According to Russian media RT, on September 2nd, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are at a frozen state to some extent, but Moscow is willing to accept the active contributions of all external parties.
Putin said, "In our understanding, the process (negotiations) is currently frozen to some extent. We do not want everything to become a meaningless cycle. But if someone can bring positive factors to this negotiation process, then overall, we have no objections." He emphasized that Russia "believes that any negotiations should first have concrete content."
Putin also said that US Special Counsel Weterkov and his son-in-law Kushner are always welcome in Russia.
Regarding the previous attacks on ships, Putin stated that the Russian military carried out precision strikes against ships that were transporting weapons or ammunition to Ukraine. "In essence, we did not touch any civilian ships. We conducted precision strikes against some ships, and we never made mistakes. We only targeted those ships that were transporting weapons or ammunition to Ukraine."
Regarding the current situation, Putin stated that the Russian army is ready to carry out large-scale strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities. This move is in response to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian fuel and energy complexes, refineries, and civilian targets.
According to Reuters, Putin warned that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's claim that Ukrainian drones would effectively close off Russian airspace sounds like 'state terrorism'. He also said that if this happens, Moscow will find a way to respond.
Putin said at a press conference after a summit in Kyrgyzstan that it's impossible to negotiate with "terrorist groups".
Previously, on September 1st, Putin also stated that in August, Russian troops occupied 270 square kilometers of land in the Donetsk region of Ukraine and encircled a large number of Ukrainian soldiers.
