Vladimir Putin has told Russians to be “prepared for anything”, signalling little prospect of an imminent end to the war in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv intensify long-range attacks against each other.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the Russian president said the country’s security depended on demonstrating its readiness to respond to external threats.
“Only our readiness for anything will give everyone who wants to harm us an understanding that it is better not to do so,” he said.
Mr Putin also pledged “to launch retaliatory strikes” against Ukraine to ensure its forces “don’t dare to harm us again”.
His remarks follow a sustained Ukrainian drone campaign against Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure, which has disrupted fuel supplies and contributed to lengthy queues at petrol stations in parts of the country.
The Russian president dismissed the prospect of negotiations, accusing Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, of engaging in “state terrorism” through Kyiv’s long-range drone operations.
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Mr Putin said.
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that more than 43,000 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory and illegally annexed Crimea between June and August.
Kyiv has not disclosed the total number of drones it has launched against Russian targets. Mr Zelensky has, however, repeatedly spoken of expanding the campaign, describing long-range strikes on Russian infrastructure as “long-range sanctions”.
The drone offensive has targeted oil refineries and other industrial infrastructure, while also causing fires at commercial warehouses. Moscow, meanwhile, has continued to intensify its own aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Mr Putin’s latest intervention also follows renewed threats towards Britain after the UK last week decided to provide Ukraine with classified blueprints for long-range missiles.
Asked by Russian state broadcaster RT whether British military-industrial facilities on UK soil could become targets, Mr Putin declined to give a direct answer.
“That’s a secret, a military secret,” he said with a smirk.
He did, however, confirm that British military facilities operating within Ukraine were “absolutely” legitimate targets for Russian forces.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, reinforced the warning last week, saying that “any British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and beyond its borders” could face retaliatory strikes.
Ukrainian officials have insisted they will continue efforts to pressure Moscow into ending the conflict despite Russia’s increasingly intensive bombardment.
Mr Zelensky and other senior figures in Kyiv have also claimed that Russia is preparing a new mobilisation campaign following the country’s forthcoming legislative elections.
Mr Putin dismissed those allegations as “an information attack by the enemy.”
The increasingly confrontational rhetoric comes as Nato governments raise concerns about what they describe as Russia’s expanding campaign of hybrid warfare across Europe, including sabotage, cyber attacks and disinformation.
Germany this week accused Russia of involvement in an attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport last month, in which a drone carrying explosives was allegedly deployed.
The accusation followed two other suspected sabotage incidents in Germany, including an attack on critical infrastructure near the Janschwalde coal-fired power station in Brandenburg.
Jan Redmann, Brandenburg’s interior minister, described the incident as “an act of sabotage”.
Police in the western city of Bergheim are also investigating what they believe was deliberate vandalism targeting technical infrastructure at a power substation.
The incidents have heightened concerns among European governments that Russia’s confrontation with the West is increasingly extending beyond the battlefield in Ukraine.
While there remains no indication of preparations for a direct conventional conflict between Russia and Nato, intelligence agencies have warned that sabotage, espionage and attacks on critical infrastructure could become increasingly prominent features of Moscow’s wider confrontation with European governments supporting Kyiv.
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