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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Russians Escalate Attacks on Major Ukrainian Cities; New E.U. Sanctions Target Belarus for Aiding Russia. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 03, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:02]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Thursday, March 3rd. I'm John Berman, with Brianna Keilar.

And we do begin with breaking news. Kherson has fallen, the first major city to be seized by Russian forces. I'll show you where this is. This is a strategically vital city not far from the Black Sea coast, 300,000 people live there.

The mayor confirmed that Russian soldiers have entered the city hall to begin installing a new administration. He urged his people to follow the Russians' orders.

And new images just coming in showing how Russians are intensifying the air war. A shell hit an oil depot in Chernihiv, about 50 miles north of Kyiv. So far, no word on victims or injuries.

Also, new satellite images from Maxar Technologies shows homes on fires, buildings leveled, huge craters there. Further south, explosions continue to rock the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. This was a blast overnight.

In Kharkiv, in the northeast, at least three schools have been hit by Russian military strikes no. Injuries report there had but authorities say 34 civilians have been killed in the city in the last 24 hours alone?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: As Russian forces pound Ukraine cities, Ukrainians have not given up the fight. Watch protesters in Melitopol face down Russian military vehicles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UKRAINIAN CIVILIANS (translated): Occupiers! Occupiers! Go home! Go home! We are unarmed! Nazis! (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You can see dozens of unarmed Ukrainian civilians standing, trying to push back Russian troops, anything to block their path. They were eventually forced aside, and the convoy did continue on its way. But 1 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the start of this invasion and the U.N. has recorded more than 750 civilian casualties just in the last search days here.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken insisting the U.S. is still open to diplomacy but warning that there is no path forward unless Russia pulls back its forces.

Our coverage begins this morning with CNN's Scott McLean. He's in Lviv, Ukraine, this morning, in the Western part of the country.

What's the latest there, Scott?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna, look, just in this morning, Russia is now claiming that their troops have made advances on the city of Mariupol. They have surrounded it. The mayor said the city has been taking heavy shelling.

Elsewhere as John mentioned the city of Kherson appears to no longer be in the hands of Ukraine. The mayor says Ukrainian troops have left and that people should follow the direction of the armed people who came to the city's administration. The mayor told the "New York Times" in an interview that -- that these Russian military officers came to the city hall and essentially said that they would be setting up an administration similar to the one we've seen in Donetsk and Luhansk.

He's urging people to stay indoors. He says the agreement so far allows the Ukrainian flag to stay in place, but in order for it to say that way, people need to follow directions.

But as we've seen in so many places Ukrainians, have been in defiant. A new video People in Kherson outside that administration building in front of Russian tanks and Russian soldiers waving the Ukrainian flag. It is a similar situation in the small town in northeastern Ukraine, Konotop, where people have stood in front of tanks, confronted soldiers as well.

Again, a similar situation. The mayor says that his representatives have met with the Russian military and sort of made a tentative agreement. The agreement says that no one will fire. The Ukrainian flag will stay in place but, of course, the Russian artillery that he says is pointed at the city, that will also remain in place.

As for the president, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He says that the morale of Russian troops is beginning to wane, and he says that more and more weapons are coming into the city every day -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Will it be enough? That's going to be the question.

Scott McLean, thank you so much, live for us in Lviv. BERMAN: All right. Scott was just talking about how this city Kherson

has fallen to the Russians and now a city very much under siege over here, Mariupol. This is on the Sea of Azov. You can see the Russian troops encroaching on it getting ever closer from two sides.

Joining us now to talk about the situation in Mariupol, again, up here is the deputy mayor Sergei Orlov.

Deputy mayor, thank you very much for being with us.

Why don't you give us a sense of the situation in your city this morning?

[05:05:06]

DEPUTY MAYOR SERGEI ORLOV, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE: Thank you.

The situation in city is quite critical because you are clearly right that the city is surrounded by Russian troops, Russian army. City is internally Ukrainian. It's controlled by Ukrainian army and national guard, but the situation in the city goes to humanitarian issues because the Russian army so their style of war is to make humanitarian crisis.

For example, we do not have electricity in whole city. We do not have water supply. We do not have sanitary system and we do not heating. Only natural gas supply that's left, and it continues for one day and a half.

And so we have maintained shelling for 26 hours. 26 hours they are destroying our city, so from all the weapons, from artillery, from airplane, from tactical rockets, from multiple launch rocket situation, so the situation is very bad, and it -- it's for me internally also because my parents and my brother lived on the river, it's a (INAUDIBLE) district and I don't have connection with them for one day and a half. No cell phone is working and I cannot go there.

So, but our Ukrainian army and national guard is very brave. They stand to fight Ukrainian Mariupol but the situation is quite critical.

BERMAN: Deputy Mayor, how many civilians have been killed?

ORLOV: Totally, we -- the true information that -- that we do not know how many because we cannot collect all the bodies and we cannot count. We know that it goes to 200 victims of this war with citizens because shelling goes to houses, to kindergartens, to hospitals, to schools, so to all civil buildings.

