Ukraine War Updates: Encircled Russian Troops Retreat as Kyiv Retakes Another City in East
President Zelenskiy announces Ukraine’s ‘accelerated’ bid to join NATO.
A day after Russia formally annexed four occupied regions of Ukraine, the Russian military has been forced into a retreat by the advancing Ukrainian counteroffensive. Amid heavy fighting, the Russian forces on Saturday withdrew from the eastern city of Lyman in the Donetsk region, media reports say.
The Russian pullout from the city of Lyman comes after large number of troops were encircled by the Ukrainian advance. “Ukrainian forces on Saturday encircled some 5,000 Russian troops in the eastern town of Lyman, a part of Ukraine illegally annexed by Moscow on Friday,” the German TV channel DW News previously reported.
Explaining the importance of Lyman, DW News added: “The region served as a logistics and transport hub for Russian military operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Should Ukrainian forces gain total control of Lyman, it would allow them to start further advances into the Luhansk region, which Russia has occupied since July and also claimed a part of its territory.”
The Associated Press reported the latest Russian retreat:
After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. (…)
Lyman, a key transport hub, had been an important node in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Lyman is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk region, both of which Russia annexed Friday after an “referendum vote” was held at gunpoint.
Lyman is completely encircled. All the Russians who didn't manage to flee are trapped. 🇺🇦
Annexation, they said? Including DPR as one of the subjects of Russian Federation? pic.twitter.com/u0JoLBTpSd
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 1, 2022
The Russian troops continue their retreat despite Moscow’s claims they were merely regrouping to halt the Ukrainian advance. Since Ukraine launched the counteroffensive in early September, more than 2,310 sq miles of territory has been liberated from the Russians.
Moscow Holds Annexation Ceremony Amid Military Retreat
The Russian military is beating a retreat in the Donetsk region a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over a Kremlin ceremony announcing the formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
The BBC covered Friday’s public ceremony in Moscow marking the latest round of Russian annexation:
Returning to the concert being held in Moscow’s Red Square – and President Vladimir Putin has made an appearance on stage.
The event is being held to mark Russia’s announcement of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories.
The president was joined by other Russian leaders, and they all sang the national anthem, as crowds could be seen waving flags.
The concert was broadcast live on state TV . “Russia does not only open the door to our brothers and sisters but it also opens its heart to them. Welcome home,” Putin said, using a short speech to echo previous claims made by him to justify the invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine Responds With ‘Accelerated’ Bid to Join NATO
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded to the latest Russian move by announcing his country’s bid to join the NATO defense alliance in an ‘accelerated’ manner.
“In a speech filmed outside his presidential office in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said he was taking this ‘decisive step’ in order to protect ‘the entire community’ of Ukrainians. He promised the application would happen in an ‘expedited manner’,” the UK newspaper Guardian noted.
Ukraine has long desired to become a member of the Western defense alliance. In 2019, Ukrainian parliament passed a constitutional amendment asserting the country’s commitment to becoming a member of NATO and the European Union.
Historical moment. Ukraine applied to join NATO in an accelerated manner pic.twitter.com/czSTg69QWl
— Iryna Voichuk🇺🇦 (@irmachep) September 30, 2022
The French TV channel Euro News reported the Kyiv’s bid to join NATO:
Ukraine has submitted an official application to join NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after Moscow annexed four Ukrainian regions earlier on Friday.
“We are de facto allies already,” Zelenskyy said. “De facto, we have already proven compatibility with Alliance standards.”
“Ukraine is applying to confirm it de jure by an expedited procedure,” he stated.
NATO was not immediately able to respond to questions about what Ukraine’s “accelerated” application to join the alliance would mean.
The Kyiv’s NATO membership bid will further incense Moscow which has blamed the West for the alleged destruction of its main gas pipelines to Europe.
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Member of Nato, no. EU if they must, okay.
uh,,.no. Putin would view it as an offensive intrusion on Russian interests whether it’s NATO or the EU.. Either is a bad and stupid move bound to escalate matters, as if they’re not escalated enough.
Isn’t that thing called United Nations still out there somewhere?
Created to discourage ugly trans-national aggression such as this?
And if Russia still holds some form of veto power, does that make them exempt from any inconvenient U.N. actions?
I was convinced long ago of its very expensive worthlessness. So, indeed: U.S. OUT of U.N. and U.N. out of U.S.
I forgot about that cabal of global hustlers all pent up in that building on the Hudson.
The UN has become the equivalent if its predecessor: the League of Nations.
Yep, this is one reason that I am not yet calling the Biden the worst president in history. Wilson still holds that place (but the race it tightening).
To be fair, biden isn’t a real president, he’s just a puppet.
Russia did not want their neighbors joining NATO, their actions have driven more countries to join, unintended consequences. Will China now try to swallow Russia? Or will they do what they are doing to so many other countries, China’s flavor of colonialism?
Zaporizhzhia “voted” in a referendum? No, Russia doesn’t even control most of it, including the major city of the province.
China wants conflict in Europe – if the US and other nato forces are occupied there they hope for a free hand with Taiwan.
Assuming the pipeline blowups weren’t a result of Russian engineering….. they are after all the geniuses who tested the Chernoble reactor by turning off most of the safeguards to see what would happen…… and who safety-tested a Moscow suburbs bridge by having drivers of fully loaded gravel trucks park on it adding trucks until it collapsed……
China should be included in any list of suspect nation-states in the pipeline explosion.
I’m pretty sure America blew up those pipelines
And I’m pretty sure it is American paid contractors that are running the show in Ukraine
What is in the mind of Biden’s puppeteers, wanting a nuclear battle?
Yes
Nuclear war is a pretext for a state of emergency so Biden can manipulate the Midterm election.
Never allow a good crisis to go to waste. – Rahm
“pretty sure” based upon biased analysis*. No one has any idea what happened or if it was actual sabotage and if so, who.
*not something only you suffer from, as I and everyone else does.
Oh please
Please what?
Please tell us why you’re “pretty sure”. Just because?
You don’t know.
Russia already “poisoned the well” when they weaponized the pipelines by cutting the EU off their natural gas teats. When T warned the Germans that it was bad business doing business with Putin for an essential supply line they publicly laughed. The leaders may be staying warm but the citizens are shivering in the cold and will remember that come the next set of elections.
For short-term Real Politic gains putin already “destroyed” the pipelines – only stupid fools would let him trap them a second time. So a “let’s burn down the X for a Causi Bella” scenario is quite possible.
Whereas I don’t think Brandon has either the cojones or the mental capacity to slip his handlers long enuf to order the correct people to get this done.
I’m waiting for eyes on footage of the damage and surveillance of what ships were nearby lately myself. If the pipelines blew out from internal means the “the Russians screwed up” scenario wins out – folks who actually work with natural gas equipment are saying that’s screwing up is their 1st
goto whenever they see an explosion, sabotage their second. Just like a broken window from the INSIDE doesn’t require a burgler.
You think Brandon is running the show?
Really?
“Whereas I don’t think Brandon has either the cojones or the mental capacity to slip his handlers long enuf to order the correct people to get this done.”
Really?
The only damning evidence that is it was the US is Brandon’s response to a reporter the we would “get it done”.
Just about every other non-pre-scripted thing he says has to be walked back by his handlers. But this, THIS, was a coherent statement and not the ramblings of a mentally impaired elder?
Maybe, but until some transgendered or other discontented govt person leaks proof that we did it I’m not convinced that this one time Brandon was both truthful and correct.
As Obama is quoted as saying “Joe can fuck up anything”.
Here is a rendering of ships capable of pulling off the pipeline sabotage. There are probably more out there.
this might help
https://www.monkeywerxus.com/blog/the-nord-stream-2-pipeline-sabotage
Cui Bono? Russia had little to gain since the pipelines distribute their product. The pipelines also weren’t pumping gas at the time. The US had little to gain either. The two pipelines weren’t factors in the Ukraine conflict. Biden did pledge that Nordstream 2 would never be completed, so perhaps the attack was to make Biden look tough. Poland had a lot to gain. All the gas coming into Northern Europe now flows through a Polish pipeline. Poland also hates the Russians because of Cold War oppression. They also hate the Germans, but memories of the Nazis are more distant. Perhaps it was the US giving Poland a green lite and some resources.
Thus there are alternative theories. The Narrative in the West is to blame Russia, and anyone who holds a contrary opinion faces unwanted attention. Europe is blaming the US. Debate there is constrained but not as much as in the US. Rationality and Prudence dictate that one is wise not to disagree with the official narrative of the region in which one lives.
“The two pipelines weren’t factors in the Ukraine conflict.”
You couldn’t be more wrong!
NS 1&2 were Russia’s best leverage to get Germany to defect from the West’s economic sanctions.
Despite what the Zelensky fanboys on this site think, Ukraine is getting clobbered. It’s suffering tragic losses in men and equipment in these strategically useless “counter-offensives.” When unemployed Germans lose start freezing in the dark in a few months, it would have been a no-brainer to stop throwing good money after bad in exchange for turning the Russian gas spigot back on.
The Russians are doing pretty badly too. Their recent losses in the Kherson theater make me think the nukes come out sooner rather than later – as soon as this week, in fact.
Well, if you’re “pretty sure” then that’s evidence enough for me.
