Ukraine's military says it's
consolidating the territory
that it has gained in the south
and is now trying to punch
through the next layer
of Russian defenses.
This is remarkable.
New video into OUTFRONT
shows the inside
of a Ukrainian armored vehicle.
The moment it gets hit by Russian
artillery, the Ukrainian soldiers
managing to flee the damaged vehicle
and continue their combat mission.
Melissa Bell is OUTFRONT
The scars of war.
Russia's sprawling network
of fortified defenses,
including the infamous dragon's teeth,
clamping into Ukrainian ground.
These pictures shot
by Ukraine's security service
and shared exclusively with CNN.
A reminder
of all that lies
before keeps advancing troops.
The counter-offensive gains so far.
Slow but steady.
We are not failing. We're moving forward.
We liberated
thousands of square kilometers
of our land through minefields
with no air coverage.
The Ukrainian military
says it's
consolidating positions
on the southern front lines
and looking to the next
layer of Russian defenses.
With the country's foreign minister,
reassuring impatient allies,
our partners
who are helping us,
including the United States,
they understand
that things are moving
in the right direction
and they understand that
there is
no tragedy or no kind of slow down.
Meanwhile, Russia enjoying nuclear fears.
The country's space agency
announcing that it's put the SA match
intercontinental ballistic missile
on combat alert.
As attacks on Russian soil increase.
Drone strikes once shocking, now routine
Moscow's mayor announcing on Friday
the foiling of yet
another attack
by Ukrainian drones on the capital
as well as surrounding regions.
Russia's defense ministry spokesperson
also praising Russia's air defenses
when 281 Ukrainian uncrewed
aerial vehicles were destroyed
including one to one 41 street jet
as well as 29 Ukrainian
aircraft type
waves in the western regions of
the Russian Federation.
But some drones did
get through this week.
These new satellite images show
the damaged planes
at the Christie airbase
in Russia's western Gulf region
an attack launched from inside Russia
according to achieve.
The burned remains of the air across
Russia's own scars of war
Brianna, what's really remarkable
about this week series of drones attack
drone attacks against
Russia is not just that
Ukraine has a newfound desire
to make clear that it is responsible,
but that it is actually claimed
responsibility from inside Russia
for those drone strikes
that I just mentioned
on that airfield to the very west.
Now, that airfield is 600 miles
to the north of the Ukrainian border.
It's just across
from the Estonian border.
The idea that Ukrainian forces
might be able to carry out attacks
so deep into Russian territory
from inside Russian territory, territory
really quite remarkable, Brianna.
Certainly as Melissa
Bell live for us from Zap Riga.
Thank you.
And OUTFRONT now,
we have retired Army
Major General James Spider Marks.
General, great to have you with us.
You have Russia announcing its newest
nuclear weapon
amid all of this is well capable
of hitting
the continental United States
saying it's
now operational
and it has been placed on combat duty.
How alarming is this to you?
And why is Putin making this
announcement now?
Well, certainly
anything that
has anything to do with
nukes is alarming.
But ICBMs,
these intercontinental ballistic missiles
that can reach
almost any
any part of the globe, are always on
combat alert.
They're always ready to be launched.
So the fact that Russia has announced
that is really a narrative
that is nothing but redundancy, frankly.
But we need to be able to take this very,
very seriously.
You don't pass these away
What that means is what is our status?
What is our capability?
What is our alert capability?
Our ballistic missile
defense alert capabilities?
And how are we prepared to address these?
But the thing about using a nuke
and that's the thing
we need to keep in mind.
Bear in mind, as much as Putin
needs to go away
and we would hope they would go away.
He's chosen not to use a nuke yet.
And there's no guarantee that
if he were replaced,
that somebody might choose a
different path.
So we have to bear that in mind.
But when you use a nuke,
you lose all leverage.
They understand that.
The Russians understand that as well.
You see these drones
striking deep inside
several hundred miles inside Russia.
But you also have Ukraine
saying it's got this long
range missile that it's developed.
435 miles.
It can travel.
Do you think that they'll use that?
Well, if they use capabilities like that,
complementary to the drone capability
that they've demonstrated,
they need to make sure
that they're striking
tech targets
that provide them operational advantage.
In other words,
going after aircraft
that can resupply for word
Russian troops
going
going against fighter
aircraft, going against logistic bases.
Those are all fair game
and those would provide great advantages.
But to launch
one of these attacks
against any infrastructure
that is not directly
contributing to the fight
would put themselves
in the same category as the Russians,
which they certainly I would
I would hope that
they would not want to do
Certainly good advice.
We'll see how they do proceed.
This is going to be very interesting
to see how they proceed
with this long range missile.
Spider Marks, great to have you.
Thank you. Thank you.