Rachel Maddow

This is a screenshot from one of the videos of the drone attacks that was put out by Ukraine's security services. You see those round circles, little black fruit loops right there on the wings of those bomber planes? Those are tires, like tires you put on your car. Apparently, this is a thing Russia has been doing for a while now. This photo is from 2023.

But you see they've got all the little tires stacked up on top of the plane? This was apparently Russia's idea of... defense for their strategic aircraft on the ground at their own military bases. One NATO official telling CNN, quote, We don't know if this will have any effect. Well, now we know. Turns out stacking tires on your plane doesn't prevent drones from destroying those planes.

But you see they've got all the little tires stacked up on top of the plane? This was apparently Russia's idea of... defense for their strategic aircraft on the ground at their own military bases. One NATO official telling CNN, quote, We don't know if this will have any effect. Well, now we know. Turns out stacking tires on your plane doesn't prevent drones from destroying those planes.

The whole thing is just astonishing, and not just in a foreign policy way, but also in kind of an action movie sort of way.

The whole thing is just astonishing, and not just in a foreign policy way, but also in kind of an action movie sort of way.

It also has really serious implications for Russia and beyond Russia and the Ukraine war, because those big bombers that Ukraine just torched, those are the kinds of planes that are not only equipped to carry large-scale missiles, those are the kinds of planes that are also outfitted to carry nuclear warheads.

It also has really serious implications for Russia and beyond Russia and the Ukraine war, because those big bombers that Ukraine just torched, those are the kinds of planes that are not only equipped to carry large-scale missiles, those are the kinds of planes that are also outfitted to carry nuclear warheads.

So if you're Russia or if you're the United States or if you're any country with nuclear weapons, your national security policies are based in part around the fact that you have this sort of impenetrable nuclear deterrent, right?

So if you're Russia or if you're the United States or if you're any country with nuclear weapons, your national security policies are based in part around the fact that you have this sort of impenetrable nuclear deterrent, right?

Why would anyone attack you if you could then retaliate by flying some long range bomber anywhere on earth and blowing your opponent off the map using your nuclear stockpile, right? That's a sort of linchpin idea of being a nuclear deterrent country. Well, does Russia still have that same deterrent capability?

Why would anyone attack you if you could then retaliate by flying some long range bomber anywhere on earth and blowing your opponent off the map using your nuclear stockpile, right? That's a sort of linchpin idea of being a nuclear deterrent country. Well, does Russia still have that same deterrent capability?

Ukraine just disabled a primary piece of Russia's nuclear arsenal with, you know, handheld-sized devices that look like they came from RadioShack. I mean, Russia now has to contend with the fact that their impenetrable nuclear deterrence may be not so impenetrable after all, even against a much smaller neighbor that they have been hammering militarily for years now.

Ukraine just disabled a primary piece of Russia's nuclear arsenal with, you know, handheld-sized devices that look like they came from RadioShack. I mean, Russia now has to contend with the fact that their impenetrable nuclear deterrence may be not so impenetrable after all, even against a much smaller neighbor that they have been hammering militarily for years now.

That said, it's not only Russia that has to contend with what this means. This has really important strategic consequences for every country that thinks of itself as having a nuclear deterrent along the same lines as Russia's.

That said, it's not only Russia that has to contend with what this means. This has really important strategic consequences for every country that thinks of itself as having a nuclear deterrent along the same lines as Russia's.

For our country, this might be a really good time to have a robust, competent national security apparatus thinking about those kinds of implications and making smart, well-informed strategic decisions about how to react to them. Wouldn't it be awesome if that's what we had here in our own country? Joining us now is Nicole Wallace.

For our country, this might be a really good time to have a robust, competent national security apparatus thinking about those kinds of implications and making smart, well-informed strategic decisions about how to react to them. Wouldn't it be awesome if that's what we had here in our own country? Joining us now is Nicole Wallace.

Before becoming my beloved colleague here at MSNBC, Nicole, of course, was White House communications director. She knows how this kind of crisis should be handled, at least from a communications perspective. She also has a brand new podcast.

Before becoming my beloved colleague here at MSNBC, Nicole, of course, was White House communications director. She knows how this kind of crisis should be handled, at least from a communications perspective. She also has a brand new podcast.

It's called The Best People, where Nicole interviews some of the top minds and thinkers in the country about how to handle this moment we're living through right now. She also talked to me on the podcast for some reason. I'm not sure how I snuck in. The podcast just launched today. It's already number one on Apple Podcasts. Nicole, my friend, congratulations. And thanks for being here.