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New Day
Ukrainians Report Fire In Building That Houses Nuclear Material; Las Vegas Police Officer Fosters Five Siblings; Jill Biden To Speak With Poland's First Lady, Weighing Europe Trip. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired March 11, 2022 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, EXILED RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): Will you listen to them? Because that's all they are to Putin. They follow Putin's orders and on Putin's orders, they can do things in the west. They have enough connections, they have enough money, and enough communication tools.
If we don't want a war -- if we want to stop the war we must put -- we must try and influence these people and stop -- we must block all their channels.
And if you want a test as to who they are to Putin, try to interview -- come up to them with a microphone and ask them is Putin responsible for war crimes? Is what Putin is doing a war crime? And judging by this person's public response you will know who they are to Putin.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: So how do you think Putin could lose power? Do you think some kind of coup is possible?
KHODORKOVSKY: Yes, a coup is possible and this has happened in Russian history before. But at the moment, Putin is able to project a fairly positive picture to the Russian population. When it becomes obvious that he is losing -- and this will be if the west keeps up its support for Ukraine -- if the west allows a no-fly zone in Ukraine this will save lives.
If Putin looks no longer a winner -- if he starts losing -- looking like a loser, then a coup is possible. But based on the Russian history and the experience of Russian history, we may yet have to wait a few years.
MARQUARDT: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, thank you so much for your thoughts and for your time today.
KHODORKOVSKY: Good luck.
MARQUARDT: And coming up, more on our breaking news. Explosions reported in three Ukrainian cities this morning as Russia appears to be shifting its tactics here widening their attacks also against civilians. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:36:20]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We do have some brand-new video that is just in to CNN. An airstrike has badly damaged this. It is a football stadium and also a library nearby there in northern Ukraine in Chernihiv. This is a city that is surrounded by Russian forces so this is expected, of course, to be a Russian airstrike.
And in these new pictures you can just see debris scattered outside of the gates of this facility, which is the city's Olympic sports training center. This is a center that was built back in 1936. This is where the local football team FC Desna Chernihiv plays its home games. It's also where the Ukrainian women's national team plays its home games.
This airstrike also blew large holes in a nearby library, scattering books across the ground there.
In the meantime, intelligence collected by NATO surveillance planes reveals that Russia is using Belarus as a launching point for many of its air operations in Ukraine.
We have our CNN reporters covering the war from all angles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (on camera): I'm Natasha Bertrand in Sittard, Netherlands.
CNN was granted rare access to a surveillance flight conducted by NATO yesterday over the Polish-Ukrainian border to monitor Russian air activity over Ukrainian airspace. What we were told by the NATO airmen on board is that they have seen Russian-made aircraft taking off from Belarus and entering Ukrainian airspace, indicating that those Russian planes are entering the conflict via Belarus.
Take a listen to what one NATO airman told me onboard yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do see activity coming from Belarus going into the Ukraine. But we cannot distinguish whether these are Russian aircraft or Belarusian aircraft.
BERTRAND (on camera): Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But sometimes there are certain periods on the day which are not on a regular basis where we do have a lot of activity getting in -- like a larger package with 10 to perhaps 20 aircraft coming in from the Belarusian airspace into Ukraine.
BERTRAND (on camera): This really drives home the extent to which Belarus is a key part of Russia's military operations there. And potentially, even providing its own forces to fly those aircraft into Ukrainian airspace.
Importantly, we are told that NATO is not as a bloc sharing this intelligence with Ukraine, but NATO members can do so at their discretion.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Jomana Karadsheh in Antalya, Turkey.
While there was no ceasefire agreement that came out of those talks between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers here on Thursday, Turkish officials are describing this as an important first step.
In a phone call between President Erdogan and President Biden yesterday, the Turkish president telling him that this was a diplomatic victory. Turkey has been working really hard to try and bring both sides together to the negotiating table at a high level.
And President Erdogan is continuing to push for talks between President Zelenskyy and Putin. The Turkish side saying that President Putin told Erdogan that he is not against these talks in principle. And we've heard from the Ukrainians, saying President Zelenskyy is ready for talks.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (on camera): I'm Kevin Liptak in the Romanian capital Bucharest where Vice President Kamala Harris has just arrived on a reassurance mission here in the easternmost reaches of NATO. She's the highest-ranking American official to visit this region since the war in Ukraine broke out and she wants to tell the country's president that the United States is committed to its NATO obligations.
Now, before she arrived here she departed Poland and she met with Polish and American troops. The U.S. has increased its deployment in that country. And she told them that the United States would defend every inch of NATO if it came to it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[07:40:00]
KEILAR: We are following some new developments this morning at nuclear power plants in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government says that it has lost all communications with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant -- now defunct but it's still very dangerous. Lots of fuel there. And a building that houses nuclear material is on fire.
