fred pleitgen in bucha said what you have behind me is a mass grave. those are chilling words in and of themselves. fred suggesting or saying that 150, up to 150 bodies are in there. bucha northwest of kyiv where the russians were in control for a month for five weeks before being pushed out by this ukrainian counter offensive. ukrainians retreating north there. and now the ukrainian forces back in control discovering horror when they're back there, brianna. >> yeah. we also heard earlier from the mayor he thought as many as 290 bodies were there. he also told us that half of them had been identified, which certainly would be close to 150. so we're going to try to get more information on the numbers, of course. but that is so many lives. and this is what folks have -- actually, i think we have fred pleitgen back in bucha. fred? >> reporter: hi there, brianna. really sorry about this. obviously there are big problems with communications here. the satellite phone networks are still down. regular networks are still down, so we are on a satellite dish we h

just so everyone knows, we're trying to establish contact with our frederik pleitgen who is in makariv right here. you see not far from kyiv. one of these towns that was under russian occupation that ukrainian forces now control, an area where they are expecting to find more evidence of atrocities, fred pleitgen hopefully will be on the ground for us there shortly. brianna? >> that's the case, right. we have been seeing areas where the most important stories are to be told, those stories we don't know what had been happening for the last month. they're in areas where communications have been severely affected. so we're working through that. but we're going to bring that up as soon as we can. in mykolaiv, in southern ukraine, one person was killed and five others were injured in early morning missile strikes yesterday. cnn's ben wedeman and his team narrowly escaped the artillery fire. >> down here, john. down here. keep on rolling. you see it over there? >> and joining me now from mykolaiv is isabelle kershutian, foreign correspondent for the washington post. she has been documenting t

i want to bring in now cnn fred pleitgen in kyiv. fred, hello.krainian officials aren't confirming or denying whether they hit the fuel depot in russian territory. you reported from belgarad what do you think. >> it's complete will i unclear whether or not the ukrainians are lind it. certainly that is what the russians say. in fact in a move remarkable, the russian defense ministry said it was mi-24 helicopter that is game at 5:00 a.m. that came to hit the facility and managed to escape. again the ukrainians are not saying whether or not that's true. the video we see on social media seems to indicate that there were choppers that did hit that place. it would be very difficult for the ukrainians to actually pull that off. as you said i was down there on the ground for a long reporting from the region. belgarad in is one of the most fortified cities in russia. it's a military city. in addition you have a bunch of russian forces in between kharkiv and there pressing the offensive in kharkiv and they have a lot of anti-aircraft weapons there as well.

phil black in lviv, fred pleitgen in kyiv and atika schubert in valencia, spain. we'll begin this hour with phil black in lviv. so, phil, let's start on that counter offensive by ukrainian forces. what's the latest there? >> reporter: according to president zelenskyy from his own address he says the trend we've been talking about for a week now is clearly noticeable. that is russian forces pulling back from the north essentially as they said they were going to do. but he said in some cases it's because they had been pushed back ukrainian counter offenses, they'd been excelled from territory. in other cases simply abandoned territory they fought hard to win in the first place. you can see that, we can see that from satellite images particularly of territory to the north and northwest of the capital kyiv. these are positions that the russian forces did occupy from the earliest days of the conflict. and you can see these positions where they were digging in as part of their effort to encircle the capital. well, they have now just been abandoned. the point that zelens

cnn's fred pleitgen went there himself.tnessed the atrocities, and a warning his report includes disturbing and graphic images. >> reporter: well, as the russians continue to withdraw from areas here around kyiv and ukrainians move into these territories i think two things are becoming increasingly clear. the one hand a lot more russian military quote was taken out than anybody would have thought and also civilians came to harm as well. we witnessed a lot of it first-hand. here's what we saw. as russian forces retreat scenes of utter destruction. whole blocks of houses flattened and ukrainians saying they believe dead bodies are still lying underneath. but here the dead also lay in the open. ukrainian national police showed us this mass grave in bucha saying they believe up to 150 civilians might be buried here, but no one knows the exact number. people killed while the russian army occupied this town. this is what it looks like when the hope is crushed. vladimir has been searching for his younger brother, dmitri. now he's

cnn's frederic pleitgen just returned from the nearby town. he spoke to volunteer body collectors who were walking through the streets, picking up the corpses of civilians who had been bound and killed. cnn team saw entire village blocks reduced to rubble, burned out military vehicles littering the streets. in kharkiv where christiane amanpour was just yesterday. local leaders say more than 50, 50 russian rockets have hit in the last day. at least six people were killed. a number of others wounded. today here in lviv, we met a number of internally displaced ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes in kyiv and the eastern donbas region to travel here to the western part of the country. in the middle of lviv's central square, just a if you hours ago, i met natalia and maria. see them there with their daughters. they fled from outside kyiv with their children. maria's husband stayed behind. every day on the phone he tells her about the awful things he is witnessing. maria and natalia made these pleas. >> translator: the war in ukraine

