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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Demining Unit: Many Unexploded Russian Bombs Left Behind; Consumer Price Inflation Hits 40-Year High; Justanswer CEO & Family Delivering Aid Amid Refugee Crisis; FDNY: 5 People Shot on NYC Subway, Suspect Fled; Sources: Possible Smoke Device Detonated During Incident; FDNY: 13 Injured, at least 5 Shot in NYC Subway Shooting. Aired 9-9:35a ET

Aired April 12, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: You are watching CNN. I'm Julia Chatterley in New York. President Vladimir Putin says Russia's military

goals in Ukraine are noble and will be achieved. He says the so called special operation was the right step as Russia "Had no choice". His

comments follow a meeting with the leader of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: The main objective is to help the people in the Donbas region and the People's Republic of Donbas, which we

recognized. We were forced to do it because unfortunately, the Kyiv authorities prompted by the West refused to stand by the Minsk agreements

that were aimed at a peaceful settlement in the Donbas and for the People's Republics.

And what we're doing, we're helping people, we're saving them from Nazism in the first place. And on the other hand, of protecting Russia, taking

measures to protect Russia security, and it is obvious that we had no choice. It was the right thing to do, and I have no doubt that objectives

will be achieved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: While President Putin continues to allege he wants to help people in the east of Ukraine. Overnight, there were reports of heavy

shelling; the Ukrainian military is now hoping bad weather could slow the progress. Meanwhile, in the north, the recovery efforts are being hampered

by what the Russian troops left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Invaders left mines everywhere, and the houses they took over just on the streets in the fields. They mined

people's property, mined cars, doors; they deliberately did everything to ensure that the return to these areas after the occupation was as dangerous

as possible. Due to the actions of the Russian army, our territory today is one of the most contaminated by mines in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: And investigations are underway into a possible Russian led chemical attack on Mariupol. And we have to be very careful about these

reports CNN cannot independently verify them.

But the Head of the military in Donetsk region told CNN people are being treated for non-life threatening illness after something was dropped by a

drone. He also claimed Russian forces are hiding the evidence of their atrocities, moving victims from Mariupol into Russian controlled areas and

burning the bodies using mobile crematoria.

Again, CNN cannot independently verify any of these claims. Now reporting from the north of the country CNN's Frederick Pleitgen reports on both the

devastation and the dangers and the usual warning this report does contain distressing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The tour is a sad routine for the body collectors in the outskirts of Kyiv,

finding corpses has become eerily normal here.

A house destroyed by an artillery strike, a body burned beyond recognition. A mangled car wreck two bodies burned beyond recognition, a house that was

occupied by Russian troops and elderly lady dead in the bedroom.

These bodies evidence of a brutal Russian occupation and then a fierce fight by the underdog Ukrainians to drive them out. A fight 81 year old

Kataryna Bareshvolets witnessed up close in her village.

There were explosions, explosions from all sides. It was scary, she tells me. I am in my house. I cross myself and lie down. And then I hear how it

thundered and all the windows in the house were broken.

The Ukrainians tell us the Russian troops didn't even bother collecting most of their own dead. More than a week after Vladimir Putin's army was

pushed out of here; they showed us the body of what they say was a Russian soldier still lying in the woods.

And that's not all they've left behind. This de mining unit says they found hundreds of tons of unexploded ordnance in just a matter of days, including

cluster munitions like this bomb led even though the Russians deny using them.

These weapons are extremely dangerous for civilians who might accidentally touch them, the commander says. There are about 50 such elements in one

bomb he says this is a high explosive fragmentation bomb to kill people designed just to kill people.

They blow up the cluster bomb let on the spot and then move the heavier bombs to a different location for a massive controlled explosion. The

bodies collecting the mine sweeping and the clearing up of wreckage are just starting in this area. And yet this pile of demolished vehicles both

military and civilian already towers in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin.

[09:05:00]

PLEITGEN (on camera): If you had to picture Russia's attempt to try and take the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, it would probably look a lot like this,

destruction on a massive scale and absolutely nothing to show for it. Russia's military was humiliated by the Ukrainians and caused a lot of harm

in the process.

PLEITGEN (voice over): And they've devastated scores of families at Irpin's cemetery, the newly widowed weep at funerals for the fallen. - Her husband

- fought alongside their 21 year old son in Irpin and died in his arms on the battlefield.

