>> UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT IS URGING THE WEST TO
PROVIDE MORE WEAPONS AFTER THE LATEST ROUND OF RUSSIAN
ATTACKS. UKRAINE'S MILITARY SAYS IT SHOT
DOWN 47, 70 MISSILES LAUNCHED AT UKRAINE, ALONG WITH 18
IRANIAN MADE DRONES, AT LEAST 11 PEOPLE WERE KILLED.
MISSILES THAT DID MAKE IT THROUGH TARGETED ENERGY
FACILITIES, AND HIT SOME RESIDENTIAL AREAS.
SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO -- IS REPORTED.
MEANTIME, FIGHTING IS INTENSIFYING IN MANY CITIES.
INCLUDING BACK, FRED PLEITGEN HAS MORE ON THAT FOR US.
>> UKRAINE'S TANKS, TAKING AIM AT THE INVADING RUSSIANS.
KYIV'S FORCES, RALLYING TO TRY TO HALT A MASSIVE ASSAULT ON
BAKHMUT. THE CITY WHERE THERE ARE STILL
STILL SOME 6000 CIVILIANS, HAS BECOME A CAULDRON OF FIRE.
FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT, YOU CAN BOTH SEE AND HEAR JUST HOW
FIERCE THE FIGHTING IS. YOU CAN HEAR IMPACT FROM HEAVY
WEAPONS, NOT JUST EVERY MINUTE, BUT LITERALLY EVERY SECOND.
A UKRAINIAN SAYS THAT THE RUSSIANS ARE POURING A MASSIVE
AMOUNT OF PERSONNEL AND WEAPONS INTO THIS AREA BECAUSE THEY
SEEM TO WANT TO TAKE BAKHMUT AT NEARLY ANY COST.
THERE ARE PLENTY OF REGULAR RUSSIAN TROOPS FIGHTING AROUND
BAKHMUT NOW. BUT THE UKRAINIANS SAY, IT'S
STILL THE WAGNER PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANY THAT'S LEADING
THE CHARGE. WITH WAVES OF FIGHTERS TRYING
TO STORM UKRAINIAN POSITIONS BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE
CITY, AS WELL AS SPECIALIZED FORCES LIKE THESE SNIPERS,
CLAIMING TO HAVE KILLED UKRAINIAN SOLDIER.
>> [INTERPRETER] ALL I COULD SEE WAS A CURTAIN
WINDOW, THIS SNIPER SAYS. THE PERSON WAS PAIRED WITH ME
SAW A THERMAL OUTLINE AND I JUST DETERMINED WHERE TO SHOOT.
[END OF TRANSLATION] >> WAGNER'S BOSS, YEVGENY
PRIGOZHIN, OFTEN TOUTS HIS MALICIOUS SUCCESSES, BUT THE
COST IS IMMENSE. THIS IS A WAGNER CEMETERY IN
THE KRASNODAR REGION OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA.
ROW AFTER ROW OF FRESH GRAVES, A DISPOSABLE FORCE USED TO TAKE
JUST A FEW KILOMETERS OF LAND. WAGNER ACKNOWLEDGES RECRUITING
PRISONERS STRAIGHT OUT OF JAIL AND THROWING THEM ON THE
BATTLEFIELD WITH MINIMAL TRAINING AND ONLY SLIM CHANCES
OF SURVIVAL. THAT SAME INDIFFERENCE SHOWN IN
RUSSIAN STRIKES THAT KILL AND MAIM UKRAINIAN CIVILIANS EVERY
DAY. THESE FOLKS ARE CLEANING UP
AFTER A RUSSIAN MISSILE LANDED IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR
BAKHMUT. >> [INTERPRETER]
WE WERE GETTING HEATING FROM THE HEATING PLANT WHICH WAS HIT,
YURI TELLS ME. YESTERDAY AT 3:00, IT WAS
DESTROYED, SO NOW WE HAVE NO ELECTRICITY, NO HEATING, WE
HAVE NOTHING. [END OF TRANSLATION]
>> AND A FEW MILES AWAY, ONE PERSON WAS KILLED IN ANOTHER
DENSELY POPULATED AREA. SOME OF LONG DISTANCE DRONES
AND MISSILES THAT RUSSIA USES TO ATTACK UKRAINE COME DOWN
RIGHT NEAR CIVILIAN AREAS. THIS HERE IS ONLY A FEW YARDS
AWAY FROM A KINDERGARTEN. HOWEVER, OTHERS ARE USED TO
DIRECTLY TARGET CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE.
MORE THAN 50 MISSILES FIRED JUST ON THURSDAY.
