Moscow has ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from the strategically important city of Lyman. The Russian armed forces apparently suffered heavy losses. Putin’s henchman Ramzan Kadyrov is considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons. You can find all the latest news about the war in Ukraine in the ticker.
10.10 a.m .: According to British secret services, the Russians suffered high losses when retreating from the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman. The city in the eastern region of Donetsk had previously been defended by undermanned Russian units and reservists, according to the daily short report by the British Ministry of Defense on Sunday. Many soldiers were said to have died when retreating via the only road out of the city that was still under Russian control.
On Saturday – one day after the illegal annexation of several Ukrainian territories – Russia gave up the city of Lyman in a bitter defeat by the Ukrainian army. According to the Russian military, the armed forces have been withdrawn because of the risk of encirclement. Ukrainian authorities had previously spoken of around 5,000 surrounded Russian soldiers. So far, however, there has been no concrete information about the number of dead and prisoners.
According to the British, the withdrawal triggered a wave of public criticism of the military leadership in Russian government circles. Further defeats in the regions of the annexed territories are likely to further intensify this and increase the pressure on senior commanders.
1:20 a.m .: Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht was woken up early Sunday morning by another air raid alarm in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. With other members of her delegation, the SPD politician had to seek shelter in the bunker of her hotel shortly before 1 a.m. After about 20 minutes the all clear was given and the minister was able to return to her room.
Lambrecht told the German Press Agency that she was surprised by the alarm while she was sleeping. For security reasons, she handed in her mobile phone before traveling to Ukraine to prevent them from being located. Otherwise she would probably still have been awake and would have read on her mobile phone, the minister said.
At around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Lambrecht had to go into a bunker for 45 minutes during a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Resnikov because of an air raid alarm. Odessa is also regularly fired at by the Russian army with rockets and drones. The minister had traveled to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the war.
01:03: After the Russian withdrawal from Lyman, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the recapture of other Russian-controlled areas. “During the week, new Ukrainian flags waved over the Donbass,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Saturday evening. “There will be more in the coming week.” Ukrainian forces had previously reported an advance in the strategically important city in eastern Ukraine, which had been occupied by Russian troops since the spring.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry tweeted a video of soldiers holding up a Ukrainian flag next to a sign with the city’s name.
Shortly thereafter, Moscow confirmed the withdrawal of its troops from the city because of the “danger” of encirclement. Ukrainian army spokesmen had previously reported that thousands of soldiers had been surrounded near Lyman.
Lyman is located in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, for which Russia sealed the annexation by signing agreements on Friday, as did the three other Moscow-controlled regions of Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Cherson.
12:59 a.m .: Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) visited Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the war. In the port city of Odessa, she met her Ukrainian colleague Oleksiy Resnikov on Saturday, according to the Federal Ministry of Defense. Ukraine needs weapons for air defense in particular, Lambrecht said during her visit to Ukraine in an interview with ARD “Tagesthemen”.
“According to the impressions I gained today, the focus is now on air defense and artillery,” she said. You have experienced “how the population is tormented with drones”. On the question of the tank deliveries demanded by Kyiv, Lambrecht reiterated the position of the federal government that Germany would not go it alone.
To support Ukraine with heavy weapons in the war against Russia, the German government has so far mainly supplied artillery and anti-aircraft systems. Modern tanks of the Leopard and Marder type, as demanded by Kyiv, have so far been refused by Berlin.
Lambrecht added that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats must be taken seriously. She “advises everyone not to trivialize it”. However, it should not lead to “that we let ourselves be paralyzed”. There are fears in the West that Putin might resort to nuclear weapons in the face of severe military setbacks in Ukraine. The Russian President has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons.
Regarding Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, Lambrecht said that there was agreement in Brussels that NATO would not become a war party. This will remain so in the future. In response to Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday an application for his country’s rapid admission to NATO.
6:24 p.m .: Explosions have apparently occurred again at a military airport on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia. “According to the information of the rescue workers, a plane overshot the runway and caught fire,” wrote the Moscow-appointed governor of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Rasvozhayev, in the news service Telegram on Saturday. The fire brigade is on duty. However, videos circulating on social networks showed thick clouds of smoke with strong explosions. Observers suspected that an ammunition store could have caught fire.
