A top Russian diplomat said on Friday there were no plans for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky. Three Years WarA few days after US President Donald Trump He said he had started to arrange For them to sit together.
“It’s not planned” between Russian and Ukrainian leaders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a recorded interview on NBC’s Sunday show, “Meeting Kristen Welker.”
Trump said in a social media post Monday that he spoke with Putin and set up a move arrangement for the summit where it was decided. Trump added that he will join them for a subsequent trilateral meeting.
Recently, uncertainty has been growing around Moscow’s commitment to US-led peace efforts, as Russian officials challenge the cornerstone of their newfound proposal.
Lavrov said Thursday that Putin is ready to discuss the peace conditions to meet Zelensky, but only after the important issues have been resolved first by senior officials. That could involve a prolonged negotiation process for both parties. Stay far away.
Ukraine wants a Western security guarantee to stop the Russian attack after the war, and US and European officials are rushing to come up with detailed suggestions on how it works. But Lavrov said earlier this week that it would be pointless to have a Ukrainian security arrangement without Moscow’s involvement.
On Thursday, major Russian drone and missile attacks struck a US-owned electronic factory despite Trump’s criticism of Putin. Continuing to bomb Ukraine’s targets While talking about peace.
European chief diplomat warns about Putin’s trap
The European Union’s foreign policy director said on Friday that the possibility of Ukraine transferring land to Russia as part of a peace agreement to end the three-year war is a “trap” set by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
That’s the Russian leader Demand Ukraine’s concessions Stopping the invasion of his army, but allowing him to make those demands reward the country that began fighting, Kaja Karas said.
The recent talk about handing over Putin’s concessions was “the very trap that Russia hopes to step into us,” Karas said in an interview with the BBC.
“So any discussion of what Ukraine should give up, and the concessions that Ukraine is willing to do, forget that Russia has not made a single concession and that they are invaders here.
“Russia is just limping. It’s clear that Russia doesn’t want peace,” Karas said. “President Trump has repeatedly said that killings must stop, and Putin isn’t just laughing, he’s increasing the number of killings, rather than stopping them.”
Ukraine attacks Russian oil pipeline
Meanwhile, Ukraine has returned to Russia Long Range Weapons It is aimed at infrastructure supporting Moscow’s war efforts. Among other targets is the Hit Oil Refinery, and Russia’s wholesale gasoline prices have recently hit record highs.
The Ukrainian forces targeted Russia’s Durzuba oil pipeline and crashed into the UNECHA oil pump station in the Briance region on Friday, according to commander Robert Brobi, commander of Ukrainian unmanned systems forces.
The Druzhba Pipeline starts in Russia and takes oil to Slovakia and Hungary through Belarus and Ukraine. In Russia, some of them pass through the Briansk region and the UNECHA region.
Ukraine launched Himah rockets and drones in the region in the combined attack, Briance Regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a telegram post.
The pipeline supplies Hungary with more than half its crude oil. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Sijaltu wrote on Facebook on Friday that he was attacked “for the third time in a short time” and that Druzhba Pipeline was attacked.
“This is another attack on our country’s energy security. Another attempt to drag us into war,” the minister wrote.
Under Prime Minister Victor Orban, Hungary has taken a militant stance against both Kiev and its EU supporters, but most EU countries provide political, financial and military support to Kiev.
Orban visited Moscow last year to meet Putin on a rare trip to Russia by European leaders.
Slovakia and Hungary are the only EU member states that still receive oil from Russia. The other 25 have stopped buying it as part of EU sanctions following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in 2022.
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This story was revised to show that he visited Orban to meet Putin last year, not last month.
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