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Russian troops have pulled out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine due to the risk they were being encircled by Ukrainian forces, the Kremlin has said.

Lyman is in Donetsk – one of the Ukrainian regions that was annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a ceremony in Moscow on Friday.

And Mr Putin has previously threatened retaliation if Russia is attacked.

Earlier, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces said Ukrainian forces had entered Lyman after encircling thousands of Russian soldiers and trapping them there. According to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, fighting is still going on in the city.

Russia’s retreat has prompted Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s Chechnya region and an ally of Mr Putin, to say that Moscow should consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine as a result of the defeats on the battlefield.

It comes amid ongoing attempts by Ukrainian forces to advance and also hold back Russian troops in other parts of Donetsk, including in Bakhmut.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US non-governmental organisation that has been monitoring the situation in Ukraine, highlighted the imminent fall of Lyman on Thursday, saying Russian social media commentators had been posting of their fears that Ukrainian troops were advancing to the west, north, and northeast of the town.

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It appears as though the near encirclement of the town was completed by early Saturday.

The ISW said on Thursday: “The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping in northern Donetsk and western Luhansk oblasts and may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk Oblast border and in the Severodonetsk-Lysychansk area.”

Video footage posted by the adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry Anton Gerashchenko showed what he said was a Russian convoy destroyed as it tried to leave Lyman.

Sky News has not verified the footage.

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A ‘destroyed Russian convoy’ filmed in Lyman

Lyman has served for months as a logistics and transport hub for Russian operations.

Its loss comes as a major defeat for Moscow, a day after Mr Putin proclaimed the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

In a Telegram post criticising Russian commanders for abandoning Lyman on Saturday, Mr Kadyrov wrote: “In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.”

Another video posted by President Zelenskyy’s chief of staff showed two grinning Ukrainian soldiers taping the yellow and blue national flag onto the “Lyman” welcome sign at the entrance to the town.

One of the soldiers says: “1 October. We are unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land. Lyman will be Ukraine.”

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces said Russia had 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman but that the number of troops that had been encircled could be lower because Russia had suffered a number of casualties.

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The fall of Lyman would be Ukraine’s biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month, which left Russia reeling.

Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi said on television the capture of Lyman would allow Kyiv to advance into the Luhansk region, which Moscow claimed it had captured in full at the beginning of July.

Mr Cherevatyi said: “Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Severodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important.”

The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, which is largely occupied by Moscow’s forces, said on Telegram that any surrounded Russians had “three options… to try to escape, to die together, or to surrender”.

Serhiy Haidai said: “The possibilities of delivering ammunition to the Russians to the surrounded city or a peaceful exit from the settlement are already blocked.”

Donetsk and Luhansk regions together make up the wider Donbas region that has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since soon after Moscow invaded on 24 February.

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Ransacked and looted: What I found in my family home destroyed by militiamen

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Ransacked and looted: What I found in my family home destroyed by militiamen

The biggest city in the Sahel has been ransacked and left in ruins.

War erupted in Sudan’s capital Khartoum in April 2023 and sent millions searching for safety.

The city was quickly captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after a power struggle with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for total control.

At least 61,000 people were killed from the fighting and siege conditions in Khartoum state alone.

Thousands more were maimed and many remain missing.

The RSF fled Khartoum’s neighbourhoods in caravans carrying the city’s looted treasures as the army closed in and recaptured it after two years of occupation.

The empty streets they left behind are lined with charred, bullet-ridden buildings and robbed store fronts.

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The once shiny skyscrapers built along the confluence of the River Nile are now husks of blackened steel.

The neighbourhoods are skeletal. Generational homes are deserted and hollow.

Damage around Khartoum
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Damage from fighting around Khartoum

Damage around Khartoum

Trenches snake the streets where copper electric cables were ripped out of the ground and pulled out of lampposts now overridden with weeds.

The majority of the 13 million people displaced by this war fled Khartoum. Many left in a rush, assuming it would only take a few weeks for peace to be restored.

My parents were among those millions and in the midst of the abandoned, looted homes is the house where I grew up.

Yousra Elbagir's family home was left in ruins by RSF troops
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Yousra Elbagir’s family home was left in ruins by RSF troops

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Yousra said it was likely a bomb had previously fallen nearby and shaken the house at its base

A shell of a home

I have to strain my eyes to see the turn to my house. All the usual markers are gone. There are no gatherings of young people drinking coffee with tea ladies in the leafy shade – just gaping billboard frames that once held up advertisements behind cars of courting couples parked by the Nile.

Our garden is both overgrown and dried to death.

The mango, lemon and jasmine trees carefully planted by my mother and brother have withered.

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Image:
Structural damage to the outside of the home

The Bougainvillea has reached over the pathway and blocked off the main entrance. We go through the small black side door.

Our family car is no longer in the garage, forcing us to walk around it.

It was stolen shortly after my parents evacuated.

The two chairs my mum and dad would sit at the centre of the front lawn are still there, but surrounded by thorny weeds and twisted, bleached vines.

Yousra Elbagir's family home in Khartoum before RSF's takeover of the city
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How the home looked before Sudan’s civil war

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And how it looks now

The neighbour’s once lush garden is barren too.

Their tall palm trees at the front of the house have been beheaded – rounding off into a greyish stump instead of lush fronds.

Read more:
How recaptured palace is a significant sign of return to order
Sudan’s paramilitary chief announces rival government

Everyone in Khartoum is coming back to a game of Russian roulette. Searching out their houses to confirm suspicions of whether it was blasted, burned or punctured with bullets.

Many homes were looted and bruised by nearby combat but some are still standing. Others have been completely destroyed.

