Europe

Ukraine, Kremlin: ‘A meeting between Putin and Zelensky on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Miami is impossible’

The Ukrainian president insists on the need for dialogue with Moscow and calls for European and American aid to strengthen defences against Russian attacks

12 September 2026

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I vigili del fuoco spengono le fiamme di una carrozza di un treno passeggeri colpita da un attacco con droni russi in una stazione ferroviaria, nel contesto dell’attacco della Russia all’Ucraina, a Lutsk, in Ucraina, il 12 settembre 2026. via REUTERS

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The Kremlin considers a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Miami, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in December – as proposed by the Ukrainian President – to be impossible. In a statement to AFP from New Delhi, Dmitry Peskov dismissed the proposal as “impossible” and reiterated that such a meeting could only take place in Moscow.

Zelensky: the war must reach Russia’s doorstep

“The war must reach Russia’s own doorstep. It is important.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a post on X, emphasising the importance of long-range operations against targets on Russian territory. According to Zelensky, these operations serve to make Russia feel the effects of the war every day. In the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian president reported, two chemical industry plants in the Russian regions of Perm and Samara and a target in the Black Sea were struck. In Taganrog, according to Zelensky, Ukrainian special forces struck a facility producing FPV drones, drone depots, a petroleum products tank, a radar station and a Pantsir-S2 system. “This week,” Zelensky added, a Su-33 and two Mi-8 helicopters were also destroyed in the Russian regions of Krasnodar and Rostov, whilst an oil refinery was struck in the Perm region.

Putin: ‘We are not threatening Europe; the conflict originates in EU member states’

The Russian president also spoke. Russia does not pose a threat to European countries and has no reason to enter into conflict with them, Vladimir Putin said in New Delhi, as reported by NTV, whilst accusing European states of provoking a possible clash with Moscow. “Russia does not threaten any European country and we have no reason to enter into conflict with them,” Putin stated, arguing that with the end of the Second World War “all issues were resolved”. “Do they want to revise the outcome of the Second World War? What are they pushing the people of their own countries towards? A war with the Russian Federation?”, he added.

For Putin, the AfD’s strong showing in the recent regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt is also a reflection of the insecurity felt by European citizens, caused by Western policies that are pushing them towards a conflict with Russia. “It is all the result of systematic mistakes made by Western states in political, security and economic matters,” Putin said, according to Russian television correspondent Pavel Zarubin in a video posted on Telegram, as reported by NTV. According to the Kremlin leader, the citizens of European countries “understand what is happening” and this, he claimed, also explains the election results in Germany. Putin went on to accuse European governments of provoking an open conflict with Russia, thereby fuelling insecurity amongst their own citizens.

Il canale segreto tra Usa e Russia

Zelensky: 100–120 Patriot missiles are needed each month for the winter

Ukraine needs 100–120 Patriot missiles a month to get through the winter months and defend itself against Russian attacks. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with Deutsche Welle, in which he emphasised the need for greater support from the United States and Europe. “Russia is currently producing 140 ballistic missiles a month. So, according to NATO rules, if you want to destroy 140 missiles, you need a ratio of one to two – that is, 280 missiles,” said Zelensky. “You’ll never get 280 missiles a month and, between you and me, it’s a huge challenge even to reach 100 missiles a month. That’s what I want. I want 100–120 for these difficult months, especially the cold ones.” Zelensky explained that the United States has the political will to provide aid, but that production of Patriot missiles “is not particularly high”. “Will the Americans be ready to give us the Patriots? I don’t know. We’ll see,” he added. The Ukrainian president then urged European allies to provide as much support as possible. “They must give as much as they can. With all due respect to them, they must give Ukrainians what they need to save their lives,” he said. Zelensky also reported that he had reached agreements with several European companies to develop a Ukrainian-led missile defence system, called Freya. The aim, he explained, is to begin the first phase of testing by the end of December.

Asse Mosca-Pechino: quanto può durare l’amicizia “senza limiti”?

Russia claims to have launched a massive attack on Zaporizhzhia

Russia launched, overnight, “a massive attack on Ukrainian metalworking companies producing military equipment in the cities of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih”, the Russian Ministry of Defence said. Russian forces also targeted “port infrastructure” in the Odessa Oblast, according to reports from Moscow.

Specifically, the Russian Ministry of Defence claims to have struck the Zaporizhstal metallurgical complex in Zaporizhzhia, which, according to Moscow, is “one of the main suppliers of rolled products for the manufacture of protective structures and armour for military equipment, as well as plates for bulletproof vests”.

In Kryvyi Rih, where one person was killed in an attack on an ‘industrial plant’, according to Kyiv, Russia claims to have struck a metallurgical complex that ‘produces metallurgical products for the manufacture of weapons and military equipment’. In Dnipro, also situated in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Moscow’s troops struck the state-of-the-art electrometallurgical complex at the Interpipe Steel plant, which the Russian ministry accuses of being “the largest producer and supplier of rolled steel in Ukraine for the manufacture of military products”. In this oblast of central Ukraine, the Russian army has also targeted mining complexes which – again according to Moscow – “extract, enrich and aggregate iron ore for the production of metallurgical products used in the military sector”.

Finally, in the Odessa Oblast, Russia struck “port infrastructure used for the unloading and storage of military goods, two ships that had transported weapons and military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces, and a tugboat”.

Bulgaria: explosion and fires at an ammunition storage site in Sofia

An explosion followed by fires occurred at an ammunition storage site in central Bulgaria, just a few weeks after a fire at another ammunition depot. This was reported by the police. The incident took place on Friday evening at a depot near Gorni Varpishta, in central Bulgaria, a NATO member state and supporter of Ukraine. The depot is operated by the Bulgarian arms manufacturer Emco, whose ammunition is used in Ukraine. No casualties have been reported and the extent of the damage is unknown. “At present, there is no danger to the public,” the police said in a statement, adding that employees had been evacuated and the area cordoned off. The nearest village is more than a kilometre from the site. The incident occurred about a month after a fire at an ammunition depot at another Emco facility located nearby. The company had ruled out the possibility of human error, and the public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation. Emco is owned by the Bulgarian defence industrialist Emilian Gebrev, who survived an attempted poisoning in 2015 along with his son and another company executive. The Bulgarian public prosecutor’s office has charged three Russian nationals in connection with this incident.