Russia’s President Vladimir Putin reacted to the drone attack on Moscow and its vicinities, saying that “Russia is being provoked to respond” symmetrically.
“Ukraine had chosen the path of threatening the citizens of Russia and striking residential buildings. This is, of course, a sign of terrorism,” Vladimir Putin said after unmanned aerial vehicles attacked the Russian capital and its suburban areas in the early hours of 30 May. Putin omitted the fact that Russia has launched kamikaze drones and missiles against the residential areas of the Ukrainian capital for three days in a row and 18 times in May alone.
Russia’s President praised the work of the Russian air defense in and around Moscow. According to Vladimir Putin, although Moscow’s air defense system worked “satisfactorily,” its performance must be improved.
Apart from today’s drone attack on Moscow, Putin mentioned the “risks” related to the security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia captured in March 2022.
“There are other threats related to the attempts to disrupt operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant or to use other dirty devices associated with the nuclear industry. We have mentioned this many times before. We know what they [Ukraine] have in mind. Clearly, no matter what we say, they will always blame Russia. But we did not start this war,” Putin said.
On 26 May 2023, Ukraine’s Intel warned that Russia might be preparing a false-flag operation. According to Ukraine’s Intel spox Andrii Yusov, such an operation may involve a massive provocation and imitation of the accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe, currently under the control of the invading Russian forces.
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