pro punishing protesters forcing some to fight in the very war they want to stop. and crisis of democracies, a warning to the world from french president macron, and his message to donald trump after being wrapped up in the mar-a-lago case. welcome to the lead. i m pamela brown in for jake tapper. and we begin with our politics lead. and just in, special master of the trump mar-a-lago documents case opens the door to hearing witness testimony. this, coming after yet another legal defeat for former president donald trump. three judges from the 11th circuit court of appeals unanimously reversed district judge aleene cannon s decision. three-judge panel, one obama and three trump appointees. a special master s review of that subset, about 100 records is now partially stopped after judge cannon amended her ruling today. and just a short time ago, a special master deliver a new order to trump s legal team to prove one notable aspect in the former president s public claims. an in
evidence. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. russia s military said to be divided tonight over ukraine s stunning military offensive, retaking thousands of square miles from moscow s forces, which are now on the defensive in eastern and southern ukraine. cnn s senior international correspondent matthew chance has the latest for us. matthew, cnn s reporting that putin himself is giving directions to generals on the battlefield as russia s military appears increasingly divided on how to proceed with this war. tell us more of what you re learning. reporter: that s right, wolf. tonight another illustration of just how much intelligence u.s. authorities have, the u.s. intelligence has, on the thinking of what s going on inside the russian command structure. they re talking about intercepts that they ve sort of made available to cnn. we re reporting on that. about how there are disagreements on the
they re talking about intercepts that they ve sort of made available to cnn. we re reporting on that. about how there are disagreements on the battlefield between senior officers in the russian military about what the tactical response should be in various scenarios. they ve been flung into disarray according to these intercepts because of the dramatic advances on the field by ukrainian forces in the north of the country around the city of kharkiv, and there are intercepts looking at recording officers complaining to their loved ones at home and to their fellow colleagues about the strategic decisions that have been made by moscow. so all of this points to a sort of chaotic sort of mess if you like in terms of the command structure. more than that, though, these u.s. intercepts suggest that vladimir putin himself, the russian president, has been speaking directly to and giving orders directly to russian generals in the field.
zelenskyy actually was making his nightly speech today. and normally it s in ukrainian. it started in ukrainian. and then he switched to russian, addressing the russian people directly. he said that the announcement of a partial mobilization is a frank admission that the russian army has failed in ukraine. he said that russians who have done nothing to resist the war are accomplices in war crimes and torture in ukraine. he went on to say for instance that it is time to choose, for russian men it s to choose whether to die or be crippled or to survive. for russian women it s time to either let their sons, their husbands, their grandchildren die or to let them survive. he noted that according to the ukrainians 55,000 russians have been killed since this war began last february. and that their choices they
300,000 russian men who ve previously served in the russian military into the forces. it s leading to protests on the streets, with more than 1300 people detained so far. there are dramatic scenes at border crossings around russia as men of military age and their family attempt to escape the country before they can be sort of swept up into the armed forces and sent to the front line. but it really is ratcheting up pressure on vladimir putin at home. big time indeed. matthew chance, thank you very, very much. let s go to ukraine right now where president volodymyr zelenskyy talked about the russian mobilization in his nightly address to his nation. cnn s senior international correspondent ben wedeman is on the scene for us tonight. ben, how is ukraine reacting to news of this russian mobilization? reporter: well, first, just as your show began, wolf, the air raid siren went off here. as far as the reaction,