it's bor tsns. prote "face the nation" is coming right up. please join us when our trumpet sounds aga in t sunday morning. ♪♪ [trumpet] >> brennan: i'm margaret brennan in washington, and this week on "face the nation," international outrage grows as vladimir putin's brutal assault on ukraine ramps up, with increasingly barbaric attacks on civilians. russian forces continue to struggle in their effort to take over the capital city of kyiv, and ukrainians persevere, despite devastation and ruin in their homeland. we'll speak with lloyd austin about the new weapons the u.s. is sending ukraine and the delicate dep mask dance to arm them. and after president biden warns the chinese president not to help

russia, qin gang will ea eokna markarova will also join us, and we'll have a rare sunday interview with mitch mcconnell. finally, we'll check in with former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪♪ >> brennan: good morning. and welcome to "face the nation." there is no end in sight, no off-ramp for the russians, and seemingly no serious movement in negotiations for a cease-fire in the now 25-days-long war in ukraine. as we come on the air, the scenes of death and devastation in the port city of mariupol are abhorrent, and the city is on the virge of being completely under russian control. we've got a lot to get to today, and we want to begin with the latest news from ukraine. we would like to warn you

some of the images you will see in this broadcast can be disturbing. charlie d'agata reports today from kyiv. charlie? >> reporter: good morning, margaret. the horrific situation unfolding in mariupol took tuthukn ofcials have accused ru bombing a hundreds were taking shelter, and now claim residents are being forcibly taken to rua. they lie where they died, so many bodies all over mariupol. some buried right on the spot. drone footage reveals the extraordinary destruction after weeks of relentless bombing, whole neighborhoods in ruins in what human rights groups describe as a catastrophe. city council officials say russian soldiers are forcibly deporting several thousand residents to russian ter territory, like at this refugee center.

this resident said they didn't have much choice. the russian soldiers gave us 10 minutes, saying if you want to live, go. her husband, victor, said the whole of mariupol is gone. there is nothing left alive there. in a late-night address, president volodymyr zelenskyy condemned russia's constant bombardment saying the terror inflicted on this peaceful city will be remembered for centuries.e erwitex the doors. civn as fes in multiple regions across ukraine. fenses at bay.ts of the capital defenseuck in heartf the

inntionallyargeting civilians or not doing enough to protect them constitute a war crime. and in this residential neighborhood in the capital and other cities, there is plenty of growing evidence. as russia has stepped up its air campaign, the russian defense ministry now claims it fired a second hypersonic missile since the invasion began, with ukrainian forces having fought russian troops to a stand still in some areas, a show of force that russia still holds the upper hand in fire power. with growing international pressure unable to stop the fighting, the ukrainian government has now urged china to join western countries in condemning whatit calls "russian barbarism." >> brennan: charlie d'agata thank you. at least 902 civilians have been killed in ukraine, and that number is likely much higher. joining us now is the

secretary of defense, retired general lloyd austin, just back from a trip to bulgaria and slovenia. great to have you here in person. >> thanks. >> brennan: you just heard the horrific reports of what is happening inside mariupol. the a.p. is reporting that a school that held hundreds of civilians was deliberately targeted. can you confirm that? >> we've seen deliberate targeting ofthe last several weeks. and, again, i believe that he is taking these kinds of steps because, as was described earlier, his campaign has stalled. he has not been able to achieve the goals as rapidly -- that he wants to achieve as rapidly as he wants to achieve them. so he is resorting to types of tactics that we see on display every day.

and, again, this is really disgusting. but, again, my hat off to the ukrainian people who have fought v valiantly, and remain determined to defend their country. >> brennan: what your describing are war crimes. what has been described by one local leader in mariupol is that there are residents being shipped to camps. is russia about to take that city, which would be a strategic victory? >> hard to say. they've been -- we've seen significant effort on their part to go after this city, go after kyiv and other cities. they really want to begin to control the population centers. but they haven't taken it yet. and we've seen, in the past, thathavecounteraked, that around the battle field, and they presented some sgnificant problems for

the russians. >> brennan: russia is hypersonic missile at least twice in ukraine so far. this is a missile that travels more than a mile a minute and is very difficult to intercept. is this weaponry a game-changer? >> tie would not see it as a game-changer. i think the reason he is resorting to using these types of weapons is because he is trying to reestablish some momentum and, again, we've seen him attack towns and cities and civilians outright. we expect to see that continue, but i don't think that this in and of itself will be a game-changer. you kind of question why he would do this. is he running low on precision-guided emissions? does he lack confidence of the ability of his troops

