Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a press conference at the State Department on December 10, 2019 in Washington DC. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
Russia’s targets in Ukraine now extend beyond the eastern Donbas region to the south of the country, a senior government minister has said.
As the war in Ukraine approaches its fifth month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state media that “geography is different.”
“It is far from being only DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), it is also the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories, and this process continues, continues steadily and persistent, ”Lavrov said. during an interview with RIA Novosti, published Wednesday.
Lavrov’s statements indicate the Kremlin’s reoriented approach to the war in Ukraine.
Just three months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin shifted military efforts to the east of the country after failing to capture Kyiv.
When Russian forces followed Putin’s order and captured the last city in the Luhansk region still in Ukrainian hands, Lysychansk earlier this month, his next move was expected to be in the region. neighbor of Donetsk.
If Donetsk fell, Moscow would occupy the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which has housed separatist factions backed by Russia since 2014.
However, recently supplied US HIMARS multi-launch rocket systems (MLRS) worth $ 400 million have bolstered the Ukrainian military’s ability to attack Russian targets, a major factor that has caused new problems in Moscow.
Earlier this month, large explosions occurred in several occupied areas in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The available evidence, from satellite imagery and Western analysts, is that the targeting has been very effective.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the chief of staff of the Ukrainian president, on Wednesday repeated on Ukrainian television calls for more HIMARS weapons.
“Direct threat”: Lavrov said that as the West continues to supply Ukraine with more long-range weapons, including the system of high-mobility artillery rockets (HIMARS), Russia’s geographical targets in Ukraine would move further away of the current line.
“We cannot allow in the part of Ukraine controlled by Zelensky or whoever replaces him any weapon that poses a direct threat to our territory or the territory of the republics that declared independence or those who want to determine their future in a way independent, “Lavrov said. “The president was very clear, as you quoted: denazification and demilitarization in the sense that there should be no threat to our security, no military threat to the territory of Ukraine, and that goal remains,” he said. dir Lavrov.
Read more here.