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Thousands Protest As Parliament Passes Controversial Law In Israel; Millions Affected By Searing Heat Wave Across The Globe; Doksuri Strengthens To Super Typhoon As It Nears Philippines; Ukraine Counteroffensive Facing Fierce Russian Resistance; No Word On Condition Or Location Of U.S. Private Travis King; Special Counsel Gets Documents From Rudy Giuliani Team; Center-Right Party in Spain Starts Dialogue on Coalition; Russian Prisoner Recruits Speak of the Horrors of War. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired July 25, 2023 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[00:01:41]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Israel in crisis, mass protests nationwide strikes and a looming constitutional showdown for a new law rolling back judicial oversight of the government passes through Parliament.

No end to a week long fire emergency on the Greek island of Rhodes forcing more evacuations and warnings of worse to come.

And a Russian prisoner sent to fight in Ukraine speaks exclusively to CNN about the horrendous conditions on the front lines.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Great to have you with us here on CNN NEWSROOM. We begin in Israel which is now facing the biggest domestic crisis in the country's history. Mass protests continued nationwide, thousands of businesses are on strike. As of Tuesday, doctors and other medical workers will join them as well. All of this hours after the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed the first law of that Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial judicial reform.

Netanyahu's far right coalition government unanimously approved all of it after opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber in protest and passed 64 to zero.

However, Netanyahu calls it a necessary democratic move.

Meantime, protests continue. Demonstrations and dozens of businesses -- thousands of businesses are taking part in a one day strike. Thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem. Many attempted to block access to Parliament.

Police say at least 19 people have been arrested, and many say they'll continue this fight for democracy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clearly what is happening right now it's not an anti-Netanyahu. It was never an anti-Netanyahu protest. It support democratic protest. I think, I hope the discount legislation will be rolled out by the Supreme Court and that later on the other, you know, gatekeepers will do their job and they stick to the law and not to -- you know, to the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the very latest now reporting in from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Israeli police trying to disperse the crowd using water cannon trucks but facing massive resistance.

PLEITGEN: For now, the protesters are telling us they believe it's so important for them to stay out here right now and voice their anger at the decisions that were made today in Israeli parliament that they say they are not going to budge.

PLEITGEN (voice over): As the police try to wrestle them away, anger unloading after parliament with a far right majority passed a law severely curbing the Supreme Court's power to check the government. Opponents saying democracy is at risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to do our best in order to protect democracy in our country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- to see we are not going down slowly and quietly.

PLEITGEN (voice over): It's called the reasonableness bill and as part of a set of plans to not only cut the Supreme Court's power, but also to make it easier for the government to change the makeup of the court itself.

All opposition Knesset members walked out in protest during the vote saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far right coalition are destroying Israel's democracy.

In a televised address, Netanyahu firing back.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today, we performed the democratic need. According to most people of Israel, this is the essence of democracy to do what the majority wish.

[00:05:09]

PLEITGEN (voice over): But many Israelis not just those out on the streets of Jerusalem say they fear for the country's future says Israeli actress Noa Tishby was dismissed as an Israeli Special Envoy for criticizing the judicial overhaul.

NOA TISHBY, ISRAELI ACTRESS: The majority of the Israeli population is not behind this particular vote. That's just the truth. But the Israeli people are not going to stop fighting to make sure that Israel stays a liberal democracy which is strong, safe and secure.

PLEITGEN (voice over): And those scaffolds continue well into the night in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Ambassador Edward Djerejian served in every administration from JFK to Bill Clinton, and during that time, he was U.S. Ambassador to Syria and also to Israel. Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us, sir.

EDWARD DJEREJIAN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA AND ISRAEL: My pleasure.

VAUSE: OK, so after getting this new law passed, which limits the ability of the Supreme Court to block certain government laws and appointments, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was ready, seemed almost eager to hold talks with his opponents over the rest of the so called plan judicial reforms. This is what he said, please listen to the prime minister, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NETANYAHU (through translator): We are ready to discuss everything immediately. And do it in the round of talks during the recess and reach a comprehensive agreement on everything. And if necessary, we will add more time until the end of November. It is more than enough --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Apart from the fact that maybe these discussions should have been held a long time before they reached this point of the country so badly divided.

Publicly, the Biden administration is hoping that those talks will reach some kind of compromise. But given what's already happened, especially how the new law was narrowly forced through the Knesset, is that a realistic expectation here or some kind of compromise? And if it doesn't reach a compromise, where does that leave relationships between the United States and Israel?

DJEREJIAN: I don't think there's any realistic chance for a compromise or discussions that will be productive between the opposition and the coalition government under a Bibi Netanyahu, that, as you mentioned, John, that time has passed.

The time for a dialogue was before the vote was taken today, to change the basic law in terms of the powers of -- diminishing the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court, and making any government that's in an office have a greater ability to do its will, without judicial oversight, or with reduced judicial oversight.

So, I think that's a false promise on the part of Bibi Netanyahu. He was told, remarkably, in terms of your second question on the United States view, he was virtually told by President Biden in a public interview that the president gave to stop the vote, to give time for a broad consensus to be established before going forward on such a change that can -- that can actually affect the very definition of Israel's democracy.

So, the country is in an impasse, I think Israel is having a probably historic, major ident -- national identity crisis, as to its democratic and Jewish nature.

VAUSE: Does a fundamental problem come down to a failing, if you like, by this far right coalition government to understand what a democracy actually is? It's not just a vote by the majority. A democracy comes with checks and balances, independent courts, other houses of parliament, the rights of individuals or minorities are protected against the tyranny of the majority. Is that something that is being considered here?

DJEREJIAN: It is. It is -- it is a threat to be lost in terms of Israeli democracy. As you've stated, elections alone democracy do not make. I've served in many Arab countries, I've served in Israel. And elections are an essential part of democracy, but the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, all these are vital aspects of democracy, which are now being threatened in Israel.

And that's why I think the attitude of Washington because you know, we constantly say that one of the basic tenets of the U.S. Israeli relationship is shared values. Because democracy is a shared value, it's at the top of the list. And yet, Israel's democracy is now being threatened.

VAUSE: For some perspective. I'd like you to listen to the former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, here he is on Monday. This is what he said on Monday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REUVEN RIVLIN, FORMER ISRAELI PRESIDENT (through translator): I appeal to you, today is faithful. And it is our task to see whether we shall be able in the coming 24 hours to save our marvelous country where I had the privilege to see the flag of Israel hoisted to the top of the mast when Jerusalem was besieged.

[00:10:16]

VAUSE: That Israel which President Rivlin was talking about, which fought for democracy, fought for equality and civil rights, where General Moshe Dayan protected the old city for Muslims and Jews alike after Israel took control of East Jerusalem, a country which included Arabic along with Hebrew in its official languages, that now seems to be a very different country from the one founded by -- you know, and now it seems very different one founded by David Ben-Gurion.

Do you think those founding ideals are still there? Are they buried? Are they still alive? Are they gone forever?

DJEREJIAN: I think the founding ideas are seriously threatened today by this legislation, because the proponents of this legislation, let me be very clear on this, Bibi Netanyahu hammered together this extreme right wing religious coalition of -- and he is ultimately responsible as the prime minister of Israel for its actions.

In his coalition government, he has some of the most radical extremist ministers, Netanyahu is going along with this, because he has several motivations and one of them is personal, you know, there are three major corruption charges against him. And he is hoping very much that with this government, they will be able to pass or pass legislation and enact laws that will keep him virtually out of jail.

So, let me put it this way, Netanyahu as prime minister may still have his hands on the wheel, but he obviously is not pushing the brake.

VAUSE: Ambassador Djerejian, thank you so much, sir, for being with us. We appreciate your time and your insights. Thank you.

DJEREJIAN: Thank you.

VAUSE: The wildfires burning out of control across Europe may be unprecedented in size, intensity, and duration but the E.U.'s crisis management commissioner says they are not surprising, and he warns this new normal means the world needs to prepare for more devastating fires in more places.

That new normal seems like anything but on the Greek island of Rhodes, wildfires have forced the biggest evacuation in Greek history. 20,000 people, most of them tourists it seems have been forced to flee.

Fires have been burning for a week just outside the Greek capital as well. And from there, Elinda Labropoulou filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Cars, homes, images of the great devastation that the large fire that burned outside greater Athens for six whole days in the last week has left behind. But this is not the only area that has been burning as a result of an extended heatwave that has been plaguing the country for over a week.

The island of Rhodes has been heavily hit and is a very touristy island where a lot of people were spending their holiday, its peak season in Rhodes. Over 20,000 people have been evacuated and what the authorities have said has been the largest evacuation of its kind ever, and this is only to get out of the burning areas on the island.

Along with Rhodes, we hear about fires on the island of Corfu, another popular destination and the island of Evia, an island that burned down heavily two years ago. All of this as Greece prepares for the third wave of an extended

heatwave that's likely to hit as of tomorrow, we're expecting to see temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius over 104 Fahrenheit hit Athens and the rest of the country and the authorities here tell us that there will be strong winds blowing as well, making conditions very difficult.

The Greek Prime Minister has spoken about being at war with the fires and has promised to do the best he can in order to help those that have been most affected.

At the same time, we expect these evacuations to continue. And we expect really that in some ways this is more of a developing story simply because the fires are not likely to go away anytime soon.

Elinda Labropoulou, CNN, greater Athens, Greece.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: At least 34 people have been killed by wildfires sweeping across Algeria. Among them 10 soldiers involved in evacuation operations.

Right now, 8000 firefighters are working to control the flames. Major heatwave has made conditions much worse in Algeria and other North African nations.

Millions from the U.S. to Europe and beyond are suffering from a sweltering even record breaking heatwave, which is making its way around the globe. And in the Pacific, the Philippines now bracing for the impact of a super typhoon.

Details down from CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More hot days in a row here for parts of the globe from the desert southwest of the United States across parts of the Atlantic and then into the Mediterranean. These are all high pressure areas that allow this heat to just build right in the same places day after day, need those to move away a little bit. Then it flattens out.

[00:15:11]

It's still hot and China but it flattens out a little bit, no real oppressive heat there rather than closer to normal, we call that zonal flow as the jet stream runs across the time zone.

We're going to get into the 40s still in Vegas that's been a broken record for many days in a row, a slight cool down for Athens, we're only going to be 34. Obviously, all those fires that are burning out of control in that area, they don't need any more heat.

Something else that's going on here. A super typhoon is now in the water. This is a very large typhoon. This is the Philippines right here. And this is the northern part of the Philippines. Luzon that's the island they're going to be hit very, very hard by this. 240 kilometers per hour right now. There you see a very distinct eye.

Clearly, this thing has grown much larger than it was just 24 hours ago, and 48 hours ago, this thing was barely any kind of a system whatsoever.

So, a big time storm in some very warm water, not much shear, it will likely just graze the top of Luzon which is the Philippines and just graze Taiwan with some very big gusty winds and then make landfall somewhere to the north of Hong Kong, but this is going to do for sure. Yes, it will make wind damage. Yes, it will make storm surge. But this is going to cause significant flash flooding, freshwater, rainfall coming down the mountains here. It's this area here that you see in white, also some very almost white there in Taiwan. That's 500 millimeters of rainfall just over the next few days as this storm system continues to move across the warmer water, finding into some cooler water and then eventually into Mainland China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: New developments in Ukraine were just hours ago Russian drone attack on the Capitol was stopped by air defense systems. Local officials say all air targets were destroyed with no reports of any damage.

Ukrainian defense minister says Russia further showed it's a terrorist state after attacking the port city of Odesa, its grain warehouses which feed many parts of the world. Defense minister sat down with Alex Marquardt for a CNN exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As Russia has pounded Odesa, so too has Ukraine stepped up strikes on Russian occupied Crimea. At least five attacks in the past week, including a drone strike today on a Russian ammunition depot.

MARQUARDT: Are you escalating your attacks against the peninsula?

OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: I would not say that we are not escalating something. We're fighting for our freedom.

MARQUARDT (voice over): This weekend, we sat down for a wide-ranging exclusive T.V. interview with Ukraine's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who admitted that while Ukraine's counteroffensive is behind schedule, Ukraine strikes deep into Crimea and beyond will become the norm.

REZNIKOV: It means that we will use every option to hit their fuel depot, ammunition depot, their artillery systems.

MARQUARDT: It was rare to see Ukraine claim responsibility for the attack on the Kerch Bridge. Is it your goal to permanently disable the bridge? REZNIKOV: It's normal tactics to ruin logistic lines of your enemy, to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more food, to get more food and etcetera, et cetera. That is why we will use this tactics against them.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Russia's latest attack in the Odesa region early on Monday morning was the closest they had struck to NATO territory. Drones destroying a grain hangar near the border with Romania, the latest in a series of Russian attacks on food storage.

REZNIKOV: So, this approach is absolute, but this is so real, and that's why it is -- new evidence that there are a country or real terrorists. They're a terrorist state.

MARQUARDT: Have you been surprised at how ferocious these attacks have been?

