Ukraine

Some embassy staff and dependents are being withdrawn from Ukraine, but the embassy remains open and will continue to carry out essential work, it added. "The FCDO advise against all travel to Donetsk oblast, Luhansk oblast and Crimea. The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the rest of Ukraine," it said.

"This was not negotiation, but a candid exchange of concerns and ideas," the US Secretary of State added at a press conference on Friday. The Russian Foreign Minister added that the main purpose of Friday's talks was to discuss the drafts of two fundamental documents submitted by Russia in December 2021 on legally binding security guarantees, Xinhua news agency reported

"We want peace to prevail in the region, and for this, we are ready to do our part," he told reporters in Istanbul after Friday prayers. The Turkish leader revealed his plan to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin either on the phone or during a possible visit to Moscow in the upcoming days, Xinhua news agency reported.

Responding to a question on the evolving situation at the Russia-Ukraine border and President Putin's intentions, Joe Biden said:  “I’m not so sure he is certain what he’s going to do. My guess is he will move in… (Russia will) pay a stiff price, immediately, short-term, medium-term and long-term if they do it.”  The US president made these remarks while addressing a news conference to mark his one-year anniversary in office. “What you’re going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades and it depends on what it does,” Biden said.

Within a week, it's the second time that the US talked with India about the Russia's presence at Ukraine borders. "The US Deputy Secretary and the India's Foreign Secretary agreed to remain closely coordinated on shared goals and priorities and reiterated the importance of a strong US-India partnership to mitigate the Covid-19 Omicron variant's rapid advance," Ned Price, spokesperson of the US's State Department, said on Wednesday.

The White House press secretary further warned that Russia will face severe repercussions for its misadventure in Ukraine. This comes on the back of Russia moving its troops in Belarus for the purpose of joint military exercises with the Belarusian troops. The U.S., however, believes that the crisis can be resolved through diplomacy and has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take steps to de-escalate the tensions. Anthony Blinken, U.S. secretary of state, is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in Geneva .

"We find it necessary to keep those troops due to a very tense situation and very unfriendly environment," Xinhua news agency quoted Peskov as saying. Russia has to take measures of precaution in response to NATO military build-up, drills and frequent flights of fighter jets and reconnaissance planes near the Russian borders, he said.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President's Office, said that Zelensky has already delivered the proposal to Biden, reports Xinhua news agency. "We are still waiting for a reaction from the Russian side, but our American partners accepted our proposal with interest," Yermak was cited as saying during his talks with former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst.

The situation in Ukraine and Kazakhstan have drawn the attention of the global community, though the traditional right wing narrative of a bullish Russia seems to be doing the rounds in the media. The western narrative, devoid of the inner thinking within Russia, is increasingly becoming visible thus leading to a buildup of anti Russia sentiments all across.

"Negotiations were initiated in order to get specific answers to specific fundamental questions raised. It is on these fundamental issues that disagreements have been recorded," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday. "This is bad. This can only be counted in the negative points of the two rounds that took place," he added.