tonight, war in ukraine, the battle for freedom. david muir is on the ground and inside president zelenskyy's heavily fort tied office. ukraine launches a new counteroffensive amid fears of a looming nuclear catastrophe. the exclusive interview. >> it means six chernobyls. it means the biggest danger in the world, nuclear weapons. >> plus our trip into bucha. >> this is where you believe your father died? >> what investigators think is new evidence of russian atrocities. the young son seeking justice for his father's murder. abc news obtaining surveillance of russian soldiers. and president zelenskyy's message to americans. >> we feel that we are not alone.

we feel that you are on the field with us. >> six months in. how does this war end? >> this special edition of "nightline," "war in ukraine: the battle for freedom" will be right back. thanks to chase, angie's not sweating this text

since there's zero overdraft fees if she overdraws by $50 or less. and, kyle, well, he's keeping calm with another day to adjust his balance if he overdraws by more than $50. overdraft assist from chase. make more of what's yours. good evening tonight from ukraine. we are here for our exclusive interview with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. and it comes at a critical moment in this war. we traveled to the presidential

office building in kyiv. multiple military checkpoints outside the building. once inside the darkened hall ways, armed guards at every turn. president zelenskyy telling me russia wants him dead. as we come on tonight, there is a counteroffensive under way. the effort to push the russians back, both in the south and in the east. there are also new concerns at the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. president zelenskyy telling me that russia has essentially turned that plant into a nuclear weapon. and we ask the president, how does this war end? inside the presidential office building in kyiv, president zelenskyy shares the hallways with armed guards. it has become a bunker, and we are here at a crucial point in this war. mr. president, thank you. i know as we sit here there is a major ukrainian counteroffensive under way. you've told the ukrainian people you'll take back the territory seized by the russians.

have you grained any ground yet? >> translator: it's a very difficult war, and that's a very difficult task. we will renew our territory. we cannot freeze this conflict now. we need to step by step deoccupy our territory. this task is difficult. i'm sure that is what will happen. it's only a matter of time. >> why kherson? why this counteroffensive now? >> translator: i won't say that it's only a counter offensive in kherson. there's a direction or directions, plural, and we have to move forward. >> let me just be clear on that point. the counter offense that i have we're witnessing in kherson right now is not the only counteroffensive under way in this country? >> translator: i can't discuss details of any military actions. i think that information silence

is important. so i want that the enemy gets some surprises from us. >> mr. president, you and i spoke six months ago. and at the time, vladimir putin's demands, you said this -- "we are not prepared for ultimatums." putin said, give up joining nato, recognize crimea as part of russia, and recognize the independence of those two separatist regions in the east. those were his words. to vladimir putin, who will get this message, are you willing to compromise on any of those points? >> translator: it's a question of dialogue with terrorists. you cannot discuss anything with terrorists. but after rapes, after tortures, after murders, after we discovered a lot of dead bodies with cut limbs, it's not a war, it's pure and clear terrorism. >> you believe the only end to this war is if the russians pull out in every place that they are right now? >> translator: of course we do

not want to lose more people. but we cannot stop now and say, okay, let us agree, let us talk. they do not want to give us sovereignty and independence, and they will not do it voluntarily. so the only chance for us is to deoccupy our territories, to push them back. >> so how does this war end? >> translator: will definitely end. >> so what you are telling me more than six months into this war, you will cede no ukrainian territory? that is not on the table? >> translator: no, we will not. >> reporter: president zelenskyy saying this is not conventional war, this is terror. he says it is economic terror. russia cutting them off from their own ports in the south. nuclear terror, the russians taking control of the largest nuclear plant in europe in zaporizhzhia. >> you see they occupied our nuclear station. six blocks. the biggest in europe. it means six chernobyls.

