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Air Strike Hits Government Office Building in Kharkiv; U.S. Intel Makes Understanding Putin's Mindset a Top Priority; Ukraine President Asks for Emergency Acceptance into E.U. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 01, 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.

[05:57:30]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Tuesday, March 1, and I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

It is day six of the Ukraine invasion, and Russia's onslaught shows no signs of letting up. In fact, some officials are worried it's about to get much worse.

Overnight there it is, a devastating attack in the heart of Kharkiv. This is Ukraine's second largest city, much of it Russian speaking. And that was a Russian strike taking out a government building in the historic Freedom Square of Kharkiv. It reduced it to rubble. And more than 20 people, we've now learned, have been reported injured, including at least one child, civilians. People, as we understand it, are also trapped under the rubble there.

There's also some grave concern this morning for Ukraine's capitol of Kyiv. These new satellite images show a massive Russian military convoy more than 40 miles long, reaching the outskirts of the city. The convoy appears to include armored vehicles, tanks, as well as towed artillery.

And in the meantime, Ukrainian citizens are continuing to mount fierce resistance. Video from one town shows residents using their cars, using their bodies to block an approaching column of some 40 Russian vehicles. And those vehicles eventually turned around and left.

In another town, people can be seen putting barricades and metal spikes in the main access road, trying to stop the Russian military from advancing.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: As the Russians advance into Ukraine -- and you can see here on the map, the progress they are making. All the areas in red now are essentially under Russian occupation. It's prompting an exodus. Let me show you that.

A huge flow of humanity from Ukraine into the neighboring countries. Half a million refugees have already fled to Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. Poland, the largest number. Nearly 300,000 there. And that number is expected to increase. Ukraine's President Zelensky is accusing Russia of war crimes for

targeting civilians in its bombing of Kharkiv. Zelensky is scheduled to speak shortly to European Union leaders, after making an appeal for the E.U. to grant his country immediate membership.

And we have brand-new CNN reporting on U.S. intelligence officials being asked to assess Vladimir Putin's state of mind.

First, we're going to focus right now on this assault on Kharkiv right now. This attack on the government building there. I'm going to go over the border. Here's Kharkiv right here, over the border into Russia in Belgorod. That's where we have CNN's Frederik Pleitgen standing by.

Fred, what can you tell us?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John.

And this is already the second day in a row that civilian buildings have been hit in Kharkiv. Obviously, that residential area that was shelled yesterday. The Ukrainians heavily criticizing that, as well. Also calling that a crime. The president, Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that.

And then this gigantic explosion that happened today, and you already just mentioned some of the numbers, that now the toll of people who are injured is at -- it stands at 20.

And one of the things that we have to point out is that there are emergency crews, according to the Ukrainian side, still on the ground, still trying to dig people out. The latest that we have is that there's eight crews trying to work that. Obviously, all of this as there is also a war going on there, as there is also fighting going on in -- in the Kharkiv area, as well.

Still obviously unclear what exactly hit that building. You could see, however, that it was a very large explosion, which could point to rocket artillery pieces hitting -- hitting that building.

And from our vantage point here just across the border, which is obviously a very unique one. Because sometimes we can see some of the weapons maneuvered into place that then we know are used on the battlefield, or at least the types of weapons that are used on the battlefield. And rocket artillery certainly has been one of the ones where we have seen it get moved closer to the battlefield.

Just yesterday, we saw several rocket artillery launchers, one actually on this show here, but then also several others later that were moved towards the area of Kharkiv. Those easily have the range to reach that city.

Of course, we also know, John, that fierce fighting has been going on in Kharkiv, not just yesterday but in the past couple of days, as well, with the Russians breaching some of the defenses there. Fighting going on inside the city. And then also that massive strike that happened yesterday on a -- on a

residential area.

One thing that we also have to say, John, just really quick, is that the Russian defense minister has now come out and accused the Ukrainians of placing weapons in residential areas. Whether or not that's true, obviously with 100 percent certainty we can't say, whether or not that's something -- we're sort of in the fog of war. There are claims and counterclaims being made.

But certainly, that's what the Russians are saying this morning, possibly also as a reaction to this -- to this explosion that obviously the entire world was able to see, John.

