With the ongoing war in Ukraine having crossed two months now, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday suggested that an end to hostilities was nowhere in sight and warned that there was real danger of the conflict escalating into World War III.

Speaking to Russian media outlets about the situation in Ukraine, Lavrov criticised Kyiv’s approach to negotiations, saying, “Good will has its limits. But if it isn’t reciprocal, that doesn’t help the negotiation process.”

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“But we are continuing to engage in negotiations with the team delegated by [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, and these contacts will go on,” Lavrov added, assuring that Moscow was trying everything to keep the negotiations ongoing.

Lavrov expressed his confidence that the fighting in Ukraine would “of course finish with the signing of an accord,” but added, “the parameters of this accord will be defined by the state of the fighting that will have taken place at the moment the accord becomes reality.”

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However, the Russian foreign minister went on to criticise the Ukrainian president, accusing him of “pretending” to negotiate.

“He’s a good actor. If you watch attentively and read attentively what he says, you’ll find a thousand contradictions,” Lavrov told Russian media outlets about Zelensky.

When quizzed about the possibility of World War III breaking out in the near future, Lavrov hinted that the situation was indeed grave: “The danger is serious, it is real, you can’t underestimate it,” the 72-year-old told Interfax.

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Lavrov’s comments on Monday are not the first time that Russia has warned of the possibility of World War III breaking out.

Earlier in March, the Russian foreign minister had issued a similar warning, saying, “it is clear that World War III can only be nuclear.” However, Russia later clarified that it would only consider using nuclear weapons in the event of an existential threat to the country.