Putin Says Russian Forces Have Fully Captured Luhansk, Advanced in Donetsk

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Xinhua and Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces have “fully liberated” Ukraine’s Luhansk region and made major progress in Donetsk. The Kremlin said Putin visited an auxiliary command post for Russia’s joint force grouping late Friday, July 3, and held a nearly hour-long meeting with the General Staff leadership and unit commanders on the situation and recent battlefield developments. Putin said Russian troops have accelerated their offensive across the front line and are continuing operations against Ukrainian forces in Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. He said that since the start of the year Russian forces have taken control of 133 settlements in Donbas and other areas and more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory, and that work to establish security zones in Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions is proceeding as planned. Putin also said Russian forces have taken control of Kostiantynivka, calling it a key first step in breaking through Ukraine’s layered defenses around Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka. Reuters reported that Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov announced during Putin’s visit that Russian forces had captured Kostiantynivka, a long-sought objective for Moscow. Ukraine’s military had not responded to the claims as of the report.