ISTANBUL

Moscow said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump and his administration have taken a “deeper” approach to resolving the ongoing Ukraine war following last week's summit between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

“President Trump and his team, especially after the meeting in Alaska, have taken a much deeper approach to resolving this crisis, understanding that it is necessary to eliminate the root causes, which we, President Putin, have constantly talked about,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the state TV channel Rossiya-24.

During the interview, Lavrov said there was a “good atmosphere” during the Alaska talks, which he said was reflected in the statements of the two presidents following the summit, the state news agency RIA and Russian media outlets reported.

He further defined the talks as a “useful conversation,” arguing it was “clear” that Trump and his team “sincerely want to achieve a result that will be long-term, sustainable, and reliable.”

Lavrov noted that the US stance is contrary to European countries, which “were saying on every corner that only a ceasefire was needed and after that they would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine.”

On Friday, Trump and Putin held a three-hour closed-door meeting in the US state of Alaska's Anchorage city, with the Russian president saying they reached an "understanding.”

The US president, for his part, hailed the talks as making “great progress.”