Ukrainian leader welcomes move and says it is critical Russian assets remain frozen

• EU leaders agree €90bn loan for Ukraine but without use of frozen Russian assets

In his first comments on Ukraine, Putin swiftly blames Kyiv for the continuing war, saying “they are basically refusing to finish this conflict via peaceful means” (whatever that means from the literally invading party).

But he says there are “some signals … indicating they are willing to engage in some type of dialogue.”