Putin says he is ‘grateful’ to Trump but sees no reason to meet Zelensky
Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday he currently saw no reason to meet Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian president published an open letter proposing they hold face-to-face talks to agree an end to the war.
In his letter, which was sent to other countries, including the United States, Mr Zelensky said the majority of Russians had grown tired of Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, high inflation and fuel shortages, and were ready for peace.
He also suggested that continuing the war could threaten Mr Putin’s own position, saying that history had shown that when Russia got tired change followed.
Speaking at an annual economic forum in St Petersburg, Mr Putin said the letter did not come across as a sincere offer to hold talks.
“This letter contains some rather rude remarks. Was it a way to create the conditions for a face-to-face meeting or a way not to set up a face-to-face meeting? I think it was the latter,” said Mr Putin.
Asked whether he would meet Mr Zelensky, Mr Putin was blunt: “I don’t see the point in meeting; the only point is for the Ukrainian side to halt the advance of our armed forces.
But we need agreements – not for six months, not for three months, but for the long term.
“In the open letter, “he mentioned my age, but the main thing is not an age, but ability to work,” said Mr Putin.
“I don’t understand why Ukraine does not want to see the Trump administration as a guarantor of peace talks,” he added. “I am grateful to Donald, but there is some work to do.”
Read moreNamita Singh6 June 2026 04:44
Fire at Russian oil refinery caused by falling drone debris
Local authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region have reported a fire at an oil refinery due to falling drone debris.
Videos circulating online purported to show a major blaze at the Afipsky facility, located about 15km outside Krasnodar city.
Adam Withnall6 June 2026 08:15
Putin’s response to meeting proposal shows he does not want to end war, says Zelensky
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s rejection of his proposal for a meeting to end more than four years of conflict showed that the Kremlin had no wish to end the war.
“Unfortunately, the Russian side is once again choosing war – everyone hear the response. A weak response,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “I think this response will have disappointed many in the world.”
“He does not want to change anything, and he does not want to admit that this war appeals only to him – and to those who are making money off him. They were all smiling very broadly today.
“That means Russia must have less money, and there must be more pressure on Russia,” he said.
Armenia prepares for an election that could reshape ties with Moscow and the West
Armenia’s parliamentary elections on Sunday will be a vote on its geopolitical future as incumbent prime minister Nikol Pashinyan seeks closer relations with the European Union and the United States despite longstanding ties with Russia that have been championed by his critics.
Many analysts favour Mr Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party to retain control of the parliament, but with many opposition parties running on pro-Russia platforms, the Caucasus nation’s place on the international stage has been thrown into the spotlight.
In the months ahead of the election, Russian president Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have warned Armenia that joining the EU could come at the expense of massive economic damage by disrupting Armenian trade ties with Moscow and its allies.
“These are the first elections in Armenia’s history where geopolitical orientation has become a decisive issue,” Mikayel Zolyan, an analyst and former member of the Armenian parliament, told the Associated Press from Yerevan.
“Until now, Armenia has remained within Russia’s sphere of influence, and this was taken for granted, but now, for the first time, this is being called into question.”Relations between Moscow and Armenia soured in 2023 after Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region.
The mountainous region had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia, part of a long conflict between the neighbouring countries.
Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow, busy with the conflict in Ukraine, has rejected the accusations, arguing its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
“It turned out that Russia’s image as a guarantor of Armenian security was not based in reality, and it all collapsed after the Karabakh war,” said Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan.
Mr Pashinyan has begun cautiously weakening ties with Moscow, joining the International Criminal Court in 2023 and suspending its participation in the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation in 2024.
Montenegro is ‘within reach’ of joining the EU by 2028, von der Leyen says after Balkans summit
Montenegro is on track to become a member of the European Union by 2028, the bloc’s leaders and the Balkan country’s president said on Friday following a summit focused on expanding the EU to include other countries in the region.
Ukraine and Moldova are also among about 10 countries aspiring to join the bloc, while Iceland will hold a referendum in August on whether to apply.
Leaders from across the EU were joined by their Western Balkan counterparts in Montenegro’s Adriatic Sea coastal town of Tivat, where they discussed the bloc’s enlargement into a region seen as a key area in countering security and economic threats posed by Russia and China.
The summit brought together leaders including president Emmanuel Macron of France and German chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen as well as the heads of Balkan candidate countries.
High on the agenda was Montenegro’s EU accession, a process that is approaching its final stages and which von der Leyen said Friday was “within reach.”“If I had to sum up this summit in two words, they would be determination and confidence,” Ms von der Leyen told a news conference.
“Confidence that our union will grow in the years ahead.”
The EU has already formed a working group to draft an accession treaty for Montenegro, whose president, Jakov Milatovic, said the summit had given him “even greater confidence” that his country will fulfill its aim of joining the EU by 2028.
Romania deploys helicopters to search for more drones as 1,300 people evacuated
Raed Arafat, the head of Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations, told a news conference on Friday morning that helicopters had been deployed to search for more drones and that the authorities had issued text message alerts to residents.
The measure came after a Ukrainian maritime drone used against Russia exploded at a black sea port in Romania.
“There is a possibility that there may be other drones,” he said.
“We are not panicking. These are preventive measures. If there are other drones, we want to make sure there is not another explosion in an area where people are not evacuated.”
After the port explosion, more than 1,300 people were evacuated from several Black Sea beaches and the routes leading to them were temporarily blocked. Just before 3pm, the emergency authorities announced they had suspended evacuation measures.
A Ukrainian maritime drone explodes at a Romanian Black Sea port
A Ukrainian maritime drone that was being used in the country’s war against Russia exploded on Friday at a Black Sea port in Romania, while three other sea drones exploded outside the port, Romanian authorities said. No one was injured.
The drone that self-detonated in the port of Constanta exploded at around 10.30am, after the area had been secured and isolated by the Romanian intelligence service, coast guard and the defence ministry, authorities said.
“Immediately after identifying the drone, the Ministry of Defence contacted its Ukrainian counterparts, who confirmed that they had lost control of the operation of four drones,” the Romanian government said in a statement. “The other three drones self-detonated – two offshore and the third outside the port.”
“Confirmation of these events came from both the Ukrainian side and from data obtained by the Romanian authorities,” it added.
Romanian president Nicusor Dan said in a statement online that the Ukrainian forces “lost control of the assets as a result of electronic warfare actions by Russia,” likely jamming, and that the drone’s incursion into “Romanian sovereign space is a direct consequence of the war waged by Russia” against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Navy confirmed in a statement that it had lost control of an unmanned naval boat “while performing tasks in the Black Sea operational zone,” and that its military was in contact with Romanian authorities “to prevent losses among the civilian population”.
Zelensky says Putin’s response to meeting proposal shows he does not want to end war
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s rejection of his proposal for a meeting to end more than four years of conflict showed that the Kremlin had no wish to end the war.
“Unfortunately, the Russian side is once again choosing war – everyone hear the response. A weak response,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“I think this response will have disappointed many in the world.”
How significant is Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is Europe’s largest with six reactors. Seized by Russian troops in the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, each side has since accused the other of undertaking military actions to compromise nuclear safety.
The plant’s Russian-installed management accused Ukraine on Thursday of deploying more than 20 drones to attack a nearby thermal plant vital to supplying the facility with external power.
The plant generates no electricity, but needs external power to ensure that nuclear fuel at the site does not overheat.
The latest ceasefire was the sixth negotiated since late last year to carry out repairs to the power lines. In its statement, the IAEA said the plant’s second external power line was also down following attacks on two electrical substations located on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the nuclear plant.
The facility was relying on diesel generators as it did for a month last year in similar circumstances.
Russia’s Rosatom says Ukrainian drone hit engineers demining areas around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Russia’s nuclear energy corporation Rosatom yesterday said that a Ukrainian drone had deliberately struck engineers demining an area around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, injuring at least three people.
Rosatom said the incident occurred at the start of a ceasefire around the plant, brokered by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to restore the main external power line to the plant.
“The strike was clearly calculated,” Rosatom head Alexei Likachev said in comments posted on social media. “Three of our engineers were injured. Two are in serious condition.”
“The international community must know of the continuing attempts to inflict maximum damage on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, on the personnel responsible for ensuring its safety… despite the agreements that have been reached.”
In a separate statement, Rosatom said five people were hurt.
The IAEA said it had been informed of the incident by the plant’s Russia-installed management, and its director general Rafael Grossi, writing on X, called for maximum military restraint and full adherence to the ceasefire.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Namita Singh6 June 2026 05:05NewerOlder