Latest Ukraine updates: Russia campaign pushed back in Lyman

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the success of the country’s soldiers is not limited to the recapture of Lyman.

“The story of the liberation of Lyman in the Donetsk region has now become the most popular in the media,” he said in his nightly address.

“But the successes of our soldiers are not limited to Lyman,” he added without providing any details.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the abduction of the director-general of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is an act of Russian terror.

“This is another instance of clear act of Russian terror, for which the terrorist state must bear an ever-increasing punishment,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

A Russian patrol detained Ihor Murashov on Friday, the state-owned company in charge of the plant said, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia had confirmed the move.

The Ukrainian military has said in its evening statement that its forces had repelled Russian advances in several areas — particularly in the Donetsk region near Bakhmut and Spirne, just inside the Donetsk region near Lysychansk, and a major centre in the neighbouring Luhansk region.

Control over Lyman could prove a “key factor” in helping Ukraine reclaim lost territory in the neighbouring Luhansk region, whose full capture Moscow announced in early July after weeks of grinding advances, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said.

Lyman’s recapture by Ukrainian troops is Russia’s most significant battlefield loss since Ukraine’s lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region in September.

President Joe Biden has said the United States and NATO will not be intimidated by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and warned that the Western alliance would defend “every inch” of its territory if attacked.

“America and its allies are not going to be intimidated,” he said in remarks at the White House. Putin is “not going to scare us”.

Biden then addressed the Kremlin leader directly, pointing his finger into the television camera as he warned against any attack spilling beyond Ukraine onto NATO territory.

“America’s fully prepared, with our NATO allies, to defend every single inch of NATO territory,” he said. “Mr Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying: every inch.”

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 221st day, we take a look at the main developments.

Read more here.

Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s southern Chechnya region, has called for a change of strategy “right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons”.

Other hawkish Russian figures criticised Russian generals and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on social media for overseeing the setbacks, but they stopped short of attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin.

KEEP READING:

• Pope Francis ‘begs’ Putin to stop ‘spiral of violence and death’
• What the war means for Ukrainians with disabilities
• Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 221

As Russian troops retreat after losing the key Ukrainian town of Lyman, they need to set up a new front line to protect their dwindling gains – but one key supply route has already been cut off.

The railway lines in northeastern Ukraine converge at Kupiansk Vuzlovyi before heading south towards Svatove, in the Luhansk region, now claimed by Moscow as an annexed Russian territory.

During the first six months of this year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine, the trains rattling through Kupiansk Vuzlovyi’s huge marshalling yards carried supplies southwards to the occupation forces.

But now the soldiers patrolling the modern – but heavily-damaged – station are Ukrainian, and the tracks are silent.

“This site has always been considered a target of strategic importance, it’s a railway and cargo connection point,” said “Rosomakha”, a soldier whose call sign is the Ukrainian word for “Wolverine”.

Russia has already stopped more than 180 men from crossing the border to neighbouring Georgia to escape the partial mobilisation recently ordered by President Vladimir Putin, the Interfax news agency has reported.

The men were handed a draft notice directly at the Verkhny Lars border crossing, the report said, citing the armed forces’ commissioner’s office of the Russian constituent republic of North Ossetia in the Caucasus, which borders Georgia.

It was also announced that checks on men of conscript age would be increased at the border.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that the recruits would have to undergo training in the “rear areas” of the combat zone.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given awards to members of the Territorial Defence Forces.

Zelenskyy noted how Territorial Defence fighters are involved in the liberation of Kharkiv and the defence of several regions including Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia.

“Kharkiv region is being liberated, in particular, by the military units of Territorial Defence from Podolia and Kyiv Oblast,” he said.

He stressed the importance of further developing the Territorial Defence, saying that “this is the best foundation of our national security.”

Pope Francis has for the first time directly appealed to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to stop the “spiral of violence and death” in Ukraine, saying he is haunted by “rivers of blood and tears”.

The head of the Catholic Church also condemned the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, saying it risked nuclear escalation and urged Putin to think of his own people during an address dedicated to Ukraine in St Peter’s Square.

He also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider proposals to halt the fighting.

“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 said.

The war in #Ukraine has become so serious, devastating and threatening as to cause great concern. In the name of God and of the sense of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. #Russia #Peace

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 2, 2022

Ukrainian media have shared an image of Ukrainian troops carrying the country’s yellow-and-blue flag in front of a statue marking the village of Torske, 15km (9 miles) east of Lyman and within sight of the Russian-held Luhansk region.

The images were shared shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that his forces control Lyman.

