Putin says he strikes Ukraine so it "won't feel like" attacking his refineries

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is trying by all means to convince that Russia's war against Ukraine has no impact on his country's economy and that his forces are allegedly carrying out "retaliatory strikes" against Ukraine so that it "won't feel like harming" Russia.

Source: Russian propaganda agency TASS; Telegram channel Astra, with reference to Putin's statement at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum

Details: "There is a second method (of combating Ukrainian armed forces attacks – ed.). To carry out retaliatory strikes so that they won't feel like harming us. That's all," Putin said.

He also attempted to convince the audience that Russian air defence had allegedly repelled all drone attacks on oil refineries the night before last. According to Putin, drones had attempted to attack three oil refineries at the time.

He also claimed that only 10% of repair work on oil refineries remains to be completed.

It should be noted that Ukraine attacks Russian military factories that manufacture weapons used to strike Ukraine, Russian airfields from which Russian fighter jets take off, and oil refineries that supply fuel to the Russian military.

Why this matters: Russia invaded Ukraine and occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and parts of Donbas as early as 2014.

In 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking peaceful cities and towns across the country with missiles and bombs during the night.

Notably, in the early days of the full-scale invasion, Russian propagandists actively circulated claims that "Russia would take Kyiv in three days", while Russian soldiers advancing on the capital carried parade uniforms with them, intending to march down Khreshchatyk, the main street of Kyiv, after those supposed "three days".

However, as of late summer 2026, Russian forces have still failed even to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Russian forces attack residential buildings, schools, warehouses and shopping centres in Ukraine daily with drones and missiles, killing civilians.

Throughout this period, the Russian authorities have invented various justifications for starting the war, claiming, among other things, that NATO intended to attack Russia and alleging the existence of "biolaboratories" in Ukraine. Their claims have even extended to absurd stories about "combat mosquitoes" and a "dirty bomb".

In August 2026, Putin's adviser invented yet another reason for starting the war – claiming that Ukraine had allegedly been planning an invasion of Russia on 8 March 2022, so Moscow decided to pre-empt it by attacking first.

Russian authorities also try by all means to downplay the damage that the war they launched against Ukraine is inflicting on Russia itself and its citizens. On 19 August, Putin acknowledged that Ukrainian strikes on industrial and logistics facilities are causing damage to the Russian economy but attempted to assert that there are allegedly "no critical consequences and there will be none".

At the end of June, following a series of attacks on Russian oil refineries and fuel problems in many regions of Russia, Putin insisted that the damage from Ukrainian strikes was allegedly "not critical". At the same time, he declared the need to increase the production of air defence systems to protect these facilities and improve the work of structures responsible for downing drones.

Wildberries and other marketplaces have previously been reported to be requesting hundreds of billions of rubles in government aid.

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