INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia's strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure were "inevitable" as the Kremlin rejected United
what has become the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure in October,
causing sweeping blackouts.Speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the first time since mid-September, Putin slammed what he called
the West's "destructive" policies in Ukraine and said Russian strikes were a response to "provocative" attacks from Kyiv.Moscow "had long
refrained from precision missile strikes against certain targets on the territory of Ukraine," Putin told Scholz, according to a Kremlin
readout of the phone talks."But now such measures have become a forced and inevitable response to Kyiv's provocative attacks on Russia's
civilian infrastructure," the Kremlin said, referring in particular to the October attack on a bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to the
Russian mainland.During the hour-long call with Putin, Scholz "urged the Russian president to come as quickly as possible to a diplomatic
solution including the withdrawal of Russian troops," according to the German leader's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.Putin urged Berlin to
"reconsider its approaches in the context of the Ukrainian events," the Kremlin said.He accused the West of carrying out "destructive"
policies in Ukraine, stressing that its political and financial aid "leads to the fact that Kyiv completely rejects the idea of any
negotiations."Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had ruled out any talks with Russia while Putin is in power shortly after the Kremlin
claimed to have annexed several Ukrainian regions.Offensive 'continues'The Kremlin also indicated Moscow was in no mood for talks over
Ukraine, after Biden said he would be willing to sit down with Putin if the Russian leader truly wanted to end the fighting."What did
President Biden say in fact? He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
the Kremlin term for the assault launched on Feb
winter.In the latest estimates from Kyiv, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, said as many as 13,000 Ukrainian troops have died in
the fighting.Both Moscow and Kyiv are suspected of minimizing their losses to avoid damaging morale.Top United States general Mark Milley
last month said more than 100,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, with Kyiv's forces likely suffering
millions to flee their homes.Those who remain in the country have had to cope with emergency blackouts as authorities sought to relieve the
pressure on the energy infrastructure.In an attempt to boost the mood in the capital Kyiv, musicians played a classical music concert on
Thursday with hundreds of LED candles lighting up the stage."We thought it was a good idea to save energy," Irina Mikolaenko, one of the
defeated."Ukrainian officials have said they are expecting a new wave of Russian attacks shortly.Meanwhile, Western nations have been
seeking ways to further starve Russia of resources to fight in Ukraine by imposing a price cap on its oil exports on top of a multitude of
refused to back the scheme, saying the $60 a barrel ceiling was not low enough.Moscow has previously warned that it will not export oil to
countries enforcing a price cap.
