• Ukraine and Russia set conditions for negotiations, hindering progress.
• No plans for escalation on Ukrainian front for now, Putin says.
• Moscow defends arrest of critical voices, claims internal harm to Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed openness to peace talks on Ukraine, stating that African and Chinese initiatives could serve as a basis for finding a resolution. However, he emphasized the difficulty of implementing a ceasefire while the Ukrainian army continues its offensive. Both Ukraine and Russia have previously set conditions for negotiations, with Kyiv refusing to concede any territory and Moscow asserting that Kyiv must accept the “new territorial reality” after Russia’s invasion last year.

In a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg, Putin stated that there are no plans to intensify actions on the Ukrainian front for now. He defended the Kremlin’s arrest of critical voices, asserting that some individuals were harming Russia from within. The briefing also covered Moscow’s “preventive strikes” in response to an explosion on a Crimean bridge earlier this month, which Putin claimed was a “terrorist” act by Ukraine. However, Kyiv did not officially claim responsibility for the bridge blast.

Amidst these developments, an African contingent had previously met with both Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin. In Ukraine, a rocket attack in the city of Sumy resulted in one person killed and five injured, while another missile hit an open area in Zaporizhzhia, causing two fatalities and injuring one person. Russia reported that two office blocks were damaged in a drone attack on Moscow, for which the city’s mayor blamed Ukraine.

During this time, President Zelensky visited Ukrainian special forces near Bakhmut, an eastern city where intense fighting has taken place. Ukrainian authorities stated that Kyiv’s troops are gradually advancing in the region, which was seized by Russian forces in May.

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