However, Lavrov reiterated in Moscow that Russia rejects an immediate ceasefire and a so-called freezing of fighting on the current front. “If you just stop like that, it means forgetting the causes of this conflict,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
It also means “that a huge part of Ukraine remains under the leadership of a Nazi regime,” said the minister. Russian propaganda repeatedly claims that there is a right-wing government in Ukraine. The overthrow of the government in Kyiv is a declared war goal of Moscow.
Moscow has stuck to maximum demands in its war of aggression, which has lasted more than three and a half years. Accordingly, Ukraine should refrain from joining NATO and, in addition to the Crimean peninsula, also completely cede the areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Putin repeatedly emphasizes that this time a comprehensive peace agreement should be negotiated – while the fighting continues.
US President Trump recently said that Russia and Ukraine should remain where their troops are currently located. Everything else is “very difficult to negotiate”. Zelensky agreed, but added: “Both sides have to stop, but that’s a question for Putin, because we didn’t start the war.”
Russia attacked Ukraine again with combat drones and ballistic missiles. At least four civilians were killed and seven injured in the northern Ukrainian city of Novhorod-Siverskyi, the governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Tschaus, said on Telegram. There is a lot of destruction in the small town, which is a good 35 kilometers from the Russian border. Hits in the Chernihiv region caused widespread disruption of electricity and water supplies. Ukraine’s parliament in Kiev extended the current martial law and mobilization by 90 days until the beginning of February 2026.
