Russian troops have pulled out of a key Ukraine town in a major blow to Vladimir Putin.
Russian officials say they have withdrawn their troops from the city of Lyman as Ukraine’s eastern counter-offensive gains more ground.
The announcement came through the Tass and RIA news agencies, citing the Russian defence ministry.
Lyman is 100 miles south-east of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Ukrainian forces had pushed across the Oskil River as part of a counter-offensive that saw Kyiv retake vast swathes of territory beginning in September.
Lyman, a key transportation hub, had been an important site in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics.
With that barrier overcome, Ukraine can potentially push further into the occupied Luhansk region, which is one of four regions that Russia annexed on Friday after an internationally criticised referendum vote at gunpoint.
As many as 5,000 Russian troops had been deployed in Lyman.
Should Ukraine recapture it, it would be one of Russia's worst military defeats since the start of its invasion on February 24.
Earlier today, Ukrainian forces reached the entrance of the eastern bastion of Lyman after encircling thousands of Russian troops.
It comes after Putin declared yesterday that Donetsk and three other occupied regions were to be considered part of Russia.
Meanwhile, at least 20 people have been killed after shelling struck an evacuation convoy in north-east Ukraine, officials said.
At least 20 people have been killed including 10 children after shelling struck an evacuation convoy in north-east Ukraine.
The attack, in the Kupiansky district of Kharkiv, comes as Russian forces have retreated from much of the region after a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive last month.
But they continue to shell the city and its surroundings.
Ukraine's SBU security service confirmed on Saturday that 20 civilians had been killed in the "grey zone" between Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine in late September.
In a statement, it said that seven vehicles had been hit in the shelling between occupied Svatove in Luhansk region and Ukrainian-held Kupiansk which Kyiv recaptured in the Kharkiv region last month.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces said Russia had 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman but that the number of encircled troops could be lower because of casualties.
"The Russian grouping in the area of Lyman is surrounded," the spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi said on television.
Russia's last operational update was on Friday evening.
Today, the ministry's Telegram channel published a series of congratulatory messages, including one from Putin, to mark an army holiday, Ground Forces Day.
