Reminder: The"Russian side" is the Malign Aggressor -- The "Ukrainian side" the Victim

"Two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action."

"We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president's life, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 Parade, at which the presence of foreign guests is also planned."

"The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit."

Kremlin statement

Ukraine has denied having any role in an alleged drone attack that appeared to explode just below a flying Russian flag over the Kremlin this week   CBC

For sheer misbegotten stupidity it would be difficult to find a more lunatic contention than Russia's, that its territory is inviolable from attack by a country that it has unilaterally invaded and over the course of a year, deliberately destroyed civilian infrastructure, bombed and levelled civic buildings leaving cities and towns devastated, created millions of refugees, millions more left homeless or besieged. Russian President Vladimir Putin has targeted through his military orders Ukrainian cities far from the front line. Russian servicemen have looted and destroyed municipalities, and tortured and murdered thousands of civilians.

 

One-fifth of Ukraine is under Russian occupation, with the absurd declaration made as an official Russian position that the territory under occupation represents part of greater Russia; the land expropriated and now to be considered Russian. Its citizens have been given the choice of Russian citizenship or enforced exile from their Ukrainian homes. Not only has Russia brought in a mercenary militia to help destroy Ukraine and Ukrainian lives, but it has also recruited convicted criminals to serve in the Russian military as cannon fodder.

 

But Russia is enraged, beyond itself with apoplectic fury that the "Ukrainian side" chose not only to defend itself and its people, but to venture across the border between Ukraine and Russia into (gasp!) Russian territory to dare target Russian towns and cities, going so far as to send drones over Moscow itself; rather like the Iranian-produced drones that the Russian military is lobbing into Lyiv and elsewhere to teach Ukraine that no distance is too far for human casualties to be extracted as punishment for Ukrainian intransigence.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin watches a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS

 

An attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin through a drone attack on the Kremlin citadel, how DARE they! Ukraine, of course is on high alert for counter attacks meant to assuage the insult to Russian honour. Alerts for airstrikes over Kyiv and other cities are now, once again, in place. A Telegram channel linked with Russia's law enforcement agencies featured a video showing a flying object in approach to the dome of a Kremlin building overlooking Red Square, exploding in a burst of fiery light.

A plume of smoke over the Kremlin's gold domes was seen in a video posted in a neighbourhood internet group. "We do not attack the Kremlin because, first of all, it does not resolve any military tasks", said Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak in comments sent to Reuters. The Kremlin's accusation and a separate announcement that suspected saboteurs were apprehended in Crimea by Russia "clearly indicates the preparation of a large-scale terrorist provocation by Russia in the coming days", he concluded.

The speaker of Russia's parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, demanded the use of "weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kyiv terrorist regime", responding to the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin. Presaging perhaps a dread response to a trumped-up scenario, that to defend itself against fiendish Ukrainian terrorism, nuclear weapons are in order... 

 

Oil depots were set ablaze, both in southern Russia and Ukraine, as both ides escalated a drone war in anticipation of Kyiv's touted spring counteroffensive against Russian forces. A  huge conflagration that Russian authorities blamed on a Ukrainian drone crashing into an oil terminal on the Russian occupation side of its bridge to occupied Crimea was being battled by troops of firefighters. 

 

While in Ukraine, a fuel depot was on fire following a suspected Russian drone strike on Kropyvnytskyi, a central city. Air raid sirens blared for hours through the night in Kyiv where an overnight volley of drones saw 21 of 26 shot down by Ukraine forces.

"It's either reflexive to deflect on their part, to deflect against weakness, or it's all part of something they've already pre-scripted. It's one or the other, probably,"

"That's my gut feel on this. Looking at it ... it doesn't make sense. Like, why? If you're going to assassinate Putin ... what would you do? Fly that [drone] through a window? Like what room is he in? Like, come on."

"I don't think the Ukrainians did it. We're back to, what purpose does this serve? You want to tweak the Russian bear's nose? Okay, fair enough. But this doesn't seem to accomplish anything."

"They will say it was dangerous to the Russian state's sovereignty and they will look into their nuclear doctrine, Russian nuclear doctrine, and they will tell you that they have a right to use nuclear weapons."

Sean Maloney, historian and expert on Soviet Cold War tactics

A ‘No fly zone’ sign in front of the Kremlin on Thursday. GPS is being jammed in Moscow after the incident. Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA