Putin says war to 'stabilise', Ukraine presses counterattack

Police officers wait in a car in the recently retaken town of Lyman in Ukraine's Donetsk region

A Ukrainian soldier checks his heavy machine gun at a position along the front line in the Mykolaiv region on October 5, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he expected the situation to "stabilise" in Ukrainian regions annexed by the Kremlin after Moscow suffered military setbacks and lost several key towns to Kyiv.

He also ordered his government to seize control over Europe's largest nuclear power plant in the Russian-controlled region of Zaporizhzhia, with IAEA head Rafael Grossi en route to Kyiv for consultations on the facility.

In recent weeks, Ukraine's forces -- bolstered by Western weapons -- have wrested Russian troops out of a string of towns and villages in the southern Kherson region and the eastern separatist strongholds of Lugansk and Donetsk.

"We are working on the assumption that the situation in the new territories will stabilise," Putin told Russian teachers during a televised video call.

A senior Russian lawmaker called on military officials to tell the truth about developments on the ground in Ukraine following the string of bruising defeats.

"The reports of the defence ministry do not change. The people know. Our people are not stupid. This can lead to loss of credibility."

Putin on Wednesday signed into legislation his annexation of four Ukrainian territories -- including Lugansk -- as the European Union agreed a new round of sanctions against Moscow in response.

Putin initially inked agreements with the Moscow-installed leaders of the four regions to become subjects of the Russian Federation, despite condemnation from Kyiv and the West.

Together, the five regions make up around 20 percent of Ukraine.

Russian forces do not have full control over Kherson or Zaporizhzhia and recently lost control of several settlements in Donetsk.

- 'Lived like rats' -

While Russian authorities remain largely silent about the extent of the setbacks, war correspondents of pro-Kremlin media admitted that troops were in trouble. 

In the town of Lyman, Ukrainian police officers were moving back into the station used until last week by the Russian occupation force.

In front of the central administration building, queues of mainly elderly residents built up for two ambulances distributing meagre humanitarian aid.

"All the shops are closed, we don't have money, we don't have light. Nothing.

- 'Now there's silence' -

Putin's decision to wrest control of the Zaporizhzhia plant comes after months of tensions around the facility, with both sides blaming each other for strikes that had raised fears of a radiation disaster.

The new batch includes more HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, which have allowed Ukraine to strike Russian command depots and arms stockpiles far behind the frontline.

Zelensky called this "more than a symbol of faith in our joint victory".

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