The head of the Luhansk region, Siarhei Gaidai, said that the Ukrainians took the city of Liman in a "cauldron".

About 5,000 Russian soldiers were inside.

According to his words, the Russians appealed to their leadership with a request to withdraw from Liman, but were refused.

According to Gaidai, the Russians now have three options: try to break out of the encirclement, surrender or die in the "cauldron".

He stated that the means of delivery of ammunition or safe access for the Russians have already been blocked.

Radio Svaboda's Ukrainian service published a video about what happened on September 30 in the Liman direction.

It follows that the Ukrainian military surrounded Liman and called on the Russians to surrender.

"The military of the Russian Federation, the defense forces of Ukraine captured Liman.

Further resistance does not make sense - you are surrounded.

To surrender, you need to go to the nearest road or to a settlement, lay down your weapons and wait for the representatives of the armed forces of Ukraine with your hands up and surrender [...]

Remember, the government does not need you.

For them, you are cannon fodder!

Your loved ones at home need you," a woman's voice calls out over the loudspeaker in the video.

Experts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that the Ukrainian military can take Liman in the next three days.

Russian troops still hold Liman, but have already abandoned a number of positions.

The forces of the Ukrainian army continue to tighten the ring around it.

Russian sources note the activity of Ukrainian intelligence and diversionary groups on the highway northeast of Liman after they apparently forded the Zharabets River.

Some Russian military bloggers claim that the Ukrainian military pushed Seversky Danets and is operating in the forests south of Kramennaya.

The Russian side claims that it is bringing reinforcements to Liman in order to prevent a complete encirclement.

However, some military bloggers criticize Moscow for not having learned the lessons of the military operations near Kharkiv.

They point out that the reinforcements include recently mobilized soldiers who are hardly adequately trained and have combat experience.

Other bloggers say that instead of real help to their troops in Liman, the Russian command prefers to shell Mykolaiv region with missiles.

According to the Institute, Ukrainian troops have also moved forward in the direction of Kupyansk on the eastern bank of Askol and continue to fire artillery at Russian military facilities in the Luhansk region.

As a result of HIMARS shelling, they destroyed a radio station and a TV tower in Starobylsk and an asphalt plant in Alchevsk, where, according to reports, Russian troops were stationed.

Russia's war against Ukraine

• At 5:00 a.m. on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation against Ukraine in the Donbass at the request of the "DPR" and "LPR" groups.

  On February 21, during a televised address to Russians, Putin called the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" independent states within the regions.

  On February 22, the Federation Council ratified this decision.

• All days of the war, Ukrainian cities were bombarded with rockets, aircraft flew over them.

  Russian troops are attacking, including from the territory of Belarus, using airfields, bases and roads.

  Representatives of Lukashenka's regime justify the war, his opponents consider the territory of Belarus to be occupied, many call for resistance to the Russian invaders.

• On February 27, the International Legion of Territorial Defense was created in Ukraine, and foreign volunteers were invited to join it.

  Belarusians also entered there.

• During the six months of war in Ukraine, 11 Belarusians are known to have died fighting on the Ukrainian side.

  These are Ilya Khrenov, Alyaksei Skoblia, Dmitri Apanasovich, Dmitri Rubashevskyi, Konstantin Dubaila, Pavel "Volat", Ivan Marchuk, Vasil Parfyankov, Vasil Grudovik, Vadim Shatrov and one of the fighters of Kalinovsky's regiment, whose name was not mentioned.

  In addition, it is known for sure about two prisoners from Kalinin - Ian Djurbeyka and Syarhei Dzhogtsev.

  There are no details about their fate.

• It is also known about cases of death of natives of Belarus who fought in Ukraine on the side of Russia.

  During the six months of the war, there were nine such people.

• On March 30, the UN approved the composition of an independent commission that will investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

  It included people who worked in the analysis of the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Contrary to Putin's statements about attacks only on military facilities, the Russians are bombing schools, kindergartens and residential areas of Ukrainian cities.

  The Russians are using banned weapons, including cluster bombs, against civilians.

• On April 1, Lithuania became the first country in the European Union to completely abandon Russian gas.

  Latvia and Estonia followed her example.

  Germany has promised to completely stop using Russian oil by the end of 2022.

• On April 2, after the liberation of the town of Bucha near Kyiv, photojournalists published dozens of photographs showing hundreds of dead people, victims of mass murders committed by Russian troops.

  Many are buried in spontaneous mass graves.

  The Russian occupation also brought great destruction to the people of Barodyan.

  It is also known about a number of rapes, including babies.

• On May 9, the US President signed the Land Leasing Law.

  This law restores the program from the Second World War, which will speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine and increase the amount of such assistance.

• In June, two volunteers from Great Britain and one from Morocco were sentenced to death in the so-called "DNR".

  The same punishment threatens some other prisoners.

• On July 29, as a result of an attack on the colony in Alenivtsi, at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners who previously defended the Azovstal plant and surrendered after completing their military mission were killed.

  The Russians accused Ukraine of the attack, the Ukrainian side declared the deliberate killing of prisoners by the Russian side.

• On August 22, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny announced the official number of dead Ukrainian soldiers.

  According to him, it is about 9,000 soldiers.

• During the six months of the war, Russia was able to occupy about 20% of the Ukrainian territory.

  In March, the area of ​​occupied land reached 30%.

  However, at the end of the month, Russian troops retreated from the north of Ukraine, as well as partially from Kharkiv.

  At the end of August, Crimea, Luhansk and Kherson regions were completely occupied.

  And also 50% of the territory of the Donetsk region, about 70% of the Zaporizhia region, approximately 30% of the Kharkiv region.

• Kherson remains the only regional center of Ukraine captured by Russia after February 24.

  The city was occupied by Russian troops in the first days of the war without actually fighting.

  Kyiv suspects part of the former leadership of Kherson and the region of treason.

  The former head of the SBU of the Kharkiv region was also detained on such suspicion.

• In September, Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale counteroffensive, as a result of which Russian forces began to rapidly flee from their positions in the Kharkiv region.

  Only on the day of September 11, Ukrainians liberated more than 20 settlements in Slobazhan region.

• In September, Ukraine withdrew its mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the AAN to send an aviation unit to defend against Russian aggression.

• On September 21, Putin announced a partial mobilization in Russia.

• Independent verification of information about military actions provided by officials of various parties is still impossible.