Lavrov meets with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo, July 24, 2022
The remark from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes amid Ukraine's efforts to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports — something that would help ease global food shortages — under a new deal tested by a Russian strike on Odesa over the weekend.
"We are determined to help the people of eastern Ukraine to liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime," Lavrov said at an Arab League summit in Cairo late Sunday, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy's government.
Apparently suggesting that Moscow's war aims extend beyond Ukraine's industrial Donbas region in the east, Lavrov said: "We will certainly help the Ukrainian people to get rid of the regime, which is absolutely anti-people and anti-historical."
Lavrov's comments followed his warning last week that Russia plans to retain control over broader areas beyond eastern Ukraine, including the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south, and will make more gains elsewhere.
His remarks contrasted with the Kremlin's line early in the war, when it repeatedly emphasized that Russia wasn't seeking to overthrow Zelenskyy's government, even as Moscow's troops closed in on Kyiv. Russia later retreated from around the capital and turned its attention to capturing the Donbas. The war is now in its sixth month.
Comment: The author is taking quite a leap past the headline. It's a long way from wanting 'unacceptable elements' to be purged from a government, to ousting its puppet leader. Moscow knows Zelensky is in no way in charge of Ukraine, and it needs Zelensky as the signator to any peace agreement. He had been built up so much in the West as a hero, that his agreement will carry much more weight than any replacement.
This is just more of the narrative building begun by Jake Sullivan, to have the story ready when NATO permanently removes Zelensky. And not just from office, martyrs have their uses too.
US 'concerned' about Zelensky's safety
Last week, Russia and Ukraine signed agreements 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 deliveries.
During a visit to the Republic of Congo on Monday, Lavrov repeated the Russian claim that the attack targeted a Ukrainian naval vessel and a depot containing Western-supplied anti-ship missiles. He said the grain agreements do not prevent Russia from attacking military targets.
So this Farcical "war" designed to create lots of Ukrainian refugees, to last as long as possible so Brandon the white trash can use it as an excuse for destroying the economy...and turn Russia's bread basket into Israel 2.0 ...is just that...farcical and not worth the attention of any thinking person.