Russian troops forced out of Ukraine town
FALL OF LYMAN A MAJOR SETBACK FOR MOSCOW
After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out yesterday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin.
Russia’s withdrawal from Lyman complicates its declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine – an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now claims as its own.
The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield — which he frames as a US-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia — Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.
Lyman, which is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk, had been an important link in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics.
Outnumbered
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favourable positions. Kyiv’s air force said it moved into Lyman, and the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the town’s outskirts. Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometres southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, it is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk region, both of which Russia annexed on Friday after a local “referendum’’ was held at gunpoint.
Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River.
Aresolution introduced by the United States and Albania at the United Nations Security Council condemning Russia’s proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine was rejected on Friday after Russia exercised its veto.
In a vote in the council’s chamber on Friday afternoon, 10 nations, including the United States and Britain, voted in favour, while China, Gabon, India and Brazil abstained from voting.
Russia’s was the only vote against the resolution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proclaimed Russian rule over four regions that make up 15 per cent of Ukraine’s territory — the biggest annexation in Europe since the Second World War. The move has been firmly rejected by Western countries and even many of Russia’s close allies.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield introduced the resolution that called on member states not to recognise any altered status of Ukraine and obligate Russia to withdraw its troops.
Washington has signalled it would look to the UN General Assembly, the majority of which voted to condemn Russia’s February 24 military intervention in Ukraine, if the resolution failed.
“This is exactly what the Security Council was made to do. Defend sovereignty, protect territorial integrity, promote peace and security,” Thomas-Greenfield, said at the start of the meeting.
“The United Nations was built on an idea that never again would one country be allowed to take another’s territory by force,” she said.
Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, complained that it was unprecedented to seek condemnation of a permanent member of the Security Council.
The resolution would have condemned the “illegal” referendums held in parts of Ukraine and call on all states not to recognise any changes to Ukraine’s borders.
It also would have called on Russia to withdraw troops immediately from Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier Friday said that the US would seek a vote at the General Assembly.