Russia announces the death of 5 in Ukrainian attack on Sviatova, Luhansk

Five workers were killed as a result of a Ukrainian attack targeting the city of Sviatova in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, which is under the control of Russian forces, on Tuesday, August 5.

Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-appointed head of the Luhansk administration, stated in a message posted on the Telegram app that four municipal workers who were securing and maintaining the city's water supply were killed instantly in the attack.

He added that a fifth worker was seriously injured before later dying in the hospital, according to the head of health services in the region.

Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia announced it annexed in September 2022, along with Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, about seven months after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of the same year.

In June, Moscow announced that it had fully controlled the Luhansk region, while still maintaining control over parts of the other three regions.

The attack comes at a time when the conflict is witnessing ongoing military escalation, amid increasing diplomatic tension, coinciding with a high-level diplomatic visit by U.S. envoy Witkoff to Moscow, just before the deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding security negotiations between the two parties.