The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed the opinion that calls for an unconditional ceasefire in the war against Ukraine are aimed at rearming Ukrainian forces. According to him, many in the West understand settlement as only one thing — “A ceasefire without any conditions for a month, or even longer, so that we can calmly rearm Ukraine, so that Ukraine can strengthen its defensive positions”. He stated this on May 21 during a press conference following talks with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Lavrov also noted that, in his opinion, “France leads the hostile camp”. According to the Russian minister, “Macron and all his ministers are simply filled with hatred towards Russia”, and in a political sense, France acts as a hostile country. He emphasized this in a comment, quoting the Russian news agency TASS.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine
On May 19, former U.S. President Donald Trump reported that his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin went “very well”. He urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately begin negotiations to end the war and achieve peace. After this, Putin stated that Russia and Ukraine must seek compromises that satisfy both sides and expressed readiness to work with Kyiv on signing a peace treaty.
These negotiations took place after a meeting in Istanbul, which was the first since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Although no agreements on a ceasefire were reached, the parties agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war. At the same time, on the eve of this, Russia carried out one of the largest drone strikes on Ukraine, as confirmed by Ukrainian sources.