JAKARTA - Russia said it had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian region of Lugansk on Sunday, after capturing Ukraine's last stronghold in the city of Lysychansk, where Kyiv said it had withdrawn to save the lives of its troops.
The seizure of the territory, Russia's main war objective, gave Moscow a boost after weeks of slow progress and shifted the focus of the battlefield to neighboring Donetsk, where Kyiv still controls substantial territory.
Since abandoning the offensive in the capital Kyiv, Russia has concentrated its military operations in the Donbas industrial heartland of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where Moscow-backed separatist proxies have been battling Ukraine since 2014.
Russia says it is seizing the Lugansk region, to give it to the Russia-backed Lugansk People's Republic, whose independence was recognized on the eve of the war.
Ukraine's military command said its troops had been forced to withdraw from the city.
"The continuation of the defense of the city will have fatal consequences. In order to save the lives of the defenders of Ukraine, the decision was made to withdraw," the Ukrainian military said in a statement on social media.
Ukrainian officials, who say references to 'liberating' Ukrainian territory are Russian propaganda, have reported intense artillery barrages in residential areas.
"Ukrainian forces likely made a deliberate withdrawal from Lysychansk, resulting in Russia's seizure of the city on July 2," analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a brief note.
Separately, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin about the release, the ministry said. "On July 3, 2022, the Russian Defense Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu reported to the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin about the liberation of the People's Republic of Lugansk." explained the ministry, as reported by TASS.
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The ministry added that the Russian Armed Forces and the LPR People's Militia have established complete control over Lisichansk and a number of nearby settlements, the largest of which are Belogorovka, Novodruzhesk, Maloryazantsevo and Belaya Gora. "The total area liberated over the last 24 hours reached 182 sq km," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In addition, the Russian Defense Ministry also said on Sunday it had attacked the military infrastructure of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast, where a Reuters reporter said Ukrainian troops had built a fortification after the night shelling.
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