Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "diverted" U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's calls to reconsider the decision to suspend Russia's participation in the New START treaty, Russia's foreign ministry told Interfax, Russian news agency.

“If they want to return to diplomacy, let them return. If they are engaged in self-promotion and such inexpensive PR, well, this is possible. True, the result will be appropriate," Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the ministry, told Russian TV channel Rossiya-1.

-ABC News' Natalia Shumskaia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had an "on the go" talk during the G-20 Meeting of Foreign Ministers in India, but there were no negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS, a Russian news agency, Thursday.

"Blinken asked for a contact with Lavrov. Sergey Viktorovich [Lavrov] had communication on the go during the second session. But there were no negotiations, no meeting or so on," the diplomat said.

Blinken had said earlier in the day during a press conference he had "spoke briefly" with Lavrov and discussed ending the war, as well as Russia rejoining the New START Treaty on nuclear arms.

"I told the foreign minister what I and so many others said last week at the United Nations and what so many G-20 foreign ministers said today: End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that could produce a just and durable peace," he said. "The United States stands ready to support Ukraine through diplomacy to end the war on this basis."

A senior State Department official downplayed any hopes that the conversation moved the needle on any of the topics.

-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova and Shannon Crawford

Ukraine has shot down 80% of Russian missiles, according to Commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Air Force Serhiy Nayev.

Nayev made the assessment in a Facebook post on Wednesday about the effectiveness of the air defense system.

"The enemy is also changing his tactics and ways of using air strike means, so we test after every hit," he wrote. "This analysis proves that commanders, respectively, make decisions that ensure the durability of the air defense is at the highest level."

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman

Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, will send additional units to Bahkmut, according to Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.

"Bakhmut has been the epicenter of hostilities for several months now. The enemy has concentrated its key efforts there because it aims to reach the borders of the Donetsk region. The situation there is really tense and difficult," Malyar said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed that statement in his nightly address.

"The most difficult situation is still Bakhmut and the battles that are important for the defense of the city," he said.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman and Will Gretsky

Russia's security services have arrested an anti-Kremlin political commentator who the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich met with shortly before his own arrest.

Yaroslav Shirshikov has said he spent two days showing Gershkovich around the city of Yekaterinburg during a reporting trip there a couple of weeks before Russia seized Gershovich.

Shirshikov said he had been due to meet with Gershkovich again the week the reporter was arrested in the city.

This morning, local media published video showing masked security officers detaining Shirshikov in his apartment and searching it.

A local news outlet cited a security services representative saying Shirshikov may have been arrested for posting comments cheering the assassinations of two ultra-nationalist pro-war figures, Daria Dugina and the blogger Vladen Tatarsky.

The site UralLive quoted a law enforcement source that Shirshikov was detained on a charge of “justifying terrorism”, which carries a maximum sentence of 7 years prison. It linked the charge to a social media post in which Shirshikov wrote he wasn’t sad over the death of Tatarsky, who was killed in a bomb attack in St. Petersburg this month.

Shirshikov spoke to several international media outlets including ABC following Gershkovich's arrest. He said that Gershkovich had acted entirely as a professional journalist in Yekaterinburg, conducting interviews openly and doing usual reporting.

Shirshikov is a critic of the Russian government and has spoken publicly about his opposition to the war in Ukraine.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell