Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking guarantees from the US government that nuclear weapons will be used against Russia, the Kommersant news and analysis website has reported.

He noted that Kyiv's approach demonstrates the Ukrainian side's unwillingness to start a negotiation process.

“Mr. Zelensky publicly states that he doesn't want any truce until the Americans give him guarantees that if anything happens, they will bomb Russia with nuclear weapons. He puts the same question,” Lavrov said at a press conference following a meeting with the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Sinirlioglu.

The Russian minister also called the proposals to send peacekeepers to Ukraine “an attempt to save the remnants” of the Ukrainian political leadership. The minister emphasized that the process of settling the Russian-Ukrainian conflict had not yet started.

In late February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposals to provide the country with nuclear weapons were “not serious.” He added that such steps would not contribute to the resolution of the conflict.