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New Video Shows Firefight Between Ukrainians And Russian Troops; Ukraine: Russia Is Dropping Bombs On Civilian Corridor In Mariupol; Russian Agent Maria Butina Repeats Putin's "Nazi" Rhetoric. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 10, 2022 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: About 50 miles from the port city of Mykolaiv video posted on social media shows Ukrainian troops engaging in firefights with the Russians. The soldiers are seen armed with shoulder-fired missiles and you can hear the sound of gunfire. CNN has geolocated this and verified the authenticity of the video.

[05:35:01]

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Odessa, Ukraine. Nick, how are things there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes. I mean, the fight you're talking about there is Mykolaiv, which is key to the fate, frankly, of this so far quiet but utterly strategic port city where we've got horizontal snow coming in. Mykolaiv is where we've been for the past days, though. And that video you pointed out there, which was posted and possibly filmed yesterday morning, shows the intense fighting to that port city's north.

Now, this has been where a lot of the violence has moved because it appears that Russian forces -- rather than getting into the center themselves, they've tried that unsuccessfully for days -- are trying to flank to the north -- that vital port. That could potentially enable them to cut it off, encircle it, and then they can focus their attentions here on Odessa.

The Voznesensk fighting -- that appears to have been part of this broader move, as I say. And we heard from the regional governor Vitaliy Kim who told locals -- I think, frankly, a sense of some urgency when he told locals to go out on the streets, lay tires and Molotov cocktails in preparation for any Russian bid to get into the city itself. This morning, he posted that they believe they've had some success, using airpower to attack Russian convoys outside of the city.

Hard to verify his statements. They do go back and forth suggesting success tension. He also mentioned how that they'd sustained losses -- the Ukrainian

side -- from Russian attacks on various checkpoints around the city. Clearly, the fight is intensifying around there -- continuing definitely, it seems, Russia's tried to get into the city center. When it fails, it bombards, from what we can see, pretty much indiscriminately.

And the civilian toll from that is startling. Just to give you an idea of the breadth -- I mean, yesterday, we were at a vegetable warehouse with 1,500 tons of onions that apparently -- that was deemed the target of a military airstrike. Startling to see that. On the other side, just down the road, an elderly couple who lost their entire house -- their entire world, frankly -- from another missile airstrike.

And then also, too, in the hospital we saw children -- three, four children. One young boy who was unaware that his father wasn't with him because -- not because he'd been injured. The father was busy burying his mother and sister.

And in a neighboring room, another girl who had a piece of shrapnel in her head and was having spasms as a result. And her mother was desperately trying to calm her and keep her still because of the pain that was causing and the damage she might do herself if she moved too much.

So, the toll on the youngest here is staggering and it is persistent, and it certainly shows that we are now seeing a pattern of Russia, either indiscriminately bombing residential areas just to sort of punish or pressure the population there, or targeting actual civilians.

KEILAR: Yes. It's very clear that's what's happening here. These are not enemies of Russia -- young people, old people, onions. I mean, this is -- it is something and maybe even a turning point. We'll see here.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. I do want to mention, as you were talking about what we -- what you've seen there on the ground, we are going to hear a report from you on civilians later in the show -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And that is a heartbreaking report.

Now more than two million people have fled Russia's military assaults on Ukraine and left the country, but for many of the elderly and disabled here, making that choice, of course, is very, very difficult. Do they risk the rigors of the journey out of their homes, out of the country, and become a refugee, or do they stay and face this approaching Russian military?

So joining us now is Oleksandr Prokhorenko. He is a resident of Kyiv who has been helping the elderly during this invasion no matter which choice they are making, whether to stay or to go. Mr. Prokhorenko, thank you so much for being with us this morning and thank you so much for the work that you are doing. First off, where you are in Kyiv, how dire are the conditions? What are you seeing?

OLEKSANDR PROKHORENKO, KYIV RESIDENT HELPING ELDERLY DURING INVASION: Good morning.

Well, I'm right in the center of Kyiv, close to the Olympic stadium right now. And, well, the situation here in Kyiv is more or less stable for the last few days. But yesterday we had refugees from Bucha -- my neighbor's family -- and they came. They joined us yesterday in the evening.

And they told the heartbreaking stories about how they were treated and how they were -- how that they stayed in the basement and what happened to them. And that was like, you know, shocking news for the -- for the -- for the -- for the last three days, except what we hear from the news that is happening in the suburbs of Kyiv.

