Putin is a war criminal and should be treated as such.

Throughout his long political career, the Russian president has been accused of countless atrocities.

Russian troops have pulled out of the town of the strategic city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “due to the risk to be encircled” and moved to “more advantageous frontiers”, Russia’s ministry of defense said via Telegram on Saturday.

Ukraine forces encircled Russian forces in the eastern town earlier on Saturday where Russia’s forces at Lyman totalled about 5,000 to 5,500 soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers were later seen raising the nation’s flag before the entrance sign to the city.

The retreat comes a day after Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.