LONDON, March 1 —The prospects of a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine crisis are slim at the moment, Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said today.

Asked on LBC Radio whether Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich, who has accepted a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, could be key to the solution, Raab responded: “Who knows?”

“I would say this ... I think the prospects for diplomacy at the moment are slim, but we must always make sure that we keep the door to a diplomatic resolution open without, I think, instilling too many hopes in it,” he added. — Reuters