Ukrainian forces have regained control of “the entire Kiev region,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Saturday. “The whole area of Kiev has been liberated from the invader,” Malyar said in a Facebook post, according to Reuters. The Ukrainian capital has been under attack for weeks by Russian forces seeking to seize the city. Last week, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced it would reduce attacks in Kyiv amid peace talks between the two countries. A Ukrainian lawmaker said the move was an attempt to “save face” and that Russian forces had indeed been “driven out” of the city, raising concerns about whether the Kremlin really wanted peace. US leaders have also been skeptical of Russia’s claims, saying the threat to Kyiv may not be over. “We believe that this is a repositioning, not a real withdrawal, and that we should all be ready to watch a major offensive against other parts of Ukraine,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. On Friday, a top Ukrainian official accused Russian troops of abducting children from Ukraine and using them as human shields as they were repatriated from Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Saturday that retreating Russian troops were leaving mines around Ukrainian homes and “even the corpses of the dead”, creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians, the Associated Press reported. “It is not yet possible to return to normal life as it used to be, even to the territories we take back after the battles,” Zelensky said. “We have to wait until our land is demarcated, wait until we can assure you that there will be no more bombing.”
