Topics: Politics, Russia, US News, Ukraine, World News, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Russia has finally responded to the US and Ukraine holding peace talks earlier this week.
Ukraine has been battling Russia since February 2022 after the neighboring country invaded Ukrainian land. But, after three years of conflict, America hopes it can assist in helping the war finally come to an end.
With this in mind, US and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss organizing a ceasefire with Russia.
Reportedly, the negotiations went on for eight hours.
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The talks seemed to go successfully – much more so than Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump's talks at the White House last month.
The two countries released a joint statement afterwards which outlined their hopes of having Russia sign a 30-day ceasefire, with Trump recently adding that there would be 'devastating' consequences for Russia if they did not agree.
"We could do things very bad for Russia", he told reporters. "Would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace."
America also agreed to resume its military aid and security assistance to Ukraine.
It's thought that they're yet to make any final decisions on the raw minerals deal, however.
While Ukraine and the US have been in frequent with communication with one another, Russia is saying that it has been left out of such talks.
Speaking following their meeting, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with pro-Kremlin US bloggers, as per the New York Post: "Nobody is talking to us.
"They keep saying, ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,’ but they do everything about Russia without Russia."
Elsewhere, he also said that the country will not sign any deals that may potentially jeopardize the lives of Russian people.
READ MORE: Donald Trump threatens 'devastating' punishment to Russia if they don't agree to new deal
Lavrov also doubled down on Russia not allowing NATO troops in Ukraine 'under any conditions'.
Ukraine has been trying to join the treaty for many years, but it's believed Russia wants to boycott efforts to do so and prohibit any foreign troops coming into Ukraine if any peace deal is to be signed, says Reuters.
Vladimir Putin also supposedly wants international recognition of Russia's claim on Crimea (which had once been part of the Soviet Union).
Reportedly, Russia shared these details as part of a list of demands it presented to the US recently — refuting Lavrov's claims that the country hasn't been privvy to any negotiations regarding America and Ukraine's plans.
They made similar demands in previous talks with the Biden administration during meetings held in 2021 and 2022.
The meetings ended in failure though, with Russia proceeding with its plans to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
With all of this in mind, Putin's commitment to a potential ceasefire agreement is still uncertain.
