New this morning,
the Russian capital
getting a firsthand sense of war
after an alleged drone attack.
You see a plume of smoke rising.
And take a look at this.
You can actually see a drone
flying over the city
as a man points out of his window.
And here,
what appears to be a fragment
of a downed drone.
Russian state
media says two
people were injured in Moscow
and three residential buildings
were damaged in the attack.
Russian military officials
blame Ukraine for this,
something, of course, Ukraine denies
the attack.
Though, coming just hours after yet
another aerial assault on Kiev.
Ukrainian officials
say one woman was killed.
13 people hurt.
There have been 17 attacks on Kiev.
So far
just this month
ahead of that planned
counteroffensive we've been talking
so much about.
Officials also just releasing
this body
camera video of police
responding to one of those attacks.
It gives you a real time
look at the daily reality of war here
as officers are out there
to help injured civilians.
Let's bring in now
CNN's Fred
Pleitgen, who's live in eastern
Ukraine for us this morning.
So first, Fred,
what more are we hearing
about this attack on Moscow?
Hi there, Poppy.
Well, certainly
the Russians are pretty shaken
by this attack
that happened there on Moscow.
And one of the things
that they're obviously doing,
as you've noticed,
is they blamed, as they put it, the Kiev
regime obviously blaming the Ukrainian.
Some of that footage
that came out of Russia
certainly seemed to be pretty dramatic
with that person pointing at that drone.
Now, the Russians say that all of a UAV,
as they put it, the drones
that were sent towards
Moscow were put out of commission.
They say that several were taken down
using electronic countermeasures
which brought them off course
and then they crashed.
But they also say that in five cases,
they needed to activate
their air defenses
and shoot them down with short range
air defense systems.
All the punchier air defense system.
Nevertheless,
there have been several
Russian politicians
who have come out and said, look,
we believe this could be our new reality.
This could be the case
because of the ongoing war
in Ukraine,
that it can also come to Moscow.
But obviously,
a lot of residents in that city
pretty shaken as well.
This happened in the early morning
hours of today
and definitely not something
the Russians have seen before
as this civil war has been going on.
Guys,
Can you tell us
more about the strikes
overnight in Kiev, Fred?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm actually at the scene
of one of the strikes here
that happened in Kiev. Overnight.
And I can tell you,
we were actually in Kiev.
We're not in eastern Ukraine.
And the night was definitely not calm.
I mean, it was over several hours
that we heard drones in the air
the entire time.
And those Iranian made shadow drones
where you can see
hear the engine howling the entire time.
And then you could also hear
the sound of the machine
gunfire as the Ukrainians
were trying to take them down.
Where we are right now,
you can see substantial damage
after one of these drones impacted here.
You can see
the cleanup is already going on.
And I want to just ask our
our cameraman will Biden
and he's going to pan up right now.
And you can see that
it actually
impacted up there in the first in the top
couple of floors of that building.
Now, that is something
that is absolutely significant, guys.
Because despite the fact
that the Russians shot
dozens of drones once again
or sent them at the capital, Kiev,
the Ukrainians say
they managed to take most of the drones
down now.
What you're seeing up there,
the Ukrainians are seeing
is actually damage
from a drone that was down and debris
then hit this building
and caused that explosion
that you saw up there,
unfortunately, in this building.
One woman was killed.
I was able to speak to Kiev's
mayor about this right here
a couple of minutes ago.
Here's what he said.
Actually, may we have
a lot of attacks to our cities,
not just to the capital of Ukraine.
Also in another city.
And a lot of people killed
Kiev Mayor Vitaly
Klitschko, of course,
former boxing champ as well.
He was on the scene here very early on.
And, of course,
not a quiet night here at all.
And, you know,
this is the third major
missile and drone attack
that we've had here in the city
in the past, I'd say.
30 to 36 hours,
some of them with
drones and cruise missiles,
some of them
also with ballistic missiles.
So right now,
Ukrainian capital
really feeling and a lot of people here
obviously showing
a lot of resilience, guys.
Fred Pleitgen live for us in Kiev,
thank you very much.
