Key facts
- All proposals for a settlement in the war with Ukraine remain on the table, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Putin stated that Russia must still carefully consider its own interests regarding a settlement.
- Putin said Moscow was ready to resume negotiations with Kyiv after Russian parliamentary elections, but Ukraine launched attacks.
- Putin accused Ukraine of launching provocative attacks and stated they would face a sustained response.
- Putin said Ukraine's actions were making things worse for themselves.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 25 that Moscow would reconsider whether to resume negotiations with Ukraine, citing a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region and alleged strikes on election-related sites during Russia’s parliamentary vote.
Putin said Russia had been prepared to return to talks after the Sept. 18-20 State Duma election, but claimed the attacks had changed Moscow’s calculus. "After everything they have done, we will think carefully about what we need to do," Putin said, adding that any decision on renewed negotiations would be based on what he described as Russia’s interests.
Putin claimed that more than 1,600 Ukrainian drones had entered the Moscow area during the night of Sept. 19-20. Russian officials’ own earlier account was narrower: Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drones had been intercepted "on all frontiers," with 450 shot down while approaching Moscow. Those figures have not been independently verified. The attack was nevertheless the largest reported Ukrainian drone assault on Moscow since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Russian authorities reported three deaths in the Moscow region, damage to residential buildings, and strikes on the Moscow Oil Refinery. The refinery subsequently halted crude processing after both of its primary processing units were damaged, industry sources told Reuters.
Putin also accused Ukraine of deliberately attacking polling stations and election officials. Russian election authorities said dozens of buildings housing election commissions were damaged during the voting period, including in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, but Moscow’s claims that the attacks were intended specifically to disrupt the election have not been independently verified.