News of the damage must surely have found its way into the most isolated of bunkers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of secluding himself from the deteriorating realities of his invasion of Ukraine. But the staggering images from Moscow’s skyline on Thursday surely mark a moment when even the thickest levels of insulation around the Kremlin head cannot shield him from the sound of repeated blasts just 10 miles away that obliterated refineries leading to thick black smoke wafting over Russia’s capital.
Videos posted by Russians to social media tell two stories. First, of air defenses in the capital – all apparent three rings of them – pierced by cheap, mass-produced drones that Ukraine was once on the bitter receiving end of but now fires back nightly at Russia. A refinery lid blown clean off. Multiple fires raging 10 miles from the Kremlin itself. An environmental disaster surely unfolding. The damage itself will impact fuel supplies, perhaps leading to gas station queues in a city the Kremlin has fought long and hard to protect from the consequences of war.
The second is one of widening discontent in Moscow’s population and the political instability that can bring. The relentless posting of videos the Russian authorities have tried to limit shows growing dissent, and message management that has ultimately faltered. Since a tiny drone hit the Kremlin in May 2023, Moscow’s skyline has been troubled by Ukraine, even causing last month’s Victory Day parade to be scaled back dramatically. Thursday’s cacophony of startling videos – with Ukrainian drones arriving in waves over the flames to follow up on strike after strike – marks a global moment of clarity, in which the Kremlin is truly struggling.
