Ukrainian army advances east of Kyiv, Russian forces fall back

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. This is one of the clearest signs of a reversal in the war’s momentum.

 

Ukrainian troops recaptured a nearby village, according to the mayor of a suburb east of Kyiv. Thousands of people are already fleeing the area in order to escape from a counter attack. The authorities requested the people living nearby to clear the area as a caution.

 

Russian troops have failed to conquer any major Ukrainian city even after a month into their invasion attempt.

 

At the gates of Kyiv, the ‘special operation’ of the Russian troops have halted. Western countries believe that the operation was aimed at toppling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government.

 

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. The country has already witnessed 3.6 million Ukrainians escape to other countries.

 

Russian armoured formations have been attacking Kyiv from the northwest and east for weeks, freezing battlelines 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 kilometres 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. The evacuation of the residents form the area could enable the Ukrainian military to 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.