MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Ukrainian officials' claims that Russian forces hit its own cities "lies," accusing Kyiv of using weapons against civilians, mainly in Ukraine's southeastern region of Donbass.

At a news conference in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, Lavrov said of charges that Russia targeted its own cities to obstruct Western weaponry delivery to Ukraine, "they lie."

“Facts are well-known. … Those facts are provided by our Defense Ministry on a daily basis,” he said.

Whatever the Ukrainian authorities claim, the West must accept responsibility for the deaths of civilians in Donbass, the minister emphasized.

“The West should realize its responsibility for the deaths of civilians, primarily in the Donbass, (and) in other parts of Ukraine where the Kyiv regime uses these (Western) weapons against civilians as a means of intimidation. By and large, this is state terror,” he said.

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine's armed forces used Tochka-U missiles with cluster munitions and Tu-143 "Reis" drones to attack civilian areas of Russia's cities Belgorod and Kursk, which are close to the Russia-Ukraine border.

Russia’s participation in G-20

When asked about Russia’s participation at the G-20 summit in Indonesia, Lavrov said he does not know if there are attempts to prevent Russia from going, but if there are, the Indonesian leadership would not give in, he asserted.

"We have an invitation from the Indonesian side to the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which opens tomorrow in Bali, and the upcoming November G20 summit there. If there were such attempts, the Indonesian leadership did not react to them," he said.

The minister added that he has several bilateral meetings planned on the sidelines of the G-20 gathering.

Concerning the release of confidential talks between the Russian and French presidents, the minister said Russian officials always hold talks in such a way that they are never ashamed, but diplomatic ethics does not imply such leaks.

He recalled that Moscow once disclosed the diplomatic mailing with its French and German counterparts, but said that before doing so, it informed the colleagues thrice to give them a chance to address the issue confidentially.

Earlier, French television broadcast a documentary film, titled The President, Europe, and War (Un President, l'Europe et la Guerre), by French director Guy Lagache about French President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to mediate the Ukrainian conflict. The film includes footage of Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking over the phone.