But in Kyiv, the situation is, I would say, if I can say OK, it's -- yes, it's OK.

[05:40:00]

MARQUARDT: It's OK, I guess, in that it's quiet for now. But as you mentioned, the neighborhood of Bucha -- we have seen fighting there. We know that Russian forces are coming at Kyiv from the north and from the west and, in fact, that they have shelled areas like Irpin and killed people.

So, as you are helping people to evacuate, are you trying to convince them to go? What are -- what is the most difficult part of what you're doing?

PROKHORENKO: Well, for me, there is -- I would -- the most difficult part is to look at the people's eyes and to see how they're scared and how they lost their homes, lost their relatives, lost hope. So, the most important thing is to give them hope. And with this help, with this support, you give them a little bit of hope that they -- you know, they are not alone.

And for me, it's -- I've decided to stay because this is what every single person in the world should do. If you cannot -- for example, if you cannot fight with the guns, you can -- you can -- you can help people. You can help out people.

So, what do we do? We bring them medicine, we bring food to the shelter -- people in Kyiv. And you wouldn't believe how many of them it has been right in the center of Kyiv. So, we're giving deliveries of people from their homes to the central station. So, yes.

And what we do -- we try to do is I collected some volunteers and we are trying to -- if people are arriving from hard parts of suburbs of Kyiv, we are also trying to -- with the help of the local army, we're trying to get them out of this (audio gap).

Yes, people are scared and they want to leave -- but mostly, it's women and children. Men -- they -- all of them are trying to be in their country. This is -- this is what we have to do -- sorry.

MARQUARDT: Well, Oleksandr Prokhorenko, thank you so much for what you're doing. I hope you're getting the support that you need because you are helping so many. Thank you for your time and for what you do.

PROKHORENKO: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

MARQUARDT: Now, just in, we are getting word from Ukraine that Russia is bombing one of those humanitarian corridors that we have been speaking about this morning. That is in the city of Mariupol, which saw that horrific attack yesterday and is, right now, under siege. Stand by -- that's coming up.

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[05:46:55]

KEILAR: Just in, authorities in the Ukrainian capital of Mariupol say the Russians are, right now, bombing humanitarian corridors. These are supposed to be safe passageways designated to evacuate civilians. Mariupol also the site of the horrific bombing at the children's hospital and the maternity ward there.

Joining us now is Mattia Nelles who is a European political analyst who was living in Kyiv until he fled Ukraine for Dusseldorf, Germany.

Mattia, there's something about this morning and this development that we're seeing at this hospital and I wonder if, to you, this signifies something different in this war.

MATTIA NELLES, LIVED IN KYIV UNTIL HE FLED UKRAINE FOR GERMANY (via Webex by Cisco): Right. As we -- as you've reported for the past two weeks, Russia went from shelling military targets to basically leveling Ukrainian cities. And the degree of violence is intensifying and we see fighting in and around Kyiv and in and around Mariupol, so the situation is grim.

But it's important to emphasize that Mariupol as for now stands, and Kyiv is under attack but not yet besieged.

KEILAR: Does -- do you think the attack changes anything as you look at European politics and what the west is willing to do? Does it change the international response -- the reticence on a no-fly zone or supplying fighter jets to Ukraine?

NELLES: I personally hope so but I don't, nevertheless, don't think so. Because what we see there in international headlines focuses on the war crimes and the crime the Russians have committed in Mariupol. It's all over the news in Germany and in Europe. But nevertheless, the debate towards the no-fly zone is still very far away.

Even the oil embargo has not yet -- the opinion of German political leaders on the oil embargo has not yet been affected by this crime in Mariupol.

KEILAR: I know that you have family in Ukraine refusing to leave. Are you in touch with them? What are they telling you?

NELLES: Of course. We just -- one week into the war, my in-laws were convinced by me and my wife to flee from Kyiv as the fighting on the outskirts intensified, so they made it out. But we still have family in eastern Ukraine in occupied territory already in (INAUDIBLE) and Donetsk, which is nearly surrounded.

And friends -- many friends and colleagues. So it depends, really, where you are. Every morning begins with a check-up of how these friends are.

How the fighting was. How the supplies is. How much water is left. And it very much depends where these people are.

In Kyiv, the situation is a little bit better than, say, in Donetsk where there's no heating for more than a week. Food supplies are getting scarce, and so on. So we are really closely in touch with the people on the ground as much as we can.

