Putin Says Ukraine 40-Day Strike Campaign Cost Russia 1% of GDP

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian attacks inflicted damage equivalent to about 1% of Russia's gross domestic product during a 40-day campaign of strikes ordered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"I think they did cause us real damage," Putin told reporters at a late-night news conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. "The overall damage, according to our preliminary estimates, was quite substantial — around 1% of GDP. That is not critical damage for us."

Ukraine damaged about 100 Russian ships during the campaign that began in June, including about 40 in the first two weeks, Putin said.

Only about 10% of Russia's refineries are left to be repaired after drone attacks, Putin said separately.

Ukraine's attacks affected Russia's Black Sea route that handled more than 70% of Russian grain exports, along with shipments of some other commodities, including oil, steel and coal.

Damage from Ukrainian strikes on refineries and Black Sea ports had pushed Russia's seaborne crude exports down to 3.46 million barrels a day in the four weeks through Aug. 23. Three of Russia's largest grain terminals at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk halted operations in August after a major drone attack collapsed a loading gallery and damaged multiple silos.

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Putin made no reference to attacks on warehouses of e-commerce giants Wildberries and Ozon that have caused billions of dollars of damage to logistics networks.

Zelenskyy on Tuesday threatened to effectively close Russian airspace to commercial aviation through mass drone deployments. Putin said Russia would find a way to respond if Ukraine carries out such a move.