War

Zelensky: 'I will not go to Moscow, Putin instead come to Kiev'

6 September 2025

3' min read

Volodymyr Zelensky has for the first time explicitly rejected Vladimir Putin's invitation-challenge to go to Moscow for a face-to-face meeting, saying that if anything it may be the Kremlin leader who "comes to Kiev". The Ukrainian president said this during an interview with US broadcaster Abc News. Putin "can come to Kiev," Zelensky said. "I cannot go to Moscow when my country is under missile attack every day. I cannot go to the capital of this terrorist. Putin understands that," Zelensky told Abc interviewer Martha Raddatz.

Ukraine will have guarantees for its security, said US President Donald Trump speaking in the Oval Office. "We will solve this issue, we will help them. We want to save a lot of lives, so we will do something. I think people expect us to help them. Europe will be first by far, they want to be first. Europe wants the war to end, and it will end. It will end!"

"We must continue to provide all possible support to Ukraine, including ensuring that its financing needs are covered in 2026. We are aware that Russia's expansionist ambitions extend beyond Ukraine," stressed EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis speaking at the Teha Forum in Cernobbio. "Today, Europe holds every advantage over Russia in terms of economic weight, technology and population. The priority now is to build on these advantages by rebuilding Europe's defence capabilities and developing our defence industry. This,' he explained, 'will require massive and sustained investment and strong cooperation with our allies'.

On the battlefield, starting at 6pm local time yesterday and during last night, the Russians launched at least 91 Shahed attack drones and drone-caes over Ukrainian territory, at least 68 of which were shot down or neutralised by anti-aircraft defences, but at least 18 drones struck in eight locations. This was reported by the Kiev Air Force on Telegram, picked up by Ukrainian media. Drone fragments also fell in several locations.ù

Russian military currently present on the territory of Ukraine number about 700,000, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, writes Rbc-Ukraine, which reports statements by Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Central Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence. According to Yusov, the figure includes not only regular troops, but also support forces, intelligence services and the Russian National Guard. "Most of the forces are concentrated in the Donetsk region, indicating the enemy's main priority, says Yusov, quoted by Rbc.

As for the North Korean fighters, Yusov stated that they remain only on Russian territory. Earlier, writes Rbc, a military spokesman from the Dnipro operational region had noted that there were almost twice as many Russian troops in the Pokrovsk area as the pre-war population of the city: 110,000 versus 60,000. According to data released on a daily basis by the Kiev General Staff, the Russian army regularly suffers heavy casualties, with an average of between 800 and 850 soldiers killed each day and a total, since the start of the invasion on 24 February 2022, of more than one million Russian casualties.

Zelensky reported today that 'since the beginning of September alone, Russia has launched over 1,300 drones, almost 900 guided aerial bombs and up to fifty missiles of various types against Ukraine'. "In the first week of September," he added, "the enemy struck the regions of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Kherson, Kiev, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Volinia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne and Lviv. The explosions affected virtually every region of Ukraine'.