ON-SCREEN GLITCHES
After nearly four years, the war stands at a delicate juncture as United States President Donald Trump pushes for a peace deal on terms that Ukraine and its European allies fear will be slanted towards Russia.
Russia says it is waiting to hear from Washington how its draft peace proposals have been modified following consultations between the United States, Ukraine and the Europeans.
The state of the conflict – and the question of when it will end – dominated the first phase of the “Direct Line” event, which Putin has held in different formats most years since 2001.
He typically uses it to field dozens of questions on everything from nuclear weapons to the price of eggs. Some are posed by journalists and others by ordinary Russians, who can submit them online or by phone.
The Kremlin said it had received more than 2.6 million questions in advance. It styles the event as a demonstration of Putin’s openness to respond to questions on any topic, and his willingness to respond to the concerns of citizens.
But there were brief glitches in the choreographed proceedings when several sarcastic comments flashed up on a screen showing incoming text messages.
“Not a direct line, but a circus” said one of the messages, which was shown on live TV before the camera moved away.
STATE OF THE FRONT LINES
Putin laid out a detailed assessment of the battlefield situation, saying Russia was advancing along the entire front line and Ukrainian forces were in retreat.
At one point he gave the floor to Naran Ochir-Goryaev, a senior lieutenant and decorated Hero of Russia who described his part in Russia’s storming of the Ukrainian town of Siversk.
Putin apologised to the widow of a soldier killed in action, who said her family had not yet received the compensation due to them.
Ukraine says Russian gains are incremental and have come at the cost of huge casualties. It says it is fighting back in locations such as Kupiansk in the northeast, which Russia said it had captured last month.
Kyiv has long called for a ceasefire and said it does not believe that Putin is serious about seeking peace. Russia says it is Ukraine that is refusing to come to the table.
Putin said a sharp slowing in the Russian economy – to 1 per cent growth this year from 4.3 per cent in 2024 – was the result of conscious actions by the central bank to bring down the rate of inflation.
While his press conference was underway, the bank – under heavy pressure from businesses, banks and some politicians to bring down interest rates – announced it was cutting its key rate by half a percentage point to 16 per cent.
