Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Russian attack kills 33 in Ukraine in deadliest attack this year

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Russian attack kills 33 in Ukraine in deadliest attack this year · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Ukraine says Russia has carried out its deadliest attack of
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  Speaker 1: the year. At least 33 people were killed in a
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  Speaker 1: Russian strike that set two public buses on fire in
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  Speaker 1: the Donetsk region. Officials in the area have suspended public
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  Speaker 1: transportation and are urging civilians to flee for safer parts
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  Speaker 1: of Ukraine, as Fred Pleitgen reports.
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  Speaker 2: What happened is obviously very important in all of this.
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  Speaker 2: And this happened at 10 a.m. in the morning in
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  Speaker 2: the town of Kramatorsk. when two municipal buses, as you
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  Speaker 2: put it, were hit by what appears to be a
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  Speaker 2: very large munition. That's one of the things that we
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  Speaker 2: could see from some of the footage that was released.
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  Speaker 2: It seems as though one of the buses was completely
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  Speaker 2: destroyed immediately by that munition and the other one appears
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  Speaker 2: to have caught fire. As of right now, 33 people
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  Speaker 2: have been confirmed to have been killed and many, many
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  Speaker 2: more have been wounded. Certainly, the work there of the
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  Speaker 2: crews continues at this point in time as this is
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  Speaker 2: definitely a very big incident that took place. But the
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  Speaker 2: other thing that's also significant is where this took place.
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  Speaker 2: And this is in Kramatorsk, as we've noted. And that's
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  Speaker 2: a place that's part of that fortress belt that the
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  Speaker 2: Ukrainian military and the Ukrainians continue to hold in the
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  Speaker 2: Donetsk area of Ukraine, which is obviously one of the
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  Speaker 2: main areas that the Russians have been trying to take. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the Russians have been chipping away at that fortress belt,
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  Speaker 2: which also has three other towns in it. And certainly
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  Speaker 2: the front line has been moving closer and closer to
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  Speaker 2: those towns. So if we look at a town like Kramatorsk,
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  Speaker 2: A year and a half ago or a year ago
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  Speaker 2: or so, that would have still been the rear echelon
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  Speaker 2: in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Now that is
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  Speaker 2: pretty much the front line. And so it's well within
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  Speaker 2: the range of Russian drones. It's well within the range
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  Speaker 2: of missiles and aerial bombs. And certainly life there has
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  Speaker 2: become a lot more difficult for the folks on the ground.
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  Speaker 2: The local authorities have immediately stopped all municipal transport. And
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  Speaker 2: they're also urging people to actually leave Kramatorsk and go
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  Speaker 2: to safer areas of Ukraine as the fighting there moves
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  Speaker 2: closer and closer. Again, the Russian military continuously chipping away
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  Speaker 2: at that fortress belt. And Kramatorsk is certainly one of
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  Speaker 2: the most important towns that the Ukrainians still hold in
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  Speaker 2: that Donetsk area in the east of Ukraine.
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  Speaker 3: Joining us now live from Kiev is Inna Sovtson. She
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  Speaker 3: is a member of the Ukrainian parliament. Thank you so
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  Speaker 3: much for joining me this evening. Look, in the past month,
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  Speaker 3: we have seen Russia hit schools, medical facilities, apartment buildings.
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  Speaker 3: And now we have here an attack on two buses
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  Speaker 3: in what is the worst attack against civilians this year.
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  Speaker 3: Your president is calling this deliberate attacks on civilians. What
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  Speaker 3: are you calling it? And what is your reaction to
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  Speaker 3: this attack today?
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's a shocking news, of course. We are all
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  Speaker 4: following it the whole day. It adds up to the
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  Speaker 4: previous attacks, as you mentioned, in a small town of Proluke,
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  Speaker 4: which is a small town in a relatively rural area
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  Speaker 4: north of Kiev. 22 people killed in their sleep, five
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  Speaker 4: kids included. So it's just 50 people in just two days,
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  Speaker 4: within the scope of two days, add to that smaller targets,
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  Speaker 4: so to speak. And also add to that, that they're attacking,
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  Speaker 4: they're not just taking lives, which is, of course, the
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  Speaker 4: most scary part, but they're also undermining the livelihoods of
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  Speaker 4: the Ukrainians. I'm now sitting in my apartment. I can
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  Speaker 4: hear outside the street multiple diesel generators working because half
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  Speaker 4: of the city doesn't have electricity right now as we speak.
