Lavrov says that Russia's "geographical objectives" in the war had changed

OLENA ROSHCHINA — WEDNESDAY, 20 JULY, 13:48

Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said that the "geographical objectives" of the war had changed due to the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine; he threatened to seize new territories in the event that long-range weapons are supplied to Ukraine.

Source: Lavrov in an interview with Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti and RT

Quote from Lavrov: "Regarding the special military operation and geographical coordinates, the president said very clearly, as you quoted him: denazification, demilitarisation in the sense that there are no threats to our security or military threats from the territory of Ukraine - this objective remains.

At the time of the meeting of negotiators in Istanbul, there was one geography, and our willingness to accept the Ukrainian proposal was based on that geography, the geography as it stood at the end of March 2022.

Now the geography is different. It is not only the "DPR" [the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic] and "LPR" [the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic], but also Kherson Oblast, Zaporizhzhia Oblast and a number of other territories, and this process continues, and it continues consistently and persistently."

Details: Lavrov claims that as the West "pumps up Ukraine" with increasingly long-range weapons, such as HIMARS, the "geographic objectives of special operations" will move further away from the current line.

"Because we can’t allow the part of Ukraine controlled by Zelenskyy or whoever will replace him to have weapons that pose a direct threat to our territory and to the territory of those republics that have declared their independence and that want to determine their future independently", Lavrov "explained" his threat.