Russia and the United States/NATO held high-stakes talks earlier this week that ultimately ended without any resolutions about #Ukraine. Talks fell flat, with the US rejecting Russia’s demands that they do not accept Ukraine into NATO, while Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that talks were at a “dead end” in a stalemate of demands. In the end, both sides refused to concede or budge.

Meanwhile, officials have begun preparing for when diplomacy fails. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that “The threat of military invasion is high” with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau warned OSCE “It seems that the risk of war in the OSCE area is now greater than ever before in the last 30 years.” After the talks, Ryabkov stated that he could “neither confirm nor exclude” the possibility that Russian forces would be deployed to Venezuela and Cuba if NATO activities do not cease along Russia’s border. No further talks have been scheduled to resolve the ongoing situation.