Luhansk People's Republic participant of Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Luhansk People's Republic or Lugansk People's Republic (Russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика, romanized: Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika, IPA: [lʊˈɡanskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə]; abbreviated as LPR or LNR, Russian: ЛНР) is an internationally unrecognised republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was created by Russian-backed paramilitaries in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022.
Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity in 2014, pro-Russian, counter-revolutionary unrest erupted in the eastern part of the country. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, while the armed separatists seized government buildings and proclaimed the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) as independent states. This sparked the war in Donbas, part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The LPR and DPR are sometimes described as puppet states of Russia during this conflict. They received no international recognition from United Nations member states before 2022. 
On 21 February 2022, Russia recognised the LPR and DPR as sovereign states. Three days later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, partially under the pretext of protecting the republics. Russian forces captured more of Luhansk Oblast (almost all of it), which became part of the LPR. In September 2022, Russia proclaimed the annexation of the LPR and other occupied territories, following illegitimate referendums which were illegal under international law. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it called the "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".The Head of the Luhansk People's Republic is Leonid Pasechnik, and its parliament is the People's Council. The ideology of the LPR is shaped by right-wing Russian nationalism, neo-imperialism and Orthodox fundamentalism. Organizations such as the UN Human Rights Office and Human Rights Watch have reported human rights abuses in the LPR; including internment, torture, extrajudicial killings, forced conscription, as well as political and media repression. Ukraine views the LPR and DPR as terrorist organisations.Full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present)
On 21 February 2022, Russia recognised the independence of the DPR and LPR. The next day, the Federation Council of Russia authorised the use of military force, and Russian forces openly advanced into both territories. Russian president Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed", and that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for their collapse. A military attack into Ukrainian government-controlled territory began on the morning of 24 February, when Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine.
On May 6, as part of the eastern Ukraine offensive, the Russian Armed Forces and Luhansk People's Republic military started a battle to capture Sievierodonetsk, the de facto administrative capital of Ukrainian-controlled Luhansk Oblast. On 25 June 2022, Sievierodonetsk was fully occupied by Russian and separatist forces. This was followed by the capture of Lysychansk on 3 July, which brought all of Luhansk Oblast under the control of Russian and separatist forces.
This resulted in a 63 day period during which the whole of Luhansk Oblast was controlled by separatist forces. However, during the 2022 Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive starting on September 4, the village of Bilohorivka became contested between Ukrainian and Russian forces; on September 10, the village was confirmed to be under Ukrainian control.