Russian separatists.

That makes diplomacy difficult. Let's get more now from Erin McPike in Washington.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The ongoing crisis between Ukraine and Russia is certain to top the agenda of the meeting today between President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and we'll hear from the two of them later today in a press conference after that meeting.

That's all happening as the debate is growing between American and European leaders about whether providing lethal aid to Ukraine could be counterproductive that it would escalate the situation with Russia rather than deescalate it.

Now that's a date there will be a key point of preliminary diplomatic talks in Berlin tomorrow and again at a proposed peace summit in Belarus on Wednesday.

Remember the Obama administration is still hoping for a political solution to this crisis, but they are leaving an opening. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Europe for a security conference over the weekend.

And on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, he left room for the U.S. to alter its strategy if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't stand down. Listen here.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The solution is a political diplomatic one, but President Putin has got to make the decision to take an off ramp. We have to make it clear to him that we are absolutely committed to the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine no matter what.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Kerry and Vice President Biden continue to stress in Europe this weekend that Ukraine does the right to defend itself, but they are trying to stop short of creating conditions of an all-out war. Some Republicans are calling on the administration to provide the lethal aid, but some senior officials are beginning to open the door to some new options.

BERMAN: All right, thanks, Erin McPike.

Boston, you and much northeast in the grip of another brutal snowstorm, snow is already falling hard in parts of New England with some areas facing up to 2 more feet of snow by the end of today. Boston is still digging out from the 55 inches that they received over the last couple of weeks.

The mayor says there is no place to put all the snow. Our Sara Ganim is standing in the middle of all that snow right now in Boston. Good morning, Sara.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. You got it right. There is no place to put all of this. Look at all of the snow piles. How large they are. They keep getting bigger with every storm. The mayor of the city of Boston got it right yesterday when he said it was unprecedented.

There has never been another period for this city where the snow has come so heavy and so close together. The storms back-to-back-to-back and the result is that they have not had a chance to get rid of all of the snow before the new snow started falling.

Now take a look down the sidewalk and down this road. You can see how narrow the snow banks have made these walkways and these streets. That a huge problem for safety because we have seen a lot of people walking in the middle of the streets.

That is not a good idea when it is already slick and visibility is lower for drivers because coming around corners and really just driving down the road in general, you cannot see very well because the piles are constantly obstructing view.

The piles are honestly very tall, John, taller than I expected, some of them taller than me, many of them completely covering cars. You cannot tell what is under there if it is trash, if it is a car or just snow. This is a safety concern for a couple of reasons, fire hydrants, for example.

The city is asking people in a Twitter campaign to go dig out the fire hydrants on their block. If you can't tell what is under a snow pile, how are firefighters going to find fire hydrants in an emergency -- John.

BERMAN: What a mess. Sara Ganim is on the streets of Boston. They have had enough. The snow is causing huge problems at the airports. Let's get a look at that. Cristina Alesci is here.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't stop for the airlines. We are seeing a lot of flight cancellations in the northeast this morning. Thanks to the winter weather that Sara was just showing us. So far, 1,500 flights have been canceled today. That number is growing.

At Boston Logan, almost 70 percent of the flights have been canceled. New York's LaGuardia and JFK and Newark also getting backed up right now, that sounds familiar?

These are the same airports have been backlogged for weeks thanks to snow and ice. Good news for travelers most major airlines are already waiving change fees for passengers in the storm's path. That is no consolation to people like my sister who had to make a business meeting and totally missed it because of the cancellations.

BERMAN: There is nothing you can do. They are waiving the change fees. They have done this week after week after week.

ALESCI: They have. You know what? What's interesting is that these airlines are getting in front of the weather. In New York, it really hasn't started yet and they are cancelling flights because they don't want people showing up at the airport and bombarding the desks with re-bookings.

It is cheaper for them to waive the change fees and keep people at home on the phone with the customer service reps than passengers bombarding at people.

BERMAN: Saves people some agony as well. Cristina, thanks so much.

The music industry's biggest night was really big for singer and songwriter, Sam Smith. He took home four Grammys including two of the biggest prices, Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Stay With Me."

Album of the Year went to Beck, which was a big surprise. He won for best rock album. Beyonce won for Best R & B performance for the song "Drunk In Love."

