Lavrov says Russia will not halt fighting despite European calls for ceasefire

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, as urged by European leaders, would, in his words, mean "preserving the Nazi regime" and "banning the Russian language".

As reported by RIA Novosti, Lavrov spoke with journalists after meeting his Ethiopian counterpart and commented on a joint statement by European leaders who expressed support for Ukraine and backed US President Donald Trump's efforts to end the fighting.

"A ceasefire now would mean only one thing – that a vast part of Ukraine remains under the control of a Nazi regime. It would be the only place on Earth where an entire language is legally banned, not to mention that it is an official UN language and spoken by the majority of the population," Lavrov said.

He added that "European patrons and masters" of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy persuaded Washington to change its stance and avoid seeking a long-term settlement, instead opting to "simply stop and let history decide".

"But such an approach completely contradicts what Presidents Trump and Putin agreed on in Anchorage when they decided to focus on the root causes," Lavrov pointed out, as quoted by Russian state-owned news outlet TASS. [N.B. European Pravda doesn't recognise Putin as president – ed.]

European leaders on 21 October issued a joint statement reaffirming their support for Ukraine and expressing approval of US President Donald Trump's efforts to achieve a ceasefire and stating that "the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations".

According to The Washington Post, during his conversation with Trump, Putin demanded full control over Donetsk Oblast to end the war, hinting that he might concede parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts in return.

Trump stated that he supports freezing the war along the current front line and denied claims that he urged Zelenskyy to give up all of Donetsk Oblast.