Lavrov threatens with Russian forces as Moscow keeps bombarding Ukraine
A day after President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations over Ukraine, Russia's foreign minister lashed out, saying Kyiv and the West sought to destroy his country and Ukraine must meet Moscow's demands or its army will.
Putin's offer to talk was dismissed by Ukraine, as his forces continued to batter Ukrainian towns with missiles and rockets, and Moscow kept demanding that Kyiv recognise its conquest of a fifth of the country.
Kyiv said it would fight until Russia withdrew.
"Our proposals ... are well known to the enemy," state news agency TASS quoted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying late on Monday.
"The point is simple: Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army."
Putin launched his full-scale invasion on 24 February, claiming the aim was to "denazify" and demilitarise Ukraine, which he said was a threat to Russia.
Kyiv and the West say Putin's invasion was merely an imperialist land grab. The US and its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia for its invasion and sent billions of dollars in assistance to the Ukrainian government.
Just last week, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was visiting Washington, the US announced another $1.85 billion (€1.69bn) in military assistance for Ukraine, including a transfer of the Patriot Air Defence System, angering Moscow.
"It is no secret to anyone that the strategic goal of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism for significantly weakening or even destroying our country," Lavrov further told TASS.
He reiterated that Moscow and Washington could not maintain a normal connection, blaming the administration of US President Joe Biden.
While Moscow had
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