AND WHILE MANY OF THEM WERE INTERCEPTED BY UKRAINIAN AIR
DEFENSES, SOME WERE NOT BROUGHT DOWN, ADDING TO THE DAILY TOLL
OF DESTRUCTION. THE MISSILE TERROR, MORE
MOTIVATION FOR UKRAINE'S SOLDIERS AROUND BAKHMUT TO
STAND THEIR GROUND AND BRING VLADIMIR PUTIN'S INVASION TO A
STANDSTILL. >> FRED PLEITGEN, CNN, BACK.
LOOK >> WE JUST HEARD FRED'S REPORT, THE INCESSANT
BOMBARDMENT, SPECIFICALLY IN BACK ABOUT, AND OF COURSE,
THERE'S BEEN ADVISED TO THE UKRAINIANS FOCUS ELSEWHERE,
COULD YOU GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE
FRONTLINES HERE, SAM. .
>> YOU HAVE AN 800 MILE FRONTLINE AT LEAST STRETCHING
FROM THE NORTH OF THE COUNTRY, AND A GREAT YOU SHAPE ALL THE
WAY AROUND TO THE SOUTH, FIGHTING HAS BEEN CONCENTRATED
IN THE EAST, AROUND BACK MOOT, BUT ALSO, TOWNS TO THE NORTH
AND SOUTH OF THERE, IN THAT AREA, THE SAME THAT PUSHES THE
FURTHEST INTO TERRITORY THAT IS ALREADY BEEN GRABBED BY RUSSIA,
BUT THERE ARE, THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN OPERATIONS BY
BOTH SIDES, BUT NOTABLY, BY RUSSIA LOW-LEVEL OPERATIONS ON
THE, FRONT IN THE SOUTH, AND CONTINUE, IT'S ALMOST
CONTINUOUS BOMBARDMENT OF THE RECENTLY RELATIVELY RECENTLY,
LIBERATED CITY OF -- WHERE THE RUSSIANS ARE ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, NOW POUNDING THE CIVILIAN CITY.
THE ANTICIPATION IS THOUGH, THAT THERE COULD BE AN
OFFENSIVE FROM THE RUSSIANS IN THE SPRING, IF NOT SOONER THAN
THAT. THE UKRAINIANS ARE SAYING, THEY
NEED MORE WEAPONS, MORE CAPABILITY TO PROTECT THEIR
SKIES, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO ASSAULT THEIR OWN, OR CONDUCT
THEIR OWN ASSAULTS, TO REGAIN MOMENTUM THAT WAS SO EFFECTIVE
IN LIBERATING -- BEFORE, THAT A LARGE AREA
AROUND KYIV. NOT THAT FAR FROM WHERE FRED
WAS REPORTING THERE. ELENI, NOW THEY'RE ALSO
POINTING OUT THIS LATEST WAVE OF MISSILE ATTACKS, IT INCLUDED
AT LEAST 2 MISSILES. THESE ARE HYPERSONIC, ULTRA
SUPERSONIC IF YOU'D LIKE MISSILES, LAUNCHED FROM
AIRCRAFT THAT EVADE ALL OF THE CAPABILITIES THAT THE
UKRAINIANS HAVE -- AND REINFORCES FROM THE
UKRAINIAN PERSPECTIVE. ACCORDING TO THE SPOKESPERSON,
THEY HAVE THE PATRIOT, AND OTHER SOPHISTICATED AIR
DEFENSES BECAUSE THE VERY STATE-OF-THE-ART NEW MISSILES
DEVELOPED BY RUSSIA, THAT THE UNITED STATES IS ALSO TRYING TO
DEVELOP. WE UNDERSTAND, THEY'RE ALMOST
IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP, BECAUSE THEY FLY SO, FAST AND THEY'RE
HIGHLY MANOEUVRABLE. THEY'RE ALSO CAPABLE OF
DELIVERING A WARHEAD OF SOME 500 KILOGRAMS, ABOUT 1100
POUNDS OF HIGH EXPLOSIVE. ULTIMATELY A NUCLEAR WARHEAD.
YOU HAVE THIS VERY STRANGE SITUATION YOU'VE GOT VERY
HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED 24 CENTURY TYPE WEAPONS BY WHAT RUSSIA
FROM TIME TO TIME, IN AS FRED WAS REPORTED, THERE THESE HUMAN
WAVE ATTACKS BEING CONDUCTED BY CONSCRIPT AND SEMI CONSCRIPTED
PRISONERS. UNDER THE WAGNER GROUP.
WITH REPORTEDLY, AND WE DON'T HAVE INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION
OF, THIS PUNISHED VITAL USED TO THE REAR, FORCING YOUNG RUSSIAN
SOLDIERS TO ATTACK IN HUMAN WAYS.
IF YOU'RE COMING OUT UGLY WAR AT GROUND LEVEL, AND
INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS AND IT'S SOPHISTICATION IN THE AIR,
ELENI. >> YES, IT'S INTENSIFYING, AND
OF COURSE WE'RE SEEING DAMAGE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AS
WELL. SAM KILEY, THANK YOU SO MUCH.