Putin Says Russia Will Hit Ukraine's 'Most Sensitive' Economic Sectors After Drone Strikes on Refineries

Since Russian drones killed 16 people and wounded more than 130 at a shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih on Friday, both sides have escalated strikes on each other's economic infrastructure rather than dialing back.

Vladimir Putin addressed the exchange directly on Saturday in an interview with Russian state channel Vesti, saying Ukraine had opened a "Pandora's box" by targeting Russian oil refineries and warehouses. He promised Moscow would respond by hitting Ukraine's "most sensitive economic sectors," according to Reuters.

"The Kyiv regime set out to damage our economy. What did it do? It opened this Pandora's box itself. Well then, expect a response targeting your most sensitive economic sectors," Putin said, according to comments carried by Reuters and TRT World.

The immediate trigger was a wave of Ukrainian drone strikes Saturday that hit an oil refinery in Novokuibyshevsk in Russia's Samara region and a logistics warehouse belonging to Ozon, Russia's second-largest online retailer, in the town of Chapayevsk. Samara governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said an elderly woman was killed and industrial facilities were damaged, according to Reuters and the South China Morning Post. Ozon confirmed on Telegram that work at the Chapayevsk facility was halted and that the strike caused injuries. It's the first Ukrainian strike on Ozon itself, after weeks of attacks on its larger rival Wildberries.

Elsewhere, Russian officials reported Ukrainian drones killed at least eight civilians across multiple regions on Saturday. In Krasnodar's Sea of Azov port town of Yeysk, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said three people, including two children, were killed, according to Reuters and AAP News.

Russia hit back with its own strikes on Ukraine. Zelensky said one person was killed and another wounded when ballistic missiles struck railway infrastructure in Kyiv overnight, and Russia's defense ministry said it had targeted a locomotive depot, according to the Times of India. A separate Russian ballistic missile strike on the Kyiv region killed two more people Saturday afternoon. Russian drone strikes killed at least one person overnight in Zaporizhzhia region and three more in a daytime attack that wounded 15, per regional officials cited by the Times of India.

Putin framed the mutual strikes as a fight over Ukraine's agricultural exports specifically. He said Russia's strikes on Ukrainian Black Sea grain infrastructure would not cause a global food shortage because Russia could replace Ukrainian exports, according to Reuters and AAP News.

"We do face challenges regarding the shipment of our goods, but we will resolve these issues. Consequently, there will be no shortage on the global market," Putin said.

Russia unilaterally exited the Turkish-brokered Black Sea grain deal in 2023, and Ukraine remains one of the world's largest wheat and corn exporters. Whether Russia can fully backfill that supply on world markets is Putin's assertion, not independently verified in these sources.

Putin also rejected what he called "exotic" and "unacceptable" peace proposals relayed through intermediaries, insisting any settlement must be based on "realities on the ground," according to Al Jazeera. He did not specify which proposals he was referring to, and no source details their contents. He separately dismissed as "another adventure" any Western or Ukrainian effort to force Russia's collapse within 40 days, a reference reported by TRT World without further elaboration on where that timeframe originated.

On the Ukrainian side, Zelensky called the Kryvyi Rih mall strike an "act of barbarism" and a "despicable" attack, and said Ukraine "will definitely respond," according to the Times of India and the Independent. Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said nine people remained missing and believed trapped under rubble as of Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a call with Zelensky, pledged to speed up delivery of French air defense equipment, according to the South China Morning Post, extending an earlier pledge of additional interceptor missiles following the Kryvyi Rih strike.

Putin also used the Vesti interview to accuse Kyiv of trying to disrupt Russian elections through the strikes, saying Moscow would "strengthen state institutions and protect the legitimacy of government," per TRT World. This allegation is Putin's characterization and is not corroborated by independent sources in this reporting.

Whether Ukraine's parliament moves forward on the anti-corruption bills the EU requires for accession talks will shape the country's financial position. A parliamentary committee has so far blocked five such bills, according to the Kyiv Independent as cited by the Independent, putting roughly 2.1 billion euros in EU funding due at the end of 2026 at risk. That fight, separate from the battlefield strikes, will determine how much financial cushion Kyiv has if Putin follows through on targeting its economy further.