Residents in the eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman, a key railway hub, are awaiting their fate as Russian troops are once again threatening to recapture their shattered community. Located 50 kilometers north of Bakhmut, the town was cleared of Russian forces in October 2022.
Conquering Their Worst Fears: A Ukrainian Town Awaits Its Fate As Russian Forces Close In
A woman buys products from a street vendor in front of a heavily damaged building in the eastern Ukrainian frontline town of Lyman, in the Donetsk region, on July 17.
General Oleksandr Syrskiy, commander of Ukrainian ground forces, said on the Telegram messaging app on July 18 that Kyiv's troops faced challenges as they continued to register successes in their counteroffensive against Russian forces. "The situation is difficult but under control (in the east)," he said.
Heavily damaged residential buildings are seen in the background of a destroyed railway hub in Lyman.
Formerly the home of over 20,000 people, the town has endured months of occupation and a brutal battle to liberate it in October, leaving the city nearly destroyed.
An elderly man, one of hundreds who remain according to estimates, exits his car.
Lyman is once again under threat of being occupied, as Moscow claimed last week to have advanced 1.5 kilometers closer to the town.
Yulia Polyakova pets one of her three surviving cows in a field on the outskirts of Lyman. "We hope they won't reach us," the 63-year-old said of the Russians.
Polyakova stores homemade milk products in a bathtub to preserve them from the hot weather in her damaged house.
"But we have already conquered our worst fears. Maybe it's because we have simply grown used to (the war)," she said.
A resident rides a bicycle past a heavily damaged building on a street in the town of Lyman.
The eastern Ukrainian town continues to be targeted with Russian rockets that maim and kill its civilians.
A chair sits amid the rubble of a destroyed beauty salon in Lyman.
Since Kyiv launched its counteroffensive in early June, aided by weapons supplied by its Western allies, it has taken back more than 210 square kilometers of land, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on July 17.
Goats graze in front of a school in a village near the town of Lyman.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces said on July 17 that the Russian military had amassed more than 100,000 troops and more than 900 tanks along the Lyman-Kupyansk axis.
Smoke rises along the front line in the Lyman direction on July 17.
Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine has devastated multiple cities and towns, despite the Kremlin's claim that it is conducting a campaign of "liberation."