Europe 1 with AFP 6:41 a.m., December 29, 2022, modified at 6:41 a.m., December 29, 2022

On the 309th day of the war in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was "convinced" that Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine through "patience" and "stubbornness", including the recognition of four Ukrainian regions of which Moscow claims the annexation.

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The head of Russian diplomacy said he was "convinced" that Russia would achieve its objectives in Ukraine by dint of "patience" and "stubbornness", in particular the recognition of four Ukrainian regions which Moscow claims the annexation.

"I am convinced that thanks to our stubbornness, our patience and our determination, we will defend our noble goals, those vital for our people and our country," Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Russian television. Pervy Canal.

The main information:

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says he is "convinced" that Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine by dint of "patience" and "stubbornness"

  •  For Sergei Lavrov, the resumption of dialogue with kyiv will have to go through recognition of the annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia, Kherson by Ukraine

  • Visiting kyiv, the French Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, said on Wednesday that he wanted to work to meet Ukrainian military needs "for the weeks to come".

"This while always remaining open to fair dialogue and agreements to ensure equal and indivisible security in Europe," he continued.

Like the Kremlin before, it nevertheless recalled that the resumption of a dialogue with kyiv necessarily required recognition, by Ukraine, of the annexation by Russia of four Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia, Kherson).

"An inalienable part of these conditions (to find a diplomatic solution, editor's note) is that the four regions belong to the Russian Federation", affirmed Mr. Lavrov, specifying that Moscow should "of course" conquer the whole of these four territories which are currently not fully controlled by the Russian military.

These regions "must be freed from the threat of Nazification which they have endured for many years", added Sergei Lavrov, taking up the justifications of the Kremlin which ensures that the Russian-speaking populations of Ukraine must be protected against supposed " Nazis" in power in kyiv.

This fall, the Ukrainian army, aided by Western arms deliveries, carried out major counter-offensives which notably enabled it to retake Kherson, capital of the eponymous Ukrainian region, a major setback for Moscow.

"We are in no hurry, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said. We want to end as quickly as possible this war that the West has prepared and unleashed against us via Ukraine," Lavrov added to the press release. Russian television.