Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western countries on Sunday of trying to “block” peace negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict, after a flurry of diplomatic activity appeared to stall.
US President Donald Trump has been championing a bilateral meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents -- but both sides have blamed each other for not wanting the talks to come through.
“They're just looking for a pretext to block negotiations,” Lavrov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday on Telegram.
He slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov also accused Ukrainian authorities of “attempts to disrupt the process that was laid down by Presidents Putin and Trump, which has yielded very good results.”
“We hope that these attempts will be thwarted,” he added.
On Friday, Lavrov said “no meeting” between Zelensky and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was planned.
Earlier this week, Zelensky for his part said Russia was “trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting.”
Zelensky has signalled willingness to meet with Putin, but only after his allies agree on security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops.
Moscow said there could be no discussion about such guarantees without it, and said any presence of European troops in Ukraine would be “absolutely unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, a fire broke out Sunday at a Russian nuclear power plant after the country's military downed a Ukrainian drone, the facility said after the blaze was put out.
The “device detonated” upon impact at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in western Russia, sparking a blaze which the facility said “was extinguished by fire crews.”
There were no casualties from the drone smashing down at the site, where capacity was reduced.
“The radiation background at the industrial site of the Kursk NPP and the surrounding area has not changed and corresponds to natural levels,” the plant wrote on Telegram.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned of the dangers of fighting around nuclear plants following Russia launching its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
The plant is near the Russia-Ukraine border and sits to the west of Kursk city, the region's capital with a population of around 440,000.
Russia now controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula which it annexed in 2014.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed cities and villages across the east and south of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rebuffed calls by Kyiv and the West for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire.