Russian forces withdrew from the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Saturday, a significant setback just a day after President Vladimir V. Putin’s internationally derided declaration that the region where it lies was now part of Russia.

The battle for Lyman, a city in Donetsk province with a pre-war population of 20,000, is particularly poorly timed for the Kremlin after it illegally declared its annexation of four regions in Ukraine where battles are raging and Kyiv’s stunning victories in the country’s northeast last month.

It puts additional pressure on the Kremlin, which has been facing criticism at home over its setbacks on the battlefield and the conscription of hundreds of thousands of men.

Hours after Ukraine’s defence ministry said its forces were entering the city, Russia’s ministry of defence said it had made the decision to pull out of Lyman. Confirmation of the withdrawal staved off a potential worst-case scenario for the Kremlin.

“Due to the risk to be encircled, the allied forces were withdrawn” from the city to “more advantageous” locations, the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

The admission came after Ukraine’s defence ministry posted a video on Twitter showing two soldiers unfurling the country’s flag at a sign marking the city limits. The army “will always have the decisive vote in today’s and any future ‘referendums’”, it added in a pointed reference to the annexation process.

New York Times News Service