Ukrainian servicemen drive a tank on the way to Siversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.
RUSSIA attacked the Ukrainian president’s hometown and other targets with drones today and Ukraine took back full control of an eastern city in a counteroffensive that has reshaped the war.
Russia’s loss of Lyman, which it had been using as a transport and logistics hub, is a new blow to the Kremlin as it seeks to escalate the war by annexing four regions of Ukraine and heightening its threats to use nuclear force.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the country’s forces now control Lyman, after Russia’s military announced its retreat on Saturday.
“As of 12.30 pm, Lyman is cleared, fully. Thank you to our militaries, our warriors,” Mr Zelensky said in a video address.
In southern Ukraine, Mr Zelensky’s hometown Krivyi Rih came under Russian attack by a drone that struck a school earlier today and destroyed two storeys of it, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said.
Russia in recent weeks has begun using Iranian-made drones to attack targets in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian air force has said that it shot down five Iranian-made drones overnight, while two others made it through air defences.
Meanwhile, Russian attacks also targeted the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian authorities said today. And Ukraine’s military said Sunday it carried out strikes on multiple Russian command posts, ammunition depots and two S-300 anti-aircraft batteries.
The reports of military activity couldn’t be immediately verified.
Ukrainian forces have retaken swaths of territory, notably in the north-east around Kharkiv, in a counter-offensive in recent weeks.
