Putin Assures Trumps on Europe         09/09 06:30

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin assured U.S. 
President Donald Trump in a phone call Tuesday that Moscow doesn't harbor 
aggressive intentions toward Europe, a senior Kremlin official said, after 
European officials blamed Moscow for sabotage campaigns on their soil.

   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said meanwhile that U.S. envoys who 
visited Kyiv presented some "very good, worthwhile ideas" for ending Russia's 4 
1/2-year-old war, adding that he hopes to meet with Trump within two weeks.

   But Russia remains determined to accomplish its military goals and it 
believes it is close to winning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. 
Ukrainian and Western observers, however, believe that Moscow has been unable 
to make any significant progress on the front line.

   The war could yet drag on for years as Russia reconstitutes its forces and 
its defense industry, said U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby.

   "We must be prepared for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine's 
requirements to persist in the months and years ahead," Colby told an online 
meeting of countries helping Ukraine.

   U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited Moscow and Kyiv for 
separate talks with Putin and Zelenskyy over the weekend. The meetings appeared 
to produce no substantial breakthrough on ending the fighting, and both 
countries resumed their deadly air war after a weekend truce in their capitals 
for the American visitors.

   The attacks killed seven people and injured 28 in Kyiv and the surrounding 
region, authorities said, officials from Russia reported three people killed 
and 13 wounded in areas it controls.

   The Kremlin says call between Putin and Trump was 'constructive'

   Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, said the hourlong 
conversation between Putin and Trump was "constructive and quite frank." Moscow 
has a positive view of the results of the weekend visit by Witkoff and Kushner, 
he added.

   There was no immediate White House comment on the call.

   Ushakov told reporters that "in view of the speculation about Russia's 
alleged hostile intentions toward European countries, it was underlined that we 
don't have any aggressive plans regarding Europe."

   That claim runs counter to European authorities' versions of recent 
incidents, such as the German government last week blaming Russia for an 
attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in August using a drone laden with 
explosives.

   Ushakov said Putin told Trump about the combat situation in Ukraine and 
Russia's plans to make battlefield gains and achieve its military goals in what 
Moscow calls its "special military operation," not a war.

   Zelenskyy aims to meet with Trump this month

   Zelenskyy said he is counting on meeting with Trump around Sept. 20 -- about 
the same time that the U.N. General Assembly is being held in New York. Putin 
isn't expected to attend.

   He indicated he will press Trump to provide more Patriot air defense systems 
that Kyiv needs to counter Russia's ballistic missiles.

   Ukraine needs 300 Patriot missiles from its partners' stocks, 500 air-to-air 
interceptors and $2 billion for more drones, U.K. Defense Secretary Wes 
Streeting told the meeting of countries providing help.

   Also on Tuesday, the European Commission approved a loan of 3.2 billion 
euros ($3.7 billion) for Kyiv to purchase components for Patriot air defense 
systems, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel.

   Zelenskyy thanked U.S. officials for their efforts to unblock negotiations 
with Russia, which have been stuck since early this year with little progress.

   "As for the peace package that Kushner spoke about and the new ideas, I'll 
tell you frankly, there were indeed a couple of very good, worthwhile ideas," 
Zelenskyy said in audio messages answering reporters' questions.

   The proposals will remain under wraps for now, he said, but he expressed 
hope that talks involving delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. can 
take place in the fall.

   Ukraine is "ready to find a compromise" on the issues of grain exports and 
energy, he said. Moscow and Kyiv have targeted each other's grain ships in the 
Black Sea, raising concerns that two of the world's major suppliers won't be 
able to get their produce to market.

   Ukraine has also battered Russian oil facilities while Russia has pounded 
Ukraine's power grid ahead of winter.

   Russia is confident of victory, Kremlin spokesman says

   Peskov said he believed "victory is very close" on the battlefield.

   "We're very confident in our military potential," he told reporters, while 
insisting Russia wants to find a peaceful solution and welcomes Trump's 
diplomatic efforts.

   Putin has sought to portray Russia as negotiating from a position of 
strength. But European officials and Western analysts say its bigger army is 
unable to make significant progress on the 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front 
line, where it is pushing to capture the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, 
part of its industrial heartland.

   "Russian forces will not seize Donetsk ... until 2032 at their current rate 
of advance -- if they can seize it at all," the Institute for the Study of War, 
a Washington-based think tank, said Sunday. "The Russian rate of advance has 
slowed significantly across the theater since 2025, when Russia's rate of 
advance had already begun to slow."

   With troops bogged down on the battlefield, both countries have intensified 
their aerial campaign of drones and missiles.

   Top Ukraine diplomat says 'horrific' attack hurts peace efforts

   Russia's main targets in its overnight attack were Kyiv and the Odesa region 
of southern Ukraine, Ukraine's Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said.

   Explosions were heard in Kyiv for nearly five hours, according to Vyhivskyi. 
More than 50 sites were damaged during the attack, including residential 
buildings, dormitories, schools, stores and gas stations, he said.

   Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it "a horrific attack" and 
accused Putin of undermining U.S. peace efforts.

   Russia says it hit military-related targets

   The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight launched a massive 
strike on Ukrainian military industry facilities.

   It provided a detailed list of its targets. They included places storing 
Ukrainian drones and cruise missiles, as well as transport, logistics and 
distribution centers for military cargo in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, the 
ministry said.

   A drone incursion is reported in Romania

   Romania's Ministry of National Defense said a drone entered its territory 
and later crashed in neighboring Moldova east of the countries' shared border 
after about 30 minutes. Two Spanish F-18 warplanes tracked its trajectory, the 
ministry said.

   Moldovan police said a drone crashed in a sunflower field outside a village 
in the Riscani district, causing fires but no one was injured.

   Ukraine neighbors both Romania and Moldova, and the countries have reported 
dozens of drone incidents since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.