Volodymyr Zelensky understandably has little time for Vladimir Putin on the best of days, but a recent madcap proposal from the Russian premier appears to have really gotten under the Ukrainian president’s skin.
At an annual end-of-year news conference, held on Thursday, Putin was heard boasting about the Russian military’s use of the Oreshnik, a nuclear-capable missile, against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro earlier in November, suggesting his forces might next turn the new weapons system toward Kyiv.
“Let them propose… some kind of technological experiment – a kind of high-tech duel of the 21st century, let’s say,” Putin said during his address. “Let them determine some target to be hit, for example in Kyiv, they concentrate all their air and missile defenses there, and we will strike there with the Oreshnik. And we’ll see what happens.”
He went on, “We are ready for such an experiment. In any case, we don’t rule it out. We will conduct such an experiment, such a technological dual, and see what happens. It’s interesting.”
Zelensky was swift to reply, posting on X: “People are dying, and he thinks it’s ‘interesting’... Dumb--s.”
It’s not the first time the Ukrainian has spoken bluntly about his Russian counterpart.
Speaking with NBC’s Meet the Press last November, Zelensky was asked what it is that keeps him going amid the ongoing conflict, and whether he ever feels defeated.
He responded, “This war takes the best of us, the best heroes, the best men, women, children—that’s it. But we’re not ready to give our freedom to this f--king terrorist Putin.”
