Pretty remarkable breach of Russian air defenses
for a drone like that to fly all the way across the country and hit the Kremlin.
And the border is some 300 miles away.
So you have to imagine, could they have seen it on radar?
Let's get answers to that and much more with CNN military analyst
Colonel Cedric Leighton.
Colonel Leighton, before we get into that detail
about the distance the drone may have flown.
Let's take a look at this video we've been watching over and over again
with your expert eyes.
What do you see as the drone explodes right there?
Yeah, right there.
Boris, what you're looking at is a direct hit.
So the anti-aircraft weaponry that the Kremlin has deployed around it
for protection purposes, you know, is clearly engaged in it seemed to my eyes,
it seems as if they knew exactly what they were shooting at
and when that target would be arriving in their area.
Another thing
that's interesting, there are two people apparently climbing this dome.
And I also wanted to point out there is a large stage in seating here.
It's in anticipation of May 9th victory day, a big symbolic day
for Russia, perhaps a day that Ukraine might have wanted to target.
Well, that's possible because as you said, Boris,
you know, May 9th is a really big holiday from a military perspective in Russia.
This is where they show a lot of their weaponry
have done so historically ever since the end of World War Two.
And you see the nine may nine May
signage here, the Russian flag in the sands.
All of this is getting ready for a major military parade.
And so from a symbolic perspective, it would make sense for somebody to attack
something like this.
But it also would be a perfect place to mount a false flag operation.
That is a good point.
As we take another look, this is a new angle of the drone exploding.
You see it here in the upper left.
And this view is important because of the context, because of what you see.
This is very close to Red Square.
Saint Basil's Cathedral is just off to the right there,
not far from a unknown situation, cathedral as well.
You imagine that this area must be very well protected.
Absolutely.
And if we look at the map right here, Red Square is right here.
This is weird. The parade would be taking place.
Annunciation Cathedral, that's where the czars receive confession.
There was their personal chapel during the time of the czars.
So that's a huge symbolic place as far as Russia is concerned
that they would obviously want to protect it.
And Saint Basil's, of course, is a very famous
part of the Kremlin structure itself.
So to the point that Jim made about the credulity of the Russian claim
that this was Ukraine Let's pull up the map.
This is some 300 miles away from the Ukrainian border.
You imagine that this drone didn't even take off from here.
Given what you know about Ukraine's capabilities and Russia's capabilities
to see what's coming.
Does it seem likely that this was a Ukrainian attack?
Unlikely.
From for that very reason, because the Russians have radars
installations all along this area right here.
And the place where they would most likely
be launching something like this from would be about here.
And given that fact, that's a little bit longer than 300 miles.
It would take a lot of fuel.
It would take longer in time that some of these drones have.
Now, it is possible that Ukraine could have mounted
this operation from inside Russia using special operations forces.
That is not beyond the realm of possibility, but it is unlikely,
even though they have noted attacks allegedly
against the areas in the South, against airbases, things like that.
So these are areas that can be targeted, but it's very difficult to do that.
And as President Selenski said, they don't target the leadership.
Russia does.
Russia will use this as an excuse to probably do something like that.
But it is highly unlikely that it came from Ukraine.
And as far as we know, the U.S., the West, hasn't provided Ukraine
with that kind of equipment, so it further strains credulity.
Colonel Cedric Leighton, always appreciate a perspective.
Thank you so much for that.
Ukraine denying any involvement and accusing Moscow of a trick,
which begs several questions.
Be honest.
To be very frank with you, what Ukraine first admit to it, Nick,
if it was Ukraine, And what would it gain from attacking the Kremlin?
The image
of these drones flying over the Kremlin and one appearing to be shot down
or exploding right over the Kremlin is an image of weakness for the Kremlin.
The Kremlin tries to portray the war in Ukraine as something
that they're achieving all their goals, that this is a special military operation,
a limited operation, not a full scale war, something that really needs not worry
the Russian people The fact that this incident happened over
the Kremlin tells the Russian people that the Kremlin's
narrative isn't isn't correct.
That this is something that that touches the Russian people,
because it's right over the Kremlin, the heart of the heart of government.
So the imagery tells the Russians something that the Kremlin isn't
telling them.
The question, of course, and this is Ukraine's position, is that
this is imagery created by Russia
There is no evidence so far
to see physical evidence to support Russia's claim
that this was an assassination attempt on President Putin.
And President Zelensky's being very, very, very specific.
And I think we have to remember that in these situations, people use words
quite carefully.
He said we didn't attack Putin.
We didn't attack Putin. We didn't attack Putin.
We didn't attack Moscow.
When he talks about not
having ammunition, that's one of Ukraine's ads and his narratives at the moment.
His in
Helsinki in Finland meeting with Nordic allies and partners.
And Ukraine is very concerned that it doesn't have deep
enough stocks of ammunition to really launch the kind of offensive
and sustain the offensive that it believes it needs to that it needs to fight.
So I think President Zelensky message is on track
with that sort of messaging as well.
Where does it leave us?
It leaves us in a situation where the Kremlin has placed
a very, very high stakes, if you will, on this,
because it's not just saying, well, some drones from Ukraine flew over the Kremlin
and we took them down, and no one was hurt.
No, they're saying that this was an assassination attempt on on President
Putin, which in the Russian playbook potentially gives them the leverage
or the rationale to strike very significantly at Ukraine's leadership.
It's not clear,
but this has been often the way often the way the Russian playbook works.
So, you know, I think it's very difficult to analyze
precisely what happened, but precisely what could happen because of it.
This playbook is open and we've seen it used before.
Indeed.
Nic Robertson for us there in eastern Ukraine.
Thanks very much, Nic.