Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Ukraine, Russia to Hold Talks Today; Thousands Flee Ukraine as Fighting Continues; Ukrainian Resistance Repels Russian Advancements. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 28, 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.

[05:59:56]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, February 28th. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

And we do begin with breaking news on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. New reports that the Russian forces are encountering stiff resistance, not only from the Ukrainian military but from ordinary civilians, as well. Even being turned back in some places.

At this moment, there are talks under way between Russian and Ukrainian delegations close to the border. Ukraine is calling for an immediate cease-fire. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky making it clear he expects little out of these discussions. We are expecting new reporting about them very shortly.

There are growing fears this morning that Belarus is prepared to send soldiers into Ukraine in support of the Russian invasion. That is according to Ukrainian intelligence.

President Putin has placed nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. The White House calls it another manufactured threat.

Now, there are visible signs of Russian setbacks in Kharkiv, which is where Russian military vehicles have been going in reverse, retreating, actually, from Ukrainian forces. And video of a drone attack that the Ukrainians claim hit a column of Russian military vehicles north of the city of Kherson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And also destroyed in this conflict the largest aircraft in the world. Ukraine's Antonov 225 Maria, this was blown up in a Russian attack at an airport near the capital city.

According to the the U.N., the latest toll for civilian deaths in Ukraine stands at 102, with 304 people injured. The agency acknowledging the true figure could be considerably higher.

The U.N. also says more than 424,000 Ukrainians have fled the country, with more than half of them seeking refuge in Poland.

BERMAN: So protests against the Russian invasion intensifying around the world, most specifically inside Russia, where police have detained nearly 6,000 demonstrators.

The world, by and large, standing with Ukraine. Landmarks in New York, Paris, London, elsewhere showing blue and yellow in support. Many European countries have closed their airspace. The European Union has closed its airspace to Russian planes.

KEILAR: And later this morning, President Biden will hold a call with U.S. allies to discuss the response to Russia's invasion moving forward. Let's go to Kyiv where a lawmaker just told Russia -- told us that Russia is unleashing hell.

And joining us now is Yaroslav Trofimov. He is the chief foreign affairs correspondent with "The Wall Street Journal."

Yaroslav, can you just give us a sense of what it's been like in the city there in the last 24 hours?

YAROSLAV TROFIMOV, CHIEF FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, actually, it's been quieter in the last 24 hours than the previous day. You know, the previous two nights was like shooting in the night as the Russian infiltrators and Ukrainian forces were fighting. That has ended.

Last night, hardly any shooting and also the intensity of Russian air strikes was much lower. So everybody is waiting now. What's going to happen on these talks that began just minutes ago on the Russian/Belarusian border between the -- and the Ukrainians have said the defense minister of the country. So they had a little obligation (ph).

And any time with a driver on sick day, because nobody could leave their homes yesterday because of the curfew. Today for the first time, people came out. Long lines around supermarkets, pharmacies, people stocking up on food very patiently. Some standing on liberty (ph).

There is no walking anywhere. And there were defense forces, volunteers and rebel troops at many checkpoints. Some of them very sturdy ones made of concrete and African pan traps (ph). Others just, you know, makeshift ones made from tires and whatever household items people could contribute.

And then we went to the outside of the city where the front -- front line is with the Russian forces. And you know, the soldiers, the Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines are in a very good mood by the recent victories they say they've had against the Russians. They both had posted video of captured Russian vehicles. And so -- so far, at least, the war is going not to plan for President Putin.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, the expectations have been defied by Ukrainian forces. They're still outmatched, Yaroslav. I wonder what they're expecting from Russian forces here in the coming days?

TROFIMOV: Well, they are outmatched, that is true. But Ukraine has 200,000 (ph) professional soldiers in its military, which is roughly the same number of troops that Russia has committed to this campaign so far. And just in the last two days, they've raised another 100,000 reservists and volunteers to join -- to join the Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine has about 400,000 people who have combat experience in Eastern Ukraine, the Donbas conflict, in the last eight years. And some of the weaponry that the Ukrainians have is actually very sophisticated. I mean, these reels that the Ukrainian military released of Turkish-made Bayraktar drones annihilating Russian columns, including Russian anti- aircraft systems are, you know, quite impressive, according to military analysts.

