U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had discussed the release of American detainees with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Reuters reported.

According to Blinken, today, during his conversation with Lavrov, he "pressed" his Russian counterpart to accept a U.S. offer to release detained Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.

Blinken said he had a "frank and direct" conversation with Lavrov, during which he told him that Russia must honor the commitments it had made in a deal to export grain from Ukraine and that "The world will not recognise annexations."