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Mykolaiv is Urging Citizen to Collect Tires to Fend Off Russian Attacks; Ukrainians Wait and Pray on Fate of Loved Ones; U.S. Rejects Poland Sending Fighter Jets to U.S. Air Base for Ukraine Use. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired March 09, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: NEW DAY continues right now.

[05:59:29]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: Good morning to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Wednesday, March 9, and I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

Just breaking moments ago, an agreement between Ukraine and Russia on a cease-fire to get civilians out of six locations, including Mariupol, which is right now surrounded by Russian troops without power, without heat, without food.

The deputy mayor of Mariupol says he's witnessed the digging of a mass grave in his city. We are monitoring this cease-fire very closely to see if it truly is going into effect, if it's being abided by. The Russians have attacked humanitarian corridors before, after all.

In one of the cities that is under discussion here, Sumy, 5,000 civilians have been able to evacuate. So some hope there. But only after 21 people were killed by Russian air strikes, including two kids.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, fighting has been fierce there. We have drone video showing a Russian military vehicle destroyed in a battle with Ukrainian troops. Look at that.

We also have this eyewitness video. A Russian armored military train from Crimea to Kherson region. It is nine cars long. It has at least two apparent gunner cars with the letter "Z" painted on them, as you can see.

In southern Ukraine, we have seen heavy shelling and explosions overnight in the city of Mykolaiv. You can see here it's on this crucial route to Odessa.

Ukrainian forces are blocking this Russian advancement into the critical port city by piling tires at every entrance, to be set on fire in case of an attack.

Right now, the Ukrainians do remain in control of Mykolaiv, but it has been coming under very heavy bombardment. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live on the ground. Give us the latest.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, John, a very dark morning, frankly, here in Mykolaiv. There was some, I think, possibly hope amongst locals when they awoke to see that the tires had not been set fire, those tires which the regional head had asked them to lay at every intersection. And the matter of hours, a startling number appeared.

It's extraordinary. Across the entire city, wherever you go, there are abandoned tires now on the side of the road now.

But this morning there was again shelling. And it's been intermittent but quite persistent.

I'm at a hospital here, and we've just been talking to the victims of that. There are five injured children in here. One on his own because his surviving father is burying his mother and sister.

Startling how lives are just being changed minute by minute here. We went to one house hit by an air strike. And the gentleman who owned it with his wife, she came out, telling me that she didn't even have any slippers left and describing how the rocket had hit the front of the house. They were at the back.

And he explained to me how 43 years ago he built it with his hands. And said, "Look what is left of our life here at all?"

Even a vegetable warehouse destroyed by an air strike. It's extraordinary how the shelling is hitting residential parts of Mykolaiv all over and how it has been the case for days. We've seen the victims in the hospital.

Tactically, there is some suggestion that we might be seeing the Russians trying to move in significant numbers around the north of this port city. It's split by a river. And everybody seems to know here that the Russian forces want control of the bridges that run across the city.

They are intermittently pulled up when the local officials here perceive a threat.

But that Russian force may have moved, if you look at sort of anti- clockwise heading from about sort of 3 o'clock, round to around 11 o'clock. And that is causing concern here for the possibility that will place pressure on routes in and out of the city.

But this persistent fight that's been going on here, we believe there's still fighting happening near the airport in Mykolaiv. Hard to keep tabs exactly on the motions on the front lines here, but a fierce battle still going for this city.

And as I say, we've seen in hospitals ourselves the -- the innocent civilian victims piling up.

BERMAN: So, Nick, you've been in Mykolaiv before here. In this battle, the Ukrainians have pushed the Russians back, only to have the Russians return.

How much longer do they feel like they can do this? And I do also want to note here, President Zelenskyy -- and I don't know if there's much meaning to this, because obviously, if you're being invaded, the threat to the state is at the maximum level. But President Zelenskyy says the threat to Ukraine is at the maximum level right now.

WALSH: Yes. Look, I mean, it's hard to tell, to be honest, around Mykolaiv exactly what level of resources Russia is throwing at that. Video we saw of a convoy moving to the north. It was substantial.

And this is vital. If you're going to take Odessa or pressure Odessa, you need to either circle or bypass Mykolaiv; essentially, reduce it as a threat to any forces you move on.

