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Putin Orders Troops Into Separatist-Held Regions of Ukraine; U.S. Closely Watching Putin's Next Move in Ukraine; Blinken Says, Putin's Order a Clear Attack on Ukraine's Sovereignty. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 22, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:01]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: All right, Medina Spirit was officially disqualified as the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby yesterday, just the second time in the 146-year history of the race a horse has been disqualified for a banned substance. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission also announcing a 90-day suspension and a $7,500 fine for Bob Baffert. Baffert says he plans to appeal this decision.

Medina Spirit failed a drug test after beating Mandaloun to the finish line back in May. At the time, it was Baffert's seventh Kentucky Derby title. In June, Churchill Downs Race Track announced a two-year suspension for Baffert, including the 2022 and 2023 derbies. Medina Spirit, unfortunately, died in December after a workout on the track in California.

And, Brianna, when it comes to winning tickets, that's all said and done. Medina Spirit still cashed out as the winner. Mandaloun is not -- people who had those tickets are not going to get paid now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: That is a bummer for them, for sure. Andy, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much.

And New Day continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, February 22nd. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

And we have breaking news within just the last few minutes following Vladimir Putin ordering Russian troops into Eastern Ukraine. Moments ago, Germany announced it is canceling or halting the development of a pipeline from Russia. This is seen as one of the larger penalties that could be levied on Russia.

Also moments ago, new questions about whether Russian officials are opening the door into a further troop movement into areas controlled by Ukrainian forces. The next few hours are crucial. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls the Russian moves a clear attack on Ukraine's sovereignty.

KEILAR: Now, the Biden administration's language has been tempered, though. The White House has not used the word, invasion, yet to describe Russia's new troop movements, which is unusual because, hypothetically, ahead of time, they did describe this kind of thing as an invasion. The U.S., though, is promising swift sanctions this morning. We are just waiting to see how far they go.

So, how dire is the situation? Well, U.S. officials have already had conversations with Ukraine's President Zelensky about evacuating Kyiv should it become necessary.

CNN has reports this morning from Kyiv and across Ukraine and into Russia. We're also monitoring the latest from the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon.

And we do begin with Fred Pleitgen who is live in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Fred, what can you tell us?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Brianna. Well, we've been going around in the border area, close to the border to between Russia and Ukraine, especially the area around the Donbas region, which is, of course, the area that Vladimir Putin recognized late last night, which has caused such a big stir over the past couple of hours. I think, as John was saying before, the next couple hours are probably certainly going to be key.

What I can tell you from on the ground here is we have seen a lot of Russian military activity in this area. We saw several columns with Russian military vehicles, people transporters but then also self- propelled artillery, for instance, and infantry-fighting vehicles.

The big question is how much of the gear that the Russians have had here has already moved into the Donbas area or has any moved into that area yet? The Russians, of course, for their part, were saying that that is what they were going to do, that they were going to recognize these two breakaway areas, and that they were going to move their own military, as they put it, as peacekeepers into those places.

Right now, very difficult to see how much of that Russian hardware would have moved in there, but there is certainly a big military presence in the part of Southwestern Russia that I'm very close to the border with Ukraine.

Now, of course, all of this as the Russian government recently or just a couple of hours ago recognized, formally recognized, the Russian parliament, those two separatist republics. So, as far as Russia is concerned, these are essentially now independent states that are no longer part of Ukraine. Of course, this after Vladimir Putin's speech that he gave last night and then signing that decree certainly right now from the vantage point that we have, it looks more like confrontation than anything else from what we're seeing on the ground here, guys.

KEILAR: So, Fred, Russian separatists, Russia-backed separatists, they do not actually control these entire territories. They claim them. What does that mean? Is Vladimir Putin claiming that entire area, even the area that Ukraine has control over? PLEITGEN: That is a very, very good question, Brianna, and certainly something we have been asking as well, because you're absolutely right. The areas in the Luhansk and in the Donetsk Oblast, as they call it, the areas, the counties, if you will, they don't control all of that.

[07:05:00]

Part of that still is controlled by Ukrainian forces.

So, the big question is what Vladimir Putin yesterday recognized, the areas that they recognized, were those the areas that are currently controlled by those separatist forces or did he also mean the areas of those counties that are still controlled by Ukrainian forces.

So, far we have been getting mixed signals from the Russian government. There are parts of the government that have said have that it's only the areas that are under control of the separatist forces but there are also others who seemed to indicate that possibly a wider area is meant.

All this, of course, as the situation on the ground, as the U.S. says, remains very dangerous with so much Russian military hardware here. Of course, some U.S. officials also saying they believe what's going on now could be the beginning or could indicate the possible beginning soon of a wider offensive. The Russians have said that's something that they want to do, but, certainly, as we have seen so far, the U.S. government not giving very much credence to what the Kremlin is saying at the moment.

