US-led NATO, Ukraine hell-bent on destroying Russia, says Lavrov

The United States and its allies in the NATO military alliance together with Ukraine are bent on defeating Russia “on the battlefield” in order to destroy it, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says.

In remarks published by the state-run TASS agency, the top Russian diplomat described it as a "strategic goal" of the US and its NATO allies.

"The actions of the countries of the collective West and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky under their control confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis," Lavrov said.

"It is no secret to anyone that the strategic goal of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism for significantly weakening or even destroying our country."

Russia's top diplomat categorically ruled out the possibility that Moscow and Washington would maintain normal connection, blaming the deterioration in bilateral ties on the administration of US President Joe Biden.

"It is objectively impossible to maintain normal communication with the Biden administration, which declares the infliction of a strategic defeat on our country as a goal," Lavrov said, adding Washington's "confrontational anti-Russian course is becoming more and more acute and comprehensive."

In separate remarks published earlier by TASS, Lavrov warned Kiev that it must fulfill Moscow's proposals in order to end the protracted war between the two neighbors, otherwise the issue would be settled by the Russian army.

"Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the [Kiev] regime, [and] the elimination of threats to Russia's security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well-known to the enemy," Lavrov said.

"The point is simple: Fulfill them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army."

Moscow says it started the war in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to "de-Nazify" its neighbor.

On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was open to negotiations and blamed Kiev and its Western backers for the lack of talks.

Since the beginning of the war in late February, Ukraine's Western allies, led by the United States, have been supplying the country with advanced weapons while slapping Russia with a slew of sanctions, despite Moscow's warning that it will only prolong the conflict.

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