KYIV, Ukraine — Russia attacked the Ukrainian president’s hometown and different targets Sunday with drones, whereas Ukraine took again full management of a strategic jap metropolis in a counteroffensive that has reshaped the battle.
Russia’s lack of the jap metropolis of Lyman, which it had been utilizing as a transport and logistics hub, is a brand new blow to the Kremlin because it seeks to escalate the battle by illegally annexing 4 areas of Ukraine and heightening threats to make use of nuclear pressure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s land seize has threatened to push the battle to a harmful new stage. It additionally prompted Ukraine to formally apply for fast-track NATO membership.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced Sunday that his forces now management Lyman: “As of 12:30 p.m. Lyman is cleared fully. Thank you to our militaries, our warriors,” he stated in a video deal with.
Russia’s army didn’t remark Sunday on Lyman, after saying Saturday that it was withdrawing its forces there to extra favorable positions.
The British army described the recapture of Lyman as a “significant political setback” for Moscow, and Ukraine appeared to swiftly capitalize on its positive aspects.
Hours after Zelenskyy’s announcement, Ukrainian media shared a picture of Ukrainian troops carrying the nation’s yellow-and-blue flag in entrance of a statue marking the village of Torske, 9 miles east of Lyman and nearby of the Russian-held Luhansk area.
Shortly later, a video posted on-line confirmed one Ukrainian soldier saying that Kyiv’s forces had begun to focus on town of Kreminna, simply throughout the border in Luhansk. Outgoing artillery could possibly be heard within the background. Russian army correspondents additionally acknowledged Ukrainian assaults concentrating on Kreminna.
In one other on-line photograph, a Ukrainian soldier stood earlier than big watermelon landmark simply south of the village of Novovorontsovka on the banks of the Dnieper River, alongside the Russian-controlled province of Kherson’s northern edge. A Ukrainian flag flew above the statue as a number of apparently deactivated landmines lay beside it.
While Ukrainian forces didn’t instantly acknowledge a breakthrough, writers near the Russian army have described a brand new offensive by Kyiv within the Kherson area.
In southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s hometown of Krivyi Rih got here underneath Russian assault by a suicide drone that destroyed two tales of a faculty early Sunday, the regional governor stated.
The Ukrainian air pressure stated Sunday it shot down 5 Iranian-made drones in a single day, whereas two others made it by way of air defenses.
Germany’s protection minister on Sunday introduced the supply of 16 wheeled armored howitzers produced in Slovakia to Ukraine subsequent 12 months. The weapons might be financed collectively with Denmark, Norway and Germany,
The Russian retreat from northeast Ukraine in latest weeks has revealed proof of widespread, routine torture of each civilians and troopers, notably within the strategic metropolis of Izium.
Pope Francis on Sunday decried Russia’s nuclear threats and appealed to Putin to cease “this spiral of violence and death.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”