Russia-Ukraine war: Russians flee Lyman as Ukrainian troops retake city a day after Putin’s illegal annexation – live | World news

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Russian forces leave Lyman

Russian troops have pulled out of the town of the strategic city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “due to the risk to be encircled” and moved to “more advantageous frontiers”, Russia’s ministry of defense said via Telegram on Saturday.

Ukraine forces encircled Russian forces in the eastern town earlier today where Russia’s forces at Lyman totalled about 5,000 to 5,500 soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers were later seen raising the nation’s flag before the entrance sign to the city.

The retreat comes a day after Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupations in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible regions takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces, previously said:

Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important.

Updated at 15.41 BSTE

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Chechnya head : Moscow should consider low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine

Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s region of Chechnya, said Moscow should consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine after a major new defeat on the battlefield.

In a message on Telegram addressing Russia’s loss of its stronghold of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, Kadyrov wrote: “In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low -yield nuclear weapons”.

Kadyrov was speaking a day after President Vladimir proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions – including Donetsk, where Lyman is located – and placed them under Russia’s nuclear umbrella, saying Moscow would defend the lands it had seized “with all our strength and all our means”, Reuters reports.

Summary

It’s 6pm in Ukraine. Here’s the latest:

Russian troops pulled out of the town of the strategic city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “due to the risk to be encircled” and moved to “more advantageous frontiers” Russia’s ministry of defense said via Telegram on Saturday. The retreat comes a day after Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine.

The IOC president Thomas Bach has been accused of violating the game’s principles by suggesting that Russian athletes might be allowed to return to competition provided they did not support the invasion of Ukraine. Bach told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera “This war has not been started by the Russian athletes”.

Russian authorities informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that the head of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was “temporarily detained” for questioning. Ihor Murashov was detained on his way from Europe’s largest nuclear plant to the town of Enerhodar at about 4pm on Friday.

Kharkiv Oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said Ukrainian authorities found the bodies of at least 20 people in a civilian convoy near the city of Kupiansk. He believed they were killed while they attempted to flee Russian soldiers, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Russia is trying to transfer the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Russian energy firm Rosatom, the head of Ukraine’s atomic energy company said. Speaking with BBC News on Saturday, Petro Kotin said “they are trying to make our personnel just to sign the accurate deals for the work at Rosatom.”

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said she shared key information on the damaged Nord Stream pipelines with Liz Truss at a meeting in Downing Street. “This is sabotage and it is critical infrastructure. So of course, this is a very serious situation,” he told reporters outside No 10.

The Ministry of Defense said Russia’s expansion strategy has resulted in “killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens.” The MoD said Russia is expending “strategically valuable military assets” in attempts to gain tactical advantage.

Turkey which has been at the center of mediation between the west and Russia, rejected Russia’s annexation of Ukraine, calling the decision a “grave violation” of international law.

Updated at 16.00 BSTE

Russia has not been re-elected to the UN aviation agency’s governing council, in a boost for western powers that wanted to hold Moscow accountable for its invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday Russia did not receive enough votes to remain in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s 36-nation governing council, during the agency’s assembly which runs through Oct. 7 in Montreal, Reuters reports.

Poppy Khoza, the assembly’s president and South Africa’s director general of civil aviation, called the circumstance “unprecedented.”

Luke Harding

Vladimir Putin faced severe embarrassment when Ukrainian soldiers liberated the key eastern city of Lyman, raising the blue-and-yellow national flag above its entrance sign, hours after Russia’s president announced that the area was Moscow’s “for ever”.

Ukraine’s armed forces said they had entirely surrounded the city, trapping thousands of Russian soldiers inside. The governor of the Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, said the besieged troops had begged on Friday to be allowed to leave Lyman. Their commanders refused, he claimed.

Read more here:

Russian forces leave Lyman

Russian troops have pulled out of the town of the strategic city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “due to the risk to be encircled” and moved to “more advantageous frontiers”, Russia’s ministry of defense said via Telegram on Saturday.

Ukraine forces encircled Russian forces in the eastern town earlier today where Russia’s forces at Lyman totalled about 5,000 to 5,500 soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers were later seen raising the nation’s flag before the entrance sign to the city.

The retreat comes a day after Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupations in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible regions takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces, previously said:

Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important.

Updated at 15.41 BSTE

Russia’s Gazprom has suspended gas deliveries to Italy’s Eni, blaming a transport problem in Austria, AFP reports.

The Italian energy giant said on Saturday:

Gazprom told us that it was not able to confirm the delivery of the volumes demanded for today, citing the impossibility of gas transport through Austria. Russian gas flows to Eni via the Tarvisio entry point will be naught.

Before the war in Ukraine, nearly 45% of Italy’s imported gas came from Russia. Most of the gas from Russia to Italy passes through Ukraine via the Trans Austria Gas Pipeline.

Ukraine’s state security service shared a video on Twitter on Saturday showing the “scene of a war crime by Russian troops” with damaged cars and charred human remains.

Russian troops recently shot a civilian column between occupied Svatov in Luhansk region and liberated Kubyansk in Kharkiv region, they said.

Warning: this video contains graphic images.

Відео з місця воєнного злочину російських військ, які нещодавно розстріляли цивільну колону між окупованим Сватовим Луганської області та звільненим Куп’янськом на Харківщині.

Зробимо усе, аби окупанти відповіли за цей кривавий злочин!

Детальніше ➡️ https://t.co/Bc74Rum1eb pic.twitter.com/XJZjZuLHZB

— СБ України (@ServiceSsu) October 1, 2022

Updated at 14.53 BSTE

Russia accuses International Olympic Committee president of violating game principles

The IOC president Thomas Bach has been accused of violating the Games’ principles by suggesting that its athletes might be allowed to return to competition provided they did not support the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Bach told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera:

It is not about necessarily having Russia back. It’s about having athletes with a Russian passport who do not support the war back in competition … This war has not been started by the Russian athletes.

Russia has been barred from competing under its flag or playing its national anthem at successive Games as punishment for widespread doping violations.

Russian news agencies quoted sports minister Oleg Matytsin as responding:

The main task of the international Olympic movement is to provide athletes with equal access to participation in the Olympic Games, regardless of their views and religions, traditions and citizenship. Bach’s latest statement goes against Olympic principles.

Updated at 14.43 BSTE

Russian authorities have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the head of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was “temporarily detained” for questioning, Reuters reports.

Earlier, we reported that the UN nuclear watchdog was seeking clarification from Russian authorities after Ihor Murashov was detained on his way from Europe’s largest nuclear plant to the town of Enerhodar at about 4pm on Friday.

Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s atomic energy company, said his detention “jeopardises the safety of operation of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant”.

Here are the latest photos from Ukraine and elsewhere:

People cross the Donets River next to a destroyed bridge in Staryi Saltiv, east of Kharkiv. Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/GettyPassengers arrive at Przemyśl in Poland on a train from Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine. Photograph: Omar Marques/GettyA school gym allegedly used by the Russian army as a base in the village of Mala Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. Photograph: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPAA Ukrainian soldier looks out from a tank in Lyman, Donetsk region. Photograph: Jorge Silva/ReutersDestroyed Russian ammunition store in the town of Izyum, in the Kharkiv region. Photograph: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA

Updated at 13.58 BSTE

The Kyiv Independent reports that Kharkiv Oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov has said Ukrainian authorities found the bodies of at least 20 people in a civilian convoy near the city of Kupiansk. Syniehubov believes they were killed while they attempted to flee Russian soldiers.

Ukrainian news website Suspilne reports that there were six cars in the convoy which were found covered in bullet holes and burned out. According to Suspilne, a child was among the dead. Syniehubov described the massacre as “cruelty that has no justification”.

Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s east accused Ukraine of shelling a convoy of refugees being evacuated from the Kharkiv region and killing around 30 civilians, as reported by Russian state media on Thursday.

It was not clear if they were referring to the same convoy immediately.

Updated at 13.39 BSTE

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