Moscow is
pointing the
finger at Washington, baselessly
claiming the US directed
Ukraine to carry out this alleged drone
strike on the Kremlin.
Kiev has also denied involvement
and so is the US.
Here's what a top White House
official told CNN earlier today
about this latest assertion from Russia.
There's a word that comes to mind
that I'm obviously not.
Not appropriate to use on national TV.
I would just tell you, Mr.
Press. Gov's lying.
I mean, obviously it's a ludicrous claim.
The United States
had nothing to do with it.
We don't even know exactly what happened
here, Caitlin.
But I can assure you
the United States had had no role in it
whatsoever.
Strong words from the administration
there for Russia, though
it may not matter who did this.
Vladimir Putin's forces
have already used it
as a pretext for retaliation,
unleashing a fierce
wave of attacks on Kiev and other
Ukrainian cities.
Drones that fired on
Odessa even had messages on them.
Take a look.
This reads for Moscow
and for the Kremlin.
That's according
to the Ukrainian military.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Ukraine.
And Nick Cave is saying it's
worse attacks in months.
We know that an oil
refinery was hit in Russia.
It seems that both sides
are really escalating here.
Yeah, certainly.
I mean, what
would be saying over the past three
or four days here in
Ukraine is an increased tempo
of Russian strikes.
Often hitting civilian areas
as far as we can see.
Last night,
Kiev saying that the last three nights
are the worst
since the year began last night.
Many drones taken down out of the sky,
not actually hitting targets
in the capital.
Similar story over Odessa
as well in the south of the country.
So compared to previous nights
where we've seen
cities across the country
with civilian targets hit
and the loss of life last night,
not the worst,
but yesterday
and had some
city recently liberated
from Russian
occupiers, 24 people lost their lives
in the shelling of a shopping center
and a railway station.
Clear civilian areas
being hit by repeated shelling.
Now, this is really,
I think, the escalation
Ukrainians are worried about
when Russian in that statement
where they presented no evidence
but said there'd
been an attempted assassination
on the president said
that they reserve the right to retaliate
even today.
Peskov, the
Kremlin spokesperson, didn't go into what
that would necessarily mean.
He said that Vladimir Putin
was calm and considered
after this incident
and even referred
to how the damage
to the Kremlin roof was to bits of copper
that probably would get fixed
later on today.
So a lot of concern here about what
this may be teeing up
in terms of Russian response,
but Ukraine's counteroffensive
likely imminent.
All right, Nick Paton
Walsh with the latest from Ukraine.
Thanks so much for that update. And Jim.
Now we've got those details.
You guys have some analysis over here.
Let's try to figure out how credible
these claims are.
Joining me now,
we have someone who knows a thing or two
about this, retired Brigadier General.
Steve Anderson, first
to get to
this claim
that this was a Ukrainian strike
on the Kremlin.
Let's look at the sites
of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory
so far.
Here's the here's the border of Ukraine.
They've been able to strike Belgorod
just a couple dozen miles away
from Ukraine.
Down in Crimea,
certainly accessible
from Ukrainian territory.
Also in Krasnodar.
This one would be 300 miles into the draw
the straight line,
but three, two miles in a straight line
into Ukrainian territory.
How credible is that?
It is not credible, Jim.
It really
there's no way,
I think, that
the the Ukrainian drones
would be able to penetrate
some of the most sophisticated air
defenses in the world.
500 miles or so from Kiev,
all the way to Moscow.
It's just not going to happen.
I mean, that's just not a scenario
that's really reasonable.
And I imagine those
those air defenses
would be particularly intent
on protecting this area. Absolutely.
They'd be focused on Moscow.
And they have, again,
incredibly efficient
and effective air defenses.
The last time
that any kind of penetration
occurred was in 1987, 35
years ago, with a little Piper Cub
that was able to fly into Red Square.
But since then, it's been locked down
pretty tight and certainly
with a war going on.
They're going to be incredibly effective.
Okay. Let's look at the start of the strikes.
This is where Russia has struck
since this
this attack on the Kremlin, calling them,
in effect, retaliatory strikes.
They've been hitting hard,
certainly a frequent target,
of course, close to Russian territory
down here in Herston, recently
taken back from Russia
by Ukrainian forces.
And, of course, the capital, Kiev.
A lot of talk about targeting
the Ukrainian
president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Are these attempts to do that?
There might very well, Jim.
I mean, that would be something
I'd be very worried about.
You know, the false flag,
I think that we saw yesterday
of attack on the Kremlin
maybe sets the stage for hey, look,
they went after me.
Vladimir Putin saying now
it's my turn to go after Zelensky.
So I would definitely if I was
on his security detail,
zelensky's security, I'd
definitely step up my game.
But, you know, this is terrorizing
the people.
Terrorizing the president is something
that that's
that's how
they've been playing this whole thing.
And that's our only real play.
You mention false flag
that would be a Russian attack
claiming to be a Ukrainian attack.
By the way,
Russia attempted several of these.
What I was in Ukraine
at the start of the invasion, which U.S.
intelligence exposed and hey,
these are not Ukrainian attacks.
It's a Russian plan,
a propaganda plan here.
We had a remarkable
charge made by a former Russian lawmaker
who spoke to my colleague,
Matthew Chance
about another possibility
for the origin of this attack.
Have a listen.
And I want to get your reaction.
Are any of these partizans
supported by
the Ukrainian special services,
for instance,
because Ukraine says it's
got nothing to do with this attack.
Do you believe that claim?
Well, look,
Ukrainians, it has nothing to do with us
because it's all organized by Russians.
He's saying
this could be a Russian attack
on Russia partizans
those who oppose the leadership
of vladimir putin.
Credible.
It's a credible scenario,
probably not likely, but it's possible.
I mean, these are large drones.
They could have to
they'd have to hide them
in a shipping container
or a truck of some sort,
somehow get it close to Moscow,
perhaps pull them out, launch them.
I mean, those kind
of things could happen.
But I think it's pretty unlikely.
I think it's really much a false flag
operation that has occurred.
And and we're seeing the reaction
to that.
Well, part of that false flag operation
would be the follow on.
This is a message
for the Kremlin
on one of the Russian drone
drones fired at Ukraine
in the wake of all this.
Retired General Steve
Anderson, thanks so much.