Russia: We won’t stop at Donbas... we want more
RUSSIA last night vowed to seize more of Ukraine in retaliation for Western arms deliveries to the country.
Moscow’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claimed ‘the geography has changed’ and that the Russian army will not focus ‘only’ on the eastern Donbas region.
‘It is no longer about the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic,’ Mr Lavrov told Kremlin state media, referring to the bogus breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine.
‘It is also about the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and a number of other territories,’ he said of the occupied regions in the south of Ukraine. ‘This process is ongoing,
‘The geography has changed’
consistently and persistently.’ In the most open admission of Moscow’s war goals, Mr Lavrov also ruled out negotiating a peace deal, claiming ‘it doesn’t make any sense’ because Kyiv has no ‘desire to discuss anything in earnest’.
Russia abandoned a botched attempt to seize Kyiv in April, preferring to focus on gains in eastern Ukraine. But Mr Lavrov warned: ‘If the West continues to pump Ukraine full of weaponry out of impotent rage or a desire to exacerbate the situation then that means our geographical tasks will move even further from the current line.’
The US has pledged just under £8billion in ‘security assistance’, while Britain has offered £2billion worth of anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and military vehicles. The warning came as Russia launched fresh missile strikes on the eastern city of Kharkiv, killing three, including a 13-year-old boy.
Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said new weapons before the end of the year would boost chances of victory. He added: ‘It is very important for us not to enter the winter. After winter, when the Russians will have more time to dig in, it will be more difficult.’
Vladimir Putin was given a taste of his own medicine when Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan left him waiting awkwardly in front of TV cameras before a meeting in Iran. The ploy is routinely used by Putin with Western leaders – Mr Erdogan was left waiting by him for almost two minutes in 2020.