Vladimir Putin Rejects Energy Truce and Threatens Nuclear Defense
Vladimir Putin rejected a proposed energy truce with Ukraine and warned that Russia would use its full arsenal to defend the Kaliningrad exclave.
Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a proposed energy truce with Ukraine and warned that Russia would use its full arsenal, including nuclear weapons, to defend the Kaliningrad exclave. Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, Putin dismissed a proposal supported by U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to mutually cease strikes on energy infrastructure.
Putin acknowledged that Ukrainian strikes on refineries cost Russia approximately 1 percent of its GDP but declared that Russia will continue its campaign against Ukraine's power grid and transport networks. Simultaneously, Moscow sent a diplomatic note to NATO warning that any attempt to isolate Kaliningrad would trigger a military response.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte dismissed the threats as unhelpful and irresponsible, asserting that the alliance is defensive. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova further escalated the rhetoric by declaring that European factories producing weapons for Ukraine are legitimate military targets. Despite these threats, Putin indicated a willingness to negotiate if Ukraine agrees to neutrality and offered the potential return of seized Western corporate assets.
