Russian Foreign Minister Serhiy Lavrov said that due to the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine, Russia changed the offensive's objectives on Ukrainian territories, expanded the geography of hostilities, and decided not to limit itself to the capture of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. In particular, he mentioned HIMARS, saying that because of this weapon, Russia should "move away from the current line" of the front.

In fact, the fighting is currently taking place in those regions of Ukraine that the Russian military attacked back in February-March 2022, except for the Kyiv region. It's about Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. Therefore, theses about the "expansion of geography" through HIMARS is a manipulation, which is part of the message that the supply of weapons by the West seems to indicate the desire of Western countries to "continue the war in Ukraine for their benefits." In this way, Russia tries to demonize the "collective West" and present itself in a "positive" context, saying that it is "defending itself, not attacking."