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⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Did Russia Just Build the World’s Most Expensive Target?
17:44 SHOCKING New U.S. Weapon Can Turn Any Chinese Aircraft to Dust
34:43 MAMMOTH Raid on Moscow… Russia UP in FLAMES!
51:13 Russia Hid A MASSIVE Truth… THEN The Panic Started In Moscow

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Transcript
00:00:0127 years. That's how long it took Russia to turn one Cold War battle cruiser back into a warship.
00:00:08And by the time it finally happened in June of 2026, the world had changed around it.
00:00:13But that was the easy part.
00:00:15We're talking about the Admiral Nakimov, a 28,000 ton nuclear-powered missile cruiser
00:00:21that just wrapped up the final phase of its sea trials after a refit
00:00:25that took so long that sailors who will crew it were born after the ship was already sitting in a
00:00:30shipyard rusting.
00:00:31Today, we're asking the question Russia's own state media would very much like us not to ask.
00:00:36Did the Kremlin just field one of the most heavily armed surface combatants on the planet?
00:00:41Or did it spend billions of dollars and nearly three decades building the world's most expensive target?
00:00:47Let's start with what this ship actually is.
00:00:49The Admiral Nakimov is one of four Kirov-class battle cruisers built by the Soviet Union.
00:00:54Absolute monsters of the sea designed to hunt and kill American carrier strike groups on the open ocean.
00:01:00She was laid down in the 1980s and commissioned in 1988 under her original name, Kalinin.
00:01:06She then served for about a decade with the Soviets and then Russian Navy
00:01:10before being towed into the Sevmash shipyard up in Severodovsk in 1999.
00:01:15Back then, it was billed as a routine overhaul.
00:01:18Nobody involved in that decision could have imagined that routine overhaul would still be dragging on in the 2020s.
00:01:25To understand why the Nakimovs sat there for so long, you have to understand just how broke and disorganized Russia
00:01:30was in the years after the Soviet collapse.
00:01:33The economy was in shambles, the ruble was worthless, and the naval command was left holding a fleet of extremely
00:01:39expensive Soviet toys with no money to maintain any of them.
00:01:43On top of that, a lot of the industrial base that actually built and serviced these ships wasn't even inside
00:01:48the new Russian Federation anymore.
00:01:50The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's only aircraft carrier, was built in a Ukrainian shipyard, and Russia basically had to make do
00:01:57after the Soviet breakup.
00:01:59So when a whole like the Nakimov needed serious structural work, Russia didn't have the money and didn't fully have
00:02:05the means to do it properly.
00:02:06There were half-hearted conversations about restarting work in the 2000s, but nothing serious happened until the 2010s.
00:02:13The real modernization effort finally got a signature in 2013, with a formal contract worth about 50 billion rubles, roughly
00:02:21$1.5 billion at the time.
00:02:23The plan was about as ambitious as naval refits get.
00:02:26Instead of patching up old Soviet systems, engineers were going to gut the entire interior of the ship down to
00:02:32the bare hull, tear out miles of decaying Soviet-era wiring, rip out the obsolete missile tubes, and essentially rebuild
00:02:39a brand new warship.
00:02:40Moscow proudly announced the ship would be back in the fleet by 2018.
00:02:45That deadline, as you probably already guessed, came and went without so much as a splash.
00:02:50What actually happened once the shipyard workers started digging into that hull is a picture-perfect example of how badly
00:02:56a project can spiral once reality meets Soviet engineering.
00:03:00Structural frames that had been corroding quietly for decades needed to be replaced entirely.
00:03:05Welding techniques required to work on a hull of this age and size turned out to be far more specialized
00:03:10and time-consuming than planned.
00:03:13And perhaps the biggest headache of all was trying to bolt modern radar arrays and combat systems onto a superstructure
00:03:19that was designed around analog cold wall electronics.
00:03:21Every one of those problems pushed the timeline back further.
00:03:252018 became 2021, which became 2023, which became 2025.
00:03:32And here we are in 2026, watching a ship that was supposed to be finished before some of its future
00:03:37crew were even born.
00:03:39The costs followed the same trajectory as the timeline, which is to say straight up and to the right.
00:03:44That original 50 billion ruble contract eventually ballooned by roughly 400%, with unofficial estimates putting the final bill somewhere around
00:03:53200 billion rubles.
00:03:55Convert that into dollars at anything close to a realistic exchange rate, and unofficial estimates place total costs somewhere between
00:04:02roughly 2 to 5 billion dollars,
00:04:04depending on whose estimate you trust and when you're measuring it, spent on refitting a single hull.
00:04:09For context, that's enough money that could have gone a long way toward building or arming several smaller, more modern
00:04:15vessels, instead of pouring it all into one irreplaceable ship.
00:04:18And when the money for one ship starts spiraling that badly, something else usually has to give.
00:04:24In this case, it was the Nakimov's own sister ship, the Piotr Veliki, or Peter the Great, the fourth and
00:04:30last operational Kirov-class cruiser still nominally in service.
00:04:34As the Nakimov's refit ate up more and more of the Russian Navy's budget, plans to modernize the Piotr Veliki
00:04:40were quietly shelled.
00:04:41Russia effectively cannibalized one flagship's future to pay for the other's resurrection.
00:04:46So, even before we get to the question of combat effectiveness, there's a strategic cost here.
00:04:52The Soviet Union's original fleet of four Kirov-class monsters is now down to essentially one that anyone is planning
00:04:58to actually operate,
00:04:59since the Admiral Lazareff was scrapped back in 2021 and the Piotr Veliki is likely being decommissioned after Nakimov returns
00:05:07to service.
00:05:08And even that's up for debate, as a report from 2023 suggested that the ship might be kept in service
00:05:14regardless.
00:05:15But beyond the ship's history, let's talk about what nearly three decades and several billion dollars actually bought,
00:05:21because on paper, the Admiral Nakimov looks almost unstoppable.
00:05:25The original Nakimov was built to carry 20 P-700 granite anti-ship missiles, the weapon Soviet naval doctrine built
00:05:32entirely around,
00:05:34designed to launch mass strikes against American carrier battle groups from long range.
00:05:38Every single one of those launchers has been removed.
00:05:41In their place, engineers installed a universal vertical launch system, reportedly around 80 cells across 10 modules,
00:05:48capable of firing caliber land attack and anti-ship cruise missiles, P-800 Onyx anti-ship missiles,
00:05:55and potentially the 3M-22 Zircon hypersonic missile.
00:05:59Add in the ship's long range air defense cells, and total missile capacity across the vessel is estimated at roughly
00:06:06170 to 180 missile cells.
00:06:09Whatever the exact final number turns out to be once she's fully accepted into service,
00:06:14this isn't a ship you want sailing towards you with hostile intent.
00:06:18The ship also runs on a combined nuclear and steam propulsion system, meaning her two KN-3 nuclear reactors give
00:06:25her essentially unlimited range and endurance,
00:06:27which matters enormously for the mission Russia actually has her in mind for, which we'll get to in a moment.
00:06:32Those reactors, by the way, sat cold for so long that restarting them was itself treated as a milestone,
00:06:39with the two reactors brought back online in December of 2024 and February of 2025 respectively,
00:06:45more than a decade after the modernization contract was signed.
00:06:49The ship didn't even leave Sevmash for its first trials until August 2025,
00:06:53and it didn't enter what the Russian Ministry of Transport called its final phase of sea trials until June 2026,
00:07:00after departing the shipyard in late May.
00:07:03Satellite trackers have spotted her running speed and navigation trials in the White Sea,
00:07:08throwing up a healthy wake as she puts the systems through their paces.
00:07:11If everything goes according to plan from here, and given this ship's history, that's a fairly large if,
00:07:17the Admiral Nakimov could formally enter service with Russia's Northern Fleet sometime later in 2026 or into 2027.
00:07:24So here's the part Russian state media is going to lean on hard, and the part we need to push
00:07:29back on a little.
00:07:30This ship is not being positioned as a Black Sea combatant, and it's not being sent anywhere near Ukraine's coastline.
00:07:36Its intended role is as the flagship of the Northern Fleet, based around the Kola Peninsula,
00:07:42with the mission tied directly to protecting Russia's sea-based nuclear deterrent.
00:07:46Russia's ballistic missile submarines operate out of that region, and in wartime, they're expected to retreat
00:07:52into heavily protected bastions in the Barents and Kara seas.
00:07:55The Nakimov's job, with its nuclear-powered endurance and its massive air defense loadout,
00:08:00is to help guard that bastion and screen those submarines from NATO submarines, aircraft, and surface ships.
00:08:06It is, in other words, being built for an entirely different war than the one currently raging in the Black
00:08:11Sea.
