MAJOR BLOW

‘We Lost the City’: Russian Forces Capture Town in Ukraine With Crucial Feature

A top Ukrainian official said the loss of Lyman in Donbas showed the “growing level of operational management and tactical skills of the Russian army.”

Russian forces have reportedly taken full control of a key town in Donbas, representing a significant strategic setback for Ukrainian resistance. Lyman, which is where an important railway junction is located, is believed to have fallen into the hands of invading Russian soldiers. “According to unverified data, we lost the city of Lyman,” Oleksiy Arestovych, a top adviser to President Zelensky, said in televised comments. “The Russian army captured it. And the way it captured [the city] shows that there are very talented commanders who organized the operation correctly. And this shows the growing level of operational management and tactical skills of the Russian army.” Following Arestovych’s remarks, pro-Russian separatists boasted they had taken control of the town on their Telegram channel.