Russia’s Lavrov Assails Europe as Trump, Zelenskiy to Meet
(Bloomberg) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Europe “the main obstacle to peace” as US and Ukrainian negotiators prepare for talks on a way to end Moscow’s four-year invasion of its neighbor.
“After the change of administration in the US, Europe and the European Union have become the main obstacle to peace,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Tass newswire published on Sunday.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump will meet at 1 p.m. local time Sunday at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, looking to advance a peace proposal.
En route to the US, Zelenskiy met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday. The pair held a video call with about a dozen European leaders as well as NATO chief Mark Rutte to align their stance ahead of the Trump meeting.
European leaders were instrumental in helping Ukraine negotiate a new peace framework after an initial 28-point plan floated by the White House in November appeared favorable to Russia and sought heavy concessions from Kyiv.
Ukraine and Europe have shown no readiness for constructive negotiations, Lavrov told Tass, adding that should European troops be stationed in Ukraine, they would “become a legitimate target” for Russia.
A day after Kremlin forces pounded Kyiv with hundreds of drones and missiles, Russia on Sunday carried out a large strike on Kherson in Ukraine’s southeast using multiple launch rocket systems, Yaroslav Shanko, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said on Telegram.
Parts of the city have been left without power, with damage to energy infrastructure being assessed and emergency repairs underway.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff denied that Russian forces had taken control of the small town of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region, a claim made on Saturday by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in a briefing with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The situation in Huliaipole is difficult, but defensive operations in the settlement are ongoing,” the General Staff said in a Telegram post. Russia’s political leadership is “spreading fake statements,” it added.
Putin on Saturday vowed that Russia would accomplish its goals in Ukraine by force if necessary, according to comments reported by Tass. “The chiefs of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry to end this conflict peacefully,” Putin added.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s air barrage, DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power company, said it had restored power supplies to more than a million of households in Kyiv and the surrounding region. Scheduled power cuts remain in place.
Eastern districts of Kyiv, on the left bank of Dnipro River, face difficulties with electric municipal transport operation, according to the city’s military administration. Power and heating remains spotty, and so-called invincibility points — where people can charge devices or get hot water and food — are operational throughout the city.
(Updates with Kyiv power restoration in final two paragraphs.)
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