June 20, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

New video of the moment Russian forces took control of Lyman in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region last month surfaced on social media on Sunday.

The bodycam video — filmed by a soldier called "Rusak" on May 25 — shows the incredible devastation all around the city as Russian troops move past destroyed buildings and down empty streets.

The Russian troops meet no resistance as they enter Lyman's administrative building, its windows shattered from fighting and glass lying all around.  

Making their way up several flights of stairs to the roof of the building, a Russian soldier hesitates for a moment, before waving the Soviet victory banner.  

The waving of the flag is then shown from another vantage point at ground level. "Rusak" radios into his commanders: "I'm going on a lunch break right now. I have done everything according to the plan. No losses. The enemy activity was insignificant."

Some context: On May 30, the office of the President of Ukraine said in a statement that Lyman had been occupied, saying, "The city is temporarily under the control of Russian invaders."

Russians take control: On June 7, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, using Lyman's Soviet era name Krasny Liman, announced the city "was liberated from Ukrainian forces," according to Russian state news agency TASS. The assault was led by General Mikhail Teplinsky, according to Russian state media.

Tactical retreat: Ukrainian forces say they made a tactical retreat from the city. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, said the "Ukrainian military remains in the Lyman direction, but in new fortified positions to deter the enemy."

Lyman, an important rail hub, lays roughly 37 miles (60 kilometers) west of the strategically important Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk.

The National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in the southern port city of Odesa reopened on Friday for the first time since Russia's invasion began, defying months of anguish and deadly shelling. 

The first concert began with a solemn performance of the National Anthem of Ukraine, as the audience "rose from the first chords of the orchestra," read a press release from the opera house. 

The night of the reopening featured a performance by the Odesa National Opera orchestra and choir, the opera house said.  

The performances at Odesa Opera will be dedicated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, because thanks to them the public was “able to go to the theatre and artists can share their creativity,” the opera house said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the city on Saturday, a day after the reopening, and toured the frontlines and a hospital treating wounded soldiers, his office said. Zelensky said Russian shelling in the Odessa region has recently killed at least 55 residents and destroyed several buildings.

Speaking exclusively to CNN, a former US serviceman fighting with Ukrainian forces recounted the battle he witnessed on June 9 when American volunteer fighters Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh were reportedly captured by Russian forces. 

The man, who asked to be identified with the code name "Pip," said his team was sent out on a mission east of Kharkiv where a full scale Russian armored assault was underway.

Drueke and Huynh fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at a BMP vehicle — an infantry fighting vehicle — that was coming through the woods and destroyed it. But the team had to quickly withdraw as more than 100 Russian infantry began advancing and the American fighters found themselves in a village they previously thought was in Ukrainian hands. 

A photo of the two men emerged Thursday with their hands tied behind their back and in the back of a Russian truck. 

More background: On Wednesday, CNN reported that Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama, had been missing for nearly a week and there were fears that they may have been captured by Russian forces, according to their families and a fellow fighter. Drueke and Huynh had been fighting alongside Ukrainian forces north of Kharkiv.

CNN on Thursday reported a third American whom the State Department had identified as missing in action in Ukraine was US Marine veteran Grady Kurpasi. He served in the US Marine Corps for 20 years, retiring in November 2021.

Read more here.

CNN's Kate Sullivan and Jonny Hallam contributed reporting to this post. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday that it is "absolutely necessary" to continue speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with dpa news agency, Scholz said: "It is absolutely necessary to speak to Putin. And I will continue to do so, as the French President will also.”

“And if you really believe that you will rob some land and then hope that the times will change and all the things will become normal again, this is a mistake. You have to withdraw your troops and you have to find an agreement with Ukraine which is acceptable and right for the people of Ukraine,” Scholz added.