BERMAN: Yes. That is often used as an excuse to justify civilian casualties. Again, this is a city we're talking about, Kharkiv in the northeast. You can see the Russians moving ever closer.

Another major area of focus is the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv right now, where, Fred, there's this 40-mile long military convoy. People can see how long it is here in this red line, moving ever closer. Just about 19 miles separate the end of this convoy from the city center of Kyiv.

What does the presence of this much material, Fred, what does that tell us about what Vladimir Putin has in mind?

PLEITGEN: Well, I mean, it certainly is enough material for a very long onslaught, if you will. And very violent takeover or attempt to takeover of Kyiv.

But I think one of the really interesting things about that convoy is that you can -- you can almost see it move in -- in almost real time. We keep getting satellite images of that convoy moving closer and closer, and 40 miles long with all sorts of military vehicles. And it's obviously something that is very concerning to the people there inside Kyiv.

And it's certainly something that the president of Ukraine has also talked about, the fact that Kyiv is now under threat. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, also coming out and saying that the city is obviously preparing.

And one of the things that we've heard from people inside Kyiv and the authorities in Kyiv is they are expecting a large storm on that city to happen very soon. They are bracing for that. They've obviously handed out weapons already and certainly, of course, that massive convoy is something that they all view as a gigantic threat, which it no doubt is.

And some very heavy weapons also in that -- in that convoy, as well. Something that has the U.S. very concerned. Something that has the U.S. allies also very concerned, as there are a lot of people who believe that the situation inside Kyiv could turn very dire very, very quickly as that convoy, John, as you've noted, is now already very close to the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital. BERMAN: Yes. This is just one of the images here. The vehicles go on

for 40 miles. Admiral Foggo told us yesterday this is Sword of Damocles, hanging over the city of Kyiv; very much now in the crosshairs.

Frederik Pleitgen, thank you so much for being with us.

KEILAR: We do have some breaking news, brand-new CNN reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies have made evaluating Russian President Vladimir Putin's state of mind a top priority amid public speculation that his behavior has become increasingly erratic and irrational.

CNN's Katie Bo Lillis is joining us now with this new reporting.

Great reporting that you and our colleague, Zach Cohen and Evan Perez have done here, Katie Bo. What have you learned about what intel officials are looking at?

[06:05:03]

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Brianna, so ever since last week, when Putin gave this very emotional sort of uncharacteristically emotional speech full of some pretty crazy revisionist history, laying out his justification for launching a war in Ukraine.

We've learned from our sources that U.S. officials have been pressing the intelligence community to try to provide whatever information they can about Putin's state of mind. You know, how he's reacting to the pressure from the West. How he's coping under the stress of a campaign that really has not gone according to plan. And even what some long- time Kremlin watchers have said is a sort of period of protracted isolation that Putin has gone through throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And one of the pieces of evidence that they are taking a look at is this piece of raw intelligence reporting from the FBI. This report was obtained by my colleague, Zach Cohen. And it lays out what the FBI was told about Putin's mindset from a source who learned it from another source. So it is -- it is somewhat secondhand information here.

And what this source said is that over the last couple of days -- again, this report is dated Sunday -- Putin's behavior had been, and I quote, "highly concerning and unpredictable."

Now, look, important to understand, raw intelligence reports, the intelligence community gets scores of these, you know, that they are kind of digging through, looking for -- for insights. This has not been verified; it hasn't been analyzed. You know, shouldn't necessarily be taken as fact.

KEILAR: It could also be that Putin wants the West to think that he's completely unpredictable because maybe then they give him a little more leeway.

That aside, all these caveats aside --

LILLIS: Yes.

KEILAR: -- what I found really interesting about it was that they -- it said Putin was angry and made -- and made more angry by these sanctions, which he considers disproportionate and escalating faster than he expected.

LILLIS: Yes. Look, I mean, officials are trying to get a sense really for how Putin is reacting here. Like, this is the kind of intelligence gathering that the intelligence community does in any kind of conflict on any world leader.

