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Russia Escalates Attacks on Civilians, Including a Maternity Ward; More U.S. Companies Cut Ties with Russia Amid War in Ukraine. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 10, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:06]

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): This meeting took place at the initiative of the Turkish side as a result of the conversation between President Erdogan and Putin. President Erdogan proposed and we agreed with our Turkish friends because we are in favor of any contact on the issues at the root of today's crisis in Ukraine and the ways out of this crisis.

One thing we said at the beginning was there should be value-added to these contacts and they should not be used by our Ukrainian colleagues who do this quite regularly.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Thursday, March 10th. I'm Brianna Keilar, with Alex Marquardt, live from Lviv, Ukraine. John Berman is off today.

And we begin with Vladimir Putin sinking to a new low in his war on Ukraine, launching an airstrike on a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol. A place where lives are supposed to begin, not end. A massive crater left behind in the hospital's courtyard from a bomb strike. The facility in ruins, gutted from inside.

Pregnant women dazed and bloodied, helped through the rubble, some them on stretchers. Officials telling us 3 of the 17 people who were injured have now died. One of them a child, a little girl.

The attack coming despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow for evacuations from the city. President Zelenskyy calling this proof of a genocide of Ukrainians.

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: And about half a mile away, a university and the Mariupol City council administration building were also left in shambles by an apparent Russian missile strike. We want to warn you the images we're about to show you are particularly disturbing.

There are so many bodies in the city. Residents are having to dig mass graves for them. No individual funerals for the dead. Officials say at least 1,300 civilians have been killed in Mariupol since the beginning of Russia's invasion two weeks ago, but many, including the city's deputy mayor, say that number could be four times higher.

This morning, the Ukrainian government is opening humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians in several parts of Ukraine.

So, let's bring in Scott McLean.

Scott, members of the Russian government have denied that they were behind this strike on Mariupol. Mariupol is one of the cities that we are looking at today for humanitarian corridors. What chance do you think there is today to get people out of that city and others?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Optimism probably not the word at this stage of the game. It wasn't just one hospital. According to the world health organization, there have been 18 hospitals that have been hit by the Russians since this conflict began and so, there was some level of success yesterday. That President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, look, 35,000 people were able to get out. You have success at the nuclear power plant. You have success in Sumy, where a particularly high number of almost 1,000 foreign minister students were able to get out. I met up with some of them at the train station yesterday.

Here in Lviv, after arriving in a journey that took more than 24 hours, they described absolutely terrifying experiences that they didn't know if they were honestly going to be able to get out. People were also able to get out of Irpin. Of course, we saw the devastating airstrikes in that area, some of the horrifying pictures there.

MARQUARDT: That's near Kyiv.

MCLEAN: That's near Kyiv. That's right on the outskirts.

But right also on the outskirts of Kyiv, we had trouble like the area called Bucha. Ukrainians say that the Russians were actually blocking the convoy of the evacuees trying to get out there. So, what ended up happening some people ready to go in that convoy, couldn't get out, ended up risking their lives to meet up with the convoy leaving from Irpin.

The trouble is by the time they actually got there, it was late at night, well after curfew. And authorities say you had traffic backed up for some ten miles. There was trouble in another area where a hospital was hit and really, of course, it goes without saying that the areas that are sort of most desperately needed where there are hospitals that were struck.

What's not clear, though, the corridors are open again today, though. What is not clear is what has been agreed to between the Russians and the Ukrainians. They've got to find the details right. The Red Cross has been saying over and over again, that, look, it's not good enough to agree there should be a corridor in general or in principle.

[05:05:03]

You actually have to nail down the really fine details and it's not clear that in all of these situations, that's been done. MARQUARDT: So important to point out alongside the announcement of

these corridors, you have continued to seen these indiscriminate attacks like which you mentioned. In terms of the details, it does seem like now there are more of these corridors that are not going into Russia and Belarus because that's what the Russians initially suggested, right? That people would be able to leave into the countries that the forces had just invaded from.

MCLEAN: Exactly. The Ukrainians had said off the bat when that was proposed by the Russians, look, this would just play into the propaganda machine of Russian. You can imagine the poor Ukrainian refugees showing up to be greeted by the Russian TV camera and used as propaganda as somehow they're fleeing from their own country.

So, Ukraine not agreeing to go that way. Luckily, they've been able to agree on corridors that go into Ukraine. But as you find out yesterday traveling across the country, even after you get out of the real danger zone, it still takes you quite a while to get across the country. Many people, of course, are ending up here in Lviv. And even then, getting across the border is a whole other story.

MARQUARDT: It is. And of all these cities, we're probably watching Mariupol the most today because of that horrific attack yesterday.

Scott McLean, thanks so much.

MCLEAN: You bet.

MARQUARDT: Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Let's talk now with Ukrainian activist Daria Kaleniuk, She's the executive director of the Anticorruption Action Center, which is a Ukrainian advocacy organization.

