of people were abdicated from around the town of dema near kyiv during russia's occupation, and most were initially held here in a sprawling industrial site. the russian forces used as a command post. >> this is where they were kept? >> yeah. >> ukrainian prosecutor alexander shows me the conditions those captured people were forced to endure. a small, dark, cold room. people were packed together here, he says. hands bound, eyes taped. >> this place was where 22 people. when they try to get the toilet, they need to walk on the legs of somebody else. because there are too much people. >> he says people came and went. some spent weeks here. someone tries to keep track of days by scratching marks on the wall. he said all the people who came through this room had only one thing in common. they were civilians. several people who were kept here tell us they were frequently beaten and interrogated for local information. one man says his hands and fingers were cut to the bone by russian soldiers because he couldn't help them. >> does it make any sense to you that they did this? >> no. no sense. i do not know exactly what kind of information they could take from these people. >> this drone video captures the moment when ukrainian forces attack the industrial site, driving out the russians. a number of those who are still locked in the room at that time tell us that's when all remaining captives were able to escape. but others, including vladimir, had already been taken elsewhere. a long road trip via belarus in the back of a military truck ended in russia where he was given this military identification document. it says he resisted the special operation conducted by the president of the russian federation. in reality, he was detained while volunteering with the red cross, helping people escape the fighting. ukrainian government has confirmed vladimir was returned to ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange with russia. he believes that explains why russian forces are abducting ukrainian civilians. he says they took us as goods that can be exchanged later like a mobile phone or another commodity. here vladimir inspects a list of more than 40 names provided by the local government. a register of people from the area who are still missing. he says he recognizes most of the names from his time in the russian detention center because he deliberately tried to remember as much as possible. he says sooner or later, one of us had to be the first to be released, and that's why we tried to remember the names of other people. to let their relatives know they're alive. jake, the ukrainian government believes there are around 1,000 civilians locked up in detention centers and being held hostage by russia. the people who have lived through this say there is nothing subtle about russia's motivations. they believe they were abducted to play the role of currency, to beef up russia's negotiating power in its efforts to secure the return of its own captured soldiers. >> phil black reporting live for us from kyiv. thank you for that report. ukrainian authorities say two guided missiles were fired at the cityorizhzhia today. it's home to a large nuclear power plant currently held by russian forces, and the head of that plant warns if a missile were to hit that facility, it could mean catastrophe. this comes as experts from the iaea, the international body governing nuclear energy and weapons, the iaea has been visiting the chernobyl nuclear plant after it was captured and held for more than a month by the russians. matt rivers joins us live from kyiv to discuss. matt, what is the iaea doing on site? >> well, they told us they were there to land expertise and help, jake, after what we saw the russians do when they captured that power plant, really in the early days of the war, forced the engineers that were working at the now defunct plant to continue working for days and days on end. we know there was damage at that plant. that was confirmed today by the iaea director who said they have now reached an agreement with the ukrainian government to fix some of that damage. he didn't go into detail about what the damage is, but clearly, an important step as ukraine works to secure its nuclear facilities. this visit comes at the same time as we heard news about those two cruise missiles that flew directly over at a low altitude that other power plant, the nuclear power plant in zaporizhzhia, which caused ukraine's -- the state owned enterprise that oversees nuclear operations here to say missiles at a low altitude over nuclear material poses huge risk, potentially a radiation catastrophe, all over the world. i asked the director in a one-on-one interview what his message is right now to the russians. >> my message to them is that we have to put an end to this situation. we have to restore full safety and security of the nuclear power plants. this is my work. and i'm asking them to cooperate with me. >> how close were we here, do you think, to a true disaster when the russians were here? >> it's clear that the situation was dangerous one because you didn't have a normal kind of lines of command that were not clear. on occasion, we also had interruptions of the external power feeding the plant, which may have led to an interruption of the cooling systems. bad consequences in terms of environment. so i wouldn't say that we were on the verge of a catastrophe, but we were not in a zone that you would like to be. that is very clear to me. >> jake, he called it a near miss, basically, that he hopes doesn't get repeated across other parts of the country. >> matt rivers for us from kyiv. >> coming up, the notable shift in tone from top american officials as the biden administration pledges even more military support for ukraine. >> plus, the new video emerging after the shooting on the set of the alec baldwin film. showing the scene right before the cinematographer was killed and the chaotic moments afterwards. stay with us. did you know lysol disinfectant spray can actually prevent mold and mildew growth? 