While the world is fixated on Middle East tensions, Russian forces continue pounding military and strategic targets all over Ukraine.
Having amassed an enormous cache of kamikaze drones and missiles, Moscow is methodically implementing its ‘war of attrition’.
As we have often discussed here on TGP, in this kind of warfare the main objective is not so much territorial gains, but rather a campaign to degrade the enemy’s capabilities to the point it can’t fight anymore.
The only reason why this ‘attrition’ took more than a few months to be accomplished is that the US under Biden and all the other western powers have flooded the Kiev regime with unprecedented amounts of military aid to the tune of half a trillion dollars – but now, three and a half years later, the Ukrainian capabilities are again on the brink of destruction.
To accomplish that, the Russians have now in June unleashed the strongest drone and missile strike campaign of the whole war.
But that does not mean that there haven’t been territorial advances: in southern Zaporozhie, in Northern Kharkov and Sumi – and in the eastern Donbas regions of Donetsk and especially Luhansk, that is now totally under Russian control.
“The territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic has been 100% liberated”
— PasechnikUkraine lost the first region to 100% pic.twitter.com/unzIqZpCh2
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 30, 2025
From its uprising in 2014 to the present complete liberation in 2025, it has been a long journey for the Lugansk People’s Republic.
RT reported:
“On June 30, 2025, Russian forces completed the full liberation of the Lugansk People’s Republic. Eleven years after declaring independence, and nearly three years after joining the Russian Federation, the LPR now stands fully under Russian control. What began with mass protests and barricades in 2014 has culminated in a hard-won homecoming.”
February 2014: the ‘Maidan’ coup ousts Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych from power in Kiev, and the resistance is born in the eastern Donbas.
The Russian-speaking residents enact massive rallies, and form a local militia.
By April 2014, protesters storm the building of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Lugansk. Weapons are assembled and first battalions are formed.
“On April 27, supporters of federalization declared the establishment of a sovereign state – the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). A referendum held on May 11 reported that over 96% of participants voted in favor of independence and subsequent reunification with Russia.”
Ukraine sprung to military action, with the help of Neo-Nazis from the Right Sector, launching a bloody ‘Anti-Terrorist Operation’ (ATO).
“Clashes swiftly escalated into full-scale hostilities involving heavy armor, airstrikes, and Grad multiple rocket launchers. Lugansk was particularly affected; in less than three months of shelling, over 100 civilians lost their lives. One of the most shocking events was an aerial bombardment by the Ukrainian Air Force that targeted the regional administration building, which killed eight people and injured another 28.”
In September 2014 and February 2015, the Minsk Agreements were signed. The front line froze but shelling continued daily.
“In 2017, Ukraine imposed a total economic blockade, banning any trade relations with the republic, leading to shortages of essential goods. In response, the LPR introduced external management of Ukrainian enterprises and redirected trade towards Russia and other countries.”
So, on February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his Special Military Operation (SMO), to stop Ukraine from joining NATO and to protect the residents of Donbass.
Russian troops and the Lugansk People’s Militia went in an offensive right in the first days of the operation.
“On September 23-27, 2022, a referendum was held in the Lugansk People’s Republic on joining Russia. According to official reports, over 98% of residents supported this decision. On September 30, Vladimir Putin signed a decree formally incorporating the LPR into the Russian Federation.”
Welcome home, Lugansk! Lugansk is completely liberated! pic.twitter.com/lftn6IVgMO
— pocalypsis pocalypseos (@apocalypseos) June 30, 2025
Read more:
Russian Forces Reach Donetsk’s Western Border and Enter Dnipropetrovsk, Taking the War Into Another Ukrainian Region
The post Moscow Forces Complete Conquest of Luhansk Region, One of the Cradles of the War, Fighting Since 2014 to Secede from Ukraine and Join Russia appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.