Ukraine war live: Putin calls conflict a G20 tragedy despite ordering invasion

Vladimir Putin said that Russia has never abandoned peace negotiations over Ukraine.

He said, according to official media: “The situation in Ukraine can only be shocking, but the coup in Ukraine and the extermination of the civilian population there and in Palestine is not shocking.”

Vladimir Putin was photographed delivering a speech at the virtual G20 summit.

It appears that only a few countries tuned in to hear him speak, including India, Spain, Indonesia and Korea.

Below are some of the latest images from Ukraine as the first snowfall of winter covers parts of the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said, during an online meeting of the Group of Twenty leading economies, on Wednesday, that Russia sent the first ships loaded with grain to Africa for free.

Russia withdrew from the UN-backed agreement in July that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, but Moscow has since pledged to help developing countries that depend on Russian and Ukrainian grain exports.

In his remarks to the G20 meeting, Putin also said that a significant share of global economic activity is shifting to Asia and Africa, and called for a greater role for developing countries in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Vladimir Putin said that Russia “supports restoring the spirit of open and mutually beneficial cooperation in the world.”

Vladimir Putin finished delivering his speech at the G20 virtual summit.

We will continue to publish the most important parts of his speech as they are translated.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that the fabric of relations between Russia and the United States is very weak and threatens to be torn apart at any moment.

Zakharova told reporters at her weekly press conference that Washington’s actions could lead to “unpredictable consequences.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces are facing “difficult” defensive operations on parts of the Eastern Front with the onset of the harsh winter, but forces in the south are still carrying out offensive operations.

Russian forces launched attacks on various parts of the front line in eastern Ukraine this fall, trying to advance towards the destroyed town of Avdiivka and in the northeast between the cities of Liman and Kubyansk.

Zelensky said via the Telegram application: “The weather is difficult and the defense is difficult on the Liman, Bakhmut, Donetsk and Avdiivka fronts. Offensive actions in the south.”

Snow and freezing temperatures that reached around minus five degrees Celsius during the day on Wednesday, which were expected to drop below that, may further complicate operations on the battlefield, as the fighting moves into the attrition phase.

Russia, which launched a large-scale invasion in February 2022, controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine. Kiev launched a counterattack to retake the occupied territories this summer, but did not achieve significant progress.

Since mid-October, Avdiivka, where the front line has not changed much since the outbreak of the first war in 2014 between Kiev and Russian-backed militants, has faced waves of attacks followed by temporary periods of calm, according to the Ukrainian military.

After a lull the day before, the head of the Tavria Military Command said on Wednesday that Russian forces had “significantly increased” the number of attacks and airstrikes.

“Our defenders are holding the defense firmly in the direction of Avdiivka,” commander Oleksandr Tarnavsky said on Telegram. He added that Ukrainian forces continued their attack on the southeastern Melitopol front.

In its morning readings on the battlefield, the General Staff said that troops were also holding on to secure bridgeheads on the eastern side of the Dnipro River that Russian forces occupied in the first days of their invasion.

Vladimir Putin has just begun speaking at the virtual G20 summit, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The Kremlin on Wednesday refused to comment on statements by White House spokesman John Kirby that Iran may be considering supplying ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a regular press conference: “We are working to develop relations with Iran, including in the field of military-technical cooperation, but we do not comment on this information.”

Kirby said that the United States will monitor the situation between Iran and Russia and will take appropriate action as needed.

Iran has been a major military support for Russia, supplying the Kremlin with thousands of Shahed suicide drones that have been used to target critical infrastructure in Ukraine.