Russian Foreign Minister Criticizes Europe Insisting On Ceasefire After That Supply Of Combat Equipment To Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov/DOK PHOTO SPECIAL

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the meeting of US President Donald Trump with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week clearly showed Trump really wanted to achieve long-term and sustainable peace in Ukraine.

Lavrov said Trump-Putin's meeting was very good.

"It is clear that the head of the United States and his team, first of all, really want to achieve results that are long-term, sustainable, and reliable," Lavrov told state television channel Rossiya 24 as reported by Reuters, Tuesday, August 19.

Lavrov compared what he called a constructive US position to European positions, whose leaders attended an extraordinary summit at the White House on Monday local time with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukraine.

"Europe has insisted on every opportunity only at the ceasefire, and after that they will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine," Lavrov said.

The same criticism of the European coalition came from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. He said European leaders failed to control US President Donald Trump regarding efforts to deal with the Russia-Ukraine peace.

"The anti-Russian and warlike coalition failed to beat @POTUS in its territory," Medvedev said in an X post reported by Reuters, Tuesday, August 19.

"Europe thanked andlamed it (Trump)," he continued.

Medvedev said the question was what "song" Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would play "about guarantees & territory in his own country, after he returned to wearing his green military uniform."

Trump told Zelenskyy on Monday the United States would help ensure Ukraine's security in any deal to end the war in Ukraine, although the level of aid provided is not yet clear.