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| Russia Claims to Have Full Control in the Eastern Region of Ukraine |
Kiev - Russia said on Sunday (07/03/2022), its troops and their allies have taken control of the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. The claim was made by Moscow after Russian troops seized the last remaining Ukrainian territory in Lysychansk.
Ukraine itself has not commented on Russia's claims. After fierce Ukrainian resistance to prevent Russia from seizing the capital Kiev after the February 24 invasion, Moscow shifted its focus to taking full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
According to Reuters, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that Luhansk had been "liberated".
Previously, Russia claimed its troops had captured the villages around Lysychansk and laid siege to the city. Shoigu also said Russian troops and their allies in the area had "gained complete control of the city of Lysychansk".
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting in the area since Russia's first military intervention in Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine's military did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ukrainian officials, who say references to "liberating" Ukrainian territory are Russian war propaganda, have reported intense artillery barrages in residential areas.
Read: Send Strikes Back, These 3 Cities in Russia Attacked by Ukrainian Troops "Ukrainian forces may have made a deliberate withdrawal from Lysychansk, resulting in the seizure of the city by Russia on July 2," analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that based in Washington, wrote in a brief note.
They based their assessment on footage showing Russian troops casually pacing the northern and eastern neighborhoods of Lysychansk, saying it showed little or no Ukrainian troops remaining.
It said the footage included images posted on social media and geolocated to confirm where it was filmed. "The Russians are strengthening their position in the Lysychansk area, the city is on fire," Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai wrote on the Telegram app, before Russia announced its progress. "They attacked the city with inexplicable brutal tactics," he continued.