Russian leader scoffs at peace plan proposal
UNITED NATIONS — Russia’s foreign minister clashed with the United States and Ukraine’s supporters at a U.N. meeting Monday where Moscow ruled out any peace plan backed by Kyiv and the West, and China warned further global chaos could affect the slowing global economy.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, claimed Ukrainian forces have been “a complete failure” on the battlefield and are “incapable” of defeating or weakening Russia.
He told the U.N. Security Council that Moscow is always ready to negotiate peace, but he claimed peace plans presented by Ukraine and its Western “masters” are “only used as cover to continue war and continue getting money from Western taxpayers.”
“All of these formulas are a road to nowhere, and the sooner Washington, London, Paris and Brussels realize this the better for Ukraine and the West,” he said, warning their “crusade against Russia has already created new, clear, reputational and existential risks.”
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood dismissed Lavrov’s claims as “just blatant disinformation” and countered that it was Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine that started the war, and it is President Vladimir Putin’s “single-minded pursuit of the obliteration of Ukraine and subjugation of its people that is prolonging it.”
“Russia’s imperialist designs are obvious,” and “for Russia, anything other than capitulation — total capitulation by Ukraine is the only solution, and that’s just not acceptable to the international community,” Wood said, stressing the war could end if Moscow withdrew its troops in Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory.
Russia called the council meeting to again sharply criticize Western military aid to Ukraine. Just before it started, diplomats from more than 40 countries surrounded Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya who read a joint statement underscoring Russia’s “hypocrisy” in criticizing lawful arms transfers to help Ukraine defend itself.
Ukraine’s supporters called Monday’s meeting another Russian attempt “to distract from its war of aggression,” and they condemned military support to Moscow — drones from Iran and ballistic missiles from North Korea — in violation of U.N. sanctions, as well as military equipment from Belarus.
The council heard many calls for stepped up peace efforts, and there was growing concern from Russia’s ally, China, about the increasing threat to global security from the ongoing war in Ukraine at the same time that Israel and Hamas are at war in Gaza.