Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said Sunday that it is inevitable that Russian territory becomes engulfed in the war after a drone attack on Moscow that resulted in two government buildings sustaining damage and Moscow’s main airport being forced to temporarily close. 

Zelensky said it has always been “inevitable, natural and … fair” to bring the war to Russia, despite public assurances that Western weapons would not be used to strike Russian targets. 

“Ukraine is becoming stronger. The war is gradually returning to Russian territory, to its symbolic centers and military bases,” Zelensky said. He continued, “Russian aggression has suffered bankruptcy on the battlefield. Today is the 522 day of (Russia’s) so-called ‘special military operation,’ which the Russian leadership expected to last a week or two.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces managed to destroy a drone in the air and two others were electronically suppressed. One guard was injured.

Moscow said on Friday that it shot down two Ukrainian missiles over its Rostov region in the south, and at least a dozen people were wounded by debris.

Yurii Ihnat, the Ukrainian Air Force’s spokesperson, said Kyiv wanted to show Russia that the war is not too far from its doorstep, The Kyiv Independent reported.

“There’s always something flying in Russia, as well as in Moscow. Now the war is affecting those who were not concerned,” Ihnat said.

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has reported that Kyiv and Washington are working together and they are on the same war page, thus, this effort to escalate is bilateral. (See “RUSSIA STRIKES UKRAINE PORT AFTER KYIV LAUNCHES DEADLY ATTACK ON CRIMEA BRIDGE” 25 Jul 2023, “UKRAINIAN WAR ESCALATES: KYIV PLANS TO TAKE OVER CRIMEA. BLOWS UP RUSSIAN OIL DEPOT” 2 May 2023, and “ARROGANT WARMONGERING MILITARY OFFICERS OFFER ADVICE ON HOW TO RETAKE CRIMEA, DESTROY RUSSIA” 7 Mar 2023.) 

After months of denying the attack, Ukraine admitted to carrying out the October 2022 attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, posted on Telegram that the bridge was targeted to “break the logistics of the Russians.” (See “WHITE HOUSE GAVE PUBLIC GREEN LIGHT TO UKRAINE TO BOMB CRIMEA BRIDGE, DID BRITAIN PLOT ATTACK?” 12 October 2022.)

Earlier this month, Ukraine also carried out a drone strike on a Russian ammunition depot. Ukraine said the strike destroyed an oil depot and military warehouses in Oktyabrsky, in the Krasnogvardeysky region of Crimea.

Russia May Have to Go Nuclear

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, and close Putin ally, said Sunday that Moscow would have to go nuclear if Ukrainian forces somehow start to win in their counteroffensive.

“Imagine if the offensive, which is backed by NATO, was a success and they tore off a part of our land, then we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon, according to the rules of a decree from the president of Russia,” he said. “There would be no other choice.”

He continued, “So our enemies should pray for our warriors’ (success). They are making sure that a global nuclear fire is not ignited.”

The New York Times, which has a reporter, Carlotta Gall, on the front in the Zaporizhzhya region reported that Ukrainians retook the southeastern village of Staromaiorske, but there are positions that the Russians hold that are impassable.