Allied Russian, LPR forces have full control of Lysychansk
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The Russian Armed Forces and their allies in the Lugansk People's Republic have assumed full control of Lysychansk.
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First footage of Russian allied forces at the city of Lysychansk, Donbass (Telegram)
The allied Russian and LPR forces have taken the city of Lysychansk, and they now have full control of the strategic city, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday, following weeks of fighting over the key region.
As they were leaving the city, the Ukrainian militants who had just lost their last stronghold in the Lugansk People's Republic blew up and destroyed some of the important administrative buildings, including the mayor's office, the Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.
LISICHANSK HAS BEEN LIBERATED pic.twitter.com/xTTuGK8o6f
— Levi (@Levi_godman) July 2, 2022
Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marochko of the LPR forces earlier Saturday said the Ukrainian military still had some centers of resistance in the city, though they had no significance.
The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, separated by a river, were the final sections of Lugansk still under Ukrainian control. With the allies' liberation of both cities, the Lugansk People's Republic is fully under the control of the LPR and Russian forces.
Moscow and its allied LPR forces having control of the LPR allows them to push deeper into the Donbass region and control more of the region.
Lisichansk residents 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/6X95xopui4
— Levi (@Levi_godman) July 2, 2022
Severodonetsk is home to the Azot chemical plant, where the Russian armed forces had hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers holed up for weeks in light of the confrontations in the area. The plant also had up to 500 civilians who had been hiding from shelling in its bomb shelter, and despite the site having more civilians than Ukrainian soldiers, they were concentrated in other parts of Azot.
The Russian armed forces liberated Zolotarivka, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, and all that was left was Bilogorivka, which is six kilometers away from the then-surrounded city of Lysychansk.
"Over the past three days, [the Russian Armed Forces] have taken control of the oil rig in Lysychansk, the Matrosskaya mine, and the village of Topolivka," the ministry said.
The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said Lysychansk was completely surrounded by the allied forces of Russia and the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR).
"The plan to liberate Lysychansk from the Ukrainian invaders, which was developed by officers, is being executed without adjustments. In the near future, the city will be fully liberated from the Bandera Nazis," he added. "A full-scale attack on the city would soon begin," Kadyrov noted.
"More than 2,000 Nazis from Kiev's forces and foreign mercenaries are holed up in Lysychansk, their last stronghold in Lugansk," LPR deputy interior minister Vitaly Kiselev said.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov told reporters that three battalions stationed near Lysychansk lost over 50% of their troops in one day of combat.
