Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his openness to peace talks on Ukraine during a press conference in St Petersburg after meeting African leaders. He suggested that African and Chinese initiatives could form the basis for finding a resolution. However, he also emphasized that there could be no ceasefire while the Ukrainian army continued its offensive actions.
Shortly after his statement, Russia reported that a Ukrainian drone attack had damaged two office blocks in Moscow, resulting in a brief suspension of flights from Vnukovo Airport and one person injured. Ukraine has not yet commented on the incident.
Both Ukraine and Russia have previously stated that they won’t engage in negotiations without specific preconditions. Kyiv insists it won’t concede any territory, while Moscow demands acceptance of its country’s “new territorial reality” after the invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine.
President Putin clarified that there are no plans for intensifying military action on the Ukrainian front at the moment. He also defended the arrest of critical voices, alleging that certain individuals were harming Russia from within.
In the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, President Putin also mentioned carrying out “preventive strikes” after an explosion on a Crimean bridge earlier that month, which left two people dead. He had vowed to respond to what he considered a “terrorist” act by Ukraine. However, Kyiv did not officially claim responsibility for the bridge blast, which connects the occupied peninsula to Russia.
The Russia-Africa summit comes after representatives from seven African countries met with Presidents Zelensky and Putin last month. President Zelensky recently visited Ukrainian special forces near Bakhmut, where some of the fiercest fighting of the war has taken place.
In other incidents, rockets struck the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing one person and injuring five others, as well as hitting an open area in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, resulting in two deaths and one injury.
