Russia will “intensify” its military strikes in Ukraine, says Vladimir Putin

Russia will “intensify” its strikes on military targets in Ukraine, announced Vladimir Putin on Monday January 1, in retaliation for the bombing of an unprecedented scale by the Ukrainian army of the Russian city of Belgorod this weekend. “No crime against civilians will go unpunished, that’s a certainty”declared the Russian president during a visit to a military hospital.

“We strike with precision weapons at places of decision-making, places where soldiers and mercenaries gather, other centers of this type, military installations above allcontinued Vladimir Putin. And they are very sensitive, these strikes. This is what we will continue to do.”.

Qualifying as“terrorist act” the bombing on Belgorod, which left 24 dead and more than a hundred injured on Saturday, he accused Ukrainian forces of having struck in “right in the center of the city, where people walk, before New Year’s Eve”. Vladimir Putin nevertheless estimated that “Ukraine is not an enemy” in itself and accused the West of using the kyiv authorities to “solve their own problems” with Russia.

The Russian president also estimated that Moscow’s forces have now “strategic initiative” on the front in Ukraine, where they have been gaining ground since the failure of the Ukrainian summer counter-offensive. The strike on Belgorod followed a series of Russian bombings on Ukrainian towns on Friday, which left around 40 dead.