The sentiment in Washington before the Moscow attack was that Russians needed to experience firsthand the impact of the war in Ukraine. This attitude intensified as US sanctions proved ineffective, Russian advancements in Ukraine quickened, and President Putin received a high level of support from the Russian population during recent elections.
Previous attempts to make Russians understand the war’s effects included drone strikes on major city centers, attacks on infrastructure, and efforts to destabilize Russia’s economy.
Emily Harding, who is a former CIA operative within the US government-funded think tank CSIS, is featured in this transcript.
Aside from pure malice for the sake of malice, I don’t really see what possible goal there could be either.
“Malice for the sake of malice” is US military doctrine. Whenever a war went sour(almost all of theirs did) the US moved its energy to killing as many civilians as possible and destroying the country as much as possible. The US is then defeated, but leaves the victor to rule a country of ash and corpses.
This serves as a statement for potential enemies on one side and as a gateway for economical warfare and takeover on the other.