00:08:12Which brings us to the actual title of this video, and the uncomfortable argument that a growing number of naval
00:08:18analysts have been making
00:08:19since this ship first left the shipyard.
00:08:21Even considering that Nakimov's real job is Arctic defense and not power projection in the Black Sea,
00:08:27the broader logic of pouring this much money and firepower into one irreplaceable hull
00:08:31runs directly against everything the war in Ukraine has taught the world about naval warfare over the last four years.
00:08:37For that, we need to talk about the cruiser Moskva. But before we do that, make sure to subscribe to
00:08:43the military show.
00:08:44We make daily videos that cover the history, present, and future of warfare.
00:08:48In April 2022, Moskva was the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, a Slava-class missile cruiser that Russian sailors
00:08:57and propagandists alike treated as untouchable.
00:09:00Ukraine hit her were two domestically produced Neptune anti-ship missiles, and she sank, becoming the largest warship lost in
00:09:06combat by any navy in decades.
00:09:08The missiles that did it cost a tiny fraction of what the ship itself was worth, and the sinking clearly
00:09:14demonstrated the nature of the entire war,
00:09:16where big, expensive, prestige surface combatants were no longer the untouchable status symbols navies like to imagine them as.
00:09:23Now, to be fair to the Nakimov, she's not the Moskva. The upgraded air defense suite is considerably more capable,
00:09:29with dozens of long-range air defense cells specifically meant to intercept exactly the kind of threats that killed Moskva,
00:09:36aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones.
00:09:39Russian messaging around this consistently frames Nakimov as the direct answer to the Moskva humiliation.
00:09:45But here's the problem with that argument. Moskva wasn't sunk because Russia had bad missile defense doctrine on paper.
00:09:51She was sunk in large part because of failures in situational awareness, damage control, and fire suppression once she was
00:09:58hit.
00:09:58Reports at the time described a fire that spread largely unchecked before triggering magazine explosions that ultimately doomed the ship.
00:10:05Adding more interceptor missiles to a halt doesn't necessarily fix any of that.
00:10:10Arguably, if Russia had genuinely learned the lesson of Moskva, the smarter investment would have been in survivability and damage
00:10:16control systems,
00:10:17rather than pining yet more offensive missile capacity onto an already enormous target.
00:10:22Then there's the concentration problem, and this is really the heart of the world's most expensive target argument.
00:10:28A navy built around a small number of irreplaceable capital ships is inherently brittle.
00:10:33Every ruble and every missile packed into the Nakimov is capability that exists in exactly one place at one time,
00:10:40and none of it survives if that one hull goes down.
00:10:43Remember, Russia doesn't have a production line quietly building more Kirov-class cruisers in the background.
00:10:48The Nakimov could become the only operational Kirov-class cruiser if Pyotr Veliki is retired as currently expected.
00:10:55If Nakimov is lost, damaged badly enough to need years of repair, or simply proves unreliable, Russia doesn't have a
00:11:01sister ship sitting nearby ready to pick up the slack.
00:11:04The entire Kirov-class experiment effectively lives or dies with a single vessel.
00:11:09And that concentration risk lands in a war where Ukraine has spent four years proving, again and again, that it
00:11:15doesn't need a traditional navy to make life miserable for Russian warships.
00:11:19Ukraine's own major service combatant, the frigate Hetman Sahai Dachny, was scuttled in the opening days of the war, specifically
00:11:26to keep it out of Russian hands.
00:11:28And yet, despite starting the war with essentially no blue-water navy at all, Ukraine has managed to drive the
00:11:34entire Russian Black Sea fleet into hiding.
00:11:36Following the Mosfer sinking and a wave of uncrewed surface vessel strikes, including a notable attack on the naval base
00:11:42at Novorossiysk, Russian warships have been effectively confined to port, submarines included, with crews reportedly even submerging their boats at
00:11:50the pier, just to reduce their visibility to drone reconnaissance.
00:11:54Analysts covering the Black Sea campaign have described those protective harbour walls at Novorossiysk as functionally turning into a cage
00:12:01for the fleet hiding behind them.
00:12:02The tools that did most of that work weren't a sophisticated new missile system, but cheap, largely uncrewed drone boats,
00:12:09essentially explosive-packed jet skis with a camera and a radio link, built and iterated rapidly, and thrown at Russian
00:12:16ships and infrastructure in waves.
00:12:18And that's really the uncomfortable core of the argument against ships like Nakimov in 2026.
00:12:23These uncrewed threats share one huge advantage, they're expendable. Nobody, not even Russian military bloggers, is going to celebrate footage
00:12:31of 40 Ukrainian drones getting shot down.
00:12:34But air defence only has to fail once, and the ship that took 27 years and billions of dollars to
00:12:40build is gone, while the weapon that did it might cost a few thousand dollars to manufacture and require no
00:12:45crew to risk.
00:12:46That asymmetry, cheap and expendable versus expensive and irreplaceable, is exactly what's already humbled a Russian fleet once in this
00:12:53war, and it's the same problem that Nakimov steps into the moment it enters full service.
00:12:58Now, geography still matters. Nakimov is heading to the Northern Fleet, patrolling Arctic and sub-Arctic waters around the Kola
00:13:06Peninsula, nowhere near the range of the small drone boats that have terrorised Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
00:13:11Ukraine's naval drone campaign has been confined to the Black Sea, built around geography, proximity, and a very specific set
00:13:18of targets tied to the blockade of Ukrainian ports and the Crimean Peninsula.
00:13:23But even if Nakimov never sees a Ukrainian drone boat in its operational life, the same fundamental vulnerability exists wherever
00:13:30it sails.
00:13:31Because modern anti-ship missiles, long-range strike drones and submarines don't respect the Arctic as some kind of safe
00:13:37harbour either.
00:13:38And Russia's Northern Fleet has hardly been immune to Western surveillance and NATO submarine activity for decades.
00:13:44What the Ukraine war really exposed wasn't a Black Sea problem specifically.
00:13:49Instead, it laid the groundwork for a different kind of naval power, one where the weapons are decentralised and limited
00:13:55to expendable, or at least relatively inexpensive drones.
00:13:58That's precisely because putting the Navy's capability into one irreplaceable hull creates a single point of failure, and one that
00:14:06foreign navies would be all too eager to abuse.
00:14:08It's also worth sitting with just how strange the numbers here really are, once you line them up side by
00:14:13side.
00:14:14A ship laid down in the 1980s, mothball for a full two decades before serious work even began, refit for
00:14:21over a decade after that, at a final cost that by some estimates approaches $5 billion.
00:14:26That's a sum of money that could have funded a genuinely modern fleet of frigates or corvettes, vessels that are
00:14:31far cheaper to build, far easier to replace if lost, and arguably far better suited to the kind of distributed,
00:14:38sensor-heavy, drone-saturated naval warfare that's actually defined this war.
00:14:42Instead, Russia chose to pour it all into resurrecting a single Cold War hull, because that hull already existed, half
00:14:49-finished, sitting at Sevmash, and finishing it made for a cleaner propaganda story than starting something new from scratch.
00:14:56There's a certain grim logic to that decision, sunk cost is a hell of a drug, but it's not obviously
00:15:01a strategy anyone would choose if they were designing a navy from first principles today.
00:15:05It's also worth remembering that Nakimov isn't entering an empty stage.
00:15:10NATO has been steadily increasing its own attention of the Arctic and the waters the northern fleet calls home, with
00:15:16more frequent submarine patrols, expanded surveillance, and closer cooperation between Nordic navies since Finland and Sweden joined the alliance.
00:15:23A single battle cruiser, however heavily armed, doesn't erase any of that pressure, and it doesn't give Russia anything close
00:15:30to sea control in a region where NATO submarines have operated for decades.
00:15:34If anything, Nakimov's real contribution may simply be forcing NATO planners to account for one more heavily armed hull in
00:15:41their targeting math, rather than fundamentally shifting the balance of power in the Arctic.
00:15:46Naval analysts covering this refit have not been shy about drawing that conclusion.
00:15:51Some went on to describe the entire program as bearing all the hallmarks of a so-called prestige or vanity
00:15:56project, one where the perception of strength matters more than actual combat effectiveness.
00:16:01The argument is that Nakimov's realistic future is less about decisive naval combat and more about flag showing, demonstration cruises,
00:16:09and appearing impressively in naval parades and propaganda broadcasts.
00:16:13It's the exact kind of role that lets the Kremlin claim victory over a troubled program without ever actually testing
00:16:19a ship against a peer threat.
00:16:21Given how badly Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, continues to embarrass the navy with fires, crane collapses, and
00:16:28dry dock disasters, it's hard not to see why the Kremlin is eager for literally any large warship it can
00:16:34point to and call a symbol of restored Russian naval might, regardless of its actual usefulness.
