Putin says nuclear drills are not an escalation, questions Zelensky's legitimacy as Ukraine's leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin, defending this week's latest military drills, said that his country regularly conducts such exercises and that it was not an escalation in the war with Ukraine.

He further said that this time, the only difference was that the drills involved Belarus. Russia had in 2023 announced that it was deploying tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus.

Putin's remarks came at a press conference in Minsk after his talks with Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

Putin questions Zelensky's legitimacy as Ukraine's leader

Putin further questioned if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had the legitimacy to negotiate on Kyiv's behalf.

Russia stated that it was ready to hold talks concerning the ongoing war in Ukraine, however, it highlighted that Zelensky's five-year term in office ended on May 20.

Zelensky had previously ruled out the possibility of holding new presidential elections while the country was fighting a war.

“Of course, we are aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state has ended,” Putin said.

“We must be completely sure that we are dealing with legitimate authorities,” he added reiterating that his country was ready to negotiate with Ukraine.

Zelensky, however, has rebuffed the preconditions placed by Russia for the talks which also demands allowing Moscow to retain the territory that the Kremlin forces have captured since the February 2022 invasion.

'Stopped' Russia in Kharkiv region, says Ukraine

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military on Friday said that its forces had stopped Russia from advancing into the northeastern Kharkiv region, but Moscow was intensifying its offensive on other parts of the front.

"The Ukrainian Defence Forces have stopped Russian troops in the Kharkiv sector... The situation is under control, counter-offensive actions are underway," the army said.

Despite initial success, "the enemy has got completely bogged down in street battles for Vovchansk and suffered very high losses in assault units", Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on social media.

In an attempt to seize the town, Russia "is currently moving reserves from different sectors to support active assault operations, but to no avail", Syrsky added.

(With inputs from agencies)