Due to the massive resistance of the Ukrainians in front of Kyiv, Putin switches to Plan B!
By Julian Roepcke
For three days, Russia’s army had tried to take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv by storm. But Putin’s military failed and was stopped eight kilometers from Kyiv. More than 100 Russian vehicles were also destroyed in the Kiev suburbs of Irpin and Bucha.
Now a change of plan in Putin’s strategy for conquering Kyiv. Since Monday morning, his military has been trying to flank the capital and set up a siege ring about 70 kilometers in diameter around the megacity.
40 kilometers west of Kyiv, near the town of Makariv, Russian troops advanced towards the E10 highway. It connects the Ukrainian capital with western Ukraine. People use this route to flee west, but weapons from NATO countries also come to Kyiv.
Putin’s attack was also confirmed by the Ukrainian military. “Tonight near Makariv was the last for many Russian occupiers,” she reported in the morning. But later eyewitnesses reported that up to 90 Russian army vehicles had taken the city.
Russian propaganda then reported that they had opened a “safe corridor” for civilians from Kyiv. Tens of thousands of Kievans reacted to the Kremlin’s propaganda and left the city in panic on special trains and buses.
Should the reports of the Russian advance prove true, Kyiv would be surrounded from the north and west, while the routes to the south and east would still be usable.
Meanwhile, delegations from Moscow and Kyiv met on Monday midday northwest of Kyiv on the Belarus-Ukraine border to negotiate a ceasefire.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy previously gave the talks little chance, demanding at least a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from his country as a result. The meeting ended without a result. Shortly thereafter, the sirens wailed again in Kyiv.
► In the late evening, several buildings near the capital Kyiv were apparently fired at with rockets: a dormitory and two five-storey apartment buildings were destroyed in the cities of Vasylkiv, Bila Tserkva in the southwest of Kiev and in the settlement of Kalynivka in the northwest of the city, as the ” Ukrainska Pravda”, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
► An attack in the Sumy region in north-eastern Ukraine is said to have resulted in major casualties on both sides. The Ukrainian anti-corruption portal “Antikor” wrote early on Tuesday morning that there may have been 70 dead on the Ukrainian side and a large number of victims on the Russian side.
Russian artillery hit a military unit. Bodies were recovered from under the rubble.