Ukraine has demanded an immediate and unconditional truce in reply to Moscow’s offer of a three-day armistice
Kiev is demanding an unconditional ceasefire because its forces are being routed on the battlefield, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Kiev a 72-hour truce from May 8 to 10 to coincide with this year’s Victory Day anniversary. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky criticized the offer as an attempt at “manipulation” and called for an immediate and unconditional full ceasefire instead.
Speaking at a press conference on following a BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brazil on Tuesday, Lavrov noted a sharp departure in Kiev’s intransigence.
“Against the backdrop of what is happening on the ground, on the line of combat contact, where the Ukrainian regime is increasingly retreating again and again,” he said.
“They reversed their position 180 degrees and began to demand an immediate truce without preconditions,” the top diplomat added.
Whereas a month or two ago, “Kiev spouted dire warnings that they would not accept any truce,” Lavrov said.
European “radicals” were inciting Ukraine to continue the conflict, pumping it full of weapons and insisting that talks could only begin when Ukrainian authorities could negotiate from a position of power, “when Russia is weakened,” the top diplomat said.
Western Europe seems to be interested in continuing the conflict in Ukraine, as well as undermining any US peace efforts to end it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week.
Moscow has repeatedly criticized European arms supplies to Kiev, and condemned its plans to deploy troops in Ukraine as escalatory.
Russia has insisted that it has always been ready for peace talks, provided they are aimed at a permanent solution that addresses the core causes of the conflict. Any temporary ceasefire would instead be used by Kiev’s Western backers as a chance to rearm Ukraine, Moscow has said.
