Russia is going through a difficult period, but it has taught the country a lot, Russian President Vladimir Putin said today, quoted by TASS and Reuters, BTA reports.
The president promised to “guarantee” the country's security and deal with “challenges” as Kiev continues to strike at Russian military and energy infrastructure in an attempt to weaken Moscow's military capabilities, Agence France-Presse noted.
“We see the problems. We recognize them and we react to them. "But we will undoubtedly ensure the security of the country and our citizens," Putin said at a congress of his United Russia party, which convened for a conference ahead of the September elections.
"We will undoubtedly overcome all the challenges we face today, including terrorist attacks on our territory and infrastructure," he added, referring to Kiev's strikes on Russian territory.
In recent months, Ukraine has stepped up its campaign of strikes against Russia and Moscow-controlled regions in Ukraine, saying they are in response to Russian bombings that have been wreaking death and destruction almost daily since the start of a full-scale Russian offensive that began in February 2022.
Kiev has been targeting energy infrastructure in particular to cut off the flow of hydrocarbon revenues that allow the Kremlin to finance its military efforts.
The Russian president speaks a few hours after a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack on the southwestern Krasnodar Territory, which killed one person and caused a fire at a large refinery in Slavyansk in the Kuban, according to information from the regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev.