Moscow says Luhansk is fully under Russian control

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that its forces had taken complete control of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, a claim that would mark a major territorial gain in an area Moscow has been trying to secure since the start of its 2022 invasion.

“Units of the ‘West’ military grouping have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” the ministry said, using the Kremlin’s preferred name for the region.

Ukraine did not immediately respond to the announcement.

The Russian defence ministry also said its troops had captured the village of Verkhnya Pysarivka in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Boikove in the southeastern Zaporizhia region.

Luhansk and Donetsk form the industrial Donbas region. Russia has long controlled more than 99 percent of Luhansk, which was one of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow in 2022. It also controls roughly three-quarters of Donetsk.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin repeated its demand that Ukrainian forces withdraw from all of Donetsk, a condition Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have made the difficult decision to pull back Ukrainian troops from Donbas “yesterday” in order to end what Russia describes as the “hot phase” of the war.

His remarks followed Zelenskyy’s claim a day earlier that Russia had issued the United States an ultimatum, saying Moscow would toughen its peace terms if Ukrainian forces did not leave Donbas within two months.

Zelenskyy said he was surprised that anyone could believe Russia could conquer the rest of Donbas in that time. He said Ukraine wanted a diplomatic settlement, but would only accept a ceasefire along the current front lines.

Drone attacks kill two in Kherson

Meanwhile, Russian drones hit Ukraine overnight into Wednesday. Two women were killed when a civilian car was attacked on the front line in the Kherson region, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

A photo posted by the postal company Nova Poshta showed a warehouse burning in the western city of Lutsk, with thick smoke rising from the roof.

Zelenskyy said in a social media post that Russia launched 339 drones during the overnight attacks.

“We proposed a ceasefire for Easter. In response, we’re getting Shaheds,” he said, referring to the Iranian-designed drones used by Russia.

He also said he would hold a video call on Wednesday with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss negotiations with Russia, which he said were now stalled because of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga on Tuesday, the fifth attack there in 10 days, likely adding pressure on Russian crude oil exports.

There were also reports of Ukrainian drones crossing into neighbouring airspace. Estonia’s armed forces said several drones appeared to have drifted out of Ukraine while heading toward Russia.

Finnish police said a drone found in Finland on Tuesday was carrying explosives. Latvian police said they had opened an investigation after debris from a drone was found in the country on Wednesday.

On Sunday, a Ukrainian drone crashed in Finland, the first time the war in Ukraine was reported to have spilled onto Finnish soil. Last week, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all reported Ukrainian drones on their territory in connection with attacks on a Russian oil terminal.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said at a news conference on Tuesday that Ukraine “never aimed drones at these countries.”