The question is in this instance, like, is this a different Putin than the United States has been dealing with for the last 20-plus years? And there's obviously some officials who think, like, yes, his behavior here has been less risk averse than the sort of calculating guy that we've been dealing with since he was in office in 1999.

There's others who say, Look, no, this perfectly fits the pattern of the guy who, you know, launched a war in Chechnya three years after Russia was resoundingly defeated there. You know, this is not a guy who's afraid of risk.

So, you know, I think ultimately this is not a question that is going to get answered by intelligence. You know, U.S. officials have said repeatedly we don't have a great insight into Putin's mind. The DNI, Admiral Haines, the director of national intelligence, told members of Congress behind closed doors just last night that like, look, we don't have a great view into Putin's --

KEILAR: Already. Right.

LILLIS: Already. So this is really more of a question of analysis than intelligence gathering, but you can tell that this is something that's of key interest, because this report has caused a bit of a firestorm.

KEILAR: It's also very interesting that they've been saying that Putin may not actually be getting an accurate picture of the war. So to complicate all of this, maybe the truth that he is operating with is different than what's really happening on the ground.

LILLIS: That's right.

KEILAR: Katie Bo Lillis, great reporting. Thank you so much.

LILLIS: My pleasure.

BERMAN: Joining me now is David Priess. He's a former CIA officer who served during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. He's also publisher of "Law Fair," a blog that covers national security issues, and the author of "The President's Book of Secrets."

David, thank you so much for being with us. This is the kind of thing that makes sense to do when a country is being invaded, when one country is attacking the other: assess the leader of the attacking country. My question to you is, OK, if Vladimir Putin is less than fully hinged

right now, what are the implications for the people in Ukraine? For the people maybe in these areas in red here under Russian control?

DAVID PRIESS, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Yes. You have a couple of interesting points here.

No. 1, it would be surprising if this were not happening. The news that there is this kind of intelligence focus on Vladimir Putin right now is not shocking. We would be surprised if this were not an area of focus.

The real issue comes down to two things. No. 1, what do we know about Putin and his decision making in general? And that is something that has been analyzed in the intelligence community for many years now.

And secondly, what are we picking up now that shows a change in that behavior or, in fact, enables us to look at earlier reporting in a new light? Perhaps some new information coming in or some new behaviors we are seeing illuminates past decisions and, in a sense, fills in pieces of the puzzle that were incomplete.

Both of those can help the U.S. intelligence community and, thus, the president and decision makers understand a little bit better what's happening in Putin's mind.

[06:10:00]

Brianna nailed it a moment ago. It's possible that this is Putin giving signals of being confused and angry and all of this as part of a misinformation campaign; because we know he has been willing to use those internationally for quite some time, whether in U.S. domestic politics, or in Estonia, or in Georgia, or in Montenegro. This is the Putin playbook.

But we do have to realize, this is a different situation than he has faced before, and he may be under different strains than he's been in before.

BERMAN: He may want the world to think he might take drastic measures. For instance, there's this 40-mile convoy now we've been looking at, this long line of troops and material headed toward Kyiv right now.

And some people look at this and say, hey, everyone knows where it is. Everyone knows what this convoy is doing and where it's headed. So why can't the world step in and hit it?

But the message Putin might be sending is, It's because I can do anything in response. I have my finger on the button. Is that's what's going on here?

PRIESS: Well, we have to realize that the intelligence information that the United States gets, according to reporting, is being downgraded and shared with the Ukrainians very liberally.

So it's not only the images that we are seeing of this convoy, but almost certainly more advanced information, both about this specific convoy and about other Russian troop movements. Those are almost certainly getting to Ukrainian officials who can take action.

And it's quite possible we are not seeing some of that action. Obviously, we have eyes on the ground, and we're seeing a lot of it with your coverage. But there are a whole lot of places in Ukraine that we don't have cameras and we don't have coverage.

We don't know what Ukrainian special forces and Ukrainian troops, as well as just general Ukrainian resistance, is doing to sabotage these convoys, to set up booby traps for them as they move farther up the road, or to simply do some intelligence collection on them to feed back to the military to do larger strikes against them when they reach a certain point.

