Russians control node
London: capture of Lyman should ease advance
May 28, 2022, 1:21 p.m
After the pro-Russian separatists, the Russian military is now also announcing the capture of the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine. This should make the defense of the Donbass even more difficult for the Ukrainian army. President Selenskyi speaks of a “very, very difficult situation”.
The Russian military has claimed complete control of the strategically important small town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. “Due to the joint action of units of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian armed forces, the city of Krasny Liman was completely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. Krasny Liman is the name for Lyman that dates back to Soviet times.
The separatists allied with Moscow had already announced the conquest on Friday. The Ukrainian general staff had also indirectly admitted the case of the small town. Lyman is strategically important as a railway junction and road link to the metropolitan areas of Sieverodonetsk – Lysychansk in the east and Sloviansk – Kramatorsk in the south-west.
According to estimates by British intelligence, the Russian armed forces are likely to concentrate on consolidating their hold in Lyman in the coming days. With a major railway junction and access to major road and rail bridges across the Seversky Donets River, Lyman is of great strategic importance, including for Russia’s further advance in the Donbass. If Moscow succeeds in taking control of the city and the region around the city of Sievjerodonetsk, the Kremlin will sell this to its citizens as an important political success, the British write.
Fighting for Sieverodonetsk
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the situation in the embattled Donbass as “very, very difficult”. The Russian army is deploying a maximum of artillery and reserves in the area in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky said. The Ukrainian army is defending the country with all “current defense resources,” Zelenskyy said. “We’re doing everything we can to strengthen them.”
Russia has shifted its troops to the east from central and northern Ukraine, where it was unable to capture the cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv. Since then, Russian soldiers have been slowly but steadily penetrating deeper into the Donbass. Strategically important cities such as Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk are also besieged by the Russian army. The Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoted a pro-Russian police official as saying that Sieverodonetsk was “now surrounded”. Ukrainian soldiers could no longer leave the city. This was denied by Oleksandr Stryuk, a senior city official. But he admitted that the situation was “very difficult”.
According to the Kyiv-appointed governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gajday, Russian troops will not be able to take over the entire region in a short time. However, the Ukrainian defenders may have to withdraw from some areas in order not to be encircled. To prevent this, “there might even be an order for our troops to retreat,” Gajdaj explained on Telegram.