Russia says Moscow now occupies all of Ukraine's Luhansk illegally annexed

A Russiaappointed official in Ukraines occupied Luhansk region said Monday that Moscows forces have overrun all of it iquest one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single oneIf confirmed that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent USled international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fightingRussian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasnt budged from his demands which include Moscows control over the four illegally annexed regionsThere was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim made by the Moscowinstalled leader of the occupied region Leonid PasechnikIn remarks to Russias state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening Pasechnik said he received a report literally two days ago saying that 100 per cent of the region was now under the control of Russian forcesGermanys top diplomat visits KyivThe development came just hours after the top German diplomat said that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with RussiaWe see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv accompanied by German defense industry representativesWhen Putin speaks of peace today it is pure mockery Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii SybihaHis apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so farRussias invasion shows no sign of letting up Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1000km front line and longrange strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civiliansUkraine is outgunned and shorthanded on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraines resistance against its neighbours bigger army and economyGermany has been Ukraines secondlargest military backer after the United States whose continuing support is in doubtWe want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defense because your needs are enormous Wadephul said while standing next to SybihaOur arms cooperation is a real trump card it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material Wadephul said And we can even benefit mutually from it with your wealth of ideas and your experience we will become betterWadephul was also due to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr ZelenskyyRussias aerial attacks on Ukraine continueThe top German diplomats trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend Ukrainian officials said in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace effortsUkraines air force said Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the countrys air space overnightStrikes in Ukraines northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured including a 6yearold child regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said MondayThe aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission according to the Institute for the Study of WarRussia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes the Washingtonbased think tank said late SundayThe increases in Russias strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russias efforts to scale up its defense industrial production particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles the institute addedSybiha thanked Germany for its contribution to Ukraines air defense and urged Berlin to send more antimissile systemsThe Russians are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic to influence the mood of our population he said The key is the air defense systemBerlin has balked at granting Zelenskyys request to provide Ukraine with powerful German and Swedishmade Taurus longrange missiles which could potentially hit targets inside Russia That is due to fears such a move could enrage the Kremlin and draw NATO into Europes biggest conflict since World War IIGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged in May to help Ukraine develop its own longrange missile systems that would be free of any Westernimposed limitations on their use and targetsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever