here's cnn's frederick pleitgen with more. >>> hi there, don. you know, the ukrainians from the beginning when the russians took over the chernobyl nuclear power plant, they said they were absolutely concerned about what those forces were doing there. when we got there there were two things that really crystallized. on the one hand the russians treated badly but it also seemed they may have inadvertently allowed their own forces to get exposed to massive radiation. here's what we found. simply getting to the chernobyl exclusion zone is a treacherous journey. many streets and bridges destroyed, we had to go off-road crossing rivers on pontoon bridges. finally we reached the confinement dome of the power plant that blew up in 1986, the worst nuclear accident ever. russian troops invaded this area on the very first day of their war against ukraine and took chernobyl without much of a fight. now that the russians have left ukraine's interior minister took us to chernobyl, and what we found was troubling. the russians imprisoned the security staff in

plus cnn's frederick pleitgen goes to the chernobyl plant where invading russian soldiers may have beene traveled every road in this here land!♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪of travel i've had my share, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere.♪ ♪ this is roundup for lawns. this stuff works. this stuff kills weeds down to the root without killing your lawn. this stuff works on dandelions, crabgrass, clover. this stuff works for up to three months. this stuff works guaranteed, or your money back. this stuff works on big lawns, small lawns, and “i guess you can call that a lawn” lawns. this stuff works without killing your lawn. this stuff works without killing your weekend. this stuff works for the rookies and the seasoned pros. this stuff works in knoxville, bronxville, rockville, marysville. this is roundup for lawns. this stuff works. >>> this is don lemon tonight. we're getting new details on the brutal massacre of innocent civilians at a train station in eastern ukraine today. the video you're about to see is graphic and disturbing but it shows the horrors of putin'

cnn's frederick pleitgen shows us the devastation and lingering issues. >> reporter: the tour is a sad routine for the body collectors in the outskirts of kyiv. finding corpses has become easterly normal here. a house destroyed by an artillery strike. a body burned beyond recognition. a mangled car wreck. two bodies burned beyond recognition. a house that was occupied by russian troops and found a lady dead in the bedroom. a brutal occupation and then a fierce fight by the ukrainians to drive them out. a fight an 81-year-old witnessed up close in her village. >> translator: there were explosions. explosions from all sides. it was scary. i am in my house. i cross myself and lie down and then i hear how it thundered and all the windows in the house were broken. the ukrainians tell us the russian troops didn't bother collecting most of their own dead. more than a week after vladimir putin's army was pushed out of here, they show us the body of what they say was a russian soldier still laying in the woods. that's not all they've left behind. this demining unit said they've found hundreds o

cnn's frederick pleitgen has this exclusive report. >> reporter: simply getting to the chernobyl exclusion journey. many streets and bridges destroyed. we had to go off road, crossing on pontoon bridges. finally, we reached the power dome of the plant that blew up in 1986, the worst nuclear accident ever. russian troops invaded this area on the very first day on the war against ukraine and took chernobyl without much of a fight. now that the russians have left, ukraine's interior ministry took us to chernobyl, and what we found was troubling. the russians imprisoned the security staff inside the plant's over bomb shelter. the interior minister told us, no natural light, no fresh air, no communications. so the russians kept 169 ukrainians prisoner here the entire time they held the place. then when the russians left, they looted and ransacked the place. among the prisoners, police officers, national guard members and soldiers. ukraine's interior minister tells me the russians have now taken them to russia. and they don't know how they're doing. when i arrived here i was shocked, he says, bu

when you had frederick pleitgen standing on the edge of a mass grave, that is important historically. it is important for the world to see it and to figure out what the world is going to do about it. to that end, i want to bring in alexei, an adviser to president zelenskyy's chief of staff. thank you for being with us. do you feel at this point you have a sense of the scale of death, the scale of the atrocities committed here? >> if we look to syria, aleppo, budapest and hungary we completely understand that this is normal for russian troops to make this terrible thing in afghanistan. it is the russian military culture. it is very organic for them to do these things. they have done it in the same way. . >> what we are seeing in bucha right now, are you seeing it in other towns that ukrainians have reoccupied? >> we have to understand it is not an exception in bucha or irpin. there are situations in other places that may be even worse than in bucha. it has taken time to understand this and to identify this. but witnesses say it is more serious situation than in bucha. if we look at mar

happening in a civilian area in the kharkiv region incident to go live in kyiv and bring in frederick pleitgen. fred, what is the latest? >> reporter: hi there, brianna. here in kyiv, the situation continues to ease up. i'm standing in central kyiv right now. we don't have to wear a flat vest anymore. you have the main checkpoint in the city center. and a lot of traffic. one of the things we have seen about the resilience. people are coming back to the ukrainian capital. at the same time, you have the offensive that seems to be shaping up from the russians in the east. of course especially that video with cluster munitions is certainly something that is extremely troubling to see how that street, which appears to be on the outskirts of kharkiv, very much in the east of the country. and several little explosions that take place as that small car is trying to drive off. and cluster munitions have been a huge problem here in this war. i was actually on the ground with some folks in explosive ordinance disposal. they find them very frequently. with those munitions, they have several small charges

pleitgen at the chernobyl nuclear power plant. >> incredible reporting from fred. >>> we're going to bring in frederick leighton, who is a military analyst. i want to begin and back up to the attack on the train station, the civilian attack at the train station that we showed you earlier in the broadcast. did that have any significant significant or was it just attacking civilians for the sake of it? >> both are true, jessica. and here's why. this is the eastern part of ukraine right here. and where the train station attack occurred is in kramatorsk. what the russians want to do is they want to cancel all of this. they have this part that's shaded in yellow. but what they want to do is move forward into this area so they control even more of these regions within ukraine. that would then give them a plausible way of -- they're calling it a victory. but what they're also doing is they're making the civilian population feel afraid. they're actually taking them down a terror path because what they want to do is they want to show them that they're in charge and that they can't be messed with in essence. >> they will terrorize them and