VLADIMIR Putin has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of opening “Pandora’s box” with strikes on oil refineries and retailers.
The Kremlin has responded – including with attacks on grain exports via the Black Sea – and the Russian President has further threatened Ukraine‘s “most sensitive economic sectors,” which he said are “already on their last legs”.
Ukrainian drones attacked the Ozon logistics hub at Chapayevsk, in Russia’s Samara region Credit: East2West
Putin speaks during his interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin at the Kremlin Credit: AP
“The Kyiv regime set out to damage our economy,” he told journalist Pavel Zarubin. “What did it do? It opened this Pandora’s box itself.
“[They will] get an answer about the most sensitive economic sector… they are frankly already on their last legs.
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“This, incidentally, also applies to agricultural production, the export of which is the Kyiv regime’s main source of income.”
Putin claimed that Ukraine’s strikes have had “no impact” on the frontline and that Russian soldiers have ramped up “the pace of their advance”.
The drone attack on the Kryvyi Rih’s largest shopping centre Credit: East2West
A resident looks on as rescuers work at the site of a shopping centre destroyed by yesterday’s Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters
For weeks, drones have pummelled Russia, stretching from Moscow and St Petersburg, to cities in the south, and eastward to the Ural Mountains.
Targets have included oil refineries and warehouses belonging to Russia’s Wildberries, burning billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise and bringing the war home to the broad public.
Earlier today, Ukraine also hit a site owned by online retailer Ozon, Russia’s second largest retailer – for the first time – as well as an industrial facility.
Russian officials said that 10 people were killed in the strike.
At least four more people are still missing inside the wreckage Credit: Reuters
The operation is expected to continue for another two days Credit: Reuters
Ukraine sees strikes on facilities like Ozon as a legitimate target to kill anything feeding the Russian war economy.
Elsewhere, in the southern region of Krasnodar, three people, two of them children, were killed and another adult was wounded in a strike on the Sea of Azov port town of Yeysk.
This comes just hours after 16 people were killed and 130 wounded as two Russian drones smashed into a busy shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih in quick succession in what is known as a double-tap strike.
Rescuers are still digging through the smoking debris in their search for survivors. Four people remain missing.
Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha revealed that 22 children are among the injured in the daytime attack on the city.
“There are 29 people in serious condition, including five children,” he said.
Zelensky called the attack “absolutely cynical and despicable” in a post on Telegram.
“The attack drones struck in two waves: half an hour after the first strike and the resulting fire, there was a second strike targeting emergency responders,” he said.
“Attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts. We will definitely respond.”
