In the absence of any prospects for ending the crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed his country’s condition for ending the war with Ukraine.
Lavrov, who has headed Russian diplomacy since 2004, said in an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas today (Wednesday): The armed confrontation in Ukraine will continue until the West abandons its plans to control and defeat Moscow. He considered that the goal of the West, led by the United States, is to consolidate its global hegemony.
Lavrov is scheduled to attend the East Asia Summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Jakarta this week, as will US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Lavrov asked in the interview, which was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the Internet: “Why does the armed confrontation in Ukraine not end? The answer is very simple – it will continue until the West abandons its plans to maintain its hegemony and overcome its obsessive desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Prussia at the hands of Kiev puppets. He pointed out that at the present time, there are no indications of any change in this position.
The Russian Foreign Minister had threatened to take preemptive measures in response to the possibility of Sweden joining NATO.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin confirmed that there is no truth to Ukrainian intelligence reports regarding the Wagner Group’s quest to seize nuclear devices, and revealed that the Russian intelligence director and his American counterpart held talks about Ukraine at the end of last June.
For its part, the Ukrainian Air Force announced the implementation of 30 air strikes on the deployment sites of Russian forces, and the downing of 11 out of 15 drones launched by Russia during the night.
Russia had launched drone attacks on Kiev and the region in which it is located for the second night in a row, while Ukrainian air defense systems began to repel the attacks.
The head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital, Serhiy Popko, confirmed on Telegram that the air raid warning system was activated and the air defense systems responded to the attacks as they approached Kiev.