Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, tied a resumption of talks with Ukraine to Russia’s electoral calendar: he said negotiations would hardly be possible before the State Duma elections, but that after them Moscow would be ready to resume them, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing a briefing carried by the Russian state news agency TASS.

Putin also said that on the night of 19–20 September more than 1,600 drones entered the Moscow zone and that polling stations were hit — a claim coming from the Kremlin itself.