The military institution announced that “the units of the Western battlegroup have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic.”

Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, has not so far commented on the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement.

The Ministry also reported that units of the Northern Battlegroup have taken control of the town of Verkhnyaya Pisarevka in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.

It added that, meanwhile, after decisive actions, the units of the Western battlegroup have captured the village of Boykovo in the Zaporozhye region.

Russia has been conducting a special military operation since February 24, 2022, to protect the population of Donetsk and Luhansk from “the Ukrainian regime’s genocide” and to counter national security risks posed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s eastward expansion.

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