Tonight.
The war
in Ukraine
is officially being fought
on Russian territory.
Two groups of Russian nationals
aligned with Ukraine
claimed responsibility
for attacks
in Russia's southwestern
region of Belgorod.
At least eight
people were injured in those attacks.
And Russia has accused
the so-called sabotage groups
of crossing over from Ukraine into Russia
to carry out more combat missions.
Unlike recent attacks on Russian soil,
Ukraine acknowledged the cross border
operation, this time
insisting only that the groups acted
of their own volition.
But this is notable.
It's a notable change
in tune
as Ukrainians
try to counter
Russia's claims of victory in Baku,
the site of this war's deadliest battle.
And as intrigue
grows over the death of yet
another Russian official
who died suddenly
after reportedly criticizing the Kremlin.
CNN's chief
international anchor
Christiane Amanpour is joining me now.
And Christiane,
we're going to get to the death
of that Russian official in a moment.
But I want to start with
this attacks in Boulevard,
the fact that these groups were able
to get over the border into mainland
Russia and carry out
these attacks tells you what about
Russia's ability to
police its own boundaries?
Well, it's classic sabotage.
It's classic counter
offensive by insurgents. Right.
The Ukrainians are not claiming
that they're part of the Ukrainian army.
And we've seen several attacks
inside Russia over the last many months.
I mean, let's take the drone
attack on the Kremlin.
I spoke to a former Russian MP
who defected and went to Ukraine, Illya
Illya Pulmonary
And he told me that he believed
that was an act of sabotage
by Russian partizans.
In other words, anti-Kremlin
Russian Partizans.
And there have been a number of attacks.
There was the
pro Russian military blogger
who was killed in Saint Petersburg.
There was another high official early on
who was killed in in the Kremlin
the daughter of a friend of Putin's.
And this
clearly is ramping up,
and that is what they're claiming to be.
anti-Kremlin Russian Partizans
The other part of this,
the Ukrainian government
sort of acknowledging
some kind of affinity here.
But also these attackers were carrying
Ukrainian gear and Ukrainian weaponry.
Historically in this conflict,
there's been a concern about escalation
that might cause the war
to get out of hand.
Is that concern waning?
I don't know about waning,
but you can tell that the US
government, the Biden administration
has always invoked
the slogan World War Three
I'm not going to do anything,
you know,
that's going to lead to World War Three.
And most particularly,
they started by saying, well,
we're not going to give
long range missiles to the Ukrainians
because we don't want it to,
you know,
we don't want them to attack inside
Russia with any of the weaponry
that Naito gives.
And you've seen as the war has progressed
and as the battlefield changes
NATO's most particularly
the United States upped the ante
in terms of what weaponry they're giving.
So first it was no, no, no, on,
you know, on long range missiles
then it was and then they got them.
Then it was no, no,
no on the anti-aircraft defense.
And then they got the Patriots
and then it was no, no,
no on the fighter jets.
And now the US this weekend
they're going to get the training.
And the U.S.
apparently is waiving
any sort of prohibition
on its allies, giving
Ukraine those fighter jets.
It's very important
and that if the United States
policy is for Ukraine to win,
which it keeps saying that,
then they need
the actual weaponry to do it.
And even
I spoke to one of the top generals,
you know, a year ago,
a year ago in April,
and they said what we need
is anti-aircraft defense.
We need long range missiles
and we need aircraft
as well as all the other
things, ammunition and everything.
And you saw
the Ukrainian president
Zelensky pressing that case
at the G7 over the weekend.
We started by talking about this
death, this mysterious death
on an airplane of the deputy science
minister, Peter Coutu Franco.
He was critical of Putin,
and he recently told a journalist this.
He said,
save yourself
and your family, leave
as soon as possible.
It is no longer possible to leave.
They take away our passports.
They are they are all taken hostage.
Nobody can say anything.
Otherwise, we are immediately
crushed like bugs.
There are these partizan attacks,
these separate, you know,
these anti
regime
Putin regime attacks
carrying out in Russia
and this mysterious death.
It's just overall, it's fun.
And I just want to have several.
By our count, it's been at least
11 Russian officials.
What does this all
come together to mean for you?
Eventually,
we know that this is not resistance.
This is basically people who do not agree
with the war
and Putin has
silenced
or they have meant mysterious deaths.
Many, many of them,
whether they are journalists,
whether they're officials,
whether they're private,
private business people.
And according to this journalist
who you're quoting on a telegram channel,
he writes that this individual,
this deputy minister,
had urged him to leave,
had said what we all know that no dissent
is brooked by the Kremlin,
absolutely none whatsoever.
We also know
there are divisions about this war,
but those who oppose it
anywhere near
Putin's circle of silence,
they're not allowed to express themselves
or the press
anything even remotely on social media.
That's even vague critical or mentions
anything other than the pro-war
propaganda is silence.
And I think that is
this is this is what's happening.
We're not sure
we do not know how this man died.
And he is
he by his own account,
according to this journalist,
because of his anxiety over this war,
not only did he leave,
but he said
he took
handfuls of antidepressants
and all sorts of of pills.
So we don't know how he died,
but it's one of many mysterious.
There's no doubt that there's dissent
against Putin,
although the vast majority are still,
you know, hostage to his war,
and if afraid, rightfully
so, for their lives.
Christiane Amanpour, thank you very much.