In another online photo, a Ukrainian soldier was standing in front of a giant watermelon landmark just south of the village of Novovorontsovka on the banks of the Dneiper River, along the Russian-controlled province of Kherson’s northern edge.

A Ukrainian flag flew above the statue as several apparently deactivated landmines lay beside it.

KEEP READING:

• What the war means for Ukrainians with disabilities
• Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 221
• Ukraine hails ‘next step towards liberation’ as Russia retreats

Ukraine’s capture of a city within the territory of Putin’s declared annexation demonstrates that Ukrainians are making progress and able to push back against Russian forces, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

Stoltenberg said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, the best way to counter Russia’s proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine is to continue supporting the government in Kyiv.

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht has announced the delivery of 16 wheeled armoured howitzers from Slovakia to Ukraine for the coming year in a deal Berlin is partly financing.

The systems of the type Zuzana would be produced in Slovakia and financed together with Denmark, Norway and Germany, the minister told public broadcaster ARD after returning from her first trip to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.

The relevant production facilities are available in Slovakia, Lambrecht said. “This shows how important it is to keep exploring such possibilities together with one’s partners, but then also to implement them,” the minister added.

The Zuzana howitzer is the flagship product of the Slovak defence industry and the only heavy weapon system produced in the country. According to the manufacturer, it can fire all types of NATO ammunition in 155mm calibre.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says it is technically possible to restore the ruptured offshore infrastructure of the Nord Stream pipelines, the TASS news agency reported.

“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,” he said.

Germany, Denmark and Norway will buy 16 Slovak Zuzana-2 howitzers for Ukraine, the German defence ministry said, with delivery to begin next year.

The guns, which can fire six projectiles a minute over a distance of 40km (25 miles), will be built in Slovakia, the ministry said. The three countries will spend 92 million euros ($90m) on the systems.

Ukraine, which has scored notable battlefield successes against Russia in recent weeks, says it needs more and heavier armaments to repulse the invasion that Moscow launched in February.

The Danish Energy Agency says it has been informed by Nord Stream AG that stable pressure had been achieved in the damaged Nord Stream 1 pipeline and that this indicates the outflow of natural gas from the last leaks had now halted.

A total of four leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Denmark and Sweden last week.

While neither pipeline was in use at the time of the suspected blasts, they were filled with gas that has been spewing out and bubbling to the surface of the Baltic Sea since Monday.

Russia’s defence ministry says its forces destroyed seven artillery and missile depots in the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv and Donetsk.

It said the guidance radar for an S-300 air defence missile system had also been destroyed near Nova Kaluha in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said it carried out an attack on a Russian ammunition depot in the country’s south, in Chernihiv, and hit other Russian command posts, ammunition depots and two S-300 anti-aircraft batteries.

The reports of military activity from both sides could not be verified immediately.

The presidents of nine NATO countries in central and eastern Europe declared they would never recognise the annexation by Russia of four Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia.

The presidents issued a joint statement saying they could not “stay silent in the face of the blatant violation of international law by the Russian Federation”.

“We reiterate our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” they said. “We do not recognise and will never recognise Russian attempts to annex any Ukrainian territory.”

The statement was issued by the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

In southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s hometown Kriyvyi Rih came under Russian attack by a suicide drone that struck a school and destroyed two stories of it, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

A fire sparked by the drone attack has been put out, Reznichenko said.

Russia in recent weeks has begun using Iranian-made suicide drones to attack targets in Ukraine. In southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said Sunday that it shot down five Iranian-made drones overnight, while two others made it through air defences.

Russia is stepping up its use of Iranian drones this weekend

Ukraine says it shot down 5 drones, while 2 passed through its air defences. A suicide drone also struck Zelensky's hometown of Kryvvi Rih destroying 2 stories of a school

— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) October 2, 2022

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has called for the release of the director-general of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, saying his detention posed a threat to safety and security.

A Russian patrol detained Ihor Murashov on September 30, the state-owned company in charge of the plant said, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Russia had confirmed the move.

“IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed the hope that Mr Murashov will return to his family safely and promptly and will be able to resume his important functions at the plant,” the agency tweeted late on Saturday.

The IAEA has been in contact with relevant authorities seeking clarifications on his temporary detention, which it said had a “very significant impact” on him and nuclear safety and security standards.

IAEA has been in contact w/ relevant authorities seeking clarifications on temporary detention of #Ukraine #Zaporizhzhya NPP Murashov; detention has very significant impact on the individual & the 7 nuclear safety & security pillars, @RafaelMGrossi said. https://t.co/KYluTWhsfZ pic.twitter.com/oPQQuHiSX8

— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) October 1, 2022