VLADIMIR Putin has warned Russians to be “prepared for anything” after admitting – for the first time – that the Kremlin was “mistaken” to believe Ukraine won’t hit oil refineries.
The Russian President gave no hope of an end to his invasion, and instead vowed to unleash more retaliatory strikes so “they don’t harm us again.”
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“We must be prepared for anything,” he said during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok when asked if the current long fuel queues – caused by Ukrainian drone strikes – were here to stay.
“Only our readiness for anything will give everyone who wants to harm us an understanding that it is better not to do so.”
The dictator added: “(We) assumed that they were purely civilian facilities, and they could not be targets of any attacks even in conditions of armed conflict.”
This comes just days after Putin smirked as he refused to rule out strikes on military sites in the UK.
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His thinly veiled threat came after Andy Burnham gave Ukraine blueprints for long-range Storm Shadow missiles – sparking a furious response from Moscow.
NATO leaders have already warned that the Kremlin is already waging an increasingly aggressive “hybrid” campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation across Europe – so fears are growing of further escalation.
At the same time, suspected Russian incursions and plots have raised the danger of a miscalculation invoking NATO’s Article 5 collective-defence guarantee.
While sweet-talking the crowd at Vladivostok, Putin failed to mention that he is beefing up production at his notorious drone base in Yelabuga.
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Satellite images circulated by Copernicus reveal the massive expansion at the secretive drone hub in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone where the lethal Geran drones are being manufactured.
Based on the Iranian-developed Shahed drones, they are regularly used in attacks against Ukraine.
It is understood that the expansion of the factory now covers more than 1,000 hectares, Bild reported.
A protective barrier is intended to prevent Ukrainian drones from hitting the important arms facility.
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Analysis by the US think tank CSIS estimated the reported production at more than 5,500 drones per month.
While ramping up arms production, experts have argued that Russia is readying to unveil a new wave of mobilisation after elections due later this month.
“There is no such scenario today that would require mobilisation,” Putin insisted.
At the same time, he also ruled out peace talks, citing Western seizures of his shadow fleet tankers used to illegally transport oil.
“From the seizure of civilian vessels, to strikes on civilian merchant ships,” Putin said.
“And now, all the more so, we have heard threats of attacks on civilian aircraft. This is, of course, a manifestation of state terrorism.
“And this undoubtedly complicates, seriously complicates, the possibility of holding bilateral peace talks [to end the war in Ukraine].”
This comes as Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian cruise ship in the Arctic on behalf of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz.
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Officials said the vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized late last night in Barentsburg, a coal mining settlement that Russia operates on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the terms of a 1920 treaty.
Russia called the arrest of the ship an act of piracy and said it had summoned the Norwegian ambassador to deliver a strong protest.