Steph Deschamps / December 3, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday that Russia's massive strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure were "necessary and inevitable ».
It was stressed that the Russian armed forces have long avoided high-precision missile strikes on certain targets in Ukraine, but such measures have become necessary and unavoidable in the face of Kiev's provocative attacks," the Kremlin said in a statement, summarizing Vladimir Putin's remarks to Olaf Scholz during their first meeting since mid-September.
According to Putin, Kiev is responsible for the explosions that partly destroyed the Russian Crimean bridge and Russian energy facilities, and therefore Moscow is within its rights in bombing Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving millions of civilians in the cold and dark.
Putin, who launched his assault on February 24, has again complained about Western financial and military support for Ukraine, supplies that have enabled Kiev to inflict humiliating defeats on Russia.
Therefore, for the Russian president, the position of the West is "destructive", because with the political, financial and military support of the West, "Kiev rejects the idea of any negotiation" and "incites radical nationalist Ukrainians to commit bloody crimes".
Vladimir Putin called on Mr. Scholz "to review his approach in the context of Ukrainian events.
The Russian president had decreed the annexation in late September of four regions of Ukraine, although he does not control them, in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014.
Kiev, for its part, rejects any negotiation with Putin, without respect for its territorial integrity, including Crimea.
Militarily, the Russian army has suffered several defeats, having been forced to withdraw from the north of the country in April, then from part of the northeast in September and finally from part of the south in November.
Since October, Russian forces have therefore adopted the tactic of bombing facilities providing electricity and heat to the country, even as winter is settling in Ukraine.
Finally, earlier on Friday, the Kremlin had rejected the conditions mentioned the day before by U.S. President Joe Biden, who said he was "ready" to discuss with Vladimir Putin if the latter "seeks a way to end the war" in Ukraine, setting as a first condition a withdrawal of Russian troops.
The U.S. president "said de facto that negotiations would be possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine," which Moscow rejects "obviously," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"The military operation continues," he insisted.