The Ukrainian military has already struck several times at Russian Air Force bases on the peninsula. In August, for example, the military airport near Saki in Crimea was attacked. The Belbek military airport near Sevastopol is considered one of the most important for the Russian military.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a major war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24. Following the example of the Crimea, Moscow is now trying to incorporate four more Ukrainian regions with the help of an annexation. Russia controls them only partially. And militarily, Moscow has recently had to cope with defeats, especially in eastern Ukraine.
5:01 p.m .: The Putin henchman and ruler of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons after the Russian escape from Lyman. On Telegram he writes:
“I don’t know what the Department of Defense is reporting to the Supreme Commander, but my personal opinion is that we should take more drastic measures, up to and including imposing martial law in the border areas and using low-yield nuclear weapons.”
And further: “There is no need to make every decision with the Western American community in mind – they have already said and done a lot against us. Yesterday there was a parade in Izyum, today a flag in Lyman, and tomorrow what?”
4:05 p.m .: The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the withdrawal of Russian troops from the city of Lyman on Saturday afternoon. This is reported by several media unanimously. A capture of the city by Ukrainian troops had previously been reported. Around 5,000 Russian soldiers are said to have been surrounded by Ukrainian troops.
There had never been such a number of encircled Russians in the war, said the Ukrainian head of administration for Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj. Almost all entrances are blocked. Western military experts assume that Lyman will be completely liberated in the next few days. Lyman is the northernmost city in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. Just yesterday, Putin annexed four regions of Ukraine, including Donetsk Oblast.
The Lyman area is important as a bridgehead for a further advance of Ukrainian troops deep into the neighboring Luhansk region.
4:01 p.m .: After the arrest of the nuclear power plant director in Zaporizhia by Russian troops, there are now new findings. Russian authorities informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday that the director general of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was “temporarily detained to answer questions,” an IAEA spokesman said in Vienna on Saturday. According to Ukrainian sources, Murashov was kidnapped by Moscow troops.
The President of the Ukrainian operating company Enerhoatom, Petro Kotin, said that the day before the power plant boss had been stopped on the street by a Russian patrol at the Enerhodar nuclear power plant site, dragged out of the car and taken blindfolded to an unknown location. Russia has occupied the nuclear power plant since early March.
“There is no information about his fate,” Kotin said on the Telegram news channel. He accused Russia of nuclear terrorism against the management and employees of the power plant.
2:52 p.m .: The Ukrainian attack on the city of Lyman now seems to be causing the Russian commanders to rethink. In the morning, the Ukrainian head of administration for Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj, said: “The occupiers asked their leadership to come out if possible, whereupon they were rebuffed.”
But now the reports are piling up that the withdrawal has already been decided. Well-known Russian military blogger Rybar wrote on Telegram: “By mid-day it became clear that the decision had been made to withdraw troops and abandon Lyman.”
The “Economist” correspondent Oliver Carroll also writes on Twitter of “many reports” about a Russian withdrawal from Lyman and shares a map of the military blogger.
2:03 p.m .: According to a regional governor, at least 20 civilians were found dead in their vehicles in northeastern Ukraine. “The occupiers attacked civilians who tried to flee from the shelling,” Kharkiv region governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on Saturday in the online service Telegram. Ten children are said to have been among them, according to the Ukrainian security service. According to them, the attack happened near the city of Kupyansk. Two days earlier, a civilian convoy was attacked in Zaporizhia.
According to Synebugov, police officers and experts for investigations are on site. On Friday, reporters from the AFP news agency saw at least 11 dead civilians in vehicles on a road in the region after Russian troops withdrew from Kupyansk.
1:13 p.m .: According to their own statements, the Ukrainian troops have surrounded around 5,000 Russian soldiers in the strategically important city of Lyman in the Donetsk region. That was the status on Saturday morning, said the Ukrainian head of administration for Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj. “The occupiers asked their leadership to come out if possible, and they were rebuffed,” he said. “They now have three courses of action: either they can try to break out or they surrender. Or they all die together. There are about 5,000 of them, there is no exact number.”
Videos show Ukrainian soldiers holding up national flags. The videos are said to have been taken in and around Lyman. This too could not initially be verified independently.
10:59 a.m .: According to British secret services, Moscow is now using defensive missiles in its ground offensive in Ukraine that are actually intended for shooting down aircraft or other missiles. Such a long-range anti-aircraft missile was allegedly used in an attack on a convoy south-east of the city of Zaporizhia on Friday, the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily briefing on Saturday. According to local authorities, 30 civilians were killed.
The British secret services see the use of such a missile as a sign of Russian ammunition shortages, since these weapons are considered strategically valuable and only available in limited numbers. Moscow is now allegedly also using such weapons to gain tactical advantages and accepts the fact that civilians are being killed who, following the illegal annexation of several Ukrainian territories, should be considered Russia’s own citizens.
8:41 a.m .: The head of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian troops, Ihor Murashov, has been kidnapped by Moscow troops, according to Ukrainian information. This was announced by the President of the operating company Enerhoatom, Petro Kotin, on Saturday. The general director of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was stopped the day before by a Russian patrol at the Enerhodar nuclear power plant site, dragged out of the car and taken to an unknown location, blindfolded. There was initially no explanation from the Russian side. Russia has occupied the nuclear power plant since early March.
“There is no information about his fate,” Kotin said on the Telegram news channel. He accused Russia of nuclear terrorism against the management and employees of the power plant. Murashov, who bears the main responsibility for the safe functioning and nuclear safety of the plant, must be released immediately. Kotin also called on the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, to campaign for Murashov’s release.
Saturday, October 1, 5:02 a.m.: Kremlin chief Putin had just sealed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions when Kyiv announced new military successes. Russian troops are said to be surrounded in Donetsk. A few hours after Russia annexed several areas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced the successes of his army in the east of the country. “Everyone has heard what is happening in Lyman,” said Zelenskyj in a video speech on Saturday night, with a view of the strategically important small town in the Donetsk region, which has just been incorporated into Moscow. Previously, the Donetsk occupation chief Denis Puschilin had already admitted the almost complete encirclement of Russian troops in Lyman by Ukrainian soldiers.
More than seven months after the war began, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Cherson and Zaporizhia in addition to Donetsk on Friday. Internationally, this illegal step is not recognized.
The USA announced new sanctions against Russia in view of the recent escalation by Moscow. Ukraine itself is hoping for an accelerated admission process to NATO. On Friday evening there were air alerts in all parts of the attacked country. Saturday is the 220th day of the war.
1:15 p.m.: A civilian car convoy traveling to visit relatives fleeing Russian-held territories in Ukraine was fired upon by Moscow forces near the town of Zaporizhia. At least 25 people died.
Footage posted to social media showed a horrifying scene with the dead and injured lying on a road on the south-eastern outskirts. In video taken from a nearby building, a sobbing woman can be heard repeatedly saying, “There are dead people there: “There are dead people there.” Other images include at least one crater showing cars, who took the full force of the explosion.
10:29 a.m .: According to Ukrainian information, 25 people were killed in a rocket attack on a civilian car convoy in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia on Friday. Another 28 people were injured, according to the governor of the Zaporizhia regional administration, Olexander Starukh. Staruch blamed Russian troops for the attack. The information cannot be verified independently.
The convoy was shot at as it was leaving the city to enter the area occupied by Russian troops. People would have wanted to pick up relatives there and bring help. Rescue workers and paramedics are on site, Staruch said.
On the other hand, the head of the Russian occupation administration for the Zaporizhia region, Vladimir Rogov, accused Ukrainian troops of shelling the convoy on his Telegram channel. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, 25 people were killed and around 50 injured. According to Zelensky, 16 rockets were fired at Zaporizhia and the surrounding area
You can read more reports on the Ukraine conflict on the following pages.
