Putin: Ukrainian attacks damaged about 100 Russian ships but not 'critical' harm
Putin acknowledged roughly 100 damaged vessels, fatalities including foreign sailors, and preliminary losses near 1% of Russia's GDP.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said that Ukrainian attacks using unmanned aerial vehicles damaged roughly 100 Russian ships, but he maintained that Kyiv did not inflict critical harm on the country.
"I think they caused us real damage. People died, sailors, including foreigners. Among the dead are citizens of Azerbaijan and Turkey," said Putin.
According to the president, preliminary estimates place the cost of the damage at about 1% of Russia's gross domestic product.
Assessment and consequences
Putin described the strikes as causing tangible losses — both in lives and material — while drawing a distinction between serious damage and what he called a failure to deliver a critical blow to the Russian state.
He specifically mentioned foreign nationals among the fatalities and quantified the overall toll relative to national output, but did not provide additional figures in his remarks.
Photo: ДПА)
