Russia says it wants to end Ukraine’s `unacceptable regime’

 

As its soldiers bombard the nation with artillery barrages and airstrikes, Russia's top diplomat stated that Moscow's main objective in Ukraine is to liberate its people from its "unacceptable dictatorship." This is one of the bluntest expressions of the Kremlin's war ambitions to far.

 

Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, made the remark as Ukraine attempted to begin grain exports from its Black Sea ports, which would help alleviate global food shortages, under a new agreement put to the test by a Russian attack on Odesa over the weekend.

 

Lavrov accused Kiev and its Western backers of spewing misinformation to ensure that Ukraine "becomes the eternal enemy of Russia" in a late-Sunday speech to envoys at an Arab League conference in Cairo.

 

He declared, "We are committed to assisting the people of eastern Ukraine in freeing themselves from the weight of this wholly intolerable dictatorship. Lavrov said: "We will certainly help the Ukrainian people to get rid of the regime, which is absolutely anti-people and anti-historical," seemingly implying that Moscow's war objectives go beyond Ukraine's industrial Donbas region in the east.

 

Lavrov's remarks come after his warning last week that Russia intends to maintain control over larger areas outside of eastern Ukraine, including the southern districts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

 

Lavrov's comments stood in contrast to the Kremlin's early-war position, which frequently highlighted that Russia was not attempting to topple President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration even as Moscow's soldiers drew closer to Kyiv. Later, Russia withdrew from the area surrounding the city and focused on seizing the Donbas. The conflict has now lasted six months.

 

Lavrov maintained that when Kyiv switched tactics and said it intended to humiliate Russia on the battlefield in March, Russia was prepared to seek an agreement to halt hostilities. He claimed that the West had pushed Ukraine to continue fighting.

 

“The West insists that Ukraine must not start negotiations until Russia is defeated on the battlefield,” Lavrov said.

 

It was not yet clear when grain shipments would resume following Russia and Ukraine’s signing of agreements with the United Nations and Turkey on Friday. The deals are aimed at clearing the way for the shipment of millions of tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain, as well as the export of Russian grain and fertilizer.

 

Ukraine’s deputy infrastructure minister, Yury Vaskov, said the first shipment of grain is planned for this week.

 

While Russia faced accusations that the weekend attack on the port of Odesa amounted to reneging on the deal, Moscow insisted the strike would not affect grain shipments.

 

During a visit to the Republic of Congo on Monday, Lavrov repeated the Russian military claim that the strike targeted a Ukrainian navy boat and a depot with Harpoon anti-ship missiles supplied by the West. He said the attack took part in the military section of the port at “a significant distance” from the grain terminal.

 

“We haven’t created any obstacles to grain deliveries in accordance with the agreements signed in Istanbul,” Lavrov said. He said the agreements “contain nothing that would prevent us from continuing the special military operation and destroying military infrastructure and other military targets.”

 

The foreign minister also intended to travel to Ethiopia and Uganda in an effort to increase African support for Russia, particularly in light of any forthcoming U.N. votes.

 

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated in Moscow that Moscow has no interest in stopping all gas exports to Europe and that the most recent restrictions on the flow "are simply the consequences of restrictions the Europeans have imposed, and the Europeans themselves are suffering from these restrictions."

 

Despite what the European Commission, governments in Europe, and the United States may claim, Russia has been and will continue to be a nation that substantially ensures Europe's energy security, according to Peskov.

 

Hours later, Russia’s gas giant Gazprom said it would further reduce the flow of natural gas through a major pipeline to Europe to 20% of capacity, citing equipment repairs.

 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday at least two civilians were killed and 10 wounded in Russian shelling over the preceding 24 hours.

 

In the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive, Russian artillery struck the cities of Avdiivka, Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka. An airstrike on Bakhmut damaged at least five houses.

 

“The Russians are using the scorched-earth tactics across the entire Donbas. They fire from the ground and from the air to wipe off entire cities,” Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said in televised remarks.

 

The Russians also struck the Kharkiv region. In Chuhuiv, workers searched for people believed trapped under the rubble after 12 rockets hit the town before dawn, damaging a cultural center, school and other infrastructure, authorities said.

 

“All these years our society, residents have been creating and building comfortable life conditions,” Mayor Galina Minayeva said. “And now the enemy is destroying all this, killing children, peaceful residents. It’s very hard to describe all this.”

 

Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Sinyehubov said: “It looks like a deadly lottery when no one knows where the next strike will come.”

 

In other developments, Russia said it thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian military intelligence to entice Russian military pilots to turn their planes over to Ukraine.

 

Ukrainians allegedly offered Russian pilots money and citizenship in the European Union, according to Russia's Federal Security Service, the KGB's successor.

 

A man posing as a Ukrainian intelligence officer made the $2 million offer to a pilot in a video that the FSB made public. The mission was over Ukraine.

 

Russian state television asserted that Western intelligence services helped the Ukrainians. It was unable to independently verify the Russian assertions.