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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has threatened to escalate attacks on Russia if Moscow repeats last winter’s strategy of bombing Ukrainian power plants that left millions of Ukrainians battling freezing temperatures without electricity, heat or water.
The warning, issued by Mr. Zelensky in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” comes as the war enters another winter and as Ukraine has shown it is capable of reaching targets deep inside Russia.
Zelensky said: “If you cut off our electricity, deprive us of electricity, deprive us of water, deprive us of gasoline, you should know that we have the right to do that” as well, according to what was reported by the British newspaper “Daily Mail”. The version has been released By “60 Minutes”. Zelensky added that Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, ordered attacks on civilian targets, in an attempt to “break” the spirit of Ukrainians.
Last winter, Russia sought to weaponize the weather, a campaign that ultimately failed but at times left millions of Ukrainians without heat and relying on old wells for water. This year, Ukraine is boldly threatening to do the same to the Russians, relying mainly on attack drones.
In recent months, the frequency of launching drones at Russian targets has increased significantly. They have hit a key bridge linking Crimea to Russia, recently damaged Russian naval vessels in the area and threatened the Belgorod border region. It has also penetrated deep into the Russian border – as far as the greater Moscow area – but has not caused significant damage there.
Ukraine does not officially acknowledge the attacks inside Russian territory, although Mr. Zelensky and other senior officials have said they intend to take the war to ordinary Russians. In the “60 Minutes” interview, Mr. Zelensky again tried to be vague about the strikes although he said: “Ukrainian drones jumped into Russia itself, hitting the Kremlin, warplanes and high-rise buildings in Moscow.”
He continued to insist that he did not order drone attacks and that Ukraine only uses weapons provided by its allies on Ukrainian territory.
“But Russia needs to know that wherever it is, whatever place it uses to launch missiles to hit Ukraine, Ukraine has every moral right to send a response to those places,” Zelensky said. “We respond to them by saying: Your skies are not as protected as you think.”
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