REZNIKOV: Honestly, not, because after the February of last year, it's very difficult to surprise me.

MARQUARDT (voice over): After almost two months, Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive have produced few gains. Russian troops are on the offensive in the east while Ukrainian progress is modest at best in the south.

REZNIKOV: I think that is a misperception that every counteroffensive should be quick. We had a time to prepare our armed forces with our partners. But they also had a time to make security zone, with the trenches, with their mines.

MARQUARDT: You knew you were going to face tough Russian defenses, so is this a question of needing more equipment or is it a question of Ukrainian forces not necessarily fighting in the way they should be?

REZNIKOV: It's a question of the ammunition, and the artillery shells, of the more artillery systems. It's the question that we have a very long battlefield life also. And we have against us big quantity of enemies.

[00:20:06]

MARQUARDT: Do you acknowledge, though, that the plan is behind schedule?

REZNIKOV: Yes.

MARQUARDT: (voice over): This week, Reznikov says Ukraine owes a Pentagon a report on how the highly controversial American cluster munitions that were sent to Ukraine have been used against Russian troops.

MARQUARDT: Are you able to say where the cluster munitions have been most effective?

REZNIKOV: They will be most effective against they're artillery systems and also they will be efficient against their armed personal carriers or infantry fighting vehicles. They will be good against their infantry in the fields.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Alex Marquardt, CNN, Odesa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: New missile launches, a major anniversary and growing questions about the fate of the U.S. Army Private held in North Korea, that's after the break.

Also ahead, Donald Trump's ever changing story praising election security the months leading up to the 2020 election. And then as we know, crying very loudly he was robbed when he lost.

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VAUSE: North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Monday the latest in a week long flurry of missile tests. Both missiles were launched just hours after a U.S. nuclear powered submarine arrived at a South Korean naval base, a second time that's happened in the past week.

They took off for an area just outside the capitol Pyongyang, flew about 400 miles into the waters east of the Korean Peninsula. U.N. called the launches clear violations of Security Council resolutions.

Meantime, North Korea has essentially acknowledged that a U.S. soldier is now in its custody but that is about all, details from CNN's Oren Liebermann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: On Monday, the deputy head of United Nations Command in South Korea said a conversation has commenced his words with North Korea related to Private Travis King, who has now been in North Korean custody for about a week.

That was the first indication that there had been any sort of communication about King and what would happen to him. But the State Department made clear that that is not a new conversation. It was simply an acknowledgement from the North Korean side that there was outreach from the United Nations Command and a desire to speak about King.

But it didn't go beyond that, there wasn't a back and forth from what we understand having spoken to U.S. officials, United Nations Command reached out and said, we'd like to start a conversation about Private Travis King, or something along those lines. And the North Koreans simply acknowledged receipt of that, there was no back and forth. So, it wasn't much of a conversation in that sense. But there at least was that bit of communication.

The State Department made clear on Monday that they have tried repeatedly to reach out to the North Koreans but without success. And that's left the U.S. wondering, what is his condition? Where is he detained? And what's North Korea's intent with him?

North Korea hasn't actually acknowledged or said anything made any statement about detaining Private Travis King, why they're holding him, where they're holding him, what condition he's in, which means the U.S. has very little information to go on here.

[00:25:12]

Simply that he was supposed to have left the country last Monday. And then instead he got on a tour and ran into North Korea last Tuesday. Since then, there hasn't been much more information that has come out.

What's North Korea's intent with him? That too, very much a mystery. In addition to not making any statements, they haven't put out any information or really engaged with the U.S. in any way.

So, it's unclear what they're looking to do here and what his condition is. The U.S. still trying to figure all that out. If North Korea wanted to, they could use a U.S. Army soldier as a propaganda coup, but again, they haven't made any statements.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: This is all happening just ahead of the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the fighting on the Korean Peninsula.

According to North Korean state media, a Chinese delegation will visit the North to mark the occasion, that group led by a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo or executive committee. This will be the first known visit of any foreign delegation to North Korea since it closed its borders during the COVID pandemic.

The U.S. Justice Department is asking witnesses about a 2020 White House meeting when then President Donald Trump praised election security but just a few months later, when he lost, he claimed the vote was rigged.

Investigators are also looking at thousands of documents from a team led by Trump ally Rudy Giuliani trying to uncover voter fraud. CNN's Paula Reid will have those details. But first, here's CNN's Sean Lyngaas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Special Counsel Jack Smith's office has asked multiple U.S. officials about a February 2020 election security briefing, which U.S. officials told President Trump about the ways in which they're preparing to secure the 2020 election.

