The harshness with which the suspects in the Moscow attack are being dealt with is another way for Putin to signal that challenges from within or without will not go unanswered.

The ugly aftermath of the concert hall attack is also entwined with the even uglier dynamics of the Ukraine war.

Russia, which has lately regained battlefield momentum after a string of early failures, has been battering the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities with the most punishing drone and missile attacks in months. The renewed ferocity of attacks against civilian areas probably would have occurred anyway, analysts say, but Putin can use the concert hall strike as a pretext for stepped-up bombardment.

Zelensky has sought to draw attention to lagging support from allies, particularly the United States, where congressional Republicans have blocked assistance and weaponry. Delays are deadly, the Ukrainian leader said.

"Ukraine needs more air defense," Zelensky said. "This is security for our cities, and saves human lives."

As the war drags on, Putin will need to mobilize more and more troops — something he has managed to do so far, but the conflict's ripple effects are being felt more widely across Russian society.

In one small but telling example, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week acknowledged for the first time that Russia's actions in Ukraine constituted a "war."

That might have been obvious for some time to the rest of the world, but in the wake of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, Putin's government confined itself to the term "special military operation."

That term still applies, Peskov told reporters, but he denounced the involvement of the "collective West" as a continuing escalation and provocation.

"De facto, it has become a war for us," he said.

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