And all the new weaponry that is pouring here now from the West: the -- you know, the Stinger missiles, the INVAR and Javelin missiles. All those things can actually shift the balance.

And let's also remember, you know, the Russian forces are in a foreign land. They don't know the lay of the land. And they have extreme hostility from the local population. We've been driving around, and there are ordinary people, villagers just, you know, creating road blocks with hunting rifles, hunting for Russians.

KEILAR: Yes, look, the dynamics of this have changed considerably here in the last few days. And I think it seems like the biggest weapon the Ukrainians have is their spirit. We've seen that over and over.

Yaroslav Trofimov, we appreciate you joining us from Kyiv. Thank you.

TROFIMOV: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. There are discussions going under way now between Ukrainian and a Russian delegation. This is happening north of the Ukraine/Belarus border in the city of Gomel right about there.

Let's get a sense of what's going on with those discussions. I'm joined by CNN's Scott McLean, who is in the western city of Lviv, which is right there. Scott, what are you hearing about these talks?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Yes. I don't think that a lot of people where I am in Lviv are holding out a lot of hopes that those talks are going to bear a lot of fruit. That's because where I am at the train station, people are still desperately trying to get out of the country as quickly as they can.

The easiest way to do that, by and large, is by train. The trouble, though, John, is that it's not actually that easy. When we arrived at the station earlier today a couple hours ago, there were no trains listed that were headed to any of the neighboring countries.

But about an hour ago, they made an announcement saying there was going to be a train leaving on the platform down there. And so everyone ran across the tracks to try to get there. The problem is that police stopped people from going that way. There was one woman who particularly was arguing with police. She had

a heated argument. And you could just sense the exhaustion on her face, because this is someone who has traveled for a day. Other people that have traveled for several days just to get to this point, and they're still not there yet.

The police have been telling people to come down here in this tunnel leading up to the tracks, because they're trying to do this in a much more orderly fashion.

And so they're trying to prioritize women and children, which is why you see a heck of a lot of men here right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCLEAN: There's no more room on the train?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCLEAN: OK. So you've cut it off now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We will wait until the space will be available.

MCLEAN: OK, is the train leaving now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess so.

MCLEAN: It's not --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess, no. There is some space, actually. But until the passengers will go onto the train.

MCLEAN: OK. So they're still maybe trying to get a few more people onto the train. And as you can see here, it's quite desperate to try to -- quite desperate to try to get on there.

I spoke with one woman earlier who was with her child and her husband. She was trying to get on the train. And they actually wouldn't let her husband on, and so she decided that she wasn't going to go.

They've also turned back a lot of men here. There was a volunteer similar to the gentleman that was just talking to us, John, earlier. Who basically said if you're a man, come with me. We will set you up with accommodations, a place to stay. Basically, saying there is no chance that you're going to be on these trains at all.

Obviously, since Ukraine is not letting Ukrainian men, by and large, out of the country, most of the men trying to get out are foreigners. They are finding it extremely difficult to leave. Some of them are quite patient, thinking of course, the women and children should go first. Others just simply want to go home however they can, John.

BERMAN: Scott McLean for us, in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. The border with Poland. So many people trying to get out. Hundreds of thousands trying to cross the border. Scott, thank you so much for being there for us.

KEILAR: The European Union, in an historic move, agreeing to buy and deliver weapons and other equipment to Ukraine's military as it battles Russian invasion -- invaders.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is live for us in Brussels, Belgium. I mean, the E.U. is sending fighter jets, Natasha, obviously a testament to the successes of the Ukrainian air force so far.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a major shift that we're seeing among European allies, among NATO members, who now are saying that they're going to be sending military equipment to the Ukrainians in order to fend off this Russian aggression.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reiterating today that NATO members will be sending more equipment amid this war. Let me just read you something he wrote this morning.

[06:10:07]

He said, "I just spoke with President Zelensky and commended him for the bravery of the people and armed forces of Ukraine. NATO allies are stepping up support with air defense missiles, anti-tank weapons, as well as humanitarian and financial aid."

