"In connection with the creation of an encirclement threat, the Allied troops were withdrawn from the Krasny Limán settlement to more advantageous lines." With these concise 24 words, the Russian Ministry of Defense has summarized the new setback suffered by its troops in Ukraine. Specifically in the Donetsk region, in the east of the country.
In a fit of pride, Moscow notes that Russian artillery has inflicted heavy casualties on the Ukrainian 66th and 93rd Mechanized Brigades, as well as destroying tanks and other military vehicles. But he has had to admit that, "despite the losses suffered, having superior forces and resources, the enemy introduced reinforcements and continued its offensive in that direction."
Ukraine's capture of Liman, which for months has served Moscow as a logistics and transportation hub for its operations, is a major defeat for Russia. Especially since it came just one day after its president, Vladimir Putin, proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions. Including Donetsk, the region where Limán is located.
A few hours before the confirmation of the withdrawal, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Haidai, assured that the Ukrainian forces were close to closing the siege to more than 5,000 enemy soldiers. "The Russian troops based in Limán have addressed their superiors with the request to withdraw, but this option was rejected," Haidai summarized in a Telegram message collected by the Ukrinform agency.
According to Haidai, after Limán's liberation, the process of de-occupation will begin in the Lugansk region, which is one of the four regions that Russia annexed yesterday through a ceremony held in the Kremlin.
In a video of the Ukrainian army published by Radio Svoboda and collected by the Unian agency, images of the new situation in the city can be seen while a female voice is heard in a recording that urges the Russian troops to surrender.
"Soldiers of the Russian armed forces, the Ukrainian defense forces have taken Liman, further resistance is useless - you are surrounded... Remember, your authorities do not need you, for them you are cannon fodder, your relatives at home need you," the recording says.
The siege was confirmed on television by a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, who detailed the advance of the troops to the point of having regained control of five settlements: "Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandrigolove, Drobysheve and Stavki have been liberated, and the measures continue there of stabilization", specified Serhiy Cherevaty, quoted by the Unian agency.
Russia has been forced to accept this partial defeat despite having ordered an intense bombardment of the Ukrainian positions in order to "unblock the encirclement", as Rodión Miroshnik, ambassador to Moscow of the self-proclaimed people's republic of Lugansk, has admitted.
Ukrainian forces had crossed the Oskil River as part of a counteroffensive in which Kyiv retook vast swaths of territory from September.
According to the ambassador, the pro-Russian would still control the road that leads from Limán to Kreminna, already in the Lugansk region.
This is the second major defeat suffered by the Russian Army and the pro-Russian militias in the last month. On September 8, Russian forces also had to withdraw from the northeastern Kharkiv region, paving the way for the Ukrainians to advance towards Liman.
That setback, added to the withdrawal from northern kyiv in April, caused great discomfort among Russian ultranationalists and led to the partial mobilization decree signed in the middle of the month by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin signed yesterday in the Kremlin annexation treaties with the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. The Russian president intends to complete the dangerous circle that began eight and a half years ago, when in March 2014 he signed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula after a controversial referendum rejected by Ukraine, described as illegal by the international community and the starting point for the final break with the West.
With this annexation the Kremlin incorporates into Russia the entire Ukrainian provincial demarcation, and not solely the territory dominated by its troops or pro-Russian militias. After more than seven months of fighting, they control almost all of Luhansk and somewhat less Jerson. But in Donetsk and Zaporiyia Russian control does not reach 60%.
