US President Donald Trump seems to understand what is happening in Ukraine more than any European leader, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Diplomatic Forum in the Turkish city of Antalya today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
In his speech at the forum, Lavrov stressed that Trump understands the need to pay attention to the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine in order to resolve it.
"It seems that President Trump understands the essence of what is happening [in Ukraine] much better than any European leader," the minister said, quoted by TASS, noting that the leaders of Hungary and Slovakia, whom he called reasonable, are the exception in Europe.
Lavrov stressed that it is Trump was the one who, in the context of the conflict, was the first to speak out on many things, including the territorial issue and Ukraine's membership in NATO.
"When we talk about eliminating the root causes of any conflict, including the Ukrainian one, this is the only way to solve the problem and establish lasting peace - overcoming the root causes. President Trump was the first and, in my opinion, so far the only one among Western leaders who convincingly repeated several times that Ukraine's accession to NATO would be a huge mistake," the minister said.