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Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Discusses War In Ukraine; Arnold Schwarzenegger Makes Direct Plea To Russian People, Soldiers; Beyond The Call Of Duty: New Jersey Police Officer Inspires Elementary School Students. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired March 18, 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]
PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (via Skype): Forces on the ground. And with that situation, definitely, this moved Putin to cross the red line to start to kill Ukrainian civilians. And we have now very dangerous, disastrous humanitarian situation.
Can you imagine that more than 16% of the Ukrainian population is displaced person. More than three million has already crossed the border and leave the country. And about three million are internally displaced.
And with that situation, definitely, also our team not only depending Kyiv in their territorial defense but helped to evacuate -- deliver the humanitarian goods to the Chernihiv, to other cities, to help evacuate from Bucha. And unfortunately, the cities is completely erased by the Russian criminals, by the Russian aggressor. Such cities like Gostomel, Bucha, Irpin, and especially Mariupol when we have more than, what, 500 bombs and missiles attacking peaceful cities.
Thousands of people are killed, including hundreds is -- hundreds is children. And we are under siege. And with this situation, definitely, the most important thing now is to demonstrate the unity of Ukrainian nation. This is what Putin don't expect - the unity of the whole world together with Ukraine. And that's why we can stop -- we can do what necessary additional step we are waiting from our partners.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden has called Vladimir Putin a war criminal -- a thug, he says.
What do you want to see happen to Vladimir Putin?
POROSHENKO: First of all, I fully agree with a good friend of mine and good friend of Ukraine, President Biden.
Second, I doubt that Putin is adequate now. I think that Putin is a crazy maniac who does not understand what would be the reaction of his steps. And I just want to remind to the people of the world that this maniac has a nuclear knob.
And Ukraine now paying a huge price for the fight -- for the war -- not against the Ukraine but against the collective West. Against our values, against our principles.
And Putin -- if Ukraine falls -- I doubt that it happens, but if Ukraine falls, Putin do not stop. Putin will go further. Protecting a system and helping Ukraine, every single people and person in the United States and U.K. -- protecting their own nation -- their own country. And that's why it's so important.
And definitely, the right answer for Putin -- the response from Putin would be to place him under the bars in Hague permanently (ph). This is absolutely the right reaction of the whole world community.
BERMAN: You point out that Russia has nuclear weapons. That Vladimir Putin has access to them. Do you think he would use them?
POROSHENKO: First of all, I just want everybody should understand Putin already attacked Ukrainian nuclear power station. It's happened in Chernobyl and it's happened in Zaporizhzhya. And with this situation, the nuclear contamination don't have any borders and don't meet the criteria for the Article 5 for the Washington treaty of NATO.
And how we can stop it -- to stop him in Ukraine -- and we don't need your soldiers. And we have a plan for -- Poroshenko plan with the five points.
Point number one: this is the exactly the (INAUDIBLE) act. When we have everything from nutrition to ammunition. And please learn very attentively the way how you supply to United Kingdom, starting from March 1941 and do exactly the same for Ukraine.
Point number two: When we're talking about to close the airspace above Ukraine -- we're talking about, again, nuclear power stations, civilian objects, and protect Ukrainian army who defending not only Ukraine but Europe.
[07:35:00]
And with that situation, we need a fighter jet. We need anti-aircraft S-300 system. We need Stinger. We need everything -- the most modern technology to close Ukrainian airspace by Ukrainian soldiers using the Western weapons.
Point number three: Second front (ph) -- not like in 1944. But everything but soldiers. And with this situation, second front is increasing the sanctions. Every single day while Putin do not understand and do not withdraw his troops from Ukraine, sanctions should be firmer.
We should make an embargo for the Russian oil and gas throughout the world. Please don't pay Putin $50 million an hour where he's spent to killing Ukrainians. This is my appeal. That's why I appreciate the leading initiative of U.K. and the U.S. --
BERMAN: Mr. President --
POROSHENKO: -- but my appeal to the European Union. Point number four and this is extremely important. This is the
assistance and immediate given to us, European perspective. I'm definitely confident that with this situation Ukraine should have an access to the candidate status.