frederic pleitgen, thank you so much. i want to turn to cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric leighton who is at the map for us again tonight. colonel, thank you so much. appreciate you joining us once again. russian strikes are focusing on four key areas. that is according to a u.s. defense official. what's russia's strategy right now, please? >> so don, here's the deal. the main sites are kyiv, and you have iszyum and you have chernihiv and you have the donbas. so these are the four areas right here. so kyiv, chernihiv, iszyum and the donbas region. and the russian strategy to do that is to run as much air power as they possibly can. you heard the talk from john vause about the different sortie numbers. they increased the sorties from 200 a day to 300 a day. that's a significant increase in russian air traffic. and it's also apparently a significant increase in russian artillery fire. that very fact means that they're doing a lot more with distance weapons than they did initially. they're moving thei

fred pleitgen, everyone.n this is what they do every single day they are out here risking their lives and covering the world >> i couldn't agree more. all the years i've been at cnn, i've been watching them. they risk their lives, they are courageous and people don'

fred pleitgen in chernobyl and salma abdelaziz in poland. first, cnn's phil black in ukraine. they reveal the true level of true brutality that the ukrainians are claiming on russian forces. >> reporter: for many who fear what is coming in eastern ukraine, kramatorsk has been a place for safety. desperate for the region russia says it will son-s soon conquer with force. witnesses say thousands came friday morning. they sought safety. they couldn't escape the war. these are the moments after a ballistic missile exploded at the station. after debris and shrapnel tore through the crowd. so many dead bodies, a person cries. only children, just children. when the screaming eventually stopped, the broken bodies of the innocent remained. we have to hide much of this scene. most of those lying bleeding and still are women and children. survivors fled. we managed to contact some by phone while they sheltered together in a public building. still scared and shaken. this woman says she looked up when she thought she heard a plane. and then it exploded and everyone went down. this man says

>> it's pretty clear listening to the description from fred pleitgen that this is genocide. there is no other way to describe it. genocide is normally defined as the deliberate elimination of a nationality or an ethnic group, and this is a function of that, what you see here in bucha, and probably in other towns, sadly, throughout ukraine, that are now under russian control. so this seems to be a systematic pattern on the part of the russian forces. this is something that absolutely must be handled by the international criminal court. the international court of justice and the hague. war crimes are clearly being committed here, and they need to be prosecuted. >> how do you see this potential limb pacting considerations the u.s. is making in terms of its continued involvement or if it will pivot to a different kind of involvement and commitment as a result of these images? >> yeah. that's going to be very interesting, an interesting journey i think for the united states and for other nato countries. the images that we see are somewhat reminiscent of what was seen in bosnia, i

we begin with cnn's fred pleitgen in bucha today. fred, i know you saw the mass graves for yourself. it is just awful what you're witnessing there, but the russians, they're trying to claim this was staged. that this was fake. but you saw it with your own eyes. >> reporter: yeah. absolutely right. it's definitely not fake or staged. a lot of things russian claimed simply proving not to be true. they said their withdrawal from this area was something they had been planning all the time, doing it on purpose. aren't really taking major losses, but we've seen, jim, especially the northwestern part of kyiv is destroyed russian armor everywhere. they've certainly taken a lot more losses than anybody would have imagined and certainly the russians are willing to admit. then you have the civilian casualties. from having been on the ground there we saw a lot of dead bodies on the streets and then we saw that mass grave as well. so as more of this is coming to light we certainly can see the amount of civilian casualties, a lot higher than anybo

. >> fred pleitgen is kyiv. forces are fully withdrawn from the area surrounding skpooef ukrainian officials are saying major fighting is under way in the eastern part of the country. what's the latest? >> reporter: don, that's how we can see the focus of the russians that vladimir putin is certainly shifting. the ukrainians believed that kyiv was the main prize as they put it for the russian army. they got beat pretty badly here around the kyiv area and also further up in chernihiv. they have withdrawn forces. quite interesting because i was able to speak to the mayor of chernihiv earlier today. it was the first time he was able to leave that city. and he confirmed there are no more russian forces up in that region near the belarusian border. however, more russians now moving down to that region -- to the east of the country near donbas, and there is indeed more fighting going on that's close to a town called esyum. the russians moving to a small town, an important one, where there's lava a lot of international

we'll start with cnn's frederik pleitgen and the horror he found there.e do want to warn you some of the images you're about to see are graphic. >> reporter: ukrainian authorities in bucha lead substance abuse a basement they call a russian execution chamber. it's a gruesome scene, five bodies, their hands tied behind their backs, shot. the bullet casings collected by ukrainian police. pockmarks from bullets in the walls. the ukrainians say these men were killed when russian forces used this compound as a military base while occupying bucha. an adviser to ukraine's interior minister not even trying to conceal his anger. after the liberation of bucha, five corpses of civilians were found here, he says, with their hands tied behind their backs. they were shot in the head and in the chest. they were tortured before. even the body collectors find it hard to keep their composure. this gentleman is usually a painter, now he collects the dead left behind after russian forces retreated from bucha. this is not what we learned in school, he says. do you see my hand

we have fred pleitgen in kyiv. matt rivers in ukraine. delia gallagher in rome. brian todd standing by in washington. first up, special ukrainian army unit is helping to target and destroy russian tanks and military vehicles. just a few months ago, most were civilians who flew drones as a hobby. a warning now, our report from fred pleitgen contains some graphic video. >> be careful. just move. >> reporter: it is like a scene from the gates of hell. the dead lay strewn across this highway west of kyiv. some still next to the wreckage of their vehicles as the dogs roam around looking to scavenge. thi this is what russian forces left behind when they retreated from here. alexander tells me these were civilians, gunned down from this position where the russians have placed a tank. >> and you can see it's actually -- you see? and these cars, look. there is no cars here because they would not let them come. they just shot as soon as they approach. >> reporter: the russian government denies targeting civilians. they call such allegations, quote, fake and propaganda but

. >> as we mentioned, cnn's fred pleitgen and ivan watson is in zaporizhzhia and cnn's kaitlan collins join us. first, we want to bring you fred pleitgen's report and with a warning, it is difficult to watch. >> in a war that russia has unleashed against ukraine, few places have suffered more than borodianka. occupied by vladimir putin's troops since late february recently taken back by the army. >> bored on yanka was held for a very long time and just to give you an idea of the scale of destruction, you have houses like these that were completely destroyed and if you look over here, even large, residential buildings have been flattened. it was connected with this one before ask now there's absolutely nothing left of it. >> the russians made sure to show they owned this town, painting the letter "v" on occupied buildings and defacing borodianka's city administration. "v" is what they use to identify their forces that invaded this part of ukraine. oksana constacenko returned here and found russian soldier his been staying in their house. she says they ransacked the place. alcohol is eve

cnn's fred pleitgen will be meeting with the people responsible for dismantling them. and then moments ago, vladimir putin making rare remarks in public, telling lies, telling an alternate reality. and in the united states, the white house is bracing for a brutal inflation report. fer you. for a limited time, get a 5g phone on us! (mom) delightful. (vo) with no trade-in required. (dad) i i love it. (vo) what's not to love! verizon is going ultra, so you can get more. to be clear, we have never been accused of being flashy, sexy or lit. may i? we're definitely notit. i meaneriously, we named ourselves booking.com which is kind ofit if we are talking... literal... ha ha. it's why we're planet earth's number one site for booking accoodation. we lovbooking stuff! and we're just here to help you make the best of your vacation. ow... hi... booking.com booking.yeah >> tech: does your windshield have a crack? trust safelite. >> tech vo: this customer had auto glass damage, but he was busy working from home... ...so he scheduled with safelite in just a few clicks. we came to hi

fred pleitgen in kyiv for that story.g. >>> ukrainians successfully beating back russia in some parts of the country, but the fiercest fighting is yet to come. it's going to be in the eastern donbas region. is ukraine going to be equipped enough to win battles against the russians there? a top military analyst's take next. or years. i strip before take-off. breathe right strips open youour nose for relief you can feel right away, helping you take in air more easily, whererever you are. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. why choose proven quality sleep from sleep number? because the sleep number 360 smart bed is really smart. it senses your movement, and tomatically adjusts to help keep you both comfortable all nigh it's ao temperature balancing, so you stay cool. it's so smart, it knows actly how long, how well and when you slept. sleep number takes care of the science. all you have to do is sleep. don't miss our weekend special save $1000 on the most popular smart bed. and free premium delivery when you add a