00:16:39Then there's the harsh reality that after all that refit, Nakimov doesn't really change the broader numbers game between Russia
00:16:46and NATO at sea.
00:16:47It's just one ship, and it can't be reproduced from scratch.
00:16:50The capability to do a refit doesn't solve Russia's problem where shipyards are churning out warship after warship to patrol
00:16:57the oceans.
00:16:58Nakimov is basically a single, highly specialized, extremely expensive asset, optimized for a fairly narrow mission.
00:17:05And worse yet, Russia is mostly going to parade around as proof of its navy can still finish a mega
00:17:10project, conveniently glossing over just how badly that same project went for the better part of three decades.
00:17:16So, back to our original question, did Russia actually pull off something genuinely ambitious here, or did it spend the
00:17:23better part of 30 years and several billion dollars building the world's most expensive target?
00:17:29The honest answer is probably somewhere uncomfortably in between.
00:17:33If the specifications and open source data are to be believed, Nakimov is still an extraordinarily capable warship, and arguably
00:17:40one of the most heavily armed warships in existence.
00:17:44The dark eagle can fly.
00:17:46Those words are music to the ears of anyone who's watched China boast about dominating the hypersonic race.
00:17:53For years, Beijing's relentless investments and rapid advancements left the US playing catch-up.
00:17:58The US officials even openly admitted it, claiming that China's systems and infrastructure outpace everyone, including Russia.
00:18:05But that era is over. After years of watching Beijing claim the lead, the US has answered with something that
00:18:11does more than just compete.
00:18:12It obliterates everything and everyone in its path.
00:18:16The dark eagle isn't just a missile. It's proof that when America shows up, it shows up swinging.
00:18:22Here's everything you need to know about this impressive weapon that China is entirely defenseless against.
00:18:27Officially known as the long-range hypersonic weapon LRHW, the dark eagle is a surface-to-surface missile system built
00:18:35for speed, precision, and power.
00:18:37This land-based, truck-launched hypersonic marvel is engineered to deliver devastating strikes at intermediate ranges, giving the US a
00:18:45clear edge in modern warfare.
00:18:47This much-needed edge is the result of a powerful collaboration between the US Army and Navy.
00:18:52Each of these branches contributed its unique expertise to create this game-changing weapon.
00:18:57The Navy might refer to it under a different name, the conventional prompt strike system, but the essence of the
00:19:02missile remains the same.
00:19:04This missile is also making a name for itself as THE missile to beat.
00:19:08The partnership between the Army and Navy began in 2018 when the latter was tasked with leading the design of
00:19:13the common hypersonic glide body, with significant input from the former's Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office.
00:19:20This joint effort has been crucial in advancing hypersonic technology.
00:19:24Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe Jr. of the Navy's Strategic Systems Program couldn't have put it better, calling the collaboration a
00:19:30demonstration of how both branches can come together to develop a transformational weapon system.
00:19:36The result of this collaboration? A missile designed for both land and sea platforms.
00:19:41While the Army prepares to deploy the Dark Eagle, the Navy is integrating its own version into surface and subsurface
00:19:46platforms, ensuring the US military's reach will be felt far and wide.
00:19:51So what did the brilliant minds from these two branches come up with? A design that's testament to cutting-edge
00:19:56engineering, of course.
00:19:57The Dark Eagle combines the best of both advanced propulsion and hypersonic glide technology.
00:20:02At its core, the missile consists of a large rocket booster that carries the unpowered, common hypersonic glide body, CHGB,
00:20:09in its nose cone.
00:20:10Once the booster propels the missile to incredible speeds and altitudes, it releases the CHGB, which then glides towards its
00:20:17target at hypersonic speeds, leaving anything in its path vulnerable to its kinetic energy warhead.
00:20:22This design draws on decades of innovation. The CHGB is actually based on earlier projects like the Army's Alternate Reentry
00:20:29System, which was tested in early 2010.
00:20:32This technology, in turn, traces its roots to the Sandia Winged Energetic Reentry Vehicle Experiment, Swerve, from the 1980s.
00:20:39With Dynetics responsible for building the glide vehicle and Lockheed Martin tasked with constructing the booster and handling missile assembly,
00:20:46the Dark Eagle represents the culmination of years of research and collaboration from some of the most trusted names in
00:20:52defense technology.
00:20:53And that's what makes it truly special and stand out in the hypersonic world.
00:20:57The US's goal wasn't to put out one hypersonic weapon after another in some desperate scramble.
00:21:02Rather than rushing and flooding the market with unreliable and incomplete systems, the US took its time to create the
00:21:07Dark Eagle.
00:21:08And its specifications show this.
00:21:10The Dark Eagle's Boost Glide technology allows it to reach unimaginable speeds.
00:21:14The speed in question is up to Mach 17.
00:21:17That's 17 times the speed of sound, or 12,940 miles per hour.
00:21:23At this speed, the Dark Eagle doesn't just break the sound barrier, it shatters it, leaving any attempt at defense
00:21:28in the dust.
00:21:29Right where any Chinese assets targeted by this missile will find themselves.
00:21:33But the speed isn't the only impressive thing about the Dark Eagle.
00:21:36With an operational range of over 1,724 miles, the Dark Eagle has the longest reach of any land-based
00:21:42strike system in the US inventory.
00:21:44This range means that the Dark Eagle can strike high-value, time-critical targets from a distance with unparalleled precision.
00:21:50Whether it's a heavily fortified military installation or a critical command center, the Dark Eagle's warhead will deliver a devastating
00:21:57blow exactly where it's needed.
00:21:59What truly sets the Dark Eagle apart, however, is its maneuverability and survivability.
00:22:04Its hypersonic glide body can evade even the most advanced air defenses, ensuring it can reach its targets in the
00:22:09most contested environments.
00:22:10This includes even anti-access area denial zones, where traditional strike capabilities are often rendered useless.
00:22:18The fact that the Dark Eagle can penetrate A2AD zones is of immense importance, given that China continues to enhance
00:22:24its anti-access area denial capabilities.
00:22:27So far, these capabilities have dramatically altered the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
00:22:31Thanks to a web of advanced anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and a
00:22:37robust fleet of submarines and fighter jets, China has designed a mighty defense network intended to keep foreign military forces
00:22:44at bay, especially the US.
00:22:46And that's the primary goal of China's A2AD systems, to prevent or at least complicate any foreign intervention in key
00:22:52regions like the Taiwan Strait by denying adversaries the ability to operate freely in these contested zones.
00:22:58But there's no denying it when it comes to the Dark Eagle.
00:23:01Its speed and maneuverability allow it to outpace and evade the sophisticated missile defense systems embedded within China's A2AD strategy,
00:23:08such as the S-400 missile system or the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile.
00:23:13And that was precisely the goal of the Dark Eagle, to ensure no one can stop the US.
00:23:18With China racing to field hypersonic weapons, the US recognized the need to stay ahead in this rapidly evolving arms
00:23:24race, a very dangerous race at that.
00:23:26For the US, the development of the Dark Eagle and other hypersonic weapons became a matter of national security and
00:23:32strategic advantage.
00:23:33That's why the entire country rejoiced once it was announced the Dark Eagle completed a successful end-to-end flight
00:23:38test on December 12, 2024.
00:23:40This monumental test demonstrated the missile's extraordinary capabilities, not just in terms of its raw speed, but also its precision,
00:23:47maneuverability, and ability to navigate hostile environments.
00:23:50The test was the culmination of years of rigorous research and development, and it marked a major step towards securing
00:23:56a technological advantage for the US military in an increasingly contested global landscape.
00:24:01But before exploring this test in more detail, it's important to note that it was just the latest in a
00:24:05series of increasingly successful milestones, each one propelling the missile closer to operational status.
00:24:11The journey began in October 2017, when the first test of the Dark Eagle took place.
00:24:16The missile, designed to fit the launch tube of an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, was fired from Hawaii and
00:24:22flew over 2,000 nautical miles to the Marshall Islands at hypersonic speeds.
00:24:26The initial flight was a significant proof of concept, demonstrating that a missile could travel at extreme speeds while maintaining
00:24:32accuracy over such a vast distance.
00:24:34The results were promising, and the development team knew they were on the right track, but they also knew that
00:24:39much more testing would be needed to fine-tune the technology.
00:24:42Fast forward to March 2020, when the CHGB, a key component of the Dark Eagle system, underwent another round of
00:24:48testing.
00:24:48During this period, subsystems of the LRHW system were tested as part of Project Convergence 2022, a critical testing program
00:24:56aimed at advancing the Army's capabilities.
00:24:58These tests focused on refining the missile's components and ensuring they could work in unison, setting the stage for future
00:25:05end-to-end tests.
00:25:06This phase was crucial for demonstrating how the missile would perform in real-world operational conditions.
