Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia's main goal is to liberate Donbass, and that the Kyiv authorities refused to continue negotiations, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that any deal under threat would lead to bad results.
Putin added - at a press conference from Samarkand, Uzbekistan - that Moscow agreed on the need for security guarantees, but the Kyiv authorities refused.
Putin pointed out that there is no need to change Russia's plans regarding the special military operation in Ukraine, as he put it.
He pointed out that 35% of the grain shipments that departed from Ukraine reached Europe, and said that the United Nations should play an active role in the grain agreement.
On the other hand, the Russian President told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Russia wants to end the war in Ukraine, but Kyiv is the one who insisted on achieving its goals on the battlefield.
During a meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Putin said he understands India's concerns about the war in Ukraine, denying the validity of Ukrainian allegations that the Russians reject negotiations.
The Indian Prime Minister had told Putin that now is not the time for war, noting that securing food, fertilizer and fuel are the world's priorities at the present time.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that any deal with Russia under threat would lead to the worst results.
Zelensky explained that his country's forces are close to regaining control of the entire Kharkiv province.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian police said that they found the graves of about 445 people near Izyum in the Kharkiv province.
The Ukrainian police also said that they had found 50 bodies of civilians in the city of Kharkiv, in addition to the discovery of 10 torture chambers in areas recovered from the Russian army in the city.
Zelensky held Russia - during a video speech - responsible for this, and demanded that it be held accountable, calling on the world to hold it responsible, and stressing that his country will do everything possible to implement this.
On the other hand, the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, described Zelensky's statements about finding mass graves in the city of Izyum as a new cheap provocation and a baseless lie.
Slutsky said - in an interview with the Russian Tass Agency - that the next scenario is known, and journalists and photographers will appear in the place, who will also take pictures for the media, and no one will see any evidence.
Slutsky added that according to the method previously used more than once, accusations will be brought against Russia, accompanied by calls for imposing new sanctions on it and the delivery of additional weapons to Ukraine.
In the same context, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said his country had received reports of mass graves in Ukraine, and that this was a terrifying part of the ongoing story, as he put it.
Blinken added - in a press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi - that the United States' position is clear on classifying Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, and that all sanctions and pressure that can be achieved with the designation are already being achieved.
Blinken said that what is being heard from China and India about the Russian war in Ukraine reflects concerns around the world.
Militarily, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that more than 400 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded, as a result of strikes carried out by its forces on military sites in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that during the past 24 hours, the Russian army destroyed 9 Ukrainian command centers and weapons and ammunition depots.
In the south, the pro-Russian Donetsk separatist forces said that they had thwarted an attack by the Ukrainian forces on the town of Alexandrovka in Kherson Province, and inflicted heavy losses on it in equipment and forces, and published pictures of the effects of the battles with the Ukrainian forces.
And Ukrainian websites had earlier reported that the Ukrainian forces had taken control of the town of Alexandrovka and a number of neighboring towns in the Mykolaiv-Kherson axis.
Also in Kherson, the Russian RIA Novosti agency said that at least one civilian was killed in a Ukrainian bombing targeting the center of the city of Kherson, which is controlled by Russian forces in southern Ukraine.
The agency added that at least 5 missiles fell on the vicinity of the district administration building and a number of civilian facilities.