activist activist vladimir helped him escape and wants his story to get out. it s very important to do the international investigation about this. it s very important to open this information to the russian people to understand what has happened. reporter: medvedev s biggest revelation will likely be the most damaging to putin and prigozhin s recruitment drives. last month prigozhin recorded this callous video purporting to pose in front of his dead fighters in body bags claiming their contracts were complete and they were on their way back home. but medvedev says he s seen the truth. many fighters never making it home because prigozhin is too cheap to pay out insurance on their death.
control almost completely. residents greeting the troops, as a sweep small towns and villages. ukraine s military says it is not only beating russian troops back in the east, but in the south, as well. were kyiv claims russia s defensive front is collapsing and him areas. the ukrainian military released this video purporting to show it s forces in a major firefight and that her song region. dozens of settlements have already been liberated since the russian pseudo-referendum alone, ukraine s president said. all this, as russia s president, vladimir putin, this morning moved quickly to sign off on the annexation of four ukrainian regions, even as his forces are increasingly losing ground there. putin spokesman brushing off concerns about the russian
get what vladimir putin wanted but invasion wasn t necessarily real. on sunday i asked if putin would invade and you said blunt live bluntly. talk to me about diplomacy and a deescalation which we have seen none of. well, clearly the facts on the ground have not changed substantially. russia has put 60% of their ground combat power in and around the south and maritime potential attack. they have half their air power deployed. they brought forces from all over the giant russian federation. i was watching video purporting to show the withdrawal. those trains were half loaded. there s no reason to think that the reality on the ground has yet changed.
what you re looking at there is social media video purporting to show what is left of another russian column laid waste by the ukra ukrainians. but this latest convoy looming to the north is stoking fears that the worst may be around the corner. cnn has learned that u.s. lawmakers were given a classified briefing saying ukraine could soon be overwhelmed. one source said they were given a timeline for when ukrainian cities could fall and called it alarming. it s not just in kyiv. russian troops are pouring in by land, sea, and air. ukraine s second largest city, kharkiv, became the scene of intense shelling on monday. you can see one of the barrages here. buildings being blasted as thick smoke rises into the air. the mayor says at least nine civilians were killed in this. and all of this the same day russian negotiators were meaning a ukrainian delegation at the border with belarus. ukraine s president says the
down south, more horrific developments in mariupol. russian troops have seized a main hospital there. the ukrainian deputy prime minister says they re holding roughly 400 people, locals, patients and staff as hostages. nbc news has not been able to independently confirm that report. we can tell you that roughly 20,000 civilians have been able to escape mariupol, according to the ukrainian government. the russian defense ministry released this video purporting to show the evacuation. the bad news, many of those people fled about three hours west, and this morning, bombs started falling in that city for the first time. cold hard numbers tell a devastating story. u.s. officials now say more than 10% of ukraine an population, that s almost 5 million people have been displaced by this war. at least 3 million have fled the country, including a million