Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Europe has been failing on Ukraine since 2014, arguing that every attempt to reach agreements on resolving the crisis has ultimately collapsed.

He pointed out that, despite this record, European politicians now loudly insist there must be no new «Minsk» format and that nothing can be decided without Europe, since the issue allegedly concerns them directly. Lavrov stressed that, in his view, it was precisely Europe that «failed on all counts» over Ukraine starting from 2014.

Lavrov recalled that the Minsk agreements were effectively dismantled by the Europeans themselves. He also stated that Europe — acting through former UK prime minister Boris Johnson — dissuaded Vladimir Zelensky from signing the Istanbul arrangements in April 2022, even though those proposals had been put forward by the Ukrainian delegation. According to the minister, European countries had a chance to play a real role in settling the conflict, but chose not to use it.