Kyiv: The leader of Chechnya, a strong ally of the Kremlin, suggested that Moscow use a low-yield nuclear weapon in retaliation after Russia claimed on Saturday that its troops had left their bastion of Lyman in the east of Ukraine out of fear of encirclement.
After President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Donetsk area, along with three other regions, at a ceremony on Friday that was denounced by Kyiv and the West as a farce, the town’s fall marks a significant setback for Moscow.
The fear of encirclement led the allies to evacuate their troops from the village of Lyman and move them to more favourable positions, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
After Kyiv first claimed it had surrounded tens of thousands of Russian soldiers in the region and later that its forces were inside the town of Lyman, Moscow went into hours of public silence.
The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who refers to himself as President Putin’s foot soldier, claimed he was compelled to speak out after Moscow abandoned the region, which the Kremlin had recently declared to be a part of Russia.
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In a post on Telegram mocking a Russian general, Mr. Kadyrov said: “In my own opinion, more drastic measures should be implemented, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.”
The statement from the Russian defence ministry didn’t specify that its forces were being surrounded.
Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces, had earlier declared that “the Russian grouping in the vicinity of Lyman is surrounded.”
He stated that although Russia had between 5,000 and 5,500 men at Lyman, the number of troops that were encircled may have been less due to injuries.
The spokeswoman remarked on CNN, “There are battles, but we’re already in Lyman.
A video posted by the chief of staff to the president showed two beaming Ukrainian soldiers taping the yellow-and-blue flag on the welcome sign at the town’s gate in the northern Donetsk area.
“On October 1st, we will raise our state flag and place it on our territory. Ukraine will be Lyman “Standing on the military vehicle’s bonnet, one of the troops said.
The claims made on the battlefield by both side could not be independently confirmed.
Logistics Center
Lyman has served as a supply and transportation hub for Russia’s actions in the Donetsk region’s north. If it were to fall, it would be Ukraine’s biggest battlefield victory since a quick counteroffensive in last month’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
Lyman’s seizure, according to the military spokesman for Ukraine, would enable Kiev to march into the Luhansk area, whose full surrender Moscow claimed at the start of July after weeks of plodding, slow gains.
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“Lyman is significant because it is the next step towards releasing the Ukrainian Donbas. It is a chance to continue on to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is crucial psychologically “explained he.
The larger Donbas region, which includes the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, has been a primary target for Russia ever since the invasion began on February 24 in what Moscow referred to as a “special military operation” to demilitarise its neighbour.
In a ceremony on Friday, Vladimir Putin declared the southern districts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the Donbas areas of Donetsk and Luhansk to be Russian territory. Together, these regions make up about 18% of Ukraine’s total surface land area.
Russia’s action was condemned as illegitimate by Ukraine and its Western allies. Kiev vowed to keep ridding its territory of Russian forces and declared that it would not engage in peace negotiations with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin was in office.
Putin would suffer severe political and military humiliation if Russia lost in Lyman following his proclamation, according to retired American general Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe.
This clearly shows that his claim is invalid and cannot be upheld, he claimed.
He added that it was unclear how Ukrainian commanders would take advantage of the defeat and predicted that it would further lower the morale of Russian troops occupying other Ukrainian territories.
According to Mr. Cherevatyi
The effort to encircle Lyman was still ongoing, and Russian troops were making vain attempts to escape.
The operation is still ongoing, despite the fact that some soldiers are turning themselves in, he said.
Russian soldiers requested a safe passage from the encirclement, according to the exiled governor of Luhansk of Ukraine, but Ukraine refused the request.
According to Reuters, the Ukrainian General Staff was unaware of such intelligence.
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