Summary

No pause in Ukraine conflict – Lavrov Moscow will not pause its special military operation while peace negotiations are underway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, asserting that a temporary ceasefire only benefits Kiev. Ukraine and 51 of its allies released a statement on Wednesday demanding that Russia accept an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” so that peace talks between Moscow and Kiev can take place. The statement, whose signatories included the EU and its member states, the UK, Canada, and Australia, was published before the security council met to discuss the conflict. “We are not going to have a pause in our special military operation,” Lavrov said during the meeting. “Europe, whatever it thinks, just wants to get a pause and it wants to use it to pump the Kiev regime with weapons.” Kiev is “clearly and blatantly using terrorist methods,” Lavrov added, referring to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on civilian targets in Russia. Ukraine and its allies issued their ceasefire demand less than four days after Ukrainian forces launched their largest-ever drone raid on the Russian capital. The attack killed two civilians in its suburbs and damaged an oil refinery, residential buildings, and civilian infrastructure. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said the “unprecedented” raid involved more than 1,600 UAVs from all directions. Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has repeatedly followed such attacks with appeals for ceasefire, which Russia has rebuffed. Moscow maintains that it will only cease military action when both sides seek a comprehensive settlement that addresses the root causes of the conflict. Russia has dramatically stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian military and dual-use infrastructure in recent months, in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s 40-day “influence campaign” of long-range strikes on civilian targets. Zelensky’s stated aim was to foment discontent among the Russian public, but the campaign ultimately ended with the destruction of Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure and an earlier-than-usual start to Russia’s winter campaign against its power plants and substations. In a statement released after the latest drone raid on Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian army would further “intensify its high-accuracy strikes against military targets in Kiev” in response.