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  Speaker 4: And this has been the problem for the past two
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  Speaker 4: days already. So the goal of Putin is to make
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  Speaker 4: sure that civilians in Ukraine don't feel safe, that they
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  Speaker 4: want to move, that they don't want to stay here.
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  Speaker 4: And that apparently remains his goal, no matter what he's
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  Speaker 4: talking about, whether he wants negotiations or not.
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  Speaker 3: And as we mentioned, I mean, officials in the Donetsk region,
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  Speaker 3: where this attack happened, have urged that civilians there to
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  Speaker 3: flee to safer parts of Ukraine. Where is it that
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  Speaker 3: you know, civilians at this point can go to from
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  Speaker 3: that region? And how great is the danger for those
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  Speaker 3: living closest to the front lines of Ukraine, you know,
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  Speaker 3: given Russia is now deliberately, it seems, targeting civilians?
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  Speaker 4: That's a great question. Which cities are safer? Of course,
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  Speaker 4: closer to the front line is most dangerous because that
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  Speaker 4: is where they have easier access with drones. And unfortunately,
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  Speaker 4: the use, the disadvantage that they have But frankly speaking,
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  Speaker 4: living here in Kiev over the past couple of months
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  Speaker 4: has been terrifying as well, since they now have very
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  Speaker 4: fast drones that can fly very quickly, very fast. They
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  Speaker 4: get to Kiev in a matter of minutes. Living in
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  Speaker 4: Kiev over the last two months has been close to impossible.
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  Speaker 4: We are now facing a situation where we have air
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  Speaker 4: raid alerts almost during the whole day, which Just give
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  Speaker 4: you one simple example, which basically undermines any schooling done,
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  Speaker 4: because schools cannot function when there is an air raid alert.
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  Speaker 4: Kids have to go to the shelter. If they're in
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  Speaker 4: the shelter, they can't study. So basically, we skipped the
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  Speaker 4: whole month of schooling with kids not being able to study.
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  Speaker 4: And that's not taking lives, of course, but it still
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  Speaker 4: makes staying here very unpleasant and very unsafe. And people
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  Speaker 4: are thinking of moving even from Kiev, but People in
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  Speaker 4: the West, of course, feel a bit better. But again,
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  Speaker 4: with the new fast drones, even those areas are now
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  Speaker 4: not completely safe, at least not as they were half
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  Speaker 4: a year ago.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. And amidst all of this, I mean, the expectation
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  Speaker 3: is that this coming winter, your fifth during this war,
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  Speaker 3: is going to be Ukraine's toughest yet war. I spoke
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  Speaker 3: to the CEO of DTEK, which is, of course, Ukraine's
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  Speaker 3: largest private energy company, earlier this week. And he said
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  Speaker 3: that the biggest problem or the biggest challenge that they're
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  Speaker 3: going to face this winter with the impending attacks that
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  Speaker 3: are going to come on the energy system will be
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  Speaker 3: reconnecting power stations amidst Russia's attack and keeping the lights on.
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  Speaker 3: And I wonder from a government perspective, you know, when
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  Speaker 3: it comes to keeping the power on, to keeping Ukraine's
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  Speaker 3: grid connected, what steps are the government taking to be
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  Speaker 3: ready for that right now?
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  Speaker 4: Well, it is a huge challenge. And I have to
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  Speaker 4: say that here, the government, the private sector, everybody work
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  Speaker 4: together because it's a challenge for the whole country. The
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  Speaker 4: problem is, of course, that the transit infrastructure is very vast.
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  Speaker 4: You cannot protect every single station, every single substation. What
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  Speaker 4: the government has been doing is they have been trying
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  Speaker 4: to protect the most important lines, the most important substations.
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  Speaker 4: And of course, the truth is that the most effective
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  Speaker 4: way to protect them is the air defense. That is
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  Speaker 4: why Ukraine is asking for better missiles and other missiles
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  Speaker 4: that we can use for air defense, because Frankly speaking,
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  Speaker 4: no matter how much effort he puts into trying to
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  Speaker 4: build some sort of shelter, some sort of construction on
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  Speaker 4: top of any substation, it can all be destroyed with
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  Speaker 4: ballistic missiles if he wanted to. So, of course, the
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  Speaker 4: most important way to do that is to strengthen our
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  Speaker 4: air defense. That's the cheapest way to protect our energy infrastructure. Because, indeed,
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  Speaker 4: the Russians are targeting the transit system. We are right
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  Speaker 4: now in the situation where the majority of electricity has
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  Speaker 4: been produced in the west of Ukraine. But we still
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  Speaker 4: have a big portion of population living on the east
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  Speaker 4: of Ukraine. And what the Russians are doing, they're trying
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  Speaker 4: to disconnect those two parts by targeting the transit infrastructure. Again,
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  Speaker 4: air defense is the best way to do that. There
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  Speaker 4: are other ways to protect that infrastructure. But again, I
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  Speaker 4: believe not a single country in the world would be
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  Speaker 4: able to protect their own energy system from such massive
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  Speaker 4: attacks as we are facing right now. So, of course, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 4: we expect interruptions of services for sure.
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  Speaker 3: You know, the last time we spoke to you here
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  Speaker 3: on CNN, you were pregnant. And I just want to say,
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  Speaker 3: because I think you are due sometime soon to have
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  Speaker 3: a baby. Yeah, still pregnant. Okay, so due sometime soon. Look,
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  Speaker 3: I hope you don't mind the personal question, because I
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  Speaker 3: know you have a teenage son as well. How are
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  Speaker 3: you feeling? And what is it like right now to
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  Speaker 3: be a mother in this war?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, first of all, still pregnant. Would you any
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  Speaker 4: day now? And that is a different set of challenges.
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  Speaker 4: Very simple issue of getting to the hospital when the
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  Speaker 4: time comes is becoming a challenge because they live on
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  Speaker 4: the 14th floor. So getting downstairs is going to be
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  Speaker 4: a challenge if there is no electricity and my elevators
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  Speaker 4: are not working. I'm very much, frankly speaking, my biggest
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  Speaker 4: fear right now is to to be in the delivery
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  Speaker 4: room when there is an air raid attack, because that's
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  Speaker 4: when you are most vulnerable and you can't do much.
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  Speaker 4: But unfortunately, that is how women have been given birth
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  Speaker 4: in Ukraine for the last almost five years. So that's
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  Speaker 4: something I worry a lot about right now. And then,
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  Speaker 4: of course, I worry about my teenage son, who's just
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  Speaker 4: turned 14. Of course, him experiencing this whole war for
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  Speaker 4: five years now, A majority of his school experience is
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  Speaker 4: living through the war, going to the bomb shelters. I'm
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  Speaker 4: very much concerned about how that affects his education, his well-being.
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  Speaker 4: I'm trying to do as much as I can as
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  Speaker 4: a mother, but I just want everybody watching this to
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  Speaker 4: realize that the price of this war is something that
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  Speaker 4: we will be paying for many years to come. And
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  Speaker 4: whenever it will be done, there will still be damage
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  Speaker 4: done to the people who lived through all of this, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 4: including the children of Ukraine. But, you know, we remain hopeful. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 4: I wouldn't be planning to become a mother again. But, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: we want our country to stand strong. But for that,
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  Speaker 4: we need as much support from everybody else as possible.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it goes without saying, Inna, that we wish you
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  Speaker 3: the very best. And I'm sorry you're having to do
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  Speaker 3: this in these circumstances, but I'll be praying for you
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  Speaker 3: and you. The very best of luck and thank you
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  Speaker 3: so much for coming on and telling us about your
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  Speaker 3: country tonight. Thank you.