Despite Russia’s repeated denials, new drone footage is the first piece of evidence that shows its forces operating on a Bucha street near civilian bodies

Despite Russia’s repeated denials they were responsible for any carnage in Bucha, Russian military vehicles and forces were seen on a Bucha street near civilian bodies, new drone video obtained exclusively by CNN shows. 

CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the videos, which were taken by a drone on March 12 and 13. CNN is not naming the individual that took the video over concerns for their safety.

A Russian military vehicle is seen sitting at an intersection in the video from March 13. CNN has identified three objects in the video — just down the street from the military vehicle — are the same bodies that were seen in the video from April 1 and satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on March 18.

Additional drone video from March 13 shows another Russian military vehicle traveling further up the street, in the direction of the bodies.

In the March 12 video, a number of Russian soldiers are seen around a military vehicle parked outside of a house, just down the street from the bodies. It’s unclear what they are doing at the house.

CNN asked the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Russian officials — President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — have repeatedly claimed that the videos and satellite images that show bodies in Bucha are fake.

This drone video is the first piece of evidence to emerge from Bucha that shows Russian vehicles and troops operating on the street, where the bodies were found by Ukrainian forces when they retook the town on April 1.

The images that emerged from Bucha after Russian forces retreated have drawn enormous outrage from the international community.

It’s also led some leaders, including US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, to call for the atrocities that took place in Bucha war crimes.

Watch the report here:

After nearly nine weeks of shelling by Russian forces, CNN toured the devastated northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine.

In one neighborhood that was hit repeatedly, CNN’s Clarissa Ward witnessed building after building left in destruction. “No site was spared, not even the local nursery school,” Ward reported.

In another residential building in the city, that was severely damaged, Ward found a 73-year-old woman.

“So, she saying that she does have a sister who she can stay with but she also lives in an area that’s being heavily hit and she’s living in a shelter at the moment,” Ward explained after speaking with her. “It’s from all sides, she says, from there and there they can shell.”

The city still continues to be shelled.

Watch the full report here:

Russia’s Gazprom has told Bulgaria’s state-owned gas company Bulgargaz that it will shut off gas supplies starting Wednesday, Bulgarian energy ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Bulgaria is now the second country, after Poland, to face Russia’s gas embargo starting Wednesday after they refused to pay in rubles.

The energy ministry said that the new payment procedure proposed by Russia was not compatible with the existing contract until the end of this year and posed “significant risks” to Bulgaria.

It said the Bulgarian side has “fully fulfilled its obligations and has made all payments required under this contract in a timely manner, diligently and in accordance with its provisions.”

The Bulgarian government agencies have taken steps to make alternative arrangements for the supply of natural gas and to address the situation, it said.  

“At present, no restrictive measures have been imposed on gas consumption in Bulgaria,” the ministry added. 

Bulgarian Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov will make a statement on the situation on Wednesday, according to the statement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he does not expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

When asked during a sit-down interview with Britain’s “Talk TV” if he fears that Putin may use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine if Moscow faced defeat in its ongoing invasion, Johnson said that he does not share the same worry.

Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that nuclear deterrence is Russia’s “principled position,” but he added that “the danger is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated.”

Johnson said Putin had the “political space” to be able to back down and withdraw from Ukraine.  

“[Putin] could come to a point, when you look and say to the Russian people: The military technical operation that we launched in Ukraine has been accomplished. We had to go into to accomplish certain protectors to protect the rights of certain people that’s been done,” Johnson said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about Russia and nuclear weapons while criticizing recent Russian troops’ operations at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Tuesday during a joint news conference in Kyiv with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

“Today on the 36th anniversary of the disaster at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, again the world was just a step from disaster because for the Russian troops, the plant and the entire was just another combat action zone where they didn’t care for nuclear safety,” Zelensky said. 

Zelensky accused the Russian troops of operating with little regard to nuclear danger and of looting and damaging several areas of the plant, including the system control center and laboratory. 

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine was occupied by Russian forces just a few weeks ago and is now back under Ukrainian control. 

He warned that their carelessness signals the danger of Russia using nuclear weapons.  

During the news conference, Zelensky personally thanked the staff members who stayed to maintain the plant as the Russian troops occupied. The staff was offered medals for their work. 

Zelensky and Grossi discussed the current level of nuclear threat and damage to the facilities. 

Grossi said he agreed that the IAEA would continue to work to restore the capacity and infrastructure that was damaged in recent weeks. 

“In spite of these difficulties, it’s important to look into the future, look into peace, the moment that Ukraine will regain its peace, its tranquility, and the safety that all its citizens deserve,” Grossi said.

Grossi made a working visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day, marking 36 years since an explosion there “spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” as the UN describes it. 

Nearly 8.4 million people in the three countries are known to have been exposed to the radiation, the UN also says. 

