Russia's war in Ukraine
is increasingly blowing up in Moscow.
This Ukrainian
drone attack Sunday night
bringing Russia's war
hundreds of miles away
into the heart of its own capital.
Shocking citizens put them into the year.
My friends and I rented an apartment
to come here and unwind.
And at some point, we heard an explosion
and it was like a wave.
Everyone jumped.
Attacks like this in Moscow
becoming increasingly common.
Last week,
another Ukrainian drone hit
a Ministry of Defense building
a psychological blow
for a population
repeatedly told by Putin.
State media
they are winning the so-called
special military operation.
The president said,
I was asleep and woken up
by an explosion.
Everything started to shake
and the whole building had come down
this weekend.
Putin was keeping up the pretense
everything is okay celebrating Navy Day.
But behind the scenes,
his officials appear rattled
by Ukraine's refusal to be beaten.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev says
if Ukraine's counter
offensive is successful,
Russia will use its nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin is dismissing
the drone strikes in Moscow
as an act of desperation.
The defense minister
calling them terrorist attacks.
Reality.
They've got Moscow's attention
on a speech on Ukraine's
president is hinting
more of these strikes
to come
green as the Ukraine is getting stronger.
Gradually,
the war is returning
to the territory of Russia
to its symbolic centers.
And military bases.
This is an inevitable,
natural and absolutely fair process.
Zelensky is stating
what is becoming increasingly apparent
Ukraine is ramping up drone strikes
inside Russia
and in recent weeks, targets
just over the border
in areas vital to Russia's war efforts
have increased to destroy themselves.
Most of the impact
even breaking through
on Russia's state media
What is clear
Ukraine's fight on Russian soil
is having effect.
But can it really have an effect
to sort of put political pain on Putin?
That seems unlikely.
Ukraine may be able to puncture
a little bit Putin's propaganda
that everything is going well in the war,
that if you're in Moscow, you're safe,
but it's not going to deflate.
The message coming from Putin
and from the Kremlin. Why?
Because he still controls the narrative.
The strikes are relatively small.
There are not big casualties.
In fact, very, very few casualties.
It's structural damage so far.
So it's it's not going to.
This time,
I think not going to really put
a course correction in the way
that Putin's fighting the war
may even bring about a level
of more specific retribution.
But as we saw today,
perhaps not just
abstractly hitting
Zelensky's hometown,
maybe there'll be intent behind it.
Nic Robertson reporting for us.
Thank you.
Joining us now,
CNN military analyst, retired U.S.
Major General Spider
Marks and CNN Russian affairs contributor
Jill Dougherty.
General Marks,
we're just getting word
of a Russian attack out of Kharkiv
right on the heels of the brutal attack
on Zelensky's hometown.
How much could this escalate right now?
Well, it could escalate.
And I would tell you
that what we're seeing in terms
of Ukraine attacking targets inside
Russia and deeply
inside Russia into Moscow,
that are not military related,
I think, sadly,
are a waste of military manpower.
Look, these are incredible
weapons systems that Ukrainians enjoy.
I don't know that there is going to be
much juice from the squeeze,
if you will, in terms
of threatening Putin.
I think these weapons systems
could be used more effectively.
Obviously,
in their offensive
in various places in the Donbas.
So seeing the Russians attack into
Kharkiv is a logical response.
The best way for the Ukrainians
to achieve some great success on
the ground
is not try to threaten Putin politically.
He's got enough problems with that.
And I don't know that
they're going to be able to do it.
But to achieve success
tactically on their on the ground
and send the messages
back to these mothers back in Russia
that their children are being killed
because the Ukrainians are fighting them
incredibly well.
In that various areas in Ukraine
where they need to be.
Jill,
I want to get your analysis as well.
Take a look at this
dramatic video
of that drone strike on Moscow.
You can hear terrified screams.
How much of a psychological blow
are these attacks inside Russia?
You know, it's hard
to tell precisely what was Russian media.
State officials
have now
been giving
a lot of coverage at all to the
I think it mentioned
in print stories,
but really not on the TV media.
And I think that is obviously
one of the purposes
of what Ukrainians are trying to do.
I mean, that place
where the latest where they hit
called Moscow City because city,
that is a financial
center is really like the,
you know,
the heart of Putin's capitalism.
There are a lot of big companies there
and there are a lot of government offices
in those high rise buildings.
So hitting them,
I think, is very symbolic.
I think that's
what the Ukrainians wanted to do.
And maybe they think that
they can deflect,
you know,
some of the weapons
brink that
the Kremlin would have to
bring them back to Moscow
to protect Moscow from further attacks
like this by drones. Interesting, Jill.
How do you read Russia's latest
nuclear threat against Ukraine?
Well, I mean, it's
coming from the former president
and who has been,
you know,
the minion of President Putin
now for years.
And essentially
what they're doing
is kind of like good cop, bad cop Putin,
if you can call him a good cop.
But he comes across as more rational,
more let's say,
controlled in the way he speaks.
But Medvedev,
who is constantly on Twitter and other
social media, is really
you know,
using brutal language,
sometimes actually kind of
unhinged, brutal language.
And this is an example of it.
And he's he knows probably
that Russia is not going to use
strategic nuclear weapons
and start a war.
However,
you know,
he can talk about tactical weapons.
That is all another attempt
to intimidate the West.
No question. Yeah.
All right.
Jill Dougherty, General Spider Marks,
guys, thank you very much.