Ukrainian army recaptures territory in Donetsk, Kherson

Lviv, Ukraine, Oct 3 (EFE).- Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces continues to gain ground in eastern and southern regions that Moscow plans to annex.

The Ukrainian armed forces on Sunday recaptured the village of Torske, located in the Donetsk region not far from the strategic city of Lyman, which Russian troops surrendered over the weekend.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the eastern military group who announced the liberation of Torske Monday, said troops continued to demine the area around Lyman.

Last week, Ukrainian forces encircled Russian troops in Lyman, forcing them to retreat to the east.

Kyiv’s troops continue to capture fleeing Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Lyman, Cherevatyi added.

The recapture of Lyman came less than a day after Russia’s president Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia at a Kremlin ceremony. Those annexations are poised to be written into Russian law.

Russia does not fully control any of the four regions.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that two settlements – Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka – had been liberated in Kherson region, which abuts onto the Crimea, a Russian staging point following Putin’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula. EFE

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