FILE PHOTO: Men ride vehicles near a building destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Toshkivka (Toshkovka) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, April 17, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia has taken full control of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, more than three years after President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian-backed head of the region told Russian state television.
Luhansk, which has an area of 26,700 square km (10,308 square miles), is the first Ukrainian region to fall fully under the established control of Russian forces since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
