Plumbs of smoke are seen rising to the sky during heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces with Russian troops in Lysychansk, Ukraine, on July 1. Photo: Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Russian forces on Sunday captured Lysychansk, the last city in the Luhansk region of the Donbas that was still under Ukrainian control.
Driving the news: Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security confirmed the news in a tweet later Sunday, noting that the armed force's General Staff had announced that "after heavy fighting" Ukraine's military forces had been forced to retreat from the city.
- Earlier Sunday, the Luhansk region's governor, Serhiy Haidai, had disputed the claims of Russian capture in a Telegram post but acknowledged that enemy forces were "entrenched" near the city, which was "on fire."
- "They attacked the city with inexplicably brutal tactics," Haidai wrote of the Russian forces.
- "They are suffering significant losses, but they are stubbornly advancing."
The big picture: Lysychansk has endured weeks of heavy Russian shelling as Russian forces have fought to capture it in a bid to take control of the entirety of Ukraine's eastern region of Luhansk, which borders Russia.
- In claiming to have fully captured the city on Sunday, Russian forces claimed they had “completely liberated” the region, per the Washington Post.
Go deeper: Dashboard: Russian invasion of Ukraine
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new details.