All Hell Breaks Loose as Sneak Attack Hits Russia

0:00I wrote a little song to remind you, Choice Hotels gets you more of the experiences you value. The Cambria Hotel's got it all. A rooftop bar, have a ball. Cocktails up here feel just right. It's Cambria amazing, alright. Bring a date, your team, or even your mom. Book direct at choicehotels.com. See you on the roof. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just$15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird.

0:45Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan, equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at MintMobile.com.

1:28You're among fans. This podcast is sponsored by Made In Cookware. Made In partners with multi-generational artisans and some of the world's best chefs to create professional quality cookware, knives, and kitchen tools. Their products are trusted in Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide and designed to perform just as well in your kitchen. From five-ply stainless clad to carbon steel, every piece is built to last and made to actually make you a better cook. Discover award-winning cookware at madeincookware.com.

2:26foods market. Make your summer sizzle.

2:29Ben Meiselas:All hell is breaking loose as Ukraine continues to bombard Russia with these drone swarms that Russia's air defense really cannot handle. Russia is being overwhelmed by these Ukrainian drone swarms. And now Ukraine is also escalating its use of these flamingo cruise missiles, which have a real significant range and they're causing massive damage. So you've got the drone swarms and then separate swarms serving as decoys. Then these flamingo ballistic missiles, one after the other, they're precise. They're hitting their targets in Russia right now. And you got a very serious situation there in Russia taking place.

3:18Ben Meiselas:Zelensky announced that he's launching a 40-day special operation to end the war, utilizing these drone swarms and these flamingos. I want to share with you the military tactics going on here, what's taking place, and I want to show you visuals that you're probably not seeing many other places. Let's just take a look at this map right here. So yesterday, here's what we saw, this Ukrainian drone swarm raid into Western Russia and Crimea. And that's been a constant. Remember earlier this week, I've been showing the areas in Crimea, the air defense systems, nearby oil depots just totally destroyed.

4:04Ben Meiselas:I also showed you a few days before that, air defense systems, infrastructure in Moscow, Ukraine, picking these off one by one. What they're doing is they're also forcing Putin to put the air defense systems inside Moscow and moving it away from the front and other areas. And once Ukraine sees the air defense systems move, boom, they start attacking those areas as well. Two days ago, we saw these large scale drone swarms that were attacking as well in the east. You see the graph right here of where these attacks were taking place. And here was that attack yesterday with these Ukrainian FP5 Flamingo ground-launched cruise missiles.

4:52Ben Meiselas:They fly at low altitudes. It almost looks like a flamingo, like a bird. Low altitudes over the Volgograd oblast in southwestern Russia. I'll show you this right here as the cruise missile slams into Russia's Titan Barakati factory in the morning. At least two, maybe three flamingos hit this Russian plant. This plant is responsible for producing the launchers for the key Russian systems like the Iskandar ballistic missiles, which have also been doing massive damage inside Ukraine. But take a look at this footage right here. This is some rare war footage that we're showing you here as well. Here's the Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo ground-launched cruise missile flying at this low altitude and striking that infrastructure at that Titan Barakati factory that does those launchers for the Iskander ballistic missiles.

5:51Ben Meiselas:Watch this video right here. Let's play it.

6:07He is flying there PVO work! PVO where? Another one Another one Another one

6:30Where?

6:52Ben Meiselas:I'll show you B-roll right here. Another angle of this morning's Ukrainian cruise missile attack against that Moscow Institute of Thermotechnology Titan Barakati facility. Here's what it looks like from Ukraine. This footage shows the launch of several FP-5 Flamingo ground launch cruise missiles against those targets that I just showed you in the Volgograd Oblast in southwestern Russia. Take a look and you'll just see what these modern warfare marvels look like right here. Here, play this clip.

7:44Ben Meiselas:share with you some b-roll over here of the ukrainian attack drone successfully hitting a major russian fuel distribution depot in the krasnodar cry area in the morning setting in a blaze. This site was also, if you've been following our coverage, you'll know we showed you the footage of it hit just about a week ago with Ukrainian forces appearing to be intent to just fully knock it out. Before that, you had the Ukrainian attack drone successfully hitting a major power substation outside of the Safstopol area, causing power cuts in the Crimean capital. So no wonder you're seeing locals reporting a 20-mile-long traffic jam of vehicles attempting to leave the Russian-occupied Crimea over the Kerch Bridge today.

8:33Ben Meiselas:This follows major fuel, power, and good shortages caused by Ukraine's drone campaign. But Russia's striking hard inside Ukraine in Kharkiv region. One person was killed, three others injured as a Russian drone strike hit an apartment building in Izium right there, destroyed the structural components of the building and ignited the fire. We'll show you some B-roll here. Footage of destroyed Russian transports littering the side of the E-58 highway in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian mid-range strike drones continue to true through those Russian rear area supply lines. And what's fascinating is this person we're learning more about by the name of Alexander Lunin.

