Putin congratulates troops for 'liberating' Luhansk and tells them to rest

Shafaq News/ President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Russian troops on "liberating" the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, a significant milestone for Moscow in its military campaign in Ukraine.

In a televised meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin said the troops involved in the operation to capture the Luhansk region should rest but that other military units should continue fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated his troops on “liberating” Luhansk, after forces loyal to Kyiv withdrew from their last bastion in the eastern Ukrainian region.

The capture of Luhansk, which together with the neighbouring Donetsk province forms part of the Donbas, comes nearly three months after Moscow began its battle to take control of Ukraine’s industrial heartland of coal mines and factories. The Kremlin decided to concentrate troops in the east after failing to gain control of Kyiv and other major cities in the early weeks of the invasion.

In a televised meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin said the soldiers involved in the operation to capture Luhansk should rest but that other military units must keep up the fight.

Shoigu told Putin that "the operation" had been completed on Sunday.

Putin, in turn, said the military units "that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory" in Luhansk, "should rest, increase their combat capabilities".

Emboldened by the victory, the Russian leader ordered him to press ahead with the Donbas offensive.

"Military units, including the East group and the West group, must carry out their tasks according to previously approved plans," Putin told Shoigu.

His comments came a day after Ukrainian troops pulled out of Lysychansk after heavy shelling on Saturday. The loss prompted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to step up calls for an increased supply of weapons from the West for Kyiv to maintain the resistance and regain lost territories.

Footage broadcast by French TV channel France 24 showed men in military uniform waving a Russian flag from a hospital in Lysychansk, a city with a prewar population of about 100,000. In a bid to win the support of the residents, fighters loyal to Moscow handed out food to locals.

Ukrainian troops’ retreat from Lysychansk comes a week after Russia took control of the neighbouring city of Severodonetsk.