Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused European leaders of prolonging the war in Ukraine, insisting that the continent does ’not want peace’
As the ongoing
Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, Russia accused European leaders of prolonging the conflict and “not wanting peace in Ukraine”. The remarks came from Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov on Sunday. Lavrov’s comments on the matter came after the US Vice President JD Vance said that the US would “keep on trying” to broker talks between the two nations.
While speaking to NBC News on Sunday, Lavrov denied that his country had bombed civilian targets in Ukraine. He went on to say that Trump had set himself above European leaders who accompanied Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for talks at the White House last week after the POTUS’s
summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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“We want peace in Ukraine. He wants, President Trump wants, peace in Ukraine. The reaction to [the] Anchorage meeting, the gathering in
Washington of these European representatives and what they were doing after Washington, indicates that they don’t want peace,” Lavrov averred.
Zelenskyy calls for talks with Putin
While speaking to NBC News, the Russian foreign minister brushed off Trump’s apparent frustration at the outcome and the US warning of “massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both” against Moscow. The Russian diplomat said “yes” when asked if Putin wanted peace and insisted that Putin and Trump respect each other.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy on Sunday insisted that a meeting with his Russian counterpart continues to remain “the most effective way forward” as the two sides exchange prisoners and the country celebrated Independence Day. The remarks came at a time when Ukrainian generals said that the country’s troops had recaptured three villages in the Donetsk region that had fallen under Russian control. Ukraine also launched drone strikes on Russia, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant.
Zelenskyy maintained that the “format of talks between leaders is the most effective way forward”, renewing calls for a bilateral summit with Putin. Zelenskyy was responding to Lavrov’s accusation of Western countries seeking “a pretext to block negotiations” and condemned Zelenskyy for “demanding an immedi