About 5,000 Russian soldiers are encircled by Ukraine's Armed Forces in Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, said Serhiy Haidai, the governor of neighboring Luhansk Oblast.
According to Haidai, Russian troops asked their commanders if they could retreat but the request was turned down. "The possibility of delivering ammunition to the city is already blocked," he said, adding that the Russian troops won't be able to exit the city.
Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of Donbas, wrote Reuters, citing Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman of Ukraine's Operational Command “East.”
"It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk (in Luhansk Oblast), and it is psychologically very important," Cherevatyi said.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, yesterday, on Sept. 30, Ukraine's Armed Forces cut Russian access to the Svatove-Lyman road, which is "the major ground line of communication sustaining the Russian grouping within Lyman itself."
On Sept. 23, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported that Ukrainian forces had managed to secure bridgeheads on the east bank of the Oskil River, which Russian troops tried to integrate into "a consolidated defensive line" after their withdrawals from Kharkiv Oblast.
Russian troops have been occupying Lyman in Donetsk Oblast since May. Ukraine's forces started the assault on Sept. 23.
