It is reported that only 500 Lugansk Cossacks and Cuban Cossacks (volunteers from Russia) were defending Lyman / Krasny Liman for around 2 weeks. Russian Armed Forces 20th Guards Combined Arms Army were providing long range artillery support without any frontline presence, according to Russian reports over the weeks. Ukrainian forces attacking the settlement were numbering 6 to 9 thousand troops. Lyman / Krasny Lyman has received a disproportionate amount of attention. We have never focused on this settlement, not in May, not in September. We never reported on it in depth. In our opinion, there’s one far more important battle taking place, and that is the battle for Bakhmut. Lyman is another Snake Island. At the moment, it is the only place where the Ukrainian armed forces offensive succeeded: so it is being reported on extensively. The offensive has failed everywhere else along the entire frontline; especially in Kherson. This can always change, but factually, the only party at the moment capturing strategically important territory is the Russian side in the southern direction, specifically in Bakhmut. That is not to minimize the tactics employed by the Ukrainians, they displayed an excellent strategy around Lyman / Krasny Lyman and there was little the small number of militia fighters could do to counter it; they just focused their tactics on the wrong place. Holding Lyman will not give the Ukrainian Armed Forces any strategic advantage. In fact, it’s highly likely that Lyman is in range of Russian artillery crews who will almost certainly level it with the ground. For now, we’ll leave Lyman / Krasny Lyman alone and report on the situation in a few days — if there are any changes. t.me/asbattlefield