to reestablish momentum? i cannot confirm or dispute whether or not he has used those weapons. >> brennan: well, the u.s. settlement that is public is that russia has approximately 90% of their combat power. if they lost 20% of their combat power in 20 days, can they be as affective? >> they're not being affective today in terms of their maneuver forces on the ground. they essentially stalled. >> brennan: right. >> it has had the affect of him moving his forces into a wood chipper. the ukrainians have continued to trip his forces. and they've been very effective using the equipment we provided them. armor weapons and anti-aircraft weapons. again, significant resolve on the part of the ukrainian people. >> brennan: one of the concerns is that if vladimir putin is cornered, that he could escalate to de-escalate,

that he would go and use a weapon of mass destruction. do you expect to hear more threats about nuclear weapons? is that a real, viable option for him? >> i would say any threat of the use of a nuclear weapon, any re rhetoric concerning the use of a nuclear weapon is very dangerous. i remain confident in our ability to defend ourselves and our exeacts. capabilities. i don't think that kind of rhetoric is helpful. >> brennan: but you take it seriously? >> yes. but i'm confident in our ability to defend ourselves and our alleys as well. >> brennan: one other thing the biden administration has warned about is a chemical weapon. vladimir putin gave a chilling speech earlier this week where he claimedportig biological programs, which the biden administration

has just said that is completely false information. china has repeated this as a talking point, though. what using a weapon of mass destruction like this change the u.s. calculus? is there a level of catastrophe here where the united states could not sit on the sidelines? >> i think if chemical or biological weapons were used, you'd see a significant reaction from not only the united states but also the global community. and, again, i don't want to speculate about what exactly would change our calculation. i think, you know, engaging in hypotheticals is probably not helpful here, either. but this is a very serious step. and as you heard our president say, we won't take that lightly. >> brennan: when vladimir putin talks about that, do you think it becomes more likely? >> i think what we've seen from the russians in the

past is that they're raising issues and creating a pretext so that if they did something in the battle space, they could blame it on somebody else, either the ukrainians or us, nato. and, you know, this could possibly be what we're seeing today. >> brennan: ecretary of state blinken has said private mercenaries are being mobilized to move into ukraine by russia. are you seeing russia sending in reenforcements? >> we've heard from a number of sources that this is, in fact, going on. we have not seen mercenaries show up on the balancedfield to my knowledge. >> brennan: and no reenforcements yet from foreign sources? >> no. >> brennan: moscow is blasting the united states for pouring in weapons. you talked about all of the things that are game-changers. you say the anti-tanks,

the stingers, the $800 million that the president authorized and the secretary of state signed off on -- when does that equipment begin to arrive, and what makes the most difference in terms of what we are providing ukraine? >> we have been providing this type of equipment throughout. this enables us to provide more. in the last two weeks, we've provided over $300 million worth of equipment to ukraine. and the $800 million that the president signed off on here just recently brings the total to over $2 billion in terms of the amount of security force assistance that we have been providing to ukraine. i would remind you that we have had trainers there since 2014, along with some of our other allies. not only have we provided them equipment, they were ready to use that equipment. >> brennan: the equipment that the ukrainians say they want is to help close the skies. the s-300 systems that are

in eastern europe right now, how kic quickly can you get that into the hands of the ukrainians? >> if we can get it in, if our allies have this type of equipment available, they are ready to go. what we'll do is we'll continue to work with them and continue to work with other allies and partners to not only create the conditions to provide that kind of assistance, but also work to ensure that they have the ability to protect their skies going forward as well. >> brennan: all right. we will watch your trip to europe again. mr. secretary, thank you for your time. >> thanks. >> brennan: "face the nation" will be back in a minute. stay with us. arl, are there dift planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm... and our son just started working. oh! do you offer a complimentary retirement plan for him?

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ambassador to the united states, mr. qin gang. >> good morning. >> president: president biden asked president xi not to provide any support to russia. is it your intent to go ahead and give a lifeline to vladimir putin? >> on friday, president xi and president biden had a video call. it was candid. it was deep, and constructive. president xi gave china's position very clear, that is: china stands for peace, opposes war. china is a peace-loving country. we hate to see the situation in ukraine come to today's, you know, like this. and we call for immediate cease-fire. and we are promoting peace talks, and we are sending

humanitarian assistance -- >> brennan: would you send money and weapons to russia, though? >> well, there is a disinformation about china providing military assistance to russia. we reject that. >> brennan: you saying president xi will not -- >> what china is doing is sending food, medicine, sleeping bags, and baby formula, not weapons and ammunition to any party. and we are against the war, like i said. we will do everything to de-escalate the crisis. >> brennan: russia's foreign minister said yesterday that moscow and beijing will only get closer because of what is happening. is he right? >> well, china and russia have a trust and relations that was built over many years. it was built on many

