Putin: Russia ordered massive strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Russian military had been ordered to carry out massive strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.

“They’re striking our targets—they’ll get a response. That’s roughly how things stand,” Putin said during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

Putin also claimed that Ukrainian attacks on civilian shipping in the Black and Azov Seas had caused damage equivalent to about 1% of Russia’s GDP, with around 100 vessels affected.

“People have died—sailors, including foreign sailors; there were Azerbaijani citizens among the sailors, and there were Turkish citizens among those who died,” he said.

According to Putin, the damage caused by the attacks was not critical for Russia, but Moscow had decided to respond in kind.

“They are incapable of inflicting critical damage on us. But there is damage nonetheless. After that, we said, ‘All right, fine, but then we’ll respond in kind,’” Putin said.

He added that Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian exports could potentially trigger currency, budgetary, and banking crises in Ukraine.

By Sabina Mammadli