KEILAR: Yes. A couple days ago, they said they were withdrawing troops and assets there from the frontline. Obviously, that appears to be untrue. Fred, thank you so much.

BERMAN: So, words of defiance overnight from Ukraine's defense minister who tweeted Ukrainians are confident and calm and ready and able to defend ourselves and our sovereignty.

Sam Kiley continuing our coverage live from inside Ukraine this morning. Sam, what are you seeing, what are you hearing?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I'm in Izyum, which is the last Ukrainian government town in Kharkiv Oblast, the city I just left, before we go into Donetsk Oblast. And as Fred was rightly pointing out there, these two oblasts or provinces, as we would say in English, are kind of split, though, in terms of their control. About half of them are controlled by the Russian-backed rebels, the separatists, and the other half is government territory.

Now, the issue for the Ukrainians is will Russians try to push up to the border not very far from where I'm standing here between the two oblasts, or will they stay within the boundaries of these so-called self-proclaimed republics and the boundaries set, at least up for the time being along a frontline known as the line of control.

Now, that is supposedly an area that has been in a state of ceasefire. There have been, though, very significant increase in the level of shelling over the last four or five days. We were down on Saturday within the space of an hour, we were within earshot of at least eight significant loud detonations from shelling and that level of shelling, 70, 80 violations as the Ukrainian government call it, use of heavy weapons, is continuing at the same time as the Russians are saying that they're sending peacekeepers, so-called, into these breakaway republics.

Now, in terms of how you define this, however the United States and the Europeans may choose to look at it, it is an invasion. But there's already equivocation emerging as we can see from the latest statement coming from the European Union's foreign policy chief. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Well, the Russian troops has entered in Donbas. We consider Donbas part of Ukraine. So, certainly, with the Russian troops entered into Donbas, Ukrainian, I wouldn't say that's a fully fledged invasion but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILEY: Now, the issue of a fully fledged, you can't have a little bit of an invasion. That was the problem back in 2014. And as a consequence of that, Ukraine lost the whole of the Crimean Peninsula and Russia has now annexed that territory to its own motherland. The other two breakaway republics not being annexed, at least not yet, that have been recognized by Russia, who have used that recognition as an opportunity to push their troops into Ukrainian territory.

We already heard that the Germans are now saying that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is effectively dead, and we haven't seen what consequences out of the United States and the European Union there will be for Russia over whatever they may say is, by definition, an invasion in terms of whether or not they will trigger those sanctions that they've been threatening hitherto. John and Brianna?

BERMAN: Sam, you brought up the Nord Stream 2 news, Germany announcing the halting or canceling of that pipeline. That's a big deal. How far does that go in terms of the types of penalties that the Ukrainians are asking for? Zelensky basically telling the world, help us out here. Do something. Is that what he's talking about?

KILEY: That's exactly what he's talking about in terms of -- he was always saying he wanted to see these sanctions imposed prior to an invasion, because, as far as Ukraine is concerned, any sanctions on Russia following an invasion would not undo the damage that would have been done to his country.

Now that there have been movement, according to the Russians, sending peacekeeping troops as they call them into the Donbas region, there has been that violation. We are getting a hint certainly from the Germans that they are drawing a line very firmly under this.

[07:10:02]

But there's a great deal, more potential sanctions in the offing, separating Russia's ability to participate in the SWIFT, the international banking mechanisms, a huge number of individual sanctions that can be placed on Russian oligarchs, people close to Putin, going after their financial resources all over the world, notably in London, which, of course, is known as Londonistan, because of its rampant levels of money laundered by Russian oligarchs there.

BERMAN: Sam Kiley, I appreciate you being there. Please keep us posted over the course of the morning. Thank you.

KEILAR: And joining us now is Mike Rogers, former Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Julia Ioffe, Founding Partner and Washington Correspondent for Puck.

Chairman, this news about the Nord Stream 2, the authorization being canceled by Germany for now, does that do the trick? What else will deter Putin, if anything?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, it is very significant. We shouldn't underestimate how important that was for the Germans to do it. This is going to put a huge price increase into energy prices for the rest of the winter, not only just in Germany but across Europe. There's not a lot you can do candidly beyond that.

The SWIFT sanction is probably the biggest club level in the bag for the west. And moving troops in now to Ukraine is a big deal. He's going to solidify the two breakaway republics. He gave an impassioned speech last night about -- for Vladimir Putin, I want to say impassioned, about why Ukraine is not a state, should have never been recognized as a state, shouldn't have been negotiated with in 1994 in this process of decommunization is fine with him, but you would have to deal with Russia, not Ukraine in it.

So, a lot of really important things are going to happen in the next few hours and days as Putin is moving troops into these two breakaway regions.

