Putin has emphatically appeared in the news in recent days to convey a message of calm. He attended a Russia-Africa summit and a naval review in Saint Petersburg. He was joined in St Petersburg by Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, who in turn had previously been in Pyongyang, where he viewed North Korean missiles with Kim Jong-un.
Three Ukrainian drones undermined that display of ‘normality’. According to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry, two drones were downed over the Moskva Citi business district, where they caused “minimal damage” to two office towers. A third drone was shot down over the Moscow suburb of Odintsovo, according to the ministry. The three drones were miles away from the Kremlin. A week ago, two Ukrainian drones came much closer: one drone was shot down near the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.
That ministry reported a second Russian “victory” over Ukrainian drones. According to this report, an attack with a ‘swarm’ of 25 drones in Crimea was repelled on Sunday. Sixteen drones are said to have been shot down by the Russian air defense and the control of the nine others was radiographically ‘taken over’, after which they crashed. No one was injured. Conversely, Russian rocket attacks on Zaporizhia and Sumy, among others, killed three and injured an unknown number.
Grain accord
Putin has taken all the time in recent days to speak with African leaders who attended the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg. African leaders had hoped to persuade Russia to resume the grain deal with Ukraine and Turkey. That agreement guaranteed the safety of Ukrainian grain shipments. Putin has pulled out of the agreement and Russia is now shelling Ukrainian grain silos and ports again.
Egypt and South Africa in particular argued for the resumption of the ‘grain deal’, but all Putin had to offer Africa was a portion of Russian grain. He promised six of Africa’s poorest countries 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain each, an offer dismissed as “a handful of donations” by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The AP news agency pointed out that the UN food program WFP had distributed 750,000 tons of grain under the grain deal alone.
African leaders had also hoped to push Putin into peace talks with Ukraine. That hope has also been dashed. Putin said Russia does not reject talks, but “we cannot declare a ceasefire if we are attacked”. Ukrainian President Zelensky has also said that peace talks cannot be held “as long as Russia occupies one-fifth of Ukraine”.
