According to Russia, it has taken full control over the Luhansk region after Ukrainian soldiers withdrew from the city of Lysychansk which has been bombed out. Governor Serhiy Gaidai said this was not losing the war, although the loss hurt.

President Vladimir Putin during a short televised meeting with the Russian defense minister, congratulated Russian soldiers on their victory in Luhansk. He urged those who had taken part in the fight to recover their military preparedness by resting, while other units were still fighting in other regions.

According to Luhansk Governor Gaidai it was likely the town of Bakhmut and the city of Sloviansk would now be attacked as Russia attempts to take full control of the eastern Ukraine region of Donbas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said they hoped to retake the lost territory by using long-range Western weapons. He said in a speech to Japanese university teachers and students that if they put down their weapons they would disappear as a people and a state.

Zelenskiy’s office said that Russia’s soldiers had increased the shelling intensity in the Donetsk region. It added that nine people had been killed, including a child, over the past day, while 25 were wounded.