russian president vladimir putin trying to project an image of strength as he faces the biggest threat ever to his authority. is putin still in danger of losing power? his former prime minister says yes, and he will be outfront next. plus, where is yevgeny prigozhin? no confirmation that the wagner chief ever made it outside russia. as the fsb keeps its criminal investigation on prigozhin wide open. two moscow reporters who have covered him extensively with be reporting this hour. i m going to talk to the mayor of kyiv who warns ukraine is not prepared if putin attacks the biggest nuclear plant in all of europe. let s go outfront. and good evening, and welcome to a special edition of outfront. i am erin burnett live from ukraine tonight. tonight, putin on defense. the russian president speaking out three days after the armed rebellion led by his former ally yevgeny prigozhin. and make no mistake, a threat to putin s authority tonight is very well. putin right now
he s a leader of the wagner group, which are soldiers for hire, violent mercenaries with reputation for ruthless violence. they have fought for russia in ukraine and in conflicts across central africa in the middle east. saturday, prigozhin stage in our midst mutiny leading his mercenaries on a march that threatened to reach moscow coming within about 120 miles of the capitol. the crisis ended when prigozhin agreed to pull back his forces in a deal it allowed him to leave russia and avoid arrest. well rebellion appear to be aimed at ousting russia s military leaders, they dealt a massive brew blow to putin strongman image. we ve seen more cracks emerge in the russian facade. it is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there but certainly we have also have new questions that putin is going to be addressing in the weeks and months ahead. this is a challenge coming from within to putin and that s where his focus has been. it s going to unfold over weeks and
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
stopped his advance on moscow and apparently pulled at least some fighters out of rostov-on-don. they had made to it within 120 miles of the capital when they suddenly decided to turn around. the kremlin saying they have putin s word he can go safely to belarus free from prosecution. you can see him being cheered by the folks. they even went to shake his hand. prigozhin saying he made the deal because he didn t want to shed russian blood. translator: therefore, russian blood would be shed from one of the sites we turn our column around and turn in the opposite direction according to the plan. we also see here some of his departing fighters who seem to get some cheers from residents as they stood on top of the tanks. so we have full team coverage for you over the next hour. our team of correspondents and guests. i start with nic robertson. so prigozhin has been seething at russian leadership. he s been saying for months, attacking the defense minister shoigu and others. he
flying overjapan and taiwan. a new development in the uk s most notorious racist murder the killing of stephen lawrence. the bbc is naming a suspect. and eltonjohn closes this year s glastonbury. he did it in a record breaking way. we have all the reaction. first, we start in russia after those extraordinary events over the weekend. in the last half hour or so, we have been told to expect statements from vladimir putin. that information coming from various news agencies, we will keep across that for you if and when he does speak, we will of course bring them to you. we have, however, already heard from the head of the wagner group, yevgeny prighozhin. in his statement, made in an audio message, he shed some light on what happened over the weekend. his aim, he says, wasn t to overthrow the government when he took mercenary soldiers up through russia. he does admit shooting down russian jets through russia. he does admit shooting down russianjets in retaliation, he claims, for