Putin threatens Ukraine with new strikes on energy and civilian facilities
Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively confirmed the continuation of strikes on Ukrainian energy and digital infrastructure, despite US President Donald Trump’s initiative to halt mutual attacks on energy facilities. The Russian leader described such actions as a response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory and warned of consequences if they continue.
Putin made this statement on October 15 during a speech at the "Business Russia" forum, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports.
The Kremlin head claims that Ukraine continues to attack Russian oil refineries, logistics centers, and other infrastructure facilities. According to him, Ukrainian drones attempted to hit several refineries the day before.
"Some hits occurred, but nothing serious," Putin said, commenting on the results of these attacks.
He also accused Ukraine of strikes on facilities related to the Russian marketplaces Ozon and Wildberries. The Russian president portrayed subsequent attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure as a response to Kyiv’s actions.
Putin paid special attention to strikes on energy facilities and data centers in Ukraine.
"They made the first move. We began to respond. Now there is squealing about energy and other facilities, including data centers. They started it. They shouldn't have started it," the Russian president said.
According to him, after Russian strikes, the Ukrainian leadership appeals to Western partners with requests to influence Moscow and achieve a cessation of strikes.
Putin placed responsibility for escalation on Kyiv, saying that Ukrainian authorities should have assessed the possible consequences of their actions in advance.
These statements came amid the actual collapse of attempts to agree on a so-called energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
On October 11, Donald Trump announced the achievement of an agreement that was supposed to include a mutual cessation of attacks on energy infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supported the initiative and declared readiness to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries on condition that Moscow does the same.
Ukraine refrained from attacks on Russian energy facilities for three days. However, Russian troops continued to strike Ukrainian power plants and other critical infrastructure facilities.
In particular, on the night of October 14, Russia carried out a massive attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving hundreds of thousands of consumers without electricity.
On October 14, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that the specific terms of the energy ceasefire had allegedly not been agreed upon. Moscow thus refused to acknowledge that the ongoing attacks violated the agreements.
On October 15, Zelenskyy told the Financial Times about lifting restrictions on strikes on Russian oil refineries. He explained the decision by saying that Ukraine had fulfilled its part of Trump’s initiative, but Russia did not stop attacks.
On the same day, the Ukrainian military resumed strikes on Russian oil refining infrastructure. One of the targets was the Ryazan refinery.
Thus, Putin’s new statement confirms that Moscow continues to justify attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure as retaliatory actions, despite diplomatic attempts to achieve a cessation of such strikes. Moreover, officially there is no agreed and currently effective energy ceasefire between the parties.
Source materials: RIA Novosti, The Guardian, Ukrainska Pravda.