Between Putin’s many sighs, coughs, and under-the-breath mumbling, we still managed to pick out a few claims worth fact-checking. At his September 1 press conference following the SCO summit, he somehow managed to push the Russian army farther away from Sumy, set yet another deadline for capturing Donetsk Oblast, rewrite the terms of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and deny attacks on civilian ships. He also promised new strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — of course, “in response.”

There is plenty of confusion, falsehood, and manipulation to unpack. Let’s take the claims one by one.

Numbers from the frontline

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (14:59-15:13)

“There are 12 kilometres left to Sumy, to the Sumy ring road <…>.”

According to DeepState, the nearest Russian positions are roughly 17 kilometres from the city limits of Sumy, and the frontline in this sector has not moved since May 2025.

On June 28, Putin claimed in an interview that his army was actively advancing in this direction: “There are about 10.5 kilometres left to the city of Sumy.” On September 1, the figure had already become 12 kilometres. In other words, by Putin’s own account, the Russian army has not moved closer to Sumy — it has moved 1.5 kilometres farther away.

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (11:41-11:56)

“The liberation of the Donetsk People’s Republic is proceeding according to plan. In August alone, 270 square kilometres of DPR territory and 15 settlements came under our control.”

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Putin has set fifteen different deadlines for capturing Donbas — May 9, 2022; December 31, 2022; March 1, 2023; September 1, 2025; and so on. Not one of them has been met.

His latest deadline — the end of 2026 — is also considered unrealistic by analysts. To meet it, Russia would still have to capture roughly 5,300 square kilometres of Donetsk Oblast in the 120 days remaining until the end of the year — an average of 44 square kilometres every day. In reality, Russian forces advanced at an average rate of 1.03 sq km per day in June, 1.22 sq km per day in July, and 2.9 sq km per day in August.

Grain

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (33:22-33:25)

«<…> 0.2% of Ukrainian grain went to developing markets in Africa. Everything else went to Europe».

Putin is lying and manipulating. According to the final figures for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, African countries received around 4 million tonnes of food products — 12% of all shipments. Overall, 57% of cargo went to developing countries.

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (33:41-34:40)

“As part of this deal, it was also agreed that certain issues would be resolved <…> Rosselkhozbank was supposed to be exempted from sanctions or allowed some form of operation <…> the ban on ships entering Russian ports to export our products was supposed to be lifted. The issue with insurance companies was supposed to be resolved, and so on. There was a whole list — and absolutely none of it was done. Zero.”

Putin presents Russia’s wish list as if it were part of the deal. The Black Sea Grain Initiative concerned the export of Ukrainian grain. Russian food and fertiliser exports were covered by a separate memorandum with the UN, under which the organisation committed only to facilitating trade. The UN never guaranteed that sanctions on Rosselkhozbank would be lifted or that the bank would be reconnected to SWIFT — because the UN does not impose those sanctions in the first place. Moreover, Russian food and fertilisers were not subject to direct sanctions at all.

Attacks on ships

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (34:57-35:21)

“We have never touched any civilian vessels. Yes, we carried out precision strikes on certain ships, but they really were precision strikes. We never made a mistake. We only struck vessels that were delivering weapons or ammunition to Ukraine. There was not a single mistake. Why? Because secondary explosions and detonations followed the strikes. In other words, we always hit the right targets.”

The bulk carrier MJ Pinar, March 2025: it was loading wheat for Algeria when a Russian strike killed four Syrian crew members. The Golden Leo, July 2026: it was carrying corn. Ten people were killed. These are just two of the most recent examples.

Putin then offers a textbook converse error: a conclusion that simply does not follow from the evidence. His reasoning is that if another explosion followed an impact, the vessel must have been carrying ammunition. Fuel, batteries, and other equipment commonly found on civilian ships have apparently quietly left the chat.

It’s all “retaliation”

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (16:09-17:07)

“Strikes continue against military targets, industrial facilities, and Ukraine’s port and logistics infrastructure <…> in response to the Kyiv regime’s continuing attacks on civilian infrastructure and the fuel and energy sector, including Russian oil refineries. With all this in mind <…> instructions have been given to prepare and carry out massive strikes against Ukraine’s energy facilities. They strike ours — they will get a response.”

Putin is manipulating the chronology. Russia began attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the autumn of 2022, while systematic Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries began in 2023 and only became large-scale in early 2024.

So Russia began “retaliating” before there was anything to retaliate against.

Peace-loving terrorists

Vladimir Putin, 01/09/2026 (19:52-20:00)

“Zelenskyi said that it is unsafe for us to fly. Well, listen, I have not heard such statements, but if this was said publicly, then this is simply a declaration of state terrorism.”

Zelensky warned airlines that, as the number of Ukrainian drones increases, Russian airspace will become increasingly unsafe. At the same time, he explicitly stressed that Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation or any civilian aircraft. What does Putin do? He turns a warning about a growing risk into an imaginary threat against civilian aircraft — and then argues against the threat he has just invented.

And although Putin insists that “there are no negotiations with terrorists,” just 20 minutes later, he says:

“…we are ready for a negotiation process with anyone who wants to engage in one <…> We want to end the war and achieve a lasting, absolute peace.”

Putin’s idea of “absolute peace” is best illustrated by what Russia was doing on the very day he said this.