Russia says must be part of Ukraine security guarantees talks
MOSCOW
Ukrainian servicemen of the 44th artillery brigade fire a 2s22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions at the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
Russia said on Wednesday it had to be part of any discussion on security guarantees for Ukraine and downplayed the likelihood of an imminent summit with President Volodymyr Zelensky, tempering hopes for a quick peace deal.
NATO military chiefs meanwhile held a virtual summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, the latest in a flurry of global diplomacy aimed at brokering an end to the nearly three-and-a-half year conflict.
"On #Ukraine, we confirmed our support. Priority continues to be a just, credible and durable peace," the chair of the alliance's military committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, wrote on X after the meeting.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier warned that "seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere".
Moscow signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.
But Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.
On Tuesday, top U.S. 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 U.S. defense 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
U.S. President Donald Trump brought Zelensky and European leaders to the White House on Monday, 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 U.S. president's position on Ukraine.
Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in U.S. support to Ukraine, earlier said European nations were "willing to put people on the ground" to secure any settlement.
He ruled out sending U.S. 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 Zelensky 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 Zelensky "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 -
Russian attacks on western Ukraine killed one person and wounded multiple others, officials in the country said Thursday.
"One person was killed and two were wounded as a result of the combined UAV and cruise missile strike in Lviv," said Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the regional military administration.
"Dozens of residential buildings were damaged," he added in a Telegram post.
Russian fire also wounded 12 people in the city of Mukachevo, near the border with Hungary and Slovakia, the city council said.
"Five patients are being treated in the hospital, and one more was transferred to the regional hospital," the council wrote on Facebook.
In Lutsk, Mayor Igor Polishchuk reported "an enemy attack that was conducted by UAVs and missiles".
"As of this moment there are no injuries or fatalities," he said.
Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry said it destroyed "49 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles" across multiple regions.
The ministry did not detail any casualties or damage.
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.
Zelensky said these latest strikes showed "the need to put pressure on Moscow", including through sanctions.
