Russia Escalates Strikes on Ukrainian Civilian and Economic Infrastructure

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2:32And it turned out these Russian drones very intentionally struck this U.S. McDonald's connected warehouse. There was an initial strike at 3 a.m. and then another one during the day. You can see this McDonald's logistical warehouse right here burning down. It was utterly destroyed. destroyed then Putin turned his attention to office buildings in Kiev I'm going to show you this in slow motion and then I'll show you in a little bit footage of what it looked like outside of this office building but this was the moment that a Russian UAV hit a business center in Kiev it's like a five-story six-story building and you can see right there the moment that UAV struck right into the center of that building so there was at least four individuals who were killed as a result of that strike that you just observed right there including at least one child there was seven injuries that number is expected to increase as well in addition we're seeing other warehouses hit hard by putin this is the sushia warehouse with all its stock and packaging in the warehouse that was completely destroyed as a result of the Russian strike in Kiev.

3:53So you had that McDonald's logistical warehouse. Then next to it, you had a Sushia warehouse. Now, Sushia is a well-known Ukrainian chain of Japanese restaurants right there, and you'll see that it is utterly destroyed. Zelensky gave an interview, and he said this is part of the hybrid warfare that the cia said was going to happen that russia is specifically targeting these foreign-owned warehouses in addition to hitting of course office complexes in kiev and other infrastructure not just in kiev but in cipresia in odessa we've seen in lots of other areas

4:34Ben Meiselas:in ukraine and russia is escalating a new york times article that came out yesterday has been saying what we've been saying now every single day, it seems, for the past years at this point, but that this winter is going to be the most difficult time probably since the start of the war for Ukraine. Donald Trump tapped Zelensky along saying that he would give him interceptors and then never gave the interceptors, never gave interceptor licenses. Putin's amassed a massive stockpile of ballistic missiles, and Putin's new drones are faster. These jet-powered drones are far more advanced than before.

5:12Ben Meiselas:And the New York Times article talks about how since Putin and Zelensky had this stalemate on the battlefield, they're now just blowing each other's cities up, basically. And that's the next phase of this escalation. Zelensky gave an interview and said, after meeting with U.S. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the intelligence services of the United States, Europe, and Ukraine share the assessment of Russia's ongoing hybrid attacks and European arms production sites and logistics hubs in Ukraine and in the region, as well as the Kremlin's covert mobilization. Zelensky announced that he's willing to work with other countries and try to have as much resilience as possible as they head into this winter.

6:00Ben Meiselas:Now, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev was in New York. You can see right here, Dmitriev arriving in his hotel. Apparently, while all of these strikes are taking place, you have Dmitriev meeting with Kushner and Witkoff in Manhattan. You see Dmitriev get into his hotel. We also learned that Finland and Sweden had to scramble fighter jets together for the first time to help identify Russian military aircraft in international airspace over the Gulf of Finland. It was actually a Finnish F-18 Hornet and a Swedish JAS-39 Gripen intercepting a Russian transport aircraft and warplanes as part of deeper defense cooperation between those two NATO members.

6:53Ben Meiselas:The, I think, implication also is that NATO's Article 4, Article 5 is not really able to be invoked anymore because the Trump regime's attack on NATO. So you basically have the equivalent of it, but just nations within NATO, right? So you have Finland and Sweden cooperating with each other. I mean, we talked about Canada and Norway working with each other in France. And while Donald Trump is out there bringing Xi Jinping into light, did you see Trump created like a closet room for Xi Jinping where he had like a shrine to Xi? And he's like, Xi, this is This is how much we respect you. Look at all these photos of me and you.

7:34Ben Meiselas:It's very weird. But look, Zelensky is not just sitting back and taking it. This is like a war of attrition, if you will. I mean, Russia's blowing up all of the Ukraine infrastructure and buildings. Zelensky is striking hard within Russia. I mean, just look in the past 24 hours, at least six Ukrainian attack drones hit the Russia Iskara electronic plant, which is a key manufacturer of components of Russian missile systems, including the KH-59 and the Pansir. Let's play this clip.

8:18Ben Meiselas:Now you'll see over here footage of a Ukrainian attack drone slamming into Russia's Perm oil refinery that perm oil refinery continues to burn it's one of the sixth largest refineries in all of russia and the fact that perm is down is also a massive blow we talked about the moscow refineries that were hit by zelinski last weekend we'll see what this weekend holds as well i'll show you right here what it looked like as the russian attack of this income business center in kiev um i'll show you what this looked like it's it's really devastating let's play it

9:22More of the strikes right here you can see for yourself. Russia once again bringing death to Kyiv. You can see what this looked like. Let's play this clip.

