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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Biden: "Putin's War of Conquest is Failing"; Lithuanian President Urges West to "Cross Red Lines"; U.S. President Biden Makes Surprise Trip to Kyiv; Gibbard: 3D Printing makes Prosthetics more Accessible; Bionic Arm Firm Transforms Lives of Below-Elbow Amputees. Aired 9:15-10a ET

Aired February 20, 2023 - 09:15   ET

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

CNN U.S. SIMULCAST

[09:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: I'm Julia Chatterley in New York and you've been watching CNN's continuing coverage of U.S. President

Biden's surprise visits to Kyiv, Ukraine. His visit comes just ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion. President Biden said he made the

trip to the capital city to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the U.S. is "Here to stay and that Vladimir Putin's war of conquest is

failing".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: One year later, Kyiv stands and Ukraine stands, Democracy stands. The American stand with you,

freedom is priceless. It's worth fighting 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.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: During the visit, President Biden also announced a further $500 million worth of assistance to Ukraine. The package includes more military

equipment, including artillery ammunition. And our next guest has said red lines must be crossed when it comes to sending military support to Ukraine.

The Lithuanian President has been a strong advocate for more military support throughout the war, and has urged the West to now consider sending

fighter jets. And I'm pleased to say Gitanas Nauseda is the President of Lithuania and he joins us now. President Nauseda fantastic to have you on

the show!

Thank you for your time, sir and congratulations on recently celebrating Lithuania's own Independence Day. I want to begin with U.S. President

Biden's visit to Kyiv in Ukraine.

[09:20:00]

CHATTERLEY: What message does that send and how important is this moment in your mind?

GITANAS NAUSEDA, LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT: This is where a strong message of our unity and message also to the aggressor. Russia that Ukraine will be

not left alone, and that we will support Ukraine until the victory. Of course, the importance of our biggest ally of nature, United States is just

created really high.

And this is the reason and probably at that time, as moral support is not less important than those decisions regarding the additional delivery of

weaponry, and some military items. I think Ukrainians highly need our moral support too.

CHATTERLEY: Moral and physical support to your point, Mr. President. The U.S. President will also be heading to Poland and I believe you and other

leaders have what's known as that the Bucharest nine is set to meet him too. Can I ask what message you will take to the U.S. President and what

response you want to hear from him?

NAUSEDA: There are two very important areas of our cooperation. The first one is I already presented our decisive and continuous support for Ukraine,

and other areas, of course, to take care about our own security, and especially the security of Eastern Flank of NATO.

And you as you understand the theme; the other Baltic countries are exposed to the direct flanks from Belarus, from Russia. So this is the reason we

expect some positive signals regarding our security. And this is especially important looking forward to the NATO summit, which will take place in July

11 and 12 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, I'll come back to that NATO meeting, because you said your country, obviously hosting that later this year. But I want to touch on

comments that you made this weekend at the Munich Security Conference. And it was about the idea that every red line that nations have must be crossed

in order to provide weaponry support to Ukraine.

You also suggested that in that vein, aircraft, planes should be given to Ukraine as well. What response have you had from other EU leaders in

particular about providing planes? We know it's been a struggle even to get tanks? What are they saying about planes?

NAUSEDA: You see that this is already happening and I remember, many red lines we have been drawing in the past regarding different kinds of

equipment, military equipment, and we crossed almost all of them. I remember we started from the delivery of helmets and bulletproof jackets,

then the country like Germany switch to the deliveries of military items, weapons.

Lithuania started, even before the war to deliver stingers; it happened two weeks ahead of the war broke out. And this is very important that the cross

these red lines, which are in our minds, and do not really exist. And maybe sometimes Russia tries to set up those red lines instead of us.

But we should not waste the time because we are wasting the time trying to cross these red lines and every day of the war in Ukraine brings more and

more casualties, killed people, destroyed civil infrastructure, and destroyed the Ukrainian economy. And of course, after the war, it will cost

a lot of financial resources to restore Ukrainian economy. So my message is not waste the time, be decisive, be united and take decisions as quick as

possible.

CHATTERLEY: We're approaching the one-year anniversary of the beginning of this war. President Nauseda, are you still confident that providing more

lethal weaponry is the best path to peace?

