2 yıl önce

Russia announces expanded Ukraine goals as toll mounts amid fierce battles

Russia says its military aims in Ukraine have expanded beyond the Donbass region, as its forces launch deadly barrages over the east and the south of the country amid fierce Ukrainian resistance.

AP

The Russian FM says Moscow's objectives in Ukraine will expand further if the West keeps supplying Kiev with weapons.

Ukrainian armed forces have said they killed 111 Russian soldiers in the south and east in 24 hours, as comments from Russia's foreign minister show the Kremlin's goals have expanded during the five-month offensive.

Thursday's announcement by Ukrainian forces also mentioned the destruction of 17 Russian vehicles, some of them armoured.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state news agency RIA Novosti on Wednesday that his country's military "tasks" in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbass region.

Lavrov also said Moscow's objectives will expand further if the West keeps supplying Kiev with long-range weapons such as the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

"That means the geographical tasks will extend still further from the current line," he said.

The foreign minister also said peace talks made no sense at the moment because Western governments were leaning on Ukraine to fight rather than negotiate.

After failing to take the Ukrainian capital Kiev at the start of the February 24 offensive, Russia said in March it would focus on "achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbass".

Nearly five months later, it has taken Luhansk, one of two provinces that comprise the Donbass, but remains far from capturing all of the other, Donetsk.

Fighting rages

The Russian-installed administration in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia said Ukraine had conducted a drone strike on a nuclear power station there, but the reactor was not damaged.

Multiple blasts were also heard in the Russian-controlled southern region of Kherson overnight and into Thursday, Russian news agency TASS reported. The reports could not be independently verified.

Russia's offensive in Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened cities, particularly in Russian-speaking areas in the east and southeast of Ukraine.

The United States estimates that Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached around 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded, CIA Director William Burns said on Wednesday.

Russia classifies military deaths as state secrets even in times of peace and has not updated its official casualty figures frequently during the conflict.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies