The parents shift
over who
controls the bombed out city
of Ukraine, the leader
of the Russian mercenary group.
Wagner says that
that militia is moving out
and that would put Russia's military
back on the front lines there.
But Ukraine insists
pockets of the mercenary
groups are going to remain.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports
now on
how this change of the guard
could benefit Ukraine.
Just as the Ukrainian military say
their forces are retaking ground
on the outskirts of Bermuda.
Wagner boss
Yevgeny Prigozhin
says his mercenaries are moving out.
You're part of it. Sure, that's it.
Moving out in ten to 15 minutes,
he tells these tankers
everyone leaves before
June 1st will rest, prepare
and then get a new task.
Wagner's exit could mark a turning point
in one of the bloodiest battles
in Europe since World War Two.
The mercenaries assaulted Bermuda
for months
often
using human waves to try and storm
Ukrainian positions.
Prigozhin
trying to prove to Putin
his hired guns can get the job done.
Where regular Russian units fail
even during the withdrawal.
A swipe at Russia's defense minister
for Russian joking
he'll leave
two scrawny
fighters behind
to help the army
when they take over Wagner's positions.
Whether they be better,
whether they'll go.
That is Bieber and that's Dallek.
He says
the moment the military
are in a tough position,
they'll stand up and block
the Ukrainian army.
Guys don't bully the military.
While the Ukrainians tell CNN
they cannot confirm
Wagner is really pulling out of Bermuda.
They believe a withdrawal
could give them a boost
in Kiev's quest to retake the city.
The extraordinary
ultimately compared to other units
of the Russian army,
Wagner did cite better
and conducted more offensive actions,
but this was literally due
to bloody discipline
and threats of execution.
While Moscow's
army struggles
in Ukraine, Russians
clearly feel threatened on the home
front as well.
The intelligence service, FSB, releasing
dramatic footage of arrests from earlier
this month
of what they claim were Ukraine
and intelligence operatives
plotting to attack
two nuclear power plants
in northwestern Russia.
While the Ukrainians haven't commented.
Russia blames Kiev.
Moscow also lashing out after a U.S.
intelligence assessment
saying Ukraine
may have been behind a drone attack
on the Kremlin in early May.
Freedom State behind
this is the key regime.
We know this
and we are carrying out our work
based on this.
Russia using the incident
to justify its war against Ukraine,
where Putin's top mercenary
is regrouping his forces
and vowing to return
And, Jake,
one of the things
that Yevgeny Prigozhin
before pulling out, says that he did
do was hand over
the body of a retired U.S.
former special forces
soldier who was killed in Bermuda.
CNN asked Yevgeny Prigozhin
if he had done that,
as he had promised before.
And in a post on his telegram service,
he said that, yes,
he had handed over the body
of retired Staff Sergeant Nicholas
maMer to the Ukrainians.
And we later followed up
with the Ukrainians as well.
They have said that
they have received
the body in a casket
draped in an American flag.
Russia says
that it's forwarded
a Ukrainian attack
on one of its reconnaissance ships.
But there's new video.
Is that true?
What they said
Well, it seems as though
it potentially isn't.
The Ukrainian
certainly have a very different
point of view of that.
Now, it seems they have the video,
but it seems to back that up.
And you're absolutely right.
At first
the Russians had said that
there was an attack with sea drones.
Those are essentially unmanned
surface vessels
on one of their main intelligence
ships in the Black Sea.
And the Russians showed
a video of their ship
destroying one of those drones.
But the Ukrainians came
with a video today
which seems to show another drone
moving towards that ship
and coming towards that ship, potentially
hitting it.
We're not sure
what exactly the damage is,
but in that video,
which is quite dramatic,
you can see someone from the Russian ship
firing at that sea drone,
seemingly trying to stop it.
And this potentially
could be a big blow to the Russians
because, of course,
it shows on the one hand
that their ships really aren't safe
from the Ukrainians in the Black Sea,
but also the ship that was hit,
it's called the Ivan Horse.
And it's actually
one of the most modern intelligence ships
that the Russians have.
It only went into service in 20, 20, 18.
So that potentially in itself
could be a big blow
and another big blow to the Russian navy
in the war against Ukraine Jake.
All right,
Fred Pleitgen in Kiev, Ukraine, thanks
so much.