Putin Warns Ukraine of Retaliation Over Economic Strikes, Claims...
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Ukraine that striking Russian economic targets has opened a "Pandora's box," cautioning that Moscow will...
By GT24x7 Correspondents··GlobalToday24x7
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a stern warning to Ukraine, stating that Kyiv had opened a "Pandora's box" by launching retaliatory strikes against Russian economic and commercial infrastructure. Speaking in an interview broadcast on state television, Putin emphasized that Russia would hit back at Ukraine's "most sensitive economic sectors" in response to intensified Ukrainian long-range drone attacks targeting key industrial hubs, oil refineries, and major e-commerce logistics centers across Russian territory.
The warning follows a series of strategic Ukrainian drone strikes aimed at disrupting facilities integral to Moscow's economic resilience and military logistical framework, including logistics hubs for online retail giants like Wildberries and Ozon, alongside vital regional energy infrastructure. In response, Russian armed forces targeted Ukrainian economic assets, specifically concentrating on port facilities, storage units, and infrastructure linked to Black Sea grain exports and agricultural logistics. Addressing international concerns regarding potential supply chain disruptions, Putin assured that Russian retaliatory actions against Ukrainian ports and grain transportation hubs would not trigger global food shortages, asserting that Moscow possesses sufficient domestic capacity to replace Ukrainian agricultural exports on the international market.
Diplomatic Stance and Battlefield Realities
Despite the escalating strikes across critical economic and commercial lines, President Putin reiterated that Moscow remains open to peaceful dialogue and diplomatic negotiations to resolve the conflict. However, he firmly insisted that any peace talks must strictly be conditioned on the "realities on the ground"—referring to territorial control established by Russian military forces—rather than what he characterized as "exotic" proposals conveyed by Ukraine through international intermediaries.
Kyiv and its Western allies have consistently rejected Moscow's preconditions for peace negotiations, maintaining that accepting current territorial holdings would amount to capitulation and leave Ukraine vulnerable to future aggression. As both nations continue to expand their long-range drone and missile strike capabilities, the deliberate targeting of critical economic infrastructure marks a significant phase of conflict escalation as the military confrontation continues.