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CNN Belarus expected to Join Russian Invasion of Ukraine; Putin Puts Nuclear Forces on Alert in Chilling Move; World Rallies in Support Of Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion; Russia's Currency Crashing as West Targets Country Banks; Satellite Pics: 3-Mile Long Russia Convoy On Roadway to Kyiv; CNN At Train Station Where Ukrainians Are Trying to Flee; Nearly 6,000 Detained Amid Anti-War Protests in Russia. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 28, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, right now, we are on pace to increase fossil fuel emission by 14 percent, we need to go down by 45 percent in order to reach that limit. And the new science finds that if we go past 1.5, it'll take 1000s of years for the Earth to recover in some parts as a result of it.

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wrong direction. Bill Weir, thank you very much. NEW DAY continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, February 28. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar. And we do begin with breaking news.

Just moments ago, in an incredible moment here on CNN, our Matthew Chance was on the front lines of Russia's attempt to take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. He's on the ground here after Ukrainians pushed back this Russian assault. You can see Matthew pointing to the ground there, still live grenades littering the ground there. Russian killed in action on the ground there, leaving their troops behind which U.S. Military officials will tell you something Americans don't do.

We're going to go back to that scene and show you just what Matthew found in a moment. This is where things stand overall this morning. We have new reporting overnight that the Russian forces are encountering fierce resistance all over the country, not just from Ukrainian Military, but civilians as well, they're being turned back in other places beyond this site north of Kyiv that we just saw

At this moment there are talks underway between Russian and Ukrainian delegations close to the border with Belarus. Ukraine is calling for an immediate ceasefire and a Russian troop withdrawal. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he says, he's not expecting any breakthroughs. We are watching these talks closely. We will bring you any updates. There are growing fears, this morning, that Belarus is prepared to send soldiers into Ukraine in support of the Russian invasion, that's according to Ukrainian intelligence. The Russian leader Vladimir Putin placed his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. The White House calls this another manufactured threat.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: There are visible signs of Russian setbacks. Kharkiv, Russian Military vehicles actually going in reverse. You see it there, retreating from Ukrainian forces. And a video of a drone attack that the Ukrainians claim hit a column of Russian Military vehicles north of the city of Kherson.

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KEILAR: According to the UN, the latest toll for civilian deaths in Ukraine stands at 102 with 304 people injured. The Agency acknowledging that true figure could be considerably higher. The UN also says that more than 422,000 Ukrainians have fled the country with more than half of them seeking refuge in Poland.

Protests against the war intensifying around the world, most significantly inside of Russia where Police have detained nearly 6,000 demonstrators.

BERMAN: Right. Much of the world is standing by Ukraine. Landmarks in Paris, London elsewhere, glowing blue and yellow in I show of support. Many European countries, the European Union has closed its airspace to Russian planes.

I want to bring in CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto, who is in Lviv this morning. Jim these talks underway right now north of Ukrainian border in Belarus, between a Russian and Ukrainian delegation, what do you know about what's going on?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, just now the Kremlin is refusing to comment on the talks. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, let's let the talks proceed.

But we do have a public position now from the Ukrainian side. And that is that the Ukrainian demands are simple, and let's just say, right out, quite strong. They say they want an immediate ceasefire and they also want all Russian forces to withdraw from the country.

It's notable, John, that that in just a few days, Ukraine is in a position to make such a demand, right? Because remember, as this invasion began, with the odds stacked against them, Russia, frankly, not listening to talks or the possibility of talks and the U.S., NATO, Ukraine decided at that point that talks were not useful, because of Russia's advanced, but also Russia's enormous advantage. With the slow progress of the Russian invasion, it's a different dynamic right now. Listen, you know, the Kremlin may very well reject that demand. But the fact that Ukraine can make that demand this morning in these talks, also refuse the original Russian request to have those talks in Minsk, the Belarusian Capital, because Ukraine understandably - quite understandably does not view that as neutral ground giving Belarus involvement in this invasion, it's a change.

Do those talks change the dynamic? Do they lead to any of these things? We'll see. But just the dynamic in those negotiations is very different than just a few days ago.

BERMAN: Yes. The Ukrainians clearly embolden. This is the border between Ukraine and Belarus. This is the region right now. We're not given the exact location, but the region where these talks are underway. We're waiting for some new reporting - for some new reporting about what is actually taking place there.

[07:05:00]

In the meantime, Jim, this move by Vladimir Putin to increase the readiness of his nuclear deterrence, what does that mean? And how has the U.S. responded?

SCIUTTO: Let's talk about it, John. And I think in quite careful terms, because this requires a lot of context. So you have the Russian president, Russia, with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world saying over the weekend - and this is significant - that he's put those forces on alert.

Now, as you heard, and you mentioned earlier, that the White House position is this - this is another manufactured threat. And I've talked to multiple people in the Military about this and that is the general view that this is a threat - a bluff, as it were, as Russia is on its backfoot during this invasion. You know, that the Russian president, drawing attention rattling the saber. That may be true.

But I will also say this, I know that, because of the simple fact that it involves nuclear forces of Russia, and a public threat to put those on alert, that very fact makes us officials take it seriously, look at it seriously.

But another dynamic here, too, is that with the Russian invasion, not going according to plan, and with a perception of Putin's decision making right now, and how he might respond, if things continue to go against him, that's an added factor that make them listen, as the Russian president states these words so publicly.

The other point I would note, John, is this. It is part of Russia's Military doctrine, that the use of tactical nuclear weapons - tactical, being relatively small, when I say small, still with enormous capability on a Hiroshima scale, right, to destroy cities and things. But tactical nuclear weapons are part of their Military doctrine, as first use in response to a conventional threat. It's different from the way the U.S. and other countries look at nuclear weapons. So when you add those injects into the conversation, yes, the prevailing view may be that this is a manufactured threat. But because it's nuclear, and because Putin's decision making is believably questionable at this point, and three, because it's part of Russian Military doctrine, it is something that folks take seriously. I think it's something we need to be conscious of.

BERMAN: Yes. Let's - just to be clear, the same guy who ordered this massive invasion into Ukraine, the same guy who is suffering some setbacks that we're seeing in this invasion, that's the same guy who, not to be glib, has his finger on the button. So that is why the United States, I think, is appropriately concerned by this. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much for your reporting.

SCIUTTO: Thanks.

KEILAR: Let's get now to CNN's Nic Robertson, who is live for us in Moscow. Nic, I wonder how Putin is reacting to the sanctions? Very real repercussions here, the ruble down, interest rates up even as the nuclear threat appears to be up.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure. I mean, the country's getting hammered at the moment. Putin, through his spokesman has said that "he is indifferent." That's a quote, to the personal sanctions that have been put on him. The Kremlin keeps insisting that all Putin's moderate personal ownership and personal wealth is public, so they keep pushing back on this notion. But he is incredibly wealthy, of course, much of the rest of the world sees it in another light.

When it comes to the sort of overall economy, Putin is meeting today with his minister of finance, he is meeting with his prime minister, his first minister, his the head of the Central Bank, the head of some other banks, as well, as they try to figure out what to do about these sanctions. The Stock Exchange here didn't trade today, the ruble fell 30 percent at the beginning of the day. It's down to it's a quarter of its value in 2014, for example.

Now Russians are used to seeing hits on the Rube. They've lived - you know, the sort of middle aged will have lived through the Soviet Union and the terrible time the ruble had then. 1998, the crash of the ruble, 2014 as well when Western sanctions began to be put on Russia, because of its first invasion of Ukraine. People here have become somewhat more used to it.

However, it does seem that the scale of the sanctions at the moment has taken the Kremlin by surprise. They seem flat footed in their response. The spokesman for President Putin said that they had been preparing for this contingency. We know that build up a $630 billion slush fund. Well, guess what? They're not able to use that slush fund the way they expected to pay down some of their debt and to buy rubles on the international market.

So at the moment the best word or the strongest word from the Kremlin is they're working on what to do about the sanctions. They've said that they will respond internationally as well. What they're going to do about that isn't clear. Their biggest problem, though, seems fixing the economy at home.

[07:10:00]

KEILAR: Yes. All right, Nic, thank you so much for putting all of that into context. These are real ramifications that they're facing there in Russia, and the Putin has to contend with.

Now to some incredible footage that is just into CNN. Our very own Matthew Chance is on the frontlines in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There has been a ferocious back 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 is 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 still in a very exposed situation right now. But let me just bring you along here. There's the debris everywhere, the twisted metal of these vehicles. This is obviously just the truck carrying supplies. You saw the armored vehicle in front there. I'm 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 seen local Ukrainian commanders here. They've been saying that they were using Western anti-tank missiles to attack these columns. Look, so recent, the battle. This vehicle is still smoking. There's still smoke coming out at the back of that.

Ammunition boxes on the ground. There's unexploded grenades in various - like pineapple grenades everywhere, you know, a real scene of devastation. I mean, look, I mean, it's a bit of - 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.

Look as evidence I don't want you to show you this too much. But there's a body there. That's a Russian soldier. And he's lying there dead on this bridge. Lying there dead on this bridge at his column has attempted to drive in and been thwarted.

Ukrainian officials, and 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 since its invasion began. Is that the Ukraine - actually, I was crouching down right by a grenade there. Look, I didn't see that. So let's move away from that.