You mentioned a convoy moving up from Crimea. That's been the route, frankly, for forces that took Kherson. Mykolaiv clear next in their sights.

The people here, though, just some explaining, the volume of tires. The local regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, advising everybody on Telegram. Extraordinary presence on that. Hourly. Said to everyone, get out the tires now last night.

And within hours, he put out a message saying, You guys you have been amazing. Literally, every intersection is piled up with them.

They also have Molotov cocktails to them, as well. And that's all, you know, I think good for morale, but it says something quite dark about what may be ahead here. That if you are going to have to set fire to tires here, it's to obscure vision of oncoming Russian forces. And it gives you a glimpse, I think, of the fear of street-to-street fighting here there may be in the days ahead -- John.

[06:05:18]

BERMAN: Nick Paton Walsh in Mykolaiv. Lucky to have you there. Please stay safe. Please keep us posted, Nick.

Want to get the latest on this military situation. Joining me is Ray Mabus. He was secretary of Navy during the Obama administration, a former governor of Mississippi.

Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us right now.

Obviously, what the Russians are doing is they pushed up through Crimea. They need to go through Mykolaiv, because they want Odessa here. They want this key port city of Odessa. And if they're willing to keep pushing, how long can the Ukrainians hold them off?

RAY MABUS, FORMER SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: Well, if the Russians keep pushing the way they're doing, which is just terror, which is destroying civilians places, killing civilians, sending rockets and bombing. But the Ukrainians have shown remarkable, remarkable courage and resilience. And I think the -- you know, now Putin's only course seems to be,

we're just going to do this like a bulldozer. We're just going to do this by terror.

But I think the Ukrainians, No. 1, can -- can continue to hold out for much longer. I mean, everybody has underestimated them, particularly Putin.

But even if he does capture land and territories in city like Odessa, it is sort of like a dog chasing a car. What do you do if you catch it? I mean, Ukrainians are not going to give up. The Ukrainians will go to, you know, the sabotage and the -- and the guerrilla warfare.

So there doesn't seem like a good end game here for Putin, no matter -- no matter what the outcome in these individual cities.

BERMAN: So, Secretary, there's the discussion right now and some friction about how to get jets, military jets inside Ukraine. We're talking about these MiG-29s, which the Ukrainian pilots know how to use.

Poland has offered to move them to a U.S. base in Germany, where they would be presumably picked up by the Ukrainians. The U.S. says that plan is untenable.

Do you think the Ukrainians need these? What difference would they make?

MABUS: I think they could -- they could be of help. I mean, obviously, the Ukrainians want them. President Zelenskyy has asked for them several times. But I think that, in the -- in the big picture, the weapons that -- that are going to be the decisive ones and have been the decisive ones are things like these Javelins, and Stingers and the people that -- the weapons that can be hand-carried, and the weapons that can destroy much larger vehicles, tanks and armored vehicles.

So, yes, it would -- it would probably be of help. But I don't think it would be decisive.

BERMAN: Yes, some 17,000 anti-tank weapons and missiles. Some 2,000 Stingers, these anti-aircraft missiles, already there, and they keep on being shipped in.

I want to talk a little bit about the situation with these humanitarian corridors, the idea that maybe there be ceasefires in some of these key cities right now. How much hope do you hold out that this could save civilian lives? How much faith would you put in the Russians to abide by these agreements?

MABUS: I would put a little less than zero in the Russians to -- to uphold these agreements. They've shown that they will not uphold the ones that they've already done.

I mean, you can always hope. And you should never quit talking and trying to save civilians. But the Russians have shown that they cannot be trusted, will not abide by these things. And so keep talking, keep trying. But prepare for -- prepare for this not to work.

BERMAN: All right. Secretary Ray Mabus, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much for your time.

MABUS: Thank you.

BERMAN: So the millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine, including many of the country's most vulnerable. The heartbreaking messages they had for CNN's Clarissa Ward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "I want to lie down," she says. "Please help me." h

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:13:42]

KEILAR: According to the U.N., more than 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. Hundreds of thousands more are still on the move, trying to escape combat zones. It is an emotional journey, one that is especially hard on the elderly.

