Ukraine celebrates capturing key town, as Vladimir Putin ally mulls nuclear response

Victor, or the Old Mazay, with his music box in Kharkiv Saturday. Victor plays the box, his son’s present from Poland, once or twice a week since 2017, as he wishes to save people’s souls with the music. Pic/AFP

Ukrainian troops said they had taken the key bastion of Lyman in occupied eastern Ukraine, a stinging defeat that prompted a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin to call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons.

The capture on Saturday came just a day after Putin proclaimed the annexation of nearly a fifth of Ukraine - including Donetsk, where Lyman is located - and placed the regions under Russia's nuclear umbrella. Ukrainian soldiers announced the capture in a video recorded outside the town council building in the centre of Lyman and posted on social media by Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office. "Dear Ukrainians - today the armed forces of Ukraine ... liberated and took control of the settlement of Lyman, Donetsk region," one of the soldiers says.

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At the end of the video, a group of soldiers throw Russian flags down from the building's roof and raise a Ukrainian flag in their place. Seeking to capitalise on Ukraine's recent gains, Zelensky promised more quick successes in the Donbas, which covers the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are largely under Russian control. "Over the past week, the number of Ukrainian flags in Donbas has increased. There will be even more a week's time," the president said in a video address.

Ukraine's successes have infuriated Putin allies such as Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's southern Chechnya region. "In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons," Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.

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