A day after Vladimir Putin summoned top officials to bask in the supposed glory of “great” Russia stealing Ukrainian land with sham referendums, his boasts fell apart in spectacular fashion on the battlefield as Russia’s defense ministry was forced to admit a key city deemed part of Russia was now in Ukrainian hands.
“In connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement, the allied troops were withdrawn from the settlement of Krasny Lyman to more advantageous lines,” the defense ministry said Saturday in a statement published by RIA Novosti.
The retreat came after thousands of Russian troops in the area were urged to surrender.
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“Military personnel of the Russian Federation! Ukrainian defense forces have captured Lyman. Further resistance is futile, you are surrounded. To surrender, you need to go to the nearest road or settlement, lay down your arms, wait for a representative of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and surrender with your hands up… Remember: your government does not need you. To them, you are cannon fodder,” the Ukrainian military said in a message blared for Russian troops in the strategic city.
The city has served as a key military hub for Putin’s troops in Donetsk throughout the war, a fact that left some pro-Kremlin bloggers fuming on Saturday about Moscow apparently being completely unprepared.
“In fact, Lyman has been surrendered and no additional forces arrived,” pro-Russian blogger Anatoly Shariy wrote on Telegram.
“According to my information, the command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation had other ideas yesterday, but apparently Lyman was not considered very important,” he said.
Another popular Russian military channel lamented that military leadership had proven “unable to stop the current operational crisis” and said it seemed like Lyman would “be completely lost in the next 1-3 days.”
“If there are chances to defend and take back the city, they are incredibly small,” another pro-Kremlin blogger wrote of the humiliating defeat taking shape in the area.
Russian military channels on Telegram erupted with reports of Ukrainian forces in the center of the city, and footage soon emerged of the Ukrainian flag going back up. Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin’s puppet leader in Donetsk, admitted Friday to the “unpleasant news” that the town was at that time already “half encircled.”
Even Kremlin cheerleader Ramzan Kadyrov lashed out over the spectacular defeat, blaming the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces for leaving a “worthless” commanding officer in charge.
“Everything would be good if it weren’t so bad,” the Chechen leader wrote on Telegram.
By Saturday, a representative for the Ukrainian military said in televised comments that around 5,000 Russian troops were thought to be encircled in the area. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced on Twitter that “Ukrainian Air Assault Forces are entering Lyman,” and quipped that Ukraine’s military “will always have the decisive vote in today’s and any future ‘referendums.’”
Ukrainian authorities were quick to seize on the development to mock Putin for his claim just hours earlier that Donetsk and three other regions were now part of what the Russian president called a “great historical Russia” at a speech in the Kremlin.
“Annexation you say? [The Donetsk People’s Republic] as a subject of the Russian Federation? Famous last words!” Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, wrote on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) with Ukrainian separatist regional leaders Vladimir Saldo (L), Yevgeniy Balitsky (2L), Leonid Pasechnik (R) and Denis Pushilin (2R) seen during the annexation ceremony of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace,
Contributor#8523328Meanwhile, it appears even the Russian troops sent to keep stolen Ukrainian territories in the Kremlin’s grip have conceded defeat.
An audio recording released by Ukrainian intelligence Saturday is said to capture a Russian soldier phoning his wife to say his final goodbye after he and his fellow troops found themselves encircled by the Ukrainian military.
“Thank god I got through,” the man can be heard saying as he apparently struggles to catch his breath.
“We’re encircled, Lyub. We’re fucked soon,” he says as she asks if he’s been ordered to go to his death fighting.
“Lyub! Lyub! I just called to say goodbye,” he responds, breaking down over the phone.
“No one, you hear? Don’t tell anyone at all. It is a disaster here,” he says through sobs, going on to beg for “just two minutes” to talk to his wife, saying he “doesn’t give a fuck” if the phone call gives away his location to Ukrainian troops.
“Fuck it, let them get me!”
