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Russian troops forced into humiliating withdrawal in Ukraine

Russian troops retreat from the occupied Ukraine city of Lyman.

Russian troops retreat from the occupied Ukraine city of Lyman.

A day after Russia annexed four Ukraine provinces, its troops have been forced to withdraw from a strategic occupied city for its operations in the East.

Russia says its retreat from the town of Lyman – which has served for months as a logistics and transport hub – was to avoid being surrounded by Ukraine’s army.

“In connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement, allied troops were withdrawn from the settlement of Krasny Liman to more advantageous lines,” the defence ministry said, using the Russian name of the town.

Ukraine’s capture of Lyman marked a major defeat for Moscow, a day after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

These included Donetsk, where Lyman is located.

The Ministry said in a statement that Russia had inflicted serious losses on the Ukrainian forces by launching “massive fire strikes” against them.

It did not provide evidence, and the claim could not be independently verified.

“Despite the losses suffered, the enemy, having a significant superiority in forces and means, introduced reserves and continued the offensive in this direction,” it said.

Earlier, two grinning Ukrainian soldiers taped the yellow-and-blue national flag on to the “Lyman” welcome sign at the town’s entrance in Donetsk region’s north, a video posted by the president’s chief of staff showed.

“Oct 1. We’re unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land. Lyman will be Ukraine,” one of the soldiers said, standing atop a military vehicle.

Lyman retreat sparks nuclear threat from Putin ally

As Russia abandoned the Lyman bastion, one of Mr Putin’s most hawkish allies, in Chechnya, said it was time for a nuclear response.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the southern Chechnya region, who describes himself as a footsoldier of Putin, said he felt he had to speak out after the loss of the territory.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov

“In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Mr Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.

Other top allies of President Putin, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons, but Kadyrov’s call was the most urgent and explicit.

Mr Putin said last week he was not bluffing when he said he was prepared to defend Russia’s “territorial integrity” with all available means, and later made clear this extended to the new regions that Moscow had claimed.

Washington said it would respond decisively to any use of nuclear weapons and has spelled out to Moscow the “catastrophic consequences” it would face.

In his comments, Mr Kadyrov launched a blistering attack on Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, the commander overseeing Lyman, who he derided as a “mediocrity”.

The Ukrainian military has said its capture would allow Kyiv to advance into the Luhansk region, whose full capture Moscow announced at the beginning of July after weeks of slow, grinding advances.

“Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas,” Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces, said.

“It is psychologically very important.”

Mr Putin proclaimed the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian land – a swathe of territory equal to about 18 per cent of Ukraine’s total surface land area.

Ukraine and its Western allies branded Russia’s move as illegal. Kyiv vowed to continue liberating its land of Russian forces and said it would not hold peace talks with Moscow while Putin remained as president.

-with AAP

Topics: Russia
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