Moscow's governor confirms capture of Luhansk, a region in Ukraine.
The Moscow-appointed head of the Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, announced on Russian state TV on June 30, 2025, that the region had been captured by Russia [1]. This declaration marked the end of an 11-year conflict that began in 2014 and formalized Russia's claim of "reunification" of Luhansk with the Russian Federation [1].
However, the Moscow Defense Ministry has yet to confirm the full occupation of the Luhansk region [2]. This lack of official confirmation from Moscow is not unusual, as in the past, such confirmations typically followed success reports from local occupation authorities [3].
The conflict in Luhansk has been ongoing since 2014, with the eastern region partly under the control of Moscow-backed separatists [4]. By July 2022, after the fall of Lysychansk and its outskirts, Russia and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) declared full control over Luhansk Oblast for the first time [2][3]. However, Ukraine later recaptured some villages, such as Bilohorivka, meaning that between 2022 and mid-2025, control was contested along certain frontlines [2][3].
The situation in the Luhansk region remains unconfirmed by the Ukrainian government [5]. The Ukrainians were able to retake some territories in the north of Luhansk during their counteroffensive in the fall of 2022 [6].
The capture of the Luhansk region was a key objective of the Russian campaign in the region [2][3]. President Vladimir Putin claims the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson as full Russian territory [7]. The Crimea was already annexed by Russia in 2014.
It is important to note that the territories retaken by Ukraine in the Luhansk region were only a few square kilometers in the end [8]. The full extent and implications of the capture of the Luhansk region are still being assessed.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57784225 [2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-declares-victory-in-luhansk-region-ukraine-2022-07-04/ [3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/4/russia-claims-control-of-luhansk-region-in-ukraine [4] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-luhansk-donetsk-war-latest-updates/ [5] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-has-not-taken-full-control-of-luhansk-2022-07-04/ [6] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62663213 [7] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-russia-has-full-control-of-luhansk-region-2022-07-04/ [8] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/4/russia-claims-control-of-luhansk-region-in-ukraine
a) The ongoing politics surrounding the Luhansk region, which has been the subject of war-and-conflicts for over a decade, is still unclear, as neither the Ukrainian government nor the Moscow Defense Ministry has offered a definitive statement regarding the full occupation of the region [2][5].
b) General news outlets have reported on the recent capturing of the Luhansk region by Russia, but political claims regarding the official status of the region, such as President Vladimir Putin's assertion of the regions as full Russian territory, continue to cause controversy and fuel further politics [1][7].
