Russia suffered a humiliating military defeat on Saturday as Ukrainian troops liberated the key city of Lyman to the east, with videos showing them raising a national flag and performing a victory dance. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the withdrawal of its soldiers. After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, they “were withdrawn to more advantageous lines,” the ministry said. The defeat is embarrassing for Vladimir Putin, who on Friday declared the city – in the Donetsk region – is “forever” Russia.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has made a surprise visit to Ukraine – their first since February’s Russian invasion – when Kyiv asked Berlin to send it battle tanks. Lambrecht visited the southern port city of Odessa on Saturday and met her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, the German Defense Ministry said.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is no longer leaking under the Baltic Sea because an equilibrium between gas and water pressure has been reached, pipeline spokesman Ulrich Lissek told AFP. British Prime Minister Liz Truss said the series of explosions that severely damaged Russia’s gas pipelines were an act of sabotage.
Belarus is preparing to receive Russian soldiers and equipmentreports the Kyiv Independent. There are about 1,000 Russian soldiers in the country.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada said her country held Russia accountable for violating Ukraine’s sovereign airspace by bombing airports, which violates the 1944 treaty that sets out the basic principles for global aviation. Yuliya Kovaliv told Portal it was important that all members of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) address “such a drastic violation of the Chicago Convention”.
Russia failed to win enough votes to be re-elected to the ICAO Governing Board. The French representative told the assembly after Saturday’s vote: “If we have votes in our countries and we don’t like the result, we don’t ask for another vote.” Russia had a seat on the 36-member UN Aviation Authority council as one of the “States of paramount importance in air transport”.
The head of Russia’s Chechen region said Moscow should consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine after the defeat at the Lyman battlefield. Ramzan Kadyrov said in a Telegram message about the loss of his Russian fortress: “In my personal 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. ”
A superyacht built for a sanctioned oligarch is discreetly being offered for sale for £26m ($29m)., with buyers being advised that all viewings will take place in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Brokers are warned that the sale of MySky, built for Igor Kesaev – sanctioned for supplying arms to the Russian army – should not be advertised online.
Russia has accused International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach of violating the principles of the game by suggesting that Russian athletes would be allowed to return to competition provided they did not support the invasion of Ukraine. Bach told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “This war was not started by the Russian athletes.”
Russian authorities told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the head of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been “temporarily detained.” to question. Ihor Murashov was arrested around 4 p.m. Friday on his way from the Russian-held facility – the largest in Europe – to the city of Enerhodar. Russia is trying to transfer the Zaporizhia power plant to Russian energy company Rosatom, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy company Petro Kotin told the BBC.
The governor of Kharkiv region said Ukrainian authorities found the bodies of at least 20 people in a civilian convoy near the city of Kupiansk. According to the Kyiv Independent, Oleh Syniehubov believes they were killed trying to flee from Russian soldiers.
Turkey, which was at the center of mediation between the West and Russia, opposed Russia’s annexations in Ukraine. called the Kremlin’s actions in four regions a “grave violation” of international law.