The Special Counsel's Office appears to be interested in the mindset that President Trump had at the time of this briefing when he received factual information about different ways that the election would be secure.

Trump, according to our sources even suggested that DHS and FBI hold a press conference to tout the election security work that his administration had done. This is a stark contrast to Trump's public rhetoric just weeks later when he questioned the validity of the elections and the integrity of elections.

I'm Sean Lyngaas in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Special Counsel Jack Smith is now in possession of thousands of documents that were created by Rudy Giuliani's team in the days and weeks following the 2020 election. This team was tasked with trying to find some evidence of fraud.

Now, one of the people on this team is the former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. He's a close associate of Rudy Giuliani and he has been in possession of a lot of these documents. The January 6 committee was trying to get all these materials, but he would not hand them over even though he is not a lawyer. He claimed that he was working for the legal team, and therefore they were privileged.

But in recent weeks, Special Counsel investigators have reached out to Kerik to schedule an interview and also to collect evidence and after they reached out, Kerik went to the Trump campaign, have them review the materials and the Trump campaign we're told said, look, they were not going to argue privilege over this, which suggests they believe there's not anything to incriminating in these documents.

But now as special counsel investigators have these, means this is something that no other investigator has been able to obtain.

So, this is going to be the first time you're able to see these materials, and it could be some key evidence in their ongoing investigation.

Now, Kerik has also scheduled an interview for early August, we will sit down with investigators and face questions, some of which they've likely already written and maybe some new ones based on the documents he's just handed over.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still ahead, Spain at a crossroads. A deadlock election leaves socialists and conservatives fighting to form a coalition government.

And also, hear why this poster prompted authorities to ban in film festival in Iran.

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VAUSE: Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

[00:31:44]

After winning the most votes, but not a majority, in Sunday's election, the center-right People's Party in Spain is now working to form a coalition government. Party leader says new negotiations are underway with other groups. We have more details now from Al Goodman, reporting in from Madrid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The coalition building towards a new Spanish government could take weeks, and the outcome is uncertain.

One result seems clear from Sunday's votes: Spain voted to keep the far-right --

GOODMAN (voice-over): -- Vox Party out of the Spanish government. The main conservative party came up well short of a parliamentary majority, and even adding on the far-right seats, they still came up short.

The far-right has been making gains across Europe. It governs in Italy with hard-right Prime Minister Meloni. It's got part of the government in Finland.

But, in -- on Sunday, the Spaniards seemed to be saying, not here, not now.

The main conservative leader says he'll reach out to try to form a conservative coalition. But some analysts say the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, may have a better chance of forming a coalition, because he's already got one in his current term. He's got the contacts and the experience.

But a senior member of the Socialist Party told CNN this day that this second time for Sanchez to try to build a coalition could be a lot more difficult. Because the nationalist parties in Catalonia, near Barcelona, and in the northern Basque region, could try to extract a much higher price for their support.

In fact, in Barcelona, on Sunday, the leader of one of the nationalist parties said that they would not be giving Prime Minister Sanchez another round in exchange for nothing. She said that their priority is Catalonia --

GOODMAN: -- not the governance of the Spanish state.

Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Iranian authorities have banned a film festival over a promotional poster showing an actress without her head covered. According to state media, the poster was deemed inappropriate and a violation of the law by Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Earlier this month, Iran announced the Morality Police would again started forcing a strict Islamic dress code. This comes after 22-year- old Mahsa Amini was arrested last year for improperly wearing a hijab. She later died in custody, sparking months of nationwide mass anti- government protests.

Still to come on CNN, from a Russian gulag to the Ukrainian front lines, from horrendous to unimaginable. Russian convicts speak out exclusively to CNN.

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[00:36:14]

VAUSE: As war grinds on in Ukraine, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a new law raising the age limit for those in the military reserves by five years, now up to a maximum age of 55.

The new rule is set to affect various categories of servicemen, including soldiers, sailors, and sergeants. It's a lot of alliteration for anxious anchors.

The law will also extend the maximum age limit for those in the mobilization reserve. All this takes effect January 1.

