WWhile Russia announced the annexation of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian defenders have achieved a military success. The American Institute for the Study of War on Friday gave credibility to reports by Russian sources that the Ukrainian military had encircled the town of Lyman in northern Donetsk Oblast.
The leader of the Russian occupiers in the area, Denis Puschilin, wrote on Telegram that Lyman was “half surrounded”. Referring to the Moscow annexation ceremony on Friday, Pushilin said the Ukrainian army was doing everything in its power “to blacken this historic event for us.”
The Russian military blog “Rybar” reported on Telegram on Friday night that Lyman was almost surrounded by Ukrainian forces. If measures such as reinforcements by reservists are not taken quickly, the city will fall to the Ukrainians and nothing will stand in the way of a Ukrainian offensive deep into “Russian” territory (meaning the Ukrainian region of Luhansk). Lyman might be a starting point for this.
“Expel occupiers from all our territory”
Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko wrote on Twitter that Russian forces were trying to escape through the last corridor connected to the other occupied territories. Because they are apparently being fired upon by heavy Ukrainian artillery from both the north and south, Ponomarenko spoke of a “death trap”. Ukrainian channels showed a video of a Ukrainian soldier outside an administrative building in the village of Yampil, southeast of Lyman, saying “Jampil is ours.”
Kyiv was also combative after the official announcement of the Russian annexation decision. Ukraine responded to this with an application to NATO to be admitted to the alliance in an “accelerated process”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Parliament President Ruslan Stefanchuk stood in front of Zelenskyy’s official residence on Friday afternoon and held a corresponding document in front of the cameras. This is a “decisive step for the security of the entire community of free peoples,” Zelensky said.
In fact, they are already allied and on the way to NATO, Zelenskyy continued; “Today Ukraine is applying to do the same de jure.” At the same time, the Ukrainian president insisted on “expelling the occupiers from our entire territory”. Only that could “bring peace back,” Zelensky said. True, Ukraine has always offered Russia coexistence on equal, dignified and just terms. “Obviously that is not possible with this Russian President. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but already with a different president.”
At least 25 civilians killed in rocket attack
Zelenskyj explained that it was understood that accession required the approval of all NATO members. Until he is reached, Kyiv proposes “to implement our proposals on security guarantees for Ukraine and the whole of Europe”. The Ukrainian President referred to the recently drafted “security package” (Kyiv Security Compact). It was drawn up by a working group headed by the head of the Kiev Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
According to this, a “core group” of states, in addition to the USA, Great Britain and Turkey as well as Germany and other EU countries, should commit to one or more documents to support Ukraine in the long term. The paper refers to Article 51 of the UN Charter, which speaks of the “natural right of states to individual or collective self-defence”.
An incident on Friday morning showed that Ukraine is not only dependent on defense on the front in the east of the country. A deadly rocket attack on civilians occurred in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Zaporizhia region. At least 25 people were killed and 50 injured in the attack on a motorcade, according to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office. “Only absolute terrorists who have no place in the civilized world can do that,” President Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
