Foreign Minister of the aggressor country Sergei Lavrov became the first Russian official to directly declare the Kremlin’s intention to seize the Ukrainian city of Kharkov.
This information was reported by ISW, URA-Inform reports.
Analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that during an interview with propaganda radio stations on April 19, the head of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation noted that Kharkov — this is a city that «plays an important role» that “sanitary zone” that Putin is trying to create in the territories of Ukraine adjacent to the Russian Federation.
«Putin said this very clearly, answering the question: «How can we do this to secure our lands?». He said: “Well, we need to push back, push back this line from which the Ukrainians can hit us.” As I understand it, Kharkov plays an important role here», — Lavrov said.
According to ISW experts, Lavrov's statements indicate that Russia is likely to use the idea of permanent changes to the demilitarized «sanitary zone» to justify Russian offensive operations «further and further into Ukraine» .
In addition, analysts noted that Russian propagandists are also laying the informational basis to justify Russian strikes and the upcoming offensive operation on Kharkov under the pretext of protecting Russian citizens.
«ISW continues to believe that a Russian offensive operation to capture the city of Kharkov would be an extremely ambitious undertaking that would create significant problems as both for the Russian forces responsible for these efforts and for the broader Russian campaign in Ukraine. ISW also believes that U.S. military assistance is vital to Ukraine's ability to defend itself, including Kharkov, from any Russian offensive in the summer», — the message says.
We recall that it was previously reported that the Russian army began to rapidly advance at the front: ISW named the reason.