Point number five: when war would be over, we need martial plan. Martial plan for rebuilding Ukrainian infrastructure, Ukrainian economy with several source of financing.
Point number one -- this is the freezing Russian assets. Point number two -- this is the assistance of the whole world. With this situation, I think this is extremely important.
BERMAN: Mr. President --
POROSHENKO: And point number three -- this is the finance of the organization.
BERMAN: Mr. President, Petro Poroshenko, on the ground in Kyiv. Please stay safe. We appreciate you joining us this morning.
POROSHENKO: Thank you very much, indeed.
BERMAN: We do have new reporting this morning on the impact this war is having on the Russian military. Plus, CNN investigates the Russian bombing of a maternity hospital using 3-D imagery.
And Arnold Schwarzenegger is just one of 22 people who Vladimir Putin follows on Twitter. And now, the actor and former governor is making a direct plea to the Russian people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:41:38]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, CNN is investigating the Russian airstrike that ripped through a maternity hospital in Mariupol last week -- a city that has been under siege by Russian forces.
CNN's Katie Polglase has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TEXT): The building's gone.
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCHER (voice-over): Kharkiv, Izium, Melitopol, and now, Mariupol.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It happened on March 9 in hospital number 3 in Mariupol.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Despite being an apparent war crime, medical facilities have been repeatedly hit by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine -- and with each hit, a new justification.
For Mariupol, Russia set the stage days before the attack happened.
VASSILY NEBENZIA, AMBASSADOR AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS (through translator): The armed forces of Ukraine have set up a fire position there.
MARIA ZAKHAROVA, SPOKESPERSON, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (through translator): (INAUDIBLE) expelled the staff and patients from the maternity hospital and equipped combat positions in it.
POLGLASE (voice-over): CNN found zero evidence that such military positions were present in Mariupol's maternity and children's hospital on the afternoon of March ninth. And it was civilians that emerged from the buildings -- pregnant women injured and distressed.
City officials say 17 people, including children, women, and doctors were injured. Since then, at least five people have died.
CNN built a model that revealed many signs that civilians were still using this hospital and therefore, it was not a justifiable military target. This satellite image taken just hours before the attack shows cars parked outside. This is the crater left behind. War crime investigators Truth-Hounds told CNN it is consistent with a 500- kilogram high-explosive bomb dropped from an aircraft.
Just meters away, this sign reads "children's diagnostic consultancy unit." According to the hospital website, it housed children with immune diseases, among other illnesses.
Over here is where people began emerging after the strike. Women, heavily pregnant, being carried with arms draped over the shoulders of others, helping them get out of the chaos. And here, firemen can be seen running inside assisting people to escape.
The internal devastation is significant. The voice you're hearing is of one of the survivors speaking to Associated Press, who gave birth shortly after.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TEXT): We were lying in wards when glass, frames, windows, and walls flew apart. We don't know how it happened. We were in our wards and some had time to cover themselves. Some didn't.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Another seen here being stretchered out later died alongside her newborn baby.
These women's stories have epitomized the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. And yet, even their suffering has been questioned with Russian officials claiming on Twitter and on news programs that they must be actors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is only one woman rushing down the stairwell. Here she changed clothes and she has been brought on this stretcher.
POLGLASE (on camera): Well, you're showing this to me, but do you have any real evidence that it's not as been stated? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes (INAUDIBLE).
POLGLASE (on camera): Why don't you show it to me? I'm just a journalist in the Netherlands. Why don't you show it to the United Nations?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, but --
POLGLASE (voice-over): While Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov returned to the original line -- this attack was justified.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): This maternity hospital had already been seized by the AZOV Battalion and other radicals. All the pregnant women, all the nurses, all the service personnel were already expelled from there.
[07:45:09]
POLGLASE (voice-over): As these attacks on hospitals, clinics, even ambulances continue, CNN is tracking each one. In total, we have verified 14 incidents across Ukraine. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has confirmed at least 31. And with each hit, the ability of people in Ukraine to get medical help during this conflict is made more and more difficult.