Daria, thank you so much for being with us.

We are waking up to these horrific images of the maternity ward and children's hospital that has been bombed. And I'm wondering if you think this is going to change minds about further things like a no-fly zone, perhaps, or other things to deter Russia?

DARIA KALENIUK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ANTICORRUPTION ACTION CENTER: Well, you know, I'm waking up every morning and I'm counting bodies of children and the attack on Mariupol is horrific. It was more horrific because it was planned.

Just a couple of hours before that attack, the spokesperson of minister of foreign affairs of Russia, she mentioned that in the maternity hospital of Mariupol, there are Ukrainian Nazis which are hiding, and they are in firing position. So she basically mentioned the maternity hospital as a target. And then, in four hours, a bomb was thrown from the plane on the hospital.

So, it indicates Russia will not stop. Russia is hitting the most vulnerable people, newborn babies, unborn babies and mothers. These are newborn babies who are now protecting democracy, protecting Ukraine and protecting the world from new Hitler. It can't be like that.

The corridors, humanitarian corridors will not happen. And what I'm worried that if they are not protecting our sky of Mariupol, if we don't have air defense systems, if we don't have fighting jets, then there will be thousands of people in this corridor and Russia will deliberately throw bombs into them.

They did it before in Chechnya, they did it before in Syria. And they are keeping the city of 400,000 people hostages. They either stay in Mariupol a die from dehydration and hunger, or they're going to respect humanitarian corridors. And they are risking to be destroyed with bombs.

And I don't -- I don't see a way out except of support from our partners, the U.K., the United States who are supposed to be guarantors of our security.

KEILAR: So, you know, I want to ask you, because we've seen Russia use these tactics before. They do it to break people, right? To bring them into submission and they do it because they can. Clearly, they think no one is stopping them.

Do you think that these images may change that? Do you think that the West -- that the U.S. will look at this and this may be a red line or no?

KALENIUK: That a lot depends now on American average people. America is build on values. I hope that American people will ask Biden administration why there is no action. For two weeks, we haven't received air defense systems which we are asking for. Ukrainians are not giving up. We are fighting. We have millions of people volunteered for army and territorial defense system.

We are fighting on the ground seriously and we are winning, but Russia has (INAUDIBLE) our sky. What we are begging, asking Biden administration please send us drones, fighting jets.

[05:10:08]

If you can't do no-fly zone, do alternative things. Don't just focus on refugees. There will be tens, millions of refugees in the European Union if we will not get it, if we will not get this support. Ukraine must win this war and to end this evil empire of Russia.

This is historic opportunity also for America to put the full stop on the authoritarians, and dictatorship regime in Russia. There has to be a change in the minds. The cost of non-action is huge.

KEILAR: Daria Kaleniuk, I really appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much for joining us from Poland.

Alex?

KALENIUK: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: All right. Well, the top diplomats from Russia and Ukraine are meeting today in Turkey. The talks are at the highest level between the two countries since this invasion began.

Our Jomana Karadsheh is there at the site of the talks in Turkey.

Jomana, we have seen three rounds of talks between the two countries but among lower level officials. This is between the country's two foreign ministers. Ukraine's foreign minister said before the meeting he doesn't have much hopes for today.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, just to let you know, the meeting has wrapped up after about 90 minutes. The foreign minister meeting is being hosted by the Turkish foreign minister. It lasted an hour and a half. No one was expecting any major breakthrough during these talks.

And this is what seems to have been the outcome. We were hearing right now, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, is addressing the press here. We heard a short time ago from the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who said the focus was on the humanitarian situation, catastrophic situation on the ground, where he said that he came here trying to push for a diplomatic solution, to try and accomplish at least two things, a 24 hour ceasefire and humanitarian corridors into and out of Mariupol. They wanted to get civilians out of the city and try to get aid into the city.

He says that they were not able to accomplish this because he said Foreign Minister Lavrov was not in a position to commit to any of this right now but he's going to be taking this back to the decision makers and see what comes out of it. Foreign Minister Kuleba saying that they're ready to continue these talks in this sort of format. We're hearing from the Russians saying they are willing to continue these talks that they see as a continuation of the round of talks from earlier.

And, you know, just to point also, Alex, just a short while ago we heard from Foreign Minister Lavrov repeating saying they did not invade Ukraine and saying they do not plan to attack any other country. You know, it really seems we've been speaking to Russian officials here, it doesn't seem like they're changing their position much in any way, at least publicly right now, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yeah. We do expect talks to continue but at the same time the violence, of course, is going to continue. We are expecting to hear from the Ukrainian foreign minister. And, Jomana, we know that you will bring that to us.

Jomana Karadsheh at the site of the Russia/Ukraine talks, thank you very much.

Now after ten days trapped underground with bombs all around them, terrified Ukrainians are racing to escape through what are really temporary humanitarian corridors. We'll take you to their struggle. That's next.

