Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on January 22 clashed with Ukraine's supporters at a UN meeting in which Moscow ruled out any peace plan backed by Kyiv and the West. Russia's top diplomat claimed that Ukrainian forces had been "incapable" of defeating or weakening Russia. He told the Security Council that Moscow was always ready to negotiate peace, but plans presented by Ukraine and its Western "masters" were "only used as cover to continue war and continue getting money from Western taxpayers." U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood dismissed Lavrov's claims as "blatant disinformation."