The Ukes appear to be utilizing a form of Kesselschlacht as the Germans did in WW II. As Napoleon might opine “Forget about ‘off-ramps’. When one has taken the offensive, pursue it to the last extremity.”
And as Pyrrhus of Epirus might opine, “Another victory like this, and we are ruined.”
Time will sort out how you retreat from encirclement. It’s one of the other, a priori. I imagine it’s how news handles conflicting reports. Tell it both ways.
Interesting. MoonofAlabama.org is a regular go to site for me on Ukraine.
Overall, we rate Moon of Alabama Left Biased based on story selection and word choices that consistently favor progressives and Mixed factually due to anonymity associated with who runs the site. Otherwise, the Moon of Alabama is well sourced to credible/factual information.
It usually does not paint a good picture of the Ukraines efforts and actually points out some of the terrible stuff that the Ukraines are doing to Russian Ukraines. They usually have links to source information and many reference to one the ground reporting.
Well it appears to be shut down. One source to validate if UK really are encircling. I can’t so I am taking this story as unverified.
Here is an example of something on there tweeter page:
So Ukrainians wanted to move to Russian controlled region and were shelled.
Ukraine claims, and the NYT repeats, that the Russia side shelled them.
The ukraines are as dirty as Russia
And here we are 60 billion and counting
And, yet, it was Russia that invaded Ukraine and not the other way around.
If by “dirty” you mean mean that they were as easy for the Bidens to solicit bribes from as the Russians, the , yes.
If by “dirty” you mean that in an existential war the Ukes are as willing to break the Geneva. Conventions as their invaders, then, yes.
Otherwise, nope. In a mugging or a rape there’s an attacker and a victim. Whatever other moral failings the victim may suffer from, the roles are not reversed – they’re still in the event the ictem.
The Ukraine’s have been murdering Russians for years in eastern ukraine, for being Russian, or Russian leaning.
Ukraine has been a part of Russia since 1654. This crap has been going on almost as long as the ME.
Ukraine and the Western countries have provoked this war by breaking the NATO commitment NOT to border on Russian lands
As if WE would tolerate, say Russian missiles in Cuba
Hmmm… think I remember something about that in the past.
Gonzotz….
https://theconversation.com/amp/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511
Putin has been claiming that since 2015 in speeches to the Russian people. Notably he has never brought it up to the UN for neutral parties to look at. It they still did, notably Human Rights Watch is on record as saying their investigation found the claims either baseless or totally fabricated.
There is evidence that Uke troops are targeting collaborators NOW.. Also evidence that non-Russian civilians have been “ethnically cleansed” in areas where Russian troops had control.
Putin is a nationalist and a socialist. Who feels nostalgic. Out the days past when Russians genocide Ukrainians and others without interference from outside. So of course he accuses his self-selected enemies as national socialists who commit genocide.
And, yet, it was Russia that invaded Ukraine and not the other way around.
or it was the Globalist that are using the UK as their pawn in a proxy war. Instead of sending Billions to UK we should be sending to Florida.
I agree that the UK are being mugged or raped, but the US and the Global new world order is handing them the blue dress or money to be mugged or raped by.
Checkout Ukraine on Fire.
Also, the Conservation is run by a bunch of liberals from that are ex Boston Global and universities. They would think they are part of The New World Order.
Try understandingwar.org and meduza.io. The ISW provides as good an analysis of what is actually going on as we can get, imho, and meduza is a russian counter site with good stories but as with everything out of russia be skeptical of what is being written about. Still, it provides a good counterpoint to official Kremlin news.
Thanks diver64, I will check them out. I have another site – Rumble Military Summary that has some interesting stuff. I think it has a Russian slate.
How do you evacuate troops that are “encircled” as there is no mention of any corridor created by Ukrainian troops to allow withdrawal?
Considering membership in NATO is one of the main reasons Putin attacked in the first place why on Earth is Ukraine being considered for membership? The US needs out of that useless alliance that is nothing more than a money scheme for Europe to get the US to protect them while lecturing the US on how much it sucks.
A lot of apologists for Russia posting here. A paranoid conspiracy theory guy would jump to the conclusion that checking out the IP addresses would show a bunch of new identities posting from somewhere east of Poland.
Ima assuming most of them are either “America Firsters” or just folks nostalgic for when Russian socialism was the Wave Of The Future – instead of an obviously failed experiment that killed 100 million people.
Like last time a major European land power got greedy for more land and the US got sucked in.
We are sucked in. Our billions are paying our military, pay as you go soldiers, all the equipment, politicians, benefits, yes their benefits, food,
Every freaking thing!
