Putin says ‘decision-making centers’ in Kyiv may become targets for Russian attacks

ISTANBUL

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that “decision-making centers” in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv may become targets for future Russian attacks, as he addressed a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

“The Russian Defense Ministry and General Staff are currently selecting targets for destruction on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defense industry enterprises, or decision-making centers in Kyiv,” Putin said at a meeting of the CSTO’s Collective Security Council in the Kazakh capital Astana.

Earlier, Ukraine said a "massive" Russian airstrike involving almost 100 drones and over 90 missiles of various types targeted the country's energy infrastructure, resulting in power cuts and outages in multiple regions of the war-torn country.

Expressing that Russia carried out a comprehensive strike on Ukraine last night using 90 missiles and 100 drones, Putin claimed that the attack managed to hit 17 targets, including military and defense industry facilities.

Putin said Moscow's airstrikes over the past two days were launched in response to Kyiv's use of ATACMS missile strikes on Russian territory, arguing that its response may include further testing its new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in "combat conditions."

The Oreshnik missile was first used by Russia last Thursday in an overnight attack on the city of Dnipro.

The Russian president said the serial production of the Oreshnik has begun, arguing that it currently has no analogs anywhere else in the world.

"According to military and technical experts, in the case of a massive, group use of these missiles ... its power will be comparable to the use of a nuclear weapon," Putin further said.

He also said new missile systems may appear in Russia in the "near future," and that Moscow currently has several systems similar to the Oreshnik in stock.

Putin went on to accuse Ukraine of repeatedly attempting to strike objects of national importance in Russia, particularly in the capital Moscow and St. Petersburg.