Wife of Dmytro Pascoe killed by a Russian mortar shell and Tetyana Lytkina her husband Olexander Lytkina promised her he'd come back in a few hours,

but was killed defending this neighborhood.

I'm very proud of him, Tetyana says, he's a hero. We have many people in Ukraine who have not fled and are defending their homes. Sasha died just

200 meters from our house where we lived. Laying the dead to rest another sad task they'd become all too efficient at performing in this area. Close

by the next funeral is already underway Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Irpin, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Nic Robertson joins us now from Brussels. Nic, that's the backdrop the atrocity count grows, the investigations ramped up. I believe

we may have lost Nic. Nic, can you hear me? Nope. I don't think we've got him. But we do have Phil Black. Phil, can you hear me? Are you there? Phil,

can you hear me? It's Julia. Yes, I'm not sure we've got Phil there. Phil, can you hear me? No? Oh, we do.

Somebody's talking to me, this is good news. Phil, we were just showing our audience, the latest situation in Ukraine, the evidence of further

atrocities, the concerns about mines that have been left behind. And of course, the concerted efforts now of Russian troops towards the east. What

can you tell us?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, Julia, there's been a lot of talk in the last few hours or so particularly about weapons that

have been left behind or used by Russians here. In the city of Mariupol, for example, there has been this allegation of chemical weapon use or what

more accurately has been described by soldiers on the ground as a poisonous substance of some kind.

So this is within the besieged city of Mariupol, where soldiers have been desperately fighting, cut off surrounded for some weeks now that fight is

really approaching a critical moment. And in that moment, they say it's a some sort of poisonous substance was dispersed, they suspect by Russians.

Now, the consequences of that do not appear to be serious.

They say a handful of people have fallen ill three people required treatment, suffered breathing issues, soreness to the eyes, those sorts of

symptoms. But we can't confirm what that was. Indeed, that's because nobody can.

Ukrainian officials, American and UK officials all say they're very keen to understand what this was because of the system concern through this war

that the Russian forces could escalate this in some way and deploy some form of chemical weapons.

As I say, we do not know if that is the case. In this instance, the soldiers on the ground had reported a substance. But even if it was in this

case, I think the important point to note here is that it the consequences are not serious at this time.

On the issue of landmines, that's something the President Zelenskyy says that this land here has been much of Ukrainian territory has been in his

words contaminated with. And that's something that we've heard, really, from the moment Russian forces started pulling out from around Kyiv in the

north of the country that they were leaving behind landmines.

But also specifically wired explosives in homes, cars, buildings, even wiring explosives to body so that when they were disturbed, they would

detonate, so a risk both to soldiers, and civilians. Zelenskyy has sort of given this a sense of scale; he's talked about tens of thousands of

explosive devices deliberately left behind by Russian forces. Again, we can't confirm that specific assessment.

But what he's saying is that it's a really big problem that he believes is the result of a specific policy from Russia. The orders, he says must have

come from above. And the end result is that he believes that Ukraine is now the most mind country in the world.

Authorities are working to clear these areas to be as thorough as possible because as we know, they can continue to be a threat to people for many

years if they're not discovered and dealt with. But that's going to take some time.

[09:10:00]

BLACK: So the warning here consistently, is that people should not return to these areas. They should not come home, even though the Russian forces

have left, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. And even though they're desperate to come back, that's part of the heartbreak here, people desperate to come back. And actually it

remains too dangerous despite the fact that Russian forces have left. Phil, thank you for your context, very important here today. Phil Black, thank

you.

Now I believe we've got Nic good now as well from Brussels, Nic, great to have you with us Nic Robertson. Nic, ringing in my ears as I listened to

what Phil was saying there and I watched that report from Fred Pleitgen the words from President Putin today that this is a noble cause.

It's clear that we didn't have a choice. It was the right decision. Again, as you and I have discussed that the messaging the portrayal of what we're

receiving here is a successful war or operation because we don't call this a war of course in Russia.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Russia calls it a special military operation. I think you know, when you listen to Putin any

cast this as noble, there's a sense I get at least there's a damage limitation here because Putin cannot hide the fact that so many Russian

soldiers have been killed.

His official spokesman has admitted the high loss and is admitted that it was a terrible loss. And here he is describing this special military

operation as noble. So it's sort of elevating it from beyond a sort of duty that this has a greater cause and a greater purpose.

