our nick paten walsh is there we want to warn you some of the images he saw are obviously disturbing. is where the horror gets names and numbers. russia's unprovoked invasion killed many. but only now in liberated cities like izium are we finding out who and how. and even this rain cannot erase the smell and how death haunts these pines. it's important to point out this was a military position. these are tank positions around the city, presumably for the russians when they occupied it. burying these bodies where their troops were laid to rest to defend the city. ukrainian officials have said over 400 bodies were buried here, even children, all showing signs of a violent death. through the day they have been exhuming dozens of bodies, most individual graves, numbered and orderly, one bearing a number as high as 398. but this, we are told and can smell and see, is a mass grave where 17 dead were found, a policeman here told us. ukraine officials said bodies found include a family killed in an air strike, ukrainian soldiers shot with their hands bound and bodies showing signs of torture.

cnn's nick paten walsh saw the site first-hand. >> reporter: here is where the horror gets names and numbers. russia's unprovoked invasion killed many we knew, but only now in liberated cities like izium are we finding out who and how. and even this rain cannot erase the smell, how death forms these pines. it's important to point out that this was a military position. these are tank positions around the city, presumably for the russians when they occupied it. burying these bodies where their troops would lay to rest and defend the city. ukrainian officials have said over 400 bodies were buried here, even children. all showing signs of a violent death. through the day they have been exhuming dozens of bodies. most individual graves numbered and orderly, one bearing a number as high as 398. but this, we are told and can smell and see, is a mass grave where 17 dead were found, a policeman here told us. ukrainian officials said bodies found included a family killed in an air strike, ukrainian soldiers shot with their hands bound and bodies showing signs of torture. some of the graves are

cnn's nick paten walsh with more from ckrematorsk. >> specifically this day ukrainian president volodymyrskyy talking about these torture chambers they've discovered one in a settlement close to the russian border where it appears devices including those that may be used to give electric shocks to people have been found. now, this was presumably in detention centers where ukrainian citizens would be held. we know that russian forces have been going through them, filtering them for potential former military members, pro-government sympathizers and informers and so maybe these devices were involved in trying to work out who knew what, which we heard no comment from russian officials about this, but i will tell you there's plenty of history of russian forces deploying this. add to that the increased information we're getting about the mass burial site around izium recently liberated. over 400 bodies seem to be engraved there, and we're hearing this day it'll take two weeks to exhume all of them. as they do the ukrainian officials vocal about the signs of violent death and possibly torture th

cnn national security editor nick paten walsh gained rare access to one of the front lines where ukrainiane facing russian mercenaries. >> reporter: the mood here is black and old. from a time past ukraine didn't feel it was winning, taking heavy losses and struggling to hold on. this is the very front line with russian positions literally 100 meters away from where i'm standing. the kremlin really wants the city, so here on its edges it sent ruthless mercenaries from the group to fight, the shelling endless. we are taken up to their vantage point where they see the fighters rush at home leading the ukrainians to open fire. it is just over there. they say that russian mercenaries appear to run at them, exposing ukrainian positions so the russian artillery can hit where they are. the field between them charred, pockmarked. they're almost eyeball to eyeball. the next attack is imminent. we can see a mortar unit, the drone operator says. they're preparing to fire at us. down in the shelter the commander says they've captured russian convicts who were recruited to fight. vagner act professiona

. >>> still to come tonight cnn's nick paten walsh joins us from ukraine and shows us some of the true horrors of war uncovered, a mass burial site with hundreds of bodies discovered. and new details of a special master and the new actions between the former president's legal team andnd the national archives. income so you can enjoy the life you've created. that's the plalanning effect. from fidelity. ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ you're never responsible for unauthorized puhases on your discover card. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin. plus, they felt fast itch relief some as early as 2 days. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers including lymphom

a very dark week ahead as we see exactly what trhese referenda ae for. >> nick paten walsh, thanks.she's editor-in-chief and founder of the independent russian news weekly and forced to get out of russia last month. when did you decide you needed to leave russia? >> i decided to leave russia when my lawyers told me i had to leave yesterday. at the end of july i was accused on three misdemeanor charges of intentional spread of disinformation about russian army. this intentional spread of disinformation was the publication of stories about the fact the russian army bombed ukrainian cities. >> and that's a crime. >> that's a crime. and judge in his verdict wrote that -- that i was guilty because disinformation wasn't published on the minister of defense website. and why it wasn't published on the minister of defense website because commanding chief, that is mr. putin, said special military preparation. >> what does it say to you vladimir putin is now talking about mobilizing as many as 300,000 russian troop snz. >> it says that vladimir putin is trying to setup a bargaining table with

cnn's nick paten walsh is there. >> reporter: as russia faces a fake choice and a sham vote on occupiedewhere igor and zina make a deadly choice of their own. they must brave the shelling to go and get food. they've heard of russia's staged referendums here, but moscow makes itself felt here with artillery rather than imposing a ballot likely having entered the city's east. streets in a strange quiet as if in the eye of a storm when nobody is in control. they'll still have to fight their way in. a sign how fast things are changing here. ukrainian forces have blown the bridge in the middle of the city in the last day or so. russian forces getting close. the people left ask us not to film the outside of shelters as the russians will target them, and they've already gone underground as much as they can. saying some of these things are taken from buildings that are being bombed and brought here. a lot of people want the back of their head filmed possibly because they're concerned in the days ahead they may be under russian control. he tells me perhaps 20,000 people are still hiding out here

nick paten walsh is live there. what is the latest you're seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: still startling, i think, the advances that ukraine have managed to pull off here in the past week. their president volodymyr zelenskyy going to the recently liberated city of izyum. we're beginning to get a flavor of russia's response that seems to be towards infrastructure to ruin ordinary daily life for ukrainians. the electricity here in kharkiv hit over the past days is beginning to come back. and tonight we're hearing about cruise missiles hitting a southern city potentially damaging a dam there and causing intense flooding. the story is exactly how russia managed to lose so much territory so fast. here's today's visit. this is what confidence and victory looks like, delighted swagger from ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy touring the liberated city of izyum. a commander in chief greeted here as another human. the smiles for this president as genuine as the danger. listen here. and you can hear explosions as he talks. >> trans it may be possible to temporarily