Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov refused on Tuesday to fully commit to a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but did not rule out further talks. In his comments to Russian state media, he evaded the possibility of a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, a prospect supported by US President Donald Trump. “We do not refuse any forms of work – neither bilateral nor trilateral,” Lavrov stressed, without committing to any.

He emphasized that any peace agreement on Ukraine must guarantee Russia’s security, speaking a day after high-level talks in Washington to resolve the conflict. “Without respect for Russia’s security interests, without full respect for the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people who live in Ukraine, there can be no talk of any long-term agreements,” Lavrov said. He added that preparations for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to resolve the conflict must be “very thorough.”