Putin has finally admitted Russia is facing problems in Ukraine war – are there signs he may be cracking?
When Vladimir Putin spoke to a state TV reporter, few expected him to make such a frank admission about his flagging invasion in Ukraine.
Speaking just hours after Ukraine hit another oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region on Sunday, Putin said that Russia was facing “problems” due to repeated attacks on infrastructure that have sparked fuel shortages across the country.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on refineries, depots and supply routes in recent months as part of an audacious strategy using cutting-edge long-range drones. Queues have been seen at petrol stations across Russia, while fuel rationing has been implemented in regions including occupied Crimea and Siberia.
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“As for strikes against critical infrastructure in general, and energy infrastructure in particular, of course these attacks on our infrastructure facilities create problems, that’s obvious,” said Putin in an interview published by the Kremlin.
“Right now we’re observing a certain shortage, but it’s not critical.”
The fuel shortages have led to growing public discontent, giving Kyiv the upper hand as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders push for renewed peace talks.
Faced with a sluggish economy after four years of conflict, experts tell The Independent that Putin can no longer hide the critical shortcomings in Russia’s air defences.
“Putin is gradually being forced to publicly admit more and more about the reality of the war. In that respect, Ukraine’s long-term aim of bringing that reality home to Russians across the country is beginning to succeed,” says Keir Giles, associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and an expert on the Russian military.
The Russian leader is now going to be “faced with harder and harder choices”, he says.
“All of this means he may eventually accept what has been obvious for some time: that Russia has more to gain from freezing the conflict than from continuing to fight if current trends persist,” he adds.
Analysts estimate that more than a fifth of Russia’s total refining capacity may have been knocked offline already, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported last week that Russian crude oil production dropped around 5 per cent year-on-year last month due to the strikes.
“This level of disruption is unprecedented in the history of the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” the IEA said in its June report.
In the same interview, Putin sought to place the blame for Russia’s economic woes on Western sanctions.