Katie Polglase, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: The rubble speaks for itself. The suffering speaks for itself. But the message sometimes is lost on the Russian people or isn't reaching the Russian people.
So, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to speak directly to them in a video message posted on social media. The appeal from the actor and former California governor attempting to punch through Russian state propaganda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER GOVERNOR CALIFORNIA, ACTOR: I know that your government has told you that this is a war to de-Nazify Ukraine. De-Nazify Ukraine? This is not true. Ukraine is a country with a Jewish president -- a Jewish president, I might add, whose father and three brothers were all murdered by the Nazis.
You see, Ukraine did not start this war. Neither did nationalists or Nazis. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war. This is not the Russian people's war. Because of its brutality, Russia is now isolated from the society of nations.
You're also not being told the truth about the consequences of this war on Russia itself. I regret to tell you the thousands of Russian soldiers that have been killed. They have been caught between Ukrainians fighting for their homeland and the Russian leadership fighting for conquest. This is not the war to defend Russia that your grandfathers or your
great-grandfathers fought. This is an illegal war. Your lives, your limbs, your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war condemned by the entire world.
Let me close with a message to all of the Russians who have been protesting on the streets against the invasion of Ukraine. The world has seen your bravery. We know that you have suffered the consequences of your courage. You have been arrested, you have been jailed, and you have been beaten. You are my new heroes.
You have the strength of Yury Petrovich Vlasov. You have the true heart of Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Schwarzenegger talking about a famous Russian weight lifter.
This video has already been viewed more than 15 million times. The question is, how much of an impact will it have inside Russia? It was pointed out to us by Kim Dozier, Brianna, that Vladimir Putin only follows 22 people on Twitter. One of them is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
KEILAR: That is fascinating. So, maybe Vladimir Putin then is hearing it. And, you know, we just heard from one of our experts here, Beth Sanner, who was saying that this is probably available on the social media platform that's still up in Russia. So I think maybe there are a lot of Russians who are seeing it.
BERMAN: It is interesting to see just as a communicator, Arnold Schwarzenegger -- a background in acting. You know, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a background in acting. Sometimes it does help with the messaging there.
KEILAR: Yes, it certainly does.
All right, so this is just in. A fire in a major market in Kharkiv still raging this morning as first responders are battling the flames and continued shelling from Russian forces.
BERMAN: President Biden about to speak with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The surprising footage now being shown on Chinese television.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:53:17]
BERMAN: A New Jersey police officer going beyond the call of duty by inspiring young students -- teaching them about setting goals, hard work, and expecting nothing less than excellence.
CNN's Alexandra Field with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OFFICER REGGIE WRIGHT, EAST BRUNSWICK COMMUNITY POLICING UNIT: Raise your hands if you want to volunteer?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Officer Reggie Wright no longer patrols. Instead, he makes the round every week to elementary schools in East Brunswick, New Jersey, spending time with 600 fifth-grade students at eight different schools. An officer on a mission to teach what he learned in life outside the classroom, like how to live your dreams.
WRIGHT: So that's what kind of guided me. You know, growing up in the city of Trenton it was so much that could kind of derail me.
FIELD (voice-over): Officer Wright says his determination from a young age to play professional basketball shaped a lot of his life all for the better, keeping him away from poor choices and bad influences while motivating him to succeed in school. Through hard work, more than raw talent, he says, he went on to play professional basketball in Europe.
WRIGHT: Well, I was always thinking ahead. So I always had the end in mind. Where do I want to be?
FIELD (voice-over): After conquering his first goal, inspired by a friend, he set a new goal -- joining the police force.
WRIGHT: I said, man, here's a peer of mine who likes like me that's going to have a positive impact within the community.
FIELD (voice-over): Officer Wright is, today, building his own legacy of community impact --
WRIGHT: I expect you to do your work with excellence.
FIELD (voice-over): -- inspiring the next generation to set goals early while giving them the tools to try to meet them.
NIYATI CHORDIA, STUDENT IN OFFICER WRIGHT'S CLASS: I set some goals that I want to read at least half a book every day, which I do.
KAYLEE CRAIG, STUDENT IN OFFICER WRIGHT'S CLASS: One of my goals is to finish school and get very good grades so I can go to college and become a entertainer.
