President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday (October 1) promised that his Ukrainian military will retake more areas from Russian forces in the country’s eastern Donbas region.
In his evening address, Zelensky said: “Throughout this week, more Ukrainian flags have been raised in the Donbas. There will be even more in a week.”
Zelensky’s remarks came after Kyiv declared that its troops had started advancing into the vital eastern town of Lyman and the defence ministry tweeted a video of soldiers there hoisting the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine. He also added that although the Ukrainian flag was flying in the city, “fighting is still going on there”.
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Meanwhile, Russia on Saturday said that its troops had abandoned the key bastion of Lyman. But the Russian defence ministry said it had “withdrawn” troops from the town “to more favourable lines”.
“In connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement, allied troops were withdrawn from the settlement of Krasny Liman to more advantageous lines,” Russia’s defence ministry said, using the Russian name of the town.
During his address, Zelensky told Russians they would be “killed one by one” as long as President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, remained in power.
“Until you all solve the problem with the one who started it all, who started this senseless war against Ukraine, you will be killed one by one,” he said, calling the war “a historic mistake for Russia”.
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