US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced Friday that he had held "frank" talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and urged him to accept the United States' offer to release Americans detained in Russia.

"We had a frank and direct discussion. I called on the Kremlin to accept the offer we made to them," Blinken said at a press conference, explaining that he warned Lavrov that the world would "never" recognize Russia's annexation of Ukrainian lands.