Vladimir Putin
© Sputnik / Gavriil GrigorovRussian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via videoconference.
The latest terrorist acts carried out by Ukraine in Russia are the outcome of decisions made by the political leadership, the president has said

Facing heavy battlefield losses, the "illegitimate Kiev regime" has resorted to organizing terrorist attacks to try to intimidate Russia, President Vladimir Putin has said.

The recent acts of railway sabotage in Russia's Bryansk and Kursk Regions were "undoubtedly a terrorist act," Putin said. He added that "the decisions to carry out such crimes were, of course, made in Ukraine" by the political leadership.

"The strike on the civilian population was intentional," Putin said. "And this only confirms our concern that the already illegitimate regime in Kiev, which once seized power, is gradually turning into a terrorist organization, and its sponsors are becoming accomplices to terrorists."

The president accused Ukraine and its Western backers of having sought a strategic defeat of Russia on the battlefield. Now, he said, Kiev is shifting tactics amid mounting losses and setbacks along the front line.

"Today, amid heavy losses and retreating along the entire line of contact, the Kiev leadership has turned to organizing terrorist acts in an attempt to intimidate Russia," Putin said.

Despite this, he added, Ukrainian officials are requesting a pause in the fighting and proposing meetings at the highest level. "But how can such meetings be held under these conditions?" Putin said. "What is there to talk about? Who conducts negotiations with those who rely on terror - with terrorists?"

The Russian leader emphasized that "power, for the [Kiev] regime, is apparently more important than peace, more important than human lives."

The two train sabotage incidents took place on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. In the first, a bridge fell in front of a moving passenger train in Bryansk Region. The second incident took place in Kursk Region, when a railway bridge collapsed under a moving freight train. In total, seven people died and over 120 were injured.

Both attacks came shortly before the second round of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul and amid a surge in Kiev's drone raids into Russia, which Moscow says are aimed at derailing the peace process.