Vladimir Putin guzzled champagne as he blamed Ukraine for Russia's military strikes while admitting the Kremlin has struck key civilian infrastructure.
"There's a lot of noise about our strikes on the energy infrastructure of a neighbouring country. Yes, we do that. But who started it?" the Russian president said at an awards ceremony.
Russian President Vladimir Putin put on a grotesquely grand dinner for senior Kremlin members to award Gold Star medals to Heroes of Russia on the eve of Heroes of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
At the event, while speaking to Russian state media, he said that global criticism of strikes that have left millions without electricity and water at the start of winter would "not interfere with our combat missions”.
He claimed that Ukraine has committed an act of genocide by refusing to provide water to occupied Donetsk and also admitted to striking energy systems.
"Not supplying water to a city of more than a million people is an act of genocide," Putin said while guzzling champagne.
He accused the west of “complete silence” on this and of bias against Russia.
“As soon as we move and do something in response, there is uproar and clamour spreading through the whole universe,” he said.
Moments before the interview, he said to a room full of people: "Every fighter on the front line is a hero for me and for all our fellow citizens."
Also in attendance was Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, Member of the State Duma Valentina Tereshkova and Founder of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
On Twitter user wrote: "Wobbling, with a smirk and a glass of champagne in his hand, Putin confesses to a war crime - to deliberate strikes on Ukraine in order to destroy the civilian population."
Also on Wednesday Putin acknowledged that Russia’s war in Ukraine was a “long process" and confirmed they have nuclear weapons.
“We have not gone crazy, we are aware of what nuclear weapons are,” he said during a televised meeting in Moscow.
He continued: "We have these tools, and they are in a more modern state than in any other nuclear country, but we are not going to brandish them like a razor all over the world.”
Russian shelling killed 10 people and wounded many others in the town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine on Thursday as Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko warned of an “apocalypse” scenario for the city this winter if Russian airstrikes on infrastructure continue.
