00:00 Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces launched an attack that destroyed the
00:05 largest power-generating plant in the Kyiv region in retaliation for assaults against
00:10 his own country's energy sector.
00:12 Putin insisted that Russia was obliged to launch strikes on Ukrainian energy sites.
00:18 The repeated attacks on civilian power stations have sparked outrage from Ukraine's allies.
00:23 Speaking to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, President Putin argued that the
00:28 attacks were only in response to Kyiv's attacks on Russian targets.
00:32 "Unfortunately, we recently witnessed a series of strikes on our energy facilities
00:37 and were forced to respond," Putin said in televised remarks during a meeting with
00:42 Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
00:44 While talking to his long-term ally, Putin said Moscow was ready for dialogue on Ukraine
00:50 but would not have any positions foisted upon it.
00:53 He also criticized the idea of a conference being held in Switzerland without Russia's
00:57 participation.
00:59 The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier on Thursday that it had conducted a massive
01:03 strike in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia's oil and gas facilities.
01:08 The overnight bombings targeted power plants and underground gas storage facilities in
01:12 five regions across Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military.
01:16 Russia's missile attacks on Ukraine's energy system, the bombardment of its second-largest
01:21 city and advances along the front are stoking worries that Kyiv's military effort is nearing
01:26 breaking point.
01:27 A dire shortage of ammunition and manpower along the 1,200-kilometer front and gaps in
01:33 air defense show that Ukraine is at its most fragile moment in more than two years of war,
01:38 according to Western officials with knowledge of the situation.
01:41 The risk is the collapse of the Ukrainian defenses, an event that would give the Kremlin
01:46 an opening to make a major advance for the first time since the initial stages of the
01:50 conflict, at least one official said.
01:52 The next few months will amount to Ukraine's toughest test, with the public growing exhausted
01:57 of war, especially in the city of Kharkiv in the country's east, which has been particularly
02:01 targeted.
02:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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