Saturday, after being surrounded by Ukrainian forces, Russia withdrew its troops from a city in eastern Ukraine that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the most recent Ukrainian counteroffensive triumph, which embarrassed and enraged the Kremlin.
Russia’s retreat from Lyman complicates its widely reviled attempt to annex four Ukrainian regions and prepares the stage for Ukrainian soldiers to potentially advance further into territory that Moscow now unjustly claims as its own.
The combat occurs at a crucial time in the war led by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin, in response to Ukrainian victories on the battlefield, which he views as a U.S.-orchestrated campaign to destroy Russia, has escalated his nuclear threats and employed his most inflammatory anti-Western rhetoric to date.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed to have caused damage on Ukrainian forces during the battle for Lyman, but stated that outnumbered Russian troops withdrew to more advantageous positions. The Russian announcement was made shortly after Ukraine’s air force stated that it had advanced into Lyman and the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff uploaded images of a Ukrainian flag being raised on the outskirts of the town.
Lyman, a crucial transport hub, has been an important junction for both ground communications and logistics on the Russian front line.
Aerial image of artillery craters in a field in the recently liberated Kharkiv region of Ukraine on September 30, 2022. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
In a counteroffensive that began in September, Ukrainian forces pushed Russian soldiers out of the Kharkiv region and moved east across the Oskil River toward Lyman and other vital sites, recapturing significant swaths of terrain.
In recent days, Russian bombardments have risen as Moscow has proceeded fast with the takeover and ordered a domestic mobilization to strengthen its military.
In the northeast, Ukrainian officials alleged that Russian soldiers attacked a civilian evacuation convoy, resulting in the deaths of twenty persons, including children. Saturday, the Ukrainian nuclear energy provider reported that Russian agents blindfolded and detained the chief of the largest nuclear reactor in Europe.
Despite Putin’s Friday annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his forces have vowed to continue fighting for the liberation of the annexed regions and other Russian-occupied territories.
Saturday, Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of attacking two aid convoys in recent days, resulting in the deaths of scores of civilians.
Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv area, stated that 24 civilians were killed in a strike on a convoy of people fleeing the Kupiansk neighborhood earlier this week, calling it “cruelty that cannot be justified.” He stated that thirteen children and a pregnant mother were among the deceased.
“The Russians fired virtually point-blank shots at civilians,” Syniehubov wrote on the messaging application Telegram.
The Ukrainian Security Service, also known by its abbreviation SBU, published images of the ambushed convoy. At least one vehicle appeared to have been blown up, as there were charred corpses in the truck bed. Another car at the front of the convoy had caught fire. There were bodies on the side of the road or still inside their automobiles, which were riddled with bullet holes.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has stated that their missiles destroyed Ukrainian military targets in the region, but has remained silent on allegations that it targeted fleeing civilians. In response to the strong Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian forces have retreated from majority of the Kharkiv region but have continued to shell the area.