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message came earlier today as cnn's oren liebermann reports. when the united states hosted military leaders from more than 40 nations at ramstein air base in germany. >> tonight, the u.s. rallying the western world and beyond to keep the weapons flowing to ukraine as russia's invasion enters its third month. more than 40 countries converging at ramstein air base in germany to figure out what weapons ukraine needs, how to get them into the country quickly. >> ukraine clearly believes it can win. and so does everyone here. >> germany, which has faced criticism for its reticence to send in weapons announced in the meeting it will send in 50 mobile anti-aircraft systems. the uk and canada also sending more armored vehicles. the willingness to send in more powerful weaponry to help is growing along with rhetoric. lloyd austin raised eyebrows in poland over the weekend when he said the u.s. goal is to weaken russia. >> i think we have been pretty clear from the outset. we do want to make it harder for russia to threaten its neighbors and leave them less able to do that. >> the war has weakened russia's military, he says, through attrition in a prolonged fight and through the losses russia has suffered on the battlefield. at the same time, western sanctions are intended to weaken russia's economic ability to sustain war and its ability to arm its military, but this fight, he says, remains between russia and ukraine. >> this is clearly ukraine's fight, and ukraine's neighbors and allies and partners are stepping up to make sure that they have what they need in order to be successful. >> as russia's offensive in southeast ukraine begins, time is critical. secretary of state antony blinken said the process to approve and send weapons into ukraine has been shortened from weeks to as little as 72 hours. >> this is moving quickly. we have cut through a lot of red tape. at the same time, we have been going around the world looking for other countries that may have equipment that ukraine can find useful. >> part of the challenge, training ukrainian forces on newer western weapons like the howitzers that have already started arriving. in an exclusive interview with cnn, a top u.s. general said this war is about far more than ukraine. >> what's at stake is the global international security order that was put in place in 1945. that international order has lasted 78 years. it's prevented great war. >> that's why the u.s. conviction is louder and clearer than before. the goal here is a victory for ukraine, since anything else would be a loss felt far outside the battlefield. defense secretary lloyd austin at the conclusion of these meetings said this would become a monthly discussion. that's a key statement. we're well beyond thinking of the invasion beyond days or weeks. this is months, long term, and not only a question of what weapons dha get in quickly so ukraine can fight and succeed right now, but long term, what sort of weapons do they need to hold russia at bay and defend their own sovereignty, jake. >> oren liebermann reporting for us from near ramstein air base in germany. thank you. >> here to discuss, the former u.s. ambassador to nato during the obama years. ivo daulder. back in march, two weeks into russia's invasion, president biden said direct confrontation between nato and russia would mean world war iii. now we're hearing from the u.s. and allies that the goal is to weaken russia's military. is there any risk in stating this goal as it is, that it might cause world war iii, as president biden said he was afraid of beginning? >> well, clearly, when you have a war in the middle of europe, the first major war since 1945, we are in fact closer to the possibility of some kind of confrontation that could escalate to world war iii. that's clearly the case. that's what this invasion by russia of ukraine has brought about. at the same time, i think we have tried to be in the u.s. and its nato allies, have tried to be very clear, to try to separate our support for ukraine's capacity to defend itself from the direct front of u.s. and nato forces in the conflict directly with russias. and the expectation as long as that doesn't happen there won't be an escalation. at the same time, the fact that vladimir putin has so egregiously violated the international order, international law to u.n. charter means that we can no longer trust him. we can no longer think that he will behave unless we are strong enough to counter him. so this idea that through sanctions in particular, ones trying to undermine the ability of russia to come back after war, makes a lot of sense to me. >> russia's foreign minister is already accusing nato of engaging in a proxy war, something secretary austin denied. are you concerned about the repercussions of that? >> yeah, i don't think we're waging a proxy war. the war that's being waged is by the ukrainians who are trying to defend their territory from the very country that mr. lavrov represents. had russia not invaded ukraine in 2014 and had it certainly not escalated that invasion just a few weeks ago, we wouldn't be talking about arming the ukrainians and the degree to which we're talking now. the fault really lies with moscow, and you start blaming washington or nato or the west for what is a blatant violation of international law, just isn't acceptable. >> germany also announced they're going to send heavy hardware, dozens of armored anti-aircraft vehicles to ukraine. that seems rather significant foreign policy shift. >> yeah, i think it is significant. and it's part of a major shift that really occurred in the immediate days after february 24 when russian forces en masse invaded ukraine. we saw a historic turning point led by olaf scholz, the chancellor, arguing that germany now needs to protect its freedom and security by investing in the security forces. it's spending 100 billion euros more on defense, meeting its 2% of gdp requirement for defense, and now also continuing ever more to provide arms to ukrainians to be able to defend themselves. it's an important shift. the last part to fall is going to be weaning germany off russian oil and finally russian gas. and that will conclude the shift. >> this morning, vladimir putin hosted the u.n. secretary-general, antonio gut guterres, and he said he agreed in principle to evacuate ukrainians from mariupol. sparks tweeted the usefulness of united nations and the legacy of antonio guterres will be defined by his ability to evacuate civilians and soldiers from the besieged steel plant in mariupol. do you agree? and if the u.n. cannot actually pull this off, what is the use of the u.n.? >> well, it's a tall order for the u.n., which doesn't have an army to do something that the ukrainians or no one else has been able to do, which is to try to keep vladimir putin to his words. this is not the first time that the russian leader has said that he would work with international organizations, whether it's the red cross or others, to allow civilians to leave mariupol. he's done it repeatedly and it's never happened. just a week ago, he said the russians would stop firing on the plant that has over 1,000 civilians in their basements, and every day, every night, russian artillery and bombardments continue. i think the problem is that the u.n. is just not able as an organization to stand up to the kind of bullies that russia represents. and that's too bad for the people in ukraine, but ultimately, we know where the fault lies. >> maybe russia shouldn't be in the united nations. former u.s. ambassador to nato, thank you so much. appreciate it, sir. >> coming up in the money lead, when energy bills are supposed to being going down, millions of americans are paying more. cnn digs into what's really driving up prices next. oh hi caesar. we were just talking about you. yeyeah, you should probably get out of here. ♪ ringcentral ♪ ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ 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(emu squawks) kevin, no! not today. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ way day, wayfair's biggest sale of the year is bigger than ever! for two days only, april 27th and 28th, get the lowest prices on thousands of items for your home. shop outdoor furniture up to 65% off... rugs up to 80% off... and lighting up to 65% off... plus, get bonus savings with a wayfair credit card and free shipping on everything! shop way day, our biggest sale of the year. happening april 27th and 28th at wayfair.com. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ why woolite? because its specially formulated to protect your clothing from damage in the wash. like fading, stretching and pilling. woolite has a first of its kind formula that keeps today's fabrics looking like new. woolite damage and darks defense. hi! need new glasses? get 50% off a complete pair at visionworks! how can you see me squinting? i can't! i'm just telling everyone!... hey! for a limited time, get 50% off a complete pair. visionworks. see the difference. topping our money lead, a rough day on wall street. the dow jones industrial average falling more than 800 points today amid fears of a looming recession. the nasdaq and s&p 500 ending the day in the red as well. from wall street to main street, you might want to double check your thermostat because energy prices are currently skyrocketing again. as if consumers were not already feeling the squeeze, the war in ukraine is also driving up costs for u.s. utility companies. even higher, as cnn's gabe cohen reports for us, the budget burden for low income families can be agonizing. >> this is kind of when the chaos really started. >> six months of baffling power bills for his house in beacon, new york. the price rising from $190 to more than $400. >> that's the day i told my room mates, hey, we have to buckle down. >> this month, a bill for $2,000. >> it had to have been a mistake. >> it wasn't. >> they said this was a reconciliation over the last six months. according to this, it should have been between $700 and $800 per month. >> millions of americans are seeing surging utility bills. with huge hikes on fuel oil, propane, pipe gas, and electricity. >> how did the company explain the price hike? >> the first thing they said is their costs have tripled. >> the natural gas market is largely driving that, and the war in ukraine is adding fuel to the fire. because of the war in ukraine, which is continuing to get worse, those prices are going to stay high for the remainder of the year and maybe longer. >> lower income families are being crushed. spending on average 38% of their income on energy. up from 27% just two years ago. and the timing is terrible, with rising inflation on food, rent, clothing, and much more. a survey found half of americans are now worried about affording power. >> i'm very conscious of it. and a little paranoid. >> reverend thomas johnson and his wife have been keeping the lights off at their home in queens. their rate keeps rising. and they owe the power company $13,000 after they were hit with a massive reconciliation bill. >> i'm saying to myself, am i going to have to take out a second mortgage to pay an energy bill? that doesn't make any sense. >> 18% of american households are in debt to their power company. owing roughly $23 billion. now, many families like reverend johnson's are facing a shut-off notice. >> so we really have our back up against a wall. >> most states ban shut-offs during the cold of winter, but the moratoriums are ending. >> we expect to see an explosion in shut-offs happening in the next few months. >> in the past year, the biden administration has more than doubled funding for the low income home energy assistance program or lihea, which before that was only reaching 17% of eligible households. >> it's just simply not enough. what we're asking for is just for greater reform and a stop to all shut-offs across the country. >> this crisis has put energy companies under the microscope. in washington, the house energy and commerce committee is investigating six of the nation's largest power companies. after they took covid bailout money and still shut power to millions of homes. in new york, the state has launched several investigations into potential price gouges by both the oil industry and utility companies. >> it's a crisis for my constituents. >> state senator james skoofs is leading one of them. >> they're being ripped off. to have a modest home be hit with a $1400, $1500 bill is patently insane. and people are making money off of it, and they should be ashamed of themselves. they have to be held accountable. >> power companies have defended those price hikes saying they're just passing along their own increased costs. and jake, those two customers who we met in the story say they're both getting ready to dispute those charges, but at the end of the day, they're going to pay that bill because that's the cost of keeping the lights on. >> yeah, somebody is getting rich here. gabe, thanks so much. >> coming up next, a cnn exclusive. new text messages tonight that zero in on one particular republican congressman and reveal just how far trump allies were willing to go to overturn the will of the american people in 2020. stay with us. at bath fitter, every quality bath starts with quality people. our consultants help you choose from hundreds of bath options so we fit your style. our installe complete your work in as little as a day so we fit your schedule. our manufacturing team custom crafts your bat so we fit your standards, and 's guaranteed for life. when you can trust the people who create your new bath, it just fits. bath fitter. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. can a company make the planet a better place? 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this text has never been revealed before. it shows perry encouraging meadows to get john ratcliffe, then the director of national intelligence, to look into false conspiracies about dominion voting machines being hacked by the chinese. perry also claimed the, quote, brits were behind the plot and that cia director gina haspel was, quote, covering for them. he texted meadows, dni needs to be tasked to audit their overseas accounts at cia and their national endowment for democracy. despite the push from perry, a source tells cnn meadows did not approach ratcliffe about those requests. perry also was insistent that meadows put doj official jeffrey clark in a position to investigate voter fraud claims. perry was the one who introduced clark to trump. he said mark, you should call jeff. i just got off the phone with him and he explained why the principal deputy won't work, especially with the fbi. they will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done. meadows responded, i got it. i think i understand. let me work on the deputy position. and perry replied, roger. just sent you something on signal. while the committee has access to these text messages, they do not have access to communication on apps like signal. that's why they have asked perry to come before the committee, something he hatz refused to do. meadows handedover these texts to the committee. they show meadows at the nexus of a campaign to prevent the stoinj certification of the election. the growing evidence about the role many republican members played in the attempts to prevent the certification of the election is also growing calls for the january 6th select committee to consider issuing subpoenas to members like scott perry. so far, they have resisted that step. jake, we reached out to representative perry's office multiple times today to get him to respond to this story. they did not respond at all to our inquiry. jake. >> we should note, scott perry, a former pennsylvania army national guard brigadier general, one could only imagine what he would have done had he been in uniform in this period. ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you. joining us, "the new york times" jonathan martin and alex burns. they have obtained never before heard audio of kevin mccarthy right after the insurrection. they also have a new book coming out on may 3rd that has made quite a lot of noise, titled, this will not pass, trump, biden, and the battle for america's future. thanks for sharing first on "the lead." let's start by playing the audio. >> the other thing i want to bring up, and i'm making some phone calls to some members. i just got something sent now about news from matt gaetz where he's calling people's names out, saying anti-trump and this type of atmosphere. and some of the other places. this is serious stuff people are doing that has to stop. >> mo and louis's comments, a lot of members have said some real concerning things. >> did they say something today, too? >> mo was at the rally. the kicking ass and taking names thing at the trump rally. >> this is more. >> what did gaetz say? >> gaetz said, gaetz on that list specifically, i saw that on twitter. >> someone just sent it. gonzalez just sent it to me so i'm calling gaetz, explaining to him. i don't know what he'll say but i'm going to have other people call hill. the nature, if i'm getting briefing, i'm going to get another one from the fbi tomorrow, this is serious shit. cut this out. >> yeah, that's -- potentially illegal what he's doing. >> well, he's putting people in jeopardy. and he doesn't need to be doing this. we saw what people would do in the capitol. you know, and these people came prepared. along with everything else. >> man, so alex, let me start with you. tell us the backstory here. >> well, the backstory is this is another piece of the phone call that kevin mccarty held with several members of the house republican leadership team, and you heard also the voices of a number of staff members. four days after the january 6th insur insurrection, and they're talking through the behavior of some of the members of the republican conference. you heard him talk about matt gaetz by name. what we report in our book is in this period, kevin mccarthy and other republican leaders were pretty clear eyed at least in private about the very serious security threat that they saw coming from the far right of the house republican conference. the naming and attacking of anti-trump republicans like liz cheney, like adam kinzinger, some of the continuing very overheated rhetoric claiming falsely that the 2020 election was stolen. and other offensive comments looking back at those rallies, that rally on the ellipse on january 6th, and then comments on twitter and television since then where kevin mccarthy makes no bones about it. he thinks this is putting people in jeopardy. >> he doesn't say that publicly. publicly, he's very submissive to the far right of his party. jonathan, i want to play another moment where mccarthy is expressing concern. let's roll that tape. >> the other thing that we have to do is these numbers on whatever position you are, calling out other members, that's got to stop, especially in this nature. so when i get off, i'm going to call gaetz. anything else we see, don't assume i see everything. don't assume i know everything. but we have to have one central point, so i mean, if you can bring this stuff to van so he can have it, but it's going to be personally, tension is too high, the country is too crazy. i do not want to look back and think we caused something or we missed something and someone got hurt. i don't want to play politics with any of that. >> so this was january 10th, just a few days after the capitol riot. explain what's happening here. >> this is kevin mccarthy clearly sober about what happened on january 6th, and also deeply concerned about the possibility of a repeat. see his far right numbers say incendiary things online and on the air and really concerned that's going to cause more bloodshed, more political violence in america. these are extraordinary days. this period in history. and what you hear there in that moment is kevin mccarthy vowing to crack down on matt gaetz. he's telling his fellow gop leaders i'm going to talk to him. i'm going to talk to matt gaetz. we have to cut this s out. he said cut the shit out. you heard there on the audio. of course, 15 months later, jake, what's happened is kevin mccarthy at every turn has acquiesced to people like marjorie taylor greene and matt gaetz because president trump will not tolerate any criticism of those members because they're his closest allies. mccarthy largely has to keep quiet when it comes to their conduct