Russia claims full control of Ukraine's Luhansk region, asserting its forces have completed the takeover of the last areas previously held by Kyiv. The Russian Ministry of Defence stated on Wednesday that units of its "West" military grouping had finished the "liberation" of the Luhansk People's Republic, a term Moscow uses for the region. More than 99 percent of Luhansk had already been under Russian control since 2022, when it was one of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia. The announcement comes amid continued fighting across eastern Ukraine, with Russia also claiming to have captured the villages of Verkhnya Pysarivka in the Kharkiv region and Boikove in Zaporizhia. Ukraine has not confirmed the loss of any territory.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have withdrawn forces from Donetsk "yesterday" to end what Russia calls the "hot phase" of the war. Zelenskyy countered that Russia had issued a two-month ultimatum to the US, threatening harsher peace terms if Ukraine did not retreat from Donbas. He dismissed the idea that Russia could conquer the remaining areas in that timeframe. Zelenskyy also accused Russia of rejecting a ceasefire proposal over Easter, saying Moscow responded with 339 drones overnight. Two women were killed in a drone strike on a civilian vehicle in Kherson, while a warehouse in Lutsk burned after an attack. Ukraine has continued its own drone operations, striking Russia's Ust-Luga port multiple times in ten days, disrupting oil exports.
Several European nations reported Ukrainian drones crossing their borders. Estonia, Finland, and Latvia confirmed drone sightings or debris, with Finnish police stating one drone carried explosives. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv did not target those countries.
Zelenskyy is scheduled to hold a video call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss stalled negotiations, hampered by the US-Israel conflict with Iran.
When Peskov says Zelenskyy should have withdrawn "yesterday," he is not offering peace—he is demanding surrender under the guise of diplomacy. Russia's claim of total control over Luhansk is less about new battlefield success and more about reshaping the narrative after months of stalled advances. The repeated use of drones, both by Russia against Ukrainian civilians and by Ukraine into Russian and now European territory, shows the war's geographic and tactical boundaries are expanding, not contracting. This is no longer a contained conflict—it is a grinding war with widening risk.
