Bankruptcy in Lyman: Experts suspect Putin himself to be behind the withdrawal – but Ukraine reports an attack in Donbass
Created: 03/10/2022 04:53
By: Florian Naumann, Christina Denk, Franziska Schwarz
Ukrainian troops appear to be gaining territory again in eastern Ukraine.
Russian troops leave Lyman.
The news ticker.
Russia's defeat
in
Donbass
: Experts suspect Putin himself to be behind the withdrawal decision
Russian loss
in
Lyman
: "Putin's bloodhound" Kadyrov demands consequences
Russia
withdraws from
Lyman
: the city is extremely important strategically.
This
news ticker on military developments
in the Ukraine war is constantly updated.
Update from October 2, 10:25 p.m .:
The Ukrainian General Staff reported further successes on Sunday evening: Russian attacks on seven settlements near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast were repelled.
At the same time, eight Iranian “kamikaze drones” were shot down within one day, the
Kyiv Independent
reported on Twitter, citing official information from Kiev.
However, this could not be verified independently.
The reports of Russian attacks in the Donetsk region contrast somewhat with an assessment by the US think-thanks ISW.
Its experts had speculated that Vladimir Putin himself ordered the city of Lyman to be abandoned in order to focus Russian military efforts on the southern Ukrainian regions of Sapoyzhia and Kherson.
Update from October 2, 6:23 p.m .:
According to its own statements, Russia has already stopped more than 180 conscripts on the border with neighboring Georgia when they tried to escape from entering the military.
The Interfax agency reports that they were handed a call-up notice directly at the Werchni Lars border crossing.
She referred to the military commissariat of the Russian region of North Ossetia, which borders Georgia.
Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said recruits would have to complete training in the "rear areas" of the combat zone.
It had previously been said that the newly drafted men would initially be deployed in the immediate vicinity, but not in the war zone itself.
Russia's defeat in Donbass: Experts suspect Putin himself to be behind the withdrawal decision
Update from October 2, 5:01 p.m .:
Military experts from the renowned Institute for the Study of War (ISW) see the withdrawal of Russian troops from the strategically important city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “almost certainly” as a conscious decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Harsh criticism of the withdrawal of the troops had also come from Russia.
It was not the military commands that decided that the front lines near the cities of Kupjansk or Lyman would not be reinforced, but the president himself, according to an initial analysis on Saturday evening.
It indicates that Putin wants to take care of securing strategic areas in the Cherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Lyman is located in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian and Russian sources unanimously pointed out that the Russian armed forces continued to strengthen their positions in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, ISW experts continued to write.
They also reported a "failed ground attack" by Russian troops on the town of Kosacha Lopan in the northern Kharkiv region.
According to the general staff, Ukrainian soldiers repelled the attack near the Russian border.
Such attacks indicated that Putin's continued goal of regaining control of territories beyond the regions he had illegally annexed was likely to remain in place - rather than deploying soldiers against Ukraine's Donbass offensive.
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"Putinland" as a "mafia state": Navalny confidante explains Russia's "madness" - and three scenarios for Putin's end
Update from October 2, 3:19 p.m .:
According to information from Moscow, Ukrainian troops have launched an offensive in the south of the country.
They are said to have suffered many casualties.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday, fighting took place in the Mykolaiv region and the village of Andriivka in the Cherson region.
More than 240 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 31 tanks destroyed.
As a rule, information from the war zone cannot be verified at all or only with difficulty.
Many Ukrainians also died in fighting elsewhere in the attacked country, Moscow said.
The Russian Defense Ministry also reported an attack on an office of the Ukrainian secret service in the Dnepropetrovsk region.
According to information from Moscow, more than 35 employees were killed, including foreigners.
Details were not given.
Ukraine-News: Melitopol mayor threatens collaborators of Russia
Update from October 2, 1:19 p.m
.: The mayor of the occupied southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, who is loyal to Kiev, has announced tough action against collaborators in the Russian-occupied areas.
"None of them will evade responsibility," Ivan Fedorov told the Funke media group.
"Thanks to our residents who provide leads on traitors, we know the names of all the collaborators," he added.
In Moscow, Russia's constitutional court has meanwhile recognized the annexation treaties signed by Putin for the Ukrainian territories as legal.
