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Russia Attacks Ukraine in 'Act of War'. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 24, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:46]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Thursday, February 24. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar. And this is CNN's special live coverage of the breaking news Vladimir Putin has launched a multipronged, large-scale military attack against Ukraine.

This is an attack across the entire nation of Ukraine. You can see there, explosions reported in at least 16 different locations. All over. You can see the range of cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Odessa, all over including far from the border.

We have brand-new images from the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs that show damage done by a bombing operation in the Kyiv region. Some of Kyiv's three million citizens have grabbed their belongings. They're beginning to flee west in their cars, leaving the capital.

CNN has obtained this exclusive video from Ukrainian border guards, showing Russian military vehicles entering the country from the north from Belarus.

Also, President Putin going on state TV to announce this military operation to do what he calls protect the Donbas region. The goal, he claimed, was the demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine.

One bit of context here. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.

Ukrainians have been told to stay in their homes, but we did see a small group kneeling and praying on the streets of Kharkiv. That is quite an image this morning.

Ukraine's President Zelensky pleading for peace in a nationally- televised address just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Putin began war against Ukraine, against the entire democratic world. He wants to destroy my country, our country. Everything we've been building, everything we are living for. We know the strength of the armed forces of Ukraine. You can. You are indomitable. You are Ukrainians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN reporters and 44 million Ukrainians are in the middle of this crisis. You're watching here video earlier of CNN's Matthew Chance. He was reporting live from Kyiv when all of this began. And you can see, he had to rush there to protect himself, like millions and millions in this nation are now doing.

These were missile strikes reported near the capital city. The U.S. embassy in Kyiv telling all Americans in the region to shelter in place.

After lying for weeks, if not years, about his intentions, Putin declared war as a U.N. Security Council meeting was taking place in the middle of it for the purpose of averting the war. We're going to hear from the NATO secretary-general here in a moment.

But in a phone call with Ukraine's president, President Biden promised Russia will be held accountable for what he called an unprovoked and unjustified attt.ck At noon, President Biden will deliver remarks to the nation that the whole world will be listening.

And we have CNN reporters covering this story from every angle, from every location from Moscow, Lviv, to Kyiv.

BERMAN: Want to go to Sam Kiley first. He is in Kharkiv in Ukraine, very close to the Russian border, Sam, where I know you did hear explosions and saw blasts lighting up the sky. Giving us a sense right now -- give us a sense, I should say, of what you're seeing and hearing right now.

SAM KILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just -- just before we came on air, John, just literally moments ago, there were very large explosions, very, very loud indeed just to my north. We don't know whether it's incoming or outgoing.

Because one of the key issues here is how is the Ukrainian military performing? Yes, they are being bombarded from the air. Yes, they're coming under ballistic missile attacks. Yes, their command-and-control and air operations are under attack right across the country.

But they also have some of their own capability, which they would have known was going to -- they would have known that they were going to get attacked in this way. It's a standard way that any country would conduct the prelude to a land invasion: take out key these installations. There's a lot of those key installations around this city, including the airport, the military airport here, which is also, we know, being attacked.

The Ministry of Defense here is claiming -- we have no verification on this -- that four Russian tanks have been killed -- have been knocked out on the ring road that surrounds Kharkiv, a city of at least a million and a half people, John and Brianna.

And at the same time, they're also further claiming that out to Kramatorsk, where we were yesterday -- that's right on the border with the breakaway republics that the Russians recognized as independent states just a few days ago -- the Ministry of Defense here is claiming that they've downed several Russian air frames, both aircraft and helicopters. Again, we don't have any hard evidence for any of that.

But those R-blasters (ph), they're called, are being seized; or at least the attempt is being made to seize them from Ukrainian government forces as part of the significant push.

That is where it does appear to have been quite a lot of ground fighting.

Elsewhere here, we're hearing -- I just heard another explosion. We're hearing the sounds of artillery exchanges, which have hit elements within the civilian population here towards the outskirts.

Actually, quite close to the ring road, an apartment building was hit with some kind of missile or artillery piece. But elsewhere in the city, things have been, so far, relatively calm. Nervous, obviously, but fairly calm.

BERMAN: All right, Sam, I just want to give people a sense of where you are right now. You are in Kharkiv right here. You mentioned how close you are to the Russian border.

