TOP HEADLINES

• Russia said it managed to defend itself against two Ukrainian drone attacks overnight targeting Moscow and the Crimea peninsula. The assault injured one civilian in the capital and briefly shut an international airport, while the strike in Crimea involved 25 drones.

• President Vladimir Putin said Russia had not rejected peace talks on the conflict and that an African initiative as well as a Chinese one could be a basis for bringing the fighting to an end. Speaking at the end of the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg, the leader stressed that one issue with implementing a peace initiative, including a potential ceasefire, was that Kyiv was still pushing ahead with its counter-offensive. READ MORE BELOW

• African leaders also used the Petersburg meeting to press for an end to the conflict and for the renewal of a deal allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain.

• A Russian rocket attack killed one civilian and injured five more in the northeastern city of Sumy overnight, Ukraine's interior ministry said, while a further two people were killed following a Russian strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

• Saudi Arabia is set to host talks in August about Ukraine, inviting Western states, Ukraine and major developing countries including India and Brazil, according to the Wall Street Journal. The talks will apparently exclude Russia, but Riyadh said it hoped they could lead to international backing for peace terms favoring Ukraine. 

• Poland's prime minister warned that scores of soldiers from the Russian Wagner group had moved closer to the Polish border, adding that the situation was becoming "increasingly dangerous." Earlier this month, Poland moved over 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concerns that the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.

• Following Wagner's exit from Ukraine after a short-lived mutiny attempt in Russia, the group's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin told journalists this weekend that he was ready to increase the presence of his mercenaries in Africa and was looking to further develop relations with friendly nations.

• Ukrainian soldiers are allegedly using rockets from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea seized from Russian troops to attack enemy positions, according to the Financial Times. The U.S. has accused the DPRK of providing arms to Russia, but has not offered proof, while Pyongyang and Moscow have denied conducting any arms transactions.

• President Putin has said that the Russian Navy will receive 30 new ships this year, using Russia's annual Navy Day to make the announcement. 

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited Ukraine's special forces in "advanced positions" near the hotspot of Bakhmut as Kyiv ramps up its counter-offensive. The leader said he was not at liberty to disclose details of current operations, but stressed his troops were inflicting "especially tangible blows" against Russian forces in the area. 

• In contrast, Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had been unsuccessful in their offensive attempts, specifically in the Donetsk region where Bakhmut is located. 

IN DETAIL

Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Moscow had not rejected peace talks on Ukraine and that an African peace initiative, as well as a Chinese one, could be a basis for ending hostilities. 

He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St. Petersburg, where heads of state were pushing the Russian president to find a way to end the conflict and renew the collapsed Black Sea grain deal that Moscow pulled out of last week.

"There are provisions of this peace initiative that are being implemented," said Putin in his address. "But there are things that are difficult or impossible to implement."

Some African leaders have suggested that their mediation in the conflict could begin with confidence-building measures followed by a cessation of hostilities accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West.

Putin said that one of the points blocking such an initiative was how to bring about a ceasefire while Kyiv was still pressing for gains in Ukraine's east.

"The Ukrainian army is on the offensive, they are attacking, they are implementing a large-scale strategic offensive operation. We cannot cease fire when we are under attack," said the Russian leader. 

On the question of starting peace talks, he said, "We did not reject them... In order for this process to begin, there needs to be agreement on both sides."

During the St. Petersburg summit, African leaders pressed Putin on Friday to move ahead with their plan to end the Ukraine conflict and to renew a deal crucial to Africa on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow exited last week.

While not directly critical of Russia, their interventions on the second day of a summit were more concerted and forceful than those that African countries have voiced until now.

They served as reminders of the depth of African concern at the consequences of the conflict especially rising food prices.

"This war must end. And it can only end on the basis of justice and reason," African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told Putin and African leaders in St. Petersburg.

"The disruptions of energy and grain supplies must end immediately. The grain deal must be extended for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, Africans in particular."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the idea of a ceasefire that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 months of fighting. 

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