The agreements are in line with the Russian constitution, it said.
Update from October 2nd, 12.49 p.m
.: New details on the situation in Lyman: Since 12.30 p.m. (11.30 a.m. CEST) the city has been “completely” liberated from the Russian military presence, said Selenskyj in a video published on social networks.
"Thanks to our military!" Said the Ukrainian President.
Offensive in eastern Ukraine: Zelenskyi announces complete capture of Lyman
Update from October 2, 12:22 p.m
.: The Ukrainian city of Lyman has now been “completely” liberated from the Russian occupiers, the British
Guardian
quoted from a telegram message from Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
The information could not be checked independently.
Ukraine-News: Military historian ranks success in Lyman greater than that in Kharkiv
2 Oct 12:04 update
: Military historian Phillips P. Obrien finds Lyman's Ukrainian success "more impressive" than success in the Kharkiv region.
"Ukrainians may never find another area as poorly defended (by Russians) as Kharkiv," Obrien tweeted.
Lyman, on the other hand, was made an important point by the Russians before their defeat, "it seems like they had a lot of troops there."
According to British intelligence, Russia suffered heavy losses while withdrawing from Lyman.
Ukraine-News: Again explosions in the Crimea - videos circulate on the internet
Update from October 2, 11:11 a.m
.: Apparently renewed explosions in Crimea: A military airport was attacked on Saturday (October 1) on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow.
"According to the information of the rescue workers, a plane overshot the runway and caught fire," wrote the Russian-installed governor of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Rasvozhayev, on Telegram.
This information could not be independently verified.
However, videos circulating on social networks showed thick clouds of smoke with strong explosions.
Observers suspected that an ammunition store could have caught fire.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine-News: Secret service assumes high Russian losses in Lyman
Update from October 2nd, 10.43 a.m
.: When withdrawing from Lyman, the Russians suffered high losses according to British intelligence services.
The city in eastern Ukraine was allegedly previously defended by undermanned Russian units and reservists, according to the British Ministry of Defense's most recent short report.
Many soldiers were said to have died when retreating via the only road out of the city that was still under Russian control.
According to the British, the withdrawal triggered a wave of public criticism of the military leadership in Russian government circles.
Further defeats in the regions of the annexed territories are likely to further intensify this and increase the pressure on senior commanders.
Zelenskyy scoffs at Lyman bankruptcy for Russia: "Looking for the culprits"
Update from October 2,
11:19 a.m .: Selenskyj reacted with mockery to the anger in Moscow about Lyman.
"By the way, they've already started biting each other there: they're looking for the culprits, accusing some generals of failure," the 44-year-old commented in his daily video address.
It is only the first warning shot for all those who took part in Putin's war.
Until they solve the problem with the one who "started this for Russia senseless war against Ukraine, you will be killed and scapegoated one by one," he prophesied.
Russian loss in Lyman: "Putin's bloodhound" Kadyrov demands consequences
Update from October 2, 9:33 a.m
.: The bankruptcy in Lyman caused bitter comments on the Russian side: the influential blogger and former head of PR for Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Anastasiya Kaschevarowa, demanded answers from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov: "Does the President know what happened?
Who reports to him?
Where's the gear?
Where are the (tanks) Armata?
where is everything
How could that happen?
bagged?
Sold?
where did it go
Was that even possible?”
The Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov - also known as "Putin's bloodhound" - in turn demanded that Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who was responsible for the front section, be deposed, demoted and sent to the front as a simple soldier.
The problems in Lyman were reported two weeks ago.
He called for the use of short-range nuclear weapons to be considered.
Ramzan Kadyrov (right) at the table with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(Archive photo) © Alexei Druzhinin/dpa
Selenskyj after Putin's bankruptcy in Lyman sure: "There will be more"
Update from October 2,
8:29 a.m.: Volodymyr Zelenskyj reacted triumphantly to the Russian loss of the city of Lyman.
"During the week, new Ukrainian flags were waved over the Donbass," Zelenskyy said in his recent video address.
"There will be more in the coming week."
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) - a Washington-based think tank - writes in a recent analysis that the Russian withdrawal from Lyman was "almost certainly" a decision by Vladimir Putin, and not the Russian military.
