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New Day

Interview with Kharkiv, Ukraine Mayor Ihor Terekhov; Russians "Genocide" on Ukraine; Humanitarian Convoy Under Fire; Ukraine Refugees Now at 2 Million; Interview with former resident of Kharkiv, Ukraine and Taught English in Kharkiv, Ukraine Olena R.; Zelenskyy Likens Putin to Nazi Regime; Interview with Founding Partner and Washington Correspondent of Puck Julia Yaffe. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 08, 2022 - 07:30:00   ET

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

[07:30:00]

BERMAN: -- Raul Ruiz, thank you for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

RUIZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: The mayor of Ukraine's second largest city says entire blocks of residential buildings have been bombed out by the Russians. Why he says he'll never give up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, is home to 1.5 million people, at least it was before the Russian invasion. It has endured relentless attacks by Russian forces. The mayor there has vowed to never give up.

Overnight, we tried to establish contact with the mayor, Ihor Terekhov. It's been hard because of the chaos in that city. But we were able to send taped questions. And now, we have his responses. We put them together with the help of an interpreter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: How have you been able to fight off the Russians for so long?

[07:35:00]

IHOR TEREKHOV, MAYOR, KHARKIV, UKRAINE (through translator): So, we are managing so far because the Russian army cannot take Kharkiv. At the moment, the army is resisting -- our army, our Ukrainian army is resisting the Russians. So, today thanks to our army, the Ukrainian army, the City of Kharkiv is able to continue with its life, to continue with its work, to the extent that it's possible under constant shelling. We have this constant shelling with grad missiles and there is constant fire, fire on residential districts and residential neighborhoods.

There -- also, in addition to that, there are planes flying all the time, dropping bombs. But our army is strong, and it is protecting us. It will withstand.

BERMAN: What's the situation in the city right now?

TEREKHOV (through translator): The situation is difficult. There is constant shelling from heavy artillery. There are constant air raids, constant fire on residential neighborhoods, constant fire in the civilian infrastructure. They're hitting our water and heating and gas supply. They are trying to interrupt our power supplies.

So, currently, our utility services are constantly working and repairing and restoring supply. So, thanks to them, Kharkiv currently has water supply and heating supplied to all the buildings that are still standing, except for those that have been destroyed. With the power supply, we are working to restore it as much as we can. And so, that's as far as utility services are concerned.

In terms of food and medication, we are receiving -- today, we received a supply from the office of the president and from the cabinet of ministers. I also, in addition to that, appealed to the mayors of other towns and cities in Ukraine and in other countries in Europe, not only in Europe. And so, we are also thankful to our volunteers who are helping to hand out these humanitarian supplies and medication to those who needs it.

And so, we're also trying to keep people warm because we've got cold weather coming soon. And all this is happening under constant, constant shelling. So, I regard -- as this constant shelling is directed at civilian districts, I regard this as an act of genocide against the City of Kharkiv.

BERMAN: You've call this a genocide. Do you believe the Russians are targeting civilians?

TEREKHOV (through translator): I cannot regard this as anything but genocide because the strikes are on residential districts. How can -- what else can it be? There are no -- there is no military infrastructure, no military facilities in these areas. Strikes are happening on kindergartens, schools, maternity hospitals, clinics. I cannot -- this isn't an accident. I can understand when there is -- when there's an accidental strike, but when it's hundreds, hundreds of civilian buildings hit, that is no accident. That is a targeted attack.

BERMAN: When the Russians proposed humanitarian corridors for civilians to escape, do you trust the Russians to honor them?

TEREKHOV (through translator): To answer your question, well, not a single humanitarian corridor has been seen to work yet. In Kharkiv, there are no humanitarian corridors. I know that today there is supposed to be a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol. But I'm told that even when there is such a corridor, there is still fire and shelling and there is a high risk of people getting injured and killed.

So, I think if there is agreement to have these corridors, then these agreements must be honored. But a corridor doesn't work when there is a high risk of getting killed. So, I cannot say that we currently have these corridors.

BERMAN: What do you need right now in Kharkiv?

TEREKHOV (through translator): In terms of what we need in Kharkiv, we need everything. We need food, medication, warm clothes for the people of Kharkiv. As far as the army is concerned, they need weapons. But I'm not a military man. So, I'll speak about the city.

[07:40:00]

The city needs everything. This is a large city. It's a megapolis. More than 1.5 million people in it. So, we need hot food, medication, warm clothes because the people leaving their homes when there is an air raid, even if they survive, they have got -- what they were wearing at the time, that's all they've got left. So, any assistance, any aid is received gratefully from anyone who is willing to give it. Kharkiv is grateful to receive anything.

