According to reports from Kiev, the Ukrainian army has surrounded the strategically important town of Lyman in the Donetsk region. According to the online newspaper The Kyiv Independent, some 5,000 Russian soldiers are trapped there and can hardly be cared for.
According to the Ukrainian governor of the neighboring Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, the Russian soldiers asked their commanders if they could withdraw, but their request was rejected. According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian troops on Friday blocked Russian access to the Svatove-Lyman road, “the main line of communication maintained by the Russian faction within Lyman itself”.
‘City of Lyman is virtually surrounded’
In the battle for Lyman, Ukrainian forces have already taken several locations east of the city. Even Russian bloggers confirmed this: “Around midnight, Ukrainian troops managed to surround Lyman,” the nationalist military blog “Rybar” said on Friday. The village of Stawky in the north of Lyman has fallen and east of Lyman, in Zarichne, there are street fights. Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov also confirmed the Ukrainian capture of Stavky.
“Rybar” also reports a Ukrainian storm on the town of Jampil, southeast of Lyman. “Unless decisive action is taken by the Russian military leadership within 24 hours, Lyman awaits Balaklija’s fate,” the blog warned. With the recapture of Balaklija, Ukrainian forces have launched a major offensive in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine forced the Russians into a hasty retreat and regained control of almost the entire area.
The city is a logistically important hub
If the Ukrainian armed forces succeed in capturing the small town of Lyman – a logistically important hub – the Ukrainian army would have access to Svatove and Kreminna and thus deep into the Luhansk Oblast. And so in those areas through which Moscow officially started the war – the so-called Donets and Luhansk People’s Republics, which together form the Donbass. An area that has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
On Saturday evening, hours after Russia annexed several territories, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced his army’s successes in the east of the country in a video address. “Everyone has heard what is happening in Lyman,” he said, referring to Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, which had just been annexed to Moscow. Kiev speaks of about 5,000 Russian soldiers surrounded, but drone images from Friday show that many Russians have already withdrawn.
A video (see above) is already circulating on Twitter showing two Ukrainian soldiers waving their country’s blue-and-yellow flag on the outskirts of Lyman – without any visible resistance and in a victorious pose. The surrounded Russian soldiers now have three options, Governor Haidai said on Saturday morning: “They can try to break out or they surrender. Or they all die together.”
Propagandists speak of a “battle of fate”
Military experts estimate that supply and escape routes could be closed in the next 48 hours. Then the Russian soldiers would be completely surrounded and Lyman could no longer be held. That is why Russian propagandists are already reacting in panic and speak of a fateful battle. They criticize the military leadership and even protest against the Kremlin.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
