Russia insists on role in Ukraine security talks, downplays Zelenskyy summit
US President Donald Trump hosts a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House. Photo / Getty Images
Top US officer Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with European military chiefs on the 'best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal', a US defence official told AFP.
In eastern Ukraine, far from the diplomatic deliberations, Russian forces claimed fresh advances on the ground and Ukrainian officials reported more deaths from Russian attacks.
Diplomatic flurry
US President Donald Trump brought Zelenskyy and European leaders to the White House earlier this week, three days after his landmark encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Russia's long-serving foreign minister downplayed the meeting in Washington, describing it as a 'clumsy' attempt to change the US president's position on Ukraine.
Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in US support to Ukraine, earlier said European nations were 'willing to put people on the ground' to secure any settlement.
US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Photo / Getty Images
He ruled out sending US troops but suggested the country might provide air support.
Russia has long said it will never tolerate the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine.
While Trump said Putin had agreed to meet Zelenskyy and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, Russia has not confirmed this.
Lavrov also cast doubt on an imminent meeting between the sworn enemies, saying that any summit between Putin and Zelenskyy 'must be prepared in the most meticulous way' so it does not lead to a 'deterioration' of the situation surrounding the conflict.
Fresh Russian strikes
Russia's defence ministry said on social media this week that its troops had captured the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka in the embattled Donetsk region.
They are near a section of the front where the Russian army broke through Ukrainian defences last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.
'Our units are engaged in heavy defensive battles against superior Russian forces,' said Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky.
Six civilians were killed by Russian attacks across eastern and southern Ukraine on Wednesday, local authorities said.
One person died in Russia's western Bryansk region as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike, the local governor said.
Russia's aerial attacks on the northeastern town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region wounded at least 14 people, including three children, according to regional governor Oleg Grygorov.
Zelenskyy said these latest strikes showed 'the need to put pressure on Moscow', including through sanctions.
- Agence France-Presse
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