As Russian Troops Flee Lyman, Ukrainians Rejoice---and Help Themselves to Russian Supplies
LYMAN, Ukraine—Residents of the war-wrecked town of Lyman ventured onto the streets Sunday morning, enjoying an unusual quiet after months of fighting, and unsure about who was now in charge.
The last Russian forces drove out of the city the previous night, trying to avoid getting encircled by the advancing Ukrainian troops. Not all the Russians made it out. Burning Russian vehicles and sprawled bodies of dead Russian soldiers remain on the roadsides outside the city
“We still can’t figure out who is what. Are those soldiers down the street Russian or Ukrainian?” wondered Dmytro Hontar as he watched dozens of Lyman residents help themselves to abandoned Russian stores on the city’s main square Sunday morning, carting off sacks of flour marked “Russian Humanitarian Aid.”
“People are just looting everything,” he said, shaking his head, and, minutes later, joined the frenzy himself.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-russian-troops-flee-lyman-ukrainians-rejoice-and-help-themselves-to-russian-supplies/ar-AA12vqNd
Putin’s Claims to Donetsk Are News To Some Residents of Newly-Liberated Lyman
LYMAN, Ukraine — As dusk gathered on Sunday, Elena Kharkovska stood in the courtyard of her apartment block in eastern Ukraine, contemplating what she had just learned: She had lived in Russia for a day.
President Vladimir V. Putin decreed on Friday that four regions of Ukraine including Donetsk, where Ms. Kharkovska’s home city of Lyman is located, would be absorbed into Russia and that its people would be Russian citizens “forever.” The Ukrainian Army recaptured Lyman, a critical rail hub, the next day.
Without electricity, radios or access to the internet, half a dozen residents said in interviews, they had no way of learning about the grandiose ceremony at the Kremlin that had welcomed them into Russia, even as Russian soldiers were fleeing from their city.
Ms. Kharkovska greeted a question about having briefly lived in Russia — at least according to the Russian interpretation of events — with a blank stare. Told that Mr. Putin had on Friday declared her town part of Russia, the retiree laughed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-s-claims-to-donetsk-are-news-to-some-residents-of-newly-liberated-lyman/ar-AA12w1Oi