Ukraine says its forces reach Lyman

Ukrainian forces reached the eastern bastion of Lyman on Saturday after claiming to have encircled thousands of Russian troops in a battlefield rebuttal to the Kremlin a day after it proclaimed a swathe of its territory part of Russia, Qazet.az reports.

The capture of Lyman would be a major setback for Moscow after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the Donetsk region, along with three other regions, at a ceremony on Friday that was condemned by Kyiv and the West as a farce.