Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to members of the SCO for their proposals on resolving the conflict in Ukraine. He reiterated that hostilities could end if Ukraine withdraws its troops from the four regions that Moscow annexed in 2022 and abandons its bid to join NATO. Kyiv and its allies, however, have rejected the Russian idea of bringing the ongoing war in Ukraine to an end. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged leaders at a Central Asia summit in Astana to “resist external interference,” state media reported.