Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, described Moscow’s seizure of the Luhansk region as “a day of liberation to be celebrated both on Earth and in space.” The agency released photos of cosmonauts Oleg Artemiev, Denis Matveev and Sergei Korsakov smiling as they held flags of Russia’s proxies in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic. “This is a long-awaited day that residents of the occupied areas of the Luhansk region have been waiting for eight years,” Roscosmos wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “We are convinced that July 3, 2022 will forever remain in the history of the (Luhansk People’s Republic).” Russia announced on Sunday that Russian and separatist forces had gained full control of the Luhansk region after capturing its last major city, Lysihansk. Ukraine, which has vowed to regain lost territory, said its troops were withdrawn from their last remaining bastion in the region to save the lives of its soldiers. Kyiv said its troops would regroup to launch a counterattack with the help of Western long-range weapons. After being repulsed in its initial bid to seize the capital Kyiv in February, Russia has focused on driving Ukrainian forces out of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyiv since Russia’s first military intervention in Ukraine in 2014. (Reporting by Reuters)