BERMAN: Twenty-six hours of continuous shelling us a say, and the city surrounded more or less by Russians.

You say no sanitation, no electricity. No water. How much longer, Deputy Mayor --

ORLOV: And no light, no light, exactly. No light in the city.

BERMAN: How much longer can you hold out?

ORLOV: Difficult question. It's better to go to our army, but I think we're asking for help, for military help, and we're waiting for military help. I'm sure several days we can fight, but if we receive military help so we can win in this war.

BERMAN: You're asking for more help from the Ukrainian military. Not just the territorial defense?

ORLOV: Yes. From Ukrainian military because internal forces are very brave, but we are surrounded by Russian army which has more people in the army.

BERMAN: Are you aware that the city of Kherson has fallen to the Russians at this point?

ORLOV: We hope that is not for constant. We hope that Ukrainian army goes there once again.

BERMAN: One of the conditions, according to the Mayor Kherson is that he told the people not to confront Russian troops. Do you think that would ever happen in Mariupol if the Russians did enter the city center?

ORLOV: We don't know, exactly. We know that it face to face, they do not kill civil people but they are destroying these people by rockets and by bombs and who knows what will be.

BERMAN: And you say you can't reach your parents, your brothers and sisters. How about your immediate family? How are you doing, Deputy Mayor?

ORLOV: Here in Mariupol, we continue to fight for Ukrainian Mariupol.

BERMAN: And the people in city, how are they? How are they dealing with the situation?

ORLOV: They are scared, of course, because continuous non- interrupting bombing and without any conditions, you should understand that it's -- it's very sad.

BERMAN: And just last questions I'll let you go and get to safety, but what's your message to the world?

ORLOV: We -- at the moment we are fighting for Ukraine and Ukraine is free, independent country and we should -- we want to tell that all the world should know that Ukrainians fight for freedom.

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Ukrainians fight for independence, its independence and Ukrainians fight for -- for Europe and for our life, and for our Europe future (ph). We hope and prayer that we win in this war.

BERMAN: And what's your message for the Russians who have been shelling you for 26 hours? ORLOV: I don't wish that they leave under continuous shelling, but I

only wish that they know the truth and the mothers of their soldiers know what their sons do.

BERMAN: Deputy Mayor of Mariupol, Sergei Orlov, thank you for being with us. And our thoughts are you and your citizens.

ORLOV: Ad thank you for continuous help and support from USA because sanctions and weapons supply was critical and is critically important for fight for independent Ukraine.

BERMAN: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

ORLOV: Thank you.

KEILAR: There's a new video this morning showing the damage from a powerful explosion near Kyiv central train situation. Ukrainian officials say thousands of women and children were being evacuated from the station at the time of the strike.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is live on the outskirts of Kyiv with more.

Alex, what can you tell us about this?

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, these strikes in an around Kyiv are getting closer and closer to the central part of the city. This one that you're referencing was on Wednesday evening so last night. It hit right near the Kyiv central railway station. That, of course, is where so many residents of Kyiv have been trying to evacuate from, head west and head to safety.

We do know that part of a platform was damaged as well as a major gas heating pipeline. It is unclear what the target was. The interior ministry is saying that this was a Russian and cruise missiles that was hit by Ukrainian air defense and that's what caused the damage. So right now, it's not clear what the target was.

But when it hits a gas pipeline, it raises fears of the Russians trying to turn off the heat, turn off the power, impose kind of a blackout on -- on Kyiv. We saw just yesterday, we were out there by the Kyiv TV tower. We know that the Russians are stepping up their efforts against communications. That strike that killed five people also happening near the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial.

Now, overnight, we also saw a major blast in the southwestern part of the city. It was in the middle of the night, and so the -- the blast just -- we could see the huge reflection in the night sky, just extraordinary images.

And then, John and Brianna, we're also getting satellite images from the destruction north of Kyiv right near the Belarusian person near the town of Chernihiv. This is -- these are images that come from the first five days of the Russian invasion. The last few days have been quite cloudy. So, it's been difficult to get more satellite imagery. But what they show is clear destruction caused by the advancing

Russian forces. You can clearly homes that are on fire, large craters from the rocket and shelling and artillery landing all around the town, the huge impact craters and to the west of Kyiv, we also see the Ukrainian resistance in full effect in an area called Bucha where the Ukrainians have targeted Russian columns of vehicles and destroyed them with anti-tank weapons and others.

So that is, you know, evidence of this fierce Ukrainian resistance which is also playing into this massive convoy that we've talked about for the last few days. It has been for the record that it is coming towards the city to try to encircle it, but it does appear that that effort is stalling this.

This convoy, some 40 miles long to the north of Kyiv, very visible in satellite imagery. It contains armored vehicles, trucks, troops, artillery, but according to U.S. and British officials it does appear to have stalled. It looks like it's having some trouble, mechanical issues, according to the Pentagon, they are having issues with fuel and food. So that convoy for now, it looks like it's stuck about 20 miles or 30 kilometers outside of the city.

