Putin says Russia will bolster its air defenses in response to Ukrainian drone attacks

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country.

Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.

“To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said of the drone strikes on his hometown of St. Petersburg. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”

The wide-ranging media session came on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin also said that Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached during his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal.

Putin dismissed the idea that European Union countries could act as mediators in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, arguing that they were not neutral parties.

“Mediation assumes neutrality. Where is the neutrality here?" he asked.

He also stressed that potential third-party mediators needed to be trusted by both sides.

“How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?” he said.

Commenting on Russia's use of its Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, Putin said it was fired at targets that allowed it to test its capability and precision before using it against objectives closer to residential areas.

“We hit the area where it was convenient to see the results,” he said. “It was important for making a decision on the future on the full-format use of the Oreshnik on designated targets, including those in populated areas.”

Putin emphasized his push for control of the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine controls about 15% of its territory.

Putin declared that “patriotism and will of the Russian people” will ensure the achievement of goals that Moscow set in Ukraine.

“Russian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,” he said.

Wednesday's drone attack hit the nearby Kronstadt naval base and an oil terminal, sending a massive plume of black smoke above Russia’s second-largest city. It was another embarrassing blow to his efforts to minimize the impact of the 4-year-old conflict and cast it as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

It also underscored Ukraine’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and showed the vulnerability of its cities. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.

Putin had scaled down Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian drone strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s forces were putting pressure on Ukraine “to prevent such attacks.” He noted that “systematic” strikes on Kyiv that Russia threatened last week are underway.

On Tuesday, Russia hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in deadly strikes.

Putin has used the forum to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. Often styled as the Russian version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, it usually draws tens of thousands of delegates from around the world.

While Western officials and business people have stayed away from the forum after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought to attract more guests from other regions to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”

Saudi Arabia, a special guest this year, has sent a large delegation. The presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and China’s vice president also are attending. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.

Russia’s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from massive military spending has fizzled. The government has raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.

Asked at the media session if Russia’s economy was struggling because of the military action, Putin paraphrased Mark Twain by responding that “rumors of my death are highly exaggerated.”

He said the economy was growing but admitted that inflation was a concern.

“We’ve deliberately taken steps to cool the economy,” Putin said of Russia’s Central Bank putting the country’s key interest rate at 14.5%, which he added was “a difficult decision.”

“You can say we’ve cooled off, or you can say we haven’t done everything yet, but these are deliberate steps. We don’t want inflation – hyperinflation -- to reach 60-80%, as it is some countries,” he said. “We’re fighting for the health of the Russian economy as a whole.”