Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov acknowledged on Wednesday that the country’s goals in Ukraine go beyond the achievements of the ethnically Russian-majority Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbass region.
“Now the geography is very diverse. There are not only Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, but also the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and a number of other regions, and this process continues steadily and stubbornly,” Lavrov told Ria. said. -Novosti agency and RT channel, both are state-owned.
At the start of the war, in February, Russia even tried to conquer the capital, Kiev, but backed down in the face of Ukrainian resistance and focused on taking the entire Donbass, which has been the scene of separatist conflicts since 2014. .
However, Russian troops also control most of the Kherson province and are targeting neighboring Zaporizhzhia, which is crucial for creating a land corridor between the annexed Crimea and Donbass.
Also, according to Lavrov, the West’s sending of long-range weapons will enable Russia to “further” its “strategic goals”.
“We cannot allow the part of Ukraine controlled by Zelensky, or which will replace him, to possess weapons that pose a direct threat to our lands and the lands of the self-declared republics. [Donetsk e Lugansk]’ he pointed.
source: Noticias
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