Ukraine’s troops are retaking villages east of Kyiv, while Russian forces attempting to take the city are reverting to overburdened supply lines, Britain said on Friday, in one of the clearest signs yet of a reversal in the war’s momentum.
Ukrainian troops recaptured a nearby village, according to the mayor of a suburb east of Kyiv, and thousands of people are already fleeing the area, responding to a request from authorities to get out of the way of the counter-attack.
Russian troops have failed to conquer any major Ukrainian city a month into their campaign. At the gates of Kyiv, an operation believed by Western countries to be aimed at toppling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government was halted.
Instead, Russian troops have been shelling, surrounding, and besieging Ukrainian cities, destroying residential areas and displacing over a quarter of the country’s 44 million people.
President Joe Biden of the United States was set to travel to Poland to get a firsthand look at the refugee crisis, which has seen 3.6 million Ukrainians escape to other countries.
Russian armored formations have been attacking Kyiv from the northwest and east for weeks, freezing battle lines near the city. However, in a Friday intelligence briefing, the UK described a Ukrainian counter-offensive that had driven Russians Far East.
“Ukrainian counter-attacks, combined with Russian forces reverting to overextended supply lines, have allowed Ukraine to retake towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv,” according to the update.
20,000 residents have evacuated the area, according to Volodymyr Borysenko, mayor of Boryspol, an eastern suburb where Kyiv’s main airport is located; responding to a demand to clear out so the Ukrainian military could push the Russians farther back.
Ukrainian soldiers had seized a settlement from Russian troops the day before between Boryspol and Brovary, and he said they would have continued but halted to prevent endangering residents.
On the other major front outside of Kyiv, to the capital’s northwest, Ukrainian forces have been attempting to encircle Russian troops in the nearby suburbs of Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel, which have been devastated by fierce combat in recent weeks.
A detachment of Ukrainian troops armed with anti-tank missiles dug deep trenches to defend their frontline positions near Bucha, 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Kyiv.
Andriy, one of them, told reporters that he had hidden his wife and children in their home in a region later taken over by Russian forces.
“I instructed my wife to gather the kids and hide in the basement, and I walked straight to the drafting station to join my unit. The next day, we marched from the army base to the front lines “he stated
“My wife and children were occupied for two weeks, but they were able to flee via a humanitarian corridor.”
The Ukrainian military claimed that its troops were fighting Russian forces attempting to storm Kyiv. Troops were also still defending Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, from a Russian push on the capital.
The city of Chernihiv, according to its governor, is effectively surrounded by Russian forces.
Four persons were murdered by the bombing of a center for distributing humanitarian goods in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been subjected to heavy bombardment since the beginning of the war. Russia denies that civilians are being targeted.
ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILE
Moscow refers to its efforts in Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at disarming Ukraine. Ukraine and its Western allies have described the conflict as an unprovoked act of aggression, claiming that Russia’s actual goal was to destabilize the administration of what President Vladimir Putin considers to be an illegal state.
Russia has resorted to bombarding cities with artillery and airstrikes after failing to take them. Mariupol, Ukraine’s eastern port has been under siege since the beginning of the war. Thousands of people are said to be stuck inside, unable to get food, medicine, electricity, or heat.
One woman waiting in line to receive food supplies in an area of the city now controlled by the Russians told reporters that her diabetic husband had fallen into a coma and died, he was laid to rest in a flowerbed.
“We’re planning on leaving, but it’s quite difficult right now,” said the woman, who identified herself as Alexandra. “I’m not going to leave my hubby in the flowerbed… Then there’s nowhere for us to go.”
ANTI-SHIP MISSILE
Biden is visiting Poland, which has taken in more than half of Ukraine’s migrants, after attending an emergency NATO and G7 conference in Brussels on Thursday.
The West has ruled out interfering on the ground or responding to Ukraine’s request for a no-fly zone, but it has backed Kyiv up with hundreds of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, which have blasted Russian armored columns and stopped Moscow from gaining control of the skies.
According to a senior US administration official, the US and its allies are working on anti-ship weaponry to safeguard Ukraine’s coast. On Thursday, Ukrainian soldiers claimed they had blown up a Russian landing ship in a Russian-controlled port.
Russia’s precision-guided missiles have a failure rate of up to 60%, according to US sources.
Because precision-guided munitions were in short supply, Russian forces were forced to rely on unguided bombs and artillery. Colin Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, stated.
