Dead Bodies, Twisted Metal and Scattered Grenades: CNN’s Matthew Chance Delivers Shocking Report from Ukrainian Battlefield

CNN’s Matthew Chance gave a jarring report outside of Kyiv Monday, revealing the immediate devastation Ukraine has endured in its defense from Russia’s invasion.

Chance reported from a bridge northwest of the Ukrainian capital, explaining that “right within the past few hours, there has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of Kyiv.” While the quality of the footage was shaky throughout the report, Chance began by walking past the husks of several Russian military vehicles destroyed in the fighting.

The Russian column that has come down here has been absolutely hammered. We’re still in a very exposed situation right now, but let me just bring you along here. There’s debris everywhere. The twisted metal of these vehicles. This is obviously just a truck carrying supplies. We saw the armored vehicle in front there. I mean, looking around. What kind of munitions does it take to do that to a car, to a vehicle?

Chance answered his own question by saying local Ukrainian commanders told him they were using Western anti-tank missiles against the Russian convoy. He continued to show off more smoldering metal ruins, plus he pointed out that the scene was littered with unexploded grenades.

“A real scene of devastation along this bridge,” he said. “I toured this area earlier, and there were some terrible things that we can’t really show you on camera in terms of dead bodies, Russians, still lying here on the ground.”

The footage kept cutting in and out, even as Chance said he found another Russian soldier’s corpse on the bridge. He continued to say Ukrainian troops are feeling optimistic that they can defeat Russia, but he noted “the big question is what will the response of the Russian military and the Russian political leadership be.”

Chance eventually kneeled down on the bridge to get out of his exposed position, but he realized a few moments later that he was crouching right next to one of the grenades he pointed out before.

“I was crouching down right by a grenade. I didn’t see that. Let’s move away from that,” he said. He continued with his report by saying the Ukrainians “have been able to really cause the Russians a significant amount of pain,” with the military assistance they are receiving from other countries.

“If [the Russians] thought they were going to come into this country and there was going to be a broad surrender,” Chance said. “that was obviously a massive miscalculation on the part of the Kremlin.”

UPDATE – 8:37 a.m. ET: CNN re-airred Chance’s report with improved footage.

Watch above, via CNN.