MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied earlier claims that the Ukrainian people should decide who will lead the country, saying Moscow is trying to topple the Ukrainian government. 

On Sunday, five months after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov declared, "We will certainly help free the Ukrainian people from a regime that is completely anti-people and anti-history. "

He extended support for Russia's war in Cairo at the start of his diplomatic tour to Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, declaring that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples would live together in the future.

Russian President Vladimir Putin refers to the conflict as a "special military operation" and claims it is aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and expelling dangerous nationalists. This is known as a frivolous pretext for aggressive land grabbing by Kyiv and the West.

Lavrov's statement comes at a time when the Russian government has recently taken a more aggressive stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
In an extension of the Kremlin's previously stated combat objectives, Lavrov threatened to capture additional areas outside the eastern Donbass region, where most of the fighting is currently concentrated.

Russia believes it is necessary to keep Ukrainian troops away from the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, which together make up the Donbass and which Moscow has recognized as independent due to the Western delivery of weapons and their greater range.
Lavrov, who said in April that he wanted to change Kyiv's political structure, also went against it.

In an interview with the television network India Today at the time, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission said, "We have no plans to change the regime in Ukraine. Lavrov said at the time which government the Ukrainians wanted to elect.

Putin may raise the stakes by claiming that the occupied Ukrainian territories are protected by Russia's nuclear shield, according to a May 13 report by the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank.

If Ukraine continues to retaliate to liberate Russian-occupied territory, such actions would put Ukraine and its allies at risk of a nuclear attack.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week that allowing Russia to retain control of some regions of Ukraine while a ceasefire would lead to a protracted conflict.

The latest package includes four additional HIMARS artillery systems. According to Kyiv, advanced, long-range rocket launchers provided by the US will be necessary for a planned counter-attack to retake the area occupied by Russian forces.
The new US package also includes 580 Phoenix Ghost drones, vehicles and 36,000 artillery shells.
If the West lives up to its promise to continue to provide Kyiv with the necessary weapons, Zelensky predicts that the fierce war could end by the end of the year.

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