Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Sunday July 3 that Kremlin forces controlled the entire Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine after capturing the key city of Lyssychansk, at the heart of intense fights.
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"
Sergei Shoigu informed the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, of the liberation of the Lugansk People's Republic
," a Defense Ministry statement said.
Russian forces and their separatist allies have taken "
complete control of Lysytchansk and other nearby towns, the most notable of which are Belogorovka, Novodrujesk, Maloriazantsevo and Belaya Gora
," the statement added.
AFP could not verify this information from an independent source.
A few minutes before this announcement, the spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, had indicated for his part that fighting was continuing in Lyssytchansk and that the Ukrainian forces were “
totally
” surrounded there.
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The Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region, Serguiï Gaïdaï, told him on Sunday on Telegram that “
the Russians are strengthening their positions in the Lysychansk region
”.
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