Kiev - (AFP) - The Ukrainian army entered on Saturday the strategic town of Liman in eastern Ukraine, located in the Donetsk region, whose annexation the day before by Moscow sparked a storm of international condemnation and rejection by Kiev, which is determined to regain its lands.

Kiev also condemned the "illegal arrest" of the general director of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia (south), Igor Murachov, who was arrested by Russia, which occupies the site, for an unknown reason on Friday.

"Ukrainian air assault forces are entering Liman, Donetsk region," Ukraine's Defense Ministry wrote on Twitter in the afternoon.

The tweet was accompanied by a one-minute video showing two Ukrainian soldiers waving and then hanging the blue-and-yellow national flag next to a banner reading "Lehman" at the entrance to the city.

"We raise our national flag and plant it on our land," said one of the soldiers with a smile. "Lyman will always be part of Ukraine."

"After being threatened with encirclement, the allied forces were withdrawn from Liman to more convenient lines," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Shortly before that, the Ukrainian army said it was "encircling" thousands of Russian soldiers in this town in the Donetsk region, which Russia annexed on Friday.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said "about 5,000 or 5,500 Russians" had holed up in and around Liman in recent days.
The full capture of Liman would be a major victory for Kiev, an important railway junction in eastern Ukraine.

In the wake of Moscow's annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Kiev announced filing a case with the International Court of Justice, calling for "the court to consider the case as soon as possible."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also announced that he would "sign Ukraine's candidacy for rapid accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)."

In Washington, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed that his country and Canada support Kiev's accession. "We strongly support the accession of countries that wish to do so and that can contribute their capabilities," he said.

But he added that "there is a process to achieve this and countries will continue to follow it."

The Russian president completed the annexation ceremony on Friday evening in front of several thousand people who had gathered for a festive concert in Moscow's Red Square. "Victory will be ours," he said, while his army struggled in Ukraine at the same time.

The leaders of the European Union countries issued a statement on Friday declaring their "rejection" and "condemnation" of this "illegal annexation".

In turn, NATO denounced the "illegal" annexation, while the UN Security Council discussed in New York a resolution condemning the "alleged annexation" of Ukraine, which had delayed its passage by a Russian veto.

US President Joe Biden pledged to "support Ukraine's efforts to regain control of its territory" and said Putin would "not intimidate" the United States and its allies.

Ukraine's recent military successes prompted the Russian president to order the "partial" mobilization of hundreds of thousands of civilian reservists, in an attempt to reduce Kiev's vitality.

On the ground, the bodies of 22 civilians, including 10 children, were found, who were shot dead in the Kharkiv region (northeastern Ukraine), according to what the Public Prosecutor's Office in Ukraine said on Saturday.

The AFP team saw the bodies of at least 11 civilians who were shot dead at this location.

Ukraine also condemned the "illegal detention" by Moscow of Igor Murachov, general director of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, for a reason that remains unknown.

Kiev called for his "immediate release," condemning "a new terrorist act by Russia."

Petro Kotin, head of the Ukrainian nuclear energy company "Energo-Atom", said on a social network that a "Russian patrol" arrested Murachov on Friday at around 16:00 (13:00 GMT) as he was on his way from the plant to the Russian-controlled town of Ernogodar.

He added that the car transporting the factory manager was intercepted, removed from it, and transported "blindfolded to an unknown destination."
As of Saturday afternoon, Murachov's fate was still unknown.