Putin vows to respond harshly to Ukraine’s terrorism

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will respond harshly to the terrorist attack on the bridge in Crimea.

If Ukraine orchestrates further terrorist attacks against Russia, there will be a significant military response similar to the one launched on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council on Monday.

He confirmed that Russian troops carried out a “massive strike with long-range precision weapons on Ukrainian objects of energy, and military control and communications.” The attack came two days after a bomb damaged the strategic Crimean Bridge, which Moscow called a Ukrainian terrorist attack.

“If there are further attempts to conduct terrorist attacks on our soil, Russia will respond firmly and on a scale corresponding to the threats created against Russia,” Putin added.

Putin accused the Ukrainian government of “nuclear terrorism”.

He referred to recurrent shelling of the nuclear power station in  Zaporizhzhia and said a Russian nuclear power station in the region bordering Ukraine has also been targeted three times in recent months.

“The Kiev regime has been using terrorist methods for a long time,” he said.

Putin said that Ukraine has carried out three terrorist attacks against the Kursk nuclear power plant by blowing up high-voltage power lines.

“Ukrainian secret services have carried out three terrorist acts against the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia by repeatedly blowing up high-voltage power lines,” he said.

He stressed that serious consequences were prevented.

“As a result of the third such terrorist attack [against the Kursk NPP] three such power lines were hit. The damage was promptly eliminated. No serious effects followed,” Putin added.

Following a terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine acquired a new quality. Western-backed Kiev clearly is seeking to carry out major acts of sabotage deep inside Russia, while trying to retake territories, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

In such a situation, the Kremlin’s decision to establish the Joint Group of Forces for the special military operation in Ukraine and appoint Aerospace Forces Commander Colonel General Sergey Surovikin to lead it looks logical.

Founder of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) militia’s Vostok Battalion and military expert Alexander Khodakovsky believes that Surovikin “will have quicker access to the first person [supreme commander-in-chief] and an opportunity to convey his position directly, bypassing the top echelon of the military. “If it works, that’s fine, as those on the ground have a more impartial view of the situation than those in conference rooms,” he added.

“Surovikin has a lot of combat work to do in terms of managing not only the Russian Armed Forces but also other security agencies, as well as in terms of ensuring cooperation between them, establishing effective communication channels, exchanging information and so on. There is no place for intrigues and squabbles here, which is what some journalists and politicians are talking about,” military expert retired Lieutenant General Yury Netkachev pointed out.

Meanwhile, in his words, Kiev continues talks with the United Kingdom on a handover of nuclear weapons. Earlier, London allegedly promised to provide several tactical nuclear warheads to Kiev. “According to my data, [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky has given the command to prepare a dirty nuclear bomb for an attack on Russia,” the expert noted.

Compiled by: Basma Qaddour