Ukraine latest news: Putin ally calls for 'nuclear' response after Russian troops forced to …

US hails Ukraine’s ‘significant’ battlefield success at Lyman The US Defence Secretary has said Ukraine’s capture of Lyman from Russia in eastern Ukraine was an encouraging battlefield success that would create new dilemmas for Russia’s military.”Absolutely, it’s significant. We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing right now,” Lloyd Austin told reporters in Hawaii.Lyman’s capture is Ukraine’s biggest battlefield gain since a counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.Mr Austin noted that Lyman was positioned across supply lines that Russia has used to push its troops and materials down to the south and to the west.”And without those routes, it will be more difficult. So it presents a sort of a dilemma for the Russians going forward,” Mr Austin said.”And we think the Ukrainians have done great work to get there and to begin to occupy the city.”Mr Austin did not say whether he thought Ukraine’s capture of Lyman might prompt Russian escalation, although US officials have widely denounced Russia’s nuclear rhetoric in recent days.”What it means in terms of potential escalation, I won’t speculate on that. But what it does mean for the battlefield is that the Ukrainians continue to make progress,” Mr Austin said.”They continue to present problems to…
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