TOP HEADLINES

• President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected suggestions that Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine was responsible for high global food prices, saying Western "mistakes" in the form of monetary stimulus were at the root of the problem. READ MORE BELOW

• Putin also told African leaders on Friday in Moscow he respected their peace proposal on Ukraine and was carefully studying it.

• Russian air defenses downed a Ukrainian military drone before it could attack its targets near Moscow on Friday, the RIA news agency cited Russia's defense ministry as saying.

• U.S. Abrams tanks are likely to arrive on the Ukrainian battlefield in September, Politico reported, citing six people familiar with the matter.

• Ukrainian forces pressed their counteroffensive through the Russian-occupied southeast on Thursday, capturing the village of Staromaiorske in a campaign to drive a wedge through Russian defensive positions.

• Russia's withdrawal from a deal that had allowed Ukraine to export its badly-needed grain has sparked volatility in grain prices, the White House said on Thursday.

• Ukraine's parliament voted on Thursday to extend martial law by another 90 days until Nov. 15, ruling out the possibility of parliamentary elections being held in October.

IN DEPTH

Putin blames West for rising food prices

President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected suggestions that Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine was responsible for high global food prices, saying Western "mistakes" in the form of monetary stimulus were at the root of the problem.

Putin asserted to a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg that the United States and the European Union had printed money to buy food as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that "prices skyrocketed."

Putin appeared to be referring to the policy of "quantitative easing" to help major Western economies function under the social and economic disruption of the pandemic.

Putin also said the West had neglected investment in hydrocarbons: "One mistake led to another, it upended markets."

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