Moscow has come under attack again, for the second time in a few days, against the same target: a skyscraper in the economic district. Ukrainian drones, now a parallel army, have also targeted the Russians in the Black Sea, attacking three patrol boats. “A threat”, admitted the Kremlin, which is ready to adopt “countermeasures”. And this is exactly the declared objective of Kiev: to get Russia “accustomed” to a war at home. However, this evolution of the conflict worries the United States, which is keen to clarify: “We do not encourage or facilitate” Ukrainian raids across the border. “They don’t strike twice in the same place,” residents of Moscow’s financial district said after Sunday’s raid damaged two office towers in the city. But this was not the case, and just 48 hours later another UAV intercepted by anti-aircraft fire fell in the city. Ending up on the facade of the building centered in the previous attack, which also houses the offices of some ministries. Two more unmanned aircraft were shot down in the Odintsovo and Narofominsk districts of the capital region. Vnukovo International Airport was briefly closed. In addition to Moscow, sea drones were fired at three Russian patrol boats in the Black Sea about 300km southwest of Sevastopol, the fleet’s base in Crimea. All neutralized, the Russian Defense reported, stating that the target of the raid were merchant ships en route to the Bosphorus. In the evening, then, on the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, the local governor announced that another drone was shot down. The attacks in Moscow received extensive national TV coverage. A positive sign for Kiev, which while still not claiming this type of operation, feels that its goal has been achieved. “Moscow is quickly getting used to a full-blown war that will soon move onto the territory of those who started it and who will have to pay their debts,” predicted presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak, followed by a warning: they will always come” more unidentified drones, more crashes.” In the Kremlin, drones over Moscow have become a cause for concern. “The threat exists, it is clear,” Dmitry Peskov said, pressed by journalists. Assuring that “safety measures are being taken”. Just a day earlier, Putin’s own spokesman had dismissed the raids on the capital as an “act of desperation” by Ukraine. From the US, military analysts have confirmed that striking in Russia and Moscow has not only a symbolic but also a strategic significance for Kiev, because – writes the New York Times – “it could force Russian military strategists to make difficult decisions on how to deploy resources and feed already deep divisions”. Instead the White House, which does not want an escalation of the conflict, remains cautious. “We do not encourage or facilitate (Ukrainian) attacks inside Russia,” said US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. In Washington, the Kiev counter-offensive to liberate the occupied territories is mainly being followed. An operation that is proving to be complicated, especially for the air power of the invasion forces. For example, bombs fell from the sky and hit a hospital in Kherson, killing a doctor. Meanwhile, one of the crucial areas of the southern front, Zaporizhzhia, was visited by the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces Valery Gerasimov, who called for “preventive strikes” against the enemy. Putin’s Army, at least at this stage, has lost the support of the Wagner militia, which has moved into Belarus, alerting Poland. Warsaw in recent days has reported the presence of a hundred Russian mercenaries near the Suwalki corridor, the strip of land that connects the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad to Belarus, between Poland and Lithuania. Minsk leader Alexander Lukashenko has denied this, and the United States has also explained that it has “no indication of threats to Poland or other NATO allies from the Wagner group”. At least for now.
Read the full article on ANSA.it