With fears of an invasion of Ukraine running high and seemingly intractable demands, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for about 90 minutes in Geneva at what the American said was a “critical moment.”Blinken told Lavrov the U.S. would give Russia written responses to Moscow’s proposals next week and suggested the two would likely meet again shortly after that — offering some hope that any invasion would be delayed for at least a few more days.
Despite that, there was no indication the U.S. responses would be any different from the flat-out rejections already expressed by Washington and its allies, clouding future diplomatic efforts. Blinken said Lavrov repeated Russia’s insistence that it has no plans to invade Ukraine, but the U.S. and its allies were not convinced.
“I can’t say whether we are on the right track or not,” he told reporters. “We will understand that when we receive the U.S. written response to all of our proposals.” Blinken said the U.S. would be open to a meeting between Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden, if it would be “useful and productive.” The two have met once in person in Geneva and have had several virtual conversations on Ukraine that have proven largely inconclusive.
Western allies were also supplying weaponry and equipment to Ukraine. Britain sent anti-tank missiles earlier this week, while the defense ministers of the Baltic nations issued a statement saying they received U.S. approval to send Stinger air defense missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles to strengthen Kyiv’s defenses.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »
Source: trtworld - 🏆 101. / 63 Read more »
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »
Source: fox32news - 🏆 547. / 51 Read more »
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »
Source: commondreams - 🏆 530. / 51 Read more »