Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia is ready to seek compromises on Ukraine but has never changed its position on preventing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) presence on its borders.
“We are ready, within this position, to seek reasonable compromises, but fundamentally we have not changed our objectives — to ensure our security, to prevent NATO’s presence on our borders,” Lavrov said during an ambassadorial roundtable discussion on the Ukrainian settlement.
Lavrov added that Russia welcomes the US interest in facilitating a settlement in Ukraine. “The main thing is that the United States understands the root causes of this conflict, unlike all other Western countries,” he said.
Speaking of negotiation possibilities, Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia has never rejected talks and is prepared to hold talks in both a bilateral and trilateral format, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv is ready to halt certain strikes if Russia does the same.
“If our partners are ready to ensure that Russia genuinely refrains from striking our electricity system, other energy facilities, critical infrastructure, and food supply routes, then, of course, we are ready to ensure a corresponding halt to our strikes,” Zelensky said on X on Monday (local time).
He said any partial ceasefire should be reliable and long-term, and should hold beyond Russia’s elections scheduled for this month.
At the same time, Zelensky stressed that the conflict must be brought to an end and a de-escalatory step involving critical infrastructure could be the first move toward peace.
Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia have agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure. He said in a post on Truth Social that Ukraine had agreed not to strike Russian energy targets and “Russia has agreed to do, likewise!”
The Kremlin welcomed Trump’s call on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russia’s fuel-producing facilities.
“Any call on Kyiv to stop attacks on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed,” said Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Any countries can use their influence on Kyiv to encourage it to show greater flexibility, which would be a significant contribution to the settlement process,” Peskov said.
(IANS)