BERMAN: Yes, I keep talking about the next few hours because I really do think there's a dividing line between what has happened already and what might be about to happen. And, Julia, Dmitry Peskov, the Russian spokesperson, was asked basically what's next. how far are the Russian troops in the eastern provinces of Ukraine going to go? Are they going to stay in the areas controlled by Russian troops or move on? Brianna was just talking about this. And he says, they basically recognize the situation within the boundaries in which they exist and have been proclaimed.

That's two different things. The boundaries insofar as they exist is a much smaller part, one-third of the region. Those separatists have proclaimed the whole area. So, which do you think it is?

JULIA IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: I don't know, but, you know, they're obviously keeping it vague. And if the past few weeks have been any guide, I wouldn't put much stock in what the Kremlin says officially. They've said a lot of things, as Brianna has pointed out, that have not come to pass. So, for example, just last week, they said they were withdrawing troops. It turns out they weren't. They said they wouldn't. Putin last week said he wouldn't recognize these breakaway republics because it would violate the Minsk Accords. He recognized the breakaway republics.

So, if anything, sometimes that Kremlin is saying what they're not going to do is a clue about what they are going to do.

KEILAR: And what does this look like if, Julia -- I mean, it's one thing if Russian troops go in to the area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists. But if they push past that line and they're going into places where Ukrainians are controlling the territory, Ukrainians don't want to be a part of Russia, what then does this start to take the shape of?

IOFFE: Well, I think it's important to understand that the areas that Russian, quote/unquote, peacekeepers have entered since yesterday are -- or actually today, are areas where the Russian military has already had a presence for eight years. It was just kind of clandestine and lied about and covered up. But Russian military was always there. Now, this is just kind of tearing the veil off of that.

Past that, you know, I think there's going to be bloody fighting, just as there was in 2014 when the Russian state tried to fight its way down into Mariupol to hack a land route to Crimea, which has been basically cut off from water and electricity supplies since 2014. And they were pushed back by the Ukrainian army, but the fighting was quite bloody.

And I think we can expect that now, because the Ukrainian military has really changed in the last eight years too, it's become better equipped, better trained, it already has this experience fighting and there has been even more kind of a rallying around the flag in Ukraine because of Russian actions in the last eight years, but especially in the last few months.

[07:15:00]

So, it's going to be bad.

BERMAN: Chairman, I know the United States has a limited range of options right now but it has been very interesting over the last 12 hours to listen to the language coming from the White House, a White House reluctant and won't use the word, invasion, yet. They're noting, as Julia just mentioned, that the Russian troops are now in an area that had been controlled by Russians for some time already. But the language is important here. Why not just call it an invasion?

Also, if this was always the most likely first step from Vladimir Putin, as it probably was, why didn't the White House have a response, perhaps a more forceful response at the ready, last night, overnight? Every hour counts here.

ROGER: No, no, it does. And I think part of the problem is that the Ukrainians are trying to balance this very delicate line of not invoking a broader response from the Russians across Ukraine. And so I think this is part of it. They're trying to deal with the -- you can hear the statements coming out of Kyiv about, hey, this is -- there's not going to be a war with Russia. We're going to deal with this. We do need some help, but it's not going to be a war with Russia.

And so I think everybody is kind of walking on the head of a pin here trying to make sure that they don't provoke a bigger response in Russia or at least give them permission. I don't think they're going to have anything that's provocative at all.

Russia will continue probably to march down. They need that land bridge, I think, as Julia mentioned, to Crimea. And they want to cut off more of the Azov Sea. Strategically, that's important for Russia as well as this romantic notion of Putin's that Ukraine is really a Russian state and it should have been all along. So, you're right, they should have been ready.

Nord Stream 2 is a big part of that, I think. That was a big message, I think, to Putin that, hey, listen, we're all going to be serious on this. And we're going to try to be a unified NATO-United States, as we look for ways to push back.

There's never going to be U.S. troops in Ukraine. I think that's really important to get on the table. That's just not going to happen. So, what are all those other really important, powerful options that we have? And, again, they ought to talk about SWIFT. They ought to have a meeting today and talk about how they're going to take them and deny Russia access to the banking system. That will hurt them more than anything.

BERMAN: Chairman Mike Rogers, Julia Ioffe, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

So, as we have been focused on, Vladimir Putin has ordered troops into Eastern Ukraine. What does that mean for diplomacy? Is there any path left at this point? We're live at the State Department.

KEILAR: And Russian artillery on the move just moments ago near Ukraine. Major General Spider Marks is going to track troop movements on the ground for us.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: This morning, the State Department says Putin's actions in Eastern Ukraine are an indication Russia is seeking war, not diplomacy.

CNN's Kylie Atwood live at the State Department for us this morning. Kylie, Antony Blinken was set to meet with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, on Thursday. Is that even still on?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, as of now the Biden administration, the secretary of state, have not canceled that meeting. I'm told there were a tremendous number of conversations about if they should still have that meeting yesterday after that dark speech by Putin and after, of course, he ordered troops into those occupied regions in Eastern Ukraine.

