MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The settlement of the Ukrainian crisis could be facilitated if the US explained to Kiev the position of Washington and the UN Security Council as to the need to comply with the Minsk accords, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference on Monday.
"If the US explained to the new defense minister and all other members of the Kiev regime led by President [Vladimir] Zelensky that this is the stance of Washington and it must be respected, all the more as this is also the position of the UN Security Council, I think that this would substantially speed up the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," Lavrov said.
He noted that the US leadership supported the abidance of the Minsk agreements, including a special status for Donbass. "Both at the meeting of presidents [Vladimir] Putin and [Joe] Biden in Geneva this past June, and during recent visits by US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and CIA Director Bill Burns, during their contacts with Russian leadership, - at all these meetings the US president and members of his team directly confirmed the necessity of the Minsk agreements," Lavrov stressed.
He also drew attention to statements from the new defense minister of Ukraine about the use of combat UAVs by Ukrainian forces. "The latest reshuffles in the Ukrainian government made this agency (the Ukrainian Defense Ministry - TASS) more ‘hawkish’. In particular, the new defense minister stated without a moment’s hesitation that Ukraine has the right to use combat UAVs and will continue to do so," the top diplomat added.