Peace should not be achieved at the expense of the victim or by sacrificing interests and territorial integrity, Skvernelis said in an interview to the radio station Žinių radijas on Wednesday morning.
He nonetheless said that the ongoing talks bring optimism.
“It was well noted that the ball is now in Russia’s court. […] Perhaps this will also help open Americans’ eyes as to what Russia’s reactions may be to what happened in negotiations yesterday,” he added.
During talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Ukraine expressed readiness to accept a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. Whereas the United States was ready to immediately resume military aid and sharing of intelligence data. The United States and Ukraine also agreed to conclude a deal on rare-earth minerals as soon as possible.
A ceasefire proposal is yet to be endorsed by Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.