The May 3 drone attack on the Kremlin is an attempt to behead the Russian leadership and the army at a critical moment. Therefore, the nature of the special military operation is going to change dramatically.
On May 3, Russian special services disabled two Ukrainian drones that attacked the Kremlin, no one was injured. The drones attempted to strike the Kremlin four hours after Air Force 1 flew President Vladimir Putin from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Authors of Militarist Telegram channel believe that the second drone was shot down by kinetic weapons. The UAV crashed on the dome of the Kremlin palace, where Putin's office is located.
Ukraine has been conducting drone attacks throughout Russia lately. They target tank farms, airfields and other objets. The attack on the Kremlin appears to be part of information pressure before the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the eve of May 9 Victory Parade.
Resident Telegram channel said citing a source in the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky, that the strike was personally supervised by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov.
"This is a symbolic operation that was supposed to demonstrate the capabilities of Ukrainian intelligence," the authors of the channel said.
However, Kyiv already makes excuses blaming Russia for the incident and claiming that "the Kremlin attacked itself."
Noteworthy, Zelensky was in Finland when the incident occurred. On May 4 he went to the Netherlands.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Victory Parade on Red Square would still take place on May 9.
Military commissar Alexander Kots wrote on Telegram that he did not see any point in striking decision-making centres in Kyiv. The Russian forces should annihilate those who kill civilians in Donbass in the first place.
"A sensation that can change the course of the special military operation," political scientist Sergei Markov wrote on Telegram.
The main question for him is whether Moscow can indeed liquidate someone from the leadership of Ukraine.
It is an open secret that Vladimir Putin promised not to encroach on Zelensky's life. This was stated by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The strike on the Kremlin may formally lift this promise, if it was ever given.
Russia can not but respond to beyond-the-red-line attacks. Suffice it to recall that the Russian forces launched massive missile attacks on Ukraine after the explosion of the Crimean Bridge.