Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces have taken full control of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, suggesting they have wrested control of an area that had remained beyond their grasp since the beginning of their 2022 invasion.
“Units of the ‘West’ military grouping have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, using Moscow’s preferred name for the Ukrainian region.
There was no immediate confirmation of the development from Ukraine.
Russia’s Defence Ministry added that Russian forces also took control of the village of Verkhnya Pysarivka in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and the village of Boikove in the Zaporizhia region in southeastern Ukraine.
Luhansk and Donetsk make up the wider Donbas area. More than 99 percent of Luhansk has long been under Russian control and was one of four Ukrainian regions Moscow annexed in 2022. Russia also controls about three-quarters of Donetsk.
The Kremlin on Wednesday reiterated its demand that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the entirety of Donetsk, which Kyiv has repeatedly dismissed.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have taken the difficult decision to withdraw his forces from the Donbas area “yesterday” to end what Russia calls the “hot phase” of the war.
Peskov’s comment came a day after Zelenskyy claimed Russia had given the United States an ultimatum, saying it would harden its terms for a peace settlement if Ukrainian forces did not withdraw from the Donbas within two months.
Zelenskyy added that he was surprised anyone could believe Russia could hope to conquer the remainder of the Donbas within that timeframe. He said Ukraine wanted a diplomatic solution but would only agree to a ceasefire at the current front lines.
Two people killed in drone attacks on Ukraine
Swarms of Russian drones attacked Ukraine overnight into Wednesday. Two women were killed in an attack on a civilian car on the front line in the Kherson region, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
An image posted by Ukraine’s Nova Poshta mailing company showed a warehouse in the western city of Lutsk in flames with thick smoke pouring from its roof.
Zelenskyy said in a social media post that Russia had used 339 drones in its overnight attacks.
“We proposed a ceasefire for Easter. In response, we’re getting Shaheds,” he said, referring to the Iranian-designed drones that Russia uses.
The Ukrainian leader said he would hold a video call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Wednesday to discuss negotiations with Russia, now stalled due to the US-Israel war on Iran.
Ukrainian drones on Tuesday struck Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga for the fifth time in 10 days, likely adding to Russia’s difficulties in exporting crude oil.
Meanwhile, several countries reported Ukrainian drones crossing into their airspace. Estonia’s armed forces said several drones appeared to have strayed from Ukraine while headed to Russia.
Separately, Finnish police said a drone detected in Finland on Tuesday had been carrying explosives. Latvian police said they had launched an investigation after debris from a drone was found in the country on Wednesday.
On Sunday, a Ukrainian drone crashed in Finland, marking the first time the Ukraine war had spilled onto Finnish soil. Last week, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania reported drones of Ukrainian origin on their territory in connection with attacks on the Russian oil terminal.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said at a news conference on Tuesday that Ukraine “never aimed drones at these countries”.
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