The loss in Lyman, which was used as a transportation hub amid Russia's invasion, has been viewed as a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who just a day before troops withdrew from the city had illegally annexed four regions of Ukraine including Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, the latter in which Lyman is located.


On Saturday, the Ukrainian army forced Russian troops to retreat from the city after surrounding up to 5,000 troops in the strategic location. The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed that troops "retreated to more advantageous lines."
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Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan asked McMaster about Ukraine's recent victory.

"What do you see happening, and what do you forecast is Vladimir Putin's next move?" Brennan asked.

McMaster said he believes that Saturday's success for Ukraine "could turn into a cascading series of defeats of Russian forces," and added that "what we might be at here is really at the precipice of really the collapse of the Russian army in Ukraine, a moral collapse. I think they must really be at a breaking point."

He continued: "If you look at just the numbers of casualties, the vast area that they're trying to defend, and now, of course, Russia is trying to mobilize conscripts and send them to the front untrained. And I think it's very important to also understand that these forces that are in full retreat, now out of Lyman, were really the first round of mobilization."

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