With Russia wearing down Ukraine’s stretched forces and U.S. President Donald Trump pressuring the two sides to end their nearly 3-year-old war, Kyiv and some of its European allies are discussing how that might be achieved in a way that would guarantee Ukraine’s future security.

President Donald Trump suggested in an interview that aired Thursday night that Ukraine should not have fought when Russia invaded it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks published on Friday that he saw no objective signs that Ukraine or the West were ready for peace talks despite all their increasingly loud statements about the need for such talks.

Comes as South Korea’s military says North Korea is preparing to send more troops to join Russia’s war in Ukraine

President Donald Trump is threatening to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn’t reached to end the war in Ukraine.

Moscow believes it has the resources and manpower to withstand at least another year of the conflict.

Russia has had battlefield momentum but its recent territorial gains have been at the expense of high personnel losses.

Domestic activity has become strained in recent months by labour shortages and high interest rates introduced to tackle inflation, which has accelerated under record military spending.

The U.S. imported $13.5 billion worth of Russian petroleum products in 2014, but this has fallen to zero after Ukraine war-related sanctions. Some other top import categories a decade ago, including semi-finished steel and pig iron, have also fallen to zero.

Trump has pledged to negotiate a Ukraine peace deal.