Yousra Elbagir's family home in Khartoum before RSF's takeover of the city
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How the home looked before the war

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And how it looks now

The outside of our house looks smooth from the street but has a crack in the base of the front wall visible from up close.

It is likely a bomb fell nearby and shook the house at its base – a reminder of the airstrikes and shelling that my parents and their neighbours fled.

Inside, the damage is choking.

Most of the furniture has been taken except a few lone couches.

The carpets and curtains have been stripped. The electrical panels and wiring pulled out. The appliances, dishes, glasses and spices snatched from the kitchens.

Yousra Elbagir shows her mother pictures found in the home
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Yousra shows her mother pictures found in the home

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The walls are bare apart from the few items they decided to spare. Ceilings have been punctured and cushions torn open in their hunt for hidden gold.

The walls are marked with the names of RSF troops that came in and out of this house like it was their own.

The home that has been the centre of our life in Sudan is a shell.

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Sudan’s civil war has left the country fractured

Glimmers of hope

The picture of sheer wreckage settles and signs of familiarity come into focus.

A family photo album that is 20 years old.

The rocking chair my mother cradled me and my sister in. My university certificate.

Yousra Elbagir finds her university degree certificate in the wreckage
Image:
Yousra finds her university certificate in the wreckage

Celebratory snaps of my siblings’ weddings. Books my brother has had since the early nineties.

The painting above my bed that I have pined over during the two years – custom-made and gifted to me for my 24th birthday and signed by my family on the back.

There are signs of dirt and damage on all these items our looters discarded but it is enough.

Yousra's parents pictured at home before they fled Khartoum
Image:
Yousra’s parents pictured at home before they fled Khartoum

Evidence of material destruction but a reminder of what we can hope will endure.

The spirit of the people that gathered to laugh, cry and break bread in these rooms.

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A portrait of Yousra Elbagir's grandmother which was damaged by RSF troops
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A portrait of Yousra’s grandmother damaged by RSF troops

The hospitality and warmth of a Sudanese home with an open door.

The community and sense of togetherness that can never truly be robbed.

What remains in our hearts and our city is a sign of what will get us through.

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Gaza aid worker detained after Israeli attack has been released

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Gaza aid worker detained after Israeli attack has been released

A paramedic in Gaza who was detained for more than five weeks following an Israeli attack that killed 15 aid workers has been released, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

Asaad al Nsasrah was one of 17 aid workers who were attacked in Tel al Sultan in southern Gaza by Israeli forces on 23 March.

Asaad was one of two first responders who survived – the other 15 were killed.

He was initially thought to be missing, as his body was not among the dead. It was not until 13 April, three weeks after the attack, that Israel confirmed Asaad was alive and in Israeli detention.

The PRCS announced Asaad’s release on X and shared a video of him reuniting with colleagues.

Sky News has seen images showing Asaad, among other released Palestinians, in a grey tracksuit at al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, where he is undergoing medical examination, according to the PRCS.

Sky News investigated how the attack on the aid workers unfolded – unearthing new evidence earlier this month contradicting Israel’s official account of what happened.

The Israeli military later released the findings of its own investigation into the incident, saying it had dismissed a deputy commander for providing an “inaccurate report”.

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How two hours of terror unfolded

The PRCS claimed the Israeli military’s investigation was “full of lies”.

Asaad’s voice can be heard in a video, initially published by the New York Times, that shows the moments leading up to the attack on the aid workers.

The video was discovered on Rifaat Radwaan’s phone, which was found on his body by rescue workers five days after the attack.

Among those killed were one UN worker, eight paramedics from the PRCS and six first responders from Civil Defence – the official fire and rescue service of Gaza’s Hamas-led government.


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Mark Carney’s Liberal Party wins Canada election, according to Canadian broadcasters

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Mark Carney's Liberal Party wins Canada election, according to Canadian broadcasters

Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won the election in Canada, according to Canadian broadcasters, but it is too soon to say whether they will form a majority government.

Mr Carney, who took over as prime minister after Justin Trudeau stepped down earlier this year, has beaten the leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre, according to CBC and CTV News projections.

However, it is too soon to say whether the Liberals will form a majority government, they added. The party has not yet secured the 172 electoral districts it needs for a majority.

FILE PHOTO: Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at an election campaign event in Brampton, Ontario, Canada April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo
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Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Pic: Reuters

The election initially appeared to be a clear-cut race for the opposition Conservatives, who were enjoying a double-digit lead over the Liberals before Mr Trudeau resigned, and an intervention by Donald Trump led to a surge in support for Mr Carney’s party.

Mr Trump has repeatedly called for Canada to become the 51st US state since he was elected president for a second time and has imposed sweeping tariffs on Canada.

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Trump on why he wants Canada to be 51st state

Mr Carney has vowed to take a tougher approach with Washington over its tariffs and has said Canada will need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US.

Liberal supporters react after Canadian broadcasters project their party has retained power. Pic: Reuters
Liberal supporters react after Canadian broadcasters project their party has retained power. Pic: Reuters
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Liberal supporters celebrate after Canadian broadcasters project their party has retained power. Pics: Reuters

If Mr Carney’s party only captures a minority of the House’s 343 seats, he will be forced to negotiate with other parties in order to stay in power.

Such minority governments rarely last longer than two-and-a-half years in Canada.

Canadians went to the polls after 11 people were killed in a deadly attack at a Vancouver street fair over the weekend that led to the suspension of campaigning for several hours.

Police have ruled out terrorism and said the suspect is a local man with a history of mental health issues.

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Mr Carney previously ran Canada’s central bank and later became the first non-Briton to become governor of the Bank of England.

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