months of military service. the oligarch no longer denying ties to the group that the war in ukraine has both exposed and transformed. it really shows these guys are in trouble. they really don t have people. they re ready to send anyone. there s no criteria for professionals anymore. reporter: and that could mean more possible war crimes, especially on the retreat. this video shared with cnn by a wagner soldier, appears to show mercenaries lining up the bodies of dead ukrainian soldiers. in a chilling conversation, they debate whether to booby trap them or shoot those who come to retrieve them before realizing that they re out of ammunition. melissa bell joins me now from poland. this is extraordinary. since the wagner group and the russian armed forces are operating in the same battlefield, is there political conflict, do we know, between wagner and russia s military defense? we do have an idea, anderson,
it s almost tough. reporter: a video shared exclusively with cnn by a member of vladimir putin s so-called private army. one of those who has seen enough. i m sorry, bro, i m sorry. reporter: a far cry from the slick propaganda used by wagner to entice recruits to the depleted russian front lines. long kept in the shadows by moscow, the elite paramilitary group, or the musicians, as they call themselves, now lionized for their role in russia s springtime victories. like the surrender of, initially making all the difference to moscow, according to this former wagner commander. translator: without their active assistance, the russian armed forces would not have been able to move forward at all. reporter: the kremlin didn t
multiple times. but they said they have made clear to russia what the united states would do in response to russia actually using attack cal nuclear weapon. just the idea that it is being seriously discussed is as, president biden notes tonight, not something you have really seen since the 1960s. kaitlan collins, appreciate it. according to ukraine s president saying his country s forces have taken back 500 square kilometers of territory in the kherson region, all in less than a week le also said they ve seen success in the eastern direction and the day will come when they talk about the, quote, liberation of crimea. this comes as russian forces abandon many of their positions in the south with them being batter odd tonight front lines and morale slipping. melissa bell has a report from wagner group, a mercenary organization aiding in the war against ukraine. we have to warn some of the images you ll see are disturbing. reporter: the chaos of ukraine s front lines through the eyes
drives. one is from the russian state. it is obligatory. the money is less than within wagner. wagner is voluntary. they pay more. what they re finding is that it is not that many russians choosing to sign up, hence the recruitment drives in the russian prisons. remember, anderson, this matters on the field not just because what we re talking about is the retreats, the advances, the russian army, but in the end the power that sent it there and the credibility that exists. appreciate it. a really fascinating report. an update on the family of four that was kidnapped and killed in california. what authorities are saying about the suspect.
the question is now whether they re continuing to add that value, anderson. i mean, how are the recruitment wagner s recruitment efforts if in that ad they re saying, no experience necessary. that doesn t seem to be a great ad for the professionalism of wagner thugs. it isn t just they lost 1,500 men, we hear, on the ground. but also they ve had to recruit not just the battle hardened experienced men they sought from their theaters in action in the beginning of the war. but they ve filled their ranks with people who aren t doing that same sort of fighting. that has made a massive difference, their ability to make a difference on the ground. they simply aren t what they were when this war began. as you heard then, they are not the fighting force that was meant to be functioning inside a full-scale war. and ukraine, it turns out, has taken its toll on wagner itself. there are the two recruiting