Of course, he's saying that they will go ahead and they will be successful. And as you're saying that he's ascribing all the reasons for doing it, as

is done before, which is Kyiv was under threat. Russia was under threat.

Ukraine was threatening Russia. NATO and Ukraine was threatening Russia, and therefore Russia was left with no alternative, but to invade and go and

protect, again, that false narrative of go and protect the people in Donbas.

But the thing that I take hardware that is slightly different to previous is sort of elevating it to a cause noble is not language he had to use

before. And that does seem to address the issue for him, at least to try to sort of build morale again, say that we can do it rally the nation.

Despite the losses, we can go ahead and make headway here. But you know, what we heard from the Austrian Chancellor, when he came over to a meeting

with President Putin yesterday very much reflects what we're hearing today that Putin is absolutely determined to carry on.

Won't hear reason from international interlocutors, and is determined just to stick to his own narrative at whatever cost and it's the cost of

civilian lives as we know.

CHATTERLEY: And that message must be heeded. Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that. OK, moving on to Red Hot inflation, the U.S. consumer price

index rose, eight and a half percent for the year ended in March.

For context we haven't seen a level this high since December of 1981. And Matt Egan joins us now, Matt, great to have you with us. And I'm just

looking down the list of all the different segments that make up this inflation report. And year of the year, everything, everything got more

expensive.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Julia, we were bracing for a brutal inflation report. And in many ways, that's what we got consumer prices up

eight and a half percent year over year. We haven't seen anything like that in four decades.

Remember, that Fed targets healthy inflation of 2 percent, we keep moving further and further away from that target. And the impact of the war in

Ukraine was clear with food and energy prices going up month over month, inflation in the United States, at the fastest pace since 2005 in the

aftermath math of Hurricane Katrina.

And we also saw all of these different record price spikes in various categories. Let me just give you a sampling year over year record price

spikes for full service meals and snacks up men's apparel, baby food, bakery products, new cars and trucks, lunch meats.

The good news and this could be perhaps what the market is reacting positively to. The good news would be that core inflation was only up 0.3

percent month over month that is actually an improvement from 0.5 percent in February; we also saw a decline in used car and truck prices.

They fell 3.8 percent month over month. And that's going to give some more confidence to some of the economists who are out there saying that maybe

this is the worst of the inflation crisis that perhaps we're at or near a peak here, especially because year over year, it's going to be hard to keep

up these price gains.

But we've also heard other people months ago, they've been saying that maybe we're near a peak for inflation. And that was proven wrong by COVID;

it was proven wrong by the war in Ukraine. So we obviously need to take those peak inflation calls with a grain of salt here Julia.

[09:15:00]

CHATTERLEY: Yes, transitory has been banned from the dictionary, I believe. Matt Egan, thank you so much for that.

EGAN: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: OK straight ahead, making a difference how one American family spending their spring break, delivering medical supplies to Ukrainian

refugees. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back! Suitcases full of medical supplies instead of swimsuits for spring break. After living in Ukraine in 2019, Justanswer

CEO, Andy Kurtzig and his family have gone to Budapest, this time to deliver medical supplies and help refugees at the border.

Kurtzig is also raising money to support the 260 members of his team in Ukraine. And he's encouraging other business leaders to go beyond donations

to help. Andy Kurtzig, his daughter Jamie and son Kai, all join us now. Family great to have you on the show!

Andy, you know, I remember vividly discussing with you the last time we spoke the helplessness you felt about being so far away from your team

members, your workers in Ukraine and, and wanting to do more to help. You're a lot closer today and you bought your family.

ANDY KURTZIG, CEO, JUSTANSWER: That's right; we're here bringing money, medical supplies and all kinds of other supplies to help our team and the

people of Ukraine.

CHATTERLEY: Why was it so important to bring your children?

A. KURTZIG: So we thought about what we wanted to do for spring break this year. And we just couldn't bear the idea of going to Hawaii or somewhere

tropical for spring break while our team and our friends in Ukraine are suffering so much. So we decided to bring supplies during spring break.

CHATTERLEY: I understand Jamie, great to have you on the show. Tell me how you felt when your dad said that when he said hey, how about we actually go

and try and make a difference ourselves?

JAMIE KURTZIG, VOLUNTEERING WITH HER FATHER ANDY: I was really excited about that because I felt like this is such a huge issue right now. And

there are lots of ways to help virtually, but I really wanted to have liked a tangible impact on people in Ukraine. And I thought this was a really

good way to help people over here more directly.

CHATTERLEY: And you've had a tangible impact. I believe you suffer from diabetes yourself and you actually directly helped somebody who also

suffers from it. Talk me through that.

[09:20:00]

J. KURTZIG: Yes, yesterday actually, we met with this man called - and he, before we helped him, he gave himself four shots of insulin a day and

checked his blood sugar once every week. And now we're upgrading him to a system where he checks his blood sugar 2016 times a week. So it's clearly

much better.

And it's on the system called loop, which is where it adjusts your insulin rates every five minutes. So it's a much better system. And personally, it

helped me a lot. I'm on the system. And it has dramatically improved my quality of life, and my health outcomes.

CHATTERLEY: Andy, I think that smile says it all amazing to be able to help but also amazing to have someone like Jamie there helping to.

A. KURTZIG: Absolutely. She started with just basic shots like - and she's, over the years that she's had diabetes migrated all the way to the

artificial pancreas loop system that she just talked about. And she took - yesterday from really the very, very most basic level of care. And he was

running out of insulin, to now lots of medical supplies, including the insulin and for artificial pancreas.

J. KURTZIG: Like the most advanced system available right now.

CHATTERLEY: And you seem to be able to cope with that now, whether he's a refugee or he manages to go back to Ukraine at some point, and carry on his

life there.

A. KURTZIG: Yes, so we've gotten up - we gave them not only many supplies, six months' worth of supplies, insulin and pumps, and sensors, and all the

things that he needs. But also, we set them up in a WhatsApp group with our doctor that we collaborate with at. It's Stanford Doctor - who has been

amazing, helping get him set up as well.

CHATTERELEY: Kai, I want you to talk to me now as well before you fall asleep, because I know it's tough with the time difference as well. You've

been writing letters, you and some of your friends, and some of the local schools, I believe, have been writing letters of support to Ukrainian

refugees. Kai, tell me what you've been doing.

KAI KURTZIG, VOLUNTEERING WITH HIS FATHER ANDY: So me and a lot of other people have been writing letters in, like sending them to our family to

like, helps support Ukraine. And I've coupled others right here that I could read. And we've gotten like.

A. KURTZIG: Hundreds of letters--

K. KURTZIG: Yes, hundreds of letters sent from all different types of schools and people.

A. KURTZIG: Other kids in your school, but you want to read one of them?

K. KURTZIG: Yes. And this is so yes, this is a good one. So on the front, it's like, you've got this Ukraine. And then on the inside it says,

Ukraine, we love you. And like this is just like, one of the hundreds of letters we got. Yes, it's really supportive.

CHATTERLEY: Amazing. I heard that some of you were actually learning a bit of Ukrainian as well to actually be able to, to write in their language so

that they could understand if they weren't so good with English.

K. KURTZIG: Yes.

A. KURTZIG: Even this one, it says instead of Ukraine, it says Ukraine in Ukrainian, and then some of the letters are completely written in

Ukrainian.

K. KURTZIG: Yes. And it's really possible.

J. KURTZIG: Yes, we provided resources so that they could write in a language that more Ukrainians would be able to understand.

CHATTERLEY: And if you handed out any of those letters so far, what's the reaction been?

A. KURTZIG: We haven't handed them out yet. We're getting ready to go to the border tomorrow.

CHATTERLEY: Are you guys nervous? Are you nervous about going to the border and seeing these people? Or how do you feel?

J. KURTZIG: I'm not really nervous. And the sliding is on the other side. And so we're going to be pretty safe where we are. Yes.

CHATTERLEY: I still think you're very brave, Jamie?

J. KURTZIG: I'm a bit nervous to see so many people displaced from their home, so many people struggling to, like I have basic, like care that I'm

able to have access to. So I'm nervous about that aspect. But I'm really grateful for the opportunity that we're able to help people over there.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. Andy?

A. KURTZIG: And we're hoping I'm hoping to be able to come across the border in the Ukraine, and bring all these supplies to all the people in

need. We have huge, huge, huge bags that we brought with us filled with medical supplies and safety supplies and diabetes and insulin supplies as

well. And so really, hope, we can get across the border to deliver that to our team in Ukraine, and then they're going to deliver it to the people of

Ukraine.

