Lavrov Agrees to Meet Blinken, U.S. Says: Ukraine Update
- U.S. Senate passes nonbinding resolution in support of Ukraine
- Moscow denies U.S. claim troops added near Ukrainian borders
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Europe next week, the State Department said Thursday night. That development occurred as tensions rose again over Moscow’s military buildup near Ukraine. Earlier in the day, President Joe Biden warned that the probability of an invasion of Ukraine is still “very high.”
Russia told the U.S. in its official response to security proposals from Washington that it has no plans to attack, and officials in Moscow have repeatedly dismissed U.S. warnings of a possible move against Ukraine as “hysteria” and propaganda. Its foreign ministry handed over a document Thursday with its views, saying the U.S. response was unsatisfactory. The two sides in the conflict in eastern Ukraine -- government forces and Moscow-backed separatists -- accused each other of breaking cease-fire rules.