fred pleitgen saw many of these mines up close. he joins us from the country's capital of kyiv. fred. >> hi there, jake. and of course, the talk of the town here tonight is the fact that volodymyr zelenskyy praised president biden for those words as you noted saying they were, as he put it, true words from a true leader. one of the reasons why the ukrainian president says that were some of the things we have seen over the past couple of days, as russian forces have been expelled from the areas north of kyiv. where we have seen a lot of dead bodies being pulled out of destroyed houses and also of course saw that big mass grave in the suburb of bucha where so much killing took place. now, i was able to speak to this country's prosecutor general at the edge of that mass grave because this country is currently launching a massive campaign to try to prove in courts what president biden says he believes is already shaping up in his opinion. and we do have to warn our viewers that what you're about to see is extremely graphic and very disturbing. >> even as russian troops mass in easte

that's where our frederik pleitgen and his team have been doing phenomenal reporting.e understand that his team has now made it to the town of makriv, west of the capital. let's go to frederik pleitgen on the ground. what are you seeing? >> reporter: hi there, john. we have been talking so much about the fact that the ukrainians as they take some of these towns back and get back into them that they're finding a lot of dead bodies. we referred to some of it before, some of the bodies unfortunately that were found in bucha yesterday. we came here and the folks immediately said we need to go here to the outskirts of it because actually what's going on here right now is unfortunately more of the same. i'm sorry to have to show you this, there's a body collection team that they brought us to. they found a body here someone apparently riding his bicycle here when he was gunned down. the ukrainians say he was gunned down by russian forces. obviously for us it's very difficult to tell. but the teams here are doing something very similar than what -- as what we have seen in buc

we'll have a report from fred pleitgen. a warning that the story is gruesome. >> reporter: we are led into a russian he had execution chamber. five bodies, hands tied behind their backs and shot. the ukrainians say these men were killed when russian forces used this compound as a military base while occupying bu cha. an adviser to ukraine's interior minister not even trying to conceal his anger. after the liberation of bucha, five corps were found here. they were shot in the head and chest and tortured before. even the body collectors find it hard to keep their composure. he's usually a painter. now he collects the dead left behind after russian forces retreated from bucha. this is not what we learned in school, he says. do you see my hands? hundreds, hundreds of dead. hundreds, not dozens. the kremlin has denied russia was behind any atrocities in bucha. >> the russian says the notion they killed civilians is all fake news. they seem to have dug in a tank. on an outer wall, the letter v. now a lot of russian military hardw

. >> by joining us us now, cnn's fred pleitgen in the ukrainian city of kiev. you watched russian troops stream into ukraine. now you have officials saying there was a ukrainian helicopter strike on a fuel depo, how significant would that be? >> we spent time there we got a feel tore the lay of the land. in they managed to do this, it would bold and brazen and almost unthinkable to pull off. that video appeared to be mi-24 hocks coming in, firing at that fuel depo. essentially they have to come from kharkiv, the city on the ukrainian side of the border. it's not that close. it's still about 70 kilometers or what is that 50 miles from t. you don't do that quickly in a chopper. also, they have to flee over a high defensive zone. it would be an extreme feat to be able to 'ul that off. we don't have confirmation from the ukrainian side this happened. there is no confirmation. you mentioned the russians are saying the ukrainians are behind it and this could hurt the negotiations going on. again, it's very difficult to prove ukraine has pulled off. if they did, it wo

. >>> fred pleitgen has more on this story. >> reporter: as russian forces retreat from the area north of kyiv, in their wake, scenes of utter destruction. whole blocks of houses flattened. ukrainian authorities say they believe dead bodies are still lying underneath. but here the dead also lay in the open. ukrainian national police showed us this mass grave in bucha, saying they believe up to 150 civilians might be buried here but no one knows the exact number. people killed, while the russian army occupied this town. this is what it looks like when hope is crushed. vladimir has been searching for his younger brother dimitri. he believes he lies here but he can't be 100% sure. the neighbor accompanying him with strong words for the russians. why do you hate us so much, she asked? since the 1930s, you have been abusing ukraine? you just want to destroy us. you want us gone. but we will be -- everything will be okay. i believe it. video from bucha shows bodies in the streets after russian forces left the area. some images even show bodies with hands tied behind their backs. the russian

