Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 201407

CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin July 17, 2014 19:00:00

Restricted zone at the moment. Still so many questions to be answered. And theres going to be a lot of fingerpointing over the next several hours, days and even weeks as this investigation begins to intensify. Lets take a kind of a look back now at all we know. At the top of the hour, thank you very much for joining us, it is 3 00 here on the east coast of the United States. We are following breaking news this hour. Right now it is 10 00 p. M. In ukraine where earlier today the horrifying scene was captured on camera, the moment a Passenger Jet falls from the sky, exploding on impact. The tragedy without a doubt. But was it an accident . Right now it appears very likely this plane may have been intentionally shot down over Eastern Ukraine. We dont know for sure. Theres a lot we dont know. Heres what we know right now. This was Malaysian Airlines flight a boeing 777 traveling from Amsterdam To Kuala Lumpur in malaysian. On board, 295 people, 280 of them passengers. 15 of them crew members. There are Reports Americans were among the passengers. President obama commenting on that a short time ago. Obviously, the world is watching reports of a downed Passenger Jet near the Russia Ukraine border. It looks like it may be a terrible tragedy. Right now were working to determine whether there were american citizens on board. That is our first prior to. And ive directed my National Security team to stay in close contact with the Ukrainian Government. The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why. And as a country, our thoughts and prayers are with all the families of the passengers, wherever they call home. The president making no mention of the back and forth going on right now between ukraine and russia. The Ukrainian President calling this a terrorist act. Of course, we should also point out that on this day in 1996, Twa Flight 800 crashed into the water off the coast of long island in the United States. Those inside the Interior Ministry in ukraine claiming this plane was shot down by prorussia separatists using a russian made Missile System, a buk, capable of hitting a target 70,000 feet up. This Passenger Jet was at a Cruising Altitude of 32,000 feet. Cnn is on the ground in ukraine. Lets go to Victoria Butenko in kiev and tom foreman with a closer look at what unfolded. Victoria, whats the latest youre hearing from kiev . And we just lost victoria. Well get her back shortly. Lets go to tom foreman with a look. Weve been looking all day at this Buk Anti Aircraft System or anti Missile System as it is called out there. We dont know this is what was used. Were looking at the capability of the system, if, in fact, it could accomplish such a thing. If you look at the flight pattern, you see it came across the country as we have discussed, wound up down here before it went down. Let me put it on to a more normal map so you can see more of what were talking about. That puts the crash site down in this area, and this is russia, all over here. All of the green out here, this is all russia. So youre getting quite close to russian territory, 18 miles away from where the plane went down. Thats within range. But also it could be within the area, because this is what were talking about when we refer to the buk system. It is highly mobile, operated by four people. It has four readytolaunch missiles on top of it. Its quite fast. From the time this thing is rolling to the time it can stop and be ready to fire is five minutes or less. The Radar Acquisition target acquisition system can find a target and fire a missile in about 22 seconds. So this thing can be moving very quickly, can fire fast and can be gone fast. So no matter where this came from, if, in fact, it was a missile, the launcher could now be very, very far from where it all happened. Lets talk a little bit more about the missiles up on top there. There are many different configures for the buk. But if theyre using the 9m317 missiles, each 16 feet long, each weighs 1,500 pounds, carries a 154pound warhead, high explosive, 154 pounds, thats extraordinary. And all it has to do is guess close to the plane. It cant actually impact its target but get close to a plane and it blows up with tremendous force. And this is really Important Note here. Look at the speed of this. 2,684 miles an hour. Thats around three times the speed of sound. This is unbelievably fast. A Missile Streaking through the sky like that. When you compare it to a plane like this, which is flying along at maybe around, lets say 600 miles an hour, you see that not only could a missile like that be guided in, because it is guided the whole way, to a plane like this, but it could come in so quickly, truly nobody on board, including the crew, might have any idea its coming. The truth is, if this is what happened, this plane could have been hit and nobody on board would have the slightest idea it was headed their way. And we know from the map we showed earlier it is happening in a region over here, this highly contested region, where prorussian separatists at work. This is crimea down here. So right in the hot zone. And certainly weapons are capable. One last note, anderson, i want to throw in here. We know they have the buk system is and could reach across the border. We speculate