Russia-Urkaine War: In a significant development that may affect the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, the United States has announced to pull out as a mediator saying that   America is not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings. The US had earlier said that it would stop mediating between the two warring nations if no progress is made soon. A State Department official indicated on Thursday that there is little progress made by the two nations to end bloodshed.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said, “We are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings.” Bruce, however, said that the US is committed to helping the two countries reach a deal. “It is now between the two parties, and now — now is the time that they need to present and develop concrete ideas about how this conflict is going to end. It’s going to be up to them,” she said.

Earlier last week, US President Donald Trump has questioned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin’s willingness to stop the war and criticised recent missile strikes in Ukraine. Trump said after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral, on Saturday.

Last week on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia said.  The meeting, which took place at the Kremlin, lasted three hours and was “constructive and very useful,” Yury Ushakov, a key Putin aide who was at the talks, told reporters.

The Russia-Ukraine war has entered its third year with both nations continuing to strike against each other.