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

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

and from there, cnn's fred pleitgen filed this report. >> reporter: there is no safe way to get into irpin. the only feasible route is on the back of a police special forces pickup truck on dirt paths. but even here, the earth is scorched after russian troops shelled the trail. ukrainian forces are taking us into this area on back roads because they say taking the main roads is simply much too dangerous. they want to show us the damage done when russian forces tried to enter kyiv. ukrainian authorities say this is still one of the most dangerous places in this war-torn country, and we immediately see why. we are driving right towards an area engulfed in smoke from artillery shelling. this is where russian forces tried to push into ukraine's capital, but were stopped and beaten back by the underdog ukrainians. battles here are fierce. authorities say 50% of the city has been destroyed. to us, that number seems like an understatement. moving quickly because this place can get shelled anytime. ukraine's national police now patrols irpin again but their forces frequently come under fire,

the discovery was announced by the ukrainian prosecutor who then earlier had spoken with fred pleitgen. a warning to our viewers, fred's report contains some graphic images. >> reporter: even as russian troops mass in eastern ukraine for what the u.s. believes will be a huge offensive, authorities in kyiv continue digging up bodies. painstaking work that goes hand in hand with investigating russia's attack on kyiv and possible crimes committed by vladimir putin's invading troops. prosecutor general iryna benedictova is leading the charge. she spoke to me at the edge of a mass grave in the suburb of kyiv. >> for us the motivation is justice. and of course we understand that all the ukrainian want fast justice. true and fast justice. that's why we do everything to document all evidence, all facts of war crimes that we have here in ukraine. >> reporter: french forensic investigators are now also on the scene, not because ukraine lacks expertise, but because kyiv wants to be as transparent as possible in the face of russian disinformation efforts. >> we want to do our job absolutely open w

it would show they are not afraid to strike back at the country that is attacking them. >> fred pleitgen, thanks so much. >>> earlier today, i spoke live with former ukrainian president petrov poroshenko as he stood on the bombed-out streets on kyiv. he, pressed outrage at new video showing bodies in the streets of a village on the outskirts of the capital city and called on the west to provide more weapons and to hold russia account blg for the atrocities committed in ukraine. >> please understand this is not a film of hor rho. this is the life of ukrainian civilians. this is how we live and field. just behind me, this is the children's basketball center that was built here. and this is the russian missile that attacked these 14 children. and we are here. this is the respect of the memories of the victims of this barbarianism happening here in kyiv. this is just a demonstration how it is. we are fighting and protecting ukraine. but russian armed forces, they tear fighting with women, children, with elderly people, killing and torturing civilians. we should stop this. we should stop this

fred pleitgen made the dangerous trip back to irpin, and this is what he found. >> reporter: there isin, and the only feasible route is on the back of a police special forces pickup truck on dirt paths, but even here the earth is scorched after the russian troops shelled the trail. ukrainian forces are taking us into this area on the back roads, because taking the main roads is simply much too dangerous, and they want us to see the damage done when the russian forces tried to enter kyiv. they say this is the most dangerous places in the war-torn country, and we immediately see why. we are driving right towards an area engulfed in smoke from artillery shelling. this is where the russian forces tried to push into ukraine's capital, but they were stopped and beaten back by the underdog ukrainians. the battles here are fierce. authorities say that 50% of the city has been destroyed, and to us, that number seems like an understatement. we have to keep moving quickly, because the place can be shelled any time. the forces are frequently coming under fire the chief tells me. just yesterday, o

about 300 mail east of here is cnn's fred pleitgen. situation in bucha is absolutely devastating. that place was held by russian forces for round about a month. there was some heavy fighting and apparently also, a lot of civilians, not apparently, definitely, a lot of civilians who were killed. right now, the people there in bucha after the russian forces have with drawn from that area, they're trying could come to terms with that. they're still discovering dead bodies in almost all the buildings and all the places that we've seen around that area. we today went to bucha. we went around that area. i want to show you what we saw. we have to warn our viewers, what you're about to see is extremely graphic and very disturbing. ukrainian authorities in bucha lead us into a basement they call a russian execution chamber. it is a gruesome scene. five bodies. their hands tied behind their backs, shot. the bullet casings collected by ukrainian police. pock marks from bullets in the walls. the ukrainians say these men were killed when russian fo

fred pleitgen at the chernobyl plant, ukraine. >>> and joining me is general mark kinnet who serfvednder te american administrations. and so tell me what was your reaction to what we saw out of chernobyl, and what should the international community be thinking about when it comes to dealing with the russians and trying to prevent them from playing some dangerous games with some, just dramatically sensitive parts of ukraine, these nuclear installations which of course we know are highly critical to the safety and well-being of people in that part of europe. >> yeah, jim, what i would first say at the micro level, this is another indication of the lack of discipline among the russian troops. you not only saw this in terms of how they effectively looted the entire facility for anything that wasn't bolted down, but it is also clear that the officers are indifferent to the discipline of the soldiers and in fact, to their lives if they would put their soldiers in a nuclear area, and have them dig in. so what it is really indicates is how bad the military is, and how ill disciplined it is,