But we are also hearing from President Zelenskyy who says -- who is striking a positive tone. Scott was noting that he believes that the morale of the Russian troops is flagging, and he said that we are a nation that has broken the enemy's plans in just a week. Today is a week since this Russian invasion started.

[05:15:02]

But, of course, John and Brianna, this is far, far from over. There's a lot more that the Russians plan on throwing at Kyiv but at cities and towns all across the country.

KEILAR: Yeah, it certainly does appear that way. Alex Marquardt live for us from Kyiv, thank you.

We're getting new images of destruction from the he have shelling and rocket fire in northern Ukraine. We heard Alex just talking about that. Russian forces are locked in a battle to take this Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. CNN's special coverage is going to continue straight ahead.

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KEILAR: Our breaking news. Russians are intensifying their attacks on major cities across Ukraine.

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So let's take a look at this now with CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Some interesting changes overnight in the Russian advance.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's right, Brianna.

This morning, we're seeing here in our time is some major changes here. For example, I'm looking at this particular thrust of the Russian military because we haven't really been focused on this, but if you notice, it is coming directly for Kyiv this way. We already have the area where the famous 40-mile long convoy has been report on.

Those two areas indicate that they are clearly planning to encircle the city on these two sides and then possibly join up these forces right here. So that would sever as a way to encircle the city and then make it a very difficult situation for the Ukrainian defenders of the capital.

KEILAR: Kyiv obviously the target here, but other cities are as well. What are you seeing as the Russian targets right now?

LEIGHTON: So right now, you know, obviously we just talked about Kherson which is one of the major area, you know, that has apparently fallen to the Russians, and we just had the deputy mayor on from Mariupol right here.

The fact that that siege took 26 hours, has taken 26 hours over this period of time shows had a little bit about the playbook that the Russians are using. This is the kind of thing that they are going to do to every single city in Ukraine that they want to capture in this way.

The idea of laying siege to these areas is something that is part of Russian military tradition. You know, you look at Stalingrad and battles from World War II, like that. That's the kind of thing they can potentially do.

The other thing they might be doing is looking at this part, the southern area, Odessa. These areas right here. They are all part of a plan basically to take the southern part of the country, so we're looking at the northern part, the eastern part and the southern part of the country being enveloped basically by the Russian forces.

KEILAR: If the Russia military is able to lay siege to Kyiv, how does that change all of this weaponry that allies are trying to get into this area?

LEIGHTON: This becomes a very interesting situation because let just go into Kyiv, for example, right other. The Russians are already this far down. This is Kyiv right here.

KEILAR: And you see them encroaching here.

LEIGHTON: You see them encroaching right over there, exactly. So they have got presence in all of these areas. It doesn't mean that they are permanently occupying these area, but fact that they have presence there indicates they are moving troops through there and what that can then do is basically limit the supplies of weapons that are moving into the Ukrainian forces.

So if they start the military term for this is called interdicting which means cutting off. If they start to cut things off then you'll see some major difficulty. So I'll move to the border cities real quick because what we're dealing with here is weapons flows that could come this way or this way into Ukraine.

Once something happens with Kyiv, this is cut off, and a large portion of the Ukrainian army would be without weapons resupply effort and that could not only affect the standing army of Ukraine but the territorial defense forces.

KEILAR: It would take some ingenuity and creativity right then to bring -- are they totally cut off? Are there ways around this?

LEIGHTON: There are always ways around it and many are covert and the way they would do this, like everything in the old World War II movies, the airdrops that were done. That kind of thing can happen and still does happen.

Border crossings are somewhat limited because of the kinds of things that they would be doing. Probably in the western part of the country because the Russians, of course, they see this, and they would be able to move their forces potentially in that direction if they needed to do that.

KEILAR: This is sort of -- it's a formula that's up raffling before our eyes and it's super helpful to have you walk us through this, Colonel. Thank you so much for that.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: An intelligence report revealing that China's special request they made of Vladimir Putin before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. We'll have the details ahead.

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[05:28:46]

BERMAN: Breaking news this morning: The Russians are surrounding several major cities and stepping up attacks against civilian targets in those cities. One of the cities we just spoke to the deputy mayor of Mariupol here. This city has been under 26 hours of consistent shelling. No electricity, no water, no heating.

At this point, the deputy mayor just told us he thinks they can hold out for several more days but they need help fast.

The European Union has approved new sanctions against Belarus for its involvement in the Russian invasion. This as Secretary of State Antony Blinken departs to meet with E.U. and NATO officials later this morning.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is live at E.U. headquarters in Brussels with details on this.

Natasha, what do you expect to happen today? NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, John. So, the E.U.

effectively banning about 70 percent of imports from Belarus in response to Belarus' involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

And Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced yesterday during a press conference that the U.S. is joining in some of those restrictions on Belarus and some of those sanctions. also joining in on export control restrictions to Belarus again in response to Belarus' allowing Russia to that country as basically a staging ground for the invasion.