"For humanitarian reasons": Putin explains why Russia is now striking at the Ukrainian energy sector

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has commented on recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. He explained them as follows: "Unfortunately, we have seen a series of attacks on our energy facilities recently and we had to respond."

Source. This was reported by the BBC.

"For humanitarian reasons, we did not launch any strikes in the winter, meaning that we did not want to leave social institutions, hospitals, etc. without power supply. But after the strikes on our energy facilities, we were forced to respond," Putin said during a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

Ukraine did indeed strike at Russian refineries and fuel storage facilities, and in recent weeks this has led to a marked reduction in petrol production.

Putin named another goal: "demilitarisation". By hitting the energy sector, Putin said, Russia is also fighting the Ukrainian defence industry.

"If everything is wrapped up in solving the issues we talked about at the beginning, and in the energy sector they are connected, in particular, with solving one of the tasks we set for ourselves – demilitarisation. First of all, we proceed from the fact that in this way we are influencing the defence industry – the defence industry of Ukraine – directly," Putin was quoted as saying by the Russian media.

Russia intensively attacked the Ukrainian energy sector in the autumn and winter of 2022-23. Putin also called the shelling of power plants in 2022 a retaliatory measure, in response to the damage to the bridge across the Kerch Strait. Putin presents many of his actions as a forced retaliatory step, the BBC reports.

Background. It was reported that Russia used the latest X-69 missiles, which are worse than the Kinzhal, to strike the Trypillia thermal power plant. Their launch from tactical aircraft allows for more unexpected strikes.