Yesterday we saw satellite imagery from here, Belgorod here, the Russians clearly staging. And now you're saying you're hearing blasts which could be artillery, literally just shooting from the Russian border into Kharkiv.

I do want to clarify any sense -- Are you getting any direct reports at this point of Russian ground forces? You mentioned tanks around the ring road. What exactly are you hearing?

KILEY: Those are -- we've got only the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense word for that. And there have been some social media posts. But we are, frankly, working to identify the veracity of those claims of the alleged destruction of these four Russian tanks on the ring road around Kharkiv.

If that were the case, that would be significant. But yet, it would signal that perhaps the second phase of this military operation has begun.

It might also give some indication beyond what Vladimir Putin has said in the Kremlin, which is that he is claiming he's only coming in to protect those two oblasts, provinces in the east, albeit to expand -- expand them into government-held territory, rather than try to occupy, he insists.

The Russian Ministry of Defense is also insisting civilian targets are not going to be attacked by the Russians. They've got no interest in attacking the civilian population anywhere in Ukraine. The Russians insisting that this is a purely military operation to prevent what they're calling the Nazi regime here from counterattacks. But that is a real key element in what they're saying here. These

ground forces that we have seen, CNN has seen evidence, as you referenced there, of the crossing from Belarusian territory. That's due north of the capital, Kyiv, going south. They've been seen crossing there. There is some evidence that they have been crossing here.

Are these then, the ground elements, going to be used for what Vladimir Putin has signaled will be some kind of pogrom, some kind of purge against the leadership here? We've had western intelligence services, both British and American, talk about lists of politicians that need to be killed and jailed, potential resistance leaders.

We know, for example, that special forces headquarters and military headquarters in Kyiv has been attacked. That would be inevitable.

The Ukrainians would have factored all of that into their military planning. And I think what we may have been hearing just earlier may not be shelling coming in, necessarily, from Belgorod, where there is a vast arsenal of weapons, including Iskander surface-to-surface missiles, in the hands of the Russians, but quite possibly outgoing harassment coming from the Ukrainians.

If the Russians get blocked, bogged down and start taking casualties, the whole political dynamic inside Russia itself could shift. And I think that would be very much part of the Ukrainian game plan.

BERMAN: Sam, stand by, if you will, for a second. I believe we have General Mark Hertling, retired U.S. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, on the line with us.

And General, just to give us a sense what Sam was just reporting, this is where he is in Kharkiv right here. This is very close to the Russian border. Belgorod is on the Russian side here.

Sam is suggesting that maybe what he is hearing is artillery outgoing. Outgoing, over the border from Kharkiv into Russia. What's the significance of what we're getting on the ground there, General?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think that's pretty significant, John. You know, the Ukrainians have been -- the Ukrainian army has been told by their president to hold fire, to not conduct any provocations in the run-up to this, for fear that it would factor into the Russians' equations to attack. That's over now. They're at war.

So you're going to see some really good actions, I think, by Ukraine's army, not just in using Stinger missiles that have been provided for them or Javelin missiles, but they've got a pretty good artillery set.

Remember, the artillery school for the old USSR army used to be in Kharkiv. So they've got a pretty good artillery of their own within Ukraine's army.

They also have -- they've been provided counterfire radar. What I mean by that -- excuses me -- is they can detect incoming rounds with a radar system and then immediately fire back on that location where the round came from.

So if they're receiving incoming fire, if it's within range, they can shoot back very quickly.

And we have seen so far somewhat of an untrained Russian army. They're -- they're not doing things as well as a very trained army could be. So when you shoot an artillery piece, no matter where you're shooting from, you shoot and then get the heck out of there, because you know there's incoming back towards you.

So the Ukrainian army may be doing a pretty good job of what's called counterfire. I would hope that to be the case, and I think that's -- that is what Sam may be seeing.

[06:10:09]

BERMAN: All right. General, stand by for us. Sam Kiley, you as well. Please stand by. Stay safe. Keep us posted as you see and hear more things.

KEILAR: And let's go now to the State Department and CNN's Kylie Atwood. What is the latest from State Department officials, Kylie?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we're learning this morning that there are no more U.S. diplomats on the ground in Ukraine.

