Published on 6/18/2026
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Last update: 18:36 (Mecca time)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Thursday that “Moscow will burn” if Russian attacks on his country continued, coinciding with the continued exchange of accusations between Kiev and Moscow regarding the course of the war.
Zelensky confirmed, in an audio message to reporters, that the intensified drone attacks launched by Ukraine on Russia overnight, which targeted an oil refinery in the Russian capital for the second time this week, were a direct response to a Russian raid that targeted the historic 1,000-year-old monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, which resulted in the killing of at least 10 people last Monday.
The Ukrainian president said: “We do not want this war, and we never wanted it, and everyone knows that, and our partners know that… But if Ukraine burns, Moscow will burn.”
In a related context, Zelensky, who is scheduled to attend a meeting of Ukraine’s military allies in Brussels today, stressed the need to provide his country with air defense systems within a NATO program, and to establish an anti-ballistic missile system.
He also called on Europe and the United States to intensify economic pressure and sanctions on the Russian defense and energy sectors, calling on the Russians to “wake up and put pressure on their leader” Vladimir Putin to end the war.
Russian accusations of “disinformation”
On the other hand, commenting on international political movements, Kremlin Foreign Affairs Advisor Yuri Ushakov accused European leaders of trying to “charge” US President Donald Trump with “harmful ideas” and providing him with misleading information about the situation in Ukraine during the G7 summit held this week.
However, Ushakov indicated in statements to Russian state television that Trump is “a strong leader who sticks to his ideas,” stressing that Moscow is still awaiting the visit of his envoys Steve Witkov and Jared Kushner, although no date has been set for that yet.
Regarding Zelensky and his European allies’ assurances to Trump that Ukraine’s fortunes had improved on the battlefield thanks to the drone incursions into the Russian interior, Ushakov described these allegations as “completely untrue,” stressing that Moscow is monitoring developments in Western political positions in light of the cautious optimism expressed by the G7 leaders regarding the possibility of reaching a peace agreement.
These field and political developments come in light of the continuation of the Russian-Ukrainian war that broke out in February 2022, and which has entered its most complex stages as it turns into a long-term war of attrition.
International parties are awaiting the extent of the US administration’s ability to make a breakthrough in the course of the conflict, amid sharp differences between the conflicting parties.
