The Russians announce that they have taken over the total control of a Ukrainian region: “it was 100%released”
Russian soldiers with a self -propelled mortar in Ukraine: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service / AP / Profimedia
Russia has taken over the total control over the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine, the head of the region was called Moscow on the leadership of the region, according to Reuters.
Lugansk, which has an area of 26,700 square km, is the first Ukrainian region that has completely fallen under the control of Russian forces since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
In September 2022, Putin announced that Lugansk-together with the partially occupied regions Donetk, Herson and Zapoarijia-will be incorporated in Russia, an approach that the Western European states considered illegal and most of the world countries did not recognize.
“Was 100%released”
“The territory of the Lugansk People's Republic is completely released – 100%,” said Leonid Pasechnik, born in Soviet Ukraine, now an official named by Moscow in the leadership of “Lugansk People's Republic.”
There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian Defense Ministry and no reaction from Ukraine.
Ukraine stressed that Russia's claims on Lugansk and other internationally recognized areas of Ukraine are unfounded and illegal, and Kiev has promised that it will never recognize Russia's sovereignty over these areas.
Russia claims that these territories are now part of Russia, are under its nuclear umbrella and will never be returned.
Russia has occupied almost a fifth of Ukraine's territory
Lugansk once was part of the Russian Empire, but changed the control after the Russian revolution. It was conquered by the Red Army in 1920 and became part of the Soviet Union in 1922, as part of the Soviet Socialist Republic.
Together with the neighbor Donetk, Lugansk was the fire of the conflict that began in 2014, after a pro-Russian president was overturned in the Maidan Revolution of Ukraine and Russia annexed Crimea, the separatist forces supported by Russia fighting Ukrainian armed forces in both Lugansk and Donet.
Russia controls almost 19% of the internationally recognized territory as belonging to Ukraine, including Lugansk, plus over 70% of the Donetk, Zaporojie and Herson regions, as well as fragments from the Kharkov, Sumi and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
