Putin warns Ukraine has opened ‘Pandora’s box’, rejects peace proposals

BREAKING: Putin warns Ukraine has opened 'Pandora's box' and rejects peace proposals as 'strange' and 'unacceptable', threatening strikes on the country's 'most vulnerable' economic sectors.

Vladimir Putin says Ukraine has opened Pandora's box, and he's rejecting peace outright.

In an interview with Russian state channel Vesti, Putin dismissed the peace proposals on the table as strange and unacceptable. His words. And he went further, threatening strikes on what he called Ukraine's most vulnerable economic sectors. This is him during that appearance, and the message could not have been more direct.

The logic he's offering is retaliation. Kyiv has been hitting Russia's economy, refineries, infrastructure, revenue, and Putin is framing that as the provocation that justifies escalating against Ukraine's own economic lifelines. Energy, ports, whatever keeps the country running through winter.

So after four years of war, the man who could end it with a phone call is calling peace unacceptable and promising to hit harder. That tells you everything about where this is headed next.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.