NAUSEDA: I think there is only one possibility or solution for peace negotiations through the defeat of Russia.

[09:25:00]

NAUSEDA: Otherwise it's really too optimistic to expect that there will be serious discussions or serious negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,

about the peace. Yes, as you know, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented the 10 points plan, peace, formal or peace plan.

But as you'll see that reaction from Russia was just not any will, any political will and any will to discuss those points because both sides

Ukraine and Russia are too far away from each other, about understanding of the conditions of the peace. And their sooner Ukraine will achieve the

progress in the battlefields, they'll take this momentum, there we go.

It will be possible to return to the negotiation stable, but now just in the green field to start to talk about the peace. It's in my view, just too

optimistic. It's not possible now; maybe it will be possible tomorrow, but only through that success in the battlefields. This is a reality.

CHATTERLEY: And we'll keep talking about both of it, I think as well and continue to talk about the possibility at least for peace, even if to your

point, as you say, it's simply not possible at this stage. I also want to ask you about China, and some of the comments that the Foreign Minister

made at the Munich Security Conference yesterday.

And it was tied to concerns from the United States that China is close to providing lethal weaponry to Russia. Are you also concerned about that? Can

I ask what it would mean? And do you believe China when they say they're pushing for peace?

NAUSEDA: You know it's very difficult to understand how it would lead to the peace if the evidence is there that China is providing Russia, the

aggressor country, their weaponry, and if ammunition if this is the case, it means that it will lead to even a longer and bloodier war in Ukraine. So

this is very clear message that Chinese authorities, Chinese government should just not interfere into this war, because the aggressor country is

Russia, and the victim of aggression is Ukraine that is --.

CHATTERLEY: And the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, early today made some comments that suggested and it's similar to what Russia has said in

the past that actually, that NATO members, particularly the United States, are perhaps the aggressor here, which is the balance.

I think that everybody's trying to find, as you mentioned, you're hosting the next NATO summit in July of this year in Vilnius. What concrete

outcomes are you hoping for? And by that point, will Finland and Sweden be NATO members?

NAUSEDA: We have to take very important decisions in wellness summit. First of all, we expect that the defense plans especially the regional defense

plans will be approved until they will no summit. Then I hope and I expect the implementation of some bold and important decisions we took in moderate

during the moderate and NATO summit is especially concerning air defense.

And now the airspace of Baltic countries and some other Eastern flank countries is protected just by air policy --. In during the peacetime

probably it's a suitable formula to protect the year by year policy, but during the crisis or especially in this complex situation, we need more.

We need the air defense systems in place and he presented some ideas and some thoughts about possible rotational modal of air defense elements in

the Baltic countries and they expect that they will find the solutions even ahead of illness summit.

Then investment, defense investment pledge, very important element of our common security and current as you will know the 2 percent of GDP level is

treated as ceiling. We expect that in wellness summit, we will look at this percentage with the fresh eyes and we will see these 2 percent GDP level.

[09:30:00]

NAUSEDA: They'll be treated as a baseline as a floor rather than ceiling. And perspectives of Ukraine are important too, because those are the

expectations of our friends in Ukraine that there will be some decisions, not just repeating of old definitions about open doors of NATO, but

something more especially fitting the expectations of Ukraine that they will be brought closer to NATO.

Not full-fledged membership, this is not realistic, but some signals or some movements the door at this direction, and Finland, Sweden, as a new

members of NATO would be a high level come in. We'll know summit too, but we will see what will happen with the ratification process of the

membership of those countries and I'm optimistic about that.

CHATTERLEY: Sir your message has been consistent, I think for the last year and you will continue to push. Thank you once again for your time and we

look forward to speaking to you soon. The Lithuanian President there Gitanas Nauseda sir thank you!

NAUSEDA: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: We're back after this, stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", and a reminder of our top story this hour. U.S. President Joe Biden surprise visit to Kyiv, a show of

solidarity in the week that marks one year since the Russian invasion.

You can see him here meeting with President Zelenskyy and the First Lady too. The Ukrainian Leader says U.S. support will be "remembered eternally".

President Biden has now left heading to Warsaw for talks with the Polish President and more.

