Vladimir Putin lauded the “heroes” of his military in stepping up a campaign on Ukrainian targets, calling the strikes effective and timely while acknowledging that reciprocal attacks by Ukraine have caused economic damage.
The Russian president commented in an interview with state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, released on Saturday.
It came as Russia and Ukraine continued to trade strikes on infrastructure facilities, including overnight Ukrainian drone barrages that hit an oil refinery and a warehouse of a major e-commerce company in the Samara region deep within Russia.
Ukraine's strikes “inflict economic damage on our country. They lead to losses,” Putin said, while adding that “no turning point in the confrontation with Russia could have occurred, nor did it occur.”
The latest exchanges come as Ukraine prepares to mark the 35th anniversary of its independence on Monday, a day that's also the 4 1/2 year mark of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Members of so-called Coalition of the Willing — an initiative led by France and the UK — are expected to gather in Kyiv on Monday.
Russia is ready for negotiations with Ukraine, Putin said, adding that proposals from Kyiv and its supporters are “unacceptable” and, in some cases, “exotic.” “We are always open to dialogue about peace, but only on the basis of the realities on the ground,” he said, echoing a long-held Russian position.
On a day that Alexander Novak, Russia's deputy prime minister, termed domestic gasoline supplies tight, Ukraine's General Staff said Kyiv's forces struck the Rosneft PJSC's Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in the Samara region.
It was the latest attack on a facility some 900 kilometers (560 miles) from Ukraine's border. Images on social media showed a plume of black smoke billowing from the refinery.
A logistics center in the same region was also set ablaze, Interfax reported, citing Ozon Holdings, Russia's second-largest e-commerce company. About 500 employees were evacuated and some people were injured.
Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said the region came under a large-scale UAV attack and that Ozon's warehouse was hit, Interfax reported, citing a post on the state-run Max messaging platform.
Ukraine since mid-July has increasingly targeted Russian warehouses, many of them operated by the e-commerce giant Wildberries. More than a dozen facilities from southern Russia to the Urals have been struck. Wildberries, often called “Russia's Amazon,” has lost at least 17% of its warehouse capacity, according to Russian media estimates based on expert analysis.
Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Telegram that its forces struck a locomotive depot in Kyiv's Darnytsia district, a logistics center in Brovary in the Kyiv region, and warehouses and fuel tanks at the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.
The strikes are designed to degrade the Ukrainian armed forces' ability to deliver equipment and ammunition to the front lines, Putin said.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive officer of state rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia, confirmed in a Facebook post that a railway facility in Darnytsia was hit, killing one employee.
The Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Mykolaiv regions also came under attack Friday evening and overnight, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X. Residential buildings, energy and railway infrastructure facilities, and civilian businesses were damaged, he said.
Rescue and recovery efforts continue after a Russian “double-tap” daytime drone attack Friday on a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy's home town.
At least 16 people were killed and 130 injured, including 23 children. The massive fire at the mall spread across 9,000 square meters (97,000 sq feet), Zelenskyy said. New Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least seven people in Ukraine, officials said Saturday, including a ballistic missile strike on the Kyiv region.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia's agriculture minister said Moscow was planning measures to support grain producers as Ukrainian drone attacks disrupt Russian export channels.
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Commenting on the disruptions, Putin vowed there would be no shortage on the global grain market, without explaining how Russia would maintain export volumes.
“We do have some issues related to exports of our goods. But we will resolve these issues,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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