The IAEA chief said of the visit, “We are marking the day. We are remembering what needs to be remembered. We are paying respect and honor to those who deserve it, but we are working.”  

During the working visit, the IAEA delivered a first batch of equipment, including radiation-monitoring equipment, Grossi said. IAEA safety inspectors are working closely with their Ukrainian counterparts to monitor and compare radiation measurements at the plant and the exclusion zone and then maintain a presence “for as long as the situation requires,” Grossi added, while speaking on scene to reporters. 

When asked by one reporter how close Chernobyl had been to another disaster while under Russian occupation, Grossi said that while the situation was “completely different” than the 1986 explosion with a then working nuclear reactor, that it still “could have developed into an accident.” 

All credit for avoiding a worse fate was due to the operators, the IAEA chief said. 

“I think the first credit must go to the operators. To these people here, because they carried on their work in spite of all the difficulties. In spite of the stress, in spite of the fact that they could not be working normally,” he said

The Department of Defense has established a control center to coordinate shipments and “streamline the delivery” of military assistance to Ukraine with both US and allied forces in Stuttgart, Germany, within the US European Command area of responsibility, a senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday.

The EUCOM Control Center of Ukraine, or ECCU, is based at US European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, and is run by a US two-star military general, the official said. The center works closely with what the US military calls the international donor coordination center, or IDCC, which is run by a one-star general from the United Kingdom, the official added.

The control center, along with US personnel, includes staff from 15 other supporting nations in Stuttgart, the official said. The control center will also manage the network of more than 40 partner and allied nations that met in Germany earlier Tuesday and are providing assistance to Ukraine, the official said. 

This new group of allies will meet once a month, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced earlier Tuesday. The first meeting was hosted by Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday.

American motor company Ford will be in no rush to reopen its Russian businesses, whatever happens with the conflict in Ukraine, according to Bill Ford, the company’s executive chair.

Speaking to CNN’s Richard Quest, the boss of the carmaker said that it would take the “long view” on Russia.

Ford suspended its Russian operations indefinitely on March 1. The motor company has a 50% stake in Ford Sollers, a joint venture between the American automaker and Russian company Sollers.

Ford Sollers operated three plants in Russia and employed around 4,000 people. Bill Ford said the move was the “right thing to do” even though it affected employees who weren’t part of Russian politics.

There have been close encounters between US forces and “Russian armaments,” specifically unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, during the ongoing war in Ukraine, a US defense official said during a background briefing with reporters on Tuesday. 

The official added that these instances of drones getting close to US forces did not cause the US “alarm,” but “yes that has occurred.”

“Nothing that has caused us alarm, or nothing that we wouldn’t be ready for, but yes that has occurred,” the official said.

The official could not say if the drones were Belarusian or Russian, but, “either way we consider them a threat.”

In a dramatic escalation of tensions with the West, Russian energy giant Gazprom informed Poland’s state-run gas firm PGNiG that it will “entirely suspend” gas supplies along the Yamal pipeline starting Wednesday morning, PGNiG said in a statement on Tuesday. 

The news sent US natural gas futures up about 3% Tuesday. 

Gazprom did not confirm that the supply of Russian gas to Poland had been stopped, Russian state news agency TASS reported Tuesday, citing the company’s spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov. 

Kupriyanov however emphasized that Poland must pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles, a demand Warsaw has refused. 

Russia delivered an ultimatum last month to “unfriendly” nations to pay for their energy in rubles starting April 1 or risk being cut off from vital supplies. But the flow of gas has continued. The Kremlin said payments for gas being delivered at the time of its announcement would fall toward the end of April or the beginning of May, which is why Russia didn’t immediately shut off the flow of gas to Europe. 

Putin’s high-stakes threat has sent shockwaves through Europe, which cannot keep its economy running for long without Russian energy. Moscow sent a clear signal that it could at some point reduce natural gas flows — perhaps to deter or respond to even tougher Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. 

PGNiG said it’s prepared to obtain gas from various directions, including through gas connections on the western and southern borders and the liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) in the northwest Polish port city of Swinoujscie. 

It also said its underground gas storage is almost 80% full. 

“The balance sheet is supplemented by domestic gas production and fuel reserves accumulated in underground gas storage facilities. Currently, the warehouse filling level is around 80% and is significantly higher than in the corresponding period in previous years,” it added.  

The Polish gas firm said that all deliveries to customers are currently being carried out in accordance with their needs, adding that the company is monitoring the situation and are prepared for various scenarios. 

Poland’s Climate Minister Anna Moskwa affirmed on Tuesday that there will be no shortage of gas in Poland despite Russia’s halt of exports.  

“Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security – we have been effectively independent of Russia for years,” she said in a tweet.  

“There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes,” the minister wrote.