Russia’s “geographical goals” in Ukraine have changed to include not only the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics of eastern Ukraine, but a number of other regions as well, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state media Wednesday.
“Now, [our] geography is different. It is not only the DNR and LNR, it is also the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories,” he said in an interview with the state-run RIA Novosti news agency and Kremlin-backed RT network.
Lavrov linked the change in objectives to the West’s supply of weapons to Kyiv.
He said Russia cannot accept that “in the parts of Ukraine that [President Volodomyr] Zelensky or the one who will replace him will control, there are weapons that will pose a direct threat to our territory and the territory of those [eastern Ukrainian] republics that have announced their independence.”
“If Western countries supply long-range weapons to Ukraine, [these goals] will move even further,” Lavrov said.
In the past month, the United States’ delivery of HIMARS medium-range rocket systems has allowed Ukraine to attack Russian positions beyond the front lines more frequently and with greater accuracy.
Experts said the comments are a major signal that Moscow is seeking to annex southern and eastern Ukrainian lands it has captured in its five-month invasion.
Despite President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Russia does not intend to permanently occupy Ukrainian territories, officials in the Moscow-installed administrations of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have expressed plans to hold referendums to join Russia.
“The legitimization of referendum preparations seems to have begun,” tweeted political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the R.Politik think tank.
Russia previously recalibrated its objectives in Ukraine to focus on the country’s east in April following a failed attempt to storm the capital Kyiv.
After capturing the entire Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine in early July, Russian forces are expected to continue their offensive in the coming weeks, in a fierce battle to take full control of the Donetsk region.
Ukraine looks for opportunity during winter
Ukraine’s leadership seeks to turn the tide of the military campaign against Russia by the winter, chief of the Ukrainian presidential office Andrey Yermak announced on Thursday.
“It’s crucial not to let the Russians protract the war (Kiev’s term for Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine – TASS) with us until this winter. President [of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky] is in a serious mood and is ready to do his utmost so that we liberate our territories as soon as possible,” Yermak wrote on his Telegram channel.
“A lot depends on how our fighters are trained. We will turn the tide of this war. There will be a lot of surprises soon,” he noted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance, he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.
