the lead starts right now. a city center in eastern ukraine rocked by a missile strike. why this target and why now. cnn is live on the scene. plus contrasting claims. what persuaded prigozhin, the wagner boss to stop his apparent revolt in russia. the leader in belarus has his version. and while vladimir putin puts his own spin on what went down. erin burnett is leading or coverage tonight in eastern ukraine into and donald trump lashing out after a cnn exclusive audio of the president talking about classified documents. welcome to the lead, everyone. i m bianna golodryga in for jake tapper. we start with the world lead and breaking news from eastern ukraine. at least two massive russian strikes in the kramatorsk region. one where three people were killed including a child. an eyewitness tells cnn s team on the ground they ve seen up to a dozen people pulled from the rubble after days of turmoil inside of russia. following an aetempted armed rebel group led by prig
acknowledging he had sensitive secret documents that were not declassified. we re breaking down the recordings and what they mean for the special counsel s criminal case against him. also tonight, cnn is live in ukraine where the death toll has been rising from a new russian missile strike in a crowded city center. president volodymyr zelenskyy is calling the attack a manifestation of terror. this comes as vladimir putin is on damage control after the mutiny by wagner mercenaries. all ask former u.s. defense secretary mark esper about the rebellion and how it s influencing putin s war strategy. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. we begin this hour with powerful evidence against donald trump in the special counsel s case against him. cnn exclusively obtaining recordings of the former president talking about highly classified material in his possession. this comes as trump is speaking out
helped. the times says prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed others in power would come to his aid. meanwhile vladimir putin is praising russian security forces for stopping a civil war. nick paton walsh reports. reporter: president putin s used to conjuring his own reality on state tv. but it was not clear during an array of post rebellion pomp on tuesday who is left buying it. his top brass whose removal it was all about still remarkably there too. as putin surreally thanked land forces for intervening as wagner advanced for saving russia. translator: we defended the constitution. you saved our people, our homeland. you stopped a civil war.
belarus air base outside of the capital of minsk. but as nick paton walsh reports, even though prigozhin does seem, we don t know if he was on a plane, seemed to be outside of russia. putin s troubles are not over. reporter: president putin is used to conjuring his own reality on state tv. but it was not clear during an array of post rebellion pomp on tuesday who is left buying it. his top brass, whose removal it was all about, still remarkably there too. as putin surreally thanked land forces to intervene as wagner advanced on moscow on the weekend for saving russia. translator: he you defended constitution. you stopped a civil war. and later he told soldiers that the russian state had paid
a reminder of what president zelenskyy said, trying to strike terror into the hearts of civilians, bombing populated areas. it s a reminder of the toll of the war after a weekend of extraordinary drama often amongst aging autocratic men fighting over the spoils of the post-soviet world. began to get more answers as to where wagner mercenary head, yevgeny prigozhin is. it seems he s gone to belarus. above all, we had a very weakened russian president vladimir putin constantly apooerg on television, trying to sell a narrative that was so far removed from reality, it was unclear how many russians would actually accept it. here s what we saw. president putin s used to conjuring his own reality on state tv. but it was not clear during an array of post-rebellion pomp on tuesday who is left buying it.