All right. In the meantime, Russia's Ministry of Defense says one of its fighter jets intercepted a U.S. drone over the Black Sea to prev what it called a border violatio Russia claims the US Air Force drone apparently made a U-turn when approached by the jet. No word yet from the Pentagon. Meantime, Ukraine has issued warnings to ships using Russian black sea ports. It comes after a wave of Ukraini drone attacks, including this one that you're looking at right here of a on a Russian oil tanker that Moscow says will not go without a response. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us Nick, fill us in here. Why has the Black Sea suddenly become this major focal Yeah, entirely unexpected, especially for Moscow, as fair t if Vladimir Putin even has a fan holiday home, sat right on the B Sea area, just down from where yesterday's novel Racist Attack occurred on an amphibious assaul and probably not too far away fr the Russian fuel cargo ship Sig was indeed hit this morning. That was carrying 5000 tons or can carry 5000 tons Apparently, nobody injured on th Ukrainian officials suggesting that yesterday's attack against the FSB assault ship potentially involved 100 people who were on board. The point here, though, Jim, is these parts of the Black are supposed to be way out of Ukraine's range. They're supposed to be the safe back waters. That Russia could move its ships to away from exposed areas around the Cr Instead, day after day, we are now seeing these instance in which Ukrainian drones, perhaps traveling hundreds of miles are in fact, coming straight in to military v important parts of Russian military infrastructu That's what they allege the fuel ship was. And just last week or slightly e than that, the Kerch Bridge, again, hit by a Ukrainian drone that is too very close to that a as well. And so a series of incidents her that show firstly the increased ingenuity of Ukrainians using water drones which frankly appear to carry enormous payloads against exceptionally expensive Russian hardware. The fact that that range means R parts of the Black Sea used to consider impregnable are now very much targets for Uk And also to changing the narrative somewhat from about the ground here in the south, where Ukraine's counter offensiv is taking less land than it would have lik by this particular point. And still at this point, Russia is on the defensive. Jim and Nick, Ukrainian President Zelensky is confirming that some Russian missiles were used in attacks today in Ukraine, including where you are, near where you ar What can you tell us about that? Yeah, that can il hypersonic missiles seem to have been launc There been some interceptions. But indeed, here in Paris, a an aviation plant may have been Another area of Ukraine hit as w This is common, frankly. This is part of the daily routin of Russia's often barbaric response towards Ukraine, particularly when it's experiencing much more symbolically embarrassing things like attacks on Moscow or attacks on its naval ports. In the Black Sea area. And so we've been seeing these a nightly. Frankly, they often caused death Unclear precisely if there was a loss of life from the attacks we've heard of But for Ukrainian civilians, part of the daily horrors, frank they experienced since Russia invaded by choice nearly 18 months ago Jim. All right. That's right. Our Nick Paton Walsh with that live report for us. Thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. Joining us for more on the military tactics in the B is CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colon Cedric Leighton. There's some new video obtained and we're watching it right here A pretty extraordinary video her that shows one of these Ukrainian sea drones. Forgive my ignorance here. I didn't realize that they had s or what sea drones were. What are we seeing here? So basically what we're seeing h Jim, is a missile that is well, a drone that is acting kind of like a missile that is going to hit a ship. And you can see the ship right t as it's, you know, being approached by the drone. The drone is hitting it right on the side, basically. And one of the more vulnerable p of the ship. So what this can do is really a lot of severe damage It can actually take out a large portion of the ship. It could possibly sink it depending on the amount of explo Now, in this particular case, they tell us that it was around kilograms of TNT. So this is, you know, a pretty, pretty massive explosion is poss something like this. And I think what you're seeing i is really something that allows realize that the type of warfare that we're dealing with here is an asymmetric kind of warfare And that's very different. Ukraine has no real practical Na at this particular point in time except for these drones, is rema I mean, this has been a drone wa in many ways. And just looking at that video a I mean, what is remarkable to me is that it's got a pretty clear view coming from the drones point of That is a camera mounted on the I take it. Right. And while we're getting a pretty good shot, pretty good image of the Russian that it's approaching, I am assuming that it's essentia traveling under the cover of a lot of darkness here that the ships aren't really see even though we can see the drone in this video, that the ships aren't seeing that thing coming. They're not. And in fact, they don't have the capability. Ships have radars that is designed to protect them other surface vessels. They also, in the case of a naval vessel, they have radars that protect them against aircra but there's very little protecti in the way of anti-drone measure And that really affects all the naval vessels in the wor That's that's something that is going to be a big game change once we really assess how capable the Ukrainians actually have been in this particular case. Another wrinkle that the Russian anticipating in all of this. That's right. And this is one of the key things, Jim, about this war. There's a lot that happens that is unanticipated. There are a lot of different thi that occur that aren't part of the playbook If you will. And they always say, you know, a that is used in warfare, it falls apart once it makes contact with the e Yeah. Necessity. The mother of invention, we're seeing that time and again And this war in Ukraine is promi more drone attacks, issuing a wa using Russian Black Sea ports. I mean, this this could get pret Absolutely. And you saw it with the attack on the naval vessel in Nevada, S which is a seaport on the eastern shore of the Blac That is actually one of Russia's major ports by volume, which is actually, I think, the largest in terms of trade volume that goes through the ports. The largest port in Russia So the fact that the Ukrainians to send a drone that far and to take out a ship, a naval that that is a remarkable achiev No doubt about it. Yeah. I mean, they could just be extremely pes Those drones. And Ukraine's air force said Russia fired advanced missi into the western part of the cou What can you tell us about that? We heard Nick talking a little b about that a few moments ago. Yes. And in particular, I think one of the things that they emphasize is the controlled That the controlled missile is a hypersonic missile. It can travel at least five time the speed of sound, probably abo or seven times the speed of sound, depending on the variant. And it is designed to evade all kinds of air defenses. Now, the Ukrainians have been lu They actually have been able to shoot down controlled missiles in the past. So they are, in essence, upping the ante on their side and making it pretty clear that these weapons, these hypersonic weapons, which Putin has been so proud of that they are not invulnerable t I was going to say, you can shoot them down even at that speed, even if that means are are demonstrating that. Yes. And they've done with our patrio Wow. Fascinating. All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks Great to see you. Appreciate it.
