Ukraine’s drone strikes encouraged by EU elites – Lavrov
Some of Kiev’s Western backers — particularly the UK, France, Germany, and the EU’s leadership — bear responsibility for the latest Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said during a Q&A session in Moscow. These actors, he claimed, are seeking to derail renewed peace talks between Moscow and Kiev to serve their own political agendas.
The foreign minister was referring to a series of large-scale drone raids launched by Kiev this week. According to the Russian military, 776 drones and 12 missiles were intercepted above the country’s territory between Tuesday and Friday morning, while 12 drones hit their targets. On Saturday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that another 104 UAVs were intercepted inside Russia overnight.
Lavrov attributed Kiev’s recent drone escalation to support from “some European nations led by the UK, France, Germany, and the EU leadership,” accusing them of backing “Ukrainian Nazis.” “We are convinced that they bear their share of responsibility for these crimes,” he stated, adding that Moscow would seek to “put an end to this policy.”
Lavrov said the goal of Kiev’s backers is to disrupt the peace talks, which were renewed in Istanbul last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to resume negotiations without any preconditions. Russia is currently “actively working” on a draft peace proposal and will be ready to present it to the Ukrainian side following a major prisoner exchange being carried out by Moscow and Kiev over the weekend, he said. Moscow is committed to peace “despite any provocations,” the foreign minister stated.
The EU and the UK are actively “fueling” the conflict and encouraging Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and his government to continue the bloodshed, Lavrov said. Even their calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire are a disguise for their desire to continue pumping Ukraine with weapons, he added.
“They’ve bet their reputation on dragging Europe into a war against Russia to facilitate the militarization of Europe,” he warned, adding that Western governments plan to allocate “huge sums” of money to this goal.
Lavrov concluded that “there is certainly Europe’s responsibility” in prolonging the conflict, warning that EU leaders “will find it hard to shed this responsibility.”
