Moscow has hoped to mend relations with the United States while continuing to wage war in Ukraine, but Mr. Putin’s insistence on pushing his offensive has come at a diplomatic cost.

But Putin, speaking at an international economic forum in St Petersburg, said Russia had never doubted Ukraine's right to sovereignty, but noted that when Ukraine declared its independence in 1991 it was as a "neutral state".

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened for the first time to seize Ukraine's north-eastern city of Sumy. "We do not have the goal of capturing Sumy, but in principle I do not rule it out," he said on Friday at the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum,

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the Iranian people were consolidating around the leadership in Tehran.

China and Russia positioning themselves as voices of reason, calling for de-escalation of a conflict the United States is contemplating on entering — these are the optics Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sought to project during a phone call on Thursday.

Russian and Chinese presidents held a call on Thursday during which they both condemned Israel for striking Iran, the Kremlin said.