Ukrainians continue towards Svatove and Kreminna after taking full control of Lyman, recently annexed by Russia after a sham referendum

By James Rothwell 2 October 2022 • 11:16pm

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday night announced that his forces had liberated two towns in southern Ukraine as they made significant progress in retaking the Russian-occupied Kherson region.

As Ukrainian counter-offensives in southern and eastern Ukraine continued on Sunday, Mr Zelensky said his forces had retaken Arkhangelske and Myrolyubivka in the Kherson area.

Earlier on Sunday, Ukraine’s army cleared the key city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine of Russian soldiers and was advancing on the cities of Kreminna and Svatove, as well as the P-66 highway which connects them. 

The swift advance of Ukraine’s forces raises the prospect that the Kherson region and the northern part of the Donbas could be liberated in a matter of days, in yet another crushing blow to Mr Putin.

President Zelensky declared full control over Lyman, an important logistics hub in eastern Ukraine that Russia was relying on to defend other parts of occupied territory.

“As of 1230 [0930 GMT], Lyman is fully cleared,” Mr Zelensky said in a video clip posted to his Telegram channel. Mykhailo Podolyak, his adviser, also claimed that the Russian death toll since the start of the invasion has risen to 60,000.

“Everything is according to plan, that is why [the Russian mortality] counter turned to new page,” he said.

“60,000 Russian looters have already died on Ukrainian ground. Three times as [many] injured. Time to ask the army of conscripted office workers: where did the second army of professionals go?”

Ukraine is also making steady progress in its bid to liberate Kherson in southern Ukraine, with photographs posted from the frontline showing the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow flag on display in Novovorontsovka, a nearby settlement.

A brief video clip posted to Twitter also showed a Ukrainian soldier waving the flag in the newly liberated village of Zolota Balka, also in Kherson Oblast.

In southern Ukraine, Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih came under Russian attack by a suicide drone that destroyed two storeys of a school early on Sunday, the regional governor said. The Ukrainian air force said on Sunday that it had shot down five Iranian-made drones overnight, while two others made it through air defences.

A car carrying four men who wanted to forage for mushrooms in a forest in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region struck a mine, exploding the vehicle and killing all those inside, authorities said on Sunday.

Russian attacks also targeted the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday. And Ukraine’s military said that it carried out strikes on multiple Russian command posts, ammunition depots and two S-300 anti-aircraft batteries.

The reports of military activity couldn’t be immediately verified.

As the counter-offensive shows no signs of slowing down, Germany’s defence minister has pledged to send 16 Slovakia-produced howitzer systems to Kyiv by early next year.

The howitzers were being funded by Denmark, Norway and Germany, Christine Lambrecht told German media, as she returned from her first trip to Ukraine since the invasion began.

In the Vatican, Pope Francis reiterated his demand for Mr Putin to end the “spiral of violence and bloodshed” in Ukraine.

“My appeal goes above all to the president of the Russian Federation, begging him to stop this spiral of violence and death, even out of love for his own people,” said the Pontiff on Sunday.

“On the other side, pained by the enormous suffering of the Ukrainian population following the aggression it suffered, I address an equally hopeful appeal to the president of Ukraine to be open to a serious peace proposal,” he added.

Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy prime minister said it was “technically” possible to repair the Nord Stream pipeline, referring to an attack on the pipeline that is widely suspected to have been covertly launched by Russia.

“There have never been such incidents. Of course, there are technical possibilities to restore the infrastructure, it takes time and appropriate funds. I am sure that appropriate possibilities will be found,” said Alexander Novak.

The West has said the damage to the pipeline was caused by sabotage but has not yet officially made an accusation against Russia, which, in turn, has blamed the West.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato secretary-general, said on Sunday that any attack on critical Nato infrastructure would be met with a “firm and united response from an angle”.

With Russian losses mounting, experts have warned that Mr Putin could resort to nuclear weapons to defend territory, an option that has already been floated by one of his Putin allies.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said that Russia should consider using “low-yield nuclear weapons” after Moscow’s troops were forced out of Lyman.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said at the Tory Party conference on Sunday he thought it “highly unlikely” that Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict.

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Comment from Telegraph reader Dean Roberts:

“Germany sent mouldy crates of equipment and some tin hats… How Germany or France can be considered a Nato member is beyound me. They should hang their heads in shame. And the other EU countries rely on them for protection. Its pathetic. I wonder what the situation in Ukraine would look like today if not for the work that Johnson did to get the West behind them.”

David McManamon: “Who is the Pope siding with? He is asking the Ukrainians to “be open to a serious peace proposal”. The only serious peace proposal Putin could make, that would be acceptable to Ukraine, would be for Russia to withdraw totally from all sovereign Ukrainian territory. That will never happen, since Putin thinks he has annexed further Ukrainian territory. Surely the Pope must realise this. Unless he has some poorly briefed advisors. Oh dear, religion and politics do not mix.”

Huw Thomas: “The Ukrainians are playing a very skillful game with the Orcs. On August 31st they made a well publicised feint on the Kherson front to successfully panic them into reinforcing that sector with their best troops then two weeks later launched their well planned and concealed blitzkrieg in the subsequently denuded Kharkiv front. Now the Orcs’ attention has been diverted to the northern Donbas they have started a serious offensive on the Kherson front.The Ukrainians are exploiting the benefit of interior lines of supply whilst the Orcs are suffering all the didadvantages of exterior lines which are now all the more exterior after the liberation of Lyman. Go on Ukraine, keep giving the Orcs Hell!”

Kia Atri: “What’s particularly interesting about the Lyman campaign is that the Russian forces had been encircled but one A-road was left to them to take If they want to save their sorry backsides. Despite the Russian forces having dug in deeply they decided to take the A-road. In other words, even when they have a fighting chance they prefer to save their skins. The Ukrainians are chess players the Russians are headless chickens There’s no doubt who will win this. The only true foe for the brave valiant Ukrainians is the treachery of the Europeans and the idiocy of Biden.”

Reply from Elle Killeen: “Kia, your ridiculousness about Biden being an idiot is getting old and is clearly off the mark. If Trump were in office, he would have sent his congratulations to Putin for invading Ukraine. Oh, wait, he basically did that even out of office. He called Putin “a genius” for invading Ukraine. Biden on the other hand revived a NATO that was on life support, brought about the largest set of sanctions that have ever been put together, and as of this past Friday, has approved or sent over $85 BILLION in aid and military equipment to Ukraine, including the all important HIMARS that make up 70% of the offensive abilities that UA currently has (per UA Ministry of Defense). Ukraine owes almost as much to Biden as it does to Zelensky because without both, UA would have ceased to exist 7 months ago.”

Carl Davies: “I have a strong intuition. A few more battlefield defeats for Russia, on account of one man, will lead to a full scale military coup. There will be Russian troops on the streets of Moscow at around the time the president falls suddenly silent. What will happen after that I don’t yet have a clue.”

A kremtroll who can’t even spell his fake name properly: “John OConnor”, writes :

“The media were confidently predicting between 1,000 and 6,000 Russian prisoners would be taken in Lyman but actually only 12 were confirmed. The amount of lies and obfuscation associated with this war is off the scale- no statements can be trusted.”

Reply from Steve Willis: “Whatever you say OCONNORSKI 🤣🤣🤣”