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- BBC News World
October 4, 2022
Image copyrightReuters
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Ukrainian military in front of a government building in Lyman.
The Ukrainian military reclaimed more territory in regions illegally annexed by Russia, made gains near the southern city of Kherson and solidified its presence in the retaken eastern areas over the weekend.
The advances were confirmed by Vladimir Saldo, a Russian-installed leader in the Kherson region, who claimed Russian forces were digging in.
Meanwhile, to the east, Ukrainian forces continued to advance into the Russian-controlled Lugansk region.
Speaking on TV on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listed a number of recovered villages in the region, saying the list was “far from complete”.
Image copyrightGetty Images
One of the places liberated by Ukrainian forces is a key city in the Kherson region.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry shared a video of the 35th Naval Brigade raising the Ukrainian flag Davidiv Brid.
US President Joe Biden spoke to Zelenskyy on Tuesday and assured him that the United States would never recognize a Russian annexation.
They also discussed $625 million in US aid, including Himar missile launchers.
Trouble for Russia
Russian forces have already had to withdraw from parts of northeastern Ukraine, and are now suffering setbacks in the south as well.
Russia still controls the city of Kherson, the region’s capital. But its control seems increasingly unstable throughout the area north of the Dnipro River.
Kiev’s advances mean that Russia is no longer fully in control of any of the four Ukrainian regions it annexed last week.
On Saturday, Ukrainian troops managed to expel Russian forces from the strategic Donbass town of Lyman, which war analysts said dealt a serious blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The expulsion came just a day after Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing the annexation of Russia four Ukrainian regionswhich represented the largest forced takeover of a territory in Europe since World War II.
The annexation has no legitimacy under international law and President Zelenskyy has declared it null and void.
Lyman had become an important logistics center for Russian troop deployment and ammunition supplies.
Image copyrightGetty Images
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Nikita, 7, and her brother Yegor, 8, have lunch at a newly opened soup kitchen in Izium, a town recently liberated from Ukraine. Many local shops and businesses were destroyed.
Experts say its restoration would allow Ukrainian troops to retake the northern part of the Donetsk region and advance further into the neighboring Lugansk region.
The withdrawal of Russian troops from Lyman has drawn criticism of the military high command in Russia from important Russian figures and influential social media accounts.
The intense struggle for the south continues
Now in the south, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in the Kherson region, admitted Ukrainian forces had stormed near Dudchany, a town on the banks of the Dnipro River about 30 km south of where the line crossed found the two armies previously separated.
“There are settlements occupied by Ukrainian forces,” Saldo said. Some Russian media claim that the Ukrainians recaptured the city of Dudchany.
Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, confirmed that the Ukrainian tanks that “outnumbered‘ they opened a ‘deep breach’ south of Zolota Balka, a town that marked the former front line on the Dnipro.
He claimed the Russians killed around 130 Ukrainian soldiers fighting for the area.
Image copyrightGetty Images
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A hospital damaged after Russian rocket fire in Kupyansk, Kharkov region.
Saldo added that two Ukrainian battalions were trying to reach the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, located about 70 km east of Kherson, more specifically in the port city of Nova Kakhovka.
According to the Portal news agency, the Ukrainian advance is aimed at cutting off the supply routes of up to 25,000 Russian soldiers on the west bank of the Dnieper.
“Impossible” a dialogue with Putin
The events of the last week, which include Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian lands, have further dashed the possibility of reaching an agreement to end the conflict.
Zelenskyy signed a decree on Tuesday formally declaring this “impossible”. perspective of each dialogue with Vladimir Putin.
The decree formalizes Zelenskyy’s comments on Friday after the Russian president declared four occupied regions of Ukraine to be Russia.
Image copyrightReuters
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Moment when the Ukrainian army removes the Russian flag from a government building in Lyman.
“He (Putin) doesn’t know what that is dignity and honesty. That is why we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with a different president of Russia,” Zelenskyi said on Friday.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday that the “special military operation” in Ukraine will not end if Kyiv shuts down dialogue.
“Two sides need to negotiate,” he added.
Clause one of the decree signed by Zelenskyy and prepared by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on September 30 reads: “(Ukraine has decided) to declare that it is impossible to hold negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin to lead “.
More Russians called to war; many flee
According to RIA Novosti news agency, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said more than 200,000 people had been called up for military service since Russia announced “partial mobilization” two weeks ago.
Image copyrightValery Sharifulin/TASS
Miles of slow-moving cars have lined the roads near Russia’s borders with other countries since Putin made the announcement, and thousands have fled Russia.
Speaking to the BBC’s Russian service, many of those stuck in traffic speak of a “humanitarian catastrophe“on the border.
On the border between Russia and Georgia, some people, mostly young Russians, spend days in traffic trying to leave their country.
They stay in their cars for most of the day, where they also sleep. Many are also running out of food and water.
The Russian Defense Ministry says reservists drafted into the army under Putin’s mobilization order are now receiving one intensive combat training in the largely Russian-controlled regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
The Kremlin plans to call up about 300,000 reservists, although Putin has not put a limit on the number of people he can call up for the war.
For its part, Kyiv has vowed to retake all territories annexed by Russia, including Crimea, which was captured by Russian forces in 2014.
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