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What Moscow signalled before 22 July 2022
Summary
A look back at the statements and sanctions that framed the war in the days before 22 July 2022.
What had changed in the war's stated aims by 22 July 2022? Two days earlier, on 20 July 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country's military goals were no longer limited to the Donbas region.
He said they now also included the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories. The remark widened the geographic scope of the objectives Russia had set out for its invasion of Ukraine.
On the same day, 20 July 2022, the European Union moved against Russia's economy. It banned imports of gold from Russia and froze the assets of Sberbank, as part of the international sanctions imposed during the war.
Taken together, the two developments of 20 July 2022 set the backdrop to 22 July 2022: a Russian leadership describing broader territorial goals, and the EU adding to its financial and trade restrictions.