frederik pleitgen speaks with the mayors of two ukrainian cities in the middle of the fighting. us. let's go on the open road with a safe stay! now get double best western rewards points on every stay. and with rewards points that never expire, you get free nights fast! book now at bestwestern.com. >>> russian forces completely withdrawing from the areas around kyiv and chernihiv as they regroup and refocus their invasion on eastern ukraine. frederik pleitgen spoke with the mayors of those cities. >> it is not the war against ukrainian army, russian propaganda. it is war to destroy the city, destroy the infrastructure, to kill civilians. >> reporter: you visited bucha and other places. you saw what happened there. how angry are you? >> i am depressed. really depressed what i saw. it is -- i can't expect the people in modern time can do it so bad things. it is genocide. they want to kill civilians. >> translator: your city was surrounded for a long time. what is the situation now? the russians deliberately attacked the civilian population, they chaotically fired from all types of

let's turn now to another senior international correspondent, fred pleitgen, who with his own eyes bore witness to those horrific mass graves in bucha today. fred is witnessing up close what will be remembered as much as anything we've seen so far in putin's war. and fred's live in kyiv with his firsthand account. fred? >> reporter: hi there, jake. and the situation in bucha certainly is one that can only be described as tragic. and i think one of the things that really stands out is that the russian forces withdrew from that place four days -- a little more than four days -- ago. and yet the people who are searching there are still finding bodies in the streets in cars that were shot up, in basements, generally in houses -- also in houses, quite frankly, that were destroyed also in the fighting as well. so, the situation there is -- is tragic for the people there. they are sad. they are angry. at the same time, they also vow they want to carry on, obviously rebuild their town. but at the same time, they are still finding a lot of dead people, and they fear it will be a lot more. and i

i want to turn now to cnn's fred pleitgen with a report on ukrainian civilians using drones to help hunt down russian tanks. >> be careful. just move. move. >> reporter: it's like a scene from the gates of hell. the dead lay strewn across this highway west of kyiv. some still next to the wreckage of their vehicles. as the dogs roam around looking to scavenge. this is what russian forces left behind when they retreated from here. >> where we're going right now. >> reporter: ol' xander ratikhovsky tells me these were civilians gunned down from this position where the russians had placed a tank. >> you can see it's the shooting zone. see? and these cars, see? they're sort of in line. there's no cars here because they would not let them come. they just shoot as soon as they approach. >> reporter: the russian government denies targeting civilians. they call such allegationses, quote, fake and prop gand papp but ol' xander is part of a drone unit and they filmed it. it was march 7th when a group of cars were driving down the highway. they turned around after apparently taking fire from a tank

cnn's fred pleitgen has those details.ng, some of the images in his report are graphic. >> reporter: it's certainly gotten a lot quieter here in the ukrainian capital of kyiv. we have air raid sirens a couple of times during the day, but by and large it's a lot less than this past week, even the past couple of days. the ukrainians are essentially saying that the russians are leaving the districts around kyiv, are retreating. the russians claim this was always part of their plan and they're just pulling back. what we're seeing now as the russians are moving out is that they certainly have taken some serious losses. i was out in some of these districts around kyiv, and we saw a lot of tank carcasses, destroyed armored vehicles, and also positions that were abandoned by the russians as they moved out of here. the other thing, unfortunately, that we're also finding is that there are still a lot of dead bodies that have yet to be recovered. there was video that came out of a district called bucha, northwest of kyiv, where the s

fred pleitgen and matthew chance bring us more facts to debunk some of the ugly fiction about this russian invasion. that's next. [sound of helicopter blades] ugh... they found me. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. we strip in the community garden. i've been stripping here for years. i strip before take-off. breathe right strips open your nose for relief you can feel right away, helping you take in air more easily, wherever you are. >>> we're back live from lviv ukraine. here the reality of the war is as undeniable as the air-raid sirens that serve as a regular reminder of the devastation that could

fred pleitgen live from kyiv. thank you. >>> back in the united states, the biden administration announced they will impose new sanctions, this time on russian institutions and on elites including putin's two adult daughters. a senior administration official tells cnn that u.s. officials believe the russian president might be hiding some of his considerable wealth with his daughters. mj lee is at the white house for us. what else can you tell us about the sanctions? >> reporter: let me lay out what some of the biggest targets are that the u.s. will be imposing. a fresh round of sanctions on russia. we are talking about full blocking sanctions on russia's largest financial institution swells russia's largest private bank. we are talking about a ban on all new russian investments. this would come that the president would sign. then targeting of individuals close to vladimir putin including his two adult daughters and sanctioning the wife and the daughter of the foreign minister, sergey lavrov. when we heard the pres

fred pleitgen, cnn, kyiv, ukraine. >>> in the coming hours, a convoy of buses will again try to reach the besieged city of mariupol to evacuate civilians who have endured weeks of a brutal russian military assault. an estimated 100,000 people still trapped in mariupol. on friday, an evacuation organized by the red cross was denied access, preventing thousands from leaving. those who have been able to leave were taken to the ukrainian-controlled city of zaporizhzhia. it took 11 hours for buses to pass through military checkpoints controlled by the russians for what would normally be a drive of less than three hours. russian troops who occupied the nuclear power plant in chernobyl may have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. that's according to ukraine's state energy company, which says the activity of the russian forces there remains unclear. cnn's david mckenzie reports now from london. >> reporter: in the very early stages of russia's invasion of ukraine, you'll remember those images of russian tanks entering chernobyl, the site of the worst accident in nuclear history. an

. >> let's go to cnn's fred pleitgen. he takes a look at what it could mean going forward. >> it could be a brazen and bold counterattack by the ukrainians. the social media video seeming to show two attack helicopters penetrating russian territory and firing at an oil depot, seth the facility ablaze. the russian military publicly acknowledging the incident. on april 1st at around 5:00 a.m. moscow time, two ukrainian mi helicopters entered the air at a low level. they launched a missile attack located the outskirts of belgrade as a result of the missile hit individual tanks were damaged and caught fire. video from the aftermath shows the facility engulfed with massive flames with firefighters struggling to put out the flames. belgrade is a high military stichl it was from here that russian forces crossed the border and attacked kharkiv, moving large amounts of tanks, armored vehicles, and trucks toward the military. but they also have massive military supports in this area. ukrainians have not acknowledged they hit the de

let's get to cnn's senior international correspondent fred pleitgen, live in ukraine's capital, kyiv. fred, we should note cnn is unable to verify the claim. you've reported extensively from belgorad. >> reporter: jake, it would be remarkable if the ukrainians carried this out with helicopters, which move fast but not that fast. this area is 25 miles away from the border between russia and ukraine but certainly a lot further than that, for instance, from kharkiv. on the other side of the border, that's more like 40, maybe 45 miles away. so it's not a short distance. one of the things we have to keep in mind is that belgorad is one of the main places, one of the most fortified places i've seen in a long time including air defense systems and multiple rocket launching systems as well. so it's really unclear who carried this out. but certainly if it was the ukrainians, it would be a massive feat. let's have a look. it could be a brazen and bold counterattack by the ukrainians. this social media video seeming to show two attack helicopters penetrating russian territory and firing at an oi

cnn's fred pleitgen has a firsthand look at the carnage and the widespread destruction there. and a warning. some of the images and the details in his report are graphic and disturbing. >> reporter: in the war that russia has unleashed against ukraine, few places have suffered more than borodianka. occupied by vladimir putin, russians for a very long time. and just to give you an idea about the scale of the destruction you have houses like these that were completely destroyed. but if you look over here, you can see even large residential buildings have been flattened. this entire building was flattened. it was connected with this one before, but now there is absolutely nothing left of it. and the russians made sure to show they owned this town, painting the letter v on occupied buildings, even defacing borodyanka's administration building. v is the letter they used to show forces invaded this part of ukraine. oksana and her husband just returned here and found russian soldiers had been staying in their house. she says they ransacked the place. "alcohol is everywhere," she says

>> good morning, thanks for your great reporting and the same from fred pleitgen on scene. i think the reports of potential chemical weapon use is something we should be concerned about. i find it coincident with the arrival of a new commander on the scene. he has a reputation from syria where chemical weapons were used. if not facilitated by the russians, then they certainly tolerated the syrians using those against this regime. when i was working there we saw the serious threat. it just seems characteristic of the tool kit that the general might have brought with him to the battle space. >> sir, we're hearing from a defense official that a russian military convoy is attempting to resupply and reinforce its forces in the donbas. this was an assessment this wasn't a new offensive, this convoy that we're seeing. what do you make of that and can you talk about the resupply issues from the russians and ukrainians there? >> right. well, your listeners and viewers will remember six weeks ago this campaign started with an approach from four different axes, with really four differ

