U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in hopes of reducing the risk of a war in Ukraine starting or escalating into a nuclear conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

The newspaper quoted US and NATO officials as saying that Mr. Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s top national security aide, had held confidential talks in recent months with Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev. publicly disclosed.

The White House declined to comment on the report, answering questions about the story only with a statement attributed to National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson: “People are saying a lot of things.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that officials did not provide a date or number of calls.

Several high-level contacts between US and Russian officials have emerged in recent months as Washington insisted that any talks to end the war in Ukraine be between Moscow and Kyiv only.

The talks reportedly took place when the West accused Moscow of stepping up its nuclear rhetoric and Russia accused Kyiv of planning to use a radioactive “dirty bomb” without providing evidence.

Kyiv has denied having such a plan, and the United States and other Western countries have said Russia could be planning such an attack itself and use it as a pretext to escalate the conflict.

Russia, in turn, accused the West of “encouraging provocations.”

Mr. Sullivan traveled to Kyiv on Friday and assured Washington of “unwavering and unwavering” support for Ukraine.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post.