Moscow has said it must be part of any international talks on Ukraine’s security, as Russia continues to stall on Donald Trump’s push for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Wednesday that Moscow must be included in any talks on Ukraine’s security guarantees, dismissing European diplomacy as “aggressive escalation” and a “clumsy effort to sway Trump”. “To discuss security guarantees seriously without Russia is a road to nowhere,” Lavrov said during a working visit to Jordan. Lavrov also said that China, Russia’s ally in the war, should be among Ukraine’s security guarantors – reviving a proposal first put forward by Russian negotiators during talks in Turkey in spring 2022. The Russian foreign minister also pointed to the April 2022 talks in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine as a model.

Source: The Guardian August 21, 2025 21:33 UTC