In 2022, during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lyman found itself at the center of the fighting. From mid-April 2022 onward, the city came under regular shelling by Russian invaders and sustained significant damage.
For four months, from June through October, the city was under occupation. During the fall counteroffensive of 2022, Lyman became one of the key points on the map of the liberation of the Donetsk region. The fighting for the city lasted nearly a month. Step by step, the Ukrainian Defense Forces liberated the villages of the Lyman community.
Fighting for the city continued until the evening of October 1, and that same evening, the 81st Separate Airborne Brigade and the Serhiy Kulchytskyi Special Operations Battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine liberated Lyman.
After the liberation, two mass graves were discovered in the community and in Lyman itself: 146 people, of whom 111 were civilians—including 4 children (ages 1, 3, 10, and 14)—and 35 military personnel. Additionally, 132 individual graves were found containing the bodies of civilians—including a child born in 2011—and 2 military personnel.
Unfortunately, today Lyman and the Lyman sector remain one of the hottest spots on the front lines.
Although the enemy has not ceased its attempts to capture Lyman since 2014, thanks to the selfless actions of Ukrainian soldiers, the city remains under Ukrainian control. Today, the Ukrainian Defense Forces—specifically units of the Third Army Corps and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine—are conducting a successful offensive operation (“Vivaldi”) north and northwest of Lyman, pushing back Russian troops and liberating new settlements.