NORMAN HERMANT, REPORTER: In the Russian capital, the war is coming home. These images show a destroyed building where a six-month-old baby reportedly died in strikes. 

Moscow residents are living through Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on a scale they’ve never experienced.

OLEKSANDRA MOLLOY, UNSW CANBERRA:  Specifically what we’ve seen in the recent strike is really an increased number of long-range capability. More than 500 drones flying deep into Russia, but also striking Russian capital

So we’ve definitely seen quite an increased number of various capabilities, but more so Russia’s inability to defend its state.

NORMAN HERMANT: Ukrainian Australian drone expert Oleksandra Malloy has written extensively for the Australian Army Research Centre. She believes Ukraine’s strategy now is focussed on making it impossible for Russians to ignore the war. 

OLEKSANDRA MOLLOY:  I think that their narrative has been overshadowed, of course by undermining TV narrative and what the Russians actually know about that. So what they hear from their national media and what they noticed is really from personal experience, they have seen just the drones flying over the sky or they’ve been in the shopping centre or their homes and suddenly without any air raid alerts or any warnings, something is happening. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  That means smoke filling the skies over Moscow and fuel depots burning in St Petersburg as Russia held its most prestigious economic forum last month.   

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says it’s working.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (translated):  The majority in Russia is already complaining to Putin that his war has no end in sight. All the current difficulties for the Russians should bring them closer to the idea that this is their war, and it is not just a stone from the sky, and that their war must end.

OLEKSANDRA MOLLOY:  President Zelensky, he said, as long as the Ukraine will burn, the Moscow will burn too. So it’s time to stop the war and it’s time to start negotiations to finish the war in Ukraine’s turn. I think that is a significant narrative and actually that part that really states that Ukraine is highly capable. 

NORMAN HERMANT: Ukraine has relentlessly targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure. This is the result. In the world’s third biggest oil producer, some parts of the country are running low on petrol.

It’s a problem Russian President Vladimir Putin has been forced to acknowledge. 

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (translated):  Strikes on our civilian infrastructure are not carried out solely to inflict damage on us, although that is also important for the enemy. They are also aimed at feeding into an information campaign, or, more precisely, an information operation as part of the confrontation with Russia. 

NORMAN HERMANT: Ukraine is now striking deep into Russia. This social media video appears to show a long-range Flamingo missile hitting a defence plant hundreds of kilometres from the front lines. 

But on the ground Russia continues to grind forward. It too now relies on drones to control the battlefield. 

Oleksandra Malloy says the two countries are now producing millions of drones every year. 

OLEKSANDRA MOLLOY:  To date I would say Ukraine and Russia has the most advanced capabilities in both drone and counter drone technologies because they’re continuously present and they continuously are fighting and have to learn and adapt.

NORMAN HERMANT:  And Malloy says, when it comes to drone technology, Ukraine has learned much about Russian advances.   

OLEKSANDRA MOLLOY:  And Ukraine today is the leading country who has that experience and importantly, they can share that experience and explicitly telling the country’s partners that they are ready to work together, including Australia. 

So I think that we definitely need to benefit from that experience, that expertise, and learn first, how can we learn faster, how can we adapt better and how can we work with our defence industry in more effective and efficient ways?

NORMAN HERMANT:  The script has flipped from the start of this war, she says, when Ukraine was seeking military expertise from allies. 

Now its Ukraine that has valuable lessons to share.