According to the government, the Ukrainian army has regained complete control of the region around the capital Kyiv. “Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel and the entire Kyiv region were liberated from the enemy,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
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In the past few days, Russian troops had withdrawn from the suburbs of Irpin and Bucha, north-west of Kyiv, after their failed attempt to encircle the Ukrainian capital.
The suburbs had been badly damaged in weeks of fighting between the Ukrainian army and Russian troops.
According to Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk, after the Russian army withdrew from Bucha, 280 people had to be buried in mass graves there because the three city cemeteries were still within reach of the Russian military.
The streets of the small town are littered with corpses, Fedoruk told the AFP news agency. “In some streets you can see 15 to 20 bodies lying on the ground,” the mayor said. However, he could not say how many deaths there were in total after weeks of fighting in Bucha.
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AFP journalists in Bucha saw at least 20 bodies lying on a single street. The small town was devastated by the Russian attacks. Residential houses were damaged by shell fire and wrecked cars were seen on the streets.
Melnyk shares disturbing video on Twitter
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, appealed to the federal government to take tougher action against Putin in view of the violence against civilians. On Friday and Saturday, videos emerged from the cities around Kyiv liberated by Ukrainian troops, showing badly mutilated corpses.
According to Ukrainian information, Russian soldiers killed the people immediately before they left and apparently left them lying around indiscriminately. Melnyk shared a disturbing video on Twitter.
He wrote: “Dear Federal Government, take a look at this horrible scene of barbarism against the people of Ukraine. Murdered civilians are lying on the streets. Is the only correct decision on the gas and oil embargo coming too late again? Happy Saturday.”
“Rapid retreat” of Russian troops to the east
The Ukrainian government spoke on Saturday of a “rapid withdrawal” of Russian troops in the north of the country. She also stated that Bucha had been “liberated”.
The attackers would fall back in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, said Mikhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Russian army now wants to withdraw to the east and south “and retain control of large occupied areas there”.
The British secret service and an advisor to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously reported on the withdrawal of the Russians in northwestern Kiev. According to this, Ukrainian troops have recaptured more than 30 villages around Kyiv. (AFP)
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