issues. you know, we have a long-shared borders. >> brennan: so -- >> we have a lot of common interests. and this trust relationship with russia gave us a unique position in the national efforts. >> brennan: that's exactly -- and that's exactly what the white house is saying, that you are in such a position of power here to pick up the phone and call vladimir putin. has president xi told vladimir putin to stop the invasion? do you condemn it? >> actually, on the second day of russia's military operation, president xi did talk to president putin, asking president putin to think about resuming peace talks with ukraine. and president putin

listened to it, and we have seen four rounds of peace talks that have happened. let me continue. china's trusted relations with russia is not a liability. actually, it is an asset in the international efforts to solve the crisis in a peaceful way, you know. and china is part of the solution; it's not part of the problem. >> brennan: so if you -- are you saying, though -- just so we're clear, are you saying beijing will not provide financial support to moscow to prolong this war? >> well, china has normal trade, economic, financial, energy, corporations, with russia. >> brennan: so it is not changing. you're not changing your

relationship? >> this is the normal business between two sovereign countries based on international laws, including w.t.o. rules. >> brennan: let's talk about these international laws because four days ago the international court of justice ordered russia to stop its military actions. china abstained from that. the vote was 13-2. the only country that stood next to russia was china. that sounds like you are condoning and not condemning. >> china makes its observations and conclusions based independently, based on the merits of the matter itself. on the one hand, we uphold -- >> brennan: the united states attorney general said that russia invaded -- >> on the one hand, china upholds the u.n. purposes

and the principles, including the respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including ukraine. >> brennan: okay. >> on the other hand, we do see there is a complicity in the history of the ukraine issue. >> brennan: would you be -- >> and we are -- >> brennan: russia amassed more than 150,000 50,000at china's border -- >> that's why we want a good, friendly, neighborly relations -- >> brennan: but you would recognize this as a good, friendly relationship, putting 150,50,000 troops on a border and then to send them into that country. in those circumstances, why can't you condemn this has an invasion. >> let's not be naive --

>> brennan: it sounds naive to say that's not an invasion. >> it doesn't solve the problem. i will be surprised if russia will back down by condemnation -- >> brennan: will they back down if your president asks vladimir putin to back down? llreside adimirutin to bac wn -- >> we they continue to promote peace talks and urge immediate cease-fire. condemnation only doesn't help. we need reason. we need reason. we need courage. and we need good diplomacy. >> b:well, volodymyr zelenskyy says he would like to meet with vladimir putin. volodymyr zelenskyy is in a bunker. vladimr putin is at a political pro-war rally right now. you can't have diplomacy when it is one country --

only one country is willing to actually negotiate. >> china has good relations with russia, has good relations with ukraine. and china keeps close communications with the united states and with europe. >> brennan: uh-huh. >> they enable china to reach to all parties' concerns in a crisis. china's unique role can help the peaceful -- >> brennan: tell me -- i keep hearing you say that. i want to understand how china is helping. if you're not con devaldemng, yng offadim putni theenlobaecod prices spiking -- if china wants stability, why not cut off vladimir putin? >> we have already made it very clear that, you know,

the intrity of all countries, including ukraine, should be respected and protected. but as i said, condemnation only cannot work. what we need is good diplomacy based on reason and courage. >> brennan: i want to -- >> and looking at the approach to the security issue in europe -- >> brennan: i want to talk to you about one quick thing before we run out of time. you talked about how important the u.n. is and what respect you have for it. so a u.n. human rights panel said there are credible reports that a million uighurs are in an an in camment. campment. will you give them access?

>> i totally reject that -- >> brennan: so you will not give access -- >> well, we are in talks with the human rights special commissioner, and as far as i understand there is an agreement. >> brennan: we've got to go. thank you very much, ambassador. we'll be right back. >> thank you for having me. up and running. and this, is nfl star derrick henry, accidentally tagging " p instead of his loyal fans. which, very unexpectedly, has her business trending. and trending. and trending. and oh my. das internet auf dem telefon. and there goes the internet. good thing maya uses fedex to help prepare for unexpected demand. because you never know what's next. what if you were a major transit system help prepare for with billions of passengers taking millions of trips every year? you aren't about to let any cyberattacks slow you down. so you partner with ibm to build a security architecture to keep your data, network, and applications protected.

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>> brennan: we'll be back with a lot more "face the nation." senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is standing by. stay with us. ♪♪ ♪♪

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