Ukraine assured this Saturday that it has surrounded thousands of Russian troops in the city of
Lyman
, in the east of the country, in a region that Russia has just illegally annexed, and could regain control of a strategic city.
Russia, meanwhile,
bombed
a civilian evacuation convoy in the northeast of the country, killing 20 people.
In addition, in
Zaporizhzhia
, another of the four regions illegally annexed by Russia, the Ukrainian authorities reported the disappearance of the head of the largest nuclear plant in Europe.
Ukrainian offensive in areas invaded by Putin
Ukrainian troops took control of villages near Lyman in the Donetsk region and surrounded the town, Serhiy Cherevaty, its military spokesman, told The Washington Post on Saturday.
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Lyman is a strategic railway junction to supply Russian troops located in the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian military have entered Stavky, a town neighboring Lyman, Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, said on television on Saturday.
“The Russian group in Lyman is surrounded.
Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandryholove, Drobysheve and Stavky settlements are liberated.
Stabilization measures are ongoing there,” he said.
"Lyman is important because it is one more step towards the liberation of Donbas," he added, "it is an opportunity to go further towards Kreminna and Severodonetsk.
It is psychologically very important.”
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington DC-based think tank, sees
Ukraine is likely to retake Lyman within days, according to The Associated Press news agency.
A Ukrainian soldier in Lyman on April 28.
JORGE SILVA/REUTERS
The institute believes Russian forces are withdrawing from Lyman
,
100 miles southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
There are videos circulating on the internet purporting to show Russian forces backing down in the face of the Ukrainian offensive.
Deadly Russian attack on Ukrainian civilians
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov denounced this Saturday that a civilian evacuation convoy was attacked in the Kupiansy district and described the attack on people trying to flee the bombing as "cruelty that cannot be justified".
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The British Ministry of Defense sees "almost certain" that Russia will attack the humanitarian convoy with S-300 missiles.
An attack on the capital of the Zaporizhzhia region on Friday caused 30 deaths and 88 wounded.
In the face of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week doubled down on threats to use nuclear force and used his most aggressive and anti-Western rhetoric to date.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to continue fighting to liberate the annexed regions and occupied areas.
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The head of a nuclear plant is kidnapped
Ukraine's nuclear energy agency, Energoatom, denounced on Saturday that the Russian military had kidnapped the head of the continent's largest nuclear plant, Ihor Murashov, in Zaporizhzhia, in what appears to be an attempt to secure control of this territory after Putin sign the illegal annexation of the area, which includes this nuclear power plant.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has staff at the plant, said it is aware of reports of Murashov's capture, and said it has contacted Russia.
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"His detention endangers the security of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear plant," said Energoatom director Petro Kotin, who demanded Ihor Murashov's immediate release.
Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine, in what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calls "the largest attempt to annex European territory by force since World War II."
The NATO chief met with Denmark's prime minister on Saturday over investigations into gas pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea.