Russia Wants To End Ukraine War 'As Soon As Possible', Foreign Affairs Minister Says

Russia is interested in a speedy end to its war in Ukraine, the country's foreign minister asserted Monday.

Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, made the comment after his meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira.

"It is clear that we are interested in the Ukrainian conflict ending as soon as possible. We have explained in detail the reasons for what is happening, the goals that we are pursuing in this regard," Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying.

In addition, Lavrov said he and Vieira talked "about the context which should be taken into account in order to tackle such problems in a way that is based on long-term agreements rather than short-term solutions."

Russia launched its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Since then, Russia has stated a number of times that it is ready to negotiate with Ukraine to end the war.

Kyiv has repeatedly emphasized that it will only begin negotiations when Moscow removes its forces from all Ukrainian territories according to the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. In contrast, Russia has said that it will not accept "preconditions regarding Ukraine," particularly the withdrawal of its troops.

"Such conditions are unacceptable. Our President has said multiple times that we are ready for negotiations, but they need to take the situation on the ground into account, indeed," Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko said in November 2022.

However, negotiations appear to be off the table after the International Criminal Court (ICC) last month issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian territories or temporarily occupied areas amid the war.

After the warrant was issued, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, promptly posted a tweet where he identified Putin as "an obvious international criminal." In line with that, Podolyak said that "there will be no negotiations with the current Russian elite."

Lavrov's interview comes as Russia's invasion of Ukraine extends into its 14th month. As of Wednesday, Russia has lost 182,660 military personnel, including 590 soldiers over the past day, according to estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.