Here is CNN's Clarissa Ward.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): Incredibly, they emerge. Some still standing. Some too weak to walk, after more than a week under heavy bombardment in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin.

Volunteers help them carry their bags, the final few feet to relative safety. There are tearful reunion as relatives feared dead finally appear after days of no contact with the outside world.

Many are still looking for their loved ones. Soldiers help where they can.

For Larissa (ph) and Andriy, it is an agonizing wait. Their son has been pinned down in the hotel he owns.

"We wait, we hope, we pray," they tell me. "This is the grief of all mothers, of all people," Larissa (ph) says. "This is a tragedy."

[06:15:00]

Every time the phone rings, there's a scramble. Anticipation that it could be their son's voice on the line. This time it is not.

"Excuse me, I can't talk," Andriy says. "I'm waiting for my son."

They are not the only ones waiting. These residents of a nursing home were among the last to be evacuated from Irpin. They have been sitting here now for hours. Confused and disoriented, many don't know where they are going. A volunteer gently guides these women back to wait for the next bus.

Valentina tells us she is frightened and freezing after days of endless shelling and no heat. "I want to lie down," she says. "Please help me."

But for now, there is no place to lie down. The women are shepherded onto a bus, their arduous journey not over yet.

For Larissa (ph) and Andriy, the wait is finally over. Their son is alive.

ANDRIY KOLESNIK, IRPIN RESIDENT: The only words you can tell through the phone, like, "Mom, I'm alive. Mom, I'm alive." And that's it.

"I'm the happiest mother in the world right now," she says. "My son is with me."

But not every mother here is so lucky. And for many, the wait continues.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And just in, some new CNN reporting on what the U.S. is doing to shore up the security of NATO nations as Putin's war advances.

Plus, new video of an oil tanker on fire in the Black Sea after a Russian strike.

And a chilling warning from the man in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. The development that he calls breathtaking.

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[06:21:14]

BERMAN: So a big development this morning in the effort to arm the Ukrainians with fighter jets, MiGs, right here, which they know how to fly.

So the Pentagon has rejected a surprise nuanced offer from Poland. What Poland offered was to fly all of its MiGs from Poland here to a U.S. air base, Ramstein, U.S./NATO air base in Germany, and then have them flown somehow into Ukraine. The Pentagon calls that offer untenable.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with the latest here. What's going on with the latest, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, untenable for the very reasons you just drew on that map. So let's keep the map up.

The idea that the Poles surprised the U.S. with late yesterday: fly them to the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany. Germany a NATO country; U.S. a NATO country.

And the concern is that, if those MiG-29s then flew into Ukraine from essentially what is an air base inside of NATO, the Russians would perceive it as a NATO threat, as NATO becoming involved in the war. And NATO is determined not to become involved in the war, unless of course, it was attacked by Russia.

So right now, that idea seems to be something that's been summarily rejected. Of course, Vice President Kamala Harris will talk to the Poles about the idea to see if there's another way around this. They want to get those MiG-29s into Ukraine somehow and help the Ukrainians use them to -- to become more dominant, if you will, in the skies above their own country.

But getting them into Ukraine now seems to be the stopping block, John.

BERMAN: How would they get them in if not from a NATO country? That's what I don't understand.

STARR: Well, the idea might be -- one of the ideas initially was that Ukraine pilots would come to Poland, pick them up there, and fly them in. That could be problematic enough as it is.

But to fly from a U.S. air base is a signal that might be very difficult for Putin to swallow.

BERMAN: All right. Other news as it comes to NATO and the defense of NATO nations: the U.S. is sending two Patriot missile batteries to Poland, we're told, as defensive batteries. What does that mean?

STARR: Well, this is really part of what we are now beginning to understand to be a U.S. and NATO effort to shore up defenses across the alliance, to be very ready if the Russians were to make a move to essentially step across a NATO border with their missiles, with their aircraft, with any kind of military attack on NATO.

So these two Patriot batteries which have been used for decades to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, largely, will be positioned in Poland.

The Pentagon being very blunt in a statement it issued late last night. Let me read part of it to everyone. The statement saying, "This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and allied forces and NATO territory. This is a prudent force protection measure that underpins our commitment to Article 5 and will in though way support any offensive operations."