[09:35:00]

CHATTERLEY: Let's bring in Kaitlan Collins now she joins us from Warsaw, Poland. Kaitlan, great to have you with us! President Zelenskyy called the

visit by the U.S. President brave. He also said there would be repercussions perhaps on the battlefield from Russia as a result, a

calculated decision, I think, in many respects from the U.S. President here.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a very calculated visit and one that we are now told by sources was actually months in the making

planning this with only a handful of AIDS really, throughout the administration, knowing and that's a break from typically how they plan

Presidential traveled.

Normally, a lot of people are involved; it's this big effort to make sure that they've crossed all the T's dotted all the I's. But for one of this

sensitivity, it is very close hold. And so we are told that last Friday, President Biden huddled with his aides inside the Oval Office.

And that is when he made the final call that yes, he was going to go into Kyiv just days before that one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of

Ukraine. And so he departed Washington at about 4 am local on Sunday morning. He wasn't actually scheduled to leave until much later tonight,

from Washington to come here to pull him that making that trip only two reporters were on the plane.

Only a handful of the President staff, a small medical team, a photographer, that was really it that was traveling with President Biden,

in addition, of course, to the Secret Service and the security part of this trip, and he now made that trade right in to Kyiv, we'll learn more details

about what exactly that planning looks like.

But given he is very much still in Ukraine and is on his way out. The White House is keeping those details private for the moment because of course

concerns for his security. And so while he was there on the ground, you did see him announced that half a billion dollars in aid to Ukraine.

That is going to include a lot of the weaponry that we've seen the United States seen before the Javelins, the Howitzers. The big questions remain,

though about what the U.S. is going to do on the F-16 fighter jets are those longer range missiles that you've seen. The Ukrainians say that they

so desperately need to turn the tide of this war to break the kind of log jam that it's been in.

But this was a symbolic trip at a critical moment for both President Biden and President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians. And so we'll see what President

Biden says about the trip overall, when he arrives here in Poland, which we expect in the next several hours or so.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, and you'll be with us for that too, months in the making to your point though, and it showed. Kaitlan Collins thanks for joining us

from Warsaw, Poland there. In the meantime, China's top Diplomat is set to visit Moscow this week amid fears that Beijing might soon send weaponry to

help the Russian war effort.

U.S. secretary of state's Anthony Blinken, who held a tense meeting with Wang Yi over the weekend, is warning Beijing against such a move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: To date, we have seen Chinese companies and of course, in China, there's really no distinction between

private companies and the state. We have seen them provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. The concern that we have now is based

on information we have that they're considering providing lethal support. And we've made very clear to them that would cause a serious problem for us

and in our relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Blinken also saying in a tweet that he warned Beijing never to send another unmanned balloon near U.S. airspace. He says China did not

offer any apology for the incident during the weekend meeting. Marc Stewart joins us now from Tokyo. Marc, good to have you with us it was a punchy

response, I think from China in response to concerns about this weaponry provision. America is not qualified to lecture them on this subject.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Julia, over the last 48, 72 hours, we've seen so much verbal prodding between the United States and China,

first discussions over the balloons and now these accusations from the U.S. that China may be considering helping Russia get a hold of lethal weapons.

Well, those words, those suggestions were not taken kindly by Beijing at all. In fact, today this afternoon, here in Asia, we heard from a

spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, just want to read you a quick "who is calling for dialogue and peace and who is handing

out knives and encouraging confrontation.

China maintains it's the peace player here; it's the one who is encouraging diplomatic discussions. But as we just heard from Secretary Blinken, there

is some skepticism and he warned of implications. The question is will those words be digested? Is this the end of this conversation? How will

this play out? Julia, there's no clear roadmap right now.

CHATTERLEY: To be continued. Marc, great to have you with us, thank you, Marc Stewart there! All right, coming up after the break robotic

rehabilitation, the company using 3D printing to support and empower victims of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back and on to a startup this using innovative technology to help injured Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Open Bionics

makes lightweight clinically approved prosthetic arms that it 3D prints for those living with below the elbow amputations. They're marketed is

impairing aesthetics.

And they're also partnering with the likes of Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox to provide superhero star arm covers ranging from R2-D2 as you can see

there to the Black Panther, and even Iron Man. Not only are they novel in appearance, they're also costing a fraction of the price of traditional

devices.

