Lavrov: US withdrawal from 'Encourage' deals prolonged Ukraine war by a year

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States of extending the war in Ukraine by a year, saying Washington pulled back from so‑called "Encourage" agreements struck between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at their Alaska summit. Moscow has repeatedly pointed to alleged pacts from the 2025 meeting, while U.S. officials deny any such accords exist.

Lavrov argued that Washington's retreat from those agreements prevented an earlier end to the fighting. "If the Americans had not withdrawn from the Encourage agreements and Europe had not drawn the U.S. out of them, we would have been living without war for a year already," he said.

Diplomatic efforts stall as Moscow keeps territorial demands

Diplomatic attempts to negotiate a peace settlement remain stalled, according to Lavrov, because Russia has not softened its firm territorial conditions requiring Ukraine to pull back from parts of the Donbas. He said Moscow nevertheless remains open to talks.

This month, special envoys of former President Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, visited both Moscow and Kyiv, but their trips produced no breakthrough, officials say.

Meanwhile, fighting on the ground continued: Ukrainian forces launched an offensive in the northern Donetsk sector, one of four regions Vladimir Putin unilaterally annexed in 2022. Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, who has commanded Donetsk's defence since last month, said: "The Third Army Corps cleared an area of 75 square kilometres of infiltrated Russian groups and captured another 10 square kilometres. The operation is called 'Vivaldi'."

Biletsky added that those gains lie north of strongpoints around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk — cities whose capture would bring Russian forces closer to controlling the wider Donbas. While Moscow's overall advance has slowed this year, its units have in recent months closed in on those towns and pressed into the eastern city of Kostiantynivka.

Photo: Kremlj)