Russia releases photo of cosmonauts holding Luhansk flag on ISS
Russia’s space agency has published photos appearing to show cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) holding the flags of the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk.

In a message posted to the official Roscosmos Telegram channel, Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov appear to be holding the flags of the two occupied territories, whose occupiers are recognised as legitimate authorities only by Russia and Syria among UN member states.

The cosmonauts with the flag of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Photograph: Roscosmos

The message accompanying the pictures says: “Liberation Day of the Luhansk People’s Republic! We celebrate both on Earth and in space.”

Roscosmos goes on in the statement to say: “Roscosmos and our cosmonauts, who are working today at the International Space Station, join the congratulations of the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, on the ‘new Day of the Great Victory’.

“This is a long-awaited day that residents of the occupied areas of the Luhansk region have been waiting for eight years. We are confident that 3 July 2022 will for ever go down in the history of the republic. Citizens of the allied Donetsk People’s Republic, wait!”

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It is unclear how the flags might have arrived at the ISS, although on 3 June an uncrewed Russian Progress cargo spacecraft docked with the space station, having departed from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. According to Nasa, it was carrying almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies.

Also at the station working with the three Russian cosmonauts are Nasa’s American astronauts Jessica Watkins, Robert Hines and Kjell N Lindgren, as well as the Italian Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The crew, Nasa and the ESA have not commented on the flag-raising. Hines tweeted about US Independence Day on Monday.

“Happy Birthday, America! … I am so thankful for the opportunities our country provides. God Bless America!” he wrote, adding emojis of the US flag, a hamburger and a hotdog.

Happy Birthday, America! The crew of FREEDOM and @Space_Station Expedition 67 wishes everyone back home a Happy Independence Day! I am so thankful for the opportunities our country provides. God Bless Ameica! 🇺🇸🎆🎇🍔🌭🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/88EYidqXDF — Bob “Farmer” Hines (@Astro_FarmerBob) July 4, 2022

Artemyev, Matveyev and Korsakov were the first Russian crew to join the ISS since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February, and when they emerged from their Soyuz capsule in yellow uniforms it was widely seen as a message of solidarity with Ukraine. However, the cosmonauts were coy about that interpretation. Asked about the suits at the time, Artemyev said every crew chose their own.

Korsakov, Artemyev and Matveyev were the first new faces in space since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine and emerged from the Soyuz capsule in February wearing yellow flight suits with blue stripes. Photograph: AP

“It became our turn to pick a colour. But in fact we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it,” he said. “So that’s why we had to wear yellow.”

The so-called Luhansk People’s Republic claims to control almost all of Ukraine’s eastern oblast of Luhansk, which borders Russia, after Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Lysychansk on Sunday.