The United States is very concerned about that step. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations late last night at the U.N. saying it is nonsense for Russia to be calling those troops peacekeepers, saying we know what they really are. But, at the same time, the United States is still not saying that those troops, those Russian troops headed into the Donbas are a new step because they say that there have been Russian troops in that region for the last eight years.

So, what Russia has done up until this point does not seem to be the full-blown invasion, that new invasion, that would take this diplomatic meeting completely off the table. But the State Department is also being very clear in saying just last night that in order for diplomacy to be successful, Russia is going to have to change its actions here and we clearly haven't seen that happening.

So, today is an incredibly important day to watch, to see if the Biden administration keeps this meeting on between the secretary of state and the Russian foreign minister.

BERMAN: All right. Kylie Atwood, please keep us posted on anything new you hear. Thank you.

KEILAR: And joining me now is Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski from New Jersey. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees. He has traveled to Ukraine a few weeks ago as a part of a bipartisan delegation where he met with President Zelensky, he also attended the Munich Security Conference.

All right, sir, just your reaction to these latest moves by Russia and also, if, in your opinion, this is an invasion.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI (D-NJ): Well, thank you so much. My first reaction is that the mask is totally off of Putin, in case anyone had any doubts, this has nothing to do with NATO expansion. It has everything to do with his belief that Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent country, that the very existence of Ukraine is offensive to him and he wants to extinguish it.

So, we need to be clear about that and we need to understand why it's important to the United States not to allow powerful dictators to be able to seize other countries without consequence.

Is it an invasion? Yes. He's moving his troops into sovereign Ukrainian territory.

[07:25:00]

And I think one of the things he wants right now is for the United States and our allies to spend the next few days debating definitions. As a small invasion, a big invasion, is it an invasion at all, so that, once again, we're divided. And it's going to be really important for that not to happen, for us to make sure that doesn't happen over the next coming days, that we have a swift and united response. KEILAR: So, we're hearing from American allies this is an invasion. The Biden administration, even though it, ahead of this invasion, defined an invasion as what we're seeing right now, they have not said it's an invasion. Is that sort of what you're gently saying, that they need to just be frank and forthcoming about what this is or am I reading you incorrectly?

MALINOWSKI: Yes. I think we need to use clear language. Look, the strength of our response also depends on being well-coordinated with all of our allies. And so it's not just what Joe Biden says, it's what Joe Biden can get everybody else to say in one voice. And that sometimes does take a few hours or a day or so to be able to build that kind of unity.

Look, I think the administration has done an amazingly good job building a coalition to respond to this kind of moment. It's so much better than in 2014 when Russia first invaded Ukraine. We were reacting. In this case, the coalition is ready. The sanctions are ready. In effect, Joe Biden had built a prison for Putin before the crime was committed. And, you know, if it takes 24 hours or so to get everybody in line for the next step, that's okay. But the next step does have to come.

KEILAR: Russia has been unclear on whether they are going to consider this area outside of the territory that Russian-backed separatists hold if they consider that, in effect, theirs. Do you expect Russia to proceed beyond that border of what Russian-backed separatists control?

MALINOWSKI: Look, they've been pretty clear that they consider it theirs. What they plan to do next, I don't know. Putin wants to keep us off balance. He wants us to continue to play this guessing game. I think he probably wants his own officials to stay off balance. I don't think Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, for example, has any idea what's going to come next, which I think may be a good argument for Secretary Blinken not to carry on with this meeting.

But, certainly, they have said that so-called independent state as encompassing large areas that are under the control of the Ukrainian government and army. So, if they -- if they're serious about that, then that does mean there will be a war.

KEILAR: What would deter Putin, do you think, at this point? Really anything?

MALINOWSKI: That's a really good question. Some people will argue we should not impose all of the sanctions now because then we have nothing left to deter him with. I'm not sure if he's in a rational frame of mind after having watched that speech that he gave yesterday. I think we're probably -- we're more in a phase right now where the purpose of the sanctions is to weaken Russia's capacity to carry on with this aggression and ultimately to weaken this regime rather than deterring whatever crazy thing he may do on Thursday or on Monday.

KEILAR: Well, Congressman --

MALINOWSKI: It's not an easy call. KEILAR: No, it certainly is not. Congressman, I really appreciate you being with us. Congressman Tom Malinowski, thanks.

MALINOWSKI: Thank you.

KEILAR: So, jury deliberations are going to resume today in the federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery. What attorneys said in court that had Arbery's mother breaking down in tears.

BERMAN: And the breaking news, Putin orders troops into Eastern Ukraine, but we just learned that Germany has halted or canceled this crucial pipeline. What impact will that have? What's Putin's next move?

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