Putin terms fresh strikes as ‘response to Ukrainian terrorism’

Moscow: The war seems far from being over. Russia has resumed attacks on Ukrainian cities and President Vladimir Putin has warned that any further Ukrainian “terrorist” assaults on Russian soil will be met with a significant military response. He was speaking after a wave of missiles struck Ukraine on Monday morning, the media reported.

Putin confirmed that Russian troops carried out “massive strikes with long-range precision weapons on Ukrainian objects of energy, and military control and communications”. The response came two days after an explosion damaged the strategic Crimean Bridge, for which officials in Kiev claimed responsibility, RT reported.

“If there are further attempts to conduct terrorist attacks on our soil, Russia will respond firmly and on a scale corresponding to the threats created against Russia,” Putin added, RT reported.

Earlier in the day, multiple regions of Ukraine came under missile strikes, with at least 11 key infrastructure facilities damaged, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal. Putin stated that Russia was retaliating for a number of attempts to strike Russian infrastructure that have been attributed to Kiev.

Among other things, Ukraine has damaged high-voltage power lines that transmit electricity generated by the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, tried to sabotage the TurkStream natural gas pipeline, and was behind Saturday’s explosion that damaged the Crimean Bridge, Putin stated.

“The Kiev regime has been using terrorist methods for a very long time,” the Russian president said, citing targeted assassinations of public figures, the indiscriminate shelling of Donbass cities and of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant as examples of such actions.

“De facto, the Kiev regime has put itself on par with international terrorist groups, the most odious of them. Leaving such crimes without a response has become impossible,” he stressed, before confirming that Russia had attacked Ukrainian infrastructure, RT reported.

In addition to blaming Ukraine for the series of attacks on Russian infrastructure, Putin mentioned the disabling of the Nord Stream undersea pipelines. He said that Russia was being barred by European nations from investigating the sabotage and reiterated that “we all know well the ultimate beneficiary of that crime”. – IANS