For the Kremlin chief, holding occupied areas in southern Ukraine is apparently more important than eastern Ukraine.
With the fall of Lyman, the path to Kreminna and Svatowe opened up for the Ukrainian troops.
Both cities are located in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine and - especially Swatowe - are considered important transport hubs.
At the beginning of the summer, the Russian army declared the Luhansk region “liberated”.
Ukraine-News: Kadyrov calls for the use of "low-yield nuclear weapons"
Update from October 1, 7:30 p.m .:
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has called on the Russian army to use “low-yield nuclear weapons” in Ukraine.
"In my opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to and including the imposition of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons," Kadyrov told Telegram.
Before that, the Russian army withdrew from the strategically important city.
The ruler of the Russian republic of Chechnya also denounced the "nepotism" in the Russian army.
This will "lead to nothing good," he explained.
Russia withdraws from Lyman – “due to danger of encirclement”
Update from October 1, 4:35 p.m .:
In another defeat against the Ukrainian army, Russia gave up the strategically important city of Lyman in the Donetsk region.
The armed forces had been withdrawn because of the risk of encirclement, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow on Saturday.
Ukrainian authorities had previously spoken of around 5,000 encircled Russian soldiers
(see initial report).
Attack on civilians in Ukraine war: 20 dead after renewed shelling of car convoy
Update from October 1, 4:00 p.m .:
The Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of again firing at a car convoy with civilians.
Twenty people were killed in an attack near the city of Kupyansk.
The civilians tried to escape from Russian attacks, Ukrainian regional governor Oleh Sinegubov said on Saturday on the Telegram news channel.
"This is a cruelty that has no justification." The details of the dead are provisional.
Investigators and experts went to the location in the Kharkiv region to investigate the case, Sinegubov said.
The information cannot be independently verified.
According to Ukrainian sources, 30 people were killed in a rocket attack on a civilian car convoy in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia on Friday.
According to the latest police reports on Saturday, more than 100 people were injured.
Reconquest in Donbass: Ukraine reports 5,000 soldiers surrounded
First report from October 1st:
Lyman – According to Ukrainian information, an important step is imminent near the town of Lyman.
Ukrainian troops reported encircling around 5,000 Russian soldiers.
Such a number of encircled Russians never existed before in the Ukraine war, said Serhiy Hajdaj, the Ukrainian head of administration for Luhansk.
Almost all entrances are blocked.
Ukraine surrounds soldiers near Lyman: Russian recruits are prevented from retreating
A video showing Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of Lyman circulated on Twitter.
They wave the Ukrainian flag – without any visible resistance.
The Donzker separatist leader, Denis Puschilin, had already admitted on Friday that Lyman was almost completely surrounded.
Western military experts assume that the city will be completely liberated in the next few days.
The
Institute for the Study of War
spoke on Friday of an expected intake within 72 hours.
The occupiers from Russia had asked their superiors to get out of the area if possible, reports the Ukrainian head of administration, Hajdaj.
They received a rebuff.
"They now have three courses of action: either they can try to break out or they surrender.
Or they all die together.
There are about 5,000 of them, there is no exact number,” says the Hajdaj.
The
New York Times
reported a week ago that President Vladimir Putin is increasingly interfering in decisions at the front and preventing soldiers from retreating.
Ukraine War: Lyman could be starting point for further conquests
Lyman is considered a strategically important city in the Ukraine war.
For months it served as a logistics and transport hub for Russian soldiers, according to
ntv
.
In addition, the conquest of Lyman, located in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, opens the way to Svatove and Kreminna and thus deep into the adjacent Luhansk region.
Luhansk and Donetsk have largely been under Russian control since the summer.
Vladimir Putin officially annexed the regions on Friday (September 30).
The West reacted to the "brutal expansionism" with sanctions.
Since the beginning of September, Ukraine has been reporting land gains in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Russian military bloggers now fear a similar outcome in Lyman as in Balaklija.
With the recapture of Balakliya, Ukrainian troops launched a major offensive in the Kharkiv region, as a result of which Kyiv regained control of almost the entire region and forced the Russian troops into a hasty retreat.
Meanwhile, Russia has apparently kidnapped the head of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.
(chd/dpa)
