Lyman

Troops raise Ukrainian flag in city hours after Putin said area was Russia's 'for ever', with Moscow admitting its forces have retreated.

In Friday’s rambling and grudge-filled speech Putin denounced the west and portrayed his invasion of Ukraine as a just and necessary response to an attempt by the US and its allies to “colonise” Russia. Ukrainian battalions can push north towards the town of Svatove or east to Kreminna, Haidai, the Luhansk governor, said. The sudden collapse of Russia’s forces in Lyman opens up the possibility of further Ukrainian gains. He and about 7,000 other Ukrainian staff at the plant are employed by Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear organisation, based in Kyiv. The Kremlin controls almost all of Luhansk and Kherson provinces, but only parts of the other two regions. The Kremlin has not commented on its stunning military rout in Lyman. The governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, said the besieged troops had begged on Friday to be allowed to leave Lyman. The debacle came hours after Putin announced on Friday that the city, which is a part of the Donetsk region, was Russia’s “for ever”. “A colossal grouping” of up to 5,000 enemy soldiers was facing defeat, he added. The attack appears to have happened several days ago. They had been “withdrawn to more advantageous lines”, the ministry said, after their encirclement by Ukrainian forces. Earlier on Saturday Ukraine’s armed forces said they had entirely surrounded the city, trapping thousands of Russian soldiers inside.

In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people including children. In the south, ...

Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure amid ongoing shelling nearby. In a daily briefing Saturday, the British Defense Ministry said the Russians “almost certainly” struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. That was just hours after Putin signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia, including the area around the nuclear plant. Russia did not publicly comment on the report. Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom. Russian forces have not acknowledged or commented on the attack. Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’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. In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people including children. The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. It remained unclear whether Ukrainian forces have entered the city itself. The discrepancy could not be immediately resolved.

Why it matters: The withdrawal comes one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed four regions of Ukraine, including the Donetsk region where Lyman is ...

The proportions of Russians believing the war isn't going well (31%) and wanting peace talks (48%) also increased in the new poll. [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/30/world/russia-ukraine-war-news?partner=slack&smid=sl-share#ukraine-says-23-people-are-dead-in-an-attack-civilian-convoy-in-zaporizhzhia). [Russian attack kills 25 in Ukraine on eve of planned annexation](/2022/09/30/russia-ukraine-zaporizhzhia-annexation) [Russian strikes](https://www.axios.com/2022/09/18/russia-ukraine-invasion-civilian-target-strikes) killed 25 civilians and injured at least 50 others overnight in the Ukrainian province of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's prosecutor general [said](https://gp.gov.ua/ua/posts/25-zagiblix-ta-blizko-50-poranenix-cerez-obstril-viiskovimi-rf-gumanitarnoyi-koloni-v-zaporizzi-rozpocato-provadzennya). [Putin claims 15% of Ukraine is now part of Russia](https://www.axios.com/2022/09/30/putin-claims-annexation-four-ukrainian-oblasts) [Putin claims 15% of Ukraine is now part of Russia](/2022/09/30/putin-claims-annexation-four-ukrainian-oblasts) [Ukraine](https://www.axios.com/world/axios-explains-ukraine#) — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, [Axios' Dave Lawler writes.](https://www.axios.com/2022/09/30/putin-claims-annexation-four-ukrainian-oblasts)

After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub.

The Russian army struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to regional Gov. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its Russia’s Defense Ministry said its rockets destroyed Ukrainian military targets in the area but has not commented on accusations that it targeted fleeing civilians. He called it “сruelty that can’t be justified.” He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River. Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Russian bombardments have intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilization at home to bolster its forces. Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen from a distance by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.

Ukrainian forces are encircling Russian troops in Russian-occupied Lyman, in the Kramatorsk district of Donetsk, despite Moscow's annexation of the region.

All routes for the supply of ammunition or the retreat of the group are all completely blocked,” he added. “[The liberation] of Lyman is important, because it is another step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. “The Russian group in the area of Lyman is surrounded. There has never been such a large group in the encirclement before. “There are several thousand of them. The settlements of Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandryholove, Drobysheve, and Stavky are liberated.

Ukrainian forces reached the entrance of the eastern bastion of Lyman on 1 October after encircling thousands of Russian troops, in a battlefield rebuttal ...

“Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. Its fall would be Ukraine’s biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month. “1 October: We are unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land.