To resolve Ukraine crisis, US, Nato should stop arming Kyiv: Russia

As Moscow intensifies its attack in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the Russian foreign minister urged the US and NATO to stop arming Kyiv if they are “really interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis”.

It has been over two months since Putin launched an invasion into the neighbouring nation but the war looks far from over.

Speaking to China’s official news agency, Xinhua, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the “special military operation… is proceeding strictly according to plan”.

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Issuing a warning to the West, Lavrov said, “If the US and NATO are really interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis, then first of all, they should wake up and stop supplying the Kyiv regime with arms and ammunition.”

Lavrov told Xinhua that Russia knows how to defend its economic interests and therefore it plans to move away from the US dollar and lean less on imports, while boosting its tech independence.

Lavrov also said that lifting sanctions imposed on Russia is part of peace negotiations between Moscow and Ukraine, which are “difficult” but continue daily.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will start forcing “unfriendly countries” — including all European Union states — to pay for their natural gas supplies in rubles.

Russia started its military offensive against Ukraine on February 24. Western nations, including the US, have imposed major economic and other sanctions on Russia following the aggression.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a recent video address to the nation, said that Russian troops have mined the entire nation. “They are mining all this territory. Houses are mined, equipment is mined, even the bodies of dead people.” he said.