You'll remember that there were only a small number of diplomats that had remained in the country at all after most of them had been ordered to leave once the U.S. embassy in Kyiv had closed.

And that small number was based on the western side of the country, in Lviv. They've been shuttling back, spending their nights in Poland.

Last night was the last night that they spent in Poland. They will not be going back into Ukraine, according to a U.S. official familiar with the situation.

And this comes, of course, as this Russian assault has begun on Ukraine. We are watching this morning for President Biden's remarks that will come sometime midday. We know that late last night, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke on the phone with the NATO secretary-general.

They spoke about condemning, together, what they called this unjustified, premeditated attack on Ukraine. And they also talked about what that allied response is going to look like here to, in a way, the ways that they can defend NATO-allied territory. So that's something for us to watch today.

Another thing for us to watch today is what the U.S. response is going to look like. Because last night, President Biden spoke about this attack on Ukraine, and he said that Russia will be held accountable. We have heard that time and time again from the Biden administration. So probably more sanctions coming. And we should also note, Brianna, just how alarming it was to watch

that United Nations emergency council meeting last night that was called by the Ukrainians.

As all of these world leaders came out, the U.N. secretary-general saying from the bottom of his heart, he was deploring [SIC] the Russians not to go forth with this invasion.

The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas- Greenfield, calling for the Russians to pull back from the brink before it was too late.

Now, of course, as that meeting was convening, the Russians went forward with this invasion.

KEILAR: Yes. It was really a sight to behold. The disdain she said that it showed for the process there of the U.N. Security Council. That's what the ambassador was saying.

Kylie, thank you so much for that report from the State Department.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now is Steve Hall, CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia operations.

And Steve, what I want to give people a sense of here is just the scope of this aerial assault now. It's all over Ukraine. We can't keep up with all the explosions here.

I mean, these are the sites where we have CNN reporters and local reports. I also know at this point there are also reports all the way over here, south of Lviv. Just -- that is so far. That is so far from this separatist region, which is the area where Vladimir Putin was claiming he was concerned about. What do you make of the scale of this?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. That delta between what Putin says he's really interested in right here in the Donbas region and then what you're seeing, you know, throughout the country is really interesting.

I'm sure some of it, the military guys will say, well, it's softening up. It's preparing the battle space, as they say, because it's possible, for example, that you could -- that the Ukrainian forces could have stuff here that could -- that could endanger Russian forces as they're moving in.

But more importantly than actually -- not more importantly but equally important as to what's going on on the ground here is what Putin has said. So he said he's going in, of course, ostensibly to protect, you know, Russian citizens. Of course, he's the one who gave them passports not too long ago, making them Russian citizens. So that's part of the whole story that he's building.

But interestingly, he said the de-Nazification of the country.

BERMAN: Yes. HALL: So the Nazis don't, according to Putin, don't just live here they live up here in Kyiv. And when he says things like, I'm going to protect these guys and to de-Nazify, that means, in my assessment, that he doesn't mean just to stop here. He's going to go after other parts of the country where he sees these, quote, unquote "Nazis."

It's, of course, just another pretext to get in and essentially do whatever he wants in the entire territory of Ukraine.

BERMAN: And just to remind people, President Zelensky noted this last night, or alluded to it. He's Jewish. I mean, Vladimir Putin is talking about the de-Nazification of a country who's got someone who was born Jewish.

Let me just put up the big map of Ukraine here, so people can see. This is where Kyiv is. You're talking about the idea of somehow getting to the capital.

We have had reports of Russian troops moving across the Belarusian border here. We've also had reports down here in Crimea of Russian troops moving north.

HALL: Yes.

BERMAN: How closely are you watching the possibility that we do see at more ground forces?

HALL: So that's going to happen at some point. The ground forces.

What happened late last night, early morning over on the border with Belarus was really interesting. Because, of course, we expected a lot of this. And we even might have expected, because there's already -- you know, when Russia illegally annexed and basically just, you know, ate up Crimea a number of years back, we expected it here.

[06:15:10]

But when you see, and have reporting, and actually see video of folks coming across the border from Belarus, and my understanding is it's still not entirely clear as to whether or not it was just Russian troop movements or whether it was combined Russian and Belarusian. And if that's the case, you've got two countries who are at war with Ukraine. And that's -- that's an even more complicating situation.

BERMAN: As of a few minutes ago, the Belarusian leader was claiming it was just Russia troops. I'm not sure that matters if the Russian forces are using his space to camp out there.

Steve Hall, don't go far. Stand by. Back with you in just a second.

Brianna.

KEILAR: And wanted to have David Sanger weigh in there. Because we just heard Steve there talking about some of the lies that this invasion is based on, this idea that Putin has of he's de-Nazifying Ukraine. DAVID SANGER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, it's really

fascinating, Brianna. Because we've had U.S. intelligence warning us for the longest time that the Russians were going to create instant (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that would create a pretext for going in. And they did some of that.

But in the end, it was Vladimir Putin, who decided he would just create his own pretext. The first one was this de-Nazification, as if an emerging democracy, a troubled one, a corrupt one, was somehow linked to some form of Nazi ideology or was exterminating groups of its own people. A complete lie.

Then the second one, the really fascinating one, which occupied about a third of his -- of Putin's speech on Monday, was that Ukraine was trying to build nuclear weapons and invite the United States in to put its nuclear weapons on his territory.

This was complete fantasy. Ukraine gave up the remnants of the Soviet nuclear force that was left on its ground in 1994, in return for an agreement from Russia, Britain and the United States that they would assure the country's security and its territorial and border integrity. So they were saying, what's going on here?

But meanwhile, the Russians were making up -- or Putin was making up this story that they were making nuclear weapons. They don't even have the capability to build this.

And then the third fantasy was that the United States was getting ready to move nuclear weapons into Ukraine and within easy reach of Moscow.

Well, we can reach Moscow from Nebraska. So it's not as if that would have made, you know, that big a difference. But there was no such plan.

Ukraine was not a NATO country, as we've been discussing. The United States doesn't put nuclear weapons in non-NATO countries. But all of these became part of the pretext to do just what you heard, which was go far beyond the Donbas and try to take the entire country.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, these are aggressive lies, as we see this aggression action of Russian military forces moving into Ukraine. David, thank you so much.

Berman.

BERMAN: Unprovoked attack based on a series of lies. Our live special coverage of this historic, perilous moment continues right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:22]

KEILAR: So we have breaking news. Russia attacking Ukraine as we speak. We're seeing images like this. People gathering and praying on the streets of Ukraine.

Joining me now on the phone is Father Andre Zelensky of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, who is in Ukraine right now. He is the deputy head of the Department of Military Chaplaincy of Ukraine.

Father, I understand that you're inside a bomb shelter right now. What can you tell us?

FATHER ANDREW ZELINSKYY, DEPUTY HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY CHAPLAINCY OF UKRAINE (via phone): Yes. Hello, everybody. And this is completely a escalatory scheme (ph) to think something like this happening in the 21st century in downtown.

Right now I'm in the shelter, bomb shelter downtown Kyiv. This is unbelievable, unacceptable.

But this teaches us a lot. Teaches us that lies cause lives. The lies of de-Nazification of Ukraine, some the greatest lies I've ever heard about this nation.

So this is completely unbelievable what we've been witnessing these hours. I was among the first chaplains in 2014 in the eastern part of the country. But this time, since 5 in the morning, the territory, the whole country, one of the largest countries of Europe, has been attacked by missiles, by aviation.

Right now, there's a lot of planes in the sky of Kyiv, bombing downtown, bombing the -- one of the biggest cities of eastern Europe.

KEILAR: Can you tell us about what it's like where you are? I imagine there are many Ukrainians who are in a similar situation.

ZELINSKYY: Yes. Right now, there are a few developments to the situation. There were those who were trying to leave the city in the morning. And that's why there it was forming, huge, huge, huge traffic jams.

But then there are those who stayed in the city and who are praying right now. We are hiding ourselves in one of our churches of the people around us praying and listening to the artillery shelling, to the shelling, to the sounds of artillery, to the sounds of bombs.

So it's -- as I said, it's something that's unbelievable, completely. Apocalyptical scene.

But we're praying, we're supporting each other. We're trying to smile, we're trying to even laugh in the situation while thinking of what to do and how to be in these closest -- in the nearest days.

KEILAR: And, Father, we do hope that you stay safe. I want you to know we've seen pictures of people praying on the streets in Ukraine. That is something going on outside of that bomb shelter where you are in Kyiv.

