Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the country's state-controlled media that Russia aims to control broader areas beyond eastern Ukraine.
In an interview given to the RIA Novosti news agency, Lavrov said that Russia and Ukraine in March discussed a possible deal to end the fighting. “Our readiness to accept the Ukrainian proposal was based on the geography of March 2022,” Associated Press reported.
Lavrov alleged that the United States and Britain were encouraging Ukraine to expand the hostilities. He said, “If West supplies Khyiv with long-range weapons, geographic tasks will move even further.” Lavrov told the Russian agency, “This process continues. And it continues consistently and persistently.”
Lavrov said that if the West continues to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons and aggravate the situation, then geographic tasks will move further. “Because we cannot allow the part of Ukraine that Zelenskyy will control there, or whoever replaces him, to have weapons that will pose a direct threat to our territory. And the territories of those republics that have declared their independence, and those that want to determine their future on their own,” Lavrov said.
AP reported that White House national security council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials have evidence that Russia wants to annex Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and all of the Donbas through referendums, as soon as September.
The bulk of Russia’s forces are fighting in the Donbas, where they have made slow gains facing Ukrainian resistance. The Russian military has used long-range missiles to strike targets across Ukraine, killing hundreds of civilians.