Russia claims full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region but Kyiv denies it ahead of U.S. envoy talks

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defence Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, Russian soldiers prepare to fire a grenade launcher towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russia’s armed forces have taken control of the entire Luhansk region of Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed Wednesday, but a Kyiv military official denied the claim as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared for talks with U.S. envoys trying to mediate an end to Moscow’s invasion.

“Units of the Group of Forces West have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

However, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Joint Forces grouping, Viktor Trehubov, said there were no changes to report in that region.

“Unfortunately, we only hold small patches there (in Luhansk), but those positions have been held by 3rd brigade for a long time,” Trehubov told The Associated Press by phone.

Russian claims of battlefield progress have in the past shown discrepancies. The Moscow-appointed head of Luhansk announced its full capture last June.

Ukrainian officials have in the past said that Moscow makes false claims of advances to persuade U.S. negotiators that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable.

U.S.-led diplomatic efforts over the past year to stop the fighting, now in its fifth year, have so far failed to break the deadlock on key sticking points, and Washington’s attentions are currently focused on the Iran war.

Zelenskyy said he would hold a video call later Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the possibility of further trilateral negotiations.

Russia illegally annexed four eastern regions of Ukraine — Luhansk as well as Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — in September 2022, but it never fully controlled them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last October that Ukrainian forces still held 0.13 percent of Luhansk. He has demanded that Ukrainian troops withdraw from the four eastern regions as a key condition for a peace deal. Ukraine has rejected that demand.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that front-line combat is fierce amid a Russian spring offensive, but claimed that Ukrainian forces are holding their ground.

“The situation on the frontline is currently quite tense — the Russian army is trying to step up its assault activity,” he said on X.

It was not possible to independently verify either side’s battlefield claims.

The Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian tactics are likely disrupting efforts to advance by Russia’s bigger army.

The Washington-based think tank also said late Tuesday that in recent months Ukrainian forces have made “their most significant gains on the battlefield” since an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024 and a 2023 counteroffensive.

Russia’s invasion has also taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians, with more than 15,000 killed in the war so far, according to the United Nations.

A Russian drone strike killed four people in Ukraine’s central Cherkasy region Wednesday, regional governor Ihor Taburets said. The attack hit an open area in Zolotonosha, some 150 kilometres (90 miles), southeast of the capital.

Russian drones also damaged sites in western Ukraine near the Polish border early Wednesday, including an industrial facility in the city of Lutsk, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Kyiv.

Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said a postal sorting centre and food distribution site were damaged, while falling drone debris also set fire to a residential building. Emergency services reported no casualties.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed 298 drones – mostly Iranian-designed Shahed drones and cheaper variants – in overnight attacks launched from multiple areas in western Russia and Crimea, while 20 drones hit 11 sites nationwide.

Ukraine has developed advance drone technology to counter Russian barrages and is offering to help Gulf countries block Iranian drone attacks.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday on X that Ukraine is “engaged in substantive cooperation” with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar amid the Middle East conflict.

Officials are also in consultations with Jordan and are in contact with Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq, he said.

___

The Associated Press