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Polish, Czech, Slovenian Leaders to Meet Zelenskyy in Kyiv; Curfew Goes into Effect in Kyiv; Russian State TV Employee Disappears after Crashing Newscast; U.S. Cable Suggests China Open to Helping Russia. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 15, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:38]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Tuesday, March 15, and I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

We are following breaking news this morning. The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv setting a two-day curfew as Russian forces close in on the city and escalate attacks on civilians.

CNN's team on the ground reports hearing two very loud explosions overnight in the central part of the Ukrainian capital. At least four residential buildings were hit by separate strikes just hours ago. Two people were killed in this apartment building in western Kyiv, according to Ukraine's emergency services.

The Russians have now launched more than 900 missiles since the start of the invasion, about 200 of them here in the last five days, according to U.S. defense officials.

And you can look at footage of a man walking down the street in Kyiv there on a pathway when an explosion rocked a residential building directly across the street. And these satellite images, these are new images out of Mariupol, which shows the extent of the devastation there in that heavily bombarded city in Southeast Ukraine.

Still Russian forces are facing heavy resistance. The Ukrainian military releasing a video that proves it is still fighting back. This drone footage showing an artillery strike on a Russian military position hidden in a forest outside Kyiv. President Zelenskyy is urging Russian forces to rethink their mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russian conscripts, listen to me very carefully, Russian officers. You've already understood everything. You will not take anything from Ukraine. You will take lives, yes. There are a lot of you, but your life will also be taken. But why should you die? What for? I know that you want to survive. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also developing this morning, the White House is discussing a possible trip to Europe for President Biden as NATO leaders talk about gathering in Brussels here for a meeting to talk about the security situation. That could happen as soon as next week.

And breaking moments ago, word that prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are on their way to Kyiv right now to meet with President Zelenskyy in that besieged city. This is a remarkable, remarkable statement of solidarity. To go to somewhere like Kyiv in the middle of a bombardment there. You'd be hard pressed to find any example like it in history. It's akin to world leaders going to London during the blitz.

Let's talk about the current situation more with CNN military analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander, General Wesley Clark.

General, thank you so much for being with us. I want to start with the breaking news out of Kyiv. Word that they're doing this two-day curfew, including daylight hours. What does that tell you about the security situation in that city right now?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It says that there are some Russian forces that have penetrated. These are assault groups that come in, dismounted that the Ukrainians are working against. It also is a precautionary move to keep civilians off the streets and in shelters as the bombardment intensifies.

BERMAN: We've seen some new pictures -- I think I can show you here on the wall here -- of this bombardment on Kyiv over the last several hours. Apartment buildings that have been hit, on fire, ablaze right now. Devastating images.

These are civilian buildings, residential apartment buildings. And it's all over the city right now. We have different strikes happening in the city. What are the Russians doing here?

CLARK: Well, the Russians are basically closing in their longer range systems on the city. They don't have specific intelligence in many cases so they're simply firing into areas where there's reported to be resistance. And those shells are hitting everywhere. The rockets are hitting everywhere.

So it's really an area bombardment. If it doesn't take out the Ukrainian resistance, then the Russians figure at least it terrorizes the population. It puts more pressure on President Zelenskyy to come to some agreement that is essentially a surrender document.

President Zelenskyy is not going to do this, but the Russians are in a talk/fight/fight/talk mode. So they keep this diplomacy going in an effort to keep the pressure on and in an effort to forestall Western action by raising hopes of some kind of a settlement.

But in reality, President Putin's aims haven't changed. He wants to besiege Kyiv, seize it, put his own stooge in there to say that he's the president of Ukraine.

BERMAN: General Clark, what does it tell you? I've never heard of anything like this. The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia on their way to Kyiv right now, a city under siege.

CLARK: Yes. It's a remarkable -- it's a remarkable story. And I hope they make it in and get the information firsthand accounts from President Zelenskyy they need.

I think, John, what's happening is that our allies in Europe are recognizing that they simply cannot allow Ukraine to fall. And this is a really important development. It means there's going to be greater pushback, including from our European allies, including greater support, military support, for the government in Kyiv.

That's why they would be going in. They want the first-hand reports. They want to be able to talk to their people. They have to take a higher level of risk to ensure that Kyiv is safe.

It's very simple. The best way to defend NATO is to assist Ukraine to defeat this Russian ground attack.

[06:05:07]

BERMAN: All right. General Clark, stand by if you will. I want to go to CNN's Scott McLean, who is in Lviv right now in the western part of the country.

Scott, give us the latest, particularly if you can, the situation going on in Kyiv right now with this extraordinary two-day full curfew.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. So that curfew will start this evening. It will go right through Wednesday. And then people will be allowed out of their homes on Thursday.

