Tonight, our CNN crews on
the ground in Ukraine ducking for cover.
This harrowing moment
happening on the front lines.
Our crews came under Russian fire
while embedded with the Ukrainian
artillery unit.
Soldiers
and our team were forced to flee
as Russian forces fired on their vehicle.
Melissa Bell has this story.
You will see first here OUTFRONT
Aiming for a specific
target, the fury of Ukrainian artillery.
Austria
nothing in this war goes unseen.
Not even the Russians
walking into this house
eight kilometers away.
The target spared by a Ukrainian miss.
We're also now talk about them
as they try to move the zap reach
front line forward.
These gunners must now
wait for better
coordinates from the surveillance
drone last year,
also with eye rows with Kremlin's
posterior home pilot.
And they are the what, more
than one channel with robot boy,
a propulsive Nazi up.
But until then,
Odessa tells
his men to lower the gun one notch
between drones and artillery.
Nothing is left to chance.
What they've been targeting is a building
just on the other side
that has Russian infantry
and Russian artillery inside the drones
been guiding them.
They're about to fire for a third time.
And what they say is that we should
then expect incoming
Russian artillery in response
This time it's a hit,
not just the building,
but Russian ammunition
and artillery, too,
which means that the retaliation
should be swift
and it's time to go as fast as we can.
The reply doesn't take long.
Is that us?
That's arranging
that silly or presumed boy UKNI?
Because I
they're heading over there.
Yes. Well,
yeah.
So let's go.
Let's go. Let's go.
Because as expected,
that incoming artillery followed,
we're now having to drive away as quickly
as we can.
Although what they explain
is that it
isn't just the incoming artillery.
One of the most dangerous things
about driving around these parts
are the drones.
From his position
at the back of the pickup
truck, Odessa can hear
and see the incoming fire.
Go, go, go, go, go.
He's telling us to drive fast
because of the incoming artillery.
Well,
in all,
nine artillery rounds were fired back.
A measure of Russian anger.
And today,
for these soldiers
of Ukrainian success, this these of all
these should
and it took them internationals
to meet these shots.
And it's another job those are the like
the rush of survival for today, at least
for
now, Erin, even as Ukrainians
have continued to try to push that line
forward, both
along that gap, reach a part in the south
and in the east
they've also been carrying out
an interesting
fresh strategy
this week that has lot to do with Crimea,
a series
of some of the most ambitious cruise
missile attacks
and other forms of attacks
that we've seen on the Crimean Peninsula
since this war began.
It's all part of what Ukraine
now openly describes
as its occupation strategy and a reminder
that that is where it intends
for this war to end
exactly where it began back in 2014 Erin.
All right, Melissa, thank you very much.
And so grateful
that you are in Kiev tonight.
Back in Kiev after that. Thank you.
And we now have some new
reporting from OUTFRONT regular Andrei
Soldatov, the Russian reporter
who is now banned in his home country.
That is it.
The Kremlin is trying to use
churches here
in the United States to recruit
spies, intelligence sources.
Look at this FBI document
warning Russian
Orthodox churches
that they could be targets
for recruitment
by Russian intelligence services
and, quote,
coerced to participate
in intelligence operations via blackmail.
Well, Andre joins me now and Andre.
Obviously, usually
you're across the Atlantic,
so it is so nice after so many times
in all your reporting
during this war to see you in person.
So you've got this new reporting
revealing Russian intelligence services
are trying to infiltrate
churches in the United States.
What have you learned?
Well,
I think the most
important part of this story
is not only that
the Russian security and intelligence
agencies found a way
how to use a church, but
that the church is apparently quite happy
to be used
and not only by providing, say,
ideological ammunition for the war
and for the Russian spies,
which is hardly news,
but also in a very direct way because
there is a special memorandum,
as far as we know,
compiled by church officials,
as well as in 2009
And in this memorandum,
it is absolutely clear that the church
tried to establish some rules
of cooperation
with the Russian security services,
including the help in and provides
an operation of support
which is a direct help to spies.
So. All right.
So how vast is this network?
I mean, how wide ranging could this be?
It is a big network
because the Russian Orthodox Church is
is very well
present here in the United States
and actually is getting bigger.
More and more people think that
the appeal
of the Russian Orthodox Church
is all this talk about family
values and traditional values
is is a way for native Americans
format composer stars to convert
and to start coming to
to the church
of the Russian Orthodox Church.
All right.
So you have also done extensive reporting
about the oligarchs
and Putin's inner circle.
There was a public criticism,
public criticism
from Putin
of a prominent Russian businessman
and oligarch.
The oligarch now
says he is, quote,
totally against Russia's
barbaric invasion of Ukraine,
comes out and says that now
Putin responded. Right.
So we responded,
said that
this this person
who's a tech, a technology
company
leader,
is forced to make statements
in order to preserve his form businesses
and assets.
Previously, he was sitting silently.
God bless him. It doesn't bother us.
Two questions in this one,
Putin obviously relies
heavily on the oligarchs,
still does has been able to control them
and keep them quiet.
Even amidst all this friction.
Where does Putin stand with that group
right now?
Well, actually, he is still trying to.
And he is very much
in control of his people.
He's really good
at spreading
as a message of fear and dissent meeting.
You mentioned
he also made a remark about his former
ally,
Anatoly Schweizer, who was the founder
and the father
of the Russian privatization
program back in the 1980s.
Tobias also left the country and he was
and Putin was asked about your advice.
And Putin immediately
said that,
look, Tobias
used to run state owned corporations.
We found some problems
in this corporation.
We don't have criminal cases as yet
against this guy,
but we can have some problems
for him, threaten and are they
are they scared by
what happened to promotion?
Absolutely, yes. And lots of.
I remember of Novichok.
Right. Right.
If they weren't already
because of Navalny.
All right. Thank you very much.
Wonderful to see you, Andre. Thank you.