Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country was ready to resume negotiations on the war in Ukraine and end it quickly on terms acceptable to Moscow, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that his country’s army had used a domestically developed tactical ballistic missile for the first time in a combat mission against Russia.
Speaking to an international audience at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, Putin said Russia had been ready to resume negotiations on Ukraine on 21 September, one day after elections to Russia’s State Duma. But he said Ukrainian drone attacks during the elections had made a return to peace talks more difficult.
The Russian president said more than 1,600 drones had been launched at Moscow, adding that polling stations in other Russian regions had also come under sustained attack. He said Ukraine had made a mistake by betting on the success of attacks against Russia, saying: “The enemy expected our society to fall apart, but anyone can make a mistake.”
Putin said Russia remained ready to enter negotiations and work to conclude them as quickly as possible, but linked this to reaching terms acceptable to his country. “But, certainly, on terms also acceptable to the Russian Federation and the Russian people,” he said. Kyiv and its Western allies, along with analysts, question how willing Moscow really is to take part in peace talks.
Zelenskyy announces first combat use of Ukrainian missile
Ukraine is fighting a full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022, while previous negotiating efforts have failed to end the fighting. In a separate military development, Zelenskyy said on Thursday that the Ukrainian army had carried out the first combat use of an FP-7 tactical ballistic missile developed domestically by Ukraine.
The first combat mission. Thank you for this result
Ukrainian defence company Fire Point had postponed the start of combat use of its ballistic missile on several occasions. The company’s management initially announced that the missile’s first strikes on the Russian capital, Moscow, would be carried out in the middle of the year, before backing away from the announced date.
Days before Zelenskyy’s announcement, the company, which is reported to have links to the Ukrainian president’s inner circle, said the missile’s first use would take place later in the year. The announcement of the first combat mission came after the previous series of postponements, without disclosing the operation’s target.
Putin denies targeting Western arms companies
In another part of his speech, Putin said Russia did not intend to strike Western companies that supply Ukraine with weapons or produce military equipment for it, but described the activity as a threat monitored by Moscow. He identified the greatest threat as Western countries providing Ukraine with satellite data to carry out attacks on Russian territory.
Putin’s position came after Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, threatened direct strikes on military production facilities in Germany. The Russian president said: “We are not threatening anyone, and we do not intend to attack anyone, either in 2029, or in 2030, or in 2050.”
Putin again denied allegations from Germany and other European Union countries that Russia intended to attack a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
The Kremlin had repeatedly insisted before the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that it did not intend to attack its neighbour. Putin concluded by stressing that Moscow would respond if attacked, saying: “But if we are subjected to aggression, we will have to respond.”
