The US and western nations haven't shown the 'slightest interest' in ending the war, says Lavrov
Not the “slightest interest” has been shown by the US and other western nations in ending the war Lavrov said at his annual briefing in Moscow on Thursday.
“They have not wanted to listen to our concerns,” he said, claiming that the west had instead been “leading towards the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis”. This creates “additional strategic risks and perils” he added.
He asked whether US troops in Afghanistan had yielded any “positive effect”, suggesting that Ukraine could see a “similar fate” as Afghanistan, where US troops were pulled out of in 2021 after 20 years of war, reports Sky News. Lavrov said:
All their reckless undertakings in the military field - did any of them yield any positive effect? Any establishment of democracy that it had been meant for?
Ukraine is in for a similar fate. They rely on their masters, they are not aware their master only thinks of themselves.”
UK-Ukraine security cooperation agreement is a 'half-baked product', says Lavrov
On the topic of the security cooperation agreement recently announced by the UK and Ukraine, Lavrov called it a “half-baked product” containing no “legally binding agreements” aside from a commitment from Kyiv to protect the UK if an invasion is mounted against it, reports Sky News.
It is“somewhat comedic”, said Lavrov, adding that the security cooperation agreement has not changed Russia’s military goals in Ukraine. “This has recently been confirmed by president Putin,” he said. “The goals will be achieved.”
Lavrov was also asked about Russia’s assessment of US strikes on Yemen and its support of Israel. The US and UK “have overstepped and basically trampled into the ground all the norms of international law,” he said. He compared the situation to Libya in 2011 and said no one had been given the authority to bomb Yemen. Lavrov also suggested that US troops were overstaying their welcome in Iraq.
Sky News reports that Lavrov broached the topic of with the UN and the subject of “glorifying nazism”. Last year, Russia put forward a UN resolution it dubbed “combatting glorification of nazism” which a spokesperson for the EU condemned as the “politically motivated misuse of the anti-nazism narrative”.
In a reference to the second world war, Lavrov used the term “Axis countries” to refer to Germany, Italy and Japan during his news conference. He also questioned the “direction” political ideologies are travelling in within those countries, say Sky News.
The power of the US is being surpassed, says Sergei Lavrov at annual briefing
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is holding his annual briefing in Moscow as we report. According to Sky News, Lavrov began his news conference with remarks covering domestic and foreign policy issues, and by making reference to what Russia says is an “aggressive and illegitimate” campaign by the west against Moscow, without directly mentioning the war.
Lavrov then pointed to the US, stating that the country has led the majority of discussions involving the west. “They ruled the world for 500 years” and did not have “any competition” other than during the Soviet period, he said, adding: “They did not have any serious competitors during that period, that made them complacent – they got used to being the hegemon.”
According to Sky News, Lavrov said there are “emerging and strengthening centres of economic growth, financial power and political influence” which are “surpassing the US and other western countries in their development”. He wasn’t specific about which countries but did highlight Russia’s relations with China, which he said were at “their best period in history”.
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Summary
You are very welcome here at the Guardian’s live blog on the war in Ukraine. These are the latest developments as we see them:
Ukraine’s grain exports via the Black Sea have almost returned to prewar levels, it has been reported. “On average, we exported 7.5-8 million tonnes of grain monthly. Now we have crossed this threshold, and this means that capacity has almost been restored … what has been done is is very important,” said Leonid Kozachenko, the chair of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, in remarks to Ukrainian radio that were quoted by the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
Joe Biden has gathered congressional leaders at the White House to press them for $110bn in aid for Ukraine as the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, and his Democratic counterpart, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, sounded optimistic that a vote might be possible next week. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, pushed Biden for tougher US-Mexico border security measures in return.
Ukrainian drones were launched into the Moscow and Leningrad regions early on Thursday, said Russia’s defence ministry, claiming the drones were intercepted.
Russian missiles on Wednesday struck a town outside Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing one person and damaging an educational institution, said the regional governor, Oleh Synehubov, and the military. There were two strikes on the town of Chuhuyev, south-east of Kharkiv; a woman working at a heating and power plant was killed. Another person was injured. On Tuesday, two Russian missiles struck a residential district of Kharkiv, injuring 17 people.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged Ukraine and its people to show they hold the initiative in the war, in order to shore up international support.
After returning home from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address: “Ukraine needs an ambitious and proactive perspective so that the initiative lies within our country, not with the enemy, so that the end of the war depends on Ukrainian actions. The world supports those who have a certain perspective. And that is the fundamental task – to maintain the initiative so that we have the opportunity to become stronger.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the priority for 2024 was to gain air superiority. “In 2024, of course the priority is to throw Russia from the skies,” Kuleba told the WEF.
A top Nato military officer said the war in Ukraine could “determine the fate of the world” and western armies and political leaders must drastically change the way they help Kyiv fight Russia. The chair of the Nato military committee, Adm Rob Bauer, also said at a meeting of Nato’s senior officers in Brussels that behind Putin’s rationale for the war is a fear of democracy.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he doesn’t think a ceasefire in Ukraine is near, but he could see a future where Ukraine stands strongly on its own two feet. Blinken was in conversation with the WEF founder Klaus Schwab, and commentator Thomas Friedman in Davos.
The British foreign secretary, David Cameron told delegates at the WEF in Davos, that there is a clear case for frozen Russian assets to be used to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Belgium does not oppose the confiscation of €280bn worth of frozen Russian central bank assets, but there needs to be a clear mechanism, such as using the assets as collateral for Ukraine, according to the prime minister, Alexander De Croo.
The EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “confident” of getting Hungary to drop its veto on a €50bn ($54bn) aid package for Ukraine at a summit in two weeks. Hungary’s rightwing prime minister, Viktor Orbán – Russia’s closest EU ally – refused in December to sign off on the assistance.
Germany has delivered military supplies to Ukraine, including ammunition for Leopard 1 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, missiles, drones and helmets. It also includes 16 Zetros tanker trucks, eight armoured personnel carriers, 50 mobile satellite terminals, 25 Heidrun reconnaissance drones and 1,840 helmets.
Western companies supplied Russia with critical components worth $2.9bn in the first 10 months of 2023, despite sanctions on Moscow, the Ukrainian president’s office said.
Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, said it was investigating whether several employees of an investigative journalism outlet had been put under illegal surveillance after material posted online sought to implicate them in illicit drug use. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said exerting pressure on journalists was unacceptable. The video purported to show secret recordings of employees of the Bihus.info investigative journalism project.
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