Russia claims capture of Ukraine’s Luhansk region
Moscow, Jul 3 (EFE).- Russia has claimed the capture of Ukraine’s Luhansk oblast, located in the eastern Donbas region where heavy fighting is ongoing.
Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu told Vladimir Putin that Russian forces had taken control of the oblast, the Tass news agency reported Sunday.
“Today, on July 3, 2022, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General S.K.Shoigu, reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin on the liberation of the Lugansk People’s Republic,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
Russian troops and their separatist allies “have established full control over the city of Lysychansk and a number of nearby settlements (…) The total area of the territories liberated over the past day was 182 square kilometers,” it added.
The statement came a few minutes after the defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, announced that “Russian troops and units of the Luhansk People’s Republic are fighting inside Lysychansk, finishing off the defeat of the surrounded enemy.”
He explained that the day before the towns of Novodruzhesk, Maloryazantseve and Bila Hora were “liberated in the vicinity of Lysychansk.”
The Russian and pro-Russian forces have encircled the city, Kyiv’s last bastion in the Luhansk region, according to Russia. EFE
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