9:21Ben Meiselas:Have you heard of him? Well, Lunin recorded this message. He's a 39-year-old guy, former reconnaissance unit commander in the Sudoplatov battalion. In this video, Lunin demands a live meeting with Putin and alleges that Russian soldiers are tortured, abused, and punished for refusing what he describes as stupid orders for failing to hand over money. Jay and Keeve captured it. Jay and Keeve's got a YouTube channel. He's doing a lot of work. Say what's up to Jay and Keeve for me. um and as jay and keep says what started as a former russian army commander alexander lunin threatening putin over brutality theft and murder in the russian military it's quickly becoming the seeds of something bigger as you see this battalion over here recording a video with this message for putin let's play this clip 25 eunior 2026 года сегодня preезжal President of World Open Youadiator If theuration of Putin

10:31If he won't let a소를 We are hearing the truth What has happened here Please tell us In terms of Soties in the audience, thousands of our warriors were responsible for the circumference STEVE and the enemy Talking conduct Byringain, Models, And eines police officers' As the sides of a job For 在 stor, Deranged from their chain stitches To give you�� of financial resources And in conclusion Ah Sh найти and make them a mistake. Vladimir Vladimirovich, please invite me to invite you to invite you. The consequences will be very serious. If I will not come to Kremlin and not participate in the air, near you, the army will turn their weapons against Kremlin, I only give you a message.

11:50Ben Meiselas:You also got these ballistic missiles, of course, being fired into Ukraine and Kyiv by Russia. Take a look right here. The Ukrainian air defense intercept. You'll see it right here. The Ukrainian Air Force released this footage moments ago, showing its air defense system in action, engaging incoming missiles over Kyiv. Take a look at these interceptors being launched to counter the aerial threat right here. And this is what we're seeing on a daily basis take place over Kyiv. Let's play it.

12:41Ben Meiselas:and as i noted folks uh russians are very very very upset about what's happening from what i'm hearing as well. They're spending the entire day waiting in lines for gasoline. You have Russian media influencers like this Russian woman, very, very upset that the fuel, she has to wait all day for the fuel and that, you know, they weren't expecting that this to be happening in Russia. And again, I'm just trying to show you what's happening on the ground there. Let's play this clip.

13:32Ben Meiselas:Now, as I noted at the beginning, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy approved a 40-day operation to influence Russia into ending the war after receiving a briefing from the head of his security service on strikes against Russian targets. Here's what he had to say. A report from Major General Yevny Kamara on our long-range sanctions plan, mid-range sanctions, and the results of the security service of Ukraine, specifically the Center of Special Operations Alpha on the front. When Zelensky refers to long-range and medium-range sanctions, he's referring to Ukraine sending the drones and ballistics into Russia.

14:16Ben Meiselas:I approved a 40-day influence operation, Zelensky writes, for the service against the aggressor state aimed at compelling it to end the war. Importantly, for several months in a row, the Special Operations Forces has demonstrated the highest performance in defending Ukraine's positions on the front lines through the use of various types of drones. The Center of Special Operations Alpha leads the terms of the occupier's personnel and equipment neutralized. We also separately discussed challenges to Ukraine's internal security. I am grateful for the protection of our state and for Ukrainians. Zelensky also described the following that was taking place.

15:00Ben Meiselas:the Russian leadership is now pulling more air defense assets to Moscow, Valdai, and Putin's bridge across the Kerch Strait at the expense of air defense elsewhere. In the Moscow region alone, they have amassed hundreds of launchers for S-400, S-500, and Pansir systems. Nearly 90 launchers have been redeployed to Valdai from other regions of Russia, and a special air defense division is also being formed there to safeguard the peace and quiet of the Russian chief. To compare, there are only a couple of launchers per directions across Russia and around their other cities. Those are their priorities.

15:40Ben Meiselas:They are protecting their power, their source of this war. More than 60 Russian regions are already experiencing fuel shortages. There has also been a sharp increase in gas and diesel prices if they are available at all. Russian security services have proposed postponing or canceling altogether the ritual of electing United Russia to the state Duma. Their latest imitation of election was scheduled for September, and intelligence reports now show that Russia itself is not confident about what will be happening in September. And finally, Zelensky writes, today, no one on earth can say that we are not fighting for Crimea or that we have forgotten about Crimea.

16:22Ben Meiselas:Every day proves that Ukraine remembers every part of its land, every one of its people, and it's truly fighting to ensure justice for our entire system. And he talks about depriving Russia of its launch pad and drawing a line under its attempts to normalize war, he goes on and says right there. So that's what's happening. Again, I'm not sure you're seeing this video anywhere else. Hat tip to my bud Jay in Kiev, a friend of mine who's doing great work out there and getting a lot of this footage. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million. Thanks for watching, everybody.