And now Open Bionics is partnered with a Ukrainian charity called Superhumans, which is building a specialist hospital for war victims in the

Ukrainian City of Lviv. You can see here soldiers trying out the Hero Arm, Joel Gibbard is the CEO of Open Bionics and he joins us now.

Joel, fantastic to have you on the show and thank you for what you and your team are doing! Just explain to us what makes the Hero Arm unique, the

technology behind it first and foremost.

JOEL GIBBARD, CEO OF OPEN BIONICS: Yes, sure, so its 3D printed, which is something that's quite new to this industry? But it's quite a good

technology to be using because of course, each prosthesis is custom made for the individual has to be custom designed. So 3D printing is great

technology for that and it means that we can make something that's extremely lightweight, and also, in our cases more accessible, more

affordable as well.

CHATTERLEY: And it's more comfortable, I guess, too, if it's specifically printed to fit the individuals on.

GIBBARD: Yet the comfort of prosthesis is often dependent on really great clinical care from their prosthetics team. But what we've done in the

design of our socket, which is the interface between the limb and the arm, is we built in flexibility and ventilation. So it's one of the first

designs where the person wearing. It can really feel the air on their arm, even while they're wearing the prosthesis.

CHATTERLEY: And just give us a sense of the functionality too, because I was looking down the list of the functionality that it provides. And I know

it goes down to as young children as young as eight but also right through to adults, but you have six different grips to allow the arm to be used for

all sorts of different things.

And actually, we're showing that we're seeing that now in the in the video. And I think this is important too for people to understand. Even if it's

lighter its 3D printed, but the functionality is there too.

GIBBARD: That's right. Yes, so I've got an arm here. I can give you a little bit of a demonstration.

CHATTERLEY: Perfect.

[09:45:00]

GIBBARD: So this is a version of Hero Arm. So functionally it's got electrodes on the inside of the socket and if I tap those you'll see the

fingers move. And there are the different grip modes, as you explained; it can move the fingers independently. And one thing that you alluded to was

the design.

So it's got these removable covers, you can remove those and reconnect them as well. So you can have one arm with different styles.

CHATTERLEY: So you can be a different superhero on each day. And it's not just children that want these because we've got video as well of Ukrainian

soldiers that I know you're working with. And we can talk a bit more about that, but actually choosing. I think one of them was a Black Panther arm

that was chosen.

GIBBARD: Yes, that's right. So we've worked with Disney to try and create cover designs to help children feel empowered, when they're wearing their

prosthetics feel like their limb difference is their superpower. And one of the ways we can do that is by helping them to wear an arm that helps them

to feel like their favorite superhero.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, as you said this in the past, I think it's so important that it is about the physical aid that this provides. But it's

also about that the mental impact the psychological impact that feeling, as you're describing it of empowerment, I think.

GIBBARD: That's exactly yes, so I mean, it's very dependent on individual circumstances. For some people, it's a tool it does a job, it serves a

specific purpose. For other people, that purpose is to help them feel much more positive about themselves about their body and about their limb

difference.

And so we found that to be incredibly important, particularly with people with that some of our patients have gone through trauma, or they've just

grown up with a limb difference and then gone through that time childhood into adulthood, having to deal with being different and people noticing

that and learning how to deal with the social interactions around that. So we found that that aesthetic is very important.

CHATTERLEY: OK, talk to me about the partnership with Superhumans. I love the name. I know it's a Ukrainian charitable foundation that's helping to

provide these prosthetics to Ukrainian soldiers who've been injured in the war, but also to civilians too. Joel, talk to me about the work there.

And can you tell me anything about the financials as well? Who is paying for these? Are you managing to make money but also balance, the

humanitarian assistance, I think that's required in a war type environment?

GIBBARD: That's right. Yes, so we were contacted by the Superhumans Ukraine team, and we've met with them and had some really, really productive

discussions plan for the future. They asked us if we could support with prosthetics for people that have lost limbs in the war, encompassing both

military personnel and also civilians, as you mentioned, and there's a loss of limb loss.

So it's a very, very important problem to be able to address and provide some level of rehabilitation. The Superhumans, Ukraine is fundraising.

Currently, they've had some really major donors, including Richard Branson, put money forward to fund their project. They're building a top of the line

Medical Care Center in Lviv. And that's where the prosthetics are going to be fitted and delivered.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's incredible. And we're going to get Superhumans on to talk about that. So it's good to know that they're in fundraising as well.

