Russia admits Kremlin aims to oust Ukraine’s Zelensky

Russia’s top diplomat has admitted that Kremlin’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to boot out President Volodymyr Zelensky — as Vladimir Putin’s forces continued pounding the neighboring country with artillery barrages and airstrikes.

Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday at least two civilians were killed and 10 wounded in Russian shelling over the preceding 24 hours.

In the contested eastern Donetsk region — the focus of the Russian offensive — Russian artillery struck the cities of Avdiivka, Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka. An airstrike on Bakhmut damaged at least five houses.

“The Russians are using the scorched-earth tactics across the entire Donbas. They fire from the ground and from the air to wipe off entire cities,” Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said in televised remarks.

Another airstrike damaged a residential building in Mykolaiv near the Black Sea, leaving several people trapped under the rubble and others injured, among them a 16-year-old boy, according to a local official.

The Russians also struck the Kharkiv region. In the city of Chuhuiv, an airstrike wrecked a local club, and rescue workers removed several people from under the debris.

Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Sinyehubov denounced the attack as “senseless barbarity,” saying: “It looks like a deadly lottery when no one knows where the next strike will come.”

As Russian forces continued pummeling Ukrainian cities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with fellow diplomats in Cairo and openly advocated for the removal of Ukraine’s democratically elected leader.

Speaking at an Arab League summit on Sunday, Putin’s lackey said Moscow is determined to help Ukrainians “liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime.”

Lavrov accused Zelensky’s government and its Western allies of spouting propaganda intended to ensure that Ukraine “becomes the eternal enemy of Russia.”

“Russian and Ukrainian people would continue to live together. We will certainly help Ukrainian people to get rid of the regime, which is absolutely anti-people and anti-historical,” he said.

Lavrov’s remarks were an about-face from 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 Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region in the east. The fighting is now in its sixth month.

Lavrov argued that Russia was ready to negotiate a deal to end hostilities in March when Kyiv changed tack and declared its intention to rout Russia on the battlefield. He said the West has encouraged Ukraine to keep fighting.

“The West insists that Ukraine must not start negotiations until Russia is defeated on the battlefield,” Lavrov said.

With Post Wires