Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday again rejected holding talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, as the Russian presidency affirmed its openness to a peaceful settlement to the war while rejecting a temporary truce as sufficient. The positions came as reciprocal attacks continued, causing deaths, injuries and damage to civilian and logistical facilities in both countries.
Zelensky’s position came in response to a repeated question from a reporter for Russian state television about when he would travel to the Russian capital. The Ukrainian president used a sharp phrase, saying: "On a missile, damn it," using the Russian word "blyad", which is used to express anger, surprise or frustration.
The exchange took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, before the clip spread widely through Russian and Ukrainian media. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, a member of the Russian delegation in New York, mocked Zelensky’s response, hinting that he feared facing a fatal fate if he travelled to Moscow.
Moscow rejects truce and insists on a final settlement
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN Security Council that Moscow "will not suspend" its war. He accused European countries of seeking to exploit any possible pause in the fighting to "supply weapons to the Kyiv regime", signalling Russia’s rejection of a temporary halt to military operations that, in its view, does not lead to a final settlement.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s position on the settlement process had not changed and that it supported achieving peace rather than entering a limited truce. He told reporters: "Regarding a ceasefire, we repeat once again that we are open to a peaceful settlement process, but we believe that the focus must be firmly on achieving peace, not on a temporary truce.
Our position has not changed," according to Russia’s Sputnik news agency. Peskov also addressed the issue of prisoners, explaining that the Russian Defence Ministry and intelligence services were handling it.
Air strikes kill and injure people in Ukraine
The agency said the attack on the capital, Kyiv, was carried out using ballistic missiles and drones, killing two people and injuring 8 others. It added that the strikes damaged more than 50 civilian facilities in Kyiv, including homes, post offices, a maternity hospital and a textile-sector facility.
In Kharkiv region, an attack on a farm killed 6 people and injured 12 others, while two people were injured in a separate attack on Odesa region. On the Russian side, Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the southern Krasnodar region, declared a state of emergency because of Ukrainian drone attacks and said they had hindered grain exports from the region, one of Russia’s main agricultural areas.
Drone attacks disrupt Krasnodar ports
Interfax quoted Kondratyev as saying, when he declared the state of emergency on Wednesday, that "intensive attacks" targeting logistical infrastructure had led to the suspension of port operations and disrupted shipping in the Black Sea.
He added that agricultural producers had been unable to sell a large part of their crops, causing an increase in supply on the domestic grain market. Russian forces had long carried out extensive night-time attacks using missiles and drones, but according to the information reported, they changed their methods in recent weeks and began launching continuous waves of attacks throughout the day.
Moscow has also used drones fitted with jet engines in recent months, capable of flying at higher altitudes and evading air defences. This type of drone has disrupted businesses, government services and daily life on a wider scale than before, amid a war that has continued for 4 and a half years.
Kyiv, meanwhile, continued carrying out missile and drone attacks targeting oil and industrial facilities inside Russia.
