Officers from the US and Russia will meet once more inside two weeks to debate the ending of the battle in Ukraine after re-establishing diplomatic relations with this week’s assembly, in accordance with a senior Russian official.
The officers will meet in a yet-to-be disclosed third nation, following their first talks in over three years in Saudi Arabia.
There was an “settlement in precept” for the 2 sides to carry consultations to debate “irritants” within the international locations’ relations, Deputy Overseas Minister Sergey Ryabkov instructed Russian state media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a gathering with judges of the home courts in Moscow, Feb. 20, 2025.
Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool by way of Reuters
Earlier than that subsequent spherical of talks, first there will probably be a gathering between the administrators of related departments from either side, Ryabkov stated.
The Kremlin is in full settlement with the Trump administration that the Ukraine battle ought to be settled by “diplomatic talks,” and that it’s “important to determine peace as quickly as doable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters Thursday. Only a day earlier than, President Donald Trump referred to as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator” and questioned his legitimacy.
Peskov stated the Biden administration “by no means got here up with any goal to provoke a peaceable course of.”
“[The Trump administration talks] about the necessity to set up peace as quickly as doable and do it by negotiations,” Peskov stated.
The U.S. mission to the United Nations has crafted a brief draft decision marking the three-year anniversary of the start of the battle in Ukraine that doesn’t attribute blame for the battle, in accordance with a U.S. official acquainted with the matter.
President Donald Trump stands within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, on the day Howard Lutnick is sworn in as U.S. Commerce Secretary by Vice President JD Vance, in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy provides a press convention in Kyiv on Feb. 19, 2025.
Tetiana Dzhafarova/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It’s not clear at this level whether or not that draft decision has been accomplished and formally put ahead for consideration, however the information comes because the U.S. has up to now declined to signal on to a different draft decision penned by the opposite nations of the G7 that condemns “Russian aggression,” the U.S. official stated.
U.N. resolutions are nonbinding however can ship a strong message concerning international locations’ positions on world issues.
This handout image taken and launched by Ukrainian State Emergency Service, on Feb. 20, 2025, exhibits rescuers working outdoors a residential constructing partially destroyed after a Russian air strike in Kherson.
Handout/Ukraine Emergency Service/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Negotiations in Saudi Arabia
Throughout this week’s negotiations on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia, Russia requested that the U.S. withdraw NATO forces from all of jap Europe, in accordance with the chief of Romania’s presidential workplace.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, second left, meets with Saudi Overseas Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Nationwide Safety Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, U.S. Nationwide Safety Advisor Mike Waltz, Center East envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov, proper, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s overseas coverage advisor Yuri Ushakov, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 17, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Pool by way of AP
This implies Russia remains to be making the demand that President Vladimir Putin made proper earlier than invading in 2022, requesting that NATO withdraw its forces from all international locations that joined after 1997, a lot of the former Jap Bloc international locations that turned members after the tip of the Chilly Conflict.
The Biden administration and all NATO members rejected that demand. International locations just like the Baltic States are very petrified of being left unprotected from an aggressive Russia.
On this handout image launched by the official Saudi Press Company, Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes palms with Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov throughout their assembly at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025.
SPA by way of AFP by way of Getty Photographs
“America has refused, this time, however there are not any ensures [that the same request will be rejected in the future],” stated Romanian official Cristian Diaconescu in an interview with Antena 3.
“[Russians’] expectations are that in some unspecified time in the future the U.S. would persuade their European companions to withdraw the NATO safety zone to the extent of 1997. In order that we, those that joined the Alliance after 1997, would now not profit from these ensures,” Diaconescu stated.
-ABC Information’ Shannon Kingston contributed to this report
