Ukraine’s forces push Russia out of key stronghold
Russian forces have withdrawn from Lyman, after Ukrainian forces closed in on the Donetsk town.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said: “Allied forces were withdrawn from the settlement of … Lyman to more advantageous lines because of the creation of the threat of encirclement,”
Its abandonment of the town is a significant strategic victory for the country and a major setback for the Kremlin in its attempts to gain supremacy over four regions in eastern Ukraine.
The statement concluded hours of official silence from Moscow after Ukraine revealed it had surrounded thousands of Russian troops in the area, and that its forces had made their way inside the town.
Its fall is Ukraine’s biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.
The latest victory also continues weeks of successful counter-offensives, with the country’s forces regaining hundreds of miles of territory from Russia.
Russian forces have used Lyman as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian military spokesperson said the capture of Lyman would allow Kyiv to advance into the Luhansk region, whose full capture Moscow announced at the beginning of July.
He said: “Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important.”
This comes only a day after Russian President President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the Donetsk region, along with three other regions, at a ceremony that was condemned by Ukraine and the West as a farce.
The annexation means Russia is claiming as much as 18 per cent of Ukraine as its own, following heavily criticised referenda across the four regions.
The US has slapped Russia with more sanctions following the annexation of the four regions, targeting hundreds of people and companies, including politicians and people linked to its arms industry.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement: “We will rally the international community to both denounce these moves and to hold Russia accountable. We will continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment it needs to defend itself, undeterred by Russia’s brazen effort to redraw the borders of its neighbour.”
However, Russia continues to have a strong military presence in the Ukraine, and its troops detained the director of the country’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant yesterday.
Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator Enerhoatom revealed that Ihor Murashov was held as his car was on its way from the facility to the nearby town of Enerhodar.
He was then blindfolded and is believed to have been taken to a prison facility in Enerhodar.