Thus, pro-Kremlin media reports that on October 1, the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially took control of the city of Lyman, where the Russian occupiers managed to hold a fake referendum on joining Russia. CNN journalists allegedly refuted Kyiv's statement about the encirclement of the Russian army by Ukrainian troops in Lyman.

CNN journalists did write in the article that they arrived in Lyman 30 minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Lyman was completely cleared of Russian troops. "On Sunday, there are no signs of the presence of Russian troops at all - a few damaged Russian tanks, or dead Russians, or Russian prisoners. There were few traces of the encirclement," the CNN website says.

Battles for Lyman continued from September 5. On September 30, Serhii Cherevatyy, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced the completion of the encirclement of Russian troops in the Lyman.

On October 1, Serhii Cherevatyy confirmed that the Armed Forces entered Lyman. However, battles with the enemy are still ongoing in the city.

Cherevatyu noted that Lyman's release is necessary to:

• continue the successful Kharkiv operation;

• capture an important area that opens the way for the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas, in particular, directions to Svatove, Sievierodonetsk, Kreminna, etc.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced the withdrawal of troops from the Lyman and explained the loss of the Lyman allegedly by "withdrawing to more remote frontiers." On Sunday, October 2, the city was completely cleaned from invaders. Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported that the occupiers tried to break through and lost personnel and hundreds of pieces of equipment. At the same time, pro-Kremlin anonymous Telegram channels condemn the retreating Russian military and demand that the prosecutor's office deal with the commanders for not fulfilling the requirements of the Combat Statute of the Russian Armed Forces. Therefore, we can assume that the Russian army, realizing that it would be surrounded by our troops, did not withdraw "to more profitable borders", but fled in an organized manner from the Ukrainian city of Lyman.