PM confronts Lavrov at G20 summit and tells Russia to ‘get out of Ukraine’

RISHI Sunak has told Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Moscow needs to “get out of Ukraine and end this barbaric war”.

The two men faced off in Bali at the G20 summit, with the new Prime Minister blaming the conflict for the worsening state of the global economy.

Vladimir Putin avoided the two-day gathering of the leaders of the world’s 20 richest economies. He has been humiliated in recent days after the Russian occupation of the southern city of Kherson was brought to an end by Ukrainian forces.

However, yesterday, there were reports of airstrikes across the country, including attacks in Kyiv, Lviv, in the west, and Kharkiv.

A Ukrainian air force spokesman said that Russia had fired around 100 missiles in a countrywide strike.

In his speech to the G20, Mr Sunak said President Putin should have attended the summit.

“Maybe if he had, we could get on with sorting things out,” he said.

According to a Downing Street transcript of his speech to the closed session, the Prime Minister said: “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has profound implications for us all, because it has undermined the fundamental principles of

sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“We all depend on these principles. They are the foundations of the international order. They must be upheld.

“It is very simple – countries should not invade their neighbours, they should not attack civilian infrastructure and civilian populations and they should not threaten nuclear escalation.”

He said the economic issues “we should be focusing on today are made much, much worse” by Moscow’s actions.

“The weaponisation of energy and food is totally unacceptable,” he said, adding that Russia is “harming the most vulnerable people around the world” by destroying grain stores and blocking shipments.