Russia-backed separatists declare significant gains in Ukaine's east

Pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine have said they control almost all of the Lugansk region and more than half of the Donetsk region after Moscow made these territories its primary military goal.

AFP could not independently verify these claims.

Russia recognised the independence of the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine on February 24.

"As of the morning of March 31, 2022, more than 90 percent of the territory of the People's Republic of Lugansk has been liberated," the foreign ministry of the self-proclaimed republic said on Telegram Thursday.

Leader of the Donetsk separatists Denis Pushilin told TASS news agency Wednesday that "around 55 to 60 per cent" of the region's territory was under Russian control.

Before the start of what Moscow calls its "military operation" in Ukraine, the separatists -- locked in conflict with Ukraine's army since 2014 -- controlled about a third of each of these regions.

In the Donetsk region, Russian forces have encircled the southern port city of Mariupol where remaining civilians are desperate for food, water and medicine.

The leader of Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has sent thousands of Chechen fighters to Mariupol, said on Telegram that "90-95 percent" of the strategic port city was under Russian control.

Following weeks of fighting, Moscow said last week it will be focusing on the "liberation" of Donbas and on Tuesday said it will be drawing back from Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv.

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