Kyiv attack aimed at cease-fire talks: Putin
China DailyVolunteers sort out humanitarian aid brought by donors for displaced people at a collecting station in Moscow on Tuesday, following Ukraine's offensive into Russia's western Kursk region. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Ukraine's biggest attack on Russian territory since the start of the conflict was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of the possible peace talks and at slowing the advance of Russian forces, and ordered his army to "dislodge" Ukrainian troops. Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into southwestern Russia's Kursk region last Tuesday, capturing over two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II. Putin, in his most detailed public remarks on the incursion to date, said Ukraine "with the help of its Western masters" was trying to improve its position ahead of possible talks.