Putin says Russia needs more air defence capability, tackling fuel issues

President Vladimir Putin said ​on Sunday (June 28, 2026) that Russia ‌needed greater anti-aircraft capacity ​to confront Ukrainian ⁠drone strikes on oil infrastructure, but added ‌that the country was coping well ‌with the ‌problems ⁠the attacks had caused.

“The ⁠first task is to quickly and significantly ramp ​up production ‌of those air defence systems that are most needed,” Mr. Putin said ‌in a ​Russian television interview.

He said Russia would ⁠not allow the Ukrainian strikes to detract ‌from Moscow’s plans to advance on the front lines of the more than four-year-old conflict.

“All ‌the strikes, wherever ​they hit our infrastructure, absolutely do not ⁠affect the situation on ⁠the front, on the line of ‌combat contact,” he said.

Expecting U.S. negotiators once U.S. less busy with Iran: Putin

Mr. Putin also said that he was expecting a team of U.S. negotiators to come to Moscow, once Washington had reached an agreement with Iran over the West Asia onflict.

“We expect that after all the events are over, after the active phase on the Iranian track has passed, we will see the arrival of those representatives of the US administration with whom we have already met in Moscow repeatedly,” he said. The interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, cited by Russian news agencies, was also published on the Telegram platform.

“We are ready to continue negotiations and ready to continue negotiations and discuss all the details,” he added.

Mr. Putin was responding to a question on the state of Russian-U.S. relations after the G7 summit in France, when U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia should “make a deal with Ukraine”.

On Wednesday (June 24, 2026), Mr. Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was doing well in the war against Russia, having previously said he lacked the “cards” to win.

With inputs from Reuters, AFP