Ukrainian forces encircling Russian troops in Lyman

Ukrainian forces are encircling Russian troops in Russian-occupied Lyman, in the Kramatorsk district of Donetsk despite Moscow annexation of the region that has been declared illegal by the West.

According to Serhii Cherevatyi, the military spokesperson for the eastern group of Ukrainian forces, Ukrainian forces entered Stavky, a village near Lyman.

The Russian group in the Lyman area is surrounded. The settlements of Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandryholove, Drobysheve and Stavky are liberated. There are stabilization measures currently in place, according to Cherevatyi in a televised press conference on Saturday.

The liberation of Lyman is important because it is another step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. He said that it is psychologically very important in turn.

Cherevatyi said the Ukrainian troops actions are setting the tone to break the course of the hostilities. He stated that there had been many killed and wounded, but could not give any further details, noting that the operation is not yet complete. Russia has used Lyman as a logistical hub for its operations in the region, and its fall would mark Ukraine's most significant gain since its successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

The head of Luhansk regional military administration Serhiy Hayday revealed Saturday further details of the Lyman offensive, suggesting Russian forces had offered to retreat but to no avail from the Ukrainian side.

Occupiers asked for their command for the possibility of retreat, but they have been refused. They have two options. They actually have three options. Hayday said that he tried to break through, surrender, or everyone there will die.

There are several thousand of them. There is no exact number yet. Five thousand is still a colossal grouping. There has never been such a large group in the encirclement before. He said all routes for the supply of ammunition or the retreat of the group are completely blocked.

Yurii Mysiagin, Ukrainian member of Parliament and deputy head of the parliament's committee on national security, referenced the move into Stavky on Saturday by publishing a video on Telegram showing a Ukrainian tank moving up the road with a clear sign indicating the region of Stavky. CNN could not independently verify the original source or date.

There has been no official Russian response to the fighting in the region.

On Friday Ukrainian forces claimed control over the village of Drobysheve in the Donetsk region, the settlement that neighbours Russian-occupied Lyman.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that Russia would seize nearly a fifth of Ukraine, declaring that the millions of people living there would forever be Russian citizens. Moscow now recognizes four Ukrainian regions as Russian territory as a result of the annexation process, which has been regarded by the West as illegal, as well as two Russian-backed breakaway republics where fighting has been ongoing since 2014 as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, two areas in southern Ukraine that have been occupied by Russian forces since the invasion began.