Ukraine war: US confirms 'communications' with Kremlin

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has confirmed connection channels betwixt Washington and Moscow stay unfastened contempt the warfare successful Ukraine.

Speaking successful New York, Mr Sullivan said it was "in the interests" of the US to support interaction with the Kremlin.

But helium insisted officials were "clear-eyed astir who we are dealing with".

It comes arsenic the White House refuses to contradict reports that Mr Sullivan has been starring talks with Russia to forestall a atomic escalation successful Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr Sullivan has held confidential discussions with his Russian counterpart, Security Council caput Nikolai Patrushev, and elder Kremlin overseas argumentation adjutant Yuri Ushakov, implicit the past respective months.

Senior officials told the insubstantial the men had discussed ways to defender against the hazard of atomic escalation successful the warfare successful Ukraine, but had not engaged successful immoderate negotiations astir ways to extremity the conflict.

Last month, Mr Sullivan said immoderate usage of atomic weapons would person "catastrophic consequences for Russia". He told the US broadcaster NBC that elder officials had "spelled out" the scope of the imaginable US effect successful backstage discussions with Russian officials.

US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson refused to corroborate the story, telling the insubstantial that "people assertion a batch of things", portion Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused Western newspapers of "publishing galore hoaxes".

But White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said connected Monday that the United States reserved the close to clasp talks with Russia.

And Mr Sullivan - who is said to beryllium 1 of the astir elder advisers to US President Joe Biden inactive pushing for discussions with Russia - said maintaining interaction with Moscow was successful the "interests of each state who is affected by this conflict".

Last week, the Washington Post reported that elder US officials were urging Kyiv to awesome an openness to clasp negotiations with Russia and driblet their nationalist refusal to sermon an extremity to the warfare portion President Vladimir Putin remained successful power.

But Mr Sullivan told a nationalist lawsuit successful New York that the Biden medication had "an work to prosecute accountability" and pledged to enactment with planetary partners to "hold the perpetrators of sedate and grotesque warfare crimes successful Ukraine liable for what they person done".

"I was conscionable successful Kyiv connected Friday. and I had the accidental to conscionable with President [Volodymyr] Zelensky and my counterpart Andriy Yermak, with the subject enactment and besides to get a briefing connected conscionable what level of decease and devastation has been erupted by Putin's warfare connected that country," Mr Sullivan said.

Concerns person been heightened successful caller months that Russia could edifice to utilizing atomic weapons successful a hopeless effort to support 4 regions of eastbound and confederate Ukraine that it illegally annexed.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has invoked its war-time martial laws to instrumentality power of the assets of 5 strategically important companies.

Some of the companies - which see 2 vigor companies and firms that marque engines, vehicles and transformers - Are linked to oligarch Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, who was arrested connected suspicion of collaborating with Russia.

President Zelensky said the determination would assistance Ukraine's defence assemblage conscionable the needs of the military, which is presently engaged successful counteroffensives successful confederate and eastbound Ukraine.