9:54now it should also be noted you know while you have these warnings of potential

10:00Ben Meiselas:hybrid warfare in areas like estonia or lithuania or romania we've already seen russian strikes on tankers off the coast of romania we've seen russian drones enter poland and enter nearby countries as well. We've seen that. And Romania. This is fascinating to me. So Russian state news agency Ryan Novosti published a letter and later deleted it. It's an article, not a letter. Threatening Lithuania with a short war and possible nuclear strikes. The article titled, Russia Faces Another Special Military Operation. It will be very short, referring to an invasion of Lithuania, discuss scenarios of missile attacks on Lithuania.

10:53The author, Alexander Nocevich, argued that Russia could use missiles with nuclear warheads instead of ground forces, claiming that a conflict in the Baltics would be quick due to geography. Rian Novosti removed the article several hours after publication, later stating that it did not reflect the editorial line, editorial policy, or state policy of Russia right there. Meanwhile, you have Zelensky posting the following. That's what he posted. We are responding to Russia's brutal strikes against life. Last night, thanks to our long-range sanctions, two oil refineries were hit in Perm and Nova Shanks.

11:38They were also hits on the Iskra plant defense enterprise in Yulovnowsk, and the occupiers now have two fewer radar stations. In the Rostov region, I thank our warriors and every unit involved for their accuracy, for systematically limiting Russia's ability to kill. Glory to Ukraine is what he says. Play this clip.

12:27you you you you you you you you

12:42then this video has gone viral as as a linsky was leaving New York, a Russian reporter went up to him and said, when are you going to Moscow? When are you going? And Zelensky responded, I'll go when I'm on an effing missile. I'll go when I'm on an effing missile. Watch what he has to say here. Play this clip right here.

13:17Meanwhile, Peskov, who's Putin's press secretary, says, So far, there are no prerequisites for entering a peaceful negotiation track. Although we, as the Russian side, remain open to peace talks, as of now, there are no concrete details regarding any summit meetings. Speaking of a Russian-American meeting, the president's readiness is there. As for meetings between Putin and Zelensky, our position here is well known. Putin said that Zelensky, if he wishes, can come to Moscow. All necessary security guarantees will be provided to him. He knows full well what decisions need to be made. And apparently, when Trump spoke to Zelensky at the United Nations sidelines of the General Assembly general debate, Trump told Zelensky to go to Moscow.

14:05And Zelensky says, no, I'm not going to Moscow. We can meet at a neutral location. I'll meet with Putin in the sidelines of the G20. if Putin's eventually going to come, but I'm not going to be there in Moscow. Meanwhile, you have on a bipartisan basis, basically all the members in the Senate of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, everybody from Wicker, the chair, to Senator Shaheen, the ranking member, the Democrat, and everybody sending a letter to Trump demanding answers about why he invited Putin to attend the G20, why there's been no consultation with Congress about such a meeting, what the intent of that is.

14:54And you'll recall that Congress passed a massive sanctions package against Russia and Trump signed it into law, but it requires Trump to execute the law and apply the sanctions and apply the secondary sanctions. And as we've seen, even when it comes to Iran, right, who's the biggest trade partner of Iran? China.

15:17Ben Meiselas:And Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet and made our military personnel, just like he did with Putin, bend down on their knees for Xi Jinping and rolled out the red carpet. And so is Trump going to effectuate the law and the sanctions against Putin? Probably not. I'll share this video with you just coming in as well. This is the moment of the Russian strike on a Swedish paint factory, Eskero, in Odessa. Right now, you had the McDonald's warehouse, you had the Sushia warehouse, you have a data group warehouse, and then you have the Swedish. You all see what's happening, right? I mean, duh, we see what's happening here.

15:57I'll just show you what that looked like. You can play it.

16:06Ben Meiselas:now here's what putin said in a speech yesterday he said russia began retaliating only after ukraine started hitting what he describes as civilian targets including wild berries and ozon warehouses remember the wild berries and the ozon those are those key logistical facilities um what is this why was this done he says russia then responded to each of these actions and claims those strikes were damaging enough that kiev is now again raising the possibility of a ceasefire in several areas that's how putin's framing it putin's also mocking estonia's defense minister over comments about a possible war with russia saying the circus has left but the clowns remain putin called the remarks by estonia's defense minister completely nonsense and absolute rubbish adding that Estonia's entire population is smaller than Russia's army.

17:02And what Putin's also implicitly saying there as well is that NATO's not going to have your back one bit at this stage. And so, Sushia, Japan, you had the Swedish factory in Odessa, the McDonald's factory in Kyiv. see what's happening, right? We'll keep you posted every step of the way. It's important that we cover this and show you the footage. I think it's one of the most important videos that we do here. And I try to do it every morning, okay? Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million. Thanks for watching.

17:40Ben Meiselas:Hey, if you want the full story, how democracy got here and how we take it back, pre-order our new book, WTF America today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.