A close adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posted a video on social media in which Ukrainian soldiers declare that they have taken control of Lyman in Donetsk. The soldiers have lined up in front of the town hall in the center of the city with Ukrainian flags. The Russian flag is thrown on the ground. “Dear Ukrainians! Today, the armed forces of Ukraine liberated and took control of the town of Lyman in the Donetsk region,” says one of the soldiers in the video. The person who posted the video on Telegram is Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who is deputy chief of staff in the president’s office, Reuters reports. On Saturday morning, the Ukrainian flag came up on the outskirts of the city, but fighting continued throughout the day, according to the president. Around 5,500 Russian soldiers are now said to be surrounded in the city. Surrounded On Saturday morning, the news came that Ukrainian forces had surrounded the Russian forces, which consist of between 5,000 and 5,500 soldiers. A few hours later, the news came that Ukrainian soldiers were about to enter the city itself. Russian defense authorities then stated that the Russian soldiers had withdrawn from the city. But according to Ukraine’s president, the battle for the important city is not quite over. Exactly what happens to the Russian soldiers is unclear. Lyman is located in the north of Donetsk county, which is one of four areas that Russia forcibly incorporated into the Russian Federation on Friday. The city is an important hub as a railway town. Waving the flag in video A video published by President Zelenskyi’s chief of staff on Saturday morning shows Ukrainian soldiers climbing onto a military vehicle with a Ukrainian flag. – It is 1 October. We unfurl our flag and plant it on our soil. Lyman will be Ukrainian, one of the soldiers is heard saying. Next to the soldiers is a town sign. The video must have been recorded at one of the northern entrance roads to the city. – Ukrainian forces capture Lyman, Donetsk region, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense declared on Twitter. Ukrainian soldiers on their way to the recaptured village of Shchurove, on the eastern side of the Donets River. Sjtsjurove is outside Lyman. The picture was taken on 27 September. Photo: NICOLE TUNG / NYT Supposed to have recaptured five villages Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video speech on Friday evening that important victories had been achieved in battles against Russian forces in and around the city, without giving further details. Sergej Cherevatyy, spokesman for the eastern forces, told the Ukrainian newspaper Ukens Speil that Ukrainian forces had liberated five villages in the area: Jampil, Novoselevka, Shandrigolovo, Drobysheve and Stavky, which have been occupied since spring. Cherevatyj also said that the number of combat-ready Russian soldiers may be reduced. – Someone has tried to break through our barriers. Some surrender. They have many dead and injured, said the spokesman. There were fierce battles around the railway junction Lyman in our spring. Now Ukrainian forces are in the process of recapturing the city that the Russians took control of in June. Photo: JORGE SILVA / Reuters Blocking supply routes It was early Friday that the first report came that a large Russian force was surrounded outside the city. – The situation is still difficult. Our people are holding out with their last strength, Denis Pushilin told the state-run Russian news agency Ria Novosti. Putin is the leader of the Russian-backed breakaway region of Donetsk. He confirmed that Ukrainian government forces were retaking control of villages in the area. Several pro-Russian military bloggers have also mentioned the fierce fighting that has been going on. All supply routes that the Russians use for ammunition supply and reinforcements were blocked on Friday afternoon, according to Ukrainian military sources. The Ukrainian governor of the neighboring county of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj, tells the Reuters news agency that Russian soldiers must have asked the Ukrainian authorities for a safe way out of Lyman, but were refused. Ukrainian soldiers in Lyman in April. The Russians took control of the city in June, but now Ukraine is in the process of recapturing the important hub. (Reuters/Archive image) Photo: JORGE SILVA / Reuters No more to insert Lieutenant-Colonel and professor at the Norwegian Defense Academy Tormod Heier thinks the Russian soldiers in and around Lyman may be quite alone. Lieutenant Colonel and professor at the Norwegian Defense Academy Tormod Heier. Photo: The Norwegian Defense Forces – There could not have been large Russian forces behind, because then they would have already come to the rescue of the leading forces. What we are seeing may mean that the Russian logistics and support apparatus may be on the rim. – The Russian forces are generally exhausted. They lack rested crews, weapons and spare parts, says Heier to news. Heier also does not believe that the Russians have the capacity to “fill the hole” in the strategic Lyman area in the short term. – The fundamental problems the Russians are struggling with cannot be solved in the short term. We are talking about a lack of fighting morale, a lack of functioning coordination and strong leadership, as well as the supply of more soldiers. – The existing forces are too few, they have missed too much and are exhausted, explains the lieutenant colonel. Thinks Russia should consider nuclear weapons After the news that Ukrainian forces are about to enter Lyman, the authoritarian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov took to social media. On Telegram, Kadyrov says that Russia should consider using tactical nuclear weapons. – My personal opinion is that more drastic measures should be implemented, such as the introduction of a state of emergency in the border areas and the use of tactical nuclear weapons, he says. Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller than strategic nuclear missiles with large warheads, and contain far less nuclear material. Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov believes Russia should now consider nuclear weapons in the fight against Ukraine. Photo: CHINGIS KONDAROV / Reuters Tearing up Russian defense positions If Ukraine manages to recapture the Lyman area, it could pave the way for the country’s forces to move further into Donetsk and the neighboring county of Luhansk. – Lyman is important because the next step is to liberate Ukrainian Donbas (the Ukrainian Donbas region consists of the counties of Donetsk and Luhansk editor’s note) and an opportunity to establish a bridgehead further to Kreminna and Sievjerodonetsk, says military spokesman Sergej Cherevatyy to Ukrainian TV, reproduced by Reuters. The Norwegian lieutenant colonel believes that the Ukrainians will proceed in a controlled manner. – The Ukrainian forces will probably be careful not to gape over too much. This is to ensure that there is no power vacuum behind the forces at the front. It is important to prevent looting and unrest, says Tormod Heier. The Ukrainian government forces shocked Russia with their lightning offensive in the Kharkiv region at the beginning of September. In a few days they recaptured large areas at the same time as the Russian front line collapsed. Heier says it is possible that the Ukrainian forces will try something of the same in Lyman. – It may well be that they will try to use the momentum that has now been created to tear up Russian defense positions. At the same time, the Ukrainians are vulnerable to losses, therefore the leading forces will rely on supplies and the artillery that comes in the rear, says Heier. On June 6 of this year, the bridge leading to Lyman was destroyed. Photo: ARIS MESSINIS / AFP Overshadowed ceremony The news of the fighting around Lyman comes at the same time as Russian authorities are celebrating in Moscow, where Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya were forcibly incorporated into the Russian Federation and declared Russian on Friday. Lyman is located south of the areas of Kharkiv that Ukrainian forces recaptured earlier in September. The leader of the self-proclaimed and Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic said on Friday that Ukrainian forces were “trying to overshadow the historic incorporation into Russia”. – Our people are fighting. We are calling out reserves and we have to hold out, despite the fact that the enemy has deployed significant forces against us, Denis Puzhilin said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, for his part, has made it clear that the goal is to take back all Russian-occupied areas. – How much does progress on the ground cost Ukraine? – The Ukrainian offensive has cost many lives on its own side. However, Ukraine has a large-scale mobilization and is encouraged by the progress and the high fighting morale, and with Western defense aid they will see it as acceptable costs. – The Ukrainian forces wage war in a more modern way than the Russians, which means that they will try to inflict significant damage on the Russians without risking Russian counterattacks, says Heier. Follow the development in news’s News Center:
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Ukrainian forces declare victory in Lyman – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
