![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/2026-06-05_032754-2.jpg\")
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) \u2014 President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo our regret, some of them break through,\u201d Putin said of the drone strikes. \u201cRussia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wide-ranging media session came on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.<\/p>\n
Putin also said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy proposes talks<\/strong><\/p>\n Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Putin. Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to wait for the U.S. to return its attention to Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.<\/p>\n In Washington, Trump said it \u201cwould be great\u201d if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.<\/p>\n Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin hadn\u2019t seen the letter yet and repeated his statement that Zelenskyy could come to Moscow if he wants talks. Putin said last month he doesn\u2019t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.<\/p>\n Putin dismissed the idea that European Union countries could mediate Russia-Ukraine peace talks because \u201cmediation assumes neutrality. Where is the neutrality here?\u201d<\/p>\n Any potential third-party mediators needed to be trusted by both sides, Putin said.<\/p>\n \u201cHow can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Putin’s battlefield update<\/strong><\/p>\n Commenting on Russia’s use of its Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, Putin said it was fired at targets that allowed it to test its capability and precision before using it against objectives closer to residential areas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hit the area where it was convenient to see the results,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was important for making a decision on the future on the full-format use of the Oreshnik on designated targets, including those in populated areas.\u201d<\/p>\n Putin emphasized his push for control of the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine controls about 15% of its territory.<\/p>\n Putin declared that the \u201cpatriotism and will of the Russian people\u201d will ensure the achievement of goals that Moscow set in Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cRussian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Putin said he has accepted Trump\u2019s compromise proposals from the Alaska summit, saying they could \u201cserve as a basis of agreements between Russia and Ukraine and put an end to the conflict.”<\/p>\n Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no need to suspend the hostilities to start negotiations,\u201d he said. \u201cNaturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops. But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.\u201d<\/p>\n Putin dismisses sabotage accusations<\/strong><\/p>\n Asked about an AP investigation tracking 191 incidents across Europe, including sabotage, cyberattacks, attempted assassination and other activity that Western officials say are part of a Russian-masterminded campaign, Putin replied there was no detailed proof of Moscow’s involvement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are the specific facts? What has been proven?\u201d he said, adding that the accusations showed that Europe was not ready to talk to Russia as an equal partner.<\/p>\n \u201cThis only shows that certain political figures in the West are trying to carry out aggressive plans against the Russian Federation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Asked whether Russia could contribute to a settlement of the war in Iran, Putin responded that Moscow\u2019s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran for storage remains on the table. He noted Russia did so as part of the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, “and we are ready to do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n His future as president<\/strong><\/p>\n Putin, 73, who has held power in Russia for over a quarter-century, was asked if he planned to run for another term that would keep him in office until 2036, when he’ll be 83. He laughed and said he\u2019s \u201cnot even thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly God knows if any of us will be healthy enough … to survive until tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, much less solve the problems we face and achieve the goals we set for ourselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In 2020, Putin ordered amendments to the Russian Constitution that essentially reset his term limits, keeping him in power.<\/p>\n Drone attacks on St. Petersburg<\/strong><\/p>\n Wednesday’s drone attack hit the nearby Kronstadt naval base and an oil terminal, sending a plume of black smoke above Russia\u2019s second-largest city \u2014 an embarrassing blow to Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn\u2019t affect Russian daily life.<\/p>\n It also underscored Kyiv\u2019s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and showed the vulnerability of its cities. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg\u2019s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.<\/p>\n Putin had scaled down Russia\u2019s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow\u2019s suburbs killed three and showed the capital\u2019s vulnerability.<\/p>\n Peskov said Russia\u2019s forces were carrying out \u201csystematic\u201d strikes on Kyiv. On Tuesday, Russia launched deadly attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country\u2019s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a \u201cmultipolar world.\u201d<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also are present. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from military spending has fizzled. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.<\/p>\n Asked at the media session if Russia\u2019s economy was struggling because of the military action, Putin paraphrased Mark Twain that \u201crumors of my death are highly exaggerated.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the economy was growing but admitted that inflation was a concern.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve deliberately taken steps to cool the economy,\u201d Putin said of Russia\u2019s Central Bank putting the country\u2019s key interest rate at 14.5%, which he called \u201ca difficult decision.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can say we\u2019ve cooled off, or you can say we haven\u2019t done everything yet, but these are deliberate steps. We don\u2019t want inflation \u2014 hyperinflation \u2014 to reach 60-80%, as it is some countries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting for the health of the Russian economy as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1512618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1512614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-world-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-07 03:25:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1512614"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1512619,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512614\/revisions\/1512619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1512618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1512614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1512614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1512614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRussia’s version of Davos<\/p>\n