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Strategy to besiege the capital, Russia moves troops to the northeast of Kiev. PHOTO/Reuters
An AFP team saw plumes of smoke rising above the village of Skybyn, just a few hundred meters past the last checkpoint marking the northeastern boundary of Kyiv city.
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The Ukrainian army described a night of fierce fighting for control of the main road leading to the city.
“There is an ongoing military operation in Skybyn,” said a Ukrainian soldier who agreed to be identified only as Sergiy. It added that a column of Russian armored vehicles had been partially destroyed.
An AFP team witnessed a Grad missile attack on Velyka Dymerka, a neighboring village 5 kilometers outside the city limits of Kiev, which stands mostly deserted on a very cold sunny day.
At least half a dozen Grad missiles rained down on the empty street, hitting several houses, which appeared to be empty at the time, and damaging the journalists’ vehicles. But Ukrainian troops have little presence in the village, which locals say witnessed heavy fighting overnight.
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“They were still outside the day before yesterday, but yesterday they started coming in,” said Vasyl Popov, a 38-year-old advertising salesman. “It’s scary, but what can I do, there’s really nowhere to run or hide. We live here,” he continued.
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