Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine and accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of directly challenging US President Donald Trump over Washington’s controversial diesel deal with Moscow during a press conference in Baku on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Speaking after the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Lavrov said Russia would not agree to a pause in fighting that could allow Ukraine to replenish its military capabilities.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
“There will be no ceasefire” that would allow Zelensky to be rearmed, Lavrov said, according to Interfax.
He was responding to a question about whether Moscow would consider concessions in future peace negotiations if Ukraine held presidential elections.
Lavrov claimed Zelensky had imposed deliberately unacceptable conditions for holding elections, portraying the Ukrainian leader as unwilling to pursue a political settlement.
The Russian minister also attacked Zelensky’s opposition to a recent US-Russia agreement easing sanctions on Russian diesel, describing the Ukrainian president’s position as a direct confrontation with Trump.
“This is a direct challenge to President Trump, who actively supported this deal and has spoken about it publicly on more than one occasion,” Lavrov said.
The remarks came as Kyiv defended its campaign against Russian oil refineries, which Ukraine considers legitimate military-economic targets because of their role in sustaining Moscow’s war effort.
Other Topics of Interest
Russian Strikes Injure 52 Across Ukraine in a Day, Zelensky Says
A drone crashed near residential buildings in Kyiv’s Pechersk district, injuring seven, while strikes hit Dnipropetrovsk region more than 10 times.
Lavrov’s statements also underscored Moscow’s continued rejection of an unconditional halt to fighting.
Lavrov also dismissed prospects for a negotiated settlement under current conditions, saying Western proposals had moved away from understandings reached during the August 2025 summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.
“After Anchorage, there has been a constant retreat of Western initiatives and ideas toward positions that only move us further away from a sustainable peace, or at least from a negotiated solution,” Lavrov said.
He dismissed the ideas circulating in Western media as insufficient for a lasting settlement and insisted that Russia’s war objectives remained unchanged.
Beyond Ukraine, Lavrov used his visit to Azerbaijan to signal Moscow’s interest in participating in the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a proposed transport corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia.
“We have not yet received any requests regarding participation in this project,” he said, adding that the interested parties were aware of Russia’s capabilities and willingness to join.
He pointed to Russian Railways’ existing involvement in Armenia’s railway network as evidence of Moscow’s experience with the region’s infrastructure.
Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.