The blowing up of trains in the Bryansk and Kursk Regions is without a doubt a terrorist act, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the government.
He was briefed on these incidents and the negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul.
TASS has compiled the main facts about the meeting.
Putin’s statements
The bombing of trains in the Bryansk and Kursk Regions is "certainly a terrorist act," Putin said. He ordered that all necessary measures be taken to help the victims and their families. The head of state also expressed his condolences and wished a speedy recovery to all the injured.
Putin was adamant that the decisions on the terrorist attacks "were made in Ukraine at the political level." He called the train blowup in the Bryansk Region a "targeted attack on civilians."
According to the head of state, the recent Ukrainian attacks are aimed at disrupting the recently revived peace negotiations. The already illegitimate Kiev regime is degenerating into a terrorist organization, Putin pointed out. Ukraine is suffering huge losses and retreating along the entire front line, so it is trying to intimidate Russia with terrorist attacks, he noted. Kiev is launching attacks on peaceful infrastructure in Russia "and at the same time asking for a suspension of hostilities for 30 or even 60 days, asking for a summit: Who would negotiate with those who rely on terror? With terrorists?"
According to Putin, Moscow is "not surprised" by Kiev's refusal of a truce for 2-3 days on humanitarian grounds. The Kiev regime "does not need peace at all," because it would mean the loss of power for them, he noted.
A pause in hostilities would be used by Ukraine "to pump the regime with Western weapons, to continue forced mobilization and prepare other terrorist acts similar to those carried out in the Bryansk and Kursk Regions," Putin said. Power is more important to the Kiev regime "than peace and the lives of people whom, apparently, they do not consider their own," he added.
The head of state said that he would discuss the Ukrainian settlement with the Foreign Ministry and security forces at the next meeting of the Security Council.
The Ukrainian army suffered "absolutely senseless, huge losses in the Kursk Region, and today they are suffering one defeat after another on the battlefield," Putin said.
The head of state also said that the Ukrainian leadership lacks any sort of expertise, so it doesn’t have the competence to assess the abilities and status of the Russian delegation at the negotiations.
Reports by Medinsky and Lavrov on negotiations with Ukraine
According to the head of the Russian delegation, Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky proposed a 30-or 60-day truce to the Ukrainian side at the Istanbul talks to prepare for a meeting of the leaders. He noted that the Russian delegation conveyed Putin's position that a meeting at this level is possible with proper preparation.
Medinsky said that Russia is ready to begin a prisoner of war exchange with Ukraine on June 7-9. He said that Ukraine may have the bodies of dead Russian soldiers, but there are much fewer of them - Russia is ready to transfer to Kiev more than 6,000 bodies of dead soldiers unilaterally.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the negotiations important and useful. He also stated that Russia and Ukraine are making real progress through humanitarian channels.
The minister also called Vladimir Zelensky's rejection of the proposal for a 2-3-day truce a gross mistake. In his opinion, it is necessary not to succumb to provocations aimed at disrupting negotiations: "I believe that all means, including negotiations, must be used to achieve the just goals of the special military operation."
Bastrykin's report on terrorist attacks in Kursk and Bryansk Regions
Head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said that investigators had identified the locations of three explosive devices in the Bryansk Region, the site of a recent bridge collapse. During the terrorist attack on the railway in the Bryansk region, five devices exploded. According to him, the power of the explosive devices stood at about 15 kg in TNT equivalent. The bombs were loaded with foreign-made explosives, and a Ukrainian-made control unit was used, the head of the Investigative Committee said. He added that two unexploded devices were found. Bastrykin also reported that 13 kg of plastid and control units of Ukrainian production were seized from a cache.
In addition, from May 20 to May 25, Russian security forces in the Bryansk Region conducted an operation to neutralize a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group.
Bastrykin said that "the evidence gathered by the investigation directly indicates that all three terrorist attacks were undoubtedly organized by the special services of Ukraine." The damage from them amounted to more than $12.7 billion.
