“Europe is doing everything it can to thwart peace talks in which the Trump administration is interested.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered that line at the U.N. General Assembly, in a speech CBS News described as fiery. He added that the aims of what Moscow calls its special military operation “will be achieved” regardless of circumstances.
The accusation landed against a grim backdrop. Both Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up attacks after the deadliest summer since 2022. On the Saturday of the speech, Russian strikes killed four people across Ukraine, officials said, and Kyiv kept hitting Russian oil refineries and industrial sites with long-range drones. U.S.-led efforts have not produced a permanent ceasefire or a peace deal.
Trump wants a deal
President Trump, speaking after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the assembly, said he hoped Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin would “settle.” He said the two men were “going along” and predicted a deal “maybe before the heavy winter.” Then he put it more plainly. “You know what I want him to do? Make a deal,” he said of Zelenskyy. “I want him to settle with Putin, and I want Putin to settle with him.”
Zelenskyy, who had said after Tuesday’s meeting that he trusted the White House could help end the invasion, struck a different note on Saturday. Russia, he said, is “escalating every single day.” If Moscow has made its strikes more brutal, he wrote on social media, “the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further.”
Berlin and Moscow trade accusations
Before taking the podium, Lavrov met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the first such meeting between the two capitals’ top diplomats since before the war. It was not a warm occasion. Germany has accused Russia of orchestrating an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport, and each country has ordered the other’s consulate closed. European governments, Germany among them, have also raised the alarm about what they call growing Russian sabotage on their soil.
Wadephul answered Lavrov in his own address. “Russia’s war targets the lives of millions of innocent people, the existence of the Ukrainian state and culture and the European peace order,” he said, and urged Moscow to negotiate toward ending the fighting.
Europe’s own conditions
European officials have long said they will not be shut out of any settlement. In Lviv in December 2025, Danish European Affairs Minister Marie Bjerre told the Kyiv Independent that no deals about Ukraine and Europe can be concluded without Europeans at the table. Her Swedish counterpart, Jessica Rosencrantz, said that beside Washington’s 28-point proposal, Europe had a two-point plan: “To support Ukraine and to put pressure on Russia.” At that time, Trump’s envoys were leading most direct dialogue with the Russian and Ukrainian sides, with European partners on the sidelines.
Sources
- Europe's drive to bolster Ukraine faces two obstacles — Trump and Orban
- Russia accuses Europe of blocking Ukraine peace talks as Trump calls on Zelenskyy to "settle with Putin"