Father Zelinskyy, stay safe. Thank you very much.

ZELINSKYY: Thank you. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. U.S. defense officials are tracking Russian military maneuvers. I want to bring in CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

[06:25:05]

Barbara, we 're talking about Ukraine, which on the map of Europe, just so people know, is right there. But you've got news coming from up here, the Baltic states. What have you learned?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John.

Just a short time ago, the first U.S. soldiers have arrived in Latvia up in the Baltics. This is part of something the Pentagon announced it was going to do. These are soldiers from the very elite, 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy, moving into the Baltics as part of the overall U.S. military effort to reassure and provide deterrence, if needed, for NATO allies on that eastern flank that are so nervous that Russia may come after them next.

This is something that, you know, you couldn't imagine yourself saying several months ago, could you? But there is a good deal of anxiety.

Now, here at the Pentagon -- and I suspect at intelligence and military services across Europe -- briefings have continued for top leaders throughout the night as they sift through the intelligence and try and determine exactly what is going on.

They do see the TV pictures. They see the social media. But this is an intelligence challenge now to get the very precise details they need.

What we have learned is they did understand that it was all about to unfold last night, because Russian radio chatter went silent.

Typically, we're told they'd monitor a lot of routine radio chatter. It went silent at some point. And it became very clear that this was about to unfold.

So now here today at the Pentagon, the top leaders continuing to get briefed, continuing to try and assess Russian intentions, capabilities, motivations. Likely that the defense secretary and he chairman of the joint chiefs will go to the White House later this morning.

So what do they think the Russians are doing? The Russian military playbook here, as you look at that map, John, would be to try and fracture the Ukraine military and the Ukraine government. Go in with cyberattacks, followed up by all of these weapons attacks that you're seeing.

If they can fracture the military, the command and control and essentially make it impossible for them to communicate amongst themselves across the country, not be able to launch a coordinated counterattack, that is something the Russians want to see. That is something the Russians want to accomplish. So all of this, here at the Pentagon and certainly around the world,

being watched minute by minute, John.

BERMAN: And that's why you're seeing these reports of explosions from all over the country, from the east all the way to the west. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, please stand by for us. We'll come back to you in a bit.

STARR: Thank you.

KEILAR: All right. Joining me now is four-star Admiral James Foggo, who commanded all U.S. and NATO naval forces in Europe until retiring in 2020. He is the dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy at the Navy League of the United States. He's also a distinguished fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

I just want to get your general takeaways on the situation but also, you know, speaking to the naval power that we're seeing from the south. These strikes from likely maritime positions in Odessa. What can you tell us?

ADMIRAL JAMES FOGGO, U.S. NAVY (RET.): Right, Brianna. Well, this is a very tragic situation for a sovereign country that's done nothing to deserve this kind of onslaught from the Russians.

I think what we've seen overnight is a lot of reporting on a lot of things, and we're trying to sort through the facts right now. It's good to have your people in the field.

But clearly, the Russians started with a cyberattack. And that's been going on for over a week. They're interested, and frankly, I think they've taken a play from our playbook. I was involved in the Libya operations in 2011. Cyber, followed by strikes on things like airfields. Cyber, followed by strikes on facilities, military facilities to try to decapitate the leadership or separate the orders that are coming from Kyiv out into the field.

And what we've seen so far is it looks like the Ukrainian military is fighting back. General Hertling talked earlier about counterbattery fire. It's unfortunate, the Russians are going to want air superiority before troops go in. Some troops have entered Donbas.

But before they go further into the country, they're going to want to be able to back that up with close air support. In order to do that, they've got to have a no-fly zone, if you will, total superiority of the air.

Earlier reporting from the priest in Kyiv said that there was Russian aircraft overhead. So they're moving in that direction.

And you know, they want to take out integrated air and missile defenses. The Ukrainians don't have a lot of that. I mean, this is not like Israel with Iron Dome that can knock down missiles. They don't have Patriot. And unfortunately, we're not allowed to help them with Patriot missiles from the border. So they're on their own. They've got some mani-pads, manned portable

air defense systems, the Stinger missile. It worked well in Afghanistan. But we'll see how long that inventory lasts as they fight back.

I think they're going to fight bravely. This -- the Russians are not in their home.

[06:30:00]