Russia will not settle for Nato troops in Ukraine, Lavrov says after talks with US

Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated his nation will not settle for peacekeeping forces from Nato international locations in Ukraine beneath any peace deal, following high-level talks with the US in Saudi Arabia.

“Any look by armed forces beneath another flag doesn’t change something. It’s in fact fully unacceptable,” he stated.

Russia and the US stated that they had agreed to nominate groups to start out negotiating the top of the warfare.

“As we speak is step one of a protracted and troublesome journey, however an essential one”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated following the assembly.

Ukraine was not invited to the talks, which its president Volodymyr Zelensky stated was a “shock”.

However US President Donald Trump later stated he was “dissatisfied” by Ukraine’s response.

Chatting with reporters at Mar-a-Lago, he was requested by the RAYNAE what his message was to Ukrainians who may really feel betrayed.

“I hear that they are upset about not having a seat, effectively, they’ve had a seat for 3 years and a very long time earlier than that. This might have been settled very simply,” he stated.

After the assembly between US and Russian officers in Saudi Arabia, Trump stated he was “way more assured”.

“They had been excellent. Russia needs to do one thing. They wish to cease the savage barbarianism.”

“I feel I’ve the facility to finish this warfare,” he stated.

Requested in regards to the prospect of European international locations sending troops to Ukraine, he stated: “In the event that they wish to try this, that is nice I am all for it.”

The assembly in Riyadh was the primary time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Russian and American delegations are identified to have met face-to-face.

On the talks had been US Center East envoy Steve Witkoff and US Nationwide Safety Adviser Mike Waltz, in addition to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and the top of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev.

Afterwards, Lavrov stated the US and Russia would appoint ambassadors to one another’s international locations as quickly as potential and create situations to “restore co-operation in full”.

“It was a really helpful dialog. We listened to one another, and we heard one another,” he stated.

He reiterated Russia’s earlier place that any growth of the Nato defence alliance – and Ukraine becoming a member of it – can be a “direct risk” to Russia.

Rubio in the meantime stated he was “satisfied” Russia was “keen to start to interact in a critical course of” to finish the battle.

“There must be concessions made by all sides. We’re not going to predetermine what these are.”

European leaders held a swiftly organized assembly in Paris on Monday to debate their response to the obvious rapprochement between Russia and the US beneath President Trump – however didn’t agree a unified place.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated any Ukraine deal would require a “US backstop” to discourage Russia from attacking its neighbour once more and stated he would think about deploying UK troops to Ukraine.

However Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a key Nato ally, stated for his half, discussing sending troops to Ukraine at current was “fully untimely”.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk additionally stated he doesn’t intend to ship troops, and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni – the one European chief to attend Trump’s inauguration – expressed doubts.

She instructed the assembly in Paris that deploying European troops can be “probably the most advanced and the least efficient” method of securing peace in Ukraine.

In Riyadh, Rubio stated the European Union was going to “should be on the desk in some unspecified time in the future as a result of they’ve sanctions as effectively which were imposed”.

On the absence of Ukraine on the assembly, he insisted “no-one is being sidelined”.

“Everybody concerned in that battle must be OK with it, it must be acceptable to them,” he added.

Ukraine’s chief appeared visibly drained and upset when he gave his response to the assembly throughout a information convention in Turkey.

“We wish every part to be honest and in order that no one decides something behind our again,” Zelensky stated.

“You can not make selections with out Ukraine on the right way to finish the warfare in Ukraine.”

He will likely be alarmed by all the grins on each American and Russian faces in Riyadh, however he’ll know that he can do little to vary no matter they agree on over his head.

The Ukrainian president will even know that his nation’s possibilities of resisting – not to mention defeating – Russian troops with out American assist are very slim.