UK Intelligence: Latest Lavrov comment on Russia expanding scope of war in Ukraine 'almost certainly not true'

On July 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Russia had expanded the scope of its war in Ukraine beyond Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts to Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as a result of Western countries' longer-range weapons deliveries to Ukraine. According to the U.K. Defense Ministry's latest intelligence update, this is not true, but maintaining control over these areas was "almost certainly an original goal of the invasion." Lavrov may have made these comments to pave the way for referenda to take place beyond Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, the update said.