There are loud
explosions lighting up the sky in Odessa
for the third night in a row.
Let's listen
I hear
anything.
You get my flak
I was just moments ago.
The Russia terrorizing
the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa.
There's been a launch of missiles,
drone strikes in the dark of the night.
Happening again
right now, our Alex Marquardt is there.
You know, you just heard his voice there.
If everyone was listening there
on the back background of that, Alex.
Describe for me
what you're hearing
and seeing here in these minutes.
Well, Aaron, this was right on cue.
Just moments before you went to air,
we started to get the first warnings
that something might be happening,
that this might indeed
be the third night in a row
that we would see a major attack
by Russia.
It is clear that this is underway.
It is quiet right now,
but this is almost certainly
a temporarily lull.
What we've seen in the past
few moments are more of those
just extraordinary scenes.
All of this firepower on both sides.
Let me remind our viewers, last night
we saw some 60 drones and cruise
missiles fired at southern Ukraine,
most of them at this city.
We have to assume that something similar
is happening right now.
And in just the past few moments,
we have seen those air
defense rounds lighting up
the night skies.
Bright red tracers, as well as spotlights
reflect it against the sky
those spotlights used
to look at to search for drones.
And then perhaps most dramatically,
Erin,
what appeared to be interception rockets
flying every which way,
one going that way, appearing
to try
to be taking out an incoming missile.
Another one.
A straight back behind me,
which did appear to take out a missile.
There was a huge explosion in the sky.
This monster glow
lighting up the night sky.
There was a lot of anxiety earlier today
and into the night, Erin,
of course, after these two
just staggering nights of attacks.
The question
whether there would be a third.
It does appear
this city is now under attack
yet again by Russia,
whether it will continue, of course.
That is the big question for now.
Last night's attack lasted over an hour
and for now,
it has only been about 20 minutes.
So we are obviously keeping a close eye
on the situation.
The the Ukrainian military had warned
that there was a missile
warning for this region
and that appears
to have materialized Erin.
And Alex, as you're
there, you're talking about the duration
that you had heard 20 minutes.
And obviously,
as I point out to people at 2:20 a.m.
where you are right now,
so so you don't know whether you're done
or in the middle or what
But you say last
night's was about an hour
when you
talk about what
you're seeing these tracers,
the spotlights in the sky,
the actual missiles themselves.
Is this more intense
than what you saw last night
or the night before?
I know this is the third night
you've been there for this
This is in
line very much with what we saw
last night,
which turned out,
according to the mayor himself,
to be the most ferocious assault
by Russia.
On Odessa since this war started.
If the attack ends now and again,
it is rather quiet right now,
except for a car alarm
that I can hear nearby.
And that's what's happened
when you've had
these rockets
being intercepted,
these Russian missiles being intercepted,
these shockwaves
just flying all across this city.
So it's very difficult to say.
But, Erin, it has been like clockwork.
I've been on your show
for the past two nights ahead
and it exactly the same time
just before 2 a.m.
starting to get word
on social media from official channels
that drones and missiles
might be heading towards Odessa.
You start to hear those air raid sirens,
then you start to see the air
defense tracers.
It looks
and I don't mean
to trivialize this at all,
but it does look like fireworks
going up in the sky,
these yellow
and red tracers that go up
and will often find a target
before that comes down Erin.
All right, Alex, thank you very much.
Of course,
we're going to keep
in touch with Alex here,
see what's happening in Odessa.
We'll go back to him in a few moments.
As this develops, this is
this is what's happening right now.
Right. This is
the live situation in Ukraine.
And it comes as we've
been getting new video
that purports
to show the Wagner chief, Yevgeny
Prigozhin, for the first time.
His first public appearance
since he led the armed
rebellion in Russia.
Now, we believe
this video was likely shot
or filmed on Tuesday night.
We cannot definitively say
it is Prigozhin,
but here's what we do know
from Fred Pleitgen.
OUTFRONT
five
Nearly a month after Wagner's Mutiny,
the private military company
and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin,
say their back.
This grainy video
which CNN cannot independently
verify, purportedly showing Prigozhin
welcoming his fighters to Belarus
from the on.
Welcome to the Bella Russian land,
he says, We fought with dignity.
We have done a lot for Russia.
What is happening
now with the front lines
is a shame in which
we do not need to participate.
We need to wait for the moment
when we can prove ourselves fully.
Prigozhin as critical as ever of Russia's
Defense Ministry
and apparently
signaling is fighters
could return to the front
lines in Ukraine.
Various social media accounts
had already reported movements
of what appeared
to be
large Bodner
convoys on the move towards Belarus
and seen an analysis of satellite
images from Planet Labs
and from Airbus showed
a convoy of Wagner
fighters had already arrived
at a formerly abandoned base
southeast of Minsk.
Some of the volunteer
fighters training
below Russian troops,
as seen here on State media,
shows a solution in providing
they have been in combat.
And this is undoubtedly
a very useful experience for our army.
This Belorussian soldier says
They saw some of the heaviest combat
in Russia's war against Ukraine.
But after their mutiny,
seen as a major threat
to Vladimir Putin's power,
Prigozhin was labeled as a traitor
by Russia's
leader,
and Wagner had to shutter its main base
in southern Russia
with demand for electricity.
The beast ceases to exist,
this fighter, says.
Wagner.
Private military company
is relocating to new areas.
Belarus seems to be
one of those new areas.
Putin apparently coming to the conclusion
he still needs the mercenaries
and their leader.
The head of Britain's intelligence
service, MI6, telling CNN
Prigozhin is, quote,
floating around after the rebellion.
If you look at Putin's behaviors
on that day,
Prigozhin started off,
I think, as a traitor at breakfast.
He had been pardoned by supper.
And then a few days later,
he was invited for tea.
And one of percussions, top commanders,
Dimitry Etkin, vowing
the mercenaries will come back
even stronger.
In Ukraine, it's not the end, he says.
It's only the beginning
of the biggest work
that will be done very soon.
And finally, welcome to hell.
Welcome to hell, he says.
And Aaron,
you know,
the US and its allies
are extremely concerned
about Prigozhin and Wagner
setting up shop there in Belarus.
They believe that it could
destabilize NATO's eastern flank.
And there are already
some Eastern European countries
who are sending additional
military assets to their borders.
To better secure them Erin.
All right, Fred, thank you very much.