The capture of the Moscow-annexed town of Lyman by the Ukrainian army on Sunday poses a serious problem for Russian forces, who are on the defensive and forced to establish a new front line. In the east of the Kharkiv region (northeast), the railway network converges at a point to the Kupyansk Vouzloviï railway station and then slopes south towards Svatové in the Russian-annexed Lugansk region.
During the six-month Russian occupation, trains used these tracks to transport supplies to Moscow troops stationed farther south, making this station an important logistical hub for Russian military operations. But the situation has changed in the last few days. The Ukrainian counter-offensive allowed Kyiv to retake large areas in the region, forcing the Russians to retreat.
The city “totally liberated” from the Russian army
The station, although badly damaged, is now in the hands of the Ukrainian army. “This location has always been an important strategic point. It’s a hub for freight and trains,” explains “Rosomakha,” a Ukrainian soldier whose nom de guerre translates to “glutton.” Behind him the windows of the station are shattered and the hall is deserted.
During Sunday’s visit of the unit “Rosomakha” to the station, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially announced Lyman’s arrest at the front in Donetsk region, which was annexed by Moscow on Friday. The city was “completely liberated” from the Russian army, he hailed in a video that marks a key victory for Kyiv two days after Moscow formalized the annexation of Ukrainian territories that its army fully or partially controls.
“Panic”
Kupyansk Vouzloviï is 90 km north of Lyman on the Oskil River, not far from Kupyansk, a town that was taken by the Ukrainians last week. Faced with their failure, the Russian army had to retreat in a hurry towards Svatové, halfway to the important cities of Severodonetsk and Lysyhansk, which it had so difficult taken from the Ukrainians before the summer. Not enough to worry “Rosomakha” and his brothers in arms who are determined to continue their march forward to liberate the occupied territories.
“They fled in panic and had already moved their troops to other places in the middle of summer,” says the soldier, adding that the capture of several Russian prisoners allows the Ukrainian army to know the shots from Moscow on the spot. According to him, the Russian army has already been reinforced by reservists hastily called up by the hundreds of thousands less than ten days ago by Russian President Vladimir Putin to stem the dynamics of Kyiv.
“This is our country”
Wanting to be confident, the soldier recalls that “under Ukrainian law, these territories are part of Ukraine,” he says of the Moscow-annexed territories, which are widely condemned by Kyiv and its western allies. “This is our country,” he adds, standing just a few meters from a large crater that was formed after a bombardment by the Russian army during its retreat. “I come from the Lugansk region,” which is still largely under Russian control, he says. “That’s why I won’t stop until the last Russian leaves these countries.”