We're going to speak to a nuclear expert about the potential danger here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUARDT: The Ukrainian government is reporting a fire in the building of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology. That is in the city of Kharkiv in the northeastern part of Ukraine. That facility houses a nuclear research facility. Kharkiv, of course, has been under intense shelling from the Russian military.
Joining us now is Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies. Professor Lewis, thanks so much for being with us today. [07:45:00]
I think I speak for many here when I saw that one of the most terrifying things that you can hear during a war is fighting around nuclear facilities. Specifically, on this facility in Kharkiv, how dangerous would it be if it were damaged or destroyed by Russian shelling or bombing?
JEFFREY LEWIS, PROFESSOR, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (via Skype): Well, I think the facility is probably pretty well on its way to being damaged and destroyed by shelling. It's been hit a few times in the course of the war. It's a fairly low risk given the kinds of things that they have at this facility, so I'm not particularly worried about the facility other than obviously, the suffering of the people there.
But it does go I think generally to the kind of recklessness and irresponsibility that we've been seeing on the part of the Russians. There's no reason to be attacking facilities like this.
MARQUARDT: And as we know, they've taken over -- taken control of a number of nuclear power plants. There's Zaporizhzhia in the center of the country. They also control the Chernobyl site.
Russia is claiming that it is against their interest to cause a nuclear disaster. How worried do you think we should be?
LEWIS: Well, I mean, it was against their interest to invade so I'm not sure I'm taking their word on this.
What I would say generally is that we've gotten through the worst of it with the -- with Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia, so I think the risk, again, is pretty low. There are other reactor sites in Ukraine and so the chance that fighting might reach those is something I'm still concerned about.
But really, I think at this point, the risks we're looking at are local ones. We're not really facing a kind of Chernobyl-like scenario where you would have a kind of accident that would get out of control and threaten the wider region.
MARQUARDT: What about in terms of communication? Because as the Russians have taken control of these facilities, we've -- the Ukrainians have lost communications with their staff -- Chernobyl, in particular. We understand from the IAEA -- the International Atomic Energy Agency -- that they are no longer in communication with the staff at the Chernobyl facility.
How critical is it for international monitors to know what's going on there and more broadly, at all of these facilities?
LEWIS: Well, it's extremely important. I mean, one of the most important things to note is that the staff at Chernobyl has not been able to change. And so, it's the same group of people who have been forced to stay on-site the entire time, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has expressed a lot of concern for those people. And ultimately, while I don't think the risk is particularly high,
these facilities do require staff to manage them. And the burden on people who are essentially being held prisoner there and can't change out for shifts and things I think is really quite enormous. And it's one of these things that the Russians have a responsibility to operate these facilities safely and at -- you know, there are some questions now about how seriously they're taking those responsibilities.
MARQUARDT: Well, that is a bit reassuring but obviously, troubling nonetheless if they are losing contact and it is not clear what the Russians plan to do.
Jeffrey Lewis, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much for your time.
LEWIS: My pleasure.
MARQUARDT: Now, new video just in to CNN shows the smoking remains of a shoe factory in central Ukraine, which is now under assault by Russian planes. We'll have more of our breaking coverage of this war in Ukraine ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:53:00]
KEILAR: A Las Vegas police officer always dreamt of having a big family. Suddenly now, he has one. CNN's Natasha Chen tells us how he went beyond the call to change the lives of five siblings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Las Vegas police officer Nicholas Quintana always wanted a big family --
SGT. NICHOLAS QUINTANA, NORTH LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: You want some catsup?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With what?
QUINTANA: With your chicken nuggets?
CHEN (voice-over): -- but he and his wife never thought they'd suddenly jump from having zero children to five.
QUINTANA: You do or you don't?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't.
QUINTANA: OK. Well, then, your brother will get it then.
CHEN (voice-over): On January 14th, Quintana answered a dispatch call for shots fired at a home. One parent is alleged to have killed the other, leaving five children at the house with no one to care for them. After leaving the scene -- QUINTANA: I did something that I'd never done before and I came back to this particular incident. I told them -- I said hey, make me a promise. I want you to promise me that you'll learn to forgive.
CHEN: Their experience is something he can relate to. His own father was killed by a relative when Quintana was just a child.
QUINTANA: It's impossible to forget things, right, especially things that hurt us most. But that lesson to say hey, you know what, I don't hold this against you anymore -- I love you -- OK, that took -- that took a long time to happen -- a while to happen.
CHEN (voice-over): And he felt eager to help these kids face their trauma. So after the incident when he got off his shift at 3:00 a.m., he couldn't wait to tell his wife he wanted to bring all five kids home.
QUINTANA: I believe God placed on my heart and I want -- what are your thoughts on it? And her initial response was is this a dream?
CHEN (voice-over): She agreed to meet the children who had a slim chance of being taken into a foster home together. When they invited the kids to live with them --
QUINTANA: The 17-year-old -- you know, she looks at me and she goes all of us? And I said yes -- yes, I want to take every single one of you.
CHEN (voice-over): An act earning the support and praise of his fellow officers and even the chief of police.
QUINTANA: You can still watch T.V., just eat right here, OK?
CHEN (voice-over): Now the couple's days are filled morning to night with preparing a lot more meals, getting children to and from school and therapy appointments.
[07:55:02]
Quintana says most parents have the opportunity to grow with their kids from dirty diapers to teenage tantrums, but learning how to be a father on the fly this past month to kids ranging from age six to 17 has been an exciting challenge.
CHEN (on camera): What are you most afraid of right now?
QUINTANA: Failure. You know, I told you before I didn't have a father figure growing up and I don't want to fail at it.
CHEN (voice-over): Natasha Chen, CNN, North Las Vegas, Nevada.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: That is a lot of heart there from Sgt. Quintana. What a story. So, just in to CNN, a White House aide says the first lady, Jill Biden, is expected to speak with Poland's first lady here in the coming days. Mrs. Biden may also travel to Eastern Europe.
We have CNN's Kate Bennett joining us with more on this. What have you found here?
KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, you know, not unlike other first ladies, they sort of tend to band together. And Jill Biden has -- is going to reach out to the first lady of Poland. I would imagine it would be to organize some sort of effort around humanitarian efforts. She's also speaking to military families who have been deployed over there.
She has not reached out, however, to Mrs. Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, because of security reasons, I was told. And obviously, the first lady of Ukraine is in a very safe place.
But it's interesting to me that she wants to take this trip. This is another -- if she goes, this will be another boldface administration official going to Europe, shoring up support for our allies. And I think Poland -- in a discussion with that first lady is really a smart move on Jill Biden's part.
KEILAR: Yes. It shows a lot of solidarity --
BENNETT: Right.
KEILAR: -- right? They're trying to communicate this is a NATO country. Nothing will be tolerated in Poland. And even though this may be a symbolic trip, I think you really can't miss how important this is as part of that message.
BENNETT: Yes. And, you know, she was in Kentucky at Fort Campbell the other day telling members of the 101st Airborne's family members, many of whom are deployed -- who have been going over there to help our allies.
You know, this is part of her world -- this military family initiative that she started with Michelle Obama, joining forces more than 10 years ago. So I would not be surprised and people are sort of hinting that there might be some element again of just telling our military -- military families this is a situation that no one really anticipated but we're here for you. We support you.
And I also think that humanitarian efforts are really going to ramp up, and that's something that I think the first lady and most first ladies generally want to be a part of.
But right now, at home, she's really the first witness to the weight of the presidency of Joe Biden. She's there for the middle of the night phone calls. She's been talking about how stressful -- she's sort of vocalizing on her trip last week how stressful and how much anxiety the country's feeling watching these images and seeing these stories. And the fact that she's sort of behind the scenes with the president
-- this is a 40-year-plus marriage -- is really interesting. He relies on her. They speak on the phone every day. She is his major sounding board.
And that she's vocalizing -- you know, he's answering the phone. He's getting up during the 3:00 a.m. phone calls. It's really interesting insight to just sort of the personal side of what this war is doing behind the scenes with the president.
KEILAR: Yes, and I'm glad you bring up military families. This is normally a billet that I don't think would be that stressful and this is certainly something --
BENNETT: Yes.
KEILAR: -- different for the families that are there and for the ones who have folks who've just deployed from the U.S. as well.
Kate Bennett, thanks for the reporting. I appreciate it.
BENNETT: Thank you.
KEILAR: NEW DAY continues right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KEILAR: Good morning to viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Friday, March 11th. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington, D.C. with Alex Marquardt in Lviv, Ukraine. John Berman is off this morning.
And we are beginning with breaking news. Vladimir Putin expanding his attack on Ukraine. Russian forces bombarding three key cities, and take a look at where they are. This is significant.
You have Dnipro, which is in the center of the country; Ivano- Frankivsk, which is in the west; and Lutsk, which is in the northwest. You can just see how much Russia is widening its offensive here. And Lutsk is just 60 miles from the Polish border which, as we were just discussing, is a NATO country.
In Dnipro, Ukraine says three airstrikes hit an apartment building and a shoe factory and damaged a nearby kindergarten. Those are unmistakable civilian targets. Russia has offered no explanation or apology.
And according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense, Russian forces are also making limited progress advancing towards the capital city of Kyiv. They could actually be preparing for a fresh attack though against the capital here in the coming days.
A senior U.S. Defense official said some troops are now within nine miles of the center of Kyiv, with others approaching from several directions. And we've been talking a look at some new Maxar satellite images from the outskirt of the city, and what it shows is that 40-mile-long convoy -- that Russian convoy we've been talking so much about here in recent days -- it's actually largely dispersed and redeployed now.
