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Russia says West trying to ‘block’ Ukraine peace talks

Russia says West trying to ‘block’ Ukraine peace talks
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western countries trying to “block” peace negotiations to end the Ukraine war. (AFP)
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Updated 24 August 2025

Russia says West trying to ‘block’ Ukraine peace talks

Russia says West trying to ‘block’ Ukraine peace talks
  • Moscow’s top envoy also hits Ukrainian president for ‘obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs’ his Russian counterpart

MOSCOW: 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 signaled 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.”


Tornado kills five, injures more than 400 in Brazil

Tornado kills five, injures more than 400 in Brazil
Updated 7 sec ago

Tornado kills five, injures more than 400 in Brazil

Tornado kills five, injures more than 400 in Brazil
It killed five people and injured 432, the Parana state government said
Winds in Rio Bonito do Iguacu, population 14,000, reached between 180 and 250 kilometers per hour

BRASILIA: A tornado killed at least five people and injured more than 400 as it destroyed most of a town in southern Brazil, authorities said Saturday.
The twister on Friday overturned cars and damaged homes in Rio Bonito do Iguacu, in Parana state, the local weather service reported.
It killed five people and injured 432, the Parana state government said. Two others are missing but this number could rise, it said.
Winds in Rio Bonito do Iguacu, population 14,000, reached between 180 and 250 kilometers per hour (110 and 155 miles per hour), Parana’s environmental technology and monitoring agency said.
Civil Defense officials said 80 percent of the town is now destroyed. Images on social media show homes razed by the violent weather.
“It is a war scene,” Fernando Schunig, head of the Parana Civil Defense agency, told the news outlet G1.
He said the likelihood of more fatalities is high because the twister hit right in the center of the town.
“When these events hit an urban area, the damage is major. It is very lethal,” Schunig said.
The governor of Parana, Ratinho Junior, said on X that “security forces are on alert, mobilized and monitoring the cities affected by the severe storms.”
An alert for dangerous storms was in effect for all of Parana as well as the southern states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, according to weather authorities.