{"text":[[{"start":10.65,"text":"Vladimir Putin has conceded that Russia is facing fuel shortages as Ukraine intensifies long-range drone strikes that have set oil refineries ablaze and forced several regions to introduce petrol rationing."}],[{"start":22.3,"text":"The Russian president’s comments, made in a state television interview broadcast on Sunday, were his first detailed admission that Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have dented fuel production after a series of recent attacks."}],[{"start":35.1,"text":"“These strikes on our infrastructure sites are creating problems, that’s obvious,” Putin said. "}],[{"start":41.2,"text":"The strikes have exposed major vulnerabilities in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year, at a time when its advances on the battlefield have slowed to a crawl. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, confirmed on Sunday that Ukraine had hit Russian refineries in the Krasnodar and Yaroslavl regions, deep behind enemy lines."}],[{"start":62.400000000000006,"text":"But while Putin said earlier on Sunday that Russia was going through a “difficult period”, he insisted his forces would press on with their offensive and appeared to float the possibility of new conquests in Ukraine."}],[{"start":75.5,"text":"Russia was facing “a certain shortage” of fuel after the strikes, Putin added, though he claimed it was “not critical” and said officials were working to restore supplies."}],[{"start":83.95,"text":"Since May, Ukraine’s campaign has used largely homegrown advances in drone technology to hit Russian refineries in the heart of Moscow and as far away as the Ural Mountains. American intelligence has aided the flights of Ukraine’s drones, helping to chart routes through Russia’s air defences, according to people involved in the operations."}],[{"start":105,"text":"Putin said Russia, one of the world’s largest energy producers, would increase imports to help cover the deficit while redoubling efforts to improve air defence around the refineries and speed up repairs. "}],[{"start":118.8,"text":"Ukraine has also launched a “middle strike” campaign aimed at Crimea, annexed by Putin in 2014, that has targeted the Black Sea peninsula as well as the main overland supply routes near the frontline. "}],[{"start":133.05,"text":"Zelenskyy announced last week “a 40-day influence operation” to be carried out by Kyiv’s long-range strike units “aimed at compelling [Russia] to end the war”."}],[{"start":143.55,"text":"“Russian military logistics in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, and the very presence of the occupiers there, are severely hindered,” he said in an evening address."}],[{"start":153.9,"text":"Putin said Russia would increase supplies to Crimea, which declared a local state of emergency after Ukrainian strikes left its largest cities without power and severe petrol shortages last week, by land and by sea."}],[{"start":168.15,"text":"Despite the setbacks, Putin insisted that Russia’s offensive would continue undeterred and claimed Moscow’s own deep-strike capabilities were “vastly more powerful, sensitive and destructive”."}],[{"start":181.6,"text":"Squinting as he appeared to read from a teleprompter, the Russian president made a series of unsubstantiated battlefield claims, putting his forces within 10.5km of the northern regional capital of Sumy. "}],[{"start":194.04999999999998,"text":"Putin also said Russia’s forces were in control of most of Lyman as well as Kostyantynivka, two cities in the Donetsk region that are linchpins in its so-called “fortress belt” of cities forming the core of its defence of Ukrainian-held Donbas. "}],[{"start":207.85,"text":"But independent groups tracking battlefield developments based on available footage say Russian forces are still more than 20km from Sumy, while small groups of Russian infantry have only managed shortlived infiltrations within Lyman. Military analysts and Ukrainian officials have acknowledged Russian advances inside Kostyantynivka but denied losing control of the city."}],[{"start":231.5,"text":"Putin suggested Ukraine had offered Russia a mutual moratorium on long-range strikes as well as a suggestion to limit combat operations to four frontline Ukrainian regions, though he did not say when or by whom the proposals were made."}],[{"start":246.4,"text":"He then appeared to reject the offers out of hand, saying they would “save the Kyiv regime” by allowing Ukraine to redeploy its troops from other areas."}],[{"start":255.75,"text":"Putin said Ukraine’s attacks were aimed at “distracting our attention and our forces from achieving the main task at hand — the final liberation of the Donbas and Novorossiya”."}],[{"start":267.15,"text":"The claim for “Novorossiya” indicated Putin’s territorial ambitions had grown since a summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last year. "}],[{"start":276.34999999999997,"text":"There, Putin offered to relinquish Russia’s claims to two partly occupied regions in southern Ukraine if Kyiv withdrew its forces from the Donbas, the eastern region where the fiercest fighting is concentrated."}],[{"start":289.79999999999995,"text":"Novorossiya is a Tsarist-era term for southern Ukraine that has included Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, both partly occupied by Russia, as well as regions it has never controlled at any point during the war, like the key port city of Odesa. "}],[{"start":306.29999999999995,"text":"Top Russian officials voiced mounting frustrations with US efforts to broker an end to the war last week, claiming the White House had swung back to supporting Ukraine after appearing to back the Russian position in Anchorage."}],[{"start":318.34999999999997,"text":"But Putin struck a more conciliatory tone, admitting that he and Trump had not reached any agreements at the Alaska summit. "}],[{"start":326.49999999999994,"text":"Russia expects Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have led the stalled efforts to secure a peace deal, to visit Moscow once the ceasefire in the Middle East war takes hold, Putin said. "}],[{"start":346.3999999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782709218_4566.mp3"}