The Russian occupation governor of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region claimed full control over the territory, marking it as the first of the four annexed regions where Russia has established full control. An official appointed by Russia in Luhansk, Leonid Pasechnik announced that he has received a report which states that Luhansk People’s Republic has been 100 percent liberated.
Earlier on Monday, Pasechnik had indicated that Luhansk could become the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of Russia-Ukraine war. Notably, Luhansk was one of the four regions that were annexed by Russia in 2022.
“Just a couple of days ago, I received a report that the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic has been 100 percent liberated,” Pasechnik told old Russia’s TV Channel One.
Meanwhile, Russian military reporters said two villages are still not under Russian control and noted that Luhansk was declared fully captured once before in 2022, but Ukraine took back part of it in a counteroffensive that September.
It is also reported that Russian military has seized a village in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. However, there is no official confirmation from either Russia or Ukraine on this development.
While Russian forces march towards claiming full control over the annexed territories, Ukraine appears to have suffered another blow, as the day Pasechnik’s announced about complete dominance, the United States said it would not be sending Kyiv some weapons that had been promised by the Biden administration.
Notably, the United States Department of Defence (DOD) has halted the delivery of a few air defence missiles and munitions to Ukraine, owing to concerns about depleting US military stockpiles.
As per a statement told to The Hill’s sister network, NewsNation, by the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy, Elbridge Colby, on Tuesday, “The Department of Defence continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end. At the same time, the Department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S forces’ readiness for Administration defence priorities.”
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