Ukraine Escalating War Into Moscow With 2nd Drone Strike On Skyscraper Housing Government Ministries

Moscow’s mayor has said that overnight a high-rise building in the capital which houses Russian government ministries has suffered a direct impact from a drone strike for a second time in three days.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that it was the same tower that had been previously struck on Sunday, and separately the defense ministry said it intercepted two more drones over the nearby districts of Odintsovo and Narofominsk. The ministry identified Ukraine as the culprit for the “attempted terrorist attack.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had just previewed and threatened two nights ago that he’s ready to take to war to Russian soil, saying: “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases.” He added, “And this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”

There were also overnight statements by the Russian military describing a wave of drone attacks against Russian naval ships in the Black Sea.

And in a fresh August 1st tweet, Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, also vowed more is coming, saying the following:

Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war, which, in turn, will soon finally move to the territory of the “authors of the war” to collect all their debts …

Everything that will happen in Russia is an objective historical process. More unidentified drones, more collapse, more civil conflicts, more war…

The New York Times has meanwhile confirmed that Kiev has stepped up targeting to include intelligence, military, and financial centers of the Russian capital, after the intensified border region activity (particularly strikes and cross-border action against Belgorod) of the past many months of war.

⚡️Consequences of a drone strike in Moscow a short while ago pic.twitter.com/fAirl93HEs

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 1, 2023

“Drones have exploded over the gilded domes of the Kremlin. They have hit strategic Russian air bases hundreds of miles from Ukraine,” NY Times observes. “They have struck a Moscow tower that houses several government ministry offices, including the one responsible for the military-industrial complex.”

#Ukraine keeps trying to hit the same #Moscow skyscraper with drones.
The damage is minimal no military or strategic importance but the response will likely follow. What was the point? All it does is harden the hearts. pic.twitter.com/K7MJgHMoxx

— Arthur Morgan (@ArthurM40330824) August 1, 2023

“And they have landed a stone’s throw from one of the main Russian military headquarters, where officers sitting in large situation rooms with vast screens on its walls directly oversee and manage the war in Ukraine,” the report adds.

One thing is becoming very evident, Ukraine is escalating the war into Moscow, as the West remains silent in face of the greatly heightened increased potential for a full Russia-NATO clash, while also still seeking to conceal its own role.

Most DC types are upset Biden isn’t giving Zelensky better weapons to kill more people in Russia. https://t.co/VrhaOv9sYV

— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) August 1, 2023

This is also evidenced in the fact that for the first time Zelensky and his top officials have begun owning up to the attacks on Russian territory, openly admitting the cross-border operations after months of denial and cover-up, chiefly for the sake of Western audiences:

• Zelensky, May 14: We don’t attack Russian territory
• Zelensky, July 30: We’re bringing the war to Russian territory

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby is still sticking by the Washington official line that the US is not encouraging such attacks. He recently reiterated in an interview with CNN that the US administration is “not encouraging attacks inside Russia, decision is for Ukraine to make.” 

But this is very clearly obfuscation and outright dishonesty, attempting to escape blame despite it long being known that the US assisting Ukrainian forces with intelligence and targeting information, as has been revealed time and time again.

* * *

Max Abrahms, a professor of international security and author/expert on counterterrorism at Northeastern University, had this to say of the latest Moscow drone strikes [emphasis ZH]…

“The attacks inside Russia against civilian targets do not have the intended communicative effect. The standard Western view is the attacks will signal to Putin the costs of occupying Ukraine so he withdraws.”

“But I believe the attacks only reinforce his priors that NATO is waging a proxy war against Russians whose security depends on weakening Ukraine and securing territories close to Russia. The attacks in Russia validate his worldview.”