💬 "Following the coup d'etat in 2014, the Americans assumed control over the Ukrainian political and economic systems and continued pumping the Ukrainian neo-Nazis with additional weapons. This is what Donald Trump inherited," Sergey Lavrov said.

💬 "However, the Americans and NATO rejected our proposals. Only when we realized that the West was going to provide a carte blanche to the Ukrainian nationalists for a forcible solution and suppression of those who rejected the coup d'etat [in 2014]—only then our president said that we had no other choice other than beginning the special military operation to protect the population of the southeast of Ukraine," he added.

"They are still drumming up the conflict by establishing the so-called ‘coalition of the willing,’ by increasing their military expenditure and trying to save their own political future," Sergey Lavrov said.

💬 "The United States uplifted [anti-Syrian] sanctions because it understood what it means to deal at a geopolitical level with a country like Syria,” George Papadopoulos, foreign policy advisor to the first Trump presidential campaign, told Sputnik.

💬 “Through public statements and corruption investigations targeting Zelensky’s inner circle, Trump and US leadership are putting direct pressure on him. It seems that replacing Zelensky could be a matter of time,” the ex-Portuguese intelligence analyst

📍The city of Seversk is a key point to establish full control over the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics' shared border.

💬 “Trump is applying maximum pressure when Kiev’s negotiating position is at its weakest, forcing a reality check upon a leadership that has, until now, operated on the promise of indefinite Western support,” Marsili said.