The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, stated that Russia aims to turn Ukraine into a „buffer zone” after the war ends. At the same time, he rejected any post-war solution in which the current government in Kiev would remain in power.
The head of Russian diplomacy argued on Tuesday, in an intervention on state television, that Russia needs Ukraine as a buffer zone to prevent future threats from Kiev, as reported by Kyiv Post.
"Everyone says that Russia needs a 'buffer zone.' Let Ukraine become this buffer zone," Lavrov stated, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Bloomberg reported in July that Moscow no longer intended to return any Ukrainian territory occupied in a future peace agreement.
Instead, President Vladimir Putin sought to keep the occupied areas in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions as permanent buffer zones, while also continuing the offensive to take control of the entire Donetsk region, according to three people familiar with the Kremlin's vision.
Moscow's Demands are Going from Bad to Worse
This approach would mark a significant shift from previous informal proposals, under which Russia would have been willing to return the occupied areas in Sumy and Kharkiv in exchange for Ukraine ceding the rest of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, notes the Ukrainian publication.
When asked how Moscow could guarantee that the war would not resume in 25 years, Lavrov replied that Ukraine cannot be allowed to maintain what he called a "Russophobic, aggressive, and neo-Nazi regime" that poses a threat to Russia. He also argued that such a government would continue to violate "human rights, language rights, and the right to choose religion."
The statements were made in the context of U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, before heading to Kyiv on Sunday, but the diplomatic effort did not lead to significant progress. Meanwhile, attacks have resumed.
An Idea the Russians Keep Chewing On
The Kremlin has been promoting the idea of a "buffer zone" along the border between Ukraine and Russia for several years. Vladimir Putin publicly introduced this concept in 2023 and has repeatedly argued since then that Russian forces need to expand such a zone to protect Russian regions near the border.
These statements also reflect broader territorial ambitions of Russia. Sources close to the Kremlin told Moscow Times in March 2025 that Moscow was considering occupying additional Ukrainian territories, including parts of the Dnipropetrovsk or Sumy regions, to possibly offer them later in exchange for areas in the Herson and Zaporizhzhia regions under Ukrainian control.
No Thought of Peace
Meanwhile, Lavrov dismissed the idea that Russia is currently engaged in substantial peace negotiations.
In a separate interview also on Tuesday, he stated that Moscow will continue the fight until the West makes concessions, accusing supporters of Ukraine of repeatedly obstructing the conclusion of a peace agreement.
He also rejected new proposals for ending the war, stating that Western countries should not make a fuss about their "new ideas."
These statements highlight the disparity between Washington's efforts to revive diplomacy and Moscow's insistence that post-war Ukraine be subjected to security and political conditions imposed by Russia, as noted by the cited publication.
T.D.