Moscow has warned that any bid to resolve international security issues without its involvement is doomed to fail.
It comes as Nato officials discussed the possible provision of defence guarantees to Ukraine if fighting with Russia’s invasion force came to an end.
Defence officials from all 32 Nato member states took part in a video conference on Wednesday, after several senior European military officials held talks with their US counterpart in Washington.
They aimed to build on an understanding reached this week between US president Donald Trump, Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders, that the US would back post-war security guarantees for Kyiv and play a supporting role for a Europe-led peacekeeping or “reassurance” force in Ukraine.
READ MORE
Moscow continues to say that the presence of any western troops in Ukraine is unacceptable, however, and accuses Kyiv and European capitals of trying to undermine the attempts of Mr Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war and rebuild US-Russia relations.
“We cannot agree with the current proposal to resolve issues of collective security without Russia. This cannot work. We have repeatedly explained that Russia does not overstate its interests, but we will firmly and resolutely defend our legitimate concerns,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
“I am confident that the West, especially the United States, understands perfectly well that discussing security issues without Russia is utopian thinking that leads nowhere.”
Mr Lavrov again hailed last Friday’s US-Russia summit in Alaska – at which Mr Trump dropped threats to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow and scrapped calls for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine in favour of a Kremlin plan for a quick and comprehensive final peace deal – and lambasted Kyiv’s European allies.
[ Four key takeaways from Trump’s White House summit on UkraineOpens in new window ]
“What diplomatic steps have you noticed on the part of the EU?” he said. “So far, we have only seen a rather aggressive escalation of the situation, rather clumsy and, in general, unethical attempts to change the position of the Trump administration and the US president himself, as we saw when the Europeans accompanied Mr Zelenskiy to Washington.”
US media reported that Dan Caine, chairman of the US military’s joint chiefs of staff, met counterparts from Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Finland in Washington on Tuesday evening to discuss Ukraine.
The leaders of those European countries met Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskiy in the White House on Monday.
Gen Caine was also expected to take part in the video conference of senior officers from all Nato states on Wednesday, which was due to be led by Alexus Grynkewich, the US air force general who oversees Nato operations in Europe.
Mr Trump has ruled out any deployment of US troops as peacekeepers in Ukraine, but said unspecified European countries were “willing to put people on the ground” and the US was ready “to help them with things, especially, probably …by air because nobody has stuff we have”.
Warsaw accused Russia of launching a drone that crashed and exploded in eastern Poland about 100km (61 miles) from its border with Ukraine on Wednesday. No one was hurt in the incident
“We are dealing with a provocation by the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone,” said Polish defence minster Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. “We are dealing with this at a crucial moment, when discussions about peace are under way, when there is hope that this war … has a chance of ending. Russia is provoking us once again.”
Ukrainian officials said at least three people were killed in a Russian rocket attack on the eastern town of Kostiantynivka, hours after drone strikes injured at least 14 people in the northern Sumy region and caused a large fire at an energy facility in the southern region of Odesa.
“All of these are demonstrative strikes that only confirm the need to put pressure on Moscow, the need to impose new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy is fully effective,” said Mr Zelenskiy. “We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly reliable and lasting peace.”
