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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