00:25:11Then came June 28, 2024, another pivotal moment in the Dark Eagle's development.
00:25:16On this day, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the successful completion of an end-to-end test of
00:25:21the U.S. Army's LRHW All-Up Round or AUR missile and the U.S. Navy's Conventional Prompt Strike Missile.
00:25:28Launched from the Pacific Missile Range facility in Kauai, Hawaii, the missile hit its target over 2,000 miles away
00:25:34in the Marshall Islands.
00:25:35This successful flight was a clear demonstration of the missile's capability to operate at hypersonic speeds over great distances and
00:25:42confirmed that the technology was maturing rapidly.
00:25:44With this test, the system was beginning to prove its worth not just on paper, but in practice.
00:25:49But it was the second successful flight in December 2024 that really grabbed everyone's attention.
00:25:54This test, conducted at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, was monumental for several reasons.
00:26:00First, it marked the first live-fire event of the missile using a ground-based launcher and a battery operations
00:26:05center, a key step in demonstrating the Dark Eagle's operational readiness.
00:26:09The missile then flew at hypersonic speeds, more than five times the speed of sound, and successfully struck a target
00:26:14over long distances.
00:26:15As a result, this test proved that the entire missile system was functioning as intended, not just individual components.
00:26:22The Pentagon quickly hailed the test as a major milestone, signaling that the weapon was getting closer to being combat
00:26:27-ready.
00:26:28Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth celebrated the achievement, saying,
00:26:31This test builds on several flight tests and demonstrates that we can put this capability in the hands of the
00:26:36warfighter.
00:26:37She emphasized that the successful flight showed the missile's potential to be integrated into the Army's arsenal.
00:26:42Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro also voiced strong support, highlighting that the test was a crucial step toward
00:26:48integrating the hypersonic missile into both Navy surface and subsurface ships.
00:26:52But while this test was a significant leap forward, it's not the end of the road.
00:26:56The US military is already looking ahead to the next phases of development.
00:26:59The Pentagon is gearing up for what's known as Hypersonics 2.0 and 3.0, an ambitious plan to refine
00:27:06and expand the capabilities of hypersonic weapons.
00:27:08These phases will focus not just on the weapons themselves, but also how they will integrate into the broader military
00:27:14strategy.
00:27:14This particularly applies to how these weapons fit into what's referred to as a Kill Web.
00:27:19The Kill Web is a multi-layered approach to warfare, where various assets from land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace
00:27:25work together to create an interconnected system of attack.
00:27:28As Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Christopher Grady notes, hypersonic weapons will not only help the
00:27:34US strike adversary targets, but also defend against hypersonic weapons from other nations.
00:27:39This dual capability is critical as China continues to push forward with its own hypersonic missile program.
00:27:45In terms of specific milestones, the first LRHW battery, which includes eight missiles, was deployed in 2023.
00:27:52This deployment is a critical step toward full operational capability for the US Army, with an expected timeline of one
00:27:58to two years for achieving full readiness.
00:27:59Once operational, the LRHW will be positioned in Germany to counter advanced threats, including Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic complex, as tensions
00:28:08in Europe remain high.
00:28:09The Navy, too, is preparing to integrate hypersonic capabilities into its fleet.
00:28:13The Navy plans to deploy the missiles on its Zumwalt-class destroyers by 2025.
00:28:18This move will greatly enhance the service's ability to strike targets at long range in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
00:28:24The Navy also intends to deploy the weapon aboard the Block 5 Virginia-class submarines by 2029, providing a stealthy
00:28:31undersea launch option for hypersonic weapons.
00:28:34This means that China and other US adversaries won't be safe anywhere, not in the air, not on the ground,
00:28:40not in the sea.
00:28:41Of course, China won't just sit idly by.
00:28:43The country has already been advancing its missile defense and air defense capabilities rapidly.
00:28:48The Dark Eagle's debut will only push China to escalate its efforts further.
00:28:52With this in mind, let's see what the Dark Eagle is currently up against.
00:28:55China has spent years developing a range of technologies aimed at enhancing its ability to defend against missiles, particularly in
00:29:02the face of perceived threats from the US, Russia, and increasingly India.
00:29:06Beijing has several defense systems in place or under development, including ground-based mid-course interceptors like the Dong Neng
00:29:12-3, DN-3, and the HQ-19, which are designed to intercept ballistic missiles during their mid-course and terminal
00:29:18stages.
00:29:19The DN-3, a hit-to-kill interceptor, and the HQ-19, derived from the HQ-9, are often compared
00:29:25to US systems like the Standard Missile-3 and THAAD.
00:29:28China's development of ballistic missile defense, BMD, has been strongly influenced by its desire to protect its political leadership, nuclear
00:29:35forces, and key infrastructure from preemptive attacks.
00:29:38The country has made significant progress in developing ASAT, anti-satellite weapons, which share technologies with BMD systems.
00:29:45Both of these systems are part of a multi-layered defense strategy aimed at countering incoming ballistic missiles, but they
00:29:51would struggle to handle hypersonic threats like the Dark Eagle.
00:29:54The Dark Eagle operates at speeds far beyond the capabilities of China's missile defense technologies.
00:29:59But more importantly, this missile can perform unpredictable maneuvers mid-flight, making it incredibly difficult to track and intercept with
00:30:06traditional ballistic missile defenses and air defense systems.
00:30:09China's current defense systems can't tackle a missile that follows an unpredictable trajectory.
00:30:14They might be capable against slower, more predictable threats.
00:30:16However, they simply don't have the speed, agility, or precision needed to effectively target and intercept a hypersonic missile.
00:30:23But what about China's air defense systems?
00:30:25On the air defense side, China has also invested heavily in advanced systems, such as the HQ-9 and the
00:30:30S-400, to defend against a wide variety of threats.
00:30:33This includes missiles, aircraft, and drones.
00:30:36The HQ-9, deployed in contested regions like the South China Sea and the S-400, a Russian system, have
00:30:41the capability to intercept shorter-range ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles.
00:30:46However, these systems are primarily designed to counter traditional air and missile threats, not high-speed maneuvering hypersonic missiles like
00:30:53the Dark Eagle.
00:30:54China's lack of a robust early warning sensor network is another significant gap in its air defense architecture.
00:31:00While the country has made strides in developing satellites for missile detection, it still lags behind the U.S. in
00:31:05terms of sensor technology.
00:31:07The radar and satellite infrastructure needed to detect and track hypersonic missiles in real time is still in its infancy.
00:31:13This places China at a significant disadvantage when it comes to defending against advanced threats like the Dark Eagle.
00:31:19Still, China is moving forward with the development of systems like the HQ-26, a naval missile defense interceptor.
00:31:25It's also exploring ways to integrate more advanced sensors and radars into its existing systems.
00:31:30However, much of this technology is still in the testing and development phase, and its effectiveness against hypersonic threats has
00:31:36yet to be proven.
00:31:37In other words, none of China's existing defense systems are well suited to handle the unique characteristics the Dark Eagle
00:31:43brings to the table.
00:31:44The speed, maneuverability and unpredictability of this system places it well beyond the capabilities of China's entire missile defense infrastructure.
00:31:52As a result, if the U.S. were to use the Dark Eagle against China, there would be little to
00:31:56no chance of interception or effective countermeasures.
00:31:59The Dark Eagle would strike any target within minutes, rendering China's defense systems obsolete before they even had a chance
00:32:05to react.
00:32:06And these targets, whether military aircraft, radar systems or key infrastructure, would be reduced to dust almost instantaneously.
00:32:13But that's just how the Dark Eagle would perform against China. What about other nations with hypersonic capabilities?
00:32:18As you can probably guess from all the mentions in this video, Russia is another major contender in the hypersonic
00:32:23race.
00:32:23Around the time the Dark Eagle was successfully tested for the second time in 2024, Russia's President Vladimir Putin went
00:32:30on an entire campaign to showcase Russia's own hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik.
00:32:34Now it's hard to miss Putin's confidence in this missile, as he's practically shouting from the rooftops about how amazing
00:32:40it is.
00:32:40According to him, this missile, which strikes at speeds of Mach 10, can render any countermeasures completely useless.
00:32:46Putin even had the audacity to suggest that the Oreshnik could make nuclear weapons obsolete, boasting that it's basically untouchable
00:32:53by modern air defenses.
00:32:54However, while the Oreshnik reportedly boasts impressive speed and power, it doesn't quite match the Dark Eagle in terms of
00:33:00versatility.
00:33:01Though it's still unclear whether the Dark Eagle is nuclear-capable like the Oreshnik, this doesn't make it any less
00:33:06lethal.
00:33:06Its focus on sheer precision and speed makes it a devastating weapon on its own, even if it does have
00:33:12a non-nuclear status.
