Former Israeli prime minister rebuts claim, boosted by Russia, that the US blocked a Ukraine peace agreement: 'It's unsure there was any deal to be made'

• Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed his efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.
• Pro-Russia commentators have focused on his saying that a peace deal was "blocked" by the West.
• But Bennett has clarified that no such deal existed — and said talks broke down because of apparent Russian war crimes.

A former Israeli prime minister is walking back his suggestion that the United States may have "blocked" an agreement last year to end the war in Ukraine, a claim that had been amplified by Russian state media and Kremlin sympathizers in the West.