Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov tells reporters Russia sees no point in a weak ceasefire and instead wants to see a legally binding deal for a lasting peace.
Thursday 26 December 2024 12:13, UK
We’ve been reporting on Sergei Lavrov’s comments as he spoke to the media this morning.
After telling the press a truce with Ukraine would lead to “nowhere” – see our 8.52am post – he said the US has to make the first move if it is serious about improving relations.
President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on 20 January, has talked up his ability to strike a deal and has consistently claimed he can quickly end the war in Ukraine – though he hasn’t said how.
And Russia’s foreign minister has appeared to suggest Moscow would at least be willing to listen.
“If the signals that are coming from the new team in Washington to restore the dialogue that Washington interrupted after the start of a special military operation [the war launched by Russia in Ukraine], are serious, of course, we will respond to them,” Mr Lavrov said.
“But the Americans broke (off) the dialogue, so they should make the first move.”
Ceasefire chances
Mr Trump’s pick for Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, told Fox News last week both sides are ready for peace talks.
Reuters news agency reported last month Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a ceasefire deal, but rules out any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.
Russia holds about a fifth of Ukrainian territory – here’s a map of how that looks.
Last week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted Ukraine cannot remove Russian troops from the land they occupy in the east of the country and Crimea.
While Kyiv would never recognise Russia’s rule, he said diplomacy is the only option to get Mr Putin to withdraw his army.
Those remarks, given to French newspaper Le Parisien, came after he told us a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory could be taken “under the NATO umbrella” – allowing him time to negotiate the return of the rest later.
You can read more of Mr Zelenskyy’s comments here…
Eight people have been injured in a Russian drone attack on a market this morning, according to local authorities.
Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said seven of those were taken to hospital after the strike damaged several stalls at the market in the town of Nikopol.
It comes after one person in the region was killed during Russia’s Christmas Day attack on the country’s energy system.
And we reported earlier the Ukrainian military claimed it shot down 20 drones out of 31 launched by Russia overnight – see our 7.55am post.
Latest pictures from the front line show Ukrainians firing a small multiple rocket launch system (MLRS).
The fire came from the artillery unit of a police force’s special rifle battalion in Zaporizhzhia region, in response to Russia’s widespread Christmas Day attack.
The sinking of a Russian cargo ship sent to Syria to collect weapons was an “act of terrorism”, the vessel’s owner has said.
An engine room explosion sank the Ursa Major off the coast of Spain, with two crew members missing.
Read more here…
The RIA news agency reports Russia’s Defence Ministry has just claimed it has taken control of the village of Hihant, in eastern Ukraine.
The claim has not been independently verified and Ukraine has not yet commented.
The Institute for the Study of War reported a few days ago that Russian military bloggers had claimed Moscow’s forces were advancing towards Hihant.
Ukraine’s air force has struck a military industrial facility in Russia’s Rostov region over the past few days.
That’s according to the Ukrainian military, which did not give a date for the attack or reveal what damage was caused.
The facility, in the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, is used to produce solid fuel for ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s military said.
More now from Sergei Lavrov, who’s been speaking to the media – scroll down a little for our 8.52am post on that.
The foreign minister has said Ukraine attacks civilian targets in Russia with Western missiles and drones and that Moscow will respond.
Russia targets only military facilities and infrastructure, he added, and “it’s not in our rules to strike civilian targets”.
Russian forces have been widely and repeatedly accused of bombing civilians since launching the invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, with residential buildings regularly hit by missiles and drones.
The cause of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash is still unknown, Kazakhstan’s senate chairman has said.
A passenger jet crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau on Christmas Day, killing 38 people.
It had diverted from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended from Ukrainian attacks.
Ashimbayev Maulen said “all information will be made available to the public” once they know what was behind the crash.
“None of these countries – neither Azerbaijan, Russia nor Kazakhstan – is interested in hiding information,” he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this morning the investigation is under way and it is wrong to speculate before it gives its conclusions.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has just been speaking to reporters – and he’s warned a truce is a “path to nowhere”.
He said Russia sees no point in a weak ceasefire and instead wants to see a legally binding deal for a lasting peace.
“A truce is a path to nowhere,” he said, adding Moscow suspects a freeze would be used by the West to re-arm Ukraine.
“We need final legal agreements that will fix all the conditions for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation and, of course, the legitimate security interests of our neighbours.”
Those legal documents should be drafted in a way to ensure “the impossibility of violating these agreements”, he added.
After condemning Russia’s Christmas Day attack, Joe Biden has asked his defence team to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
Russia launched dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy system and some of its cities yesterday – criticised as “inhuman” by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The US President said he has already responded by reaffirming Washington’s commitment to Ukraine’s defence.
“The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid,” he said.
For context: Washington has committed $175bn in aid for Ukraine over the course of the war, but the future of US funding is in some doubt, with president-elect Donald Trump questioning their level of involvement and suggesting Europe should bear more of the burden.
But Keith Kellogg, who is Mr Trump’s pick for special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, criticised the attack on what should be a “time of peace”, adding “the US is more resolved than ever to bring peace to the region”.
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