This week, Russia has sent about 15,000 prisoners records to the front lines in Eastern Ukraine since the start of February, with little training or combat experience, many of them dying or returning home that badly wounded.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has obtained rare and exclusive testimony from one surviving prisoner, as well as the mother of a recruit who died just three weeks after deployment, who shared horrifying stories from the battlefield. Their names have been changed for their own safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, since about last fall, it appears the convicts have been a pretty substantial part of Russia's frontline strategy. Originally recruited by the Wagner mercenary group in their tens of thousands, the scheme then taken over by the Russian Ministry of Defense, seemingly thinking there was something successful in it that they wanted to own, wholesale.

But now, we're hearing pretty rare testimony directly from Russians who survived, or in one case, lost a dear son to that particular violence. And it is, indeed, shocking to hear quite how appalling the conditions they endure are. Here's what we heard.

WALSH (voice-over): Russia is often cruelest to its own. The bleakest fate: prisoners recruited by the Ministry of Defense, basically as cannon fodder.

These so-called Storms Z battalions, surrendering here, have death rates hard to fathom. Here are two rare stories. One of incredible survival, and another of a young and quick death, told to CNN at great risk from inside Russia.

Ex-con "Sergei" barely made it back. Now he works two jobs and can't sleep, because his ears still ring from shellshock.

We first talked when he'd been shot for the second time. But he was still sent back, injured.

From 600 prisoners recruited with him in October, he says, only 170 are alive, and only two of them without injury. Sent again and again, in waves, to attack Ukrainian positions.

"SERGEI", EX-CON RECRUITED TO RUSSIAN MILITARY (through translator): I remember most clearly the last of the nine concussions I had. We attacked. RPGs, drones flew at us. Our commander yells on the radio, "I don't care. Go ahead. Don't come back and until you take this position."

Two of us found a small hole and dived in there. A drone threw a grenade us, and it landed in the 30-centimeter gap between us. My friend was covered with shrapnel all over. Yet, I was untouched somehow. But I lost my sight for five hours.

WALSH (voice-over): He only stayed in hospital that time, and then got home, as doctors made him an orderly. He has nightmares that he is told to be first out of the trench again.

But daily life in the trench was a nightmare, too. The frostbite, hunger, and thirst.

"SERGEI" (through translator): Sometimes we didn't eat for several days. We didn't drink for several days. It was a four-kilometer walk to water. And thank God it was winter. We were drinking the snow.

WALSH: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: If a person didn't want to fight, what happened?

"SERGEI" (through translator): Sometimes the commander reset people. He zeroed them out, killed them. I only saw it once: a fight with a man who stole and killed his own people. I didn't see who of the four people around him shot. But when he tried to escape, a bullet hit him in the back of the head. I saw the head wound. They carried him away.

WALSH (voice-over): For some, it never got that far. "Andrei" was 20 when he was jailed on drugs offenses and 23 when he was sent from prison to the front.

[00:40:09]

His training was fleeting. His mother, "Yulia," said he'd yet to grow into a man, still kidding about.

"ANDREI", PRISONER RECRUITED INTO RUSSIAN MILITARY: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Really, it's sea, sun and sand here... sunburn, then the wind chaps your face, and (EXPLETIVE DELETED), it rains.

WALSH (voice-over): Like with many prison recruits, he just disappeared. But it was on May the 9th, Victory Day in Russia, when presidential pomp in Moscow marked the Nazis defeat. "Andrei" called her the night before to say his unit would attack at dawn.

"YULIA," MOTHER OF RUSSIAN PRISONER RECRUIT "ANDREI": (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: We were arguing. It is horrible to say, but I already thought of him like he was dead. He left knowing everything. Every day I told him no, no, no. And he didn't listen to me. When he said, "We're going to storm," I wrote him, "Run, Forest, run."

WALSH (voice-over): We think these ruins are near where he died. Up to 60 others, "Yulia" heard, died in the same assault that day. Yulia got nothing, no body, just a letter from the military saying Andrei had died the very day he left jail.

"YULIA": (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: The hardest part was that I was afraid he would kill someone. Because I can live with my son as a drug addict, but with my son as a murderer, it was difficult for me to accept it.

WALSH (voice-over): The horror Russia inflicts on Ukraine, it seems, matched nearly by that done at home.

WALSH: Now, "Sergei" also told us that there aren't really normal rotations of troops in his positions along the Russian frontline, where you take those exhausted to the back, allow them to refresh, and then send them back into the fight again.

You only leave the trenches he was in when you're injured or when you die. Utterly shocking conditions, and it's really a snapshot on the appalling morale that those Russian units must be experiencing. And that could make Russia particularly fragile if Ukraine's counteroffensive gains weight.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you soon.

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