Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was responding to Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and other facilities by striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and data centers. He also threatened Ukraine with further consequences.
Putin made a series of statements about Ukraine during a plenary session of the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) forum and congress.
According to Putin, Ukraine continues to attack Russian oil refineries. He claimed that attempts had also been made the previous day and that some facilities had been hit.
“They are still continuing, and yesterday they tried to strike some oil refineries. They managed to hit a few places. Nothing particularly significant, but they are continuing nonetheless,” Putin said.
He also mentioned attacks on the Russian e-commerce platforms Wildberries and Ozon. According to him, Moscow had not expected such actions but was now beginning to respond.
“We thought they wouldn’t go that far. But they did, and we are starting to respond,” he said.
Putin claimed that following Russian strikes, Ukraine turns to its Western partners and asks them to put pressure on Moscow to stop the attacks.
“We have started responding, and now they are already whining about the energy sector and other facilities, including data centers and so on,” he said.
Putin concluded by placing responsibility for the consequences of Russian strikes on Ukraine.
“They started it. And they shouldn’t have. Before taking that step, they should have thought carefully about the consequences,” Putin said.
