MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. The situation on the ground for a settlement in Ukraine has changed significantly since 2022, including in legal terms, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the US magazine Newsweek.

"The Istanbul Agreements initialed on March 29, 2022 by the Russian and Ukrainian delegations could serve as a basis for the settlement. They provide for Kiev's refusal to join NATO and contain security guarantees for Ukraine while recognizing the realities on the ground at that moment. Needless to say, in over two years, these realities have considerably changed, including in legal terms," he said.

Lavrov recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 14 named the following prerequisites for a settlement: the complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian armed forces from the DPR, the LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions and recognition of the territorial realities enshrined in the Russian Constitution, Ukraine's neutral non-aligned non-nuclear status, its demilitarization and denazification, guarantees of the rights, freedoms and interests of Russian-speaking citizens, as well as well as the lifting of all anti-Russian sanctions.

Kiev, Lavrov remarked, responded to this statement with an armed incursion into the Kursk Region on August 6.

Its patrons, as represented by the United States and other NATO countries, want to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia.

"We have no choice but to continue our special military operation until the threats posed by Ukraine are removed," Lavrov emphasized.

Russia's position, he noted, is well known and remains unchanged: "Russia is open to a political and diplomatic solution, which should eliminate the root causes of the crisis."

At the same time, Lavrov continued, "the issue of the day should be ending the conflict, not establishing a ceasefire."

"The West must stop arms deliveries, and Kiev must stop hostilities. Ukraine must return to a neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free status, protect the Russian language, and respect the rights and freedoms of all of its citizens," he stated.

The costs of the conflict, Lavrov said, "are the greatest for Ukrainians, whose leadership drives them, without pity, to the slaughter," while "for Russia it is about protecting its people and vital security interests."

"In contrast, by the way, to the United States, where many are in the habit of speculating about some 'rules,' 'ways of life' and the like, while apparently having a poor understanding where Ukraine is and what the stakes are in this war," Lavrov added.