Shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could trigger a retaliatory response against Ukraine, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.
This was reported by Komersant Ukrainskyi citing Russian media.
“This is a dangerous game. People on the other side should understand that if they play it this dangerously, they have a nuclear power plant that is still operational… And what prevents us from responding in kind? They should think about that,” Putin stated.
According to the Kremlin leader, Kyiv continues attacks on the outskirts of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but there have been no strikes on the plant itself. He added that the plant is currently being reliably supplied with the necessary electricity through generators.
Meanwhile, Putin complained that representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) see who is shelling the plant but do not acknowledge that it is the Ukrainians.
“You asked for IAEA representatives to be at the plant, we agreed, and they are there. They refused to stay in a hotel; they live directly on the territory of the nuclear power plant… They see with their own eyes what is happening, who is shooting, and where the shells are coming from,” Putin emphasized.
Putin also made a number of other statements:
How Russia tried to join NATO
“Our country… twice expressed its readiness to join NATO. The first time was in 1954, during the USSR, and the second time was during U.S. President Bill Clinton’s visit to Moscow in 2000. Both times we were effectively refused at the doorstep,” Putin said. “When I spoke with Clinton, he said, ‘You know, interesting, I think it’s possible.’ And then in the evening he said, ‘I’ve consulted with my advisors—it’s not realistic now.’ And when is it realistic?”
The president also stated that Western countries “could not resist the temptation of absolute power”: “Some smugly considered themselves entitled to lecture everyone else, while others preferred to cater to the strong to avoid unnecessary problems.”
“Ukraine’s tragedy is a pain for both Ukrainians and Russians — for all of us,” Putin said. He agreed that if Donald Trump had been U.S. president in 2022, the conflict might have been avoided.
“Along almost the entire line of contact, the RF Armed Forces are supposedly ‘confidently advancing,’” he said. “The troops have taken two-thirds of Kupiansk. Kirovsk has completely come under our control. The southern group entered Kostiantynivka… They entered Siversk, Krasnoarmiisk.”
“Almost 100% of Luhansk region is in our hands — 0.13% remains under enemy control. About 19 percent, a little more, the enemy still controls in Donetsk. 24–25% — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. And everywhere, I want to stress, Russian troops are confidently holding the strategic initiative.”
He gave Ukrainian Armed Forces losses for September as 44.7 thousand people, nearly half of them irrecoverable: “Unfortunately, we also have losses, but they are far smaller.”
“Do you understand the difference? Our guys come and sign up for the army themselves. They are, in fact, volunteers. We do not carry out any mass, let alone forced, mobilization,” the Kremlin leader added.
“The army [in Ukraine] is simple, working-class and peasant; the elite do not fight. They only send their citizens to the slaughter, and that’s it. Hence the large number of deserters. We call on them to surrender, but it is difficult for them to do so because barrier detachments destroy them.”
About supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine
“This is dangerous. Regarding the Tomahawks, that is powerful weaponry. Admittedly, they are no longer entirely modern, but they are powerful and threatening, and, of course, this will in no way change the balance on the battlefield,” Putin said.
According to him, Russia will adapt even if Ukraine acquires such weapons:
“Can Tomahawks do us harm? They can. We will shoot them down, we will improve our air-defence system. Will this harm our relations [with the U.S.], in which some light at the end of the tunnel has appeared? Of course, it will.”
Drones in Europe
The moderator asked the dictator:
— Vladimir Vladimirovich, why are you sending so many drones to Denmark?
— I won’t do it anymore. I won’t send them to France, Denmark, or Copenhagen anymore. Where else do they even reach?
“As you understand, seriously, we don’t even have drones that can reach Lisbon,” Putin said.
— You scared Portugal. You mentioned Lisbon… Overall, it was a joke, just so you know.
— What kind of joke?
— Well, we warned them, that’s also honest.
