KYIV: Russia said Saturday it has withdrawn its troops from the once-occupied city of Lyman, as Ukraine's eastern counteroffensive recaptures more territory.
Russia’s Tass and RIA news agencies, citing the Russian defense ministry, made the announcement.
Lyman is 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Ukrainian forces had pushed across the Oskil River as part of a counteroffensive that saw Kyiv retake vast swathes of territory beginning in September.
Lyman, a key transportation hub, had been an important site in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. Now with it gone, Ukraine can push further potentially into the occupied Luhansk region, which is one of four regions that Russia annexed Friday after an internationally criticized referendum vote at gunpoint.
Ukrainian forces encircled the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Saturday in a counteroffensive that has humiliated the Kremlin, while Russian bombardments intensified after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of the war.
In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people including children. In the south, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said Saturday that Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield — which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia — Putin this week heightened his threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.
Despite Putin's land-grab Friday of four regions in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep on fighting to liberate the annexed regions and other Russian-occupied areas.
Ukrainian officials said Saturday their forces had surrounded some 5,000 Russian forces who were trying to hold the eastern city of Lyman, which is located in Luhansk, one of the four annexed areas.
Ukraine's defence ministry said Saturday its forces were "entering" the key town of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region that Russia annexed a day earlier.
"Ukrainian Air Assault Forces are entering Lyman, Donetsk region," the ministry said on Twitter, posting a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag near a sign with the town's name.
Lyman lies in the north of Donetsk, which Moscow annexed despite only controlling part of the region.
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, posted video online Saturday purporting to show Ukrainian soldiers at a monument on the outskirts of Lyman, waving a signed Ukrainian flag. It remained unclear whether Ukrainian forces have entered the city itself. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai claimed that all routes to resupply Russian forces in Lyman were blocked.
Russia has not confirmed that its forces were cut off, and Russian analysts had said Moscow was sending more troops to the area. But the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine likely will retake Lyman in the coming days.
Citing Russian reports, the institute said it appeared Russian forces were retreating from Lyman, 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. That corresponds to online videos purportedly showing some Russian forces falling back.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities accuse Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.
The Kremlin-backed leader of Donetsk said Friday that Russian troops and their allies were holding on to Lyman with "their last strength".
(With inputs from AFP)