Russia on Wednesday demanded to be a part of talks on Ukraine’s security guarantees as it continued to play down the US President Donald Trump's hopes for a bilateral meet between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a lasting peace deal. It also demanded China to be one of the security guarantors of Ukraine, the Guardian reported.
“To discuss security guarantees seriously without Russia is a road to nowhere,” Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.
In 1994, Moscow joined the Budapest Memorandum , pledging security guarantees to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan in return for their surrender of the Soviet-era nuclear arsenals left on their territory. However, Russia broke that commitment, first with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and later with its full-scale invasion in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday, just days after his high-profile meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Trump, a vocal critic of US aid to Ukraine , said European nations were prepared to commit troops to secure a settlement, while ruling out American boots on the ground and instead suggesting possible US air support. He also claimed Putin had agreed to meet Zelenskyy and accept limited Western security guarantees for Ukraine, though Moscow has yet to confirm this.
Russia, meanwhile, dismissed the White House talks as a “clumsy” effort to shift Trump’s stance on the war. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Moscow would never accept Western troops in Ukraine and cast doubt on the likelihood of a near-term Putin-Zelenskyy summit. He warned that any such meeting would need careful preparation to avoid worsening the already volatile conflict.
“To discuss security guarantees seriously without Russia is a road to nowhere,” Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.
In 1994, Moscow joined the Budapest Memorandum , pledging security guarantees to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan in return for their surrender of the Soviet-era nuclear arsenals left on their territory. However, Russia broke that commitment, first with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and later with its full-scale invasion in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday, just days after his high-profile meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Trump, a vocal critic of US aid to Ukraine , said European nations were prepared to commit troops to secure a settlement, while ruling out American boots on the ground and instead suggesting possible US air support. He also claimed Putin had agreed to meet Zelenskyy and accept limited Western security guarantees for Ukraine, though Moscow has yet to confirm this.
Russia, meanwhile, dismissed the White House talks as a “clumsy” effort to shift Trump’s stance on the war. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Moscow would never accept Western troops in Ukraine and cast doubt on the likelihood of a near-term Putin-Zelenskyy summit. He warned that any such meeting would need careful preparation to avoid worsening the already volatile conflict.
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