<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he does not reject the idea of peace talks on Ukraine.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg, he said an African peace initiative as well as a Chinese one could serve as a basis for this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Putin also said it was hard to implement a ceasefire when the Ukrainian army was on the offensive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine and Russia have previously said they will not come to the negotiating table without certain preconditions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine wants its borders as they were in 1991 to be reinstated, something the Kremlin is deeply opposed to.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow argues instead that for negotiations to take place, Kyiv would have to accept its country's "new territorial reality".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Putin told the late-night press conference on Saturday that there were no plans to intensify actions on the Ukrainian front for now.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also defended the Kremlin's arrest of critical voices, claiming some people were harming Russia from inside.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the wide-ranging briefing, the Russian president told reporters that Moscow carried out some "preventive strikes" after an explosion on a Crimean bridge earlier this month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following the bridge incident - which left two people dead - Mr Putin vowed to respond to what he claimed was a "terrorist" act by Ukraine. Kyiv did not officially say it was responsible for the blast on the bridge, which links the occupied peninsula to Russia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Russia-Africa summit comes after an African contingent including leaders and representatives from seven countries met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Putin last month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, on the ground, Russia said two office blocks were damaged in a drone attack on Moscow early on Sunday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said no one was injured in the attack, which he blamed on Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The airspace over Moscow was temporarily closed but Vnukovo Airport has since reopened.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, one person was killed and five others injured after a rocket attack, the country's interior ministry said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ministry said on Telegram that a Russian missile hit an educational institution on Saturday evening. The BBC has not verified this information.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Elsewhere, two people were killed and another was injured after a missile hit "an open area" in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, an official said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the city council, said the blast wave caused by the "enemy missile" blew out apartment windows and damaged an educational institution and supermarket.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Zelensky has been visiting Ukrainian special forces near Bakhmut, the city where some of the fiercest fighting of the war has been taking place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian authorities have said Kyiv's troops are gradually moving forward near the eastern city, which Russian forces seized in May. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>