Lavrov Says Russia Will Fight in Ukraine 'to the End'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in New York during the 81st UN General Assembly high-level week that Russia will continue fighting in Ukraine until its goals are achieved, even as he held a first-since-2022 meeting with Germany's foreign minister and an hour-long session with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.¹²⁵

Meeting with Germany

On the margins of the UN General Assembly, Lavrov sat down with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul for a meeting that the Times of India and Reuters both characterized as the two nations' first foreign-minister-level engagement since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Wadephul pressed Lavrov to make every effort toward securing a Black Sea grain-export deal, arguing that a practical breakthrough on that front could pave the way for additional tangible progress.³⁴

Lavrov said Russia had already discussed proposals for safe Black Sea navigation with India, Egypt and Turkey. Wadephul restated Germany's stance on the conflict, called on Moscow to halt what he described as a hazardous escalation targeting Germany, Europe and NATO, and insisted episodes like the suspected Leipzig/Halle airport drone incident would not diminish Germany's backing of Ukraine. Earlier this month Germany blamed Russia for that incident and said it would shut down a Russian consulate and a cultural centre in Berlin, while Moscow's embassy rejected the claim as a staged provocation, the Times of India and Reuters reported.³⁴

After the meeting, Lavrov told the German press agency dpa that he saw no progress, and said Germany had requested the meeting the previous day at the last minute. Maria Zakharova had earlier said it was the German side that asked for the talks. Another account circulating on the margins of the UN gathering held that Lavrov had signalled readiness for talks through third states and that Wadephul agreed to a meeting for the first time; German commentator Arnd Henze suggested the conversation could be linked to serious diplomatic efforts behind the scenes, with a possible window for concrete negotiations opening before the December G20 meeting in Miami.²

Talks with Washington and the G20 invitation

Before addressing the Security Council, Lavrov met Rubio for about an hour, in what Deutsche Welle described as the fifth meeting between the two countries' foreign-policy chiefs since 2025. Rubio said at the UN General Assembly that Washington remained ready to play a constructive role in achieving a ceasefire, and confirmed that Trump had invited Putin to the G20 summit in Miami in December, adding he hoped Putin would accept.⁵

Rubio noted that both Moscow and Kyiv had signaled openness to a narrow ceasefire limited to grain and energy targets, while cautioning that such an arrangement would fall short of ending the war even if it softened some of its worldwide economic fallout. According to Reuters, Ukraine and its partners were working urgently to lock in narrow deals covering energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping ahead of the winter season.⁷⁴

Lavrov's position on ending the war

Speaking to the Security Council, Lavrov said Russia would not pause military actions for negotiations with Ukraine in any format, arguing that Europe wanted a pause so Kyiv could gain a respite and replenish depleted military arsenals. He said Russia was ready for negotiations to achieve a stable, just peace only if demands including the demilitarisation and 'denazification' of Ukraine were met.⁵⁴

Speaking to reporters afterward, Lavrov said Wadephul's prepared remarks contained nothing he had not already heard, and asserted that Russia's fight for what he termed truth and justice would continue until the finish, with the special military operation's objectives fulfilled. He charged Western nations with arming Ukraine and assisting in guiding drones and missiles toward civilian populations and infrastructure.¹²

According to TASS, Lavrov said security threats to Russia, which he attributed to Kiev, would be eliminated and that peaceful life would be restored. He said Europe was displaying what he termed unabashed backing for Nazism in Ukraine, pointing to unnamed analysts who claim Europe is constructing a 'Fourth Reich.' He further asserted that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had repeatedly voiced an ambition to restore Germany's status as Europe's foremost military power, and alleged that several European countries were erasing the memory of those who defeated Nazism, both from school textbooks and by tearing down monuments. These claims rest on the TASS account alone.¹

Military details

Citing Russian military sources, TASS reported that Russian air defenses shot down 645 drones overnight across Russian regions, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and that fixed-wing Ukrainian drones were intercepted above multiple Russian territories and Crimea. Lavrov additionally indicated Russia could consider moving S-400 missile systems from Turkey to another friendly nation should such a request come in, adding that no such request had so far been made.¹

Ukraine's position

Addressing world leaders at the United Nations, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would retaliate and inflict a harsh winter on Russia absent an agreement to halt energy-related strikes, cautioning that "Ukrainians understand that this winter could be very harsh for us. But in response, we will have no choice but to make it painful for Russia too." Separately, at a Crimean Platform summit, he said Kyiv stood ready for a maritime truce in the Black Sea, stating Ukraine was prepared "to ensure safe shipping and food security in the Black Sea if Russia is ready to take real steps towards de-escalation too." Reuters noted that senior diplomats from Britain, France and Denmark issued sharp denunciations of Russia's war, and that major wheat-importing nations across Asia, the Middle East and Africa faced difficulty obtaining supplies amid rising global wheat prices.⁴