Hear CIA Director’s warning about Russia’s potential next move

 These are some words that you

should probably listen to.

At least raise some alarm bells

when I heard them yesterday.

CIA Director Bill Burns warning that

Russia could be preparing

for a false flag

operation in the Black Sea.

Take a listen.

We see some very concerning signs

of the Russians

considering the kind

of false flag of operations that,

you know,

we highlighted in the run

up to the war as well.

In other words,

looking at ways in which,

you know,

they might make attacks

against shipping in the Black Sea

and then blaming it

or trying to blame it on the Ukrainians.

Overnight, Russia

targeted a grain warehouse in Ukraine's

Odessa region.

A military official says two

people were hurt

or the 100 tons of peas

and barley were destroyed.

This is the fourth night of strikes

on Ukraine's main port city.

The coincides with Russia's decision

to pull out of a critical deal

that allowed for the safe export

of Ukrainian grain

to nations that desperately need it.

According to the National Security

Council, agricultural infrastructure

and 60,000

tons of grain

have been destroyed in these attacks.

CNN's Alex

Marquardt is in Kiev with us now.

And we're also joined by retired U.S.

Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

Alex, I want to start with you.

You had been in Odessa

for the initial three nights of attacks.

There's now a fourth.

What actually happened last night?

When did they come

Yeah, Phil, we just got back to Kiev.

We were in Odessa for the last few nights

during this incredible barrage

of Russian strikes.

In fact, we were up all night.

Waiting to see whether Russia

would indeed carry out

a fourth night of these attacks.

And now it seems they have

this came in the in the dawn hours.

We did hear some warnings

while we were in Odessa

that Russia was indeed attacking again.

But we were in the city.

We could not hear those strikes.

Now, we have learned

that there were at least seven missiles

that attacked an area

southwest of Odessa,

still in the Odessa region,

targeting different

types of infrastructure,

including food infrastructure.

So this speaks to the argument

that we've heard from Ukrainian

President Volodymyr Zelensky

and other Ukrainian officials

that Russia is weaponizing hunger.

Now, according to Ukraine,

Russia use

seven different types of cruise

missiles

to attack grain or grain

warehouses southwest of the city.

They destroyed 100 tons of peas, 20

tons of barley.

This comes after those three nights

of very intense strikes.

You think using both drones and missiles

to go

after the grain infrastructure,

to go after the ports

in Odessa and elsewhere?

This is just just speaks

to the incredible

rising tension in the Black Sea region.

Russia has justified its attacks,

saying that they are responding

to that attack on the Kerch Bridge

that took place on Monday by Ukraine.

But it is clear

that they are going

after the food infrastructure.

And, of course, Phil.

This comes

after

Russia did

pull out of that green deal on Monday.

Now, it's not just on land

that we are seeing this tension

and seeing these strikes,

but also in the Black Sea out at sea.

You have both Russia

and Ukraine

warning each other

that they could go

after each other's ships.

And now this ominous warning

from the CIA director

from the White House saying

that Russia could carry out

an attack on civilian ships

using this pretext, using this excuse

that they believe

that any ship going

towards Ukraine could be carrying

military cargo.

That is the excuse that that Bill Burns

and the White House are now saying

Russia could use.

At the same time,

Ukraine is also saying

that they will assume

that Russian ships

heading to Russian ports in the Black Sea

could also be carrying

military cargo

and therefore could also be targets.

They said that those Russian ships

could be treated like the Moskva.

That is the, of course, the black

the Black Sea flagship

that was sunk by Ukraine

very famously last April, felt Abby.

Alex.

And we actually

have that sound

from Bill Burns

that you were just talking about.

I'm going to play it.

But Colonel Anderson,

I want you to respond to

respond to it on the other side.

What it resurrected

was some deeper questions, which, again,

you know,

have you have seen circulate

within the Russian elite

since the war in Ukraine began,

since Putin's war in Ukraine began

asking questions about Putin's judgment,

about his relative detachment from events

and from about his indecisive are use

So, Colonel

Anderson, look,

Putin is in a weakened

position, obviously,

and is feeling incredibly threatened

by what Ukraine has done

when it comes to the Kerch Bridge.

How do you see this playing out?

Well, thank you, Abbie.

Clearly, he's desperate.

I think the walls are closing in.

He's greatly embarrassed

by the Prigozhin mutiny.

Three weeks ago,

he was again

had his nose bloodied

by this Kerch Bridge attack.

And so he's trying to distract

the Russian people,

let them focus on attacking

Ukraine and

specifically their infrastructure

that supports

movement and shipment of grain.

And so he's

trying to do that,

trying to distract world attention.

If you think about

he really only has a couple of levers

in which he can pull to

motivate the international community.

He's got his nuclear weapons arsenal.

He's got oil,

and now he's attacking food.

He's trying to make it painful

for the Ukrainians.

Just another page out of his playbook.

We've seen this before.

What we need to do is get more

air defense artillery assets

down there in Odessa. And meet Goliath.

Right now,

the only patriots are in the key area.

Rightfully,

they prioritized their capital.

But we've got we,

the United States, has a lot of patriots

that are available.

And I'd also recommend that we send

Sea Ram,

the counter rocket,

artillery and mortar systems

that were used

with great effect in Iraq and Afghanistan

because they not only can attack

incoming missiles,

but they can also attack the low

flying drones that are such a problem.

And the Ukrainians

have been struggling to try to defend.

General Anderson, I apologize for

mis titling

you hit there, but my apologies.

I do want to two astronauts and

Alex on the team

have done a great job

not just for reporting on the ground,

but also reporting

on the cluster munitions, the decision

to send them that they had arrived.

Alex had been talking

to commanders that confirmed that first.

Your sense from your experience on

what effect these will have now that

they're being utilized

Well, I will tell you that

they're very effective.

And I think that we're trying to do

is trying to use them

as a bridging strategy

until they can get more ammunition

over there, quite frankly,

because they know

they use in

cluster munitions has a lot of

attendant problems.

The dud rate is about 2.3%

Now, Russians are using

cluster munitions.

They're dead rate is 40%.

But that speaks

to the manufacturing capability

of the United States and Natal.

But but nevertheless,

they're going to have a residual problem,

an enduring problem

of cleaning up a battlefield

because they know that there's

going to be cluster munitions out there

that could potentially harm

the civilian population.

Am I understanding that Ukrainians

are targeting

unpopulated areas that are using them,

but I think that

this is a bridging strategy

just to get them

until they can get more ammunition.

I would also commend

the Biden administration

for living up to the deal.

They said that they'd get

cluster munitions

within a week to the Ukrainians

and they did that. Alex, you were saying

Yeah, I

think there really

is a debate, Phil, over how effective

these munitions can be.

And the U.S.

is certainly waiting to see

I did speak with the general last week

who is in charge of much

of the southern front

who says that they will have

a radical impact.

And you can also speak to some analysts

who say

you really have to find the right target

for cluster munitions to be effective,

you know,

larger groupings of soldiers, of

of weaponry and machinery

and that kind of thing.

But but

I think the general is absolutely right.

This is for the U.S.,

certainly a bridging strategy

it's filling a gap

where there is a real shortage

of the more standard artillery rounds

and filling out be right now.

This is very much an artillery fight.

No question.

Alex Marquardt with our retired Army

Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

Thanks, guys.

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