Just because we see the convoy doesn't mean it's inevitable that that entire convoy will actually enter Kyiv.

BERMAN: David, one of the things we have seen over the last 24 hours, in fact, over just the last few hours, we saw the video of that devastating strike on the government building in Kharkiv. This is a map of where we've seen strikes over the last 24 hours, even before that.

What's your sense of Vladimir Putin's regard, or probably more appropriately, disregard for civilian casualties? And what are the implications of that?

PRIESS: Yes. The scenes of Kharkiv are very disturbing this morning, because it does show a willingness, either from Putin or from the commanders on the ground, to actually go after clearly civilian targets.

It's not surprising. This is the Russian mode of warfare. The wars in Chechnya showed this before. But it does show that there is some sense either that they can't find and access and prioritize the military targets they want to hit; or they realize that this is a societal struggle, and the Ukrainian people are not going to just welcome the Russians in, as their propaganda alluded to.

Therefore, they're going to have to erode the moral of the Ukrainian people. Eroding the moral of the Ukrainian people involves, essentially, state terrorism. It involves attacking civilians. It involves war crimes.

And if we're seeing more and more of that, that probably does not just reflect the commanders on the ground. At that level, that's usually a strategic decision that that sort of thing is important to achieve the political objective. If that's beginning now, I fear what's going to be happening in the capital in coming days.

BERMAN: Yes, look, that's why it's so important what we're seeing right now. David Priess, I really appreciate you joining us. Thank you for watching us and helping keep us honest. Thanks so much for your time, David.

PRIESS: You bet.

KEILAR: So here in just minutes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to speak remotely to European Union leaders after signing a formal request yesterday to join the E.U.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at E.U. headquarters in Brussels.

So talk to us a little bit about this. Because it's not something that obviously would happen quickly if it were to move in this direction, Natasha.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. It could actually take quite a long time.

And the Ukrainian president is asking the bloc to grant it some kind of expedited track so that it can join the European Union more quickly.

Now this idea is actually gaining some steam. The presidents of eight E.U. member states overnight published an open letter, calling for the bloc to expedite Ukraine's member -- candidacy for the European Union bloc, which would then allow them to kind of open negotiations. So it wouldn't actually allow Ukraine to accede to the E.U. immediately, but it would just start that process of negotiations.

Ukraine is saying, We don't really have time for all that. We need to be on the fast track to membership, because we need to be on equal footing with the European Union as Russia attacks our country.

[06:15:05]

Now, there are some members of the E.U. who are more reluctant about that. Germany, for example. The German foreign minister said, We need to slow down here. We can't make promises that we can't keep at this moment.

Because there are many financial and legal kind of issues that countries that want to join the E.U. have to work out before they can actually become full members. Some countries have been waiting about a decade to actually join.

So, they're hoping this can gain some steam within the E.U. There's going to be a parliamentary emergency session here at the European Parliament in a couple hours that Zelensky will address.

But important to remember here that the European Union is doing quite a lot, in its -- in its estimation, to provide support for Ukraine at this moment, providing over 500 million dollars' worth of lethal equipment to Ukraine to help them fend off the Russians and maintain that momentum that we've seen from them over the last few days of this war.

They are also banning Russian flights from E.U. airspace. They are looking to ban Russian media from European airwaves. So they are clearly in solidarity with the Ukrainians; and they have continued to communicate that message very clearly to Kyiv. But the Ukrainian president over the last several days has said, We feel that we are fighting this war alone. And we need the support of NATO. We need the support of the E.U. in order to effectively deter Russia from potentially taking over the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We'll be watching these conversations and appreciate the report, Natasha Bertrand. Thank you.

So next, we do have some more details on this. This is a 40-mile long Russian convoy headed toward Kyiv. What Ukrainians are bracing for.

Plus, CNN's Clarissa Ward speaking with some fearless Ukrainians who are doing whatever it takes to defend their homeland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Let those Russians shits come here," she says. "We are ready to greet them."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:07]

KEILAR: We're six days now under Russia's full-scale assault on Ukraine, and U.S. intelligence assesses that the worst could still be yet to come for the Ukrainians. This is a Russian military convoy, at times measuring as long as 40 miles long near Ukraine's capital of Kyiv.

