The Latest Breaking News from Luhansk

Pro-Russia separatist regions in Donbas declared independence from Kyiv in 2014

Ukraine is pursuing a resilient defence and counter-offensive, but Russia is also moving to assimilate occupied regions.

Ukraine said on Thursday its forces were holding their positions in intense fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and had retaken ground in the south, targetting gains in the biggest swathe of territory seized by Russia since the invasion started.

Russian forces control most of the strategic Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk and are heavily shelling the twin city of Lysychansk, causing major damage, the governor of Luhansk region said on Wednesday.

President says battle in key city the ‘most difficult’ since start of the war, as Donbas leaders warn Ukrainian forces have been pushed to city’s outskirts

Ukrainian troops holding out in the ruins of Sievierodonetsk came under renewed heavy assault on Wednesday from Russian forces who see the capture of the industrial city as key to control of the surrounding Luhansk region. In southern Ukraine, another major battleground in the war, authorities said Russian attacks on…

The MoD says Ukrainian defences are ‘holding’ in the industrial city in the Luhansk province of the eastern Donbas region

Russia is drawing closer to its goal of fully capturing Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories

Jean Claude Sangwa took up arms in Luhansk – and his pro-Moscow views are mainstream in much of Africa