00:33:13Plus, the US has a clear edge when it comes to integrating these weapons into a full-spectrum military strategy,
00:33:19allowing the Dark Eagle to leave the Oreshnik in the dust too.
00:33:22When it comes to missile defenses, Russia fields two notable systems, the S-400 and the S-500.
00:33:27We've already discussed the incompetence of the S-400 to counter the Dark Eagle, but what about its more advanced
00:33:32counterpart?
00:33:33Well, on paper, the S-500 is capable of intercepting hypersonic weapons, but let's be real, Russian systems always look
00:33:40great on paper.
00:33:41But when it comes to the actual test of battle, they fall short.
00:33:44The truth is that in practice, the S-500 is still unproven.
00:33:47Perhaps it could be adapted to intercept hypersonic missiles, but tackling such a sophisticated high-speed weapon like the Dark
00:33:54Eagle is a whole other beast.
00:33:56In contrast, the US is far more advanced in hypersonic defense and missile defense overall.
00:34:00The ground-based mid-course defense GMD system, Aegis BMD, and a more mature space-based tracking infrastructure place the
00:34:08US ahead of China and Russia in terms of missile defense coverage as well.
00:34:12The US also maintains sea-based missile defense systems that enhance its ability to track and intercept threats.
00:34:18More importantly, there are ongoing efforts to build defenses against weapons that travel at speeds surpassing Mach 5.
00:34:24In other words, the US isn't just looking to maintain its lead, it's actively working on expanding its edge both
00:34:29in offense and defense.
00:34:31But where do you see this hypersonic race heading next?
00:34:33Will China or Russia be able to develop effective defenses against the Dark Eagle, or are we witnessing the dawn
00:34:38of a new era where the US military once again holds the upper hand?
00:34:44Moscow just went up in flames.
00:34:46The Russian capital has suffered drone strikes before, but nothing comes close to this.
00:34:51In the early hours of August 18th, hundreds of Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles blotted out the skies above the city.
00:34:59And while some were eventually shot down, many more went on to strike their intended targets, dishing out millions if
00:35:05not billions of dollars worth of damage in the process.
00:35:08The war has well and truly come home for the Russians, and while Moscow residents watch their city burn, their
00:35:14so-called strongman leader Vladimir Putin is running for the hills.
00:35:18The massive raid began late on August 17th, with an estimated 637 Ukrainian drones taking off from strategic sites within
00:35:27Ukraine and beginning the relatively long journey over the occupied territories, across the international border and through enemy airspace to
00:35:36reach the Moscow region, which is situated some 450 kilometers from Ukraine.
00:35:41In the past, such a journey wouldn't have been possible.
00:35:45Russia's vast network of air defenses, including mobile fire teams, missile batteries and radar stations, would have been able to
00:35:52identify the incoming drones and eliminate most, if not all of them, well before they reached the capital region.
00:35:58Indeed, Moscow has for years been regarded as one of the best protected cities on the planet, with entire rings
00:36:05of defenses erected around the city to ensure that nothing got in.
00:36:08No missiles, no aircraft, no drones.
00:36:11It was vital for Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep his country's capital safe.
00:36:16It helped to preserve his reputation as a strong and capable leader, and it also ensured that the millions of
00:36:22people who called Moscow home, including many of the country's wealthiest residents, were free to go about their lives, enjoying
00:36:29the city's rich heritage and world-famous cultural landmarks, untouched by the horrors of war.
00:36:34And so, during the first few years of the war, Ukraine poked and prodded in Moscow's direction, sending small handfuls
00:36:42of drones towards the capital from time to time, but never really making much of an impact, as most of
00:36:47its UAVs were inevitably shot down by the enemy's defenses, and even those that made it through simply lacked the
00:36:53necessary firepower to deal lasting damage.
00:36:55In 2026, however, the state of play has massively shifted.
00:37:00Not only are Russia's frontline forces stalling, but Ukraine's drone army has grown far bigger, better, and more capable than
00:37:08ever before, unlocking the ability for serious, full-scale strikes on the Russian capital.
00:37:13We saw it on June 18th, when Ukraine launched its largest ever drone offensive on Moscow.
00:37:19Several hundred drones entered the capital region's airspace that night, with Russian officials reporting that close to 200 were shot
00:37:26down.
00:37:27Some, however, hit their targets, which included the massive Moscow oil refinery, located only 15 kilometers from the Kremlin itself,
00:37:35and this led to large parts of the city effectively being shut down.
00:37:38All the major Moscow airports had flights cancelled, for example, and while some residents watched on in horror as flames
00:37:45and smoke filled the air, others opted to flee the area entirely, seeking refuge in rural regions out of fear
00:37:52that additional attacks would inevitably occur in the weeks and months that followed.
00:37:56They were right.
00:37:57The June 18th strike was just the start of a major Ukrainian offensive against the Russian capital, and the August
00:38:0417th strike made the opening attack look like child's play.
00:38:07Covering several hundred kilometers of terrain, the swarm of over 600 Ukrainian drones easily evaded Russian radars and air defenses
00:38:14by flying close to the ground and following carefully calculated paths around the enemy's missile systems.
00:38:21A couple of hours after takeoff, they were already closing in on the capital region, with Moscow's air defenses finally
00:38:27beginning to activate.
00:38:27It's highly likely that decoy or dummy drones led the charge.
00:38:32This is a common tactic used by Ukraine's unmanned systems forces that allows them to overwhelm Russia's air defenses and
00:38:38force them to waste missiles and other munitions before the real strike drones begin to enter the area.
00:38:43Then at around 2.30 a.m. Kyiv time, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin began to report that drones were flying
00:38:50towards Moscow or being shot down.
00:38:53Sobyanin has a proven track record of twisting the truth to suit his narrative and often frames his statements to
00:38:59make it seem that Russia is in control of every situation at all times.
00:39:02He rarely acknowledges successful Ukrainian strikes and often plays down the amount of damage that Kyiv's forces have done while
00:39:09exaggerating the efficiency of the capital's defenses.
00:39:12Perhaps this was another example of that.
00:39:15Or maybe he genuinely believed that the attack was being dealt with and that Moscow's protective rings would be sufficient
00:39:21to prevent any serious damage or losses.
00:39:23If so, he was dead wrong.
00:39:26Because this wasn't like past attacks and Sobyanin was about to learn that fact the hard way.
00:39:31As the night progressed, the Ukrainian drones simply kept coming.
00:39:35And with each passing hour, the mayor was forced back to his social media accounts to issue updates and let
00:39:40the public know what was going on.
00:39:42At 3.30 a.m. for example, he reported that 40 more drones had been shot down while heading towards
00:39:48Moscow.
00:39:48At 4 a.m. he reported 23 more downed drones.
00:39:52By this point, all of the city's four major airports, Sheremetyevo, Domodedevo, Zhukovsky and Venakovo had been shut down by
00:40:00the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency.
00:40:03Russian news agency TASS also reported that at least eight flights had been unable to land in the Moscow region
00:40:09due to safety restrictions.
00:40:11Residents were roused from their beds at the sound of air raid sirens, phone alerts and the increasingly familiar buzz
00:40:17of Ukrainian UAVs in the air above.
00:40:20Many rushed to their windows, snatching their phones in their hands to film the scene as air defenses fired into
00:40:25the air and drone debris came raining down from above.
00:40:29Various clips show the city streets plunging into a state of panic and chaos as Moscow was given just a
00:40:34small taste of the sort of horror that has been unleashed on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and towns since
00:40:402022.
00:40:41And by the time the sun was rising the next morning, Sobyanin was forced to report that this had been
00:40:46one of the biggest drone attacks the capital had ever endured.
00:40:49Between yesterday evening and 5am today, 620 UAVs were flying towards Moscow Blast, including 180 drones destroyed in Moscow Blast,
00:40:59emergency services working at the sites where debris fell.
00:41:02Some of those sites included residential buildings and a shopping pavilion in Kolomna, as well as a civil registry office
00:41:09building and retail store.
00:41:11The local power grid also took a major hit, with an energy company reporting that many transformer substations had been
00:41:17knocked out over the course of the evening, leaving numerous customers without power in two of Moscow's urban districts.
00:41:23Ukraine didn't specifically target these locations. Unlike Russia, it doesn't use its drones to bombard people's homes, hospitals or similar
00:41:30sites.
00:41:31Instead, these sites were damaged when Russia's defenses shot the drones out of the air.
00:41:35Because once a drone has been disabled, there's nothing the Ukrainian operator can do to prevent it spiraling out of
00:41:40the sky and colliding with whatever happens to be in the way at the time.
00:41:44This didn't stop the likes of Sobyanin and Moscow's regional governor Andrei Vorobyov from attempting to paint the attack as
00:41:51an evil, merciless strike on the city's civilian population.
