KYIV, June 30 – A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region said Monday that Moscow’s forces now control the entire territory, potentially making it the first of four regions illegally annexed by Russia to fall fully under its control since the 2022 invasion.

If confirmed, the development would mark a symbolic gain for Moscow as Ukraine continues to face battlefield pressure and international mediation efforts show little progress. Kyiv did not immediately comment on the claim, made by Leonid Pasechnik, the Kremlin-backed head of the occupied region. In an interview aired on Russian state television, Pasechnik said he received a report “literally two days ago” confirming that “100%” of the Luhansk region was under Russian control.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire unless Kyiv agrees to cede control over Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – regions that were unilaterally declared annexed by Russia in September 2022 but not fully occupied at the time. Full control of Luhansk, if verified, would bolster the Kremlin’s claim of legitimacy over these territories, despite widespread international condemnation and Ukraine’s refusal to recognize any Russian sovereignty over them.

The claim came just hours after German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian officials. His visit, accompanied by representatives of Germany’s defense industry, focused on expanding bilateral military cooperation, including joint ventures to boost Ukraine’s defense manufacturing capacity.

“We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly,” Wadephul said during a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. “When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery. His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far.”

Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest military donor after the United States. Wadephul stressed the urgency of increasing local weapons production in Ukraine to meet the scale and pace of battlefield demand, reduce dependency on foreign deliveries, and ensure sustained defense readiness.

“We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defense,” he said. “Our arms cooperation is a real trump card… and we can even benefit mutually from it – with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better.”

The German minister’s visit came on the heels of Russia’s largest combined aerial assault on Ukraine in recent months. Ukrainian officials reported 107 Shahed drones and decoys detected in the country’s airspace overnight into Monday. The strike was part of an intensified Russian bombing campaign targeting critical infrastructure and civilian areas.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, drone strikes killed two civilians and injured eight others, including a 6-year-old child, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. Ukrainian emergency services and medical teams worked overnight to contain fires and treat the wounded amid debris and damage to residential buildings.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in its latest assessment that Russia is escalating its strike capabilities by deploying larger drone packages and leveraging domestic industrial capacity to sustain the tempo.

“Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes,” the institute said. “The increases in Russia’s strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia’s efforts to scale up its defense industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles.”

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that Russia’s aerial onslaughts are designed to exhaust Ukraine’s air defense systems and create psychological pressure on the civilian population. According to Sybiha, Ukraine’s best countermeasure is continued investment in air defense and missile interception technologies.

“The Russians are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population,” Sybiha said. “The key is the air defense system. We are grateful for Germany’s contribution, but we urgently need more.”

Despite Ukraine’s repeated requests for German-made Taurus long-range missiles, Berlin has so far refused, citing concerns about escalating the war and provoking a direct confrontation with Moscow. The missiles, jointly developed with Sweden, have the capability to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, however, has pledged support for helping Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would not be subject to Western export controls or usage restrictions. These systems could give Ukraine greater strategic flexibility without implicating NATO directly.

Wadephul, whose visit included closed-door meetings with Ukrainian defense officials and lawmakers, was also scheduled to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before returning to Berlin. The meetings come at a critical moment in the war, as Ukraine seeks to shore up international support amid signs that U.S. aid may become less predictable in the months ahead. (ap/ez)