The bodies of Russian soldiers lay in the streets of a strategic city in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as evidence of a hasty withdrawal that marked a new military defeat for Moscow. in its fight to keep the areas it illegally annexed last week.
The upper house of the Russian Parliament on Tuesday endorsed the incorporation of four Ukrainian regions into the country after some “referendums” that kyiv and its allies describe as illegal and fraudulent.
But the image on the ground revealed the chaos facing President Vladimir Putin in its response to Ukrainian advances and attempts to establish new Russian borders.
Russian troops withdrew from Lymana city that Moscow had used as a transportation and logistics hub, over the weekend to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The liberation of the city gave kyiv an advantageous position to continue its offensive to territories occupied by Russia.
Two days later, the corpses of the Russian troops were still on the floor. At first, the Ukrainian army seemed to have recovered those of their fallen comrades after the heavy fighting for control of Lyman, but not the rival casualties.
“We fight for our land, for our children, so that our people can live better, but all this has a very high price.”, said a Ukrainian soldier who identified himself by his nickname, Rud.
Lyman’s neighbors emerged from the cellars where they had hidden during the battle around the city and lit fires to cook. The city has been without running water, gas or electricity since May. Residential buildings burned. Some residents showed up on bicycles.
An 85-year-old woman who identified herself by her name and patronymic, Valentyna Kuzmichnarecalled a recent explosion in the area.
“I was standing in the lobby, about five meters away, when it exploded”, said. “God forbid, now I can’t hear well”
Russian forces launched more missile attacks on Ukrainian cities on Tuesdayas Ukrainian troops pressed their counteroffensive in the east and south.
Several missiles hit the second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, and caused damage to infrastructure and power outages. One person was killed and at least two were injured, including a 9-year-old girl, according to the governor of KharkivOleh Synyehubov.
In the south, four civilians were injured by Russian missiles in the city of Nikopol.
After retaking Lyman in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces advanced east and may have reached the border of neighboring Luhansk en route to Kreminna, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, in its latest report on the fighting.
Ukrainian forces also made significant progress in the southand raised flags over the small towns of Arkhanhelske, Myroliubivka, Khreshchenivka, Mykhalivka and Novovorontsovka.
Despite the latest military advances, the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister, Yevhen Perebyiniscalled for more weapons for Ukraine after the partial mobilization announced by Moscow last month.
In a video message to a conference in Turkey’s capital Ankara about the Russian war against his country, Perebyinis said Tuesday that the additional weaponry will not lead to an escalation of the conflict. but it will help to finish earlier.
“We need additional long-range artillery and ammunition, fighter planes and armored vehicles to continue the liberation of the occupied territories”, indicated the deputy minister. “We need anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems to protect our civilians and critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks by Russian forces.”
The Ukrainian successes in the east and south continued as Russia maneuvered to absorb four Ukrainian regions amid fighting.
Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, on Tuesday ratified treaties to convert Donetsk Y Lugansk and the southern regions of Kherson Y Zaporizhzhia in part of Russia.
The lower house had quickly completed the mere process of backing access agreements after the Kremlin orchestrated annexation “referendums” last week that Ukraine and its Western allies consider illegal and fraudulent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was expected to quickly sign off on the treaties.
The process of incorporating the Ukrainian regions was going so fast that the borders of the annexed territories were not even clear.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Donetsk Y Lugansk they would join Russia with the same administrative borders that existed before a conflict broke out in the region in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. The borders of Zaporizhia and Kherson are not yet decided.
However, a prominent Russian lawmaker gave a different opinion. Pavel Krasheninnikov said Zaporizhzhia would be annexed according to their “administrative borders”, which implies that Moscow intends to incorporate areas of the region that remain under the control of kyiv. He said a similar criterion would apply with Kherson, but Russia would include two districts in the neighboring Mykolaiv region that are occupied by Russia.
(With information from AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com