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22-08-2025
MOSCOW: Russia has warned that attempting to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without the participation of Moscow is a “road to nowhere”, days after European leaders met United States President Donald Trump to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv.
“We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“I am sure that in the West and above all in the United States they understand perfectly well that seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia; it’s a road to nowhere.”
The minister’s comments come two days after Trump hosted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside prominent European leaders at the White House, and days after Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelenskyy towards a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbour, but major obstacles remain.
The Russian official said any summit between Putin and Zelenskyy “must be prepared in the most meticulous way” so the meeting does not lead to a “deterioration” of the situation around the conflict.
Lavrov also accused European leaders of making “clumsy attempts” to change the US president’s position on Ukraine.
“We have only seen aggressive escalation of the situation and rather clumsy attempts to change the position of the US president,” he said, referring to Monday’s meeting.
“We did not hear any constructive ideas from the Europeans there,” Lavrov added.
In the meantime, Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said later on Wednesday that Kyiv has already begun intensive coordination with European and NATO national security advisers to advance concrete military security guarantees and prevent future aggression.
“Immediately after returning from Washington, I held the first and very lengthy coordination conversation with national security advisors representing Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, as well as the EU and NATO,” Yermak said in a statement on Telegram.
Yermak said Ukrainian military teams have already begun working on the defence components of the guarantees and warned of the consequences if Moscow delays peace talks.
“The appropriate steps must be taken by the Russians, or they must feel additional truly painful pressure from the world,” he added.
He also underlined that Ukraine is prepared for “any format of conversation about an honest end to the war”, thanking Trump, European partners, and NATO for their support.
NATO military chiefs met on Wednesday to discuss the details of these potential security guarantees for Ukraine amid efforts to broker a ceasefire to Russia’s offensive.
NATO’s Military Committee said that 32 defence chiefs from across the alliance held a video conference.
US General Alexus Grynkewich, who oversees NATO’s operations in Europe, also took part in the talks.
Kyiv’s European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative. (Int’l News Desk)
