the donbas. so, it will be interesting to see what course of action he chooses to show some success before victory day on may 9th. a pentagon official, a senior pentagon official, has said that fighting in the donbas, between the ukrainians and russians will be like a knife fight because both sides will be familiar with the terrain, which is more rural and open area. how do battle tactics change in a place like the donbas? first of all, jake, i think we ve got to recognize that they ve been fighting there for the last eight years. so, that s a pretty torn up area, as it currently stands. they re all dug in. so, the knife fight analogy is correct, but i don t think we re going to see this straight attack to the west that people are projecting. if you take a look at that map you ve got up there, standard russian tactics would have them attacking from the north and
which is quite skrextraordinary. mines and explosive devices left behind through the north where russia has pulled out. he said this was deliberate. this was a deliberate policy, must have been authorized from above, a deliberate attempt to make that stretch of country essentially dangerous and unlivable. and as he says, it leaves ukraine, he believes, the most mined country in the the world right now. phil, thank you so much, do appreciate that very much. john? joining me jim sciutto, cnn anchor in chief national security correspondent and author of the shadow war. ukrainians say it has already begun and we have these new images of russian material, armor, tanks, men, moving toward the donbas region. what your sources telling you about what this offensive from the russians will look like? it is going to be a bit different from what we saw in the north. at least the nature of the combat we re going to see here.
investigators to villages and shelters nationwide with a mission. build a case strong enough to punish russia in international courts. ukrainians who have fled their homes and are willing to testify are asks to give detailed accounts of the language, uniforms, timing, and actions of those who wronged them and destroyed their lives. translator: the main idea of it is to officially set the status of these people as crime victims, for example, because they will get their right for compensation in the future. reporter: irina was a chief ecological prosecutor in southeastern ukraine before the invasion. but since march 28th, she s been collecting war stories from people sheltering in the west. even as her own village remains under russian control. translator: after i moved here to the relative safety in western ukraine, i heard the call from the prosecutor general s office that this group
was released close by and a handful of people were impacted as you say, only three required treatment. the soldiers said they can t get to the site to inspect it because of russian fire. so it is not possible. you re right. we can t confirm this, no one can really. ukrainian, u.s., uk officials all say they re very keen to understand what is taking place here. because of the implication, the possibility that this could be one of those much warned chemical weapons attacks. but at the moment, no one knows and it seems the consequences are not serious. they can t verify it but they re taking it seriously. we re hearing about a lot of ukrainians coming home when it comes to the kyiv region because russian forces have withdrawn. but we just saw it is not necessarily safe in many places. indeed. when the russians first withdrew, we heard from officials there who said there are booby traps, mines, explosives everywhere, dead bodied had been mined to explode. he described a scale of this
they blow up the cluster bomblet on the spot and then move the heavier bombs to a different location for a massive controlled explosion. the body collecting, the mine sweeping, and the clearing up of wreckage are just starting in this area, and yet this pile of demolished vehicles, both military and civilian, already towers in the kyiv suburb of irpin. if you had to picture russia s attempt to try and take the ukrainian capital, kyiv, it would probably look a lot like this. destruction on a massive scale and absolutely nothing to show for it. russia s military was humiliated by the ukrainians and caused a lot of harm in the process. and they ve devastated scores of families. at irpin s cemetery, the newly widowed weep at funerals for the fallen. alla, her husband fought alongside their 21-year-old son