Just a matter of hours
Experts see Lyman close to liberation
10/01/2022 09:24 am
According to a US think tank, the Russian army is facing another serious defeat in the Donetsk region: Ukrainian troops have almost completely encircled the city of Lyman – and an escape corridor for the Russians is also blocked. The retreat is chaotic.
Ukrainian troops could capture and encircle the strategically important city of Lyman within the next 72 hours. According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have continued to withdraw from their positions around Lyman since Friday, while Ukrainian units surrounded Russian troops in the area. For the Russian army, the loss of Lyman would be another major setback. For months, the site served as a logistics and transportation hub that coordinated Russian military operations in the north of the region.
According to information from the ISW, Drobyschewe – about six kilometers from the city limits of Lyman – has already been abandoned. And in Jampil – about 13 kilometers south-east of the city – the Russian troops had withdrawn. A video shared on Ukrainian social media channels is said to show Ukrainian soldiers in front of a destroyed building in Drobysheve. The village, it says, was completely liberated. There are also similar recordings from Jampil.
The occupation chief of the Donetsk region, Denis Puschilin, had already admitted on Friday that Russian troops in Lyman were almost completely surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers. However, Russian war correspondents, on whose information the ISW relies, said the Russians still controlled Lyman. A road from Lyman to Torske is also still under the control of the occupiers. The road from Drobyschewe to Torske, on the other hand, has already been blocked by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage groups are also on the move north-east of Lyman.
Retreat as chaotic as in Balaklija?
Near Torske, the Ukrainian army is said to have attacked the withdrawing Russian troops with artillery. According to Russian sources, the Ukrainians continue to block the only remaining escape route for Russian forces on the Kreminna-Torske road. A total of around 5,500 Kremlin soldiers are said to be surrounded. According to Pushilin, additional reserves – apparently with some newly mobilized forces – arrived on Friday to reinforce the Russian units in the area and break through the encirclement by the Ukrainian army.
Russian military bloggers paint a different picture: According to them, the Russian withdrawal from Lyman is said to be just as chaotic as before in Balaklija. It was poorly coordinated and made difficult by a lack of artillery support. The Russian military command failed to send the necessary reinforcements to defend Lyman and instead fired rockets at the Mykolaiv area. Only Ukrainian attacks north of Lyman in Ridkodub have been officially confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense – the ministry reported no fighting west, east or south of Lyman.