US and Russian Defense Ministers Hold First Ukraine Talks in Over a Year

The defense ministers of Russia and the United States engaged in a telephone conversation for the first time in over a year, reported Reuters. The two sides presented starkly different accounts of the discussion.

The Pentagon stated that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov talked about the importance of maintaining open lines of communication. Initiated by Austin, this conversation marked the first high-level discussion since March last year, as confirmed by Pentagon spokesman Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder.

According to Russia's Defense Ministry, Belousov cautioned Austin about the dangerous consequences of continued US arms supplies to Ukraine during the ongoing 28-month conflict with Russia, TASS reported. The ministry's statement on the Telegram social network highlighted Belousov's warning about the risk of further escalation due to the ongoing supply of American weapons to Ukraine's Armed Forces. Additionally, the ministry mentioned that the two ministers discussed other topics.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the annexation of four Ukrainian regions and the slow advance in the eastern part of the country, has severely strained relations between Washington and Moscow, bringing them to their lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Reuters noted.

Last weekend, Moscow accused the United States of being responsible for a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with five US-supplied missiles, which resulted in four deaths. US arms shipments to Ukraine resumed in April when Congress approved a 61 billion USD aid package for Kyiv. The US has expressed its support for Ukraine's demands that Russian forces withdraw from the country and that its 1991...