Well,
all of this comes as President Lenski
now says he's made a decision
on the timing
of Ukraine's counteroffensive
the Italian austerity,
the commander in chief
and the commanders
of the operational directions
reported to the south,
not only the supply of ammunition
not only the training of new brigades,
not only our tactics, not tactics,
but also the timing.
This is what is most important.
The timing of how we will move forward.
We will.
The decisions have been made.
Joining us now, CNN military analyst,
former member of the Joint
Chief of the Joint Staff of the Pentagon.
Retired Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel.
Always good to see you.
As we listen to what we heard
from President Zelensky
in that nightly address,
the fact that he says
they now have the timing,
not saying what that timing is
for obvious reasons,
but that the timing has been decided.
What does that signal to you
in terms of where things
stand for this counteroffensive?
How quickly could it happen?
Well, good morning, Eric.
It really tells me that they've
finalized their plans.
They're moving forward in a way
that is quite methodical
and they're doing it in a way
that will allow them to
move forces where they need to.
Now, the one thing that they don't have
is strategic surprise,
but they do have tactical surprise.
They can move forces where they need to.
The Russians,
of course, are going to be watching them
from an intelligence perspective.
But they will be able to do some things
that will keep the Russians guessing.
But there's clearly a timetable
that's been set.
And we should be seeing a few things,
maybe not like D-Day back in World
War Two,
but we will be seeing a few things
that indicate an offensive
is going forward.
I'm interested
in why
Zelensky would have said that, that
we have decided on a timeframe
we have one.
Why would he say that at all?
Why would he make that pronouncement?
Poppy, I think it's it's messaging.
I think it's also psychological.
And what he's trying to do
is he's trying to tell the Russian side
that to
we are coming for you,
we are going to
move you out of our country.
But on the other hand, he's
still keeping them guessing,
although he's made some
pretty emphatic statements here.
He's keeping them
guessing as to the timing and the place
where this is actually going to occur.
And it could even be places
in the sense that he could use
multiple areas
to mount certain types of attacks.
We've seen this litany of attacks in key.
But we are also seeing attacks
making the way
all the way to Moscow
Russian officials as Fred Pleitgen gets.
Fred Pleitgen,
excuse me,
just said,
saying
they believe
this could be their new reality.
How are you reading that this morning?
How are you reading those attacks?
Yeah, these are very interesting
because generally
what they're using are drones
that are actually Soviet era drones
that have been modified
by the Ukrainians.
So the Ukrainians are not violating
any promises
that they've made to the West
and to the U.S.
in particular, not to use U.S.
or Western supplied weapons
to attack Russia itself.
But they're still doing it.
And it's not quite,
you know, setting Russia ablaze,
to borrow a phrase from Churchill.
But what they are doing is
they are actually moving forward
and telling the Russian population
that they are at risk
of some kind of an attack.
It's not
as bad
or as severe
as the attacks on Kiev, obviously,
but it is clearly something
that puts people at risk.
And it's a warning.
One question and all of this
sort of bigger picture
Colonel, is the role of China
and can China
be a moderating force at all?
They have said as much,
but there are real questions
about what that would look like
and where their alliance would be.
The fact that given that the
Chinese government is
refusing to sit down
with Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin,
basically saying, no,
you cannot meet with your counterpart
at this security forum
happening this week
in Singapore,
reminds me of what Lloyd Austin
told Caitlyn
in their interview months ago
after the spy balloon right that
basically the Chinese weren't
picking up the phone.
It does not seem like
things have improved since then.
How does that factor into
what's going on in Russia and Ukraine?
Yeah, that's certainly true.
Things have not improved.
And it seems as if China
and Russia are basically in lockstep
when it comes
to the diplomatic aspect of this.
And I think what
the Chinese are failing to do
in this particular case
is take advantage of an opportunity
to play the role of mediator
or at least seem to be playing
the role of mediator.
The very fact that they're not meeting
with Secretary
Austin is an indication
that they are not really interested
in being a mediator.
They're more interested
in supporting Putin.
And that's going to limit
their effectiveness with Ukraine,
and it's going to limit
their effectiveness
with other countries in the West.
Colonel Cedric
Leighton, always appreciate your insight.
Thank you.