as to whether or not the separatists have such systems. But in all fairness, we have to note that ukraine has been a very important partner with russia for many years in developing Missile Systems. And despite some difficulties of the late 90s, their Missile System is robust here. Their production, technology, knowledge. So the ukrainians would have such systems. Not incapable of this. Thats why we have to be careful about deciding if it was a missile and if so, who fired it . Anderson . Is. Yeah. Tom foreman, i appreciate that update. Fascinating details about the buk system. I want to go to Christian Amanpour joining us from london. Christian, obviously there is the Human Tragedy of this, and, you know, and our thoughts and well wishes and prayers are with the families of the 295 people on board, some probably watching right now, trying to get as much as they can. Its very hard sometimes for families to get information directly from the airlines in the early stages of Something Like this. But there are also strategic considerations, military considerations, geopolitical considerations, in all of this. This is a potentially gamechanging situation for the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Reporter well, i would absolutely say it is. And to that point, we have just seen dmitry medvedev, the russian Prime Minister, has posted on facebook, on his site, condolences to all killed and all of their families calling it a terrible tragedy, making no illusions as to what happened or how it happened but very quick to post condolences. Lets talk now about what we do know. Over the last several weeks, there has been a pattern of aircraft downed in that very region. June 14th, a ukrainian transport military plane down. Ukraine accusing and mentioning that two other planes, this week, were downed. And i had a lengthy, lengthy conversation with ukraines Foreign Minister on my program yesterday who told me that over the last several weeks, there has been no let up in the russian control of the border. In other words, of russians allowing fighters and material to come from russia into ukraine. He specifically mentioned not just mercenaries but tanks and anti air missiles, as he called them. So this has actually been going on and not just ukraine saying that. Its also europe. The Chief European Leader who has been spearheading the move to confront the russians over crimea and the continued destabilization in Eastern Ukraine is german chancellor angela merkel. And just yesterday she said they are considering more sanctions on russia, because they have not met Vladimir Putin, despite his promises to all those leaders at dday which we all broadcast live, has not met his promise to stop the flow of weapons and fighters across the border, to stop destabilizing that area. Has not met the promise to have a Contact Group for peace negotiations. And the Foreign Minister for ukraine very clear on what hasnt happened and so the escalation of heavy weaponry coming over the last several days and weeks, anderson. We have seen that, certainly. And also the growth of Russian Forces, christiane on the border, more than 10,000 said to be there after a period of which it appeared that Russian Forces had dwindled in number, they seem to be rebuilding those forces. Reporter that, plus the fact that the International Community, president obama, chancellor merkel, the new Ukrainian President , petro poroshenko, overwhelmingly elected at the end of may, had wanted to have peace talks with the separatists. President poroshenko thought he had president putins support and acquiescence on that, there was a socalled Contact Group which involved the russians and other nations to try to bring this conflict to anent. And that has produced no result. The Foreign Minister spoke with the head of the russian sort of the russian part of this over the last couple days and said we need to get these talks back on track, because no matter what the evidence turns out to be over what happened to this Malaysian Airline flight, there have been these planes downed regularly over the last three or four weeks. In that area. Plus this fight still going on. And there is no tangible evidence of russia doing anything to stop it, despite president putins public calls for a peaceful settlement. So there is a double game being played over there and it is now an incredibly dangerous one. And obviously as you said, if this does prove to be the worstcase scenario, it is a massive game changer in terms of this conflict. We should point out, christiane, there have been improvements by Ukrainian Military forces and their capabilities against separatist groups early on. We saw in crimea and elsewhere, kind of an inability by Ukrainian Forces really to defend themselves or hold on to territory. That seems to have shifted under the new president. They do seem to have whether its a Fighting Spirit or more experienced forces. They have made some games gains on the ground against separatist groups. Reporter yes, indeed, they did in the region a couple weeks and took back that area. But the separatists moved down to donetsk and sort of the regrouped and are Still Holding out there and this is what the Ukrainian Government wants to solve peacefully. I asked specifically the foreign minister about whether there was going to be an he escalation of their counter offensives. And he said we dont want to