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Blinken: ‘No conversations about Ukraine without Ukraine’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday promised his Ukrainian counterpart not to discuss the country’s future without its involvement ahead of high-level US talks with Russia.

Blinken “stressed there will be ‘no conversations about Ukraine without Ukraine,’” State Department spokesman Ned Price said after the top US diplomat spoke by telephone with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Blinken also reiterated “the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression” and discussed potential responses to Moscow, Price said.

Senior US and Russian diplomats meet Monday in Geneva after Moscow amassed tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine, where a pro-Russian insurgency has killed thousands of people in the east of the country since 2014.