Ukraine's provocations fuel tensions, Putin says

MOSCOW/KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that an escalation of tensions would not achieve the outcome sought by Kyiv and could only worsen the situation in Ukraine.

"They must understand that no provocative acts or escalation of tensions will deliver the outcome they seek," Putin said at a news briefing. "Such moves will only make the situation worse for them."

Russia's military responses had prompted Kyiv to seek ceasefire arrangements covering several areas, including attacks on energy facilities and airstrikes, he said.

Putin said Russia has begun responding to what he described as actions taken by Ukraine, including an alleged bid to impose a naval blockade and strikes on storage facilities and civilian infrastructure.

According to Russian assessments, he added, Ukraine had damaged more than 100 vessels in the Black Sea.

On the battlefield, Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed at least 16 people over the past 24 hours, both countries said on Saturday.

Kyiv said Russian strikes killed at least six people, including in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where a 17-year-old girl was among the victims.

Russia said Ukrainian strikes had killed 10 people in the past 24 hours, including in the southern Krasnodar region, where a Ukrainian drone attack killed three people and wounded two, local officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had carried out overnight drone strikes on logistics centers, port and transport infrastructure, as well as communications centers and vessels that Moscow said were linked to the Ukrainian military.

The ministry said the strikes hit a data center in Kyiv, logistics hubs in the Kyiv and Odesa regions, two drone storage facilities in Mykolaiv, headquarters of a naval base as well as of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and four military storage facilities in the Kiliya port, and a cargo ship carrying military and dual-use goods to the port of Odesa.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, met briefly on Saturday at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the first such meeting since Russia began its special military operation in 2022.

The German side requested the meeting on Friday "at the very last minute", Lavrov said. The two foreign ministers met before Lavrov's speech at the UN General Assembly.

"Nothing new came from that initiative of the (German) foreign minister," Lavrov told reporters.

Asked whether Saturday's meeting can be seen as a resumption of dialogue between Russia and Germany, Lavrov said that Wadephul simply reiterated his official public position.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Lavrov said Moscow believes an agreement on ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict was reached at the August 2025 meeting in Alaska between Putin and US President Donald Trump, "and we continue to remain ready to return to it".

XINHUA-AGENCIES