this as one former wagner group commander flees to norway, and his lawyer is outfront tonight to tell his story for the first time. plus, just in to outfront, new details about the investigation into biden s classified documents. we now know more about who federal investigators have been speaking with about the case. and ron desantis launching a new charm offensive. he s trying to shed the notion that he s dry and reserved, those are the quotes. why now? let s go outfront. and good evening. i m erin burnett. outfront tonight, convicts on the front line. new audio into outfront of the chief of the brutal private russian army fighting on the front lines in ukraine, the wagner group. the chief yevgeny prigozhin s influence with putin has been surging. this is what prigozhin is now telling convicted criminals who have finished their tours of duty with him about staying out of prison. listen for yourself. translator: don t drink a lot, don t use drugs, and don t
we know of course that the u.s. is training the ukrainians on patriots right now. ukrainians say they need a lot of those to try and prevent strikes like that in the future. i want to go now to the attorney for the wagner commander that we heard from earlier who escaped and is now seeking asylum in norway. this is his first tv interview about this story. i appreciate your time. so, what did andrei tell you about his experience on the battlefield in ukraine? well, first of all, he very strongly felt that he was joining the wagner group on false expectations, and he felt right away that he had to leave. when it came to the actual fighting them, he was surprised that they had not modern weapons and that they were fighting with
they are responsible for the utter failure for the kleptocracy, for the corruption within the military that has caused a lack of training, a lack of soldier skills, and a defeat on the battlefield. so that competition between sh shoigu and gerasimov with the wagner group commander on the other side is just a fascinating thing from a professional military guy like me to watch because it s just a comedy of errors, and it shows how corrupt not just the military is but the entire russian governmental system. and that s why soldiers won t fight for this kind of action. it s just very difficult for a professional to explain what we re seeing, how bad the russian military, the russian government is as exhibited on the battlefield. general hertling, thank you very much, as always, for your perspective. , and next, just into outfront, cnn learning federal investigators have now interviewed biden s personal attorney who first discovered
seventh army. the organization here, the wagner group, as you ve heard the attorney there say, is a brutal organization. it s a brutal organization that we know has been behind many war crimes. we have seen the destruction that those troops have inflicted on soledar. so, from the perspective here of this battle happening in soledar, which has been led by wagner group for putin, what can the ukrainian military do right now to win in soledar? and should they? is it worth it? well, erin, i want to address, because i was amazed by your interview just now. this guy is a commander in a mercenary organization that has been terrorizing ukrainian soldiers and citizens even watching his own soldiers be killed if they run or refuse to fight. but he s now suddenly gained a conscience and claims he doesn t do anything wrong. this is a kleptocratic quasipair military organization not just
this as one former wagner group commander flees to norway, and his lawyer is outfront tonight to tell his story for the first time. plus, just in to outfront, new details about the investigation into biden s classified documents. we now know more about who federal investigators have been speaking with about the case. and ron desantis launching a new charm offensive. he s trying to shed the notion that he s dry and reserved, those are the quotes. why now? let s go outfront. and good evening. i m erin burnett. outfront tonight, convicts on the front line. new audio into outfront of the chief of the brutal private russian army fighting on the front lines in ukraine, the wagner group. the chief yevgeny prigozhin s influence with putin has been surging. this is what prigozhin is now telling convicted criminals who have finished their tours of duty with him about staying out of prison. listen for yourself. translator: don t drink a lot, don t use drugs, and don t