CHATTERLEY: I know and Andy, I mentioned your workers, and we've talked in the past about your Ukrainian workers too. And you have actually hired more

since the conflict began. And I know that's an important message that you want to share too which is please hire these people allow them to continue

to work.

[09:25:00]

CHATTERLEY: This country we hope is going to come and rebuild. And these people are still going to be able to have livelihoods and work again.

That's sort of the message of today too, there are still plenty of great workers there that can work and need to and want to.

A. KURTZIG: Absolutely, the world has gotten the message to boycott Russia. But got to think about the other side of that, which is buying Ukraine and

Ukraine's economy has been cut roughly in half since the war started.

And many businesses like trucking businesses and warehouses and chocolate companies can't operate right now in Ukraine, but IT can at least

reasonably operate even during these tough times and so we've been trying to do our part to support Ukraine, and part of that is hiring people in

Ukraine to help them help the economy.

And not only are we then paying those people - they're pre paying their taxes to support the government, and they're pre paying their bills to

support their economy just to try to keep the Ukrainian economy going.

CHATTERLEY: Jamie, what are your friends doing for spring break? And what do they make of the fact that that you're there, and trying to help in

person?

J. KURTZIG: I remember telling some of my friends at school the other day, and they were absolutely shocked. They were like, oh my gosh, are you going

to be safe, that's so dangerous, because they've been learning about it in our classrooms?

And for someone to actually go there sounds kind of crazy to them, since it seems like some very distant place. So it's exciting for me to be able to

go there. And also some of my friends in who that I made while we were living in Ukraine are really excited that we're coming back. We'll be able

to reunite with them, and give them some supplies to help them.

And I'm excited to just see my friends again, since I've been really scared for them after such a long time, you know, from them crossing borders. I

think some of them kids just like me walked like for days trying to get across some Ukrainian borders.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, they did. I think Jamie and Kai this is a story that you're telling your children and they'll tell their children, a spring

break like no other. Thank you for being there. Andy, great to chat to you again and fingers crossed, you make it across the border and you can take

that stuff over to help. Thank you for your time.

A. KURTZIG: Thank you, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you.

J. KURTZIG: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: Andy, Jamie and Kai Kurtzig there thank you. All right, we've got breaking news for you now. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has

been fined over the party gate scandal. We'll have a live report from London after this, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

CHATTERLEY: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak fined by police for breaching COVID-19 lockdown laws. Max Foster

joins us from London Max, the mine, the fine here is relatively minor the implications far greater? What do we know?

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's probably less than $100. That's typically what these fines are. We haven't been told exactly because

Downing Street have only told us that he's due to be issued a fine a fixed penalty, it is breaking the law.

He is the first sitting British Prime Minister to break the law in living memory, perhaps possibly ever. So it's a huge deal, not just that he's

accused of breaking while he's been found guilty of breaking his own law. He's the one that led all of these lockdown rules.

UK has very strict laws. He's very clear that if anyone broke them, they would face consequences. He hasn't been open and honest about that. This

follows a police investigation. We know that 50 penalties have been issued two people who broke lockdown rules in Downing Street in or around Downing

Street.

They haven't all been named but Downing Street always said that if Boris Johnson was issued with a penalty they would declare it. We also know that

his number two Rishi Sunak Chancellor of the Exchequer has received a fine also his wife Carrie Johnson has been issued with a fine.

So this is pretty seismic already opposition leaders and Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland also Keir Starmer, the Opposition Labor Party leader both calling

for him to resign because these were laws Julia that he created.

But as you say, the actual find itself isn't that significant and lots of penalties. Fixed penalties are known or issued every day from things like

parking. But you know this is the man that actually issued these laws in the first place, which is why it is so significant.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, so contentious at the time and of course, already, there's going to be cries for the need for resignation. It's gone quiet, hasn't it

for a while now? We've been distracted by the war in Ukraine, but certainly this most definitely in light of these fixed penalties coming back to the

forefront.

And Max Foster, thank you so much for that. Now we have reports of a shooting in New York City. I'm going to hand you over to my colleagues, Jim

and Brianna for more coverage of this stay with CNN.

(SIMULCAST WITH CNNUS)

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