it means the biggest danger in europe. so they occupied it. so that is -- means that they used nuclear weapon. that is nuclear weapon. >> as we've been here, nuclear inspectors have finally made to it zaporizhzhia through the war zone, the front lines. the lead inspector came out afterard and said, i'm worried. we know that the main power line going into the plant was shut down for a time in the last 24 hours. backup power. and he warned the potential loss of power to cool those reactors could lead to a meltdown. how close are we to that? >> translator: you are already close to danger. because there are military people, military personnel at the nuclear power station. there shouldn't be any military personnel. there shouldn't be any military equipment on the territory. and there shouldn't be the

workers of nuclear power plant who are surrounded by people with firearms. >> i'm sure you're aware of what the white house and the pentagon has said. they have said, the safest outcome would be a controlled shutdown of the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. would you support that? >> translator: what do you mean, shut down the station? the station feeds electricity to two regions of ukraine. no, the russians would like the reactors to be disconnected from ukrainian grid and connected to the russian grid. no, we do not agree to those messages. >> mr. president, let me ask you about this headline back home in the u.s. president biden has asked congress for another $13.7 billion in emergency funding for ukraine. as you know, that's on top of nearly $13 billion in military aid already, $8 billion to help with schools, hospitals, the government. how long do you believe the u.s. is going to fund ukraine, help fund this war, at this level?

>> translator: we are grateful. and i understand that it might be too little, my personal gratitude. but i can't give any more. what we pay, we are dying. when i had my last talks with president biden, i told him, i am very grateful to you. and president biden said to me, it's not to me, it's to all the americans who support you. again, i am grateful. >> let me ask you about bucha. we are just back from visiting bu bucha. you've visited yourself. the world has seen the atrocities. you didn't hide your anger, you disgust, when you were there. you said to the u.n. security council, both those who carried out the killings and those who gave the orders must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes. >> translator: as any civilized person, any civilized man, i think those responsible should not just go to hell, no. they should have fair trials,

fair, independent trials. never, ever we will forget or forgive. we have the lists of those people, of those individuals. our intelligence is looking for every single one of them. now we ask the united states to recognize russia, that the country sponsor of terrorism. >> have you been given any indication that the president would be willing, that the u.s. would be willing to name russia a state sponsor of terror? >> translator: we discussed that with president biden. we want this to happen. i understand that it's not easy. >> reporter: after our interview, president biden was asked about zelenskyy's plea. >> mr. president, should russia be designated as state sponsor of terrorism? >> no. >> reporter: zelenskyy plans to keep pressing. do you know do you believe vladimir putin is a war criminal? >> da, yes. >> should he be prosecuted?

>> yes. >> your messages to the ukrainian people every night. we remember the message outside when you said, we're still here we are in kyiv, we are defending ukraine. as we sit here, your life is still clearly in danger. the foreign minister of russia said in recent weeks, he called this an unacceptable regime. what is your intelligence telling you? does russia want you dead? >> translator: yes. but the information is when as it used to be, there are different groupings that are tasked with this task. but the aim is the same. >> what would you say to vladimir putin right now about ending this war? >> translator: i don't have any words for him today. he doesn't care. he doesn't give a damn about how many russians will lose their lives. we are so different. we will not find anything, any

compromises. >> what would you say to americans, our viewers back home, to people all over the world? we've seen it in the u.s., the ukrainian flag in people's front lawns. americans have watched this war, they have followed it very closely. >> i really appreciate for everybody from united states, ordinary people who -- who helped us, who supported us. it's very difficult to be alone. and we feel that we are not alone and we feel that america is with us together in this war. even if ukraine is dying. not america, we feel that you are on the field with us. we feel. we feel it on the warfield, battlefield. >eback, the world saw president zelenskyy in bucha, his anger amid the

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20 miles outside the capital of kyiv, the sun, low in the sky over bucha. the scars are still deep and visible here. the sacred plot of land behind a church, a mass grave for more than 100 bodies. ukrainians left dead in the streets. authorities say civilians brutally murdered by the russians. the surveillance of russian

tanks rolling into do you have which a shortly after the invasion. and tonight, abc news obtaining these images. authorities say a russian soldier repeatedly firing at a security camera until he hits it. the russians destroying the cameras investigators say to hide their soldiers from view. here on the ground, six months later, we meet a young man whose father was murdered. determined to piece together the evidence. 20-year-old badim takes us to this garage. and this is where you believe your father died? >> reporter: inside, the blackened walls. the smell of fire, of ash. as we see the charred opening to the basement below. where his father, alexi, a mechanic, was hiding with several others. authorities believe that they were hiding here in the basement from the russians who had pulled up in their tanks? >> reporter: he says "russians were stationed outside" and

neighbors hiding in their basements could hear the fire and the screams. tonight, this video authorities have studied from that neighborhood, a russian armored vehicle outside that garage. soldiers standing nearby. >> people were terrified? yeah. it still smells like fire in here. >> reporter: badim shows us what authorities hand ed over to him. images of when father's burned jeans. inside, his bank cards, his i.d. they said five adults were killed here, including his father. then a sad reality when badim points to more human bones right there in the ash. and while we're there -- >> how are you? >> reporter: investigators arrive from the bucha unit numr thel us neighbor

yi been an offic opens her ca placing evidee erin onof eov and ask he m russians retreated, how often are they still answering these calls? have you been to scenes like this before? >> sometimes it's once a week. >> once a week, still, six months later? >> yeah. >> reporter: all of this evidence, part of a mounting war crimes investigation here in bucha. and where city cameras destroyed and evidence burned, they have turned to witnesses. this video of a doctor who, even while the russians were still here, bravely went out into the streets, placing bodies in bags and bringing them to the mass grave at that church.

he believed it was his duty.ent. doctor? david, nice to meet you. >> reporter: dr. anton still working at the local hospital. >> the russians told you if you went in certain areas, they would kill you? "yes," he says, "they said don't go there, you might never come back." he shows me the images on his phone. images he now hopes will help prosecutors. >> you remember every one of those bodies? >> reporter: we meet andre nevatov, chief of the region police, investigating war crimes. he reveals what some of the russians left behind in bucha. paperwork, lists of names, russian soldiers and their units. some of these units left behind lists of soldiers who were in the unit?

"when they were retreating, they were in such a hurry that sometimes they left very precious papers like the lists of soldiers, which we now have. we can identify exactly who was at which location." president zelenskyy visiting bucha the left. the world saw his grief, his anger. months later, we now ask him about the case they're building. what does justice look like? >> translator: for me and for the world, it is important that fair and just and independent tribunal is organized so all those responsible are charged, convicted if proven, and pay the price and pay the price with long-term -- with long-term prison sentences. >> reporter: for vad iim, there will be no peace until there is justice. you want justice for your father?

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26 is a money grab that doesn't guarantee a cent for non-gaming tribes. 27 requires 15% of all state revenues go to non-gaming tribes. the choice is clear. yes, on 27. as we walk through the preidential office building, a rare moment. president zelenskyy talking about the toll on his family. you told me six months ago you would not leave your country. i know you don't like to talk about your wife, your children. but i suspect they understand the choice you've made here. >> yes. they understand. it's very difficult for them.

they are with me during some of this -- i couldn't speak with them, but i can tell you they're in ukrainian kyiv and they have to change places because of the safety, because of the security measures. >> this has become-for them? >> yes, in their new life. but you know, yeah -- my children my children became older. >> reporter: he says all the children of ukraine have been forced to grow up too soon. >> when you tell me this war will end one day, you will be here? >> of course. of course. still. the end of the war, i have to be, yes. and i promise that i can be here. in the difficultest period for our country, for our people.

i'm proud of it, that i can. >> thank you, mr. president. >> thank you so much. thank you for everything. thank you for coming. >> reporter: president zelenskyy telling me he will be here until the end, and he says, that will mean victory for ukraine. i'm david muir. from all of us here at "nightline" and abc news, good night from ukraine. ♪ (don't stop me now) ♪ ♪♪ ♪ (don't stop me) ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm having a good time ♪ ♪ having a good time ♪