Ukraine war: Zelenskyy hails Lyman capture as US says Russian moves now 'more difficult'
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed the capture of the important strategic town of Lyman from Russian control on Saturday, as Ukrainian forces continued their counteroffensive.
“The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. “Over the past week, there have been more Ukrainian flags in the Donbas. In a week there will be even more."
Ukrainian soldiers announced the capture in a video recorded outside the council building in the town centreand posted on social media.
"Dear Ukrainians: today the armed forces of Ukraine... liberated and took control of the settlement of Lyman, Donetsk region," one of the soldiers says. At the end of the video, a group of soldiers cheer and throw Russian flags down from the building's roof and raise a Ukrainian flag in their place.
Russia’s loss of the eastern town came just a day after Vladimir Putin proclaimed the Donetsk region in which it is situated, along with three other regions, as part of Russia.
The consequences are more than symbolic. Lyman's role as a transport and logistics hub, is a new blow to the Kremlin as it seeks to escalate the war by illegally annexing four regions of Ukraine.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin described the capture of Lyman as "absolutely... significant".
"We're very encouraged by what we're seeing right now. Lyman sits astride the supply lines of the Russians. And they've used those routes to push men and material down to the south and to the west. And without those routes, it'll be more difficult (for the Russians)," he said on Sunday.
In its daily assessment, the UK defence ministry described the Russian withdrawal from the town as a "significant political setback" given that it is located in "a region Russia
Read more on euronews.com
