KYIV: As its forces blasted devastating barrages over the east and south of the nation, Russia said on Wednesday that its military objectives in Ukraine have gone beyond the commercial Donbas region.
The warning came at a time when the European Commission urged EU nations to reduce their natural gas use in order to reduce their reliance on Russian energy and the group decided to impose an embargo on imports of Russian gold.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, claimed in an interview that the military in Moscow was no longer “primarily” focused on seizing control of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions of east Ukraine, which have been held in part by pro-Moscow insurgents for years.Russian forces, since invading on Feb 24, have steadily advanced into each of those regions,
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, responded to Lavrov’s remarks by calling on allies of his country to ramp up sanctions on Moscow and speed arms deliveries to Kyiv.
“The geographic area has altered. He stated to state media, “There are numerous additional territories involved in addition to the DNR and LNR, including the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region, and others. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed optimism that a settlement might be struck “this week.”
Since the start of the invasion, Mykolaiv, the main city under Ukrainian control close to Russian-occupied Kherson and the southern front, has been repeatedly shelled.
The city will be shuttered “for a day or two” in the coming weeks to review information on those thought to have been working with Russian soldiers, the regional governor declared on Wednesday.
