Threatening with Kinzhals to Black Sea shipping, Putin tries to intimidate West

Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army South, said this on Espreso TV. 

"I think that the Kinzhal missiles story is another Putin scare story, primarily for the West. He still believed that he could scare the West. The Russian president also tried to joke about ATACMS, but he was worried," Bratchuk said.

On the other hand, Russia is also trying to intimidate Ukrainians, but as the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Volunteer Army South noted, such attempts are futile. Even nuclear weapons failed to scare Ukrainians.

"Of course, the dictator is trying to scare Ukrainians. However, in order to attack with Kinzhals, there is no need to fly aircraft into the Black Sea. This could have been done, as it happened, unfortunately, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We remember where Kinzhals were used, including in the south. Just remember the tragic incident with the Mykolaiv Military District. That's why Russia is now trying to create fear in Ukrainians. But we should note that Putin did not even intimidate us with nuclear weapons," Bratchuk added.

• On Wednesday, October 18, Russian leaders Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held lengthy talks on cooperation. After the meeting, Putin said that Ukraine had "thought about negotiations" and that Russian Kinzhal jets would now patrol the Black Sea.

• Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, believes that Russian leader Vladimir Putin's new statements about patrolling aircraft in the Black Sea are likely aimed at increasing tension, but will not change anything dramatically for Ukraine.