Putin: Russian forces smash Ukrainian weapons like hazelnuts

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a brief extract broadcast on Saturday from an interview that the Russian air defense forces had shot down dozens of Ukrainian weapons and were "crunching them like hazelnuts".

The Russian Information Agency, which was the first media outlet to publish an excerpt from the interview, quoted Putin as saying in response to a question about US weapons supplied to Ukraine that Russia faces this situation easily and has already destroyed dozens of US weapons.

But the clip excerpted from the interview, which will be broadcast in full on Sunday, made it clear that Putin was actually responding to a different question that did not appear with the clip.

"Our air defense systems are crushing them (Ukrainian weapons) like hazelnuts," Putin said.

Although the actual type of weapons referred to is not clear, Russia says it destroyed aircraft and missiles used by Ukraine in the operations.

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