New video of the moment Russian forces took control of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region last month surfaced on social media on Sunday.
The bodycam video — filmed by a soldier called “Rusak” on May 25 — shows the incredible devastation all around the city as Russian troops move past destroyed buildings and down empty streets.
The Russian troops meet no resistance as they enter Lyman’s administrative building, its windows shattered from fighting and glass lying all around.
Making their way up several flights of stairs to the roof of the building, a Russian soldier hesitates for a moment, before waving the Soviet victory banner.
The waving of the flag is then shown from another vantage point at ground level. “Rusak” radios into his commanders: “I’m going on a lunch break right now. I have done everything according to the plan. No losses. The enemy activity was insignificant.”
Some context: On May 30, the office of the President of Ukraine said in a statement that Lyman had been occupied, saying, “The city is temporarily under the control of Russian invaders.”
Russians take control: On June 7, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, using Lyman’s Soviet era name Krasny Liman, announced the city “was liberated from Ukrainian forces,” according to Russian state news agency TASS. The assault was led by General Mikhail Teplinsky, according to Russian state media.
Tactical retreat: Ukrainian forces say they made a tactical retreat from the city. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, said the “Ukrainian military remains in the Lyman direction, but in new fortified positions to deter the enemy.”
Lyman, an important rail hub, lays roughly 37 miles (60 kilometers) west of the strategically important Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk.
