Ukrainian troops have recaptured more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, claiming full control of the capital for the first time since Russia began its invasion. In Bucha, a town near Irpin, just 37 kilometers (23 miles) northwest of the capital, Reuters reporters saw corpses lying in the streets and the arms and legs of many bodies emerging from an open grave in a church. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register After more than five weeks of fighting, Russia withdrew forces that had threatened Kyiv from the north to regroup for fighting in eastern Ukraine. “The whole area of Kiev has been liberated from the invader,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote on Facebook. There has been no comment from Russia on the allegation, which Reuters could not immediately confirm. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in a video camera: “They are mining this whole area. Houses are being mined, equipment is being mined, even the corpses of the dead.” He did not provide details. read more Ukraine’s emergency services said more than 1,500 explosives were found in one day during a search of the village of Dmitrivka, west of the capital. The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations. Reuters could not independently verify them. Moscow denies targeting civilians and denies allegations of war crimes. But in Bucha, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said more than 300 residents had been killed. Many residents remembered the brushes with tears of death and cursed the Russians who left. “The bastards!” Vassily, said a gray-haired 66-year-old man, weeping in rage as he stared at more than a dozen corpses lying on the street outside his home. “Sorry. The tank behind me was shooting. Dogs!” British Foreign Secretary Liz Tras said she was horrified by the atrocities in Bucha and expressed support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation into possible war crimes. DISCUSSIONS PUTIN-ZELENSKY? Since the launch on February 24 of what President Vladimir Putin called a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “demilitarize” Ukraine, Russia has been unable to occupy a single major city and has besieged urban areas instead. uprooting a quarter of the country’s population. Russia has portrayed the withdrawal of its forces near Kyiv as a gesture of goodwill in the peace talks. Ukraine and its allies say Russia has been forced to turn its attention to eastern Ukraine after suffering heavy losses. Both sides described last week’s talks in Istanbul and via video link as “difficult”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said on Saturday that “the main thing is to continue the talks, either in Istanbul or elsewhere.” No new round of talks has been announced. However, Ukrainian negotiator David Arahamia said on Saturday that enough progress had been made to allow direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. “The Russian side has reaffirmed our position that the draft documents have been developed sufficiently to allow for direct consultations between the leaders of the two countries,” Arahamia said. Russia has not commented on the possibility. MARIUPOL IS WAITING Among those killed near Kyiv was Maksim Levin, a Ukrainian photographer and videographer who worked for a news website and worked for Reuters for a long time. read more His body was found in a village north of Kiev on Friday, the LB.ua news website where he worked reported on Saturday. To the east, the Red Cross hoped that a motorcade to evacuate civilians would arrive at the besieged port of Mariupol on Sunday, abandoning previous efforts due to security concerns. Russia has blamed the ICC for the delays. read more Mariupol is Russia’s main target in the southeastern Donbass region of Ukraine, and tens of thousands of civilians are trapped there with limited access to food and water. read more The British military reported on a regular basis on Sunday that Russian naval forces had maintained a blockade of the Ukrainian coast along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Russia had the opportunity to attempt amphibious landings, although such operations were becoming increasingly high-risk, he said. He said the mines, the origin of which remained unclear and disputed, posed a serious threat to Black Sea shipping. In the early hours of Sunday morning, rockets hit Odessa, the city council of the southern port announced. Russia’s Defense Ministry says its missiles had shut down military airfields in Poltava, central Ukraine, and Dnipro, further south. She later said her forces had hit 28 Ukrainian military installations across the country, including two weapons depots. The Ukrainian military also reported Russian airstrikes on the cities of Severodonetsk and Rubizhne in Luhansk, one of the two southeastern regions where pro-Russian separatists declared separatist states days before the invasion. The Ukrainian military says it has repulsed six enemy attacks in Luhansk and Donetsk, the other breakaway region, on Saturday. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Additional reports by Natalia Zinets in Mukachevo, Ukraine, at the offices of Alessandra Prentice and Reuters. Writes Simon Cameron-Moore. Edited by Stephen Coates and William Mallard Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