BERMAN: Can you defeat the Russians?

TEREKHOV (through translator): I am absolutely confident that we will defeat the Russians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Mayor Ihor Terekhov right there of Kharkiv right there. A remarkable statement. He said, we're still getting water to the buildings that are standing.

More on our breaking news. We are getting word that a humanitarian convoy under fire by Russian forces. This is according to Ukrainian officials. And it comes as Ukrainian civilians are using a corridor in a deal with Russia after an attack that killed at least 21 people, including children. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:00]

BERMAN: Brand new figures out moments ago showing that 2 million Ukrainians have now fled the country. Hundreds of thousands of others forced to flee within Ukraine after Russian troops attacked their cities and towns.

Joining me now is 17-year-old Olena who has fled her hometown of Kharkiv. Let me show where that is. That is over here, under shelling right now. And is all the way now over in Lviv with her father. Olena, thank you so much for being with us.

I was just speaking to the mayor of Kharkiv moments ago who was talking about the constant shelling there. What was it like for you before you left last weekend?

OLENA R., FORMER RESIDENT OF KHARKIV, UKRAINE AND TAUGHT ENGLISH IN KHARKIV: Yes, actually it was really hard situation for me to handle because you have normal life, you have your school, your friends. I was supposed to have graduation exams in May. So, we were preparing to have the (INAUDIBLE). But there is just -- like it turned upside down on February, of course.

So, we just have to move some furniture in our house so that we will not be harmed in home. But actually, the last point -- you know, the turning point that we decided to flee the country was the like some time ago a missile, it landed like 200 meters away from my home. And our windows were knocked out. So, we decided it was not safe anymore here. And (INAUDIBLE) trying to get at least where it's like much safer here.

BERMAN: Missile landing some 200 meters from your house. What was the journey like all the way from Kharkiv to Lviv?

OLENA R.: Well, actually we spent four days in cars. So, we were here -- either like in Monday (ph). But it was so -- there was a lot of people everywhere. Everybody tries to get somewhere to Eastern Ukraine as fast as they can, because actually like a few days before we left (INAUDIBLE) Ukraine, the airport was bombed. And (INAUDIBLE) two days ago.

And just like as we -- they're going to the western part of Ukraine, it is behind us. We were bombed. Like there were like people landed there all the time and we understand that it's much safer here now. But it was really hard. So, we originally tried to get there in a day, but it took four days because of huge traffic. There were a lot of points where your documents are checked, where your car, where your luggage, everything is checked. So, there are a lot of people all the time there. So, we spent three, four hours at each point. And there's a lot of people traveling like across Ukraine.

So, it was really hard. But I'm happy we were able to get here because we had to spend some nights in shelters for refugees, in churches so that we could stay alive. And we don't travel during the like restricted hours. So, we have about from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. They have restricted hours, so they can't to go outside because there's armies that are operating right now there.

BERMAN: Olena, we're glad you're in the relative safety of Lviv. Our best to you and your family.

OLENA R.: Thanks so much.

BERMAN: So, no mercy this morning in Ukraine. A church burning near Kyiv. Parishioners say it was a Russian attack. And Ukraine's president calling Vladimir Putin's actions pure Nazi behavior. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: In a call with American Jewish leaders, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Vladimir Putin's actions pure Nazi behavior, drawing a comparison between the invasion of Ukraine to the holocaust, while making an impassioned plea not to let his country get exterminated. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is just pure Naziism. The -- he's just destroying the citizens of Ukraine of different nationalities. So, we have to kneel down, give our weapon away, we have to hoist the Russian flag, we should say that we don't want anything, we want to put our hands up.

Listen, all of this already happened, in Europe, all of this happened during Nazi times. This all happened with the German army when rolled through Europe and everyone gave their Jewish people away, putting them into ghetto.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now, Julia Ioffe, founding partner and Washington correspondent of Puck, and CNN senior political analyst, John Avlon, with us as well.

I wonder what you make of his comments, Julia, especially as he's fighting off this Russian assertion that the invasion of Ukraine is the denazification of Ukraine.

JULIA IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT OF PUCK: Well, it is part of this upside-down Russian narrative, or Russian propaganda narrative that they're advancing. Yesterday, you had the Russian foreign minister saying that they had to go to war with Ukraine to prevent a war with Ukraine. That this is a defensive war, when, in fact, we see that it is an invasion. That they're saying that they're protecting civilians, when we can see with our own eyes that they're bombing them, not just indiscriminately, but on purpose.

