ANTALYA, March 2. /TASS/. There are plenty of facts indicating that the West is striving for a military solution to the situation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference following the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.
"There are plenty of facts that the West is leading the matter towards a military solution, although even more facts show the complete failure and deadlock of such a course," the foreign minister said.
Lavrov noted that Moscow sees "a lack of goodwill on the other side."
"Even not so much [a lack] of goodwill, we see a lack of understanding of what is happening on the other side. And we see a desire on the other side to continue to achieve the defeat of Russia on the battlefield. Most notably - the latest statements of [Lloyd] Austin, the head of the Pentagon, that in the event of defeat Ukraine, NATO will be forced to oppose Russia, and [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s statement about the possibility of sending ground troops to the territory of Ukraine," Lavrov recalled. He noted that the French leader later said that "he does not give up his thoughts."
"These trends in the West, among the Western leadership, of course, they cancel out all assurances that the West is interested in some kind of political settlement. This is not true," the minister said.