00:41:54In reality, Ukraine's drones had a very specific target in mind on the night of August 17th.
00:42:00And even though a chunk of the swarm was stopped en route, some drones managed to make it through to
00:42:04their destination, a Wildberries warehouse,
00:42:08situated near the Atlant Park in the Bogorodsky district, located towards the eastern edge of the capital region.
00:42:14It was just the latest in a series of strikes against Wildberries, the so-called Russian Amazon,
00:42:19which has caused devastating effects for the company and knock-on consequences for the Russian military and economy.
00:42:25Before we dig into the details of all of that, if this is the kind of insight you want more
00:42:29of, make sure you are subscribed to The Military Show.
00:42:31We break it down like this every single week.
00:42:35For context, Wildberries is the biggest online retailer in Russia.
00:42:39Over half of all online sales take place on the platform,
00:42:43with millions of Russians relying on Wildberries for all sorts of everyday essentials, electronic goods, fast fashion and much more.
00:42:50It was founded in 2004 and brings in billions of dollars in revenue each year.
00:42:55On the face of it, the company doesn't appear to be an obvious enemy for the Ukrainian military.
00:42:59But when we dig a little deeper, it's easy to understand why Wildberries has become one of Kyiv's top targets.
00:43:05Because this platform isn't as innocent as it appears at first glance.
00:43:09It doesn't merely sell cheap gifts and accessories.
00:43:12It also sells military equipment and dual-use products that can have both civilian and military applications,
00:43:18like drones, camouflage uniforms and navigation equipment, to name but a few examples.
00:43:23Since Russia's soldiers are often given only the most basic of supplies,
00:43:27many personnel turn to Wildberries to purchase additional items they need to survive on the battlefield and carry out attacks
00:43:33against Ukrainian positions.
00:43:35Realizing this, Ukraine didn't want to simply sit back and allow the retail giant to get away with reinforcing and
00:43:41resupplying the Russian army.
00:43:42And so on July 18th, the Ukrainian unmanned systems forces began what would turn out to be a series of
00:43:48strikes on Wildberries facilities.
00:43:50Two warehouses were targeted and destroyed that night, one in Electrostal and another in Kotovsk.
00:43:56A subsequent raid on July 20th resulted in massive damage to Wildberries' logistics center in Kolodino.
00:44:03Since then, many more strikes have taken place, with intense fires and powerful explosions ringing out at Wildberries' warehouses far
00:44:10and wide across Russia's regions.
00:44:12The impact of these attacks has been enormous.
00:44:15Experts estimate that close to 2.4 million square meters of Wildberries' warehouse space have been affected so far.
00:44:22That's around 43% of the company's total warehouse capacity of approximately 5.6 million square meters.
00:44:29The value of destroyed goods was also estimated on August 14th at around 445 to 507 billion rubles.
00:44:37That's 5.24 to 5.96 billion dollars.
00:44:41With the latest attack on the Moscow warehouse, that tally is likely to be even higher.
00:44:46In fact, the Association of Suppliers of Goods for Trading on Electronic Platforms, APTEP, an organization with extensive expertise in
00:44:54the kind of business Wildberries does, puts the estimate even higher as around 600 to 700 billion rubles, or 7
00:45:01.06 to 8.24 billion dollars.
00:45:04The company itself is believed to have suffered up to 2.6 billion dollars in direct losses, while thousands of
00:45:10small business owners who rely on it have seen their stock and their companies go up in flames as a
00:45:16result of Ukraine's attacks.
00:45:17And while Wildberries has hastily rewritten its company policy papers to reject any liability for these losses, many of these
00:45:25business owners are taking out their anger on the company and the Russian government and demanding immediate compensation.
00:45:32However, an anonymous Kremlin source who spoke to Reuters revealed that Russia simply doesn't have sufficient free funds to compensate
00:45:39all of the affected sellers, and with the Wildberry strike campaign still ongoing, the chaos is only set to continue
00:45:45from here on out.
00:45:46There will be a wave of bankruptcies, said the source.
00:45:49No one has the kind of money to support sellers.
00:45:52They added that these attacks have dealt a serious blow to the economy, and that's exactly what Ukraine was banking
00:45:58on.
00:45:58The Ukrainian Defense Ministry recently confirmed that 7 out of Wildberry's 10 major logistics centers have now been disabled, and
00:46:06the main intelligence director at HUR has also started a cyber warfare campaign against the retail brand as well.
00:46:12On August 10-11, the HUR's hackers targeted Wildberry's digital infrastructure, disrupting payment systems and customer services.
00:46:20The recent Moscow strike resulted in a fire breaking out at the Bogorodsky-Wildberry's warehouse, which, just like the others,
00:46:27typically houses many millions of dollars' worth of products, which can rain from the likes of TVs and tablets to
00:46:32military equipment, books, attire and household items.
00:46:36Moscow officials were quick to claim that the damage to the facility was minimal, and Wildberry's itself issued a statement
00:46:42to say that the site was evacuated, nobody was hurt, and the fire was quickly dealt with.
00:46:47But the fact of the matter is these kinds of statements cannot be taken as gospel.
00:46:52Wildberry's is in major damage limitation mode right now, as the company struggles with a crisis it never anticipated, so
00:46:59it will obviously say whatever it needs to say to keep people from panicking even more than they already are.
00:47:04The same goes for Russian officials like Sobyanin and Vorobyov, who are always desperate to downplay the impact of Ukraine's
00:47:11strikes.
00:47:12In reality, with so many drones entering Moscow's airspace, it's more likely that serious damage was done to the warehouse,
00:47:19which could have resulted in huge amounts of losses to goods stored inside.
00:47:23Even if that's not the case, this strike continues to serve as evidence that Ukraine can and will strike wherever
00:47:28it wants, whenever it wants, and that none of Wildberry's facilities are safe.
00:47:32The very fact that over 600 drones managed to strike Moscow is also a damning indictment of how far Russia
00:47:39has fallen.
00:47:40The country that is supposed to have the second strongest military in the world can no longer defend its own
00:47:46capital from an opposing force that is supposed to be so much smaller and weaker.
00:47:50The worst part of all this is that the attack wasn't a one-off. It's becoming a trend.
00:47:55Recent weeks and months have seen numerous successful strikes on the capital itself and surrounding cities, towns, and suburban districts.
00:48:02It appears that Moscow's fabled defensive rings simply aren't enough anymore to keep the people safe, and it's easy to
00:48:08imagine even more destructive and devastating attacks on the home of the Russian government in the near future.
00:48:14Speaking of the Russian government, many Moscow residents might have logically asked the question of where was President Putin while
00:48:20the city was burning.
00:48:22Historically, Putin has spent the bulk of his time in Moscow, in the hallowed halls of the Kremlin, where he
00:48:27feels safest.
00:48:29Recently, however, that's started to change as Putin's solid strongman persona begins to crack and crumble beneath the weight of
00:48:36panic and paranoia.
00:48:37Despite presenting himself to the world for decades as the sort of gritty, grizzled leader who isn't afraid of anything,
00:48:43Putin has in recent times appeared to be much more of a frightened figure.
00:48:47Increasingly fearful that covert Ukrainian agents might carry out some sort of attempt on his life, or that the enemy's
00:48:53drones might eventually strike at the Kremlin itself.
00:48:57As a result, Putin has been spending more and more of his time further and further away from Moscow and
00:49:01from Ukraine.
00:49:02As Riddle Russia reports, the Russian president was spotted in the Omsk and Yakutsk regions in July, for example.
00:49:09In early August, he was travelling around Krasnoyarsk Prai.
00:49:12From there, he moved on to locations like Borachia, the Novosibirsk region, and the Sakhalin region, including the Kuril Islands,
00:49:19an extremely remote and sparsely populated archipelago in the Russian Far East, about as far from Ukraine as Putin can
00:49:27technically get without leaving the confines of his own country.
00:49:30This isn't normal.
00:49:31Before the war began, it was very rare to see Putin head so Far East.
00:49:35When he wasn't living the life of luxury in Moscow, he spent much of his remaining time in the western
00:49:39parts of Russia,
00:49:40visiting big cities like St. Petersburg and enjoying the opulence of his presidential palace in Valdai.
00:49:46It's worth noting, however, that just days ago, Ukrainian forces managed to wipe out one of the air defense systems,
00:49:52an S-400, that had been installed to protect Putin's palace,
00:49:55sending a clear message to the Russian president that his home was no longer safe and amplifying his paranoia without
00:50:02a doubt.
00:50:02And so he continues his Far East expedition, even while drones rain down on the capital, with upcoming stops expected
00:50:09in places like Altai and the Kamerovo region.
00:50:13What do all of these places have in common? They're out of range of Ukraine's drones.
