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.
