Putin threatens airports outside Ukraine with shelling

After meeting with a delegation of representatives from several African countries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again rejected negotiations with Moscow pending a withdrawal of Russian troops. “Allowing all talks with Russia while the occupier is on our soil means freezing the war, the pain and suffering,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Kiev on Friday. His country needs real peace and at the same time «a real withdrawal of Russian troops from all our independent soil».

Meanwhile, in Russia’s Baltic Sea metropolis of St. Petersburg, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin appeared at the International Economic Forum – causing a stir with several statements that his spokesman later had to partially correct.

Zelenskyy: ‘Every meter of liberated area is the most important’

Later that evening, Zelenskyy released his daily video message and said he had met with the military cabinet about the ongoing counter-offensive. He gave no details, but simply said: “Every one of our soldiers, every step we take and every meter of liberated Ukrainian territory is the most important thing.”

Russia has been waging an offensive war against Ukraine for almost 16 months and currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory. A Ukrainian counter-offensive is currently underway, in which the attacked country wants to liberate occupied areas – also with the help of Western weapons.

Putin is irritated by statements about patriots, fighter jets and disarmament

Meanwhile, Kremlin chief Putin was annoyed several times during his hour-long performance at the 26th International Economic Forum. For example, on nuclear arms control, he said: “We have more such weapons than the NATO countries. They know that and they are constantly urging us to start talking about reductions.” Then he added, “Fuck it, you know what we say among the people.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov had to explain Putin’s statements to journalists – and put them into perspective “Russia is ready to enter into negotiations,” he assured.

Putin also said about possible deliveries of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine: if the machines are stationed outside Ukraine, the Russian side will “see how and where we destroy these funds”. Again, spokesman Peskov rowed back and said Russia would not attack the jets on Ukrainian territory until they were delivered.

Finally, critical Russian media drew attention to Putin’s claim that his army had five Patriot anti-aircraft systems in the Kiev area. Because: Ukraine has just received two such systems from foreign partners.

Putin insults Zelenskyy – “disgrace to the Jewish people”

In addition, Putin insulted the Ukrainian head of state Zelensky. “I have had many Jewish friends since I was a child. They say: «Zelenskyj is not a Jew. It is a disgrace to the Jewish people,” he said. Moscow repeatedly justifies its war of aggression against its neighbor with the propagandistic claim that Ukraine needs to be rid of supposed «neo-Nazis». Such statements also arouse international horror because Zelenskyj is of Jewish descent. Moreover, it has been proven that Holocaust survivors were among the many thousands of victims of Russian attacks in Ukraine.

Putin: First nuclear warheads moved to Belarus

Finally, Putin stated that the announced and widely criticized deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus had begun. The first nuclear warheads had been deployed, he said. “That’s just the first part. By the end of the year, we’ll have the job completely done.”

What will be important on Saturday:

As part of their peace initiative, the African delegation, which includes the heads of state and government of South Africa, Egypt, Senegal and Zambia, will travel from Kiev to St. Petersburg. A meeting with Putin is also expected there. (sda/dpa)