Updated

Oleksiy Kharchenko, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said on Telegram that a Russian state program to relocate cultural workers from Russian regions to the so-called Luhansk People's Republic has proven ineffective. Ukrinform reported his statement on 15 November 2026. He said Russians are unwilling to work in a partially destroyed region even with financial incentives, so the occupation authorities have changed the program to let graduates of local universities take part. Kharchenko said they are no longer expecting help from Russia, and Ukrinform framed the changes as an attempt to fill a staff shortage with local personnel. The report gave no figures on how many workers were moved or what the program's goals were. Ukrinform also noted in a separate item that pumping stations in several occupied cities in the Luhansk region are being shut down for lack of backup generators, leaving residents without water.