fred pleitgen, cnn at the chernobyl nuclear plant in ukraine. >>> we will take a short break but forfrica is up next. for our north american viewers, stay with us. i will be back with a hotlot mo from ukraine in just a moment. bath fitter doesn't just fit your bath. we fit your life. when you're tired of looking at your tired old bath, we fit your style, with hundreds of design options. when a normal day is anything but normal, we fitour schedule, with our unique tub over tub process, installed ins little as a day. when high quality the only quality that matters, we fit your standards, with a lifetime guarantee. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire this may sound strange, but you've been here before. you were here when this wrench was turned. and when this line was drawn. oh. and when this stitch was sewn. you inspired t

cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen saw the horrifying scene for himself. this is his firsthand account of the devastation. >> reporter: jim, it's certainly still a very tough and devastating situation here on the ground in bucha. what you have behind me is the mass grave that we've been talking about, the local authorities here tell us they believe there's 150, maybe more people buried in there. the mayor saying he believes around 300 people are buried in mass graves in bucha. the big problem is they simply don't know. as the fighting was going on, more and more people were getting buried here and they simply lost track. it's something unfortunately we see in this entire district of bucha as more and more bodies are being found. here is what we witnessed. >> reporter: as russian forces retreat from the area north of kyiv, in their wake scenes of utter destruction. whole blocks of houses flattened, ukrainian authorities saying they believe dead bodies are still lying underneath. they believe up to 150 civilians might be buried here but no one knows the exac

speaking of fred pleitgen, he joins me now. hello, fred, to you. russia's withdrawn from areas near kyiv. you went to another town to see the death and destruction that they left behind. what did you see? >> reporter: hi there, don. well, what we saw was really a swath of death and destruction going towards the north of kyiv, towards the northwest specifically. and those are a lot of towns that were held by the russians. we drove through several smaller towns and villages, through somewhat larger towns and the picture was always the same, absolutely destroyed places. and in all of those places still dead civilians who were being picked up as you said by those people who a couple of weeks ago were painters, were factory workers and the like, and are now working around the clock and really don't know how much longer this is going to continue because the bodies keep popping up in places, and they keep having to collect them. borodenko was definitely the place that was the most destroyed that we witnessed. and we do have to warn our viewers, what you'r

we get more now from cnn's fred pleitgen. but first, and again, a warning, you are about to see disturbing, graphic images, but they reveal the brutality and sheer cruelty of what happened in bucha under russian occupation. >> reporter: ukrainian authorities in bucha lead us into a basement they call a russian execution chamber. it's a grewsome scene. five bodies. their hands tied behind their backs, shot. the bullet casings collected by ukrainian police. pock marks from bullets in the walls. the ukrainians say these men were killed when russian forces used this compound as a military base while occupying bucha. an adviser to ukraine's interior minister not even trying to conceal his anger. after the liberation of bucha, five corpses of civilians were found here, he says, with their hands tied behind their backs. they were shot in the head and in the chest. they were tortured before. even the body collectors find it hard to keep their composure. this man is usually a painter. now, he collects the dead left behind after russia

fred pleitgen, cnn, irpin, ukraine. >>> daniel davis is a retired u.s.y lieutenant colonel. 21 years of active service. he is now a senior fellow and military expert for defense priorities, a washington based think tank. daniel, thank you for being with us. i want you to listen to general secretary of nato and his assessment of russian troop movement inside ukraine. here he is. >> according to our intelligence, russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. russia is trying to regroup, resupply, and reinforce. russia maintains pressure on kyiv and other cities. >> pentagon also says this is not a retreat, but rather a repositioning and a new strategy with russian forces now focusing on the donbas region. is that how you see this now playing out? is this the new strategy? >> yeah, and you know it's very interesting because that's the same thing that russia's saying. they are saying almost the same thing that the pentagon is saying. they're not attempting to say it's anything different. they -- they are still keeping forces around kyiv, around sumy,

fred pleitgen, cnn, kyiv. >> mick ryan is retired major general in australian army, former commander of the australian defense college and author of "war transformed, the future of 21st century great power competition and conflict." general ryan, thanks again. it's good to see you -- good to see you again. um back in 2015, cnn's matthew chance actually reported being used back then as part of russia's offensive in siryria. i want you to listen to part of his report. here it is. >> standing on the missile cruiser, moskva, ask it is a key vessel because it provides air defenses for the very frequent air strikes that are being carried out right now by the russian air force against various targets inside syria. >> this guided missile cruiser is about as high tech as it gets for the russian navy. $750 million apparently. one of three. so what have the russians now lost in terms of capability with the moskva at the bottom of the black sea? >> for the black sea fleet, they have lost a set of sensors which provide air defense in that region. but most importantly, at the strategic level, they