KYIV–Russia said it had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk on Sunday after capturing the final Ukrainian bastion of the city of Lysychansk, where Kyiv said it had withdrawn to save the lives of its troops.
The region’s capture, a key Russian war aim, hands Moscow a boost after weeks of slow advances and shifts the battlefield focus to neighboring Donetsk region, where Kyiv still controls substantial territory.
After pulling back from northern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv in the spring, Russia has concentrated its military operation on the industrial Donbas heartland that comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where Moscow-backed separatist proxies have been fighting Ukraine since 2014….