Ukraine reclaims Lyman, part of Luhansk, a day after Russia’s ‘annexation’ ceremony

On the day after Putin announced its incorporation into Russian Federation, Lyman is retaken by Ukrainian forces.

Banners have been seen reading, “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Russia! Together forever!”

On Friday Vladimir Putin formally announced the annexation of these Ukrainian territories and celebrated with a victory concert in Moscow. Russia’s president addressed a cheering crowd waving white blue and red tricolours. “Welcome home,” he said. “Russia! Russia!” they replied.

At the Friday celebration, Putin had also threatened to resort to nuclear war if Ukraine try to recapture the cities, but lesser than 24 hours after Ukrainian military did not hesitate to march on Lyman, sacking the Russian troops from there.

Since his full-scale invasion in February Putin has managed to seize a large swathe of the south and east of Ukraine. It amounts to about 15 per cent of the country. His expectation was that absorbing these territories would be relatively straightforward and similar to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, an operation carried out by undercover special forces officers dubbed “little green men”.

This turned out to be untrue. Residents in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia showed little enthusiasm for their new Russian masters. Many fled to Ukrainian government-controlled areas. Even in the east only a small minority in freshly occupied towns and cities supported Russia. Faced with a distinct lack of popular consent the presidential administration in Moscow put on hold plans to carry out “referendums” – fake ones, according to the international community.

Read also: Burkina Faso government overthrown in second Coup d’état in less than a year

The plans were hastily revived as the Ukrainian counteroffensive increased.

Over the summer Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky gave his commanders orders to recapture the southern city of Kherson, lost in the first days of the conflict. The Kremlin responded by hurrying troops to the right bank of the Dnipro river, as Kyiv had intended.

In a few stunning days in September, Ukrainian forces liberated the cities of Izium, Balakliia, Kupiansk and some other areas.