Washington DC –
United States Secretary of State (USA) Antonio Beat accusing the Russian president Vladimir Putin will do everything possible to conquer Ukraine. Blinken accuses Putin of even freezing Ukraine if he fails to get hold of it.
As reported by AFP, on Saturday (11/5/2022), Blinken accused Russia of trying to make amends for defeats on the battlefield in Ukraine by targeting the country’s infrastructure. Russia wants to deprive Ukrainian civilians of vital services.
This step, Blinken said, was deliberately taken by Putin because he was unable to take over Ukraine. He accused Putin of freezing Ukraine from submission to Russia.
“President (Vladimir) Putin appears to have decided that if he cannot take Ukraine by force, he will try to freeze it into submission,” Blinken said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Germany.
Russian missile hits the Ukrainian capital
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that the latest barrage of air strikes against Ukraine’s infrastructure was a retaliation for drone strikes on Moscow’s military fleet in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea.
As reported by Reuters and the Russian news agency TASS, on Tuesday (11/1), Putin made the claim in the latest press conference on Monday (31/10) local time. Moscow is also known for recently freezing participation in the Black Sea grain export program.
Putin said Ukrainian drones were using the same sea corridors as ships to transport grain in transit under the UN-brokered deal.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks that hit Sevastopol over the weekend. Kiev also denied using the security corridor for the grain export program for military purposes.
The United Nations said no merchant ships were sailing the Black Sea route on Saturday (29/10) local time, when Russia said its ships in Crimea had been attacked by Ukrainian drones.
On Monday (31/10) local time, the 250th day of the Russian invasion, a series of missile attacks hit several areas of Ukraine. The sound of the explosions also echoed in the capital Kiev, with dense plumes of smoke rising into the air.
The Ukrainian Air Force Staff, in a statement via Facebook, said that Russian troops hammered infrastructure in at least six regions of Ukraine during Monday (31/10) local time.
“To some extent, this is how it is,” Putin said at a recent press conference when asked if the attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure was a retaliation for the attack on Sevastopol, Crimea.
“But that’s not all we can do,” he stressed, indicating that further action could be taken.
Ukrainian officials say energy infrastructure, including hydroelectric dams, was hit by air strikes, which led to power outages, heating and water supplies. The governor of the Kharkiv region, By Synehubov, reported that some 140,000 residents had no electricity after the attack.
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