But it's difficult to believe that people would want to leave at this stage of the game anyways, unless that's to go to a shelter.

So people, of course, during that curfew time, are able to go to shelters. They are able to leave for emergencies. But given the situation, given the bombardment, given just how dangerous the city seems right now, this is not the first time that they've put in place one of these curfews.

Obviously, there have been curfews in place at night in Kyiv. It begins at 8 p.m. here in Lviv. The curfew begins at 10 p.m.

But John, one other thing to mention. You talked about it already, this delegation coming from Europe. This includes the prime minister of Czech Republic, the prime minister Slovenia and the deputy prime minister of Poland, as you said.

It is remarkable. They're going there, they say, to show their support for the Ukrainians, and they're going to be announcing a broad package of assistance to help the country. It comes on the same day when European finance ministers have also announced a broad package of sanctions that they are calling historic.

And what I found especially interesting about this journey is not only the timing of it, given that there's been so much shelling and the city seems so uncertain and so dangerous right now, but also the fact that they're going by train. And it appears that they haven't arrived yet.

We understand they left before 9 a.m. this morning, so that's more than three hours ago. But that train journey takes quite some time. The trains do not run at full speed into Kyiv. They're slowed down in most areas to maybe 50 miles per hour or so. tops.

And so this journey is going to take a while. And so I just find it a little bit odd that they're announcing this before they've actually reached the city, it seems.

BERMAN: That is odd. I will say it is an extraordinary visit. I had to read it twice when I saw the bulletin cross. Because when you think of it, this is a city where strikes are happening all the time. Four residential complexes hit just over the last four hours and now the world leaders have been there.

I can't think of an historical comparison. It would be like going to London during the blitz.

Scott McLean for us on the ground in Lviv. Scott, thank you very much.

MCLEAN: You bet.

BERMAN: OK. Well, General Clark, I think we have General Clark back with us now? General, you still there?

CLARK: Yes. Yes, I am.

BERMAN: I appreciate you being back with us, sir.

So in addition to these NATO leaders, leaders of these NATO nations, heading to Kyiv, we do have word that President Biden will be headed to Europe -- might be headed to Europe in the next several days, maybe next week, for this extraordinary session. What is there for NATO to discuss right now?

CLARK: Well, I think there are three things for the NATO leaders to discuss.

First, they've got to really get a grip on the current situation of what is the balance and forecast for this battle? Is enough assistance getting in to enable the Ukrainians to hold or is this just a matter of time until the Russians squeeze the life out of Ukraine? That's the first question.

The second question is what is it that NATO is going to do in the future to strengthen its defenses? Every country in NATO is going to have to adjust its defense budget. We're going to need more U.S. forces in Europe, but these European countries are going to have to spend more. They're going to have to reactivate reserves. They have to invest in new technologies we're learning about from the war and so forth.

And the third thing is they're going to have to evaluate the level of risk that they're willing to take to keep Ukraine in the fight. When you balance off what risk it takes to keep Ukraine in the fight versus what you have to do to adjust your defense budget for an indefinite time in the future, it becomes more and more clear that we're going to take some greater risks to get Ukraine the technology, the weapons systems that it needs.

It's OK for NATO to draw a hard, red line not and say not one thing across NATO borders can go into Ukraine. That was the initial ruling. I think that's going to be re-evaluated because the situation in Ukraine will demand it. It will demand that NATO leaders look carefully at this risk and figure out how to provide additional assistance to Ukraine.

BERMAN: General Wesley Clark, we do appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you so much.

CLARK: Thank you very much, John.

KEILAR: Now to something you never see on Russian TV, dissent. Take a look at this employee of a major Russian news network crashing the set of a live broadcast to protest the invasion of Ukraine. Her sign reads, obviously, "No war." But then it says, "Stop the war. Do not believe propaganda. They tell you lies here."

[06:10:00]

Nina dos Santos is joining us live from London. Do we know the back story on this, Nina?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Brianna.

Well, we know that this woman is called Marina Ovsyannikova. And she was an editor at that state-run news channel, Channel 1. Hence the reason that she was able to gain access to the main set during the main evening broadcast for this hugely risky and very eye-watching protest.

Essentially, her message here is one that is banned, because the Kremlin in Russia is still trying to push the narrative that this isn't a war. It's a mere special operation that Russian forces are undertaking in Ukraine.

Well, after you could see her waving that banner that she preprepared, and she was shouting, "No to war, stop the war, they're lying to you." The director cut to a pre-recorded segment, and we believe that she was arrested.

But it turns out she'd already prerecorded her own statement, which had been released to human rights organizations. And this is a snippet of why she took this perilous risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARINA OYSYANNIKOVA, RUSSIAN TV EDITOR (through translator): This happening now in Ukraine is a crime. And Russia is the aggressor country. And the responsibility for this aggression lies in the conscience of only one person. This man is Vladimir Putin.