Joan Rivers won a Grammy for best spoken word album. Her daughter was there to accept on her behalf. That is Madonna. She was there. She sang her song "Living For Love."

That's Tony Bennett singing a duet with Lady Gaga. They are on tour together right now. Rihanna and Kanye West, they were backed up by a man named Paul McCartney.

Dozens killed outside a Cairo soccer stadium. Live video captured the chaos. We are live after the break.

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BERMAN: The Egyptian government has suspended all soccer matches after a clash with the police. At least 19 people were killed with the violence. Let's get to latest with Ian Lee in Cairo this morning. Ian, what happened?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we are getting a better picture of what took place. Thousands of fans trying to enter the stadium through a very narrow metal gateway. Some described it as a cage. Fans started pushing trying to force their way in, fans without tickets.

That's according to the Ministry of Interior. They then used tear gas to disburse the crowd. That is when we had a stampede and resulted in the high death count. The morning after, you can see the pictures of the shoes left on the ground from those who died and also those who just were trying to flee to get out of there.

I went to the morgue last night and talking to family members and friends. Some of the friends were in the crowds. Their loved ones dead in the morgue, very angry and blaming the government for not ensuring that there will be safety procedures in place to make sure something like this didn't happen.

There was also blame on the president. He released a statement saying that they will investigate what happened yesterday and hold whoever is responsible accountable -- John.

BERMAN: Ian Lee for us in Cairo. Terrible scene there. Thanks so much, Ian.

Bill Cosby canceled shows after a new accuser comes forward. What the former model says the comedian did to her next.

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BERMAN: Alabama's top judge has ordered all other judges in the state not to perform same sex marriages even though they became legal starting today. Chief Justice Roy Moore is claiming that a federal judge's decision to strike down the stat creating confusion.

He insists any marriage of the same sex in Alabama is invalid. Gay couples are expected to line up for marriage licenses this morning. It is not clear what will happen and if the licenses will be granted.

A potential $1 billion settlement of concussion claims is close to be settled by the federal judge. It will involve 20,000 former players or current players with concussions or neurological problems in their career.

A former fashion model is the latest Bill Cosby accuser as the comedian canceled back-to-back shows in Boston on Sunday. Helen Gumpel claims Cosby made advances toward her in the dressing room years ago. He has not been charged with any crime.

Bruce Jenner says he is cooperating with police in the investigation of a deadly crash over the weekend in Los Angeles. Authorities say the Jenner's SUV rear-ended another vehicle and sent that vehicle into traffic where the driver was struck and killed.

Jenner said he was chased by Paparazzi, but investigators say they play no role in the crash. Jenner released a statement saying it is a devastating tragedy. I cannot pretend to imagine what the family is going through at the time. I am praying for them.

NBC's anchor, Brian Williams has backed out of a scheduled appearance with David Letterman. He is at the center of the controversy of a story in 2003. He said his helicopter came under RPG fire and that is contradicted by soldiers. NBC News is now conducting an internal investigation.

An alarming new report this morning reveals how vulnerable your car could be to hackers. An early start on your money next.

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BERMAN: Time for an EARLY START on your money. Cristina Alesci is here with that. Good morning.

ALESCI: Good morning. I was checking futures all morning. I thought it would get better. Nope. Futures are still lower this morning. That is because there are a few things weighing on the market especially the negotiations over Greece's bailout. That has people concerned.

Put that aside. Put it into perspective. Stocks finally seem to be on track this year. Last week, the Dow climbed almost 4 percent. That made up for big losses in January. We're up for the year right now.

Yet another place we are vulnerable to hackers, our cars. A report from the Senator's office out today and finds there are major security gaps in almost every vehicle that uses wireless technology. That means hackers can take control of the car or collect the driver's personal information.

Get this, majority of automakers are sharing that information with third parties. That includes where the drivers have been and where the car is parked so none of your information is safe. Whether it is hacked or sold or some other way, it is getting out there.

BERMAN: Don't worry about it. Thanks, Cristina Alesci. Appreciate it.

U.S. and other world leaders trying to end the war in Ukraine negotiations happening this morning, "NEW DAY" starts right now.