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The Russian leader also vowed to strengthen national security despite the growing number of Ukrainian attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AFP photo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said Moscow is going through a “difficult period” but insisted the country would overcome every challenge as Ukraine stepped up retaliatory strikes deep inside Russian territory.
Speaking at the congress of the ruling United Russia party ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September, Putin acknowledged the hardships facing the country but said they had made Russia stronger.
“We are going through a difficult period, but it has taught us much,” he said, according to Russian state news agency TASSwhile wishing his party success in the upcoming polls.
The Russian leader also vowed to strengthen national security despite the growing number of Ukrainian attacks. “Yes, we see the problems, we are aware of them and are responding to them, but we will certainly ensure the security of both the country and our citizens, as well as the inviolability of Russia’s borders,” Putin said.
“We will undoubtedly overcome all the challenges facing us today, including terrorist attacks on our territory and infrastructure facilities,” he added.
Ukraine continues strikes inside Russia
Putin’s remarks came as Ukraine claimed responsibility for fresh drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
A Ukrainian drone attack reportedly killed one person in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region and triggered a fire at an oil refinery, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes were aimed at weakening Russia’s ability to continue the war.
In a post on X, he said Ukrainian forces had struck the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, around 300 kilometres from the frontline, as well as another refinery in the Yaroslavl region, about 700 kilometres from Ukraine’s border.
The latest attacks follow another Ukrainian strike last week that caused a major fire at a refinery southeast of Moscow, sending thick black smoke into the capital’s suburbs.
Meanwhile, Russian-annexed Crimea declared a state of emergency on Friday as Ukrainian aerial attacks continued to disrupt fuel supplies and electricity infrastructure. The peninsula has been facing fuel shortages and power cuts linked to repeated strikes on logistics routes and oil facilities across Crimea, southern Russia and other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move that remains unrecognised by most countries.
(With inputs from AFP)
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