Ukraine liberates Lyman town in Putin claimed territory

Days after Russian President Putin sealed the unilateral ‘annexation’ of four regions in Ukraine, that country’s armed forces managed to liberate a city within this now-Russia-claimed territory from its occupiers this weekend after months.

The town of Lyman, which is of great strategic importance to the Russians for supplying their occupying forces in eastern Ukraine, is said to have fallen completely into Ukrainian hands on Sunday after days of fierce fighting.

President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that recapture in a video message on social media on Sunday. It was already clear on Saturday that Ukrainian soldiers had entered the city, but Zelensky said on Saturday evening that fighting was still going on in and around the city.

Last week, Ukrainian soldiers surrounded Lyman, which is in the Donetsk region. The Kremlin announced on Saturday afternoon that soldiers in the city had withdrawn to be directed to “more promising fronts” – an implicit acknowledgment of defeat.

Professional soldiers and reservists

According to British intelligence, the Russians suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Lyman. The city is said to have been guarded by an undermanned group of professional soldiers, supplemented by reservists. Moreover, when withdrawing from the area to the east, the Russian military would have been heavily bombarded with Ukrainian artillery fire.

According to some, not independently confirmed, reports, up to about 5,000 trapped Russian soldiers could be taken prisoner of war in and around Lyman.

It is unclear how Moscow will react now that the town has been recaptured by Kiev. During a speech and ceremony on Friday, Putin annexed the four eastern Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk. In his sharply pitched speech, he said that he regarded an attack on the areas now claimed by him as an attack on Russian territory.

Also read: Putin has now burned all the ships behind him

On Saturday afternoon, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov immediately called on the Russian president via Telegram to deploy a small, so-called ‘tactical’ nuclear weapon after the defeat in Lyman.

On Friday, a Russian patrol detained director Ichor Murashov of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya. It is unclear where he was taken. The nuclear power plant – the largest in Europe and owned by state nuclear power company Energoatom – is located in one of four regions that Putin now considers Russian territory. Russia has not yet responded to reports of Murashov’s kidnapping.

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