Putin openly questions peace talks after blaming Ukraine for deadly bridge attack in Russia

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday openly questioned the point of peace talks with Ukraine after accusing Kyiv's senior leadership of ordering deadly terrorist attacks on bridges in Russia that killed seven and injured 115 more.

Russian investigators said that Ukraine blew up a highway bridge over a railway on Saturday just as a passenger train with 388 people on board was underneath it. The attacks came ahead of peace talks in Turkey on Monday.

Putin said the attacks on the bridge in Bryansk and another one in Kursk had been directed clearly against the civilian population and that the attacks were evidence that the Kyiv government "was degenerating into a terrorist organisation, and its sponsors are becoming accomplices of terrorists."

"The current Kyiv regime does not need peace at all," Putin said at a televised meeting with senior officials. "What is there to talk about? How can we negotiate with those who rely on terror?"

Putin suggested that any ceasefire would simply be used to pump Ukraine full of Western weapons. Ukraine has not commented on the bridge blasts.