MOSCOW: Russia has said the United States is no longer an “objective mediator” in its efforts to broker an end to the Ukraine war as it blasted Europe’s plans to bolster defence spending.

“As for the United States, judging by their actions, they appear to be abandoning any claim to the role of an objective mediator and are instead pursuing a course of escalating sanctions pressure on Russia,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told foreign envoys in Moscow on Tuesday.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was earlier quoted by Russia’s Interfax as saying that Russia believed the US is “drifting away from agreements reached between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska last year”.

Separately, President Putin was quoted as saying that Russia was “ready for peace talks with Ukraine on basis of Istanbul-2022.”

Putin hints at resumption of peace talks with Ukraine on basis of 2022 terms

Since returning to the White House in 2025, Trump, who had pledged he would end the Ukraine war within a day of taking office, has been pushing both sides to engage in negotiations. But there has been little progress in the US-brokered shuttle diplomacy.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions in Ukraine forced from their homes since Russia launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022.

In recent months, Moscow has grown increasingly critical of Europe’s role in supporting Ukraine and trying to stop Trump pushing Kyiv to accept a Russia-friendly peace. At the G7 summit in France earlier this month, leaders, including Trump, agreed to increase pressure on the Russian “war economy” by strengthening sanctions, including on energy.

Speaking separately on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Europe was “openly” preparing for war through its massive rearmament programme, which is being urged on by Trump.

“Now in the West they open­­ly say that they are preparing for war with us, and are incre­asing their military, offensive budgets,” the Kremlin chief told a ceremony of newly-qualified military and law enforcement officials.

He said, “Ukraine is hitting our civilian facilities as it is losing territory.” He said his troops were on the brink of capturing the key fortified town of Kostiantynivka, reiterating Russia’s call for Ukraine to fully withdraw from the eastern Donbas region.

“Strikes against civilian infrastructure what are they aimed at? To destabilise society, amid such a massive onslaught, when the entire West is working for them and these drones are coming in huge numbers, to create a sense of uncertainty about the actions of the Russian armed forces,” he said at the televised meeting.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2026