Joining us now is CNN military analyst and former Army commanding general for Europe and the 7th Army, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, who is with us now.

Can you just give us a commander's perspective on what's going on right now on both sides?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. That's the big thing, Brianna, because for the last several days, we've been watching a lot of people drawing arrows on maps. That's easy to do. And as you look at it, there's about eight or nine of them across the board.

This is a huge battle space. From a commander's perspective, I'm looking at not only what am I doing as a Ukrainian commander, but what's the Russian commander doing?

Ukraine is 780 miles long and about 350 miles wide. That's a big battle space. When you take along this axis for the Russians, they have to cover about 1,000 miles. So they're coordinating activity across the board and not just the arrows that are coming into that, but how do you re-support that with logistics? How do you bring trucks up to give you fuel, food, ammo, those kind of things? The Russian commanders, he has a problem set right here. It's very

challenging. And we can see, because he hasn't been moving.

Ukrainian commander on the other side, you know, what they're trying to do is move forces to different places where they see the biggest threat.

The other thing he has to worry about is he has limited means. What do I mean by that? He has not a whole lot of airplanes, not a whole lot of artillery. He's got a lot of willful fighters that want to take the fight to individual targets. So you can't hit everything. So as the Ukrainian commander, you get to -- you've got to decide, what am -- where can I make the biggest impact? How can I have the most effect?

KEILAR: This convoy that is so long, are you worried about it?

HERTLING: I'm not.

KEILAR: You're not?

HERTLING: And I know that surprises everybody. We've been talking about a 40-mile convoy for the last couple days.

You see that convoy. Let's take a look at it. It goes that distance. You know, again, it gets back to the distance piece of this.

But if you look at the convoy close up, what do you have? You have trucks. I mean, that's a whole bunch of resupply trucks, cabs, with back. And as a commander with limited means, if I'm the Ukrainian guy, I'm going to say, That's not my priority target right now. What I have to hit is artillery pieces, missiles and tanks that are in the close- in attack.

So he's ignoring that for now. But I guarantee you -- I love what David Priess said in your last segment. I'm the commander fighting for intelligence. And unfortunately, now I've got to make decisions. Do I go after the close-in fight, the so-called 25-meter target, or do I waste resources that I don't have going after a resupply vehicle?

They will eventually get to this. Trust me. But it's going to be there for a while.

KEILAR: I want to ask you, and I'm a little worried about your answer, what you are worried comes next.

HERTLING: Yes. What I'm concerned about is what's going to happen in the next 24 to 48 hours, because Russia is attempting to hit long- range targets. They're pulling up artillery pieces to within 20 miles.

And the Ukrainians can't get at them, because they're spaced outside the battlefields of Kharkiv and Kyiv. They have long-range rockets, as Fred Pleitgen is reporting, still firing from in Russia. The Ukrainian commander can't get to those.

And unfortunately, we know the Russian way of war. They are going to start attacking, extensively, civilian targets. Because they have had zero success when they attack Ukrainian military. So they're going to -- they're going to wage a terror campaign, a scorched-earth campaign. That's the thing that concerns me.

And that's why it's so important that some of these targets are destroyed. Not so much the resupply, but the actual launch systems themselves. If you've got a truckload of ammunition without a missile firer to shoot it, it's no good to you.

[06:25:12]

KEILAR: Well, our eyes are on the ground, and they are wide open as we wait for what may be an unfortunate next phase in all this.

General Hertling, thank you so much for taking us through this.

HERTLING: Sure.

KEILAR: Berman.

BERMAN: All right. The breaking news: as the battle continues on the ground here in Ukraine, there is a diplomatic battle taking place all around the world. The United States just expelling a dozen Russian diplomats, accusing them of being spies.

Plus, just moments from now, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will speak live.

This is CNN's special live coverage. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, as the ground battle intensifies in Ukraine, there is an economic and diplomatic battle being waged around the world.

The United States is ordering a dozen Russian diplomats from Moscow's United Nation mission in the United States to leave the country, accusing them of engaging in espionage activity that threatened national security.

[06:30:00]