KYIV, Ukraine -- Russia attacked the Ukrainian president's hometown and other targets Sunday with suicide drones, and Ukraine took back full control of a strategic eastern city in a counteroffensive that has reshaped the war.
Russia's loss of the eastern city of Lyman, which it had been using as a transport and logistics hub, is a new blow to the Kremlin as it seeks to escalate the war by illegally annexing four regions of Ukraine and heightening threats to use nuclear force.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's land grab has threatened to push the conflict to a dangerous new level. It also prompted Ukraine to formally apply for fast-track NATO membership.
The heads of nine European NATO members on Sunday issued a joint statement backing a path to membership for Ukraine in the U.S.-led security alliance, and calling on all 30 NATO nations to ramp up military aid for Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise move Friday to apply for fast-track NATO membership, in response to Russia's annexation of four regions of Ukraine.
NATO membership needs approval from all 30 members and Ukraine is unlikely to join anytime soon. Being a country already at war complicates the request.
The nine NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe fearful that Russia could target them next if it isn't stopped in Ukraine urged a response to the annexation.
The leaders of Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Slovakia published a statement on their websites Sunday saying: "We support Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion, demand [that Russia] immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories and encourage all allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine."
It said the leaders "firmly stood behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine's future membership." At the 2008 summit, NATO members welcomed Ukraine and Georgia's aspirations to join, but declined to provide a clear timeline for the two countries' possible ascension. Sunday's letter didn't mention a timeline, either.
Asked Friday about Zelenskyy's application for accelerated NATO membership, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the application process in Brussels "should be taken up at a different time."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was noncommittal when asked about Zelenskyy's appeal to join.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, derided the move, saying that Zelenskyy's request amounts to "begging NATO to accelerate the start of World War III."
Spurred into action by security concerns over Russia's invasion, Finland and Sweden officially applied to join NATO in May using an accelerated procedure. Most member countries have already ratified their applications, and the two Nordic nations are on track to join in record time.
FULL CONTROL OF LYMAN
Zelenskyy announced Sunday that his forces now control Lyman: "As of 12:30 p.m., Lyman is cleared fully. Thank you to our militaries, our warriors," he said in a video address.
Russia's military didn't comment Sunday on Lyman, after announcing Saturday that it was withdrawing its forces there to more favorable positions.
The British military described the recapture of Lyman as a "significant political setback" for Moscow, and Ukraine appeared to swiftly capitalize on its gains.
Hours after Zelenskyy's announcement, Ukrainian media shared an image of Ukrainian troops carrying the country's yellow-and-blue flag in front of a statue marking the village of Torske, 9 miles east of Lyman and within sight of the Russian-held Luhansk region.
Shortly later, a video posted online showed one Ukrainian soldier saying that Kyiv's forces had begun to target the city of Kreminna, just across the border in Luhansk. Outgoing artillery could be heard in the background. Russian military correspondents also acknowledged Ukrainian attacks targeting Kreminna.
In another online photo, a Ukrainian soldier stood before a giant watermelon landmark just south of the village of Novovorontsovka on the banks of the Dnieper River, along the Russian-controlled province of Kherson's northern edge. A Ukrainian flag flew above the statue as several apparently deactivated landmines lay beside it.
While Ukrainian forces did not immediately acknowledge a breakthrough, writers close to the Russian military have described a new offensive by Kyiv in the Kherson region.
In southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy's hometown of Krivyi Rih came under Russian attack by a suicide drone that destroyed two stories of a school early Sunday, the regional governor said. The Ukrainian air force said Sunday it shot down five Iranian-made drones overnight, while two others made it through air defenses.
A car carrying four men seeking to forage for mushrooms in Ukraine's Chernihiv region struck a mine, killing all those inside, authorities said Sunday.
The reports of military activity couldn't be immediately verified.
Ukrainian forces have retaken swaths of territory, notably in the northeast around Kharkiv, in a counteroffensive in recent weeks that has embarrassed the Kremlin and prompted rare domestic criticism of Putin's war.
Lyman, which Ukraine recaptured by encircling Russian troops, is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk, two of the four regions that Russia illegally annexed Friday after forcing what was left of the population to vote in referendums at gunpoint.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said: "Over the past week, there have been more Ukrainian flags in the Donbas. In a week there will be even more."
In a daily intelligence briefing Sunday, the British Defense Ministry called Lyman crucial because it has "a key road crossing over the Siversky Donets River, behind which Russia has been attempting to consolidate its defenses."
The Russian retreat from northeast Ukraine in recent weeks has revealed evidence of widespread, routine torture of both civilians and soldiers, notably in the strategic city of Izium, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.
AP journalists located 10 torture sites in the town, including a deep pit in a residential compound, a clammy underground jail that reeked of urine, a medical clinic and a kindergarten.
Recent developments have raised fears of all-out conflict between Russia and the West.
Putin frames the recent Ukrainian gains -- along with NATO's post-Soviet expansion -- as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia, and last week he heightened threats of nuclear force in some of his toughest, most anti-Western rhetoric to date.
Germany's defense minister on Sunday announced the delivery of 16 wheeled armored howitzers produced in Slovakia to Ukraine next year. The weapons will be financed jointly with Denmark, Norway and Germany,
Russia moved ahead Sunday with steps in its annexations, which it claims are aimed at helping people allegedly persecuted by Kyiv, with approval by the Constitutional Court and draft laws being pushed through the parliament.
Outside Russia, the Kremlin's actions have been widely denounced as violating international law, with multiple EU countries summoning Russian ambassadors since Putin on Friday signed annexation treaties with Moscow-backed officials in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, international concerns are mounting about the fate of Europe's largest nuclear plant after Russian forces detained its director for alleged questioning.
The International Atomic Energy Agency announced Sunday that its director-general, Rafael Grossi, would visit Kyiv and Moscow in the coming days to discuss the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Grossi is continuing to push for "a nuclear safety and security zone" around the site.
The Zaporizhzhia plant is in one of the four regions that Moscow annexed on Friday, and repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war. Ukrainian technicians have continued running the power station after Russian troops seized it, but its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure.
Pope Francis on Sunday decried Russia's nuclear threats and appealed to Putin to stop "this spiral of violence and death."
Information for this article was contributed by Jon Gambrell and by staff writers of The Associated Press.
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - The body of a Russian serviceman lies on the ground near a destroyed van with a sign "Z" on its door, in the recently liberated town of Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Pope Francis blesses faithful at the end of the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. Pope Francis has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, imploring him to "stop this spiral of violence and death" in Ukraine. The pontiff also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "be open" to serious peace proposals. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Children play at the Dnipro riverbank in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Mykola Mosyakyn shows scars on his back after torture by Russian soldiers in the recently liberated town of Izium, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. He was beaten repeatedly, his feet shot, and he described how they covered his face with a rag and poured water from a kettle onto him to mimic the sensation of drowning. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian servicemen drive a tank on the way to Siversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Inna Varenytsia)
A man drives by motorbike on a destroyed bridge across Oskil river during evacuation in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian soldiers clean the muzzle of Ukrainian howitzer D-30 near Siversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Inna Varenytsia)
A woman poses for a photo session at the Dnipro riverbank in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A man hauls his motorbike on a destroyed bridge across Oskil river during evacuation in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian servicemen of the Sophia battalion distribute humanitarian aid Sunday to local residents in the recently- liberated town of Izium, Ukraine. (AP/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A destroyed Russian tank stands Sunday near a church in the recently-liberated town of Sviatohirsk, Ukraine. (AP/Evgeniy Maloletka)Gallery: Images from Ukraine and Russia, month 8
