Russian minister Lavrov: ‘We want to help overthrow Ukraine’s regime’
Until recently, the Kremlin said that Russia’s war aims are for Ukraine to cede the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and to recognize Crimea as Russian.
That in turn was an adjustment of the original objective: at the beginning of the invasion, Russia announced that it would conquer the whole of Ukraine in a few days.
When that turned out not to be feasible, attention was shifted to the east of the country.
Russia does want to overthrow the government of Ukraine.
That has minister Sergei Lavrov of Foreign Affairs reported in an official statement.
Two months after the start of the war, the same Lavrov said that it was up to the Ukrainians themselves to choose their government and that Russia was not looking for ‘regime change’.
“Russia will help the Ukrainian people to overthrow the hostile regime,” lavrov, visiting Egypt, said.
According to the minister, the government in Ukraine is ‘hostile to history and humanity’.