Donbass, Kiev slap one day after annexation: Moscow admits withdrawal from Lyman
Moscow confirmed the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Lyman stronghold located in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, annexed only yesterday to the Russian Federation. The city, considered of strategic importance by Kiev, had been surrounded by Ukrainian forces this morning.
Moscow’s defense ministry admitted that Russian forces withdrew “to more advantageous positions” to avoid being completely surrounded. According to the ministry, Ukrainian forces are continuing the counter-offensive despite having suffered “heavy losses” in an attempt to regain new territories in the Donbass. According to the Ukrainian army, between 5,000 and 5,500 Russian soldiers were present in the city.
“Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbass,” said the spokesman for the forces deployed in eastern Ukraine, Serhii Cherevatyi. “It’s an opportunity to go beyond Kreminna and Severodonetsk, and it’s psychologically very important,” he added.
The eastern region of Donetsk, in which Lyman is located, is one of the four that Russia unilaterally annexed yesterday, in a ceremony held in the Kremlin in the presence of pro-Russian leaders. In the speech that preceded the signing, Vladimir Putin reiterated his desire to defend the territories “with every means available”. The Russian president also said that the United States is “the only country in the world to have used nuclear weapons twice, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, setting a precedent”.
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