Russia won’t accept Nato troops in Ukraine, Lavrov says after talks with US

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that his country will not accept peacekeeping forces from NATO countries in Ukraine under any peace deal, in the wake of high -level talks with the United States in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“Any appearance by the armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is of course not completely unacceptable,” he said.

Russia and the United States said they had appointed teams to start negotiating the end of the war.

“Today is the first step on a long and difficult trip, but it is an important task,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the meeting.

Ukraine was not invited to the talks, whose president, Folodimir Zelinski, said it was a “surprise.”

But US President Donald Trump said he was “disappointed” from Ukraine’s reaction.

Speaking to the MAR-A-Lago journalists, he was asked from BBC about his message to the Warners who might feel betrayal.

“I hear that they are annoyed by not having a seat, well, they had a three -year seat and before that. This could have been very easily settled,” he said.

After the meeting between us and the Russian officials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Trump said it was “more confident.”

“They were very good. Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the brutal barbarians.”

“I think I have the ability to end this war,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of European countries to send to Ukraine, he said: “If they want to do this, this is wonderful, I am everything for that.”

The meeting in Riyadh was the first time since the full invasion of Russia for Ukraine, which it is known that Russian and American delegations had met face to face.

In talks, the American envoy in the Middle East was Steve Wittakov and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, as well as Russian presidency Yuri Ushakov and head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dimitriev.

After that, Lavrov said that the United States and Russia will appoint ambassadors for each other as soon as possible and create the conditions for “restoring cooperation completely”.

“It was a very useful conversation. We listened to each other, and we heard each other,” he said.

The former Russia has reiterated that any expansion in the NATO defense coalition – and the joining of Ukraine – would be a “direct threat” to Russia.

Meanwhile, Rubio said he was “convinced” that Russia “is ready to start engaging in a serious process” to end the conflict.

“There must be concessions made by all parties. We will not determine what they are.”

European leaders held a hurriedly infiltrated meeting in Paris on Monday to discuss their response to the clear rapprochement between Russia and the United States during the era of President Trump – but they did not agree to a unified situation.

The UK Prime Minister, Sir Kerr Starmer, said that any Ukraine deal would require the American “Backstrop” that Russia deterred the attack of its neighbor again and said it would have been arranged for the deployment of UK forces in Ukraine.

But Germany’s adviser Olaf Schools, a major ally of NATO, said, for his part, was discussing sending forces to Ukraine at the present time “premature”.

Prime Minister Poland Donald Tusk also said he did not intend to send forces, and Georgia Meloni in Italy – the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration – expressed his doubts.

She told Paris that the deployment of European forces would be “the most complex and least effective way” to secure peace in Ukraine.

In Riyadh, Rubio said that the European Union will be at the table at some point because they also have sanctions. ”

On the absence of Ukraine at the meeting, he insisted on “no one is being drafted.”

“Everyone who participates in this struggle should be fine, and it must be acceptable to them,” he added.

Ukrainian leader Folodimir Zellinski seemed clear and clearly disturbed when he gave his reaction to the meeting during a press conference in Türkiye.

“We want everything fair and no one decides anything behind our back,” he said.

“You cannot make decisions without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine.”

He will be concerned about all smiles on both American and Russian faces in Riyadh, but he will know that he cannot do little to change everything they agree on on his head.

The Ukrainian president will also know that his country’s chances of resistance – not to mention defeat – Russian forces without very little American assistance.