First battle of Lyman | |||||||
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Part of the battle of Donbas in the Russian invasion of Ukraine | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Russia | Ukraine | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown |
100+ killed, 200–300 captured[5] Per Russia: 500 captured[8][9][10] | ||||||
152+ civilians killed[11] |
The first battle of Lyman was a military engagement during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as part of the battle of Donbas in the wider eastern Ukraine offensive. It began on 23 May and ended on 27 May 2022.
A month into the Russian invasion, Russia claimed to control 93% of Luhansk Oblast,[12] leaving Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk as strategically important Ukrainian holdouts in the area. Russian plans to capture Sievierodonetsk hinged upon its successes in the nearby cities of Rubizhne to the north and Popasna to the south;[13] both Rubizhne and Popasna fell in May after extensive combat.[14]
East of Lyman, a battle on the Siverskyi Donets River occurred mid-May 2022, with the Ukrainian military repelling multiple Russian attempts to cross the river.[15] Russian forces suffered an estimated 400 to 485 dead and wounded during the attempts.[16][17]
Russian forces intensified offensive operations around Lyman and made gains on 23 May. Russian forces launched an assault on the northern part of Lyman and took at least partial control of the city.[18] The Russians intensified its attacks towards the city center the next day, starting street fights. With the support of artillery and aviation, on 25 May, Russian forces continued the offensive towards the settlement of Lyman, capturing about 70% of the city's territory. Ukrainian forces withdrew to the southern settlements of the city, offering fierce resistance, while some soldiers surrendered during the siege.[19]
After conducting a final evacuation of civilians and leaving supplies for those who decided to stay, the last Ukrainian forces evacuated Lyman on the afternoon of 26 May, destroying the last remaining bridge behind them.[20] Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said that the city had been captured by Russian forces,[2] a statement confirmed by the Institute for the Study of War.[1]
The next day, however, Ukrainian Defence Ministry said that the battle for control of the city was still ongoing,[2] and their forces were continuing to hold the southwestern and northeastern districts, while other Ukrainian officials acknowledged most of Lyman, including the city center, was under Russian control.[21] In addition, the United Kingdom also assessed most of the town had come under Russian control by 27 May.[22] Both Russian-backed separatist forces and the Russian military made separate claims of victory on 27 and 28 May.[3][23] Early on 30 May, the Ukrainian military acknowledged Russian forces had consolidated in Lyman and were preparing to attack towards Sloviansk.[4]
It was reported that during the fighting, a battalion of Ukraine's 79th Air Assault Brigade suffered more than 100 killed, while between 200 and 300 soldiers were captured.[5]
Main article: Second battle of Lyman |
Russia gained a strategic railroad hub, and pushed Ukrainian forces to the right bank of Siverskyi Donets River until early September.
The second battle started on 10 September during Ukraine's counteroffensive. By 30 September Ukrainian forces had closed in on the city and cut off the only road left supplying the occupying forces.[24]
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Russian forces in eastern Ukraine captured the centre of the railway hub town of Lyman and encircled most of Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian officials acknowledged on Friday, as Kyiv's forces fell back in the face of Moscow's biggest advance for weeks, though Ukraine insisted its forces were still holding firm at new defensive lines in the eastern Donbas region, Reuters reported. Ukrainian officials acknowledged that Russia had captured most of Lyman. But the defense ministry said forces were still holding out in northeastern and southwestern districts, blocking the Russians from launching an advance towards Sloviansk, a major city a half-hour drive further southwest.
Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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