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[05:18:20] KEILAR: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that nearly 35,000 were able to evacuate on Wednesday through a half-dozen of these humanitarian corridors negotiated with Russia, but getting people out was a huge struggle for the refugees, as well as volunteers and government officials.

CNN's Matthew Chance has this report from the efforts on the outskirts of Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the chaos of this evacuation, the frantic search for a lost child. In the rush to escape the fighting an orphan has been left behind.

Hi. Hello. Do you speak English?

For the journey across the front line, the children are well-protected against the cold. The older kids were terrified, but the little ones didn't understand the danger they were all in, she says.

This is a mass exodus from areas under heavy Russian fire. The agreed safe corridor which hundreds of civilians, entire families are using to escape before it closes, and leave the horrors of the past few weeks aside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Nadia.

CHANCE: Nadia. Where do you come from, Nadia?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From Borzo.

CHANCE: From Borzo (ph), which is a town up there --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It was very dangerous and there are a lot of Russians and there were Chechens.

CHANCE: Russians and Chechens.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russians and Chechens, and they kill our owner of the house where we --

CHANCE: They killed the owner of the house?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yeah. They killed the owner of the house.

CHANCE: So you must have been and your family over here, you must have been terrified?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CHANCE: Frightening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was terrified. Absolutely terrified, but family is okay. Now, we are going to -- ten days on the ground.

CHANCE: You've been ten days on the ground?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten days on the ground.

CHANCE: Oh, my goodness.

There you have it. One family that has taken the opportunity to escape the horrific situation they find themselves in, for the last ten days or more to take the chance to get themselves and their children out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a lot of people helping with nutrition and warm --.

CHANCE: Yeah, all these sandwiches.

To help them do that safely, these embattled Ukrainian official tells me is now as much a part of fighting this war on Russia as killing the enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're pouring warm drinks. We have medical crew that helps to manage people that were wounded. We've seen shelled people who are broken here and we have a security force that actually interview people because we are afraid Russians may have sent some of their own.

CHANCE: As spies?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As spies.

CHANCE: Saboteurs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saboteurs, yeah, right here.

CHANCE: All of this is happening under the threat, the threat of artillery strikes and gunfire. That's a real threat right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a real threat but we have no choice because we have thousands of people who really have spent more than a week in the basement with no cellular coverage, with no access to medical assistance, with no food, no lights, no electricity and they want to flee. They need us to help them.

CHANCE: As the buses leave for the capitol, the boom of artillery fire resumes in the distance. The window for this escape from the fighting is closing fast.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Add Whirlpool and 3M to the growing list of companies scaling back or halting operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Is it going to have an impact?

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[05:27:05]

MARQUARDT: The international boycott of Russia is growing by the day. More big Western brands including Caterpillar, 3M, John Deere, Whirlpool, Hilton and Amazon all suspending or pulling back their operations in Russia.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans has the latest.

Christine, this list -- it's just getting longer and longer by the day.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, by the hour, really, Alex, a corporation iron curtain, if you will, rising around Russia now. The list of companies growing. They're citing difficulty doing business because of sanctions. They are citing solidarity with Ukraine.

And many of these companies worry about the safety of their own employees inside the country. This includes media companies, consumer giants, shippers and, of course, oil companies. The Biden administration has directly sanctioned Russian fossil fuel.

This is an unprecedented isolation of global economy. It puts Russia on the list of global pariahs like North Korea and Iran. Putin's aggression in Ukraine, moving his own people backward in time here, where they face a cratering economy, empty shelves, long lines, limits on withdrawing their own money and limit to credit card services.

Some energy companies are already writing off their business in Russia. They are taking huge losses just to walk away from doing business in the country. "Reuters" is reporting that Russia is now moving to nationalized assets that those foreign companies that leave, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Just extraordinary to see all of the logos and huge names in one place.

Christine, in the U.S., drivers are seeing high record gas prices as a result of the war. Is there any sense of how high those gas prices could go?

ROMANS: They grew again last night. They rose again last night. The speed of the rise in gas prices has been quite stunning and history making. You'd have to get to about $5.30 a gallon to match the adjusted for inflation back in 2008, but this is something Americans are certainly feeling.

A lot of analysts that I talk to expect it to continue to rise. Of note, though, Alex, yesterday you saw a big tumble in oil prices. Here's why: a lot of buzz that maybe now that the market is -- countries are starting to grapple with the fact that Russian oil will be moved offline, there will be other supplies, other ways they'll be able to try to make up that short fall in global markets. So, it could be that the worst is there for oil prices and relief for gas prices down the road, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yeah, the pain of this war being felt far and wide rippling across the globe.

Christine Romans, thank you very much.

Now, elderly Ukrainians are debating whether to risk the journey to leave their country or stay amid Russia's intensifying attacks. We'll be speaking with one man who is helping those who have made their decision. That's coming up next.

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