Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Europe of standing in the way of efforts to end the war in Ukraine, as a fresh wave of attacks killed 16 people on both sides.
Moscow and Kyiv have intensified their strikes following the deadliest summer of the conflict since 2022, when Russia launched its invasion and triggered Europe’s worst war since World War II.
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Yet Mr Lavrov, who met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York this week, directed his sharpest criticism at European governments. He said they were deliberately obstructing talks backed by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Europe is doing everything it can to thwart peace talks in which the Trump administration is interested,” Mr Lavrov said in an impassioned address to the UN General Assembly.
At least 16 people were killed in Russian and Ukrainian attacks over the past 24 hours, according to statements from both countries.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian strikes killed at least six people in the northeastern Sumy region, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, where a 17-year-old girl was among those killed.
Russia reported that Ukrainian attacks had killed four people in the Krasnodar and Belgorod regions.
Meanwhile, Kremlin-installed officials in parts of southern occupied Ukraine said six more people had died during the same period.
United Nations officials have repeatedly warned that civilian casualties are rising as the war intensifies.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly earlier this week, Mr Trump again said an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv to end the conflict was “going to happen”.
However, US-led efforts to halt the fighting have yet to produce a breakthrough. The Kremlin has repeatedly said it plans to capture the remaining parts of eastern Ukraine.
Moscow has increased its attacks on Kyiv as the capital braces for another winter under fire. Ukraine, meanwhile, has carried out strikes deep inside Russian territory this year, reaching targets as far away as the Urals and Siberia.
Daytime attacks on Kyiv killed seven people yesterday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was “escalating every single day” and urged Kyiv’s allies to impose further sanctions on Moscow.
“They want to simply wipe out our nation,” said Oleksandr Gorlachov, a 43-year-old resident of Kyiv.
‘Dangerous path of escalation’
Before addressing the UN, Mr Lavrov met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in what was the first meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and Germany since before the invasion.
The encounter came amid a sharp deterioration in relations between Berlin and Moscow. Germany has accused Russia of arranging an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport, while both countries have ordered the closure of the other’s consulate.
Germany and other European nations have also raised concerns in recent days about what they describe as a growing Russian sabotage campaign on European soil.
“Wadephul called on the Russian Federation to abandon its dangerous path of escalation vis-a-vis Germany, Europe, and NATO,” a German diplomat said.
“He made it clear: incidents such as the recent attempted attack in Leipzig or further hybrid assaults would not shake Germany’s resolve to support Ukraine,” he said.
“This attempt to increase pressure does nothing to change Russia’s untenable situation: every month, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers die in a hopeless war of positions, while the Russian economy continues to collapse.”
Mr Lavrov’s previous meeting with a German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, took place in January 2022, fewer than four weeks before Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
Germany remains one of Ukraine’s most important allies.
Mr Lavrov, Russia’s longest-serving minister, recently accused Germany of “wanting war again”. He is also among Moscow’s most outspokenly anti-Western officials.
During his UN speech, Mr Lavrov delivered a pointed criticism of Berlin.
“UN Security Council reform cannot involve any additional seats being allocated to Western countries, especially to Germany and Japan, who are now on the path to militarism,” he said.
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