A rush transcript of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” airing on Sunday, April 3, 2022 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the “This Week” transcript archive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos starts right now.
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GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST (voiceover): Turning point?
JOHN KIRBY, UNITED STATES ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: What they call de-escalation I call repositioning.
STEPHANOPOULOS (voiceover): Russian forces pull back from Kyiv, focus their fire on Ukraine’s east. Putin lashes out at his top advisers.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He seems to be self-isolating. And there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers.
STEPHANOPOULOS (voiceover): Pain at the pump.
BIDEN: As Russian oils comes off the market, supply oil drops and prices are rising.
STEPHANOPOULOS (voiceover): With gas prices soaring, President Biden taps an emergency reserve.
MITCH MCCONNELL, MINORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE: A million barrels is a drop in the bucket.
STEPHANOPOULOS (voiceover): Closing in.
REP. LIZ CHENEY, (R-WY): We’re entering a critical stage of our investigation.
STEPHANOPOULOS (voiceover): A federal judge finds Donald Trump likely broke the law on January 6th as the Justice Department steps up criminal probes of Trump and Hunter Biden.
MERRICK GARLAND, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: We follow the facts and the law wherever they lead.
STEPHANOPOULOS (voiceover): Topics [ph] this morning for our headliners, White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, Republican Policy Committee Chair, Senator Roy Blunt, and our powerhouse roundtable.
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ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, it’s “This Week.” Here now George Stephanopoulos.
STEPHANOPOULOS (on camera): Good morning and welcome to “This Week.”
Five weeks into Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is Russia losing the war? Russian forces appear to be retreating from Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance. But President Zelenskyy warned that they are leaving behind a catastrophic situation around Kyiv. He’s bracing for more bloody fighting as the focus moves to the east. And overnight, Russian forces firing missiles on the strategic core [ph] city of Odessa.
Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran starts us off from Lviv. And Terry, we know Russian forces are pulling back from Kyiv, we don’t know exactly what that means.
TERRY MORAN, ABC NEWS SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George.
We don’t know exactly what the withdraw means. But one thing is clear, the war that Russia started 39 days ago has changed. Seizing Kyiv was a primary Russian war end [ph]. They’re trying to deny that now. But the evidence says otherwise. They committed huge forces to it and took huge losses, especially in equipment, armor in trying to fight for it. And now they are withdrawing.
But U.S. and Ukrainian officials say that this looks more like a redeployment with Russian units seen redeploying to the east of the country where a major battle looms in the coming weeks. And while those Russian forces have withdrawn, they have exposed behind them hellish scenes and possible war crimes.
There are bodies in the streets. Reports of a mass grave and signs of looting, as well. The Ukrainians are extremely concerned about the extent of this in the other occupied areas as well.
And then today, as you mentioned, a major attack in Odessa, in the south. A missile attack that hit an oil refinery and three fuel depots sending black smoke over that city and a sign that no matter what happens here in the north, the Ukrainians are celebrating [ph] that this war is a long way from over.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Terry, what more do we know about these atrocities in the wake of the retreat?
MORAN: George, there is no question as humans’ rights [ph] watch and as the Ukrainian…
Read More: ‘This Week’ Transcript 4-3-22: White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain & Sen. Roy Blunt