Ukraine is facing a “catastrophic scenario” from Russian retaliatory strikes after it “opened Pandora’s box” with its attacks on economic and civilian infrastructure, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.

In spring, Kiev sharply escalated its long-range drone attacks on Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure, thereafter extending the strikes to e-commerce warehouses and civilian logistics facilities. Russia retaliated by targeting Black Sea shipping and key port facilities it said were handling Ukraine’s military-related imports, effectively severing the country’s main export route.

Kiev is now reaching out through intermediaries to try to “prevent this situation from developing into a catastrophic scenario,” Putin said in an interview with Russia 1. However, their trajectory is apparent, he added.

Ukraine initiated this with its “massive missile and drone strikes on our civilian targets and logistics,” the president stated.

It has opened Pandora’s box itself.

Russia’s retaliation struck Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors,” including agricultural exports, which are its main source of revenue, Putin said.

He added that the diplomatic proposals Moscow is now receiving are sometimes “exotic and unacceptable.”

We are always ready for dialogue on peace, but only on the basis of the realities unfolding on the ground.

Moscow has long stressed that it prefers a diplomatic settlement to the Ukraine conflict, but will only accept a long-term and stable peace that removes its underlying causes.

Russia will continue to push toward its goals via military means as long as Kiev refuses to compromise, the Kremlin has said.

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