Obviously, this comes days after NATO announced that it would be activating its rapid response force, sending thousands of troops to those eastern flank NATO countries in order to shore up support there in the face of this Russian aggression. Obviously, those allies feeling very vulnerable.

But the amount of weaponry that we are now seeing potentially being sent to Ukraine by these European members is really remarkable, particularly Germany. Germany now is upping its defense spending for the first time in, you know, since the end of World War II. And they are now agreeing to send weapons from their own stockpile to Ukraine to actually help them fend off the Russians. This is just a seismic shift.

Now, combine that with the -- the collaboration that we saw last week on the imposition of Swiss sanctions on Russia, cutting them off from that international payment system. There has just been a really decisive and unified response against Russia -- Russian aggression and in an attempt to cut them off and isolate them from the global economy and to give the Ukrainians more of an edge over the Russian military.

Obviously, Russian military is extremely advanced. But they have not been doing very well. And Ukraine has been over-performing, according to U.S. officials and western officials who have been analyzing this.

So the hope is that, by sending the Ukrainians more weapons by -- by kind of flooding the zone with anti-tank missiles, with Stinger missiles, with air defense systems, they can help them keep hold of that key Ukrainian capital, at the very least, of Kyiv.

KEILAR: It is really something, certainly something we didn't expect a week ago. And we're going to see if it's enough and if it's happening soon enough. Really, only time will tell with that.

Natasha, live for us from Brussels. Thank you.

All right. Joining us now is Admiral James Foggo. He is the dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy at the Navy League of the United States and distinguished fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

Admiral, thank you so much for being with us.

This is the overall map of the situation. You can see the Russians invading from three sides here. One piece of news this morning is that Belarus, the Belarusians threatening to join the fight directly. What would that do, if they tried to move in their own troops from Belarus into Ukraine?

ADMIRAL JAMES FOGGO, DEAN, CENTER FOR MARITIME STRATEGY, NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, John, for the privilege of being here.

And frankly, Belarus and the talk of joining the fight is extremely disappointing. So this is an army of about 50,000 soldiers. However, many of them are conscripts. Their conscripted services are for about 18 months. So junior people, not -- not senior people.

They're going to come in, if they come in, with the same kind of military equipment that the Russians have in the country right now. So this is older-Soviet-era equipment.

But nevertheless, the troops will be fresh. They will bring fresh tanks and armored personnel carrier to the fight and also additional air forces, including the MIG-29 jets.

BERMAN: Admiral, if you will, stand by for one moment here, because I'm getting word that we have our Matthew Chance live on the ground in Kyiv near the front lines of where there is some activity. Matthew, what are you seeing?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Out on the front lines I was listening to what the admiral was saying there, John, about the Soviet-era military equipment and how well it might perform.

Well, here you go. Right within the past few hours, there has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of Kyiv. And this is one of those Russian Soviet-era vehicles, which is completely burned out.

You can see this is a bridge, actually. There's an access point to the northwest of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. And the Russian column that has come down here has been absolutely hammered.

Obviously, we're still in a very exposed situation right now. But just for you, there is the debris, the twisted metal of these vehicles. This is obviously just a truck carrying supplies. We saw the armored vehicle in front there.

I mean, looking around, absolutely -- look at this. I mean, what kind of munitions does it take to do that to a car, to a vehicle? You know, I know that I've been to the local Ukrainian commanders here. They've been saying that they were using Western anti-tank missiles to -- to attack these columns. Look. So recent, the battle. This vehicle is still smoking. There's still smoke coming out the back of that.

Ammunition boxes on the ground. There's unexploded grenades in various -- like pineapple grenades everywhere. A real scene of devastation along this bridge.

According to the local Ukrainian military that I've been speaking to, there may be as many as 10. Ten. Let me look. This's almost a cliche. But obviously, somebody has brought a memento from home, you know. And now it's scorched and lying with the debris of the, in this case, failed attack.

