Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Moscow is ready for “concrete“ talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine if a new impetus can be given to the process, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
In a statement to journalists after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan, the Russian president again expressed confidence that Russian forces will prevail in Ukraine and Kiev's forces will “collapse“.
Putin said that the main challenge for Russia is drones, but added that Moscow is coping with it.
According to the Russian president, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's warning to airlines that “Ukrainian drones will completely block Russian airspace“, sounds like “state terrorism“ and that Moscow will find a way to respond.
Speaking at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan, the Russian president also said that it was not possible to negotiate with “terrorists“.
Putin said that Russian troops had seized 270 square kilometers of the Donetsk region in Ukraine in August and that a large group of Ukrainian soldiers had been surrounded.
Reuters notes that this statement by the Russian president could not be verified by independent sources.
Russia is continuing to advance towards the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, Putin said, adding that Moscow's forces were preparing to launch massive strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.