Putin’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, declared to state media outlet RIA Novosti on 20 July, that Russia’s war aims now go beyond the seizure of the east of Ukraine. On 23 July, in Cairo, he went further: Russia’s aim is to remove Ukraine’s government. Attempting to blame the West, Lavrov said Russia would have to push Ukraine’s forces further back as the US had supplied Ukraine with highly accurate, longer-range weapons. The US believes Russia intends to stage sham referendums in southern Ukraine, perhaps as early as September, and then declare the annexation of areas round Kherson and...