My father's Ukrainian. My mother is Russian, and they have never been enemies. And this necklace on my neck is a symbol of the fact that Russia must immediately stop this fratricidal war. So our fraternal nations will still be able to reconcile.

Go to the rallies and do not be afraid. They cannot arrest us all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: Well, in the last two weeks since the invasion of Ukraine began, about 14,000 people, according to human rights organizations, have been detained in Russia, across sweeping protests.

And a lot of independent media has been restricted or had to be disbanded, because freedom of speech laws have been tightened in just the last week and a half. That means that this woman could be facing somewhere between 3 and 15 years in jail, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, that is a lot. Quite the sacrifice, although she was clearly aware of that, so that tells you a lot, as well. Nina, thank you so much for the report.

It could be a critical moment in this war. New revelations about what China may be willing to do to help Russia.

BERMAN: Plus, much more on the breaking news. The capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, setting a two-day curfew as the city's mayor goes out on the streets to address fears that he could be kidnapped by the Russians.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:34]

KEILAR: Sources tell CNN that the U.S. is sharing information with NATO allies suggesting China has expressed openness to providing Russia with military and financial assistance as part of its war on Ukraine.

Joining us now, we have Katie Bo Lillis, CNN reporter, and Kylie Atwood, CNN national security correspondent. OK, what does this cable say, Kylie?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Basically, what this cable says is not only does the United States know that Russia has actually asked China for this economic and military support as part of its invasion into Ukraine, but they believe that China has cited a willingness to actually provide that assistance.

And we don't know exactly if China has provided any of this military or economic assistance, but if they do, it could be a game changer, right? This could push Russia into a much stronger position on the ground in these places where the Ukrainians have still held onto control. If the Russians were boosted with extra support, that could be really significant here. Right?

So the United States is definitely concerned about it. That's why they're telling their allies in Europe and Asia about it.

And national security adviser Jake Sullivan just met with his Chinese counterpart yesterday. And we know, according to the State Department that he was very, very clear in expressing concerns about how close China and Russia are and explaining that there are going to be consequences for China, not just for the U.S./China relationship but also for China's relationship with countries around the world if they do move forth and provide any material assistance to Russia as part of this invasion.

KEILAR: It's also interesting that the one U.S. official is saying the cable says China will deny all this.

ATWOOD: Right.

KEILAR: They don't want to really be out there on a limb here. But it's pretty interesting to see what Russia is asking for here, Katie Bo, including food.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They certainly asked for some lethal assistance, but they have also asked for what the U.S. military calls MREs, or meals ready to eat, which are these prepackaged, nonperishable --

KEILAR: Not delicious.

LILLIS: Not delicious. The barbecue corn nuts are very, very good.

KEILAR: I don't know if that's part of China MRE lineup. But yes, that's what they're asking for.

LILLIS: Right, exactly. Which tells you something pretty significant. It tells you that the Russian military is just three weeks into this invasion, having a hard time feeding their troops in the field.

And of course, we've seen open-source reports of Russian soldiers, you know, looting grocery stores and knocking on the doors of Ukrainians, hungry, looking for food.

So it really begs some pretty fundamental questions about the readiness of the Russian military, which you know, we've all -- we have long considered in the United States one of world's premier militaries.

If they can't feed their troops for a three-week invasion, that -- that has some serious, serious implications for how strong a military they are overall and also raises -- again, sort of bolsters this idea that we had that Russia had anticipated that this was going to be over in a matter of a week most, you know. They're not planning to have to be in the field for -- for three weeks.

KEILAR: They thought they were very close to a hot meal when they weren't, right? So what does China seem inclined to do here, Kylie?

ATWOOD: Well, I think that's what U.S. officials are trying to figure out right now. We have seen President Xi be very clear in not criticizing President Putin throughout this entire thing. He essentially gave his tacit approval for this invasion to occur.

But as U.S. officials have said, it's not clear if China knew exactly what Russia was planning here. And they clearly didn't know what capacity they had, because as U.S. officials have said, this has dragged out far longer than what Russia had initially planned for.

[06:20:06]

So what China is trying to figure out here is how to stay close to Russia but also how to isolate itself from any economic impact. Because you know, if they provide economic support to Russia, they could open themselves up to secondary sanctions from the United States.

They already have an economy that hasn't been doing as well as it has in recent years right now. And so they want to isolate themselves economically while still being seen as, you know, supporting Russia and creating some sort of division in the world with the United States right now.

KEILAR: It's so interesting to see the difference in calculus, I will say, when it comes to sanctions between the Chinese and the Russians.

I do want to ask you, Katie Bo, because you have some new reporting. There's a lot of pressure on the Biden administration to do more: to provide more weapons, to provide more assistance, even though they've done quite a lot when it comes to Ukraine. It's coming from Ukraine. It's also coming from Congress, you're reporting.

LILLIS: Yes, exactly, Brianna. So we have both -- we have both the president of Ukraine and Congress sort of actively pushing the Biden administration to provide them with these sort of Soviet-era heavy weaponry that the United States doesn't actually have but that Ukraine and Congress hopes that the U.S. will be able to sort of broker these deals of getting other countries to provide this stuff and then potentially backfill them.

So what are we talking about here? We're talking about Soviet MiG fighters, fighter jets. And we're also talking about the S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system.

The surface-to-air missile defense system, the State Department says it's looking into this. But the Biden administration has been pretty straightforward from the beginning. They're saying MiGs are a no go.

And you know, a lot of the public discussion about this Brianna, has centered on whether or not providing fighter jets to Ukraine would be seen as escalatory by Russia. But that's a little bit of a red herring, at least according to some of the military intelligence officials that we've spoken to, who said that the real issue is whether or not those jets would be useful operationally to the Ukrainians in the field.

Would they make a difference on the battlefield? And more to the point, logistically, how do you get them into Ukraine without them getting shot down? They're a big target. They're hard to move.

And of course, this is all happening at a time in which Russia has begun to signal that it is going to start targeting arms resupply shipments coming into Ukraine from the West.

KEILAR: Yes. Feels a little like a hot potato. No one wants to be the last holding the MiG before they give it to Ukraine. You know?

LILLIS: Exactly.

KEILAR: Great reporting, you guys. Katie Bo and Kylie, thank you so much.

LILLIS: Thanks so much.

BERMAN: Want to talk more about the China situation. Joining me now is Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China" and columnist for "The Daily Beast."

Gordon, this reporting that you just heard right there, that China has expressed a willingness to somehow aid Moscow, either militarily or with food aid. Why would China do this? What's in it for China?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "THE COMING COLLAPSE OF CHINA": China wants to take down the international system, and it also wants to hurt the United States. So that's been consistent Chinese policy.

And this is evident from what Chinese propagandists say. And that really reflects the official line. They want to support Vladimir Putin, because he is very useful for this purpose. And so, they have basically formed an axis.

As they said in their 5,000-word communique on February 4, they've got the no-limits partnership, where no area of cooperation is forbidden.

BERMAN: Don't they risk losing their huge markets: Europe, for instance, the United States? Isn't there much more at risk for China economically?

CHANG: China doesn't believe that the United States will carry through on any threats to impose sanctions. You know, there's been a series of presidents, and this goes back a long time, that have lectured the Chinese, that have said that they would impose sanctions and have done extremely little.

So Beijing believes that there is no political will in the United States to follow through. And that's why deterrence has broken down.

BERMAN: What if China provides military support? What if the United States and NATO is able to discover provable military aid to Russia by China? What will the consequence be? CHANG: Well, so far, the consequence has been nothing. Because, for

instance, there are indications that China has already provided military intelligence that is -- that gives the Russians the capability to kill Ukrainian drone operators.

Ukraine is operating Chinese drones against Russia. DJI, that company in Shenzhen, the world's largest maker of drones, has provided the information to the Russians about how to kill the operators, how to reverse the information flows. So this has already occurred, John. This is on Twitter. This is open source. And nothing has happened.

So I think China thinks, Well, look, you know, we can continue to do this without consequence. Now, I think we should be imposing the same sanctions on China that we have imposed on Russia, because China has already given substantial assistance to Russia on this: elevated commodity purchases and a number of other things that are really critically important to the Russians at this point.

[06:25:09]

BERMAN: Is that the option? The option that exists? Do you think it's realistic? Do you think the Biden administration would do that, levy severe sanctions on China?

CHANG: Well, the Biden administration obviously doesn't want to do that, but it might be port (ph) forced into it. This really looks like a seminal moment, where we've passed an historical inflection point. And because of that, what was not possible two weeks ago could very well be inevitable in a week or so.

This is a dynamic situation. Now, the Biden administration has been a laggard in this. So, obviously, they're going to resist, but obviously, the situation could change.

BERMAN: It would be a mammoth reordering of the world order in a very short time.

Gordon Chang, thank you so much for being with us.

CHANG: Thank you.

BERMAN: So the breaking news this morning, Kyiv setting a two-day curfew. This as the Russians conduct air strikes on civilian areas. You can see some of the devastation in these residential apartment complexes. We're going to speak live with one journalist who was shot and narrowly escaped an attack in the capital.

KEILAR: Plus, dozens of babies born by surrogates are waiting to be picked up by their parents from a shelter outside of Kyiv as the city comes under fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)