Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Feb. 11 effectively dismissed a U.S.-Ukraine 20-point peace framework, which had been expected to form the basis for peace negotiations.His remarks come as diplomatic activity intensifies, with trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia potentially resuming as early as this week. The dispute over the framework highlights deep divisions over the direction of negotiations. Lavrov said that ahead of the August summit in Alaska, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff handed Moscow a document outlining key issues "in line with realities on the ground." The minister claimed that the sides had identified "real approaches based on the American initiative" that "opened a path to peace" and could have formed the basis for a final agreement. "All subsequent versions are the result of an attempt by Zelensky and (Europe) to override the American initiative," Lavrov said. "Now they are waving around some kind of 'document' with 20 points, which no one has given us either officially or unofficially." The 20-point framework Lavrov referenced was developed by U.S. and Ukrainian officials in late December 2025. An earlier 28-point draft, widely viewed in Kyiv as pressuring Ukraine toward capitulation, was revised into a shorter document. Bloomberg earlier reported that the plan was delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin in early January via Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, later visiting Moscow to discuss it directly with Putin. The plan was expected to serve as a basis for discussions among the three delegations. Lavrov's comments mark the third consecutive day of his criticism of U.S. approach. On Feb. 9, he accused the Trump administration of failing to implement Russia–U.S. understandings on Ukraine. He referred to what he called "Anchorage agreements" allegedly reached in 2025 that envisioned Ukraine surrendering the entire Donbas region without fighting. The White House has not confirmed the existence of any such agreements and previously declined to acknowledge them in comments to the Kyiv Independent. In a separate interview with state-owned NTV aired on Feb. 10, he said negotiations remain far from complete and warned against "some kind of enthusiastic perception" of progress. U.S. officials, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have taken a more optimistic tone, with the president saying Ukraine and Russia are "closer than ever before" to a deal. Lavrov is largely seen as sidelined from the direct peace track aimed at resolving Russia's war against Ukraine, with Dmitriev appearing to play the leading role in the negotiations. Territorial issues remain the central obstacle in the peace process. Russia has long demanded that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donbas and has increasingly tied any future peace deal to such a move after more than a decade of fighting in the region. Ukraine has ruled out a withdrawal, though Ukrainian officials have said alternative arrangements, including a demilitarized zone, could be considered. The Ukrainian president has said Washington aims to end the war before summer. *** ARTICLE cites two other articles, under the title of "read also" and contains a photograph of Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov in Ta'Qali, Malta.
A bold Ukrainian operation in Kursk has humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin and upended some of the logic of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Column by Ishaan Tharoor The Washington Post , August 14, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. EDT; see also Ukrainian soldiers pose for a picture as they repair a military vehicle near the Russian border on Sunday. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters) Russia’s Kursk oblast is no stranger to war. In medieval times, the district was overrun by the Mongol horde, and was claimed and ceded down the centuries by Eurasian empires. During World War II, the environs of the city of Kursk became the site of the greatest tank battle in history, as Nazi Germany suffered a grievous strategic defeat at the hands of the bloodied yet unbowed Soviet Union . This past week, Kursk has been the site of the first major invasion of Russian territory since then. This time, it’s not the Nazi war machine rolling in — no matter what Kremlin propagandists insi...
Ukrainian and European officials say President Vladimir V. Putin has become emboldened by a lack of Western pushback. The police inspected the damage to a house caused by debris from a shot-down Russian drone in the village of Wyryki-Wola, eastern Poland on Wednesday. Credit... Wojtek Radwanski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Andrew E. Kramer Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times , Sept. 11, 2025 Updated 8:49 a.m. ET An American factory in western Ukraine. Two European diplomatic compounds and a key Ukrainian government building in Kyiv. And now Poland. Over a roughly three-week period, Russian drones and missiles have struck sites of increasing sensitivity for Ukraine and its Western allies, culminating in the volley of Russian drones that buzzed early Wednesday over Poland, a NATO country. For decades, American and European military planners feared something else: a bolt-from-the-blue assault, like an all-out nuclear strike, from the Soviet Union or ...
Analysis by Nick Paton Walsh , CNN Updated 9:19 PM EDT, March 18 Orig inal article contains additional links and illustrations . See also Thomas L. Friedman , I Don’t Believe a Single Word Trump and Putin Say About Ukraine, The New York Times , March 18; and also A “no” is not a “yes” when it is a “maybe,” a “probably not,” or an “only if.” This is the painfully predictable lesson the Trump administration’s first real foray into wartime diplomacy with the Kremlin has dealt. They’ve been hopelessly bluffed. They asked for a 30-day, frontline-wide ceasefire, without conditions. On Tuesday, they got – after a theatrical week-long wait and hundreds more lives lost – a relatively small prisoner swap, hockey matches, more talks, and – per the Kremlin readout – a month-long mutual pause on attacks against “energy infrastructure.” This last phrase is where an easily avoidable technical minefield begins. Per US President Donald Trump’s post and that of his ...
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