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Lavrov widens Russia's stated war aims
Summary
A look back at the days around 21 July 2022, when Moscow publicly extended its goals beyond the Donbas as Kyiv purged its security leadership.
What did Russia say it was fighting for by 21 July 2022? On 20 July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country's military goals were no longer limited to the Donbas region. They now also covered, in his words, the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories.
From Donbas to the south
The statement followed a shift already under way. On 16 July, Russian missiles struck Chuhuiv in Kharkiv Oblast, killing three civilians and injuring three others, while more than 50 Grad rockets hit Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing two people. Those strikes came after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the military to expand operations in Ukraine in order to "protect the Donbas".
On the ground in occupied territory, Russia was building administrative structures. On 18 July it announced Anton Koltsov, a former Prime Minister of Vologda Oblast, as the new Prime Minister in the Zaporizhzhia Military-Civilian Administration, though his appointment probably took place some days earlier. Set beside Lavrov's remarks, the announcement showed Moscow treating Zaporizhzhia as a region it intended to run.
Nuclear plant and internal security
The Zaporizhzhia region also carried a nuclear dimension. On 16 July the president of Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear energy authority, accused Russian forces of using the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to store weapons and shell the surrounding area.
Kyiv, meanwhile, was dealing with a different problem. On 18 July President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Ivan Bakanov, the top security official of the Security Service of Ukraine. More than 60 officials from the two agencies were alleged to be working with Russia, and 651 cases of alleged treason and collaboration were initiated against prosecutorial and law enforcement officials.
What the days added up to
Taken together, the period around 21 July 2022 showed a war whose declared aims were growing in Moscow's rhetoric, with strikes on towns in Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, administrative moves in occupied Zaporizhzhia, and a shake-up of Ukraine's own security and prosecution leadership amid allegations of collaboration.
