Kremlin Rules Out an Unprepared Putin-Zelensky Meeting as Both War Budgets Expand

Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's press secretary, said negotiations on a Ukraine settlement at the highest level are pointless without preparation at expert level, Kommersant reported. He was answering a question about the prospects for a trilateral meeting between Russia, the United States and Ukraine. The statement effectively defers any summit while working-level contacts remain undefined.

Spending plans on both sides suggest otherwise. RIA Novosti reported that Ukraine's draft budget raises financing for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) by 25 percent. Inside Russia, TASS reported that a person was injured when an explosive device detonated in Bryansk region, where the acting governor urged residents not to approach unfamiliar objects, and election officials in Donetsk said drone threats complicated vote counting.

The war's costs have also become a domestic political question in Europe. The premier of Bavaria called for military-age Ukrainian men in Germany to be returned to Ukraine, according to RIA Novosti, a demand that connects Ukraine's manpower shortage to German welfare and labour policy. Readers should note these accounts come from Russian state and business outlets, and Ukrainian and German sources describe the same disputes in different terms.

The overall pattern is a conflict that has become a matter of ongoing expense rather than resolution. Security budgets rise, internal-security costs inside Russia rise, and the diplomatic track is stated in terms of procedure instead of substance.