do that. He said we are even ready to hold Video Conferences to have peace talks with those separatists if they refuse to meet with us now. So even before this plane was brought i see you want to go live. Ukraine government spokesman. Lets listen in. Translator to establish the links of those of the militants, links of the militants of the russian federations. [ speaking in Foreign Language ] english, european, france, we send our condolences and providing to ukraine today, making public. We are providing to all international media, to all people, to all relatives, people who lost their relatives, Family Members in these anti humanic crime in donetsk, we are providing those recorded phone calls, where two officers, two military officers of russia, gru, minister of defense, discussing, one reporting and one is receiving, the report the shutdown of the plane over the territory of ukraine in donetsk exactly at 4 20 p. M. One officer, russian officer, who is reporting is a terrorist, gru russian federation. And the person who received the phone call is Cornell Wasili and also the russian gru officer. We are also providing to all media, international media, a russian Cell Phone Number used by cornell guranan, while receiving the report. We also are providing the intercepted and recorded phone calls where terrorists are discussing to each other that they arrived to the place where the plane shut down. That they were recognized that the plane is civilian. And they also discuss that there are many, a great number of casualties on the scene, on the site. Or where the plane crashed down. We a Ukrainian Government, will continue to investigate this criminal case, not terrorist, criminal case. Which was conducted and committed again by those. Two of them i established at this conversation at least documented phone calls gru officers of russian federation. Again, let me express deep and Sincere Con Dole he sayses to all people who lost their dearest members of their families. Thank you very much. Condolences. Its been spokesman for the Ukrainian Government there. I want to go to noah schneider, an american Freelance Journalist who im told is on site. Noah, youre here with Richard Quest on cnn. Where are you exactly . Reporter we are in the village a little ways north of a city called torez. Its kind of a long road and a Big Wide Field where the wreckage from the plane is spread out and there is still Emergency Services working, but its getting pretty dark so folks are trying to wrapup for the day. Who is in control of the site and what are you seeing . Reporter the site is controlled by the separatist dnr donetsk peoples republic forces. Theres some rebels down the road. But i think most people here have been Hearing Battles with the Ukrainian Forces for are a few days now, stationed not far down the road. At the moment, im not seeing anything. Its pretty dark. But when you get here its a gruesome scene. People said the plane exploded in the air and the plane rained down in bits and pieces. The plane itself, the people inside. How intact is the debris you saw earlier . How large are the pieces of debris . Reporter pretty burnt. Its going to be close to impossible to establish what happened here. There are big huge pieces still intact. But for the most part everything is burnt up and charred and scattered over a few kilometers. Noah, this is Richard Quest. This the debris field, is the site, is it secured in any way or are local people able to get access to it, to get access to the property, to go through whats there . Reporter i dont think anyone here in the village has even bothered doing that, to be honest. Most are so frightened they have not come near. There are two nests of Rebel Fighters at the end of the road. But even they themselves are just in shock. Most people here havent seen anything like this, as one man said to me, nothing has happened in this village for 30 years. And then suddenly this. How wide a field of debris are we talking about . Reporter i mean, its hard to say with certainty, but maybe 5 kilometers. Its a pretty wide radius. And the debris starts up the road. There is a tailspin, and you come further down and you see the place where the Emergency Services crews have set up a base of sorts. Some firefighters, rescue teams. And theyre kind of in the center of where most it landed. There a white tent in the field where they are collecting bodies. But you can wander through the open fields. There is not much of anything. There is a chicken farm nearby or chicken factory, as someone said. And then these little ukrainian villages. Dilapidated homes, and and not much of anything. So an effort has been made and is being made to collect the remains of those on board. Reporter absolutely, absolutely. Rescue teams have been going through the fields the last few hours, marking where bodies are, tying white, Cotton Ribbons to sticks. So as you walk through the fields, if you see one of those you know thats where a body is. But there is is still a lot 295 people on this plane. And i dont think theyve found all of them yet. And its too dark now really to do much more work. So people are trying to figure out at the moment what to do with this site for the night. Like i said, its kind of an open peeled. Open field. Its unclear. They dont know what will happen overnight. And its goin

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