[06:15:16]

I mean, you know, all along this bridge, which is an access point, there are these vehicles that have been hammered by the Ukrainian forces. A bit of a Russian uniform there lying on the floor. I can tell you, I toured this area earlier, and there were some terrible things that we can't really show you on camera in terms of dead bodies, Russians still lying here on the ground.

This vehicle here is obviously from the Russian military. It's got the letter "V" daubed on the side with tape, or paint. That paint, that stands for "vostok," which is the Russian word for east, which implies that these military equipments, they came from the eastern divisions of the Russian military.

Look, there's evidence -- I don't want to show you too much, but there's a body there. That's a Russian soldier that is lying there dead on this bridge. Lying there dead on this bridge as -- as his column was attempted to drive in and been thwarted.

Ukrainian officials, Ukrainian soldiers who I've been speaking to over the past couple of hours are absolutely enthused by this victory they say that they've scored.

And it's not just here. We've seen instances all over the country where the Ukrainians have really pushed back against the Russians. And it's -- it's really made them feel that they can win this war.

But the big question is what will Russia do now? If it has sent in, as it seems it has, an underpowered invasion, there is a very strong chance, I would say -- and I live in Russia, and I've covered Russia for many, many years -- that they could double down and go in much harder.

And that is the big risk now for the Ukrainian military. Celebrate their victories. The big question is what will the response of the Russian military and the Russian political leadership be, John?

BERMAN: Matthew, these are remarkable pictures. Be careful. I -- I am going to try to keep talking to you. We have a sketchy connection here. But these are really remarkable images and reporting that I want to keep talking about, Matthew, if you can.

To still see the smoke rising from the wreckage of some of these attacks. Help us understand who these Ukrainian forces are that are pushing back these columns in this Russian invasion? Are these Ukrainian regulars? And are they set up in defensive positions, or are they moving about, striking targets of opportunity?

CHANCE: It's a good question. And the thing is what's happened over the past couple of, you know, days since this invasion began, is that the Ukraine -- actually, I was crouching down right by a grenade there, look. And I didn't see that. So let's -- let's move away from that.

Look, I mean, you've got the Ukrainian military that is battle- hardened from its fight in the east of the country. They've been fighting Russians and Russian-backed rebels in that region for a long time. And so they -- they know what they're doing.

They've been bolstered by the arrival of, you know, Stinger missiles and anti-tank Javelin missiles from the United States and other countries, as well, in the west.

Just yesterday, Sweden announced it was delivering -- Sweden announced it was delivering 5,000 anti-tank missiles to this country to help Ukrainians defend against the Russian invasion.

And so it's with the help of that weaponry they've been able to really cause the Russians a significant amount of pain.

It's also something to do with the Russian tactics, as well. If they thought they were going to come into this country and there was going to be a broad surrender, that the military were going to roll over, that they weren't going to fight, then that was obviously -- you look at these images of this twisted metal. That was obviously a massive miscalculation on the part of the Kremlin -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Matthew Chance, just remarkable reporting. You and your team get to safety if you can. Because we want to check back in with you in a bit here.

And while you do that, I want to discuss the significance of what we're seeing here. Admiral Foggo is back with me. And again, it's not just in Kyiv. Matthew Chance is right here, north of Kyiv. But we're getting reports from Kharkiv, Mykolaiv also, of these Ukrainian forces turning back these Russian columns.

And we saw it with our own eyes. How are they doing it, Admiral?

FOGGO: John, it's absolutely amazing. And it starts with leadership from the top. So President Zelensky has set an example for his troops that has increased morale to incredible levels. He's got true grit. He's got guts. He's got determination. He turned down a ride and said, "I don't need a ride. Give me ammunition." So out in the field, fighting.

[06:20:07] They're able to do this, because they break down into small, tactical groups. So they have distributed command and control of these small units, and they have good weapons systems that they've received from the west, including the Javelin anti-tank missiles.

BERMAN: You talked about the Javelins right now. Just so people know what that is, let me show a picture of it. This is what the Javelin looks like. A graphic image. And this is actually video from the Ukrainian defense ministry of the Ukrainians practicing with the Javelin. You can see they're very proud of it.

