Russia Claims Full Control Of Luhansk As Fighting Continues In Eastern Ukraine

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

KYIV/MOSCOW (Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that Russian forces had completed the capture of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, marking what Moscow described as a major milestone in the war, although Ukraine had not confirmed the claim and independent verification was not immediately possible.

Speaking during a visit to a Russian military command post overseeing operations in Ukraine, Putin said Russian troops had achieved the “full liberation” of what Moscow calls the “Luhansk People’s Republic,” one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed to annex in 2022 despite broad international rejection.

“I note that units and formations of the combined joint force group are fulfilling their missions in accordance with the operational plan devised by the General Staff of the Armed Forces,” Putin said.

“The full liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic has been recently completed,” he added.

DONBAS OFFENSIVE CONTINUES

Luhansk, together with neighboring Donetsk, forms the Donbas, Ukraine’s heavily industrialized eastern region that has been at the center of the conflict since Russian-backed separatists seized parts of the area in 2014.

The announcement came as Russia’s military also reported that its forces had captured Kostiantynivka, describing the town as one of Ukraine’s principal defensive strongholds within Ukraine’s Sloviansk-Kramatorsk defensive belt in the Donetsk region.

General Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s General Staff, told Putin that Russia’s Southern Group of Forces was continuing offensive operations aimed at taking control of the entire Donetsk region.

“The troops of the group have liberated the city of Kostiantynivka, one of the main defensive hubs of the enemy,” Gerasimov said.

UKRAINE HAS NOT CONFIRMED

Russia’s Defense Ministry released video it said showed Russian soldiers raising national flags among heavily damaged buildings in the town.

Ukraine’s military did not immediately comment on Russia’s claims regarding either Kostiantynivka or the reported full capture of the Luhansk region.

Independent verification of the battlefield claims was not immediately possible.

The fighting comes more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, dramatically escalating a conflict that began with the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of fighting in the Donbas in 2014.

WAR FAR FROM OVER

Putin said Russian forces were continuing operations against Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, all of which Moscow claims as part of Russia despite only partially controlling them.

The latest Russian claims underscore Moscow’s determination to capture the remainder of eastern Ukraine, while Kyiv continues to resist with Western military support and increasingly sophisticated long-range drone and missile strikes.

Despite Russia’s announcement regarding Luhansk, the broader war remains far from over, with fierce fighting continuing along much of the front line. Moscow still does not fully control the four Ukrainian regions it declared annexed in September 2022, a move rejected by Ukraine and most of the international community.

The conflict remains the largest war in Europe since World War II, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers believed to have been killed or wounded and millions of civilians displaced.

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