So telling Putin very bluntly there, no, it's not about beginning offensive operations. It is about being very concerned about what you may do next, concern that Putin could make a move.

And we are seeing these -- these defenses being shored up everywhere. The U.S. putting an extra 15,000 troops into Europe. And army and command and control for ground forces just in case. And their support operations to support air operations just in case. You know, this is what the U.S. military does. This is what NATO does.

They plan, plan, plan. And they are planning just in case. They hope it doesn't come to that, of course, John.

[06:25:09]

BERMAN: Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you very much.

KEILAR: And joining us now, CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark. He is a former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe and a senior fellow at the Burkle Center at UCLA.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us. I do want to start first with the Patriot missile batteries that the U.S. is sending into Poland to -- as a defensive deployment, it's being called, to shore up NATO. What does this mean?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think the development is certainly a good development. It's a prudent deployment. It's a defensive response to Putin's threat to the west that he might use a nuclear weapon of some type or some other weapon of mass destruction.

So this gives reassurance to the Poles. It also tells Putin that -- that he's not going to be necessarily so successful in trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons.

KEILAR: How would that work?

CLARK: Well, these Patriots are an anti-ballistic missile -- an anti- short-range ballistic missile capability. They can intercept many of the missiles that he's got deployed already, that he's put into Russia and into Belarus.

So if there were to be a launch in some provocative way by Mr. Putin to attempt to intimidate us, these missiles have a very good probability of intercepting a Russian missile.

Now, why you would do this now is the question. Is it something that's been planned? Probably it was an on-the-shelf defensive measure. Is it necessary to reassure the Poles? Probably a really good idea.

Does it have anything to do with some additional escalation of the nuclear threat from Mr. Putin? Perhaps analysts worrying that as he's losing, he may be tempted to try to widen the conflict by using a nuclear weapon. We just don't know that.

There's a lot going on behind the scenes, Brianna. But I do think this is a very prudent deployment here by the United States.

KEILAR: Sir, what do you think about what's going on with Poland and the MiGs? Because Poland kind of sprung on the U.S. this idea of sending its MiGs to Germany. So that, essentially, then it becomes an issue of the U.S. and NATO to deploy them to Ukraine. And the U.S. is saying that this is untenable. CLARK: Well, I thought it was a good idea, if we could have gotten it

done quietly. Suddenly, there would just be more Ukrainian MiGs in the sky to contest the airspace.

But all of this public discussion is a little hard to understand. So it shouldn't have come out in the public in the first place. This has been about 10 days of discussion between the time that the E.U. foreign ministers decided they would never allow anything to fly in from western airspace, or NATO airspace into Ukraine. Then discussions with the United States. Then discussions have been on again, off again.

Some concern about what aircraft the Poles would get in return as replacements. It's a very strange and unfortunate sequence of events that's brought this public.

I hope it's still not off the table. Ukraine needs to have air support in there, and what better than having Ukrainian pilots fly it?

KEILAR: You -- you hope it's not off the table, because clearly, you think that this could help them. Can you tell us how this would help them to have these additional planes?

CLARK: Well, the Russians have, right now, air superiority over Eastern Ukraine and over the cities. So they can -- they haven't been terribly effective thus far in what we've seen. They are striking targets that are civilians targets. But it's important to keep these Russian aircraft away.

If you can keep the Russian aircraft away, and if you have some ground attack capacity from the Ukrainian aircraft when they come in, if they have the right munitions, you could go after that famous 40-mile-long convoy that sitting there north of Kyiv. You could also attack the Russian forces as they're drawing the encirclement in.

Right now, the Russian forces are moving up toward Dnipro. They're trying to bag the Ukrainian forces that are east of the Dnieper River. If you have the right air power in there, you could stop that Russian movement to the North.

KEILAR: General Clark, really appreciate you being with us. Thank you.

CLARK: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Just in, Russia now responding to America's big economic punishments: from companies cutting ties -- so many of them, just look here -- to President Biden banning Russian energy imports. The Kremlin says the U.S. has declared economic war. We'll discuss, is this really an escalation? Next.

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