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Lugansk Republic’s self-defence forces seize town on border with Donetsk region

There were no Ukrainian Army servicemen there

© Archive/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

LUGANSK, July 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed unrecognized Lugansk People’s Republic seized the town of Popasnaya on the border with the Donetsk region, Novorossiya news agency said.

It said several hundred self-defense fighters had arrived in the town overnight to Monday. The agency said there were no Ukrainian Army servicemen there.

Popasnaya is located 30 km away from the city of Artemovsk and 20 km away from the township of Stakhanov where a “reserve staff’ of the Lugansk People’s Republic leader Valery Bolotov is being set up.

It has a population of about 20,000 people and has an important railway junction.

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Ukraine crisis Eastern Ukraine

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