Moscow accuses West of aiming to destroy Russia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the West of wanting to inflict a lasting defeat against Moscow and lashed out against EU chief Ursula von der Leyen who earlier arrived in Kyiv. "Ursula von der Leyen... said that the outcome of the war should be the defeat of Russia, the kind of defeat that for decades, for many decades, Russia cannot restore its economy," Lavrov said in comments aired on Russian state television. "Is this not racism, not Nazism – not an attempt to solve 'the Russian question'" Lavrov added, evoking Russia's victory against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. The European Commission chief announced she had arrived in Kyiv with a team of commissioners and the bloc's most senior diplomat earlier on Thursday, a day before a Ukraine-European Union summit in the war-torn country. “We are here together to show that the EU stands by Ukraine as firmly as ever. And to deepen further our support and cooperation," von-der-Leyen wrote in a tweet. The Commission described the visit as a "strong symbol" of European support for Ukraine "in the face of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified aggression". (AFP)