Thisnis Biden’s war
He could have stopped it before it began. This would NEVER have happened under President Trump, NEVER…but his cabel
Will do Anything to remove Putin
That worked out so well in Iraq. The ME has been a disaster and so will Russia.
For a brief moment it would be gratifying to see the end of Putin, but then comes ‘now who’? A carbon copy from the Security ranks, a Duginist or who knows what.
I agree this latest evolution of Russian greed likely wouldn’t have happened under a Trump second term. Putin is a leader of the “at your throat or under your boot” variety. Having an obviously mentally challenged US president emboldened him to go adventuring.
Trump is/was a bit of an “American Firster” himself – but not stupidly so. He’s the first American President in decades to NOT start us into a war and also wanted us out of the ME – but he never would have left billions in operable war material behind up for grabs or put up with forced evacuation of our embassy under fire with abandoned Allies AND US citizens left to an enemies non-existent “mercy”. Weakness embolden Putin.
Also Brandon’s energy policy financed the war. When T left office we were for the first time in decades actually exporting more fossil fuel than importing and world prices were low enuf the the kremlin was squealing like a stuck pig. Now energy prices are making our citizens squeal and the kremlin has had plenty of cash to finance adventuring. Thanks to “he can fuck anything up” Joe.
It’s hard to understand how a majority of Dem voters STILL poll as believing T was a Russian agent when everything Brandon reversed policy wise was to our detriment and Putin’s benefit – but I guess no one ever went broke overestimating the stupidity of the general public.
Nice green screen fake photo of the signing it appears. I favor a mind our own biz approach to this disaster of a policy. Make a deal for peace and give Russia the 4 areas they have annexed. Ukraine is going to be a European Haiti unless US taxpayers support them…Make a deal and stop the madness.
There have been a lot of Russian assets, willing or unwittingly, popping up again everywhere, even here it seems. They were plentiful and loud at the start of Putin’s special military adventure but have gotten quiet as the Russian army was proved to be somewhat less than ten feet tall and taken staggering casualties for nothing. “Moon of Alabama” was a prominent Russian mouthpiece but has had to back off as Russia has floundered. ‘Moon’ seems to have plenty of contributors who are just dyed in the wool anti American for any number of reasons, some maybe going back to early cold war days.
Oh stop it. I’mnot a Russian asset or apologist. I’m a realist. Neither Russia or Ukraine make me want WW3, sorry.
Nukes killing My grandchildren doesn’t quite do it for me.
Like the ME they have been fighting for centuries
It’s not our war, it’s not in our interests. Russia has nukes and Putin will use them. So then will we?
Most likely, then millions and millions die. But you wave that red badge of courage you got there buddy
Oops, it evaporated with your body, so sorry.
But you your spirit will live on knowing how “right” you are.
Didn’t say you were. New comers are what I see, or maybe rarely seen here.
“Russia has nukes and Putin will use them.”
In other words you are willing to give into nuclear blackmail. Enjoy your slavery.
I think we are pushing for the Russians to us nuke. Said thing is that Europe is the loser in this game.
What he said is true, and the way things are going so badly for Russia around Kherson, I think they must use nukes sooner rather than later. The question is then – what will we do after Russia explodes a hundred nukes on the Ukrainian army? I have zero confidence in Biden to do anything except to use the war for domestic political objectives.
Are they really going that badly. Military Summary seems to indicated that the area taken was pretty small and that more UK are being killed that Russians. The Nuke scream seems to be coming from us. Need to listen to McGreager.
At the end of the day, it is really going bad for the UK because they are caught in the middle.
Actually Moon of Alabama dialog was pretty balanced. I was not seen great victories but Russians there, but a lot of disproving of fake Uk victories being pushed by MSM.
If UK is so great, why do they need 60 B from us. Sorry, we are doing War by proxy. In fact, I think we are encouraging it.
There should be peace talks to settle this matter, I see just the opposite by the US. In the past 20 years we have dumped trillions in to UK only to be kicked back to US profiteers. What makes someone a Russian asset? Just because they don’t agree with you. I see just the opposite, several new faces parroting MSM that get there information from US government officials pushing false propaganda. After the Covid lie, I don’t trust anything being reports.
Trust nothing verify everything.
Why look for “provocation” when realpolitik is sufficient? With a slice of Ukraine, Imperial Russia secures minerals, food, fertilizers, pipelines and rail to their Western customers, and a warm water port. Nice haul if they can get away with it, and they thought they could. They may yet.
As my Bulgarian friends said on the taking pf Georgia: “That was about oil.” Ethnic Russian’s interests, and others’ bad actions suddenly matter when Imperial Russia’s got something to grab, and it can. Greater Russia has been running this playbook for near 20 years. This time.
Moon of Alabama is up again.