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Pretty close to the border and relatively close to the fighting, right? >> reporter: yeah. i mean, it was hit, the russians claim, by two uavs or what we're calling drones. the ukrainians have said nothing about that, but we have seen an increasing number of mysterious or semimysterious events inside russia. >> sam kiley in ukraine, thank you very much. joining me now is retired brigadier army general, peter shwac, author of "a u.s. army's experience in pre-putin russia." he served as a defense cachet back in 2014. the general just returned from a trip to ukraine. grateful for your time toni...

Services to suppress, repress his citizenry is still amazingly strong. that said, it really is an issue of a tipping point. in other words, the temperature is definitely going up in moscow and how far can it go before people who really are important, these are the people who surround vladimir putin, start to take notice of this and say, hold on a second. is the entire system we depend on starting to fray at the edges because of what is going on in ukraine? if that is the case and they start making that determination, then it is going to get really serious at the senior most levels of the russi...

Of, untouched houses around russian command posts, and so on, and then a very rapid maneuver, completely different set of doctrine really that they are using. they're maneuvering around, surprising and devastating the russians. and they've caught them and caused a collapse of their command and control. they'll probably be able to regroup on the donetsk river. that the main concern of the ukrainians at the moment. >> steve, one of the things and we heard this from critics of putin inside russia, they want a full mobilization of russian forces there. do you think all of this will spur putin to d...

Would they be a big political issue for him? i'm not so sure they would but there are other things as putin feels himself more painted in a corner he might turn to. we have of course discussed this in the past. there's tactical nuclear weapons he could use if he felt things were going poorly enough. there is also biological and chemical weapons he could use. that's not to say we need to be more careful in the west in terms of providing weaponry and assistance to the ukrainians for fear of that happening, that is not what i'm saying at all. i am just saying if putin feels himself painted into a...

Rehearsals, says this man, who gives his name. i think this year, it's more special because of the special military operation happening in ukraine, he says. today i wave the flag to shore our army, but i hope it will end soon, he adds. a hint of awareness, perhaps, at the horrific cost. this is what victory day is meant to mark. the soviet union's role in the allied victory in the second world war. russia sustained millions of casualties, paying an enormous sacrifice. but the power of a military parade to bolster national pride has never been lost on the kremlin's leaders. least of all, presid...