Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk said on Friday they had conquered the eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman, a crossroads that opens the road to the major cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
On its Telegram account, the Territorial Defense Staff of the Donetsk “Republic” reported that it had “taken complete control” of “Krasny Lyman” (Lyman’s former name) with military units from the separatist region of Lugansk and the “fire support” of the Russian armed forces.
For the time being, the Russian army has not commented and AFP has not been able to verify these claims from an independent source.
Lyman is an important railway junction located northeast of the symbolic city of Sloviansk, taken over from pro-Russian separatists by kyiv in 2014, and Kramatorsk, the capital of the part of the Donetsk region (east) under Ukrainian control.
The capture of Lyman would make it possible to remove an obstacle towards Sloviansk, then Kramatorsk, while marking progress in the attempt to encircle Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, two other important Ukrainian cities located further east.
On Tuesday, the separatists assured that half of Lyman was already under their control.