<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Russia has withdrawn its troops from the strategic Ukrainian town of Lyman, in a move seen as a significant setback for its campaign in the east.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The retreat came amid fears thousands of soldiers would be encircled in the town, Russia's defence ministry said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recapturing Lyman is of strategic significance for Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The town had been used as a logistics hub by Russia, and could give Ukrainian troops access to more territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Video footage shared online showed Ukrainian soldiers waving their national flag on the outskirts of the town.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although the blue and yellow colours were flying in Lyman again, fighting was "still going on" there, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening video address.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, he gave no further details.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The battlefield setback prompted the Chechen leader and hardline Moscow ally, Ramzan Kadyrov, to comment that Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons in the face of such defeats.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lyman is in Donetsk - one of four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions which Russia declared it was annexing on Friday. Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed the move as an illegal land-grab.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An adviser to Ukraine's defence minister earlier told the BBC that recent gains around Lyman - following days of intense fighting - represented a "considerable success".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russian fighters had been given the chance to surrender, Yurik Sak said, and would face better treatment as prisoners of war than from the Russian military leadership.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shortly afterwards, the Kremlin said it was withdrawing its forces from the town, using its Soviet-era name of Krasnyi (Red) Lyman, acknowledging that the Ukrainians had "significant superiority in forces" in the area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Military analysts say that Kyiv currently has momentum in the war, and it has vowed to forge ahead with a counter-offensive to reclaim all territory under occupation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a speech on Friday, Mr Zelensky said efforts to "liberate our entire land" would act as proof that international law could not be violated. Source:BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>