Russia yesterday said its forces were in full control of the Ukrainian town of Lyman, a railway hub in the Donetsk region, in a gain that would help set the stage for the next phase of the Kremlin’s offensive in the eastern Donbas.
Ukrainian and Russian forces had been fighting for Lyman for several days. The town lies 40km west of Sievierodonetsk, the largest Donbas city still held by Ukraine, but now under heavy assault from Russian forces.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, which along with Donetsk makes up the Donbas, said on Friday that Russian troops had entered Sievierodonetsk — the focus of the main Russian offensive.
Photo: AFP
The Russian gains indicate a shift in momentum in the war.
Although the forces that invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, in the conflict’s early stage, they are making slow but steady advances in the Donbas, large parts of which were already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists before the war.
Russia’s tactics involve mass artillery bombardments and airstrikes that have laid waste to towns and cities.
“If Russia did succeed in taking over these areas, it would highly likely be seen by the Kremlin as a substantive political achievement and be portrayed to the Russian people as justifying the invasion,” the British Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence report yesterday.
The British report said Russian forces had “likely” captured most of Lyman, and the Russian Ministry of Defense said later on Saturday that they had taken full control of the town.
Russia also said it had used missile strikes to destroy Ukrainian command posts in Bakhmut and Soledar. Both towns lie on an important road running southwest from Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.
Lyman is a railway junction and also the gateway to rail and road bridges over the Siverskyy Donets River.
The British briefing said a bridgehead near Lyman would give Russia an advantage in the potential next phase of the Donbas offensive. Russian forces were likely to attempt to cross the river in the coming days, it said.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Ukrainian forces had repelled eight assaults in Donetsk and Luhansk in the previous 24 hours.
Russia’s attacks included artillery assaults in the Sievierodonetsk area “with no success,” it said.
Gaidai said on Friday that Ukrainian forces might have to retreat from Sievierodonetsk, which lies on the eastern side of the river, to avoid capture after Russian troops entered it.
About 90 percent of buildings in Sievierodonetsk were damaged, with 14 high-rise buildings destroyed in the latest shelling, he said.
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
RSS