Moscow troops withdrew from the city of Lyman in Donetsk, said the Russian Defense Ministry, giving a new setback to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Images of Ukrainian soldiers raising their flag on the outskirts of the city occupied by Russia since May were widely shared on social media since Saturday.
kyiv reported that its troops had surrounded up to 5, of Putin’s troops at the strategic location, and the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that they had “withdrawn to deeper lines advantageous”, reported the Russian state news agency RIA.
The statement emphasized the Russian gains against kyiv, saying that it carried out attacks against the mechanized brigades 66 and 93 of the Ukrainian forces and killed more than 200 military, and destroyed five tanks and nine infantry fighting vehicles.
“Despite the losses suffered, having a significant superiority in forces and means, the enemy brought reserves and continued the offensive in this direction,” the Defense Ministry statement added.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry previously tweeted that the Ukrainian military “has and will always have the deciding vote in the ‘referendums’ of today and in any future”. kyiv freelance journalist Ilia Ponomarenko tweeted: “The Battle of Lyman is the victory of Ukraine.”
The coup against Putin comes just one day after he signed what the Kremlin has called “accession treaties” to annex Donetsk, as well as three other regions of the Eastern European country: Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
On Friday, Putin announced that the area was “forever” Moscow while thousands of people gathered in Red Square to celebrate the “annexations” of Ukrainian territories that have been condemned worldwide.
Comes less than a month after Russian troops left Balakleya and Izyum in the Kharkiv region following the success of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
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