The leader of the People's Republic of Lugansk (LPR) calling himself Leonid Pasechnik shared on Russia's Channel One TV channel on July 1 that 100% of Lugansk's territory has belonged to Russia.
Russia held a September 23-27, 2022 consultation on the merger of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, along with Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in eastern Ukraine, into Russia.
On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties with the leaders of these regions to officially join Russia.
A military expert shared that after completely controlling Lugansk, the Russian army will be tasked with setting up a buffer zone 70 to 120km deep.
Currently, the Russian armed forces are tasked with continuing the campaign to establish a buffer zone. According to experts, this buffer zone needs to be extended at least 70 to 120km deep into Ukrainian territory," said Igor Korotchenko, Editor-in-Chief of National Defense magazine.
In another development, on June 30, President Vladimir Putin emphasized at a meeting on socio-economic development in the territories of Ukraine's Russian possession that Donbass and Novorossiya must achieve a level of development on par with the entire Russian Federation in all aspects, including quality of life, by 2030.
Donbass is the common name for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions while Novorossiya is used by Russia to refer to the territories that Russia declared to be merged in eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk and Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
By 2030, the peoples regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, must achieve a level of development on par with the whole country in terms of all indicators and quality of life of the people, Putin said.
The Russian leader also said that Moscow is regularly monitoring the restoration and development of the economy, social infrastructure, transportation and other areas in Donbass and Novorossiya.
A total of 41 federal agencies, 26 state-owned corporations and 82 sponsoring regions are participating, he revealed.
The Russian head also reiterated that the socio-economic development program for Donbass and Novorossiya includes about 300 action items.
"Currently, the work is being implemented synchronously in all fields. We are responsible for fully completing all set tasks," Putin stressed.
