A CNN news crew embedded with soldiers in Ukraine narrowly escaped a round of Russian artillery shells near the city of Mykolaiv on Monday, all while cameras were rolling.
The footage, which has aired on CNN throughout the day, shows CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman and his five crew members scrambling to one of their cars after two rounds landed close to their position.
“Now we’re trying to get out of this area as quickly as possible,” Wedeman tells the camera as they make their escape. “Our other car, completely destroyed.”
In an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, Wedeman explained that their other car was inoperable after shrapnel from the artillery shells slashed all of its tires, severely damaging the windshield and side windows, and leaving petrol covering the ground beneath and around it.
“We took cover and then another two shells landed, one of them maybe 10 yards from one of our cars,” he said. “And so we went running towards the cars to try to get out of the area after the officer in charge of that position told us we should leave because there may be more incoming rounds, only to find one of the two cars was completely destroyed.”
Russian forces have intensified their attacks in Eastern Ukraine and in the suburbs of Kyiv over the past week. After Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukrainian forces found mass graves with hundreds of civilians as well as evidence of summary executions with corpses found in the streets with their hands tied behind their backs.
Despite condemning the atrocities as “real genocide,” Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky says peace talks with Russia will continue.
Watch the harrowing footage from CNN of their escape and interview with Wedeman in the clip above.