KEILAR: I just spoke with a representative from a Ukrainian advocacy group and she referred to these humanitarian corridors as fake humanitarian corridors. There's been some success with them but then we see they're also being shelled like we've seen in Mariupol.

[05:50:01]

How do you see these corridors? Are they real?

NELLES: It depends, but so far, it's been more farcical than real. So we have -- we saw and as you reported successes from the outskirts of Kyiv from Sumy towards Poltava.

But crucially, in the cities where there is the highest demand for these corridors where people are literally starving to death these days, the systems are prevented from leaving the cities in their private cars. And even if the corridors are open and protected, the city does not have enough transportation to get out these three or four hundred thousand people, which are desperately trying to leave.

So, so far, even the existence of such corridors doesn't guarantee that citizens can, in fact, leave.

KEILAR: Mattia, thank you so much for being with us. I pray for your family's safety and I hope that you are able to be in touch with them every day and that they are secure. Thank you.

NELLES: Thank you so much for your reporting. It's very important.

KEILAR: Convicted Russian agent Maria Butina is busy peddling propaganda for Vladimir Putin. She's even suggesting Ukrainian forces are bombing their own country. More of what she said in a disturbing interview ahead.

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[05:55:59] MARQUARDT: Russia has repeatedly denied that they are attacking civilians here in Ukraine, even in the wake of that horrific attack just yesterday on the maternity ward and children's hospital in Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

And now, convicted Russian agent Maria Butina is hopping on this Russian disinformation bandwagon, publicly defending Vladimir Putin's war and repeating his ludicrous Nazi rhetoric. She told the BBC that it's not Russia's military but Ukrainians themselves who are laying waste to their own country.

CNN's Isa Soares is live in London. Isa, it appears that she is fully on board with the rhetoric we've heard from Russian officials and really deep in that propaganda hole.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Alex. I think she's -- it's very clear from what we've heard from her that she's Putin's propaganda czar -- a Putin loyalist.

And for those, Alex, who may not know her and have not heard of her, Maria Butina is a member of Russia's Lower House of Parliament -- the Duma -- as well as a member of their Foreign Affairs Committee. But she's best known, like you said, for being a foreign agent -- a spy for which she was convicted and arrested in the U.S. in 2018 for infiltrating political organizations, including the National Rifle Association.

Now, she has a seat in Parliament in Russia. And she's been spewing these lies, calling President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a Nazi -- of course, a reminder to our viewers Zelenskky is Jewish -- and that is not true.

She was interviewed, Alex, by the BBC and gave her definition of Naziism and was asked -- well, by your definition, Putin is a Nazi. He is bombing civilians. And this is her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BUTINA, RUSSIAN AGENT AND STATE DUMA MEMBER: Russia is not bombing citizens. Russian -- actually, Russian military troops actually are having humanitarian corridors. You know, I want to seriously see the evidence that these are Russians. And as much as we know and me personally in my region, we help people evacuated from Donbas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, your ears there, Alex, are not deceiving you. What she is suggesting is that Ukrainian forces are actually shelling and bombing their own people. She was pushed on this and this was her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTINA: I hope not. I hope no one in the world can bomb their own population. Well, I don't want to believe in that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, this is incredibly preposterous in the first place, but we have seen the evidence, you have seen the evidence, our teams on the ground have seen the evidence of them shelling and hitting maternity hospitals.

And it's the same sort of lies that we've been hearing from Russia's foreign minister who has been speaking, Alex, in the last few minutes.

And on the attack -- that attack on the shelling on that maternity ward, let me tell you what he said. He said that there's a fact here. "The hospital was seized by Ukrainian radicals" were his words, "and has become a base for Ukraine nationalists."

So, incredibly alarming but it's the same sort of lies that we've been hearing time and time again from the Russians -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And the worst part, millions of Russian believe these lies.

SOARES: Yes.

MARQUARDT: Believe that Russians are here to de-Nazify and that they are not hitting civilian targets.

SOARES: Yes.

MARQUARDT: It's just unbelievable.

Isa Soares in London. Thank you very much.

And NEW DAY continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Thursday, March 10th, and I am Brianna Keilar with Alex Marquardt live in Lviv, Ukraine. John Berman is off this morning.

Vladimir Putin's tactics in Ukraine are growing more horrifying by the hour. A Russian airstrike, as you see here, on a maternity and children's hospital in the city of Mariupol has killed three people, and that includes a child -- a little girl.

A massive crater that you see here left behind in the hospital's courtyard from that bomb strike -- the facility in ruins. It is gutted.

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