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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared during his visit to the US capital that the Russian president's decision to seek negotiations with the US president demonstrates Moscow is on the defensive. Zelenskyy commented, "It's evident that Russia is rushing to resume dialogue immediately after it learns of Tomahawks." This statement referred to recent comments about supplying advanced missiles to the Ukrainian military.

Diplomatic Moves and Global Responses

A former American diplomat, a foreign policy expert, commented, "The Russian leader is attempting to disrupt the momentum toward increased sanctions on the Kremlin." He added, "The outcome will become clear tomorrow, but the chances of achieving a ceasefire by pushing Russia to engage sincerely seem to have diminished."

The situation came after the US president had in recent days been hardening his language toward Moscow until Thursday's conversation with Putin, which the Kremlin described as "extremely frank and constructive."

EU Energy Sanctions and Market Effects

EU authorities have set a requirement for fuel importers into the EU to demonstrate their fuels are not made from Russian crude, according to a document published on Thursday. This measure is part of the EU's upcoming ban on imports of refined products processed from Russian crude, which is included in its latest sanctions package against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

Market analysts noted that trading activity appeared to be considering the potential reduction of India's purchases of Russian crude. Several Indian refiners are getting ready to cut purchases from Russia, with expectations of a phased reduction, as reported by sources knowledgeable about the situation.

"This is a positive development for the crude oil price as it would remove a major customer of Russian oil," said a market analyst, adding that crude values were stable on Thursday.

Military Developments and Energy Attacks

A massive Moscow's unmanned aircraft and missile attack hit energy infrastructure in Ukraine's eastern regions on Thursday, resulting in outages in multiple regions. Authorities in Ukraine stated that Russian forces deployed numerous of unmanned vehicles and many of projectiles, along with glide bombs.

"This autumn, the Russian forces use every single day to attack at our power facilities," declared Ukraine's president, noting that attacks affected the regions of Chernihiv, eastern Ukraine, central Ukraine, Sumy and western Ukraine.

Global Diplomatic Responses

Ukraine's representative to the United States, the Ukrainian ambassador, asserted that Russia demonstrated its real approach to peace through the "violence" of such strikes. "Russia once again opted for weapons over dialogue, turning this assault into a clear setback to ongoing diplomatic initiatives," she said.

At the same time, the European Union's foreign policy chief, the bloc's representative, stated that the EU had no choice but to strengthen anti-drone defences against Russian threats. She revealed a "roadmap" to get ready for possible security challenges by the end of the decade, including a novel anti-drone system to be completely functional by the end of 2027.

The proposed system, dubbed the "EU defensive program," is expected to start operations in its first phase by the end of 2026 and be fully functioning by the following year. EU authorities aims to secure the backing of member state representatives at a meeting next week.