Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin says Russia on the verge of recession as Putin prepares to address economic forum – UK Times

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that in his view the whole of Ukraine was “ours” and cautioned that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border.

Ukraine’s foreign minister denounced the statements as evidence of Russian “disdain” for US peace efforts and said Moscow was bent on seizing more territory and killing more Ukrainians.

Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, more than 99 per cent of the Luhansk region, over 70 per cent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

“We have a saying, or a parable,” Putin said. “Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.”

Britain, along with Nordic-Baltic nations and other allies, pledged coordinated measures to further counter Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” operating in the Baltic and North Sea, the UK foreign office said on Friday.

“If vessels fail to fly a valid flag in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, we will take appropriate action within international law,” Britain and the Nordic-Baltic nations said in a joint statement.

The statement was issued after a meeting of representatives from Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the date for the next round peace talks is expected to be agreed upon next week.

Kyiv officials have not recently spoken about resuming talks with Russia. The last talks were held when delegations met in Istanbul on June 2.

Ukraine continues to offer a ceasefire and support US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with the National Security Advisor and Commander of the Royal Guard for the Kingdom of Bahrain, Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, on the sidelines of the 28th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Russian drones slammed into two Ukrainian cities, killing at least one person in nighttime attacks, authorities said on Friday.

Russia’s overnight drone assault targeted the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa and the northeastern city of Kharkiv, hitting apartment blocks, officials said.

The barrage of more than 20 drones injured almost two dozen civilians, including girls aged 17 and 12, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

President Vladimir Putin on Friday hailed Russia’s economic outlook, saying it has managed to curb inflation and ease its reliance on energy exports.

It came despite the Russian leader’s own economy minister claiming on Thursday that Russia was on the verge of recession.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he said: “The perception of Russian economy as based on raw materials and dependent on hydrocarbons exports have clearly become outdated,” Putin said.

He added that the economy grew by 1.5% in the first four months of 2025 and inflation has dropped from double digits to 9.6%.

We have some more pictures showing Russia’s latest overnight attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Russia’s economy is “on the brink of going into a recession,” the country’s economy minister said Thursday, according to Russian media reports.

Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov delivered the warning at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the annual event in Russia’s second largest city designed to highlight the country’s economic prowess and court foreign investors.