Russia has ruled out an immediate meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, as diplomatic tension with the Ukrainian president escalated and US mediation efforts appeared to stall.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "no meeting" between Vladimir Putin and Mr Zelensky was planned, as NATO chief Mark Rutte visited Kyiv, largely to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump had raised expectations for a swift summit between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents by saying earlier in the week they had agreed to meet, but today compared the two men to "oil and vinegar".
"They don't get along too well, for obvious reasons," he told reporters in Washington.
Mr Lavrov also poured cold water on hopes for direct Putin-Zelensky talks to resolve the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president's legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin's maximalist claims.
"There is no meeting planned," Mr Lavrov said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker".
Mr Lavrov told the US broadcaster Mr Putin was "ready to meet Zelensky" as soon as an agenda was prepared, adding that the agenda was "not ready at all".
In Kyiv, speaking alongside Mr Rutte, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had "no agreements with the Russians", saying Ukraine had agreed only with Mr Trump on how the diplomatic direction could proceed.
Yesterday, he had accused Russia of "trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting", adding that Moscow wanted to continue the offensive.
'A utopia'
The question of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine has been front and centre during the latest US-led diplomatic push to broker a peace deal to end the conflict.
Mr Trump earlier said Russia had agreed to some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.
But Moscow later cast doubt on any such arrangement, Mr Lavrov saying on Wednesday that discussing them without Russia was "a utopia, a road to nowhere".
"When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees, I honestly do not yet know who is threatening them," said Mr Zelensky, who wants foreign troops in Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the future.
The Kremlin has long said it would never accept that, citing Ukraine's NATO ambition as one of the pretexts for its assault.
"There are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no NATO membership, including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelensky said no to everything," Mr Lavrov told NBC.
On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Mr Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometre of Ukraine".
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.
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.
Ukrainian attack suspends Russian oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia
Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia could be suspended for at least five days following the latest Ukrainian strike on a facility in Russia, the Hungarian and Slovakian governments have said.
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each other's energy infrastructure over the past few weeks despite a push by Mr Trump to reach a deal to end the conflict, which is now in its fourth year.
The European Union reduced energy supplies from Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is seeking to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.
EU members Slovakia and Hungary are opposed to the phase-out, saying their economies depend on the Russian supplies.
The two countries have also opposed sanctions against Russia that Ukraine says are vital to push Moscow towards a viable peace.
The Hungarian and Slovak governments have written to Europe's executive commission saying that the latest Ukrainian attack could leave them without Russian oil imports for at least five days, urging it to guarantee the security of supplies.
"The physical and geographical reality is that without this pipeline, the safe supply of our countries is simply not possible," Foreign Ministers Peter Szijjarto and Juraj Blanar said in a letter.
The Ukrainian strike last night marked the second time this week that Russian oil supplies have been cut to Hungary and Slovakia, after a halt on Monday and Tuesday.
Ukraine's military said late last night it had again struck the Unecha oil pumping station, a critical part of Russia's Europe-bound Druzhba oil pipeline.
A Russian industry source also told Reuters that the supplies could be halted for a few days. The Russian energy ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's gas infrastructure, hitting preparations for winter heating for the population and fuel for key industries in attacks it says are aimed at degrading its military.
Ukraine has damaged several Russian refineries, aiming to disrupt Russian energy exports financing Russia's invasion and to create fuel shortages in a number of Russian regions.
Accreditation: Reuters, AFP
