Washington, Moscow will now focus on peace, not war, says Kremlin

Following the recent phone conversation between US President Donald Trump with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin spokesperson said, "They send a powerful message that from now on we will try to solve problems through dialogue. And from now on we will talk about peace, not war," a report in TASS said.

Putin and Trump spoke by phone on February 12 and discussed stopping hostilities in Ukraine, bilateral relations and some other issues. The leaders agreed to maintain contact and arrange a face-to-face meeting.

Meanwhile, in an interview with NBC News, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he trusted President Donald Trump but would not accept any ceasefire deal conducted without Ukraine at the negotiating table.

Zelensky said that the risk Russia will occupy Europe is "100 per cent" if the US leaves Nato.

Further, the Ukrainian President told NBC News that a proposed deal with the United States offering access to his country's critical minerals would not work if security guarantees sought by Kyiv were not provided.

This comes ahead of a meeting between Russian and US officials in Saudia Arabia next week to start talks aimed at ending the nearly three-year war.

The WSJ earlier reported that US Vice President J D Vance had said the option of sending US troops to Ukraine remains on the table should Moscow refuse to negotiate "in good faith." The US could use "economic tools of leverage and, of course, military tools of leverage" against Russia, Vance was quoted as saying by the WSJ.

Vance accused the Wall Street Journal of distorting his comments. In a post on X, he said, "The fact that the WSJ twisted my words in the way they did for this story is absurd, but not surprising considering they have spent years pushing for more American sons and daughters in uniform to be unnecessarily deployed overseas."

"President Trump is the ultimate deal maker and will bring peace to the region by ending the war in Ukraine. As we've always said, American troops should never be put into harm's way where it doesn't advance American interests and security. This war is between Russia and Ukraine," Vance said.

Russian state media reported that Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Vance's threats represented new elements of the US position that need to be clarified during future talks. (ANI)