Ukraine claims victories in the eastern Luhansk region after territorial gains in the neighbouring Donetsk region and on the southern front.
Luhansk was previously fully under Russian control and is one of four regions illegally annexed by Russia. Meanwhile, pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Pushilin claims the frontline around the strategic site of Lyman, recaptured by Ukraine over the weekend, is stabilizing.
“The liberation of the Luhansk region has already officially started. Several settlements have already been liberated from the Russian army, and the Ukrainian flag is hoisted there by the Ukrainian armed forces,” Ukrainian governor Sergei Gaidai of Luhansk told Telegram.
Pushlin, the head of the Russian-installed separatist government in Donetsk, told Russia’s state news agency RIA that Russian units have strengthened defence lines near Lyman.
The Kremlin vowed to reclaim land Ukraine has managed to recapture from Russia in the illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said regions annexed by Moscow “will be Russian forever and will not be returned”.
