MOSCOW, JUN 23: Russia on Tuesday said the United States was no longer trying to be an “objective mediator” in its efforts to broker an end to the Ukraine war, launched by Moscow’s offensive in 2022.
US-led talks on ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II remain effectively frozen as President Donald Trump has shifted his attention towards the Middle East after ordering strikes on Iran in late February.
But during a summit in France earlier this month, G7 leaders – including the US president – agreed on a final statement that included references to the Ukraine war, in contrast to last year’s meeting, when Trump walked out early.
As well as increasing supplies of air defense equipment to Ukraine, the leaders agreed to increase the pressure on the Russian “war economy” by strengthening sanctions, including on Moscow’s fossil fuel revenues.
“As for the United States, judging by their actions, they appear to be abandoning any claim to the role of an objective mediator and are instead pursuing a course of escalating sanctions pressure on Russia,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told foreign envoys in Moscow on Tuesday.
Lavrov also said that by providing military support to Ukraine, “Europe is once again becoming a major threat to international peace and security.”
Since coming back to the White House in 2025, Trump – who had pledged he would end the Ukraine war within a day of taking office – has been pushing both sides to engage in negotiations.
There has been little progress in the US-brokered shuttle diplomacy between the neighbors, with Kyiv refusing to give in to Moscow’s maximalist demands and Russia refusing to drop them.
Russia, which launched its offensive in 2022, has demanded Ukraine pull out of its eastern Donbas region – parts of which Kyiv’s army still controls – as a precondition to peace talks.
Ukraine ruled it out, saying such a move would only embolden Moscow.
