Russia’s Putin calls killing of ally’s daughter ‘brutal’

Bloomberg

President Vladimir Putin called the car bomb that killed the daughter of Russian nationalist political ideologue Alexander Dugin a “dastardly” crime, and the Federal Security Service blamed it on Ukraine, which rejected the accusation.
The car bombing that killed Darya Dugina was a “dastardly, brutal crime,” Putin said in a message of condolence to her father, a far-right political theorist who’s an outspoken advocate of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Putin’s message, posted on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel, came after Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukrainian special services of orchestrating the attack on Saturday. Ukraine has denied any role in the killing.
Officials at Russian state television plan a memorial ceremony at Moscow’s main TV center on Tuesday for Dugina, who appeared as a commentator on its channels, state-run Tass reported.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ruled out any talks with Russia if captured troops who took part in the defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are put on trial. Russian-backed separatists in occupied areas of Ukraine have suggested they may try captured Kyiv military forces soon, though this hasn’t been confirmed in Moscow.
Zelenskiy has warned that Russia “may try to do something particularly nasty, particularly cruel” as Ukraine prepares to celebrate Independence Day on Wednesday, which also marks six months since the invasion.
Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine have likely exhausted the limited momentum they gained at the end of July, according to the latest report from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. “The Russian military has shown a continual inability to translate small tactical gains into operational successes, a failing that will likely prevent Russia from making significant territorial advances in the coming months barring major changes on the battlefield,” the report said. Fighting continued in the eastern Donetsk region near Bakhmut and around Kramatorsk, while several Russian attacks on the Slovyansk axis and near Avdiyivka were unsuccessful, Ukraine’s general staff reported.