And very quickly on the price here, I've read that the cost of one of these Hero Arms is somewhere between sort of 12.5 to $16500.

And a traditional prosthetic arm in this case would cost somewhere between 20 and $80,000. Am I in the right price range for what we're talking about

for the 3D printed on that you're providing? What can you tell me about that?

GIBBARD: Yes, that's the right kind of ballpark. So obviously, something like this can often be really dependent on individuals' needs and care

providers, and also between different countries and markets.

CHATTERLEY: Of course.

GIBBARD: So it's not yes, it's not something that you can compare in the same way as a consumer product, but yes, that's about the right ballpark.

CHATTERLEY: OK, I have one minute. And this is a very important question as well. I know, back in 2017, you won an award from the U.A.E., which helps

you develop this arm, and then you crowd funded money in 2019. Are you profitable? Are you looking for more investment? What can you tell me, you

have a minute to do a quick pitch?

GIBBARD: Yes, of course. So we're a startup with growing the company right now. We've got some incredible product developments in the pipeline, and

also expansion to new countries. So that development needs to be funded. So we're not profitable currently.

That's kind of by design, because we're investing any money that we're making, from sales of our products into expanding the business and building

more products to service people with more different types of clinical needs and in new countries as well.

[09:50:00]

GIBBARD: So we've raised money to date through investments, through crowd funding, and through winning competitions which you alluded to there and we

will be continuing to fundraise for the business as well through investors. So we've got a really ambitious plan that we're undertaking currently.

We've raised some money to pursue it and there'll be another point in the near future where we'll be fundraising again.

CHATTERLEY: Awesome. You heard it here first and hey, the product, I think, pitches itself and there was a little boy there riding a bike with one of

the arms and I think his smile, said it all. Joel, thank you for the work! Thank you for talking to us and we'll stay in touch. Keep us posted,

please, with your programming.

GIBBARD: Thanks for having me.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you so much. All right, coming up, a massive underwater eruption and an ongoing scientific mystery how new technologies can uncover

the secrets of the deep and also how save lives, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", and we're sticking with the exciting new technologies theme. Technologies are helping scientists map

the deepest depths of the ocean and understand the dangers that underwater volcanoes may pose to island nations. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar

has the story in our new series Transformers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice over): Late December 2021, in the middle of the South Pacific, an underwater volcano is active once

again. Two weeks later, a series of eruptions will reverberate around the planet and be visible from space. Tsunami warnings were issued across the

Pacific. And the next afternoon, a series of waves hit the island country of Tonga.

Some as high as 15 meters, killing three people and leaving mass destruction in their wake. When the dust had settled a few months later, a

ship from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA set sail to find out what had triggered the eruption.

Marine Geology Technician, Erica Spain was on board.

DR. ERICA SPAIN, MARINE GEOLOGY TECHNICIAN AT NIWA: The voyage up to Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai to map the volcano was really exciting to

multidisciplinary voyage. So you've got multiple science streams working together to try and figure out what was going on and why erupted so

violently? These are the multi beams on --.

CHINCHAR (voice over): Spain's mission was to map the seafloor around the volcano using a machine called a multi beam echo sounder.

SPAIN: An acoustic pulse so appearing is sound is emitted or sent out from the bottom of the ship, and then it echoes effectively off the seafloor.

[09:55:00]

SPAIN: And then we have hydrophones or a listening ear that receives that echo and from that we can determine how deep the sea floor is and build up

an idea of its shape and geometry. Every volcano has a different trigger in terms of when it might erupt.

And by mapping Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai and then comparing that to other volcanoes, we can begin to build up a better image of what these triggers

might be or what they might look like on the seafloor.

CHINCHAR (voice over): Mapping, taking rock samples, and filming underwater, all help build a bigger picture of what happened here.

SPAIN: So you have to become a seafloor detective to piece all those small parts together.

CHINCHAR (voice over): That detective work can help countries like Tonga better prepare for tsunamis to keep people safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: OK, and that's it for the show. If you've missed any of our interviews today, they will be on my Twitter and Instagram pages you can

search for @jchatterleycnn. In the meantime, "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is up next and I'll see you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

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