The Russian army confirms an announcement made the day before by the pro-Russian separatists of this self-proclaimed "republic" in eastern Ukraine.
She announced this Saturday the conquest of the key locality of Lyman, in eastern Ukraine, considered a crossroads which opens the road to the major cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
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"As a result of the joint actions of the Donetsk People's Republic militia units and the Russian Armed Forces, the town of Lyman was completely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
A rapprochement towards Severodonetsk
Lyman is an important railway junction located northeast of the symbolic city of Sloviansk, taken over from pro-Russian separatists by kyiv in 2014, and Kramatorsk, the capital of the part of the Donetsk region (east) under Ukrainian control.
The capture of Lyman would make it possible to remove an obstacle towards Sloviansk, then Kramatorsk, while marking progress in the attempt to encircle Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, two other important Ukrainian cities located further east.
