Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Washington's approach to ending the war in Ukraine recognizes what Moscow calls the "realities on the ground" and rules out efforts to bring Kyiv into NATO.
Speaking in an interview with Channel One’s Bolshaya Igra show, Lavrov said these principles formed the basis of discussions during recent contacts between Russian and U.S. representatives, including a meeting between U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
"I can safely tell you that the substance of what was discussed is based on the position that President Trump set out on Ukraine immediately after returning to the Oval Office,” Lavrov said.
He said the first element of the U.S. position was that efforts to bring Ukraine into NATO should be abandoned.
"He (Trump) said, first of all, that they should even forget about trying to bring Ukraine into the North Atlantic Alliance,” Lavrov said, adding that Trump had described the issue as "settled.”
