The latest news on Russia and Ukraine. Moscow-backed officials now assert that Luhansk is entirely under Russian control, more than three years after the invasion began, the Russian-backed head of the region told Russian state television.
"The territory of the Luhansk People's Republic is fully liberated. 100%," Leonid Pasechnik, who was born in Soviet Ukraine and is now a Russian-installed official cast by Moscow as the head of the Luhansk People's Republic, told Russian state television.
The announcement was made by the Kremlin-installed head of the region, though no formal confirmation has come from the Russian defence ministry. Ukraine maintains that these claims are illegitimate and vows never to accept the annexation of any of its territories.