[07:55:07]
ADITYA BHATTACHARJE, STUDENT IN OFFICER WRIGHT'S CLASS: He taught me this saying -- "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." So I've been thinking very carefully about who I'm friends with and who I'm not friends with.
FIELD (voice-over): If you ask the students, they say they're starting to believe they can do what they set their minds to because Officer Wright is already proof that it works.
WRIGHT: The curriculum talks about setting reachable goals and making responsible decisions. Identify managing your emotions. The effectiveness of communication. The influence of the peer group. FIELD (voice-over): It's part of a New Jersey-based program called
Law Enforcement Against Drugs & Violence. Officer Wright says the lessons rang true to him so he pitched it to the schools. And his students are proof he has succeeded again.
MICHAL JANKOWSKI, STUDENT IN OFFICER WRIGHT'S CLASS: My favorite thing that's definitely how I'm getting taught is definitely respect. It tells me how to respect others. It tells me how other people respect me.
FIELD (voice-over): Alexandra Field, East Brunswick, New Jersey, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: A song just released by the man behind Five for Fighting entitled "Can One Man Save the World" is a tribute to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIVE FOR FIGHTING: Singing "Can One Man Save the World."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Certainly, you recognize the voice there of Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting. And he's with us now to talk about this.
Can you just tell us a little bit about why you decided you wanted to write this song?
JOHN ONDRASIK, GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER-SONGWRITER OF FIVE FOR FIGHTING (via Webex by Cisco): You know, some songs you don't decide to write -- they write themselves. How can you not be inspired about President Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian people, their fortitude, their example?
I think from the day that he turned down our plane ticket and said I'm going to fight and probably die for my country, you've seen people step up. I mean, just this week, you saw the prime ministers of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Slovenia go to Kyiv. I don't anybody could have imagined that weeks ago. You see Russian reporters openly protesting Putin. And you just saw Arnold's speech.
So courage certainly is contagious and it all started with this man.
KEILAR: Yes. Your song is having a moment and people are paying attention to it. Tell us about the reaction that you've gotten, including from Ukrainians, if you have.
ONDRASIK: Well, you know, I saw 20 years ago how a song could maybe move the needle a little bit in the culture -- and you were talking about how you get information past Putin's wall -- and songs can do that.
Certainly, my song is just one of millions of voices of support for Ukraine. Support for freedom. I think we've had our head in the sand the last 20 years and here's this comedian from the Ukraine -- this little guy reminding us what matters in the West. So I think we're all kind of in awe of Zelenskyy, his wife, the Ukrainian people.
But he can't do this alone. We have to continue to speak up with every voice, and no small voice matters. It's very important. We're in a historical tipping point.
KEILAR: So, what are you hoping -- and maybe you just sort of spoke to that there, but what are you hoping that Americans take away from this? Because maybe people will listen to your song that -- this could inspire them maybe to pay attention a little more.
ONDRASIK: I hope so. I hope it inspires more artists to write songs about what's happening in Ukraine.
As I said, we don't know how this is going to end, right? Every day we wake up and we see Zelenskyy's speech it could be his last one. He's being hunted by Putin. And if we let Putin devour Russia, what's next?
So I think the consequences of this go way beyond Ukraine and I think Americans need to understand that, and I think the world understands that. And we're starting to understand that we cannot abandon this man, this country who is fighting for all that we love -- freedom, democracy -- that America stood for, for 200 years -- 250 years.
KEILAR: John, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing the song with us and being with us this morning. John Ondrasik, we appreciate it.
ONDRASIK: Thanks, Brianna.
BERMAN: And NEW DAY continues right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Friday, March 18th.
And breaking overnight, Russian missiles targeting a location on Lviv in western Ukraine. This is a city that has largely been spared, so far, by the Russian invasion. Ukraine's military says six missiles were fired by Russian warplanes over the Black Sea. Two were intercepted but the other four struck an aircraft repair plant near the Lviv airport.
Let me give you a sense of where this took place. You can see Lviv right near the Russian border. Fired -- these missiles were -- from the Black Sea.
