Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that aired Sunday that Ukraine “has the right to exist” but added a caveat to that right related to territory.

“Mr. Foreign Minister, let me ask you about something that President Putin said in June. He said, quote, ‘I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,’” NBC News’s Kristen Welker said on “Meet the Press.” “Does President Putin believe that Ukraine has a right to exist?”

“No, this is not — this is not true. Ukraine has the right to exist, provided it must let people go,” Lavrov responded.

“The people whom they call terrorists, who they call species and who — during a referenda — several referenda in Novorossiya, in Donbas, in Crimea, decided that they belong to the Russian culture and the government which came to power as a result of the coup was determined as a priority to exterminate everything Russian,” he added.

Back in 2022, referendums to become a part of Russia occurred in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russian state media stated at the time, according to NPR, that the regions seemingly largely backed annexation in the votes.

The Trump administration has pushed for an end to the war in Ukraine in President Trump’s first few months back in office. The president recently met with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Putin in a matter of days.

Vice President Vance also said in his own “Meet the Press” interview that aired Sunday that security guarantees for Ukraine will not include American “boots on the ground.”

“The president’s been very clear. There are not going to be boots on the ground in Ukraine, but we are gonna continue to play an active role in trying to ensure that the Ukrainians have the security guarantees and the confidence they need to stop the war on their end,” Vance said.