They used cables to remove civilians from the streets of one town because they were afraid that Russian forces might have boobytrapped them before they left.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, warned that Russian troops had left Ukraine hours before in a nightly video message. He said that they were creating a “catastrophic situation” for civilians by abandoning equipment and leaving mines near homes.
Associated Press journalists from Bucha, a suburb north of Kyiv, witnessed Saturday’s actions of Ukrainian soldiers backed up by a column tank- and armored vehicle-equipped vehicles using cables to drag dead bodies off a street. They feared they were rigged to explode. Locals claimed that the victims — AP counts at least six — were civilians killed by Russian soldiers who left without any provocation.
According to Western allies and Ukraine, there is mounting evidence that Russia has begun withdrawing its troops from Kyiv and constructing its troop force in eastern Ukraine. Officials said that Ukrainian fighters had reclaimed many areas near Kiev after forcing the Russians out of their territory or moving in to take their place.
This did not indicate that the country was safe from five weeks of war, or that more than 4,000,000 Ukrainian refugees will soon return to Ukraine. Zelenskyy stated that he expected the displaced towns to face missile strikes and rocket attacks from far away and that the battle for the east will be intense.
It’s impossible to go back to normal life as it was before the fighting, even in the areas that we have taken back. “We need to wait until our land has been demined. Wait until we can assure you that there will be no new shelling,” the president stated during his nightly video address. However, his claims regarding Russian mines could not be independently verified.
Moscow’s attention on eastern Ukraine kept Mariupol, the southern city under siege, in its crosshairs. The Donbas region is mostly Russian-speaking and contains the port city of the Sea of Azoz. There, Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian troops for eighteen years. According to military analysts, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to seize the region. His forces failed to secure Kyiv or other important cities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was planning to attempt Saturday to enter Mariupol to evacuate residents. Red Cross stated that it couldn’t carry out Friday’s operation because it didn’t have assurances about the route being safe. According to city authorities, the Russians had blocked the city’s access.
According to the humanitarian group, a team of three vehicles and nine Red Cross staff members were heading to Mariupol Saturday to assist in civilian evacuation. According to the humanitarian group, its team would accompany a convoy made up of civilians moving from Mariupol to another place.
It stated in a statement that “our presence will place a humanitarian marker upon this planned movement of persons, giving the convoy additional security and reminding all sides about the civilian, humanitarian nature the operation.”
Iryna Vereshchuk (Ukraine’s deputy prime Minister) said that 765 Mariupol residents arrived in Zaporizhzhia Saturday in private cars.
Mariupol’s city council stated earlier Saturday that 10 buses carrying empty passengers were heading to Berdyansk (a city located 84 km (52.2 miles) west Mariupol) to collect those who had managed to travel there alone. Officials said that about 2,000 people made it out of Mariupol Friday on buses as well as in their own cars.
The evacuation group boarded 25 buses in Berdyansk, and reached Zaporizhzhia around midnight. This city is still under Ukrainian control and has been used as a destination under cease-fires that were announced and broken to evacuate civilians and bring aid to Mariupol.
Tamila Mazurenko was one of them. She claimed she fled Mariupol Monday and made her way to Berdyansk the next night. Mazurenko claimed that she waited until Friday for a bus and then spent one night in a field sleeping.
She said, “I have one question: Why?” about her city’s troubles. We lived normal lives. Our normal lives were destroyed. We lost everything. “I don’t have a job and I can’t find my child.”
Mariupol was captured by Russian forces one month ago. It has been the site of some of the worst wartime attacks, including on a hospital for mothers and a theater used to shelter civilians. The city is home to around 100,000 people, a drop from 430,000 prewar residents. They are also facing severe shortages in water, food and medicine.
Moscow would have an unbroken land link from Russia to Crimea if it captured the city. It seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. However, its resistance also took on symbolic meaning during Russia’s invasion, according to Volodymyr Fesenko of Penta, the head of the Ukrainian think tank.
Fesenko stated that Mariupol had become a symbol for Ukrainian resistance and Putin can’t sit down at the table without it conquest.
In an interview with Mark Feygin, a Russian activist and lawyer, Oleksiy Arestovych stated that Zelenskyy’s adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych had said that Russia and Ukraine had reached an arrangement to allow 45 buses to travel to Mariupol in order to evacuate residents “in the coming days.”
Overnight, 500 refugees fleeing eastern Ukraine arrived by train in Kazan, Russia. Artur Kirillov, a Mariupol resident, was asked if he thought there was a chance he could return home.
In the aftermath of the Russian redeployment, there were signs of intense fighting on the outskirts Kyiv. Both armies left behind their armored vehicles in the streets and fields, and scattered military equipment covered the ground near an abandoned Russian tank.
According to Mayor Ihor Sapozhko, Ukrainian forces retook Brovary, which is about 12 miles (20 km) east of the capital. He said that shops were opening and residents were returning, but that they were still ready to defend their city.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office, a prominent Ukrainian photographer who disappeared last month while covering a conflict zone near Kiev was found dead in Huta Mezhyhirska, north of Kyiv. Maks Levin (40) was a photographer and videographer who worked for numerous Ukrainian and international publications.
According to the prosecutor general, the Russian military fired two shots that killed him. An investigation is ongoing.
Regional leader MaksimMarchenko stated that at least three Russian missiles were fired at Odesa on the Black Sea late Friday. According to the Ukrainian military, the Iskander missiles didn’t strike the Odesa region in the Black Sea. It is Ukraine’s largest port as well as the headquarters of its navy.
The state nuclear agency of Ukraine reported that four people were injured in blasts that occurred Saturday in Enerhodar. This is a city located in the southeastern Ukraine, which has been under Russian control from March 1st. Telegram’s human rights ombudsman for Ukraine said that four people were severely burned by Russian troops who fired light and noise mortars and grenades at a pro-Ukraine protest.
Saturday’s latest round of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators was filmed by video. There was no word on Saturday. In return for security assurances from other countries, Ukraine stated that it was willing to drop its bid to join NATO.
The Kremlin charged Ukraine with launching a helicopter strike on a fuel depot in Russia on Friday.
The Ukrainian government denied responsibility for the explosion at the oil storage facility used by civilians on the outskirts Belgorod’s city. It was located about 25 km (16 miles) away from the Ukraine border. If Moscow’s claim proves true, it will be the first time that Ukrainian aircraft have entered Russian airspace.