Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Monday that the large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure were in response to Kyiv’s alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet, warning of further retaliation.
“Partly it was” a retaliatory strike using more than 50 missiles against 18 Ukrainian energy facilities in ten regions, Putin said during a press conference after meeting in Sochi with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
“But that’s not all we can do,” he added, quoted by the Efe news agency.
According to Kyiv, hundreds of cities in seven regions of Ukraine were left without electricity, at least 13 civilians were injured as a result of shelling from Russia.
Moscow claims that Kyiv attacked the Russian naval base in Sevastopol with drones on Saturday in what has been called a terrorist attack that damaged a minesweeper.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, one of the maritime “drones” used by Ukraine to attack the Russian naval base in Sevastopol was launched from one of the civilian ships chartered to export Ukrainian grain, while others were moving along a humanitarian corridor for security purposes.
This argument led Moscow to suspend the grain export agreement, although the UN disputed that claim, saying that there was no cargo ship in the corridor on the night of October 29 when the alleged attack took place.
Russia also suspended shipping along the humanitarian corridor on Monday until the situation around the “terrorist action” in Ukraine was clarified.
On Monday, Putin stressed that Russia had not withdrawn from the agreement, but had suspended its participation, and insisted that “Ukraine must ensure that there are no threats to Russian civilian ships and supply vessels.”
“This attack was carried out by Ukraine against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet… They created a danger for our ships and civilian vessels,” Vladimir Putin said.
Stressing that Russia has not abandoned the grain export agreement, but has “suspended it,” Putin added that it poses a “threat” to Russian ships and civilians.
The Russian President also confirmed that the agreement signed in July on grain exports brokered by the UN and Turkey is not working, as only 3-4% of grain reaches the poorest countries, and the rest goes to Turkey and the European Union (EU). , which Kyiv and Brussels have already refuted.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24 in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people – more than six million internally displaced people and more than 7.7 million to European countries – according to the latest UN figures, which rank this migrant crisis as the worst in Europe. since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia. .
The UN has presented 6,430 civilian deaths and 9,865 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, emphasizing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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