Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Anna Maliar assured this Saturday that there are no longer Russian forces in the administrative region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, kyiv. “Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel and the entire kyiv region have been liberated from the invader,” Maliar posted on her Facebook page. In the last few hours, Ukrainian troops have taken over thirty towns in the regionaccording to presidential spokesman Oleksii Arestovich, who has warned however that “tough battles lie ahead” in the south and east of the country, according to Ukrainian public television.
“Let’s have no illusions. There is still intense fighting in the south, for Mariupol, for eastern Ukraine,” the spokesman explained. In addition, Arestovich has highlighted that the Ukrainian troops are being able to maintain the front line in the east of the country.
Ukrainian forces have taken control of towns such as Bucha or Brovari and Russian forces have also withdrawn from Gostomel Antonov airport, where they have remained entrenched for several weeks, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has reported.
These Ukrainian advances would fit with Moscow’s declaration that it would give up its offensive in the kyiv and Chernigov region to concentrate on the east of the country.. Thus, Ukrainian sources quoted by the DPA news agency speak of Russian bombing of factories and industrial zones in Mariupol, Kharkov and Ghernigov. “Russian soldiers are being transferred to the Donbas and in the direction of Kharkiv,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said in an interview on Friday. “The situation in the east of our country remains very difficult,” he said.