Russia’s overseas minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on Thursday defended Moscow’s mass missile and drone strikes in opposition to Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, calling it a official navy goal, regardless of warnings by the United Nations that the strikes might quantity to conflict crimes.
Talking at a information convention in Moscow, Mr. Lavrov stated that the repeated strikes in opposition to Ukraine’s infrastructure — which have knocked out electrical energy and water for tens of millions of individuals as winter looms — had been justified as a result of Russia is hitting targets which are used to replenish Ukrainian forces with weapons supplied by Western nations.
He stated that Russia used high-precision weapons in opposition to Ukrainian vitality services that help Kyiv’s fight operations and are used “to pump up Ukraine with Western weapons for it to kill Russians.” He didn’t elaborate. Ukrainian officers have accused Russia of making an attempt to make life depressing for individuals by placing residential areas, electrical transformers, energy crops and different civilian targets.
Mr. Lavrov stated the West had focused vitality services through the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. He defended Russia’s strikes in opposition to Ukrainian areas that Moscow considers a part of its personal territory, such because the southern area of Kherson.
Mr. Lavrov repeated acquainted Russian speaking factors, accusing the US and Europe of being “instantly concerned” within the Ukraine battle, which, he stated, was sparked by NATO’s enlargement in Japanese Europe and Western meddling in Ukraine’s affairs.
He additionally dismissed as “laughable” the concept Moscow is making an attempt to have interaction Kyiv in cease-fire negotiations as a approach to purchase time and replenish its forces amid setbacks on the battlefield. Ukraine’s overseas minister, Dmitry Kuleba, has warned {that a} cease-fire would enable Russia’s “depleted invasion forces to take a break earlier than returning for additional aggression.”
“We’ve by no means requested for any negotiations,” Mr. Lavrov stated. “However now we have at all times stated that if somebody is excited about discovering a negotiated answer, we’re able to pay attention.”
Mr. Lavrov additionally accused NATO of stirring up tensions elsewhere on this planet, together with with China, and of making an attempt to tug India into what he referred to as “an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese language alliance.”