Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "lost all chances" to discuss regional security with Moscow as Russian troops continued military operations against Ukrainian towns and cities.
In a news conference on February 25, Lavrov said Zelenskiy "lies" about his readiness to hold talks with Moscow in order to avoid further human losses.
He added that Moscow will hold talks with Ukraine only after Kyiv stops its military resistance to the Russian Army.
"We are ready to hold talks as soon as Ukraine's armed forces follow the call of our president and stop their resistance, and give up their arms. Nobody is going to attack them, nobody is going to torment them, let them go back to their families," Lavrov said.
Lavrov also said that 'nobody plans to occupy Ukraine," reiterating President Vladimir Putin's claim that the goal of ongoing military invasion of Ukraine was the "demilitarization and de-Nazification" of Ukraine.
Putin first made baseless accusations against Kyiv on February 21, saying that the Ukrainian government was a "neo-Nazi" regime that was seeking a nuclear weapon, repeating the same false claim in the February 24 speech that justified the invasion.