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BERMAN: No, Matthew and his team are safe. We're going to check back in with him in a little bit. But the important theme of that story is the Ukrainians are having success in many different locations in the country, pushing the Russians back. Joining us now is Admiral James Foggo. He's the dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy at the Navy League of the United States, Distinguished Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. And Admiral that was right here, right, just north of Kyiv that we saw the Ukrainian forces destroying that convoy. We've got reports of similar things happening down here on the Black Sea coast, Mykolaiv, also to an extent here in the second largest city in Ukraine in Kharkiv.

How are the Ukrainians doing this? Why are they having these examples of success?

ADM. JAMES FOGGO, U.S. NAVY (RETIRED): John, it's absolutely amazing. And they are motivated fighters. That motivation stocks starts from the top down from their president, who has shown some real grit in this fight. And they've proven the fact that they can operate in small units. Small unit tactics, but distributed.

They have weapons. We know they've got anti-tank weapons in the form of Javelin--

BERMAN: Here is a video of that. You can keep talking. This is what the Javelin looks like when it's deployed here. This is from the Ukrainian defense ministry, right.

FOGGO: Right. And you know, that armored column, it could have been hit by Javelins, it could have been hit by an unmanned aerial vehicle. They have the Bayraktar from Turkey that they've been using. But the Javelin is very effective. Shoulder fired, and it's optically guided, infrared, so when you shoot it, you can move. And that means that the archer or the shooter, it's much harder for the Russians to target them, so you can go back and do it again.

BERMAN: All right. So there is some success the Ukrainians are having around the country. Nevertheless, the Russians still have this advantage in numbers. And over the last 24 hours, we saw this satellite imagery - this column is three miles long, and we're told that it's supplies, it's maybe troops. I want to show people, if I can exactly where that is.

Here's Kyiv. Here's the capital. That convoy was right about here, about 30 miles heading to the city. What is the presence of that tell you?

FOGGO: Well, the first thing it tells me is that, you know, throughout this fight, they've had a problem with sustainment and Military mobility in their supply lines. It's The Achilles heels of any force since the time of Alexander, the Great. So this massive three mile convoy is bringing in probably more ordinance, more troops, food, supplies and gas. They've even run out of gas in some of their tanks on the highways and byways.

[07:15:00]

This column stands or sits like a Sword of Damocles over President Zelenskyy and the people of Kyiv. And it's no surprise they did this prior to these negotiations near Pripyat in Belarus. BERMAN: Yes. So you think maybe this right here is to give Putin some leverage as those discussions get underway. Admiral Foggo, we're going to come back to you in a little bit. Thank you so much--

FOGGO: Thanks John.

BERMAN: --for being with us.

FOGGO: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now is the Editor for Forbes Ukraine, Denys Krasnikov. Denys, thank you for being with us right now. Just give us a sense of what you are seeing. It looks like you're inside in safety. What's it been like the last few hours?

DENYS KRASNIKOV, EDITOR, FORBES UKRAINE: The last few hours, we're OK. But a couple of days ago, I had to move - I have to had to evacuate from Kyiv, and it was a real trip. I mean, I had to take four cars, some people helped me. And I got to the base where Forbes arranged for the building from which we can work together and cover the war.

At the moment I'm safe, I'm with my cats, kids around. Many families here. I mean, I just went today to buy some clothes, because I - when I heard the sirens, all I could get from my house was a cat and a couple of things - so a laptop.

KEILAR: So that's how quickly you have to move. Denys, can I ask you, there are so many things that are in flux. There's Ukrainian intelligence, that Belarus may be joining the fight. You're seeing Ukrainian forces have such an I think an unexpected success right now being able to repel and hold Russian troops. But there's a question if this is going to be able to continue. What is what is the expectation?

KRASNIKOV: Well, I mean, this war has changed us. I mean, the second invasion - the full scale invasion - it has changed all the people. And we believe in our military and we believe in Ukraine, and we just hope that we'll keep fighting.

BERMAN: Has it shifted the morale? This invasion now has been going on for five days, day to day? What are the kinds of changes you're seeing?

KRASNIKOV: I just see how people try to help each other, how they collect money and buy some clothes, some drugs from drugstores, and other things so that they can somehow help the Military. And I heard that in this little village, in which I'm right now, like 3,000 people just joined the - you know, not the army, but the special forces that help to survey the location and try - some Russians hit or somehow help the military actually. They have guns and they moved somewhere, not sure.

So, I mean, that my point is that every everybody is helping each other. And I think that I just hope that it will help eventually to end this war and to get the Justice.

KEILAR: Denys Krasnikov, the Editor of Forbes Ukraine, we certainly appreciate you being with us. We do hope you remain safe. And thank you so much.

KRASNIKOV: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Just in, we're getting where the Ukraine is setting up an international Legion that would allow foreigners to go into Ukraine to join the fight. Standby, this is CNN's special live coverage.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. The Breaking News this morning, obviously, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I just saw an estimate that some 500,000 Ukrainians are trying to get over the border right now, fleeing the nation.

Our Scott McLean is in the City of Lviv, he's been talking to some of them, Scott, what are you seeing?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, look, let me just describe the situation to you. You just saw this - this baby was just pulled up from these stairs. They're trying to pull children. Mark, if you can just look down there. They're trying to pull children out through the group - women and children up, to try to get on the platform where there is a train leaving to Poland.

You can see there's some young babies. I'm spotting babies that are as young as two, three years old, and they're trying to pull the bags up. Try to get - they're prioritizing women and children, but it is obviously quite a chaotic situation. And there's a lot of angry people who are going to be disappointed that they're not going to be able to be on this train to Poland.

You can understand the desperation of people. We've known that this train is leaving from this platform for about two hours, and they've basically tried to let people onto the platform as orderly as we can. Mark if you can just show there are people starting to get on the train. There's military assisting, there's police assisting as well, just trying to do this in an orderly fashion, to try to avoid some of the scenes of chaos that we've seen before.

But this is very emotional. People, they're trying to get their kids out. I just spoke with one woman who had a two year old kid that she managed to pull up and she was in tears, just totally overwhelmed. I've seen children crying just totally overwhelmed in this situation, just knowing that they're going to hopefully be able to get on this train.

[07:25:00]

You can also understand the disappointment of the people who are not going to be getting on this train as well, John, and I have to say that this train, looks like one of the newer ones, which is probably going to make for a much more comfortable situation for these people, because there were some of the older, more Soviet era trains that had been running previously. This one looks a little bit more modern, but you can imagine that they're going to pack it as tightly as they possibly can to make sure that as many people as they possibly can, can actually get out.

And Mark, if we can just go back here for a second just to see, because what we were told earlier is that they were going to basically march us over here toward the stairs. Is that they were going to essentially fill the train and then once they filled the train, see who else they can possibly get up. So, obviously, not everyone's on it right now. But I'm not sure if police are actively allowing anybody else on here.

Earlier today, they were basically telling single men that there was not a chance that they would be able to get on this train. And so essentially, they were telling them that they would find them a hostel, a place to go, a place to sleep until there's more trains, more availability to be able to get people out of here. But John, you can kind of sense the desperation here of the situation here in the Lviv.

And also remember that many of these people who have come here, they've been traveling for a day, two days, three days, and so they're exhausted, they're tired, they're emotional, and they just want to desperately get out of here and so you can understand why emotions are running so, so high right now, John.

BERMAN: Scott McLean, just really tragic images there. Several 100,000 Ukrainians have already left the country. As we can see right before you, 1000s more trying to get out. This is the western City of Lviv, where it's just a short drive over the border into Poland, and people go back and forth all the time. But as you can see now, how difficult that last little leg of the journey is. People still desperately trying to make it. Scott McLean. Thank you so much for your reporting.

KEILAR: Russia's Vladimir Putin facing pushback from many of his own people, as nearly 6,000 have been detained for participating in antiwar protests across Russia. Joining me now to discuss is Leonid Volkov. He is the chief of staff to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Sir, thank you so much for being with us today.

I'm just wondering what you think of these protests where you have 1000s of arrests?

LEONID VOLKOV, CHIEF OF STAFF TO RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEY NAVALNY: Well, I would very clearly say is this protests proves that Putin does not equal Russia. So it's Putin's war on Ukraine, but it's highly unpopular, and very much unsupported.

Last year when Alexey Navalny was arrested there were 20,000 people arrested and detained over the protest after his arrest. And he actually said that after the crackdown, it would be like impossible for Russian people to turn out to the streets again, because of the enormous risks to every single person that actually joins the rallies would face like severe risks of imprisonment, like up to six years, or enormous fines. And still, when this hostile - when Putin started this war on Ukraine, people won't massively turn out. So if 6,000 have been arrested, it means like 150,000, at least participated, so despite all the enormous risks. And it's a very important message that they're sending that Putin does not legitimately represent Russia. It's his war, not ours.

KEILAR: Do you think that this will deter Putin or do you think that he may actually look at these protests and be hardened in his approach?

VOLKOV: Look, he's crazy. I mean, he is threatening with nuclear weapons. He has started this enormous war in Europe like without any reason, without any justification for that. Like it is senseless. I feel it very personal, because I was among those experts who were telling he is bluffing, he's only blacking at the best. He is not going to invade. He just is willing to win some concessions from the rest of his like Military buildup, because he is not crazy to attack.

And he was crazy enough. So now I believe everything that could deter him should be used. Those sanctions and the rest applies. The great fire that the Ukrainian armies is fighting and also protesting inside the country, this crazy guy with his nuclear weapons nothing is not enough.

[07:30:00]