Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that recent Ukrainian drone attacks have pummelled the Russian economy, as oil facilities and critical infrastructure took heavy hits.
He made the remarks following intensified Ukrainian strikes on Russian infrastructure, including a Kyiv-claimed attack on a critical oil refinery in Russia’s Nizhnekamsk region on Thursday night.
Putin, however, said these attacks would not affect the morale of the Russian people, who, he claimed, are more united than ever and ready to defend the interests and sovereignty of the country. He warned that such attacks would be met with a decisive response and added that if strikes on infrastructure continue, Russia would not spare any part of Ukraine.
Both sides have suffered massive losses in the war that began in February 2022, with Russia advancing on multiple fronts in what it describes as an operation to protect Russian-speaking populations. Putin stated that the continued attacks on oil and energy infrastructure would only strengthen Moscow’s resolve.
“As for the economy, they are certainly causing us damage, but we are recovering quickly,” Putin said in comments carried by Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency. He added that the strikes are intended to “sow confusion” in society. “The long-range strike campaign is therefore reducing Russia’s production capacity, while the mid-range strike campaign is hurting Russia’s ability to transport the gasoline Russia is still able to produce,” said the Institute for the Study of War.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged fuel shortages in Crimea earlier this week and promised that “measures were being taken” to deal with them.
Putin recently rejected the prospect of face-to-face talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the war.
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