Russia’s focus in Ukraine goes beyond Donetsk, Luhansk: Lavrov

Moscow, Jul 20 (EFE).- The scope of Russia’s military objectives in Ukraine has changed and are not limited to the breakaway territories in the country’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

“When we held negotiations (between Russia and Ukraine) in Istanbul, we had a geography and our disposition to accept Ukrainian proposals was based on that geography, at the end of March 2022,” the diplomat told Russia’s Ria Novosti.

He said that “geography” had now changed, adding that Moscow’s focus was not limited to the Russian-backed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, but included the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, among others.

Swathes of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, located to the north of Crimea, a territory the Kremlin annexed in 2014, are currently under Russian military control. EFE

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