00:50:18Putin would like the public to believe that this is just a coincidence.
00:50:21He'd argue that he's actually spending so much time in the eastern regions because he needs to whip up some
00:50:26support for his ruling United Russia Party ahead of September's State Duma elections.
00:50:31In reality, that's simply a convenient cover story.
00:50:34As Riddle Russia notes, the choice of regions is unlikely to be accidental.
00:50:39Ukrainian drones and missiles do not reach Siberian cities, the sole exception being the strike on Omsk, and certainly do
00:50:46not reach the Far East.
00:50:47Putin can therefore travel there without serious concern for his own security.
00:50:51In short, the Russian president is running scared.
00:50:54Political leaders would head straight home if they learned of an attack on their country's capital.
00:50:58Putin, however, prefers to plug his ears and pretend that nothing has happened while hiding out in the safest places
00:51:04he can find.
00:51:05The mask has slipped, the strong man has been found out, and Putin's paranoia could eventually spell his end.
00:51:14War has come home to Russia.
00:51:16The conflict is no longer reserved for the battlefields of Ukraine, as increasing numbers of drones and missiles are seen
00:51:22lighting up the skies above Moscow,
00:51:24St. Petersburg, and other cities and regions across the vast Russian territory.
00:51:29Places that once seem safe feel more dangerous with every passing hour, as fires and explosions become everyday occurrences,
00:51:36and the Kremlin finally pays the price for its ruthless aggression.
00:51:40The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, can no longer hide the truth.
00:51:43But that hasn't stopped him trying.
00:51:46Even now, when millions of Russians are finally seeing the full fire and fury of the war with their own
00:51:51two eyes,
00:51:51Kremlin officials are still relying on their classic tactics of lies, cover-ups and propaganda in a desperate attempt to
00:51:58control the situation.
00:51:59Officials in many regions have been ordered, for instance, to clamp down on people who dare to take photographs or
00:52:05videos of Ukrainian drone attacks and share them online.
00:52:09This has led to numerous instances of arrests and prosecutions of individuals.
00:52:13Russian police recently released a video of one of those individuals, an unnamed 19-year-old woman from the city
00:52:19of Krasnodar.
00:52:20She was one of many witnesses to a recent Ukrainian drone strike on a warehouse belonging to the online retailer
00:52:26Wildberries,
00:52:27often referred to as the Russian Amazon, accounting for over half of the country's online sales.
00:52:32Seeing the smoke from the warehouse filling the skies overhead, she turned on her camera and filmed the scene,
00:52:37but has since been forced to issue a public apology.
00:52:40I admit my guilt and promise this won't happen again, the woman stated,
00:52:44in a clip that's been widely circulated on Russian social media as the authorities attempt to intimidate the general population.
00:52:51The woman may also face a fine if she's found guilty of violating the rules regarding filming and publishing footage
00:52:57of drone attacks.
00:52:58And she's certainly not the only one. Many more Russians are being arrested and now face charges of treason for
00:53:05simply taking photographs of their hometowns being attacked.
00:53:08This isn't new. The Kremlin has been trying to restrict the flow of information about the war for several years
00:53:14already.
00:53:15Back in 2023, for example, when Kiev's forces began to carry out strikes against Russian targets in the occupied region
00:53:22of Crimea,
00:53:23the authorities warned local residents not to post anything online about the attacks.
00:53:27They argued that this was because the Ukrainian forces could use such information, including photos and videos,
00:53:34to validate the effectiveness of their attacks or plan additional strikes.
00:53:38With Oleg Krychkov, an advisor to the Russian head of the Crimean government, writing online,
00:53:43your amusement helps the enemy pinpointed strikes.
00:53:46There may be some truth to that, and Ukraine has also issued warnings and urged people not to share images
00:53:52and videos of towns and settlements targeted by Russia.
00:53:55However, as the war has progressed, Russian authorities have become increasingly extreme and aggressive in their efforts to stop people
00:54:02spreading images of refineries on fire or logistics facilities being blown up by Ukrainian UAVs.
00:54:09Many people have been detained and fined.
00:54:11In August 2025, for example, three young Russians were arrested in the seaside city of Sochi after filming a TikTok
00:54:18of themselves standing in front of a burning oil depot.
00:54:22One of the trio was given a 30,000 ruble, over $300 fine.
00:54:26And as Ukraine's attacks become more frequent and impactful, Russia's regulations are only becoming stricter and more widespread.
00:54:32Restrictions on filming strikes have now been introduced in and around two thirds of the country's regions, according to data
00:54:39from the Russian human rights group, Department One.
00:54:42In May 2026, when Ukraine intensified its deep strike campaign and carried out several successful attacks in the Moscow region,
00:54:50the Russian capital region also banned the publication of any photos or videos showing the aftermath of what authorities labelled
00:54:57terrorist attacks.
00:54:59Officials and law enforcement agencies are even going as far as threatening members of the public with up to 20
00:55:05-year prison sentences for sharing videos of air defence systems.
00:55:08And one particularly pro-Kremlin TV personality, Vladimir Solovyov, stated on his show that everyone who sends such footage needs
00:55:16to be thrown in prison.
00:55:18What's more, Russia is ready to crank things up even further.
00:55:21Reports suggest that the Federal Security Service has initiated the first steps of a scheme to completely block access to
00:55:28Telegram,
00:55:29one of the most popular social media and instant messaging services in all of Russia.
00:55:33The Russian intelligence service has charged the platform's founder, Pavel Durov, with facilitating terrorism,
00:55:40arguing that Telegram is simply not done enough to remove channels that Ukraine uses to coordinate its attacks.
00:55:46For many, it's clear to see the truth. This isn't being done purely for military reasons.
00:55:51It's not just about preventing Ukraine from accessing information that could be useful for planning additional attacks.
00:55:57It's about suppression of the truth. It's about covering up the harsh reality of the situation Russia finds itself in
00:56:04today.
00:56:04It's about Putin and his Kremlin cronies doing everything in their power to save face and prevent the Russian public
00:56:10from realising just how bad things have gotten.
00:56:13Because things are worse than ever. Putin's problems have mounted up like never before, as Russia's casualty rate soars,
00:56:20its frontline forces struggle to capture even a single square foot of land, and its home regions continue to be
00:56:26blown apart by Ukrainian weapons.
00:56:28The Russian president's prestige, legacy and carefully constructed image of strength are being eroded, and rather than accepting and owning
00:56:36his mistakes,
00:56:36he continues to rely on his long-running playbook of deceitful tricks, pulling the wool over the people's eyes and
00:56:42hoping they won't notice what's going on.
00:56:44As former Putin speechwriter Abbas Galyamov explains,
00:56:48To a mass audience, visuals matter much more than words. If there are no images of burning targets,
00:56:53they'll be much easier to maintain the illusion that everything is going according to plan, and that's Putin's main message.
00:56:59The president is also relying on another familiar strategy to keep the public on side, propaganda.
00:57:05At a recent meeting with navy personnel to celebrate Russia's navy day, for example, Putin yet again sought to justify
00:57:12his invasion of Ukraine,
00:57:13and paint Russia as a victim of aggression from NATO, the western general, and what he repeatedly refers to as
00:57:19Nazi forces in Ukraine itself.
00:57:21As I have said many times, and I would like to make this point once again, we do not start
00:57:26any wars.
00:57:27All we did was respond to the military action, and the war unleashed by the Kyiv regime with western support
00:57:32against what was then Ukraine's southeast,
00:57:35a region which has always sought to forge closer ties with Russia.
00:57:38He went on to suggest that the Russian public needs to be imbued with an even deeper understanding of what
00:57:44the war means,
00:57:45and why they shouldn't only support it, but actively participate in it.
00:57:49I keep thinking that we also need to imbue the mindset of our society, our people, with the importance of
00:57:54the cause you're serving.
00:57:56You're serving your motherland. What can be more important than that?
00:57:59It's clear what Putin wants.
00:58:01He wants the public to direct their anger, fear and frustration against NATO and the west, rather than against him.
00:58:07He wants them to feel unified against a common enemy, to blame the decline in their own living standards,
00:58:13and the losses of their loved ones on Kyiv, not on Moscow.
00:58:16He wants the Russian people to believe that he and they are on the right side of history,
00:58:21and that they must remain strong and solid, even as the situation deteriorates.
00:58:25In short, he wants the general public to remain compliant and supportive,
00:58:29so that he can carry on doing all the same things that have made their lives so much worse,
00:58:34isolated their country from the wider world, and led hundreds of thousands of soldiers to early graves already.
00:58:39He wants all of this because he knows that he can't just keep throwing trillions of rubles into the war
00:58:44chest,
00:58:45and hoping that everything works out in the end.
