Published on 6/29/2026
Russian President Vladimir Putin said – yesterday, Sunday – that he expects a team of American negotiators to arrive in Moscow as soon as Washington reaches an agreement with Iran regarding the war in the Middle East, while he acknowledged the fuel shortage due to Ukrainian attacks on his country’s infrastructure.
Putin said in an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, which was reported by Russian news agencies and which Zarubin also published on the Telegram platform: “We expect – after the end of all these events and after the end of the active phase on the Iranian track – that we will witness the arrival of representatives of the American administration whom we have previously met repeatedly in Moscow.”
He added: “We are ready to continue negotiations and discuss all the details.”
In another context, Putin said that Ukraine proposed a mutual cessation of long-range attacks in a step towards peace, but Moscow sees this as a way to divert attention from Russia’s goal of completely controlling 4 regions in its military campaign.
Putin stated in an interview with a Russian television channel: “It is clear why this proposal was made, because our counterattacks – which reach deep into Ukrainian territory – are much stronger, have a greater impact, and are frankly more destructive.”
He added that Russia does not intend to “save the Kiev regime,” noting that the Ukrainian attacks “aim to distract our attention and our forces from achieving the main goals, which are the complete liberation of the Donbass and Novorossiya regions,” referring to Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson.
Fuel shortage in Russia
On the other hand, Putin acknowledged – in the interview published by the Kremlin on Sunday – that there was a “some shortage” of fuel as a result of the repeated raids launched by Kiev on Russian energy infrastructure, in an attempt to weaken Moscow’s war effort.
Putin said: “Of course, these strikes on our infrastructure facilities cause problems. This is self-evident. We are currently suffering from a shortage, but it is not critical.”
He pointed out that the main task currently lies in increasing the capabilities of Russian anti-aircraft defenses, and ensuring fuel supplies, especially to the Crimean Peninsula.
Last Friday, local Russian officials declared a regional state of emergency in the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed, with the aim of confronting the repercussions of the recent Ukrainian strikes that caused a major shortage of fuel and electricity.
This came in light of the authorities suspending the sale of fuel to individuals and the power outage as a result of the Ukrainian strikes targeting supply routes and oil installations throughout Crimea.
4 killed in a Russian attack
On the ground, local officials said that at least 4 people were killed yesterday, Sunday, in Russian attacks on southeastern and northeastern Ukraine.
The governor of the region, Ivan Fedorov, said – via the Telegram platform – that the raids on the city of Zaporozhye, located in the southeast, claimed the lives of two people and wounded 16 others. The pictures – which the governor posted on the Internet – showed a burning building and parts of a neighborhood turned into rubble.
In the Kharkiv border region in the northeast, Governor Oleg Sinyhubov reported that one person was killed and 8 others were injured, including two children, in a missile attack on the town of Zmiev. Kharkiv is a frequent target of Russian attacks.
Since February 24, 2022, Russia has been launching a military attack on its neighbor, Ukraine, and stipulates in order to end it that Kiev abandons joining Western military entities, which Kiev considers “unacceptable interference” in its internal affairs.