and their incendiary behavior which continues to this day. >> so alex, mccarthy sounded fearful in the first clip. again, this is january 10th, still siding with liz cheney. this is before he helped push liz cheney out of republican leadership and before he started campaigning for her opponent. does this suggest republican leadership knew the january 6th was wrong and that it spelled trouble for their party and for the country? >> clearly, clearly does, jake. there's no doubt about it. the language that kevin mccarthy uses, and by the way, the other republican leaders on that call use, including liz cheney who was a member of leadership at the time, steve scalise who is still in leadership. tom hemmer, they talk about donald trump's behavior as totally unacceptable. and they talk about the behavior of the far right in their own conference as truly, truly dangerous. and that's obviously not something that any of them, i guess other than cheney, would say in public. and she for her trouble is no longer a member of house republican leadership. and again, this is one of the central, central stories in our book, is how the republican party at least at the leadership level, recognized on and after january 6th that this was unacceptable, it was wrong, it was danger. it was, you heard one of the people on the call say possibly criminal, and how they decided not to do anything about it. >> yeah, and your previous reporting was that kevin mccarthy had told republican colleagues that he was going to tell donald trump to resign. you reported that. hours later -- >> next day. >> our own melanie zanona asked mccarthy about it, and he issued a denial that was just gibberish. it didn't even make any sense. he said oh, that asked me did i tell donald trump, and i didn't tell donald trump then. but your reporting had already come out. >> right, he was denying something and insisting that he thought the story was otherwise. after he had already seen the story come out, when he issued his denial. he knew very well what the story was when he issued the denial. >> it's jabberwocky, nonsense. >> he's trying to find an escape hatch for himself because obviously he said something that was not true. and there's no easy answer. but jake, i think this goes to the heart of what the challenge is that mccarthy has trying to lead the house gop. he is obsessed with trying to keep donald trump happy, and at every turn, he has to be mindful of that. so he cannot say in public what he actually said in private in the days after january 6th because that's heresy now in his party. and this is also something, in the book we chronicle at great length in the weeks and months after january 6th, this walkback. not just by kevin mccarthy but by every major figure in the gop, back to donald trump's embrace. >> jonathan and alex, thanks to you both. congrats on another amazing scoop. their book, titled "this will not pass, trump, biden, and the battle for america's future" comes out may 3rd. i can't wait to read it. >> there's copy waiting for you. >> we'll have you back again to tell more of your scoops. >> coming up next, a troubling trend from the folks who track hate in the united states. stay with us. ® professional can help you build a complete financial plalan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪ boom! i won't be cleaning mold and mildew next week. thanks to this. did you know lysol disinfectant spray can actually prevent mold and miew growth? 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"good to know. i'm still going to shoot mine, though," she replies. apparently gutierrez-reed wanted to know how the vintage weapon worked. she was going to shoot it off set, her lawyer told cnn, but seth said don't do it, so she didn't. officials in new mexico fined "rust's" producers last week claiming the crew willfully violated gun safety rules. the criminal investigation continues. >> there's a degree of neglect. whether that degree reaches a criminal level, that will be up to the district attorney to determine. >> we're getting these guys treated. we're securing the scene. and then we'll get with you guys in a second. >> reporter: we did reach out to the production company for comment. none yet. but we did hear from one of baldwin's lawyers, who says that all this newly released evidence "demonstrates once again that mr. baldwin acted responsibly." now, investigators in new mexico are still waiting for a few pieces of this puzzle like a ballistic report from the fbi, a forensic examination of baldwin's phone, and the d.a. down there says that once they have all this evidence only then will they make a determination whether criminal charges are going to be filed. jake? >> nick watt, thanks so much. our coverage now continues with one mr. wolf blitzer right next door in the "the situation room." happening now, ukrainian forces face stepped-up russian attacks in the east and south as a third mass grave appears to have been found near mariupol. the mayor of the besieged city claims kremlin troops are forcing ukrainian civilians to bury the dead in exchange for food and water. i'll speak to a key adviser to the mariupol mayor this hour. and breaking news tonight. ukraine's president is slamming russia, saying it has no right to "blackmail the world" with the threat of using nuclear weapons.