Ukraine Successfully Seizes Full Control Of Russian Logistics Center

Ukrainian military illustration. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukraine on Sunday claimed complete control of the eastern logistics hub of Lyman, Russia's most significant battlefield advantage in weeks, could provide a foothold for further attacks into the east.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the seizure of the city, where Ukrainian flags were hoisted over civilian buildings on Saturday, showed that Ukraine was able to repel Russian troops, as well as the effect Ukraine's deployment of advanced Western weapons had on the conflict.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country's army's success was not limited to retaking Lyman.

A stinging setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin came after he proclaimed on Friday the annexation of four territories covering nearly a fifth of Ukraine, a region that includes Lyman. Kyiv and the West have condemned the proclamation as an illegitimate joke.

Not only that, but he also said Ukrainian troops had liberated the small settlements of Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka in the Kherson region.

The Ukrainian military said in a statement late on Sunday that its troops had repelled Russian advances in several areas, particularly in the Donetsk region near Bakhmut and Spirne, just inside the Donetsk region near Lysychansk.

Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it was pulling troops out of the Lyman area "in connection with the creation of a siege threat".

There was no mention of Lyman in his daily update on the fighting in Ukraine on Sunday.

Russian forces captured Lyman from Ukraine in May, using it as a logistics and transportation hub for its operations in the northern Donetsk region. His recapture by Ukrainian forces was Russia's biggest battlefield loss since Ukraine's brisk counter-offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in September.

Control over Lyman could prove a "key factor" in helping Ukraine reclaim lost territory in neighboring Luhansk, whose full capture Moscow announced in early July after weeks of advancing, Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said.

Lyman's operational importance is due to its command of a road crossing the Donets Siverskyi River, on which Russia has been trying to consolidate its defences, the UK Ministry of Defense says.