Lavrov says Moscow stands for 'negotiated solution' in Ukraine

Moscow stands for a solution through the peace talks with Ukraine, but Kyiv shows no interest in them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, following a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Lavrov said that if the Ukrainian delegation continues the current line of ignoring Russia's proposals, the peace talks will hardly succeed.

"We are for a negotiated solution. But the way the Ukrainian delegation behaved at the talks, the way President Zelenskyy behaved, refusing to confirm that they received our new proposals a week ago, is depressing. Apparently, they are not particularly interested in negotiations," he said.

Lavrov suggested that the Ukrainian authorities lay their hopes for Western military support, which would help win the war on the battlefield.

"If this will continue, the talks will hardly have any result, but I repeat that we adhere to a negotiated solution, adhere to a cease-fire," he said.

For his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern over frequent appeals about war crimes from both sides.

Guterres said such information needs a thorough investigation, and although he supports holding independent investigations, the UN secretariat has no authority to carry out such activities.

The secretary-general informed that he suggested creating a trilateral group of the Un, Russia, and Ukraine, which will address the humanitarian issues.

"I proposed to create a contact group on humanitarian issues that would unite the UN, Russia and Ukraine to search for opportunities to open safe corridors with a simultaneous cease-fire to guarantee the effectiveness of these corridors," he said.

Speaking about the UN Security Council reform, both Lavrov and Guterres spoke in favor of expanding it at the expense of underrepresented regions, such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Lavrov was asked about the accreditation of a Taliban representative as the Afghan ambassador to Russia.

The minister said that accepting the Taliban's ambassador does not mean the recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate authorities, although Russia would like to move forward in this direction.

According to UN estimates, at least 2,665 civilians have been killed and 3,053 injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, with the actual figure feared to be much higher.

According to the UN refugee agency, more than 8.3 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries.