On October 9th, local time, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a conversation that lasted for one and a half hours. According to Reuters, Putin told Trump during the call that it was unlikely that peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would resume immediately due to the drone attacks launched by Ukraine against Moscow during the elections of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament).
Putin said in the call that Russia hopes to resume negotiations with Ukraine after the elections of the State Duma. However, the drone attacks during the elections have reduced the likelihood of a peace negotiation among Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
Russian President's Assistant Yuri Ushakov revealed: "The Ukrainian government launched large-scale drone attacks on Moscow, other cities, and polling stations on the most important election day. These attacks also targeted some personnel involved in electoral organizations. This has actually destroyed the possibility of immediately resuming negotiations. As the President said, we will now evaluate when negotiations can be resumed."
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated last week that Ukraine is ready to hold tripartite negotiations with the United States and Russia this month. The Ukrainian side supports the swift resumption of negotiations in order to end the conflict that has lasted for over four and a half years. US Secretary of State Rubio said on the 8th that the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has reached a "dangerous impasse," and the US will continue to strive to play a mediating role in ending this conflict.
The ninth National Duma election in Russia was held from September 18 to 20 local time. This was the first national parliamentary election in Russia since the full escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in 2022. On September 20, Moscow and its surrounding areas were hit by large-scale drone attacks from Ukraine. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin described the scale of these attacks as "unprecedented."