Again, this is produced by the Ukrainian defense ministry here. Talk to us about why this particular weapon is so effective against the Russian armor?

FOGGO: Well, it's a modern 21st Century weapon. And it is intended to seek out an armored unit. There could be an armored personnel carrier or a tank, and it's got a high explosive round and is very effective at penetrating that armor and destroying it in one shot.

So you probably saw some of that in the column with Matthew Chance. By the way, just incredible what CNN has done with its expeditionary journalists in the field. Very dangerous out there with the unexploded ordinance.

So this is very effective weapon, but it's got to be fired by a human being. It's shoulder fired. And that individual puts himself at risk for what we would call counterbattery fire. They see where it comes from, they shoot at that spot. So you've got to shoot and move. That's the bravery of the Ukrainian soldiers and the motivation and determination in the field, which has been unmatched.

BERMAN: Admiral Foggo, we're going to come back to you in a little bit to try to get a better understanding of this. We're also going to get back to the ground, if we can, to get some more reporting here.

Because that is remarkable to see. You know, minutes and hours after Russian forces pushed back, our reporter on the scene to see the aftermath. And we are beginning to hear more and more stories like this around the country.

I know people don't want to get their hopes up. And they should be tempered. Because the size of the Russian military. But these stories are starting to come in more frequently.

In the meantime, Vladimir Putin has placed his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. How will the White House respond? Our breaking news coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:17]

KEILAR: This morning, Russian troops are moving toward Kyiv. Satellite images show a three-mile-long convoy of Russian troops and equipment on the road that leads directly to the Ukrainian capital. I want to bring in Terrell Jermaine Starr. He is a non-resident senior

fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. He's also the host of "The Black Diplomats" podcast, and he is embedded with the Ukrainian volunteer military unit. He's joining us now from a checkpoint in Kyiv.

Terrell, can you tell us sort of, you know, where you are, what you're seeing, what it's like there?

TERRELL JERMAINE STARR, NON-RESIDENT SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S EURASIA CENTER: Well, hello, how are you? I'm not at the checkpoint right this moment. But I will describe what I saw yesterday at this checkpoint, which is north of Kyiv.

I witnessed the men and women month who answered their country's call to take up arms against the Russian invasion. And what I saw were a group of people who have never worked together in their lives, people who had no experience, people who are lawyers, shoemakers, chemists, museum directors, who decided that they would risk their lives in order to fight a massive -- a massive military in Russia.

Yesterday, they -- I was at a checkpoint. And they stopped a car, a vehicle that was behaving suspiciously. They asked them to slow down several times, and the car kept going. After the car refused to do so, the volunteers shot into the vehicle, and the vehicle stopped. The men warned them several times to stop, to get out of the vehicle. The car kept advancing. Again, they finally finished those two people, who they told me were suspected saboteurs, which has been a large -- which has been a larger problem during this conflict.

BERMAN: Terrell, you are actually standing today, this morning, near something that I think is an act of defiance in its own right, which is Ukrainians going to the supermarket today.

STARR: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Tell us about that. Tell us about life in Kyiv this morning.

STARR: Absolutely. So right now, I'm in front of a supermarket. This city has been under a weekend-long curfew. People were not -- people were urged to stay inside, lest they be accused of being saboteurs.

And this is after the first -- after this long weekend. You have this line that starts right here at this supermarket. And people have been waiting for quite a long time.

And so what you see is, yes, it's definitely resilience here. And so there is a certain degree of normality, which is actually quite surprising, given the fact that not -- roughly 15 minutes away from here, an apartment complex was bombed.

And so in the midst of all of this, you have these people being orderly. No chaos at all, waiting to get their goods, because there has been shortages around the city for basic things. Particularly milk, water, and bread. And so this is the line right here. You saw where we began. And then

you see an even longer line of people waiting to get in -- John, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Terrell, thank you so much for just a look there, what we're seeing on the streets of Ukraine. And we're going to be coming back to you a little later in the show, as well.

President Zelensky is asking for help, restricting Russia from Ukrainian skies. The U.S., though, says it's not willing to take that step. We'll talk about why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]