On Monday, as President Vladimir Putin declared Russia’s victory in the protracted battle of Luhansk, Ukrainian forces were establishing new defensive positions in the east and preparing for a difficult new phase of the war.
One of the largest battles in Europe in recent memory came to an end on Sunday with Russia’s capture of the city of Lysychansk. For two months, Moscow had concentrated all of its ground forces on a small section of the front line.
With the victory, Russia has fully occupied the Luhansk province, one of the two areas that Ukraine has been ordered to hand over to separatists in the Donbas region.
Putin praised the Russian military for its ‘victories in the Luhansk direction’ during a brief, televised discussion with his defence minister. While other groups continue fighting in other locations, those who took part in the action should ‘definitely relax and regain their military preparation,’ he said.
The win is Russia’s biggest since it seized the southern port of Mariupol in late May, and it is the closest Moscow has come to fulfilling one of its stated goals since its soldiers were routed when attempting to capture Kyiv in March.
Along a loop of the Siverskyi Donets river that winds through Luhansk and Donetsk, both sides claimed to have inflicted significantly higher losses on their adversary while suffering thousands of deaths and injuries.
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