Russia has said that it will soon give Ukraine a draft plan for ending the war. But this will only happen after the two sides finish swapping prisoners.
Both countries released 390 prisoners each on Friday and promised to release more soon. Russia has said that it still wants peace and is working on a long-term agreement to stop the fighting.
Lavrov, in statements on his ministry’s website, said Russia was committed to working out a peaceful settlement in the more than three-year-old war pitting Moscow against Kyiv.
Russia and Ukraine each released 390 prisoners on Friday and said they would free more in the coming days, an initiative agreed in talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey last week.
“We remain committed to a peace settlement. We are always open to talks… and let me stress that we are committed to the agreements that were achieved recently in Istanbul,” Lavrov said.
“We are working actively on the second part of the agreements, which call for preparation by each side of a draft document setting out the conditions for achieving a reliable, long-term agreement on a settlement.”
“As soon as the exchange of prisoners of war is complete,d we will be ready to hand to the Ukrainian side a draft of such a document which the Russian side is now completing.”
Lavrov said the surge of Ukrainian drone attacks – some 800 sent against Russian targets over the last three days – was “a direct consequence” of support for Ukraine by European Union countries whose leaders visited Kyiv in recent days.
“We are certain that they will be held accountable for their share of responsibility for these crimes,” Lavrov said, referring to the European countries.
“This is an attempt to disrupt peace talks and undermine progress made in Istanbul following the agreements between the presidents of Russia and the United States… We will continue this work no matter what provocations there may be.”
Lavrov’s ministry earlier vowed to respond to the attacks.
