--- title: "Putin Rules Out Strike Truce With Ukraine and Warns of Nuclear Response Over Kaliningrad" description: "At the Valdai forum in Moscow on Thursday, the Russian leader also conceded that Ukrainian attacks have cost his country 1% of its GDP." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-10-01T22:30:37.050Z modified: 2026-10-02T02:13:55Z url: https://rews.cc/a/putin-rules-out-strike-truce-with-ukraine-and-warns-of-nucle-7e308c language: en tags: ["russia", "ukraine", "nuclear", "putin", "war", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Putin Rules Out Strike Truce With Ukraine and Warns of Nuclear Response Over Kaliningrad *At the Valdai forum in Moscow on Thursday, the Russian leader also conceded that Ukrainian attacks have cost his country 1% of its GDP.* By rews desk · October 1, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/putin-rules-out-strike-truce-with-ukraine-and-warns-of-nucle-7e308c ## In brief - Putin ruled out a mutual halt to long-range strikes with Ukraine at the Valdai forum in Moscow on Thursday - He said Russia would use “all weapons,” including nuclear arms, if Kaliningrad came under direct attack - He admitted Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries have cost Russia about 1% of GDP and over 100 Black Sea vessels - An August Levada Center poll found 59% of Russians favor moving to peace talks - Budget documents reviewed by Reuters show Russia plans $205 billion in 2027 defense spending, up 27% President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday ruled out any mutual ceasefire on long-range strikes with Ukraine and warned that Moscow would use every weapon in its arsenal, including nuclear arms, if its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad came under attack. Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club, a foreign policy forum in Moscow, Mr. Putin dismissed the idea that Russia would halt strikes on Ukrainian ships if Ukraine stopped hitting Russian oil refineries. “We are told: ‘Let them stop striking your refineries, and you will stop striking their ships.’ It is simply ridiculous,” he said. His remarks came as [Russia intensifies its aerial campaign](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/europe/putin-kaliningrad-warning-ukraine-latam-intl) against Kyiv and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of what is expected to be a bitter winter, and as Ukrainian drones press a campaign against Russian refineries that has caused fuel shortages across the country. Long lines of cars have formed at filling stations in major cities. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine calls the strikes deep inside Russia “long-range sanctions,” meant to cut Moscow’s revenues and push the Kremlin toward negotiations. On Kaliningrad, the Russian territory wedged between the NATO members Poland and Lithuania, Mr. Putin said he had no plans to attack any European country but would answer Western aggression. “If it comes to direct attack against the Russian Federation, in this case on Kaliningrad and possibly some other territories, of course the issue of using all weapons in our country’s arsenal will inevitably and unavoidably emerge on the agenda,” he said. “This is unavoidable.” The warning follows NATO military drills in the Baltic Sea that the alliance describes as defensive exercises. Moscow said in late September that it would retaliate if NATO tried to blockade the exclave by air or sea. “The drills in the Baltic Sea, following one another … Then the attempts to arrest our ships and vessels. All this is an escalation,” Mr. Putin said on Thursday. NATO, several European governments and Britain have accused Russia of hybrid warfare against them, including cyberattacks, sabotage and espionage. In the same appearance, Mr. Putin conceded that Ukraine’s drone campaign is hurting Russia’s economy, a rare admission. By Moscow’s own estimates, he said, the refinery strikes have cost about 1 percent of gross domestic product, and Ukrainian operations in the Black Sea have knocked out more than 100 Russian vessels. “They openly declared their goal was to damage our economy. Did they succeed? Partially,” he said, adding that Ukraine “got a mirror-image response.” He did not mention that Russia began the war with its full-scale invasion in February 2022. A day earlier, addressing newly elected members of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, Mr. Putin had described the economy as sound and mocked Kyiv’s reliance on Western aid. “Unlike some, and we won’t point fingers, Russia can’t run around the world humiliating (itself) by begging for handouts with an outstretched hand,” he said. “Russia’s financial system and economy are secure.” The governing United Russia party held its majority in the Duma election, which Mr. Putin had said would show Russians united behind the military. An August poll by the Levada Center, an independent polling organization, found that 59 percent of Russians favored moving to peace talks. Mr. Putin has said he would prefer the war, now in its fifth year, to end through negotiations, but his government’s plans point the other way. Budget documents reviewed by Reuters show Russia intends to spend 17.1 trillion rubles, about $205 billion, on defense in 2027 — roughly 27 percent more than originally budgeted and the most since the full-scale invasion. ## Sources - [Putin rules out ceasefire with Ukraine in Moscow speech](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/1/russias-putin-rules-out-ceasefire-with-ukraine-during-speech-in-moscow) — aljazeera.com - [Putin warns West that Russia is prepared to use ‘all weapons’ to protect Kaliningrad](https://cnn.com/2026/10/01/europe/putin-kaliningrad-warning-ukraine-latam-intl) — cnn.com