And it's -- and, again, you know, this master class in projection, accusing the Ukrainians of being Nazis when, A, they have a Jewish president and a Jewish prime minister, who are both elected overwhelmingly, and when Putin himself is using such ethnonationalistic language. You know, talking about the need to protect Russians abroad, the need to reunify historically Russian speaking lands.

[07:55:00]

And people have pulled out old, you know, Godwin's Law, notwithstanding, pulled up old things that Hitler said about why he invaded Poland, for example, why he annexed the (INAUDIBLE) land, why he had to do the Anschluss with Austria. And it was a lot of the same language that you have to protect your -- the people who speak your language and who are of your ethnic, even if it means going to war against another sovereign country.

KEILAR: You know, John, it is -- don't think Jewish leaders love it, obviously, swhen there is a comparison to the holocaust, it really stands on its own. But we're seeing some of this woven into the narrative, whether it is a holocaust site being bombed in Kyiv or to Julia's point, false flag operations that Hitler used at the beginning of World War II as a means for saying, this is why we need to start this. You do see some of these elements.

JOHN AVLON, AND CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You do. I mean, look, you know, history doesn't repeat, but sometimes it rhymes, and this area is deep with history. And the mere fact that, you know, Putin's initial justification was denazification invites pushback. It highlights that absurdity that Julia was speaking of, where the goal of Russian propaganda is to undermine the idea that there is a truth itself, it is the idea that no, it's not intended to convince, it is intended to confuse.

And so, at moments like this, there is such stark moral clarity, that the rest of the world can see despite Russian propaganda, you know, life gives us villains and victims. And Ukraine by -- being united in the face of this aggression, of this attack, is uniting the world on its side. So, folks aren't falling for it, despite the Russians best attempts to muddy the waters between truth and lies.

KEILAR: Yes. Some Russians are totally --

IOFFE: They're totally --

KEILAR: Some Russians are -- now, people are not, John Avlon, to your point, completely. I think we all look outside and say, this is so absurd. But, Julia, I mean, especially, in your case, you were a refugee -- Jewish refugee from age six from the USSR. And I imagine you have a personal reaction to hearing some of this rhetoric that is just -- it's sort of mind-blowing.

IOFFE: Oh, yes. It makes my brain melt. It makes my head explode. It is insane to accuse a Jewish president. I mean, what is so amazing about this is, yes, Ukraine has a very checkered history, especially when it comes to anti-Semitism. And to see the country really make a break with its past, with its Soviet past, with its nationalist past, you know, the conventional wisdom in a post-Soviet space was that a country like Russia or a country like Ukraine could never have a Jewish president because the population was so kind of ambiently anti- Semitic, t hat they would never accept a Jewish president.

And it's why, for example, Boris Nemtsov was not considered more seriously as a successor for Boris Yeltsin because he was Jewish. And the irony is that Ukraine overwhelmingly elected a Jewish leader, Russia obviously did not. And now, this Jewish leader is being accused of being a Nazi puppet.

The other thing I would say is that people are really falling for it in Russia. The people who are backing this war, they are being shown a very different picture.

KEILAR: Because, Avlon, there's -- I mean, that's an element of all the brainwashing in a way that is going on. I know you sort of zeroed in on something the ministry of education has talked about, what teachers should say of kids ask if Russia is at war.

AVLON: It is just an Orwellian list of instructions. I mean, that this is a peacekeeping operation, that Russia resisted war, you know, over and over again and you just see the old Soviet impulses shine through. When Solzhenitsyn said, live not by lies, it was a pushback against this exact kind of indoctrination and brainwashing that is happening in Russia right now.

My point is that it is not succeeding in the world at large. It is not succeeding in dividing the Ukrainian people. In fact, it is having the opposite effect. That moral clarity is welcome at a time when there is an attempt to destroy the idea of truth itself.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, you said it, I think a week and a half ago, John Avlon, the people need to stand up for democracy. And I wondered, I said, maybe, but, you know, at what cost? And I think we're seeing that a lot of people are willing to pay a price. We'll see how much they're willing to pay, but they certainly, I think, were in line with what you were saying.

John Avlon, thank you so much. Julia Ioffe, thank you.

And "New Day" continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BERMAN: And good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, March 8th. And the Breaking News, for the next several hours, a humanitarian corridor is open for civilians to evacuate in the Northeastern Ukrainian City of Sumy. At least, it is supposed to be.

Overnight, the Ukrainian government agreed to an offer from the Kremlin to set up this escape route, Sumy has seen heavy fighting in recent days. Just last night Ukraine --

[08:00:00]