‘West directly supports genocide’ in Ukraine: Russia's Lavrov on Zelensky's peace plan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is in the midst of a visit to Africa, on Tuesday (May 30) accused the West of “supporting genocide” in Kyiv over its backing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan. Lavrov claims that because of it, “everything Russian” would be destroyed in east Ukraine and Crimea.

Meanwhile, top Ukrainian presidential aid in a recent interview said Kyiv isno longer interested in a ceasefire andZelensky’s peace plan is the only way to end Russia’s war.

What did Lavrov say?

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The Russian foreign minister during a press conference with his Burundian counterpart said, “The conclusion is very simple - the West directly supports genocide.” This comes as Moscow has long accused the West of what it calls Ukrainian persecution of Russian language speakers in the eastern Donbas region and elsewhere.

The peace plan proposedby Zelensky late last year calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscowannexed in 2014. In the context of the recent drone attacks in Moscow, Lavrov also accused the West of directly helping Kyiv conduct such “terrorist” strikes by providing it with military equipment.

“The statement of the West that the weapons it is supplying (to Ukraine) must not be used against the territory of the Russian Federation is just another lie,” said the Russian foreign minister. Notably, Moscow has also claimed that US-provided armoured vehicles were used during the border incursion in Russia’s Belgorodearlier this month.

US Army General Mark Milley, addressing Moscow’s accusations of pro-Ukrainian militia using armoured vehicles to carry out the border incursion, said Washington has long asked Kyiv not to use US-provided military equipment for attacks inside Russian territory.

Russia blames the West for Kyiv's 'reckless'drone attacks on Moscow

The Russian foreign ministry in a statement, on Tuesday, blamed Western support ofUkraine and said that it was “pushing” Kyiv towards “increasingly reckless” behaviour in reference to the recent drone attacks in Moscow. They also went on to say that these attacks are designed to spread “panic”.

“Western support for the Kyiv regime is pushing the Ukrainian leadership towards increasingly reckless acts, including terrorism”. Russia has also said that it intercepted all eight of the Ukrainian drones aimed at Moscow and said there were no deaths but two injuries were reported. Moscow said that it has launched a probe into the incident.

Russian lawmaker Maxim Ivanov called it the most serious assault on Moscow since the Nazis, saying no citizen could now avoid “the new reality”. Meanwhile, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak denied Kyiv’s involvement in the attack.

Ukraine’s peace plan the only way to end conflict: Zelensky’s aide

In an interview with Reuters, chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva said that Ukraine is no longer interested in a ceasefire and said that Zelensky’s peace plan is the only way to end Russia’s war. Zhovkva also said that the time for mediation efforts has passed.

The Ukrainian presidential aid also pushed back on multiple peace plans pitched by China, Brazil, the Vatican and South Africa over the past couple of months and told Reuters, “There cannot be a Brazilian peace plan, a Chinese peace plan, a South African peace plan when you are talking about the war in Ukraine”.

He also spoke about how Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan received an extremely positive reactionat the Group of Seven (G7) summit held in Japan, earlier this month, which was also attended by Zelensky. “Not a single formula (point) had any concerns from the (G7) countries,” said Zhovkva, as per Reuters.

The presidential aide also said Ukraine wants G7 leaders to help bring as many Global South leaders as possible to a Ukraine-proposed ‘peace summit’ this summer. Japan, which currently holds the G7 presidencyalso invited leaders from the so-called Global South to Hiroshima for talks including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

(With inputs from agencies)

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