00:58:47He also needs to keep the people on side, and ensure that tens of thousands of Russians remain willing and
00:58:52able to don their fatigues,
00:58:54and head to the front lines to continue the fight, when those who signed up before them are wounded or
00:58:58killed.
00:58:59In fact, rumors are starting to spread that Putin may even be planning a fresh wave of mobilization efforts across
00:59:06Moscow and St. Petersburg,
00:59:07with thousands of locals being made to go and fight.
00:59:10But before we dig deeper into that, if this is the kind of insight you want more of, make sure
00:59:15you're subscribed to the military show.
00:59:17We break it down like this every week.
00:59:20Now, on June 12, 2026, Putin signed a decree to increase the size of Russia's armed forces by over 7
00:59:27,000 people.
00:59:28The following month, he went further, signing another decree to add an additional 25,000 individuals to the country's military,
00:59:35increasing the overall total to 2,426,130 personnel, including 1,535,000 servicemen.
00:59:44Many military analysts believe that these are the first steps towards a possible mobilization,
00:59:49and there are already reports of Russian recruiters brutally snatching men off the streets,
00:59:53and forcing them to sign military contracts, as the Kremlin becomes ever more desperate to replenish its ranks.
00:59:59In late July, for example, the independent Russian news outlet 7x7 shared reports from the small village of Bashmakovo,
01:00:07situated in the Penza region.
01:00:09According to the 7x7 report, which cited video evidence from a Penza blogger named Stanislav Morozov,
01:00:15recruiters have been spotted over the summer months scouring the streets for able-bodied men and forcing them into service.
01:00:21One woman told Morozov that her brother was dragged to the local recruitment office, violently beaten, and then made to
01:00:27enlist in the military.
01:00:28Other residents shared similar stories, adding that there have been even cases of minors being abducted, beaten,
01:00:34and left in the woods when recruiters realized they were too young to sign contracts.
01:00:38The same tactics have been seen elsewhere.
01:00:41In the little settlement of Podgonoye, for example, a man named Sergei Milken was forcefully removed from his home
01:00:47and taken to an administration building.
01:00:49Despite suffering heart problems, he was ordered to sign up for service and swiftly dispatched to the front lines.
01:00:55Just a few weeks later, his wife, Verlena, shared a message on a local public page to reveal that her
01:01:00husband had been killed.
01:01:01These, too, are the kinds of stories Putin wants to cover up.
01:01:05Clearly, he has no qualms about treating the Russian people like pieces of meat, violating their rights and ripping families
01:01:10to pieces to feed his insatiable war machine.
01:01:13But he still wants to maintain his image as a stern but fair leader, trusted and respected by the public
01:01:18at large.
01:01:19He believes that lies and propaganda will be enough to make this happen, so that if and when the time
01:01:24comes for a mass mobilization,
01:01:26people will willingly accept their papers and leave their lives behind to serve their motherland.
01:01:31But the sad fact for Putin is that these sorts of tricks, which may have worked for large parts of
01:01:36his presidency, are rapidly running out of steam.
01:01:38Increasing numbers of Russians are refusing to believe the tall tale their president has to tell about the war going
01:01:44well, and it's not hard to see why.
01:01:47Even with authorities clamping down on people's freedom of speech in various ways, the people aren't blind.
01:01:52They can see the impact of the war quite clearly, with millions of Russians having already lost friends, family members,
01:01:58neighbours or other members of their communities to the conflict.
01:02:01Increasing numbers are also being exposed to the impacts of Ukrainian UAVs, hearing air raid sirens, receiving alerts on their
01:02:08phones or literally looking out of their windows and seeing smoke and flames fill the air from nearby refineries on
01:02:14fire.
01:02:15Large parts of the population have also suffered in other ways. Some have lost businesses due to the economic impacts
01:02:21of the war, for example, or have witnessed their living standards sharply decline as imports dry up, big brands exit
01:02:27the Russian market and the prices of everyday products continue to rise.
01:02:31The Russian public hasn't suffered anywhere near the same extent as those in Ukraine, of course, but the war has
01:02:37touched their lives and continues to do so in increasingly dramatic ways.
01:02:41And the natural response to all of this is a rising tide of resentment, fear, anger and frustration.
01:02:47Putin wants the public to direct those negative emotions beyond Russia's borders, but more and more people are refusing to
01:02:53toe the line.
01:02:55In fact, they're starting to rise up and take action against the regime.
01:02:58Back in Bashmakov, for example, reports reveal that residents have formed their own militia group aimed at protecting local men
01:03:05from aggressive recruiters.
01:03:06An estimated of 250 persons have volunteered to join the group. Some have contributed to it financially. Others have shared
01:03:14information about it online.
01:03:16Some, however, have actually stepped out into the streets, patrolling the settlement and maintaining vigils in neighboring villages to ensure
01:03:23that men make it back to their homes without being captured en route.
01:03:26The situation has even reached the point where the local police have threatened to lock everyone up unless the group
01:03:31disbands.
01:03:32This is just one group in one tiny Russian village, but it's representative of something bigger.
01:03:37It's a sign of something that the Kremlin would be paying attention to, a rising sense of rebellion among the
01:03:43Russian public.
01:03:43People are tired. They're utterly and entirely exasperated with this war. They're sick of seeing their friends, husbands, brothers, sons
01:03:50and neighbors being sent to fight in a conflict that no longer seems to have any clear purpose and certainly
01:03:56seems to have no end in sight.
01:03:57They want it to end as soon as possible, and at least some are starting to realize that the only
01:04:03way they can play a part in making that happen is by refusing to comply with those in power.
01:04:07For some, like those in Bashmakovor, this means getting out in the streets to safeguard their fellow citizens. For others,
01:04:15it means getting out of Russia entirely where they still can.
01:04:18Reports have revealed, for example, that vast numbers of Russians are buying up properties in other countries that still allow
01:04:24those with Russian passports to travel in and out as they wish.
01:04:27Like Armenia. Several realtors based in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, for example, have revealed that most of their new
01:04:34clients at the moment are Russians looking to leave their homeland behind.
01:04:38Some have compared the surge in business to what was seen in 2022 when hundreds of thousands of Russians fled
01:04:44their country either to avoid mobilization or as an act of protest against the Putin regime.
01:04:49As a result of the surge, rental prices in Yerevan have risen by around 30% in just three months
01:04:55and are expected to increase even further before the end of the year.
01:04:59Data from the Russian search engine Yandex reveals that phrases like apartments in Yerevan started to appear much more frequently
01:05:06in user searches from spring 2026 onward.
01:05:09During one week in July, for example, queries for this term rose to 5,200.
01:05:15That's more than 5,000 searches that were recorded between February 28 and March 6 of 2022, the first week
01:05:21of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
01:05:23Telegram channels dedicated to Russians looking for housing in Yerevan have also seen a rapid rise in activity,
01:05:29with new posts appearing daily from those who have either just crossed the border or are planning to emigrate in
01:05:34the months to come and want advice from those in similar situations.
01:05:38Many of these people likely decided to take action in July, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Putin was
01:05:45planning to send up to half a million more Russians to war.
01:05:48Putin is not ready to stop this war. Our intelligence reports that he's preparing for mobilization.
01:05:54He wants to strengthen mobilization not openly because he's afraid of his society, but he will do it at the
01:05:59beginning of October.
01:06:00Russia is set to host state Duma elections in September, with many believing that mobilization may come soon after,
01:06:08and with the Kremlin's casualty rate continuing to climb, it's easy to see why Moscow is so eager to get
01:06:13more bodies at the front lines.
01:06:15But the response of the public tells its own story.
01:06:17The fact that so many Russians are now either fleeing the country en masse or actively fighting with recruiters shows
01:06:24that large parts of the nation are no longer willing to bow down and play along with the Kremlin's games.
01:06:29So, if and when Putin does decide to move ahead with the mobilization, he's likely to discover it's far harder
01:06:36than he thinks to make people sign their own death warrants.
01:06:39Instead, he may face even more intense acts of rebellion and rising calls to step down, as fewer and fewer
01:06:45people are willing to lay their own lives or the lives of their loved ones on the line to support
01:06:50his reckless campaign of conquest.
01:06:52And that's just one of the many problems mounting up on the Russian president's desk.
01:06:57You can learn more about the impossible challenges that lie ahead for Putin in this video, which explores some of
01:07:02the reasons why he's unlikely to ever agree to a proper peace deal.
01:07:05Alternatively, for insights into the other side, check out this video, which looks at how Ukraine has defied convention to
01:07:12create a one-of-a-kind air force that breaks all the rules, yet is still getting stronger all the
01:07:17time.
01:07:18And finally, don't forget to subscribe to The Military Show for more breaking news and insights you won't want to
01:07:23miss.

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