Vladimir Putin

If you're Vladimir Putin, you're actually very, very much aware and worried about your own personal safety because realistically in Russia, it's all about regime security and Putin's security than anything else.

Speaking at an annual economic forum in his hometown of St.

Petersburg, Putin told assembled guests he saw no point in meeting with the Ukrainian president.

Putin noted the mocking tone of Zelensky's letter, which took digs at Putin's age, now 73, and suggested Zelensky's real aim was to stall Russian progress on the battlefield rather than come to a comprehensive settlement to end the war.

Putin also made clear his military objectives have changed little, despite more than four years of incremental territorial gains at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dead and injured.

In response, Zelensky argued the Russian leader, when given the chance for peace, has again chosen war.

Charles Baines, NPR News, St.

Petersburg.

It's one thing to participate in negotiations and quite another to be a mediator.

But what kind of mediator can the European Union or individual EU countries be when they directly assist a country with which we are engaged in armed conflict, effectively engaging in hostilities?

What kind of mediators are they?

Mediation assumes neutrality.

Where is the neutrality here?

A great feat.

The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers who are today carrying out the tasks of the special military operation.

They are resisting an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc.

And despite this, our heroes continue to advance.

The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers who are today carrying out the tasks of the special military operation.

They are resisting an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc.

And despite this, our heroes continue to advance.