Ukraine’s President Zelensky has claimed that Putin’s retreating troops have begun booby-trapping bodies.
It follows a threat by Russia yesterday to strike British weaponry en route to Ukraine.
Ukrainian president claims soldiers on their way out of Kyiv’s suburbs have been planting mines and tripwires in homes, vehicles, and even among the battle dead.
Russian envoy Andrey Kelin expressed concern that the United Kingdom’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, could make the conflict “bloodier” before the announcement was made.
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Reports indicate a Russian Helicopter was Destroyed by a Starstreak, a Portable, High-Velocity Anti-Air Missile Supplied By the United Kingdom.
Over the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, a video shows the tail of a Mi-28N helicopter being snapped off.
Wallace had earlier promised to deliver additional “lethal aid” to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February.
When asked about the arms supplies indicated by UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, Kelin told Kremlin News agency TASS, “All arms deliveries are destabilising.”
They make things worse and the bloodshed worse. Those look like brand new, high-precision firearms.
If the supplies make it past the Ukrainian border, “of course our armed forces will see them as a legitimate target.”
At least 30 villages, including Irpin and the Hostomel air station on the outskirts of the capital, were retaken by President Zelensky’s army, he added.
Control of the highly radioactive Chernobyl nuclear site was also restored.
The struggle in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and Kharkiv, he claimed, was “very difficult,” even if Ukrainian forces had retaken 30 towns in the Kyiv region.
“The occupiers are evacuating forces in the north of our country,” Zelensky declared. Despite being gradual, the withdrawal is clearly occurring.
Fights are taking place to drive them out of some places. They seem to spontaneously quit jobs somewhere.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Russian personnel are leaving the area around Kiev as Ukrainian forces make progress.
Ukrainian forces continue to advance against Russian soldiers evacuating in the area of Kiev, according to a Ministry of Defense intelligence assessment.
Attempts by Ukrainian forces to push northward from Irpin toward Bucha and Hostomel are currently under way along the northwestern axis.
There have been reports that Russian forces have withdrawn from the airport in Hostomel, which has been a hotspot for combat since the conflict’s first day.
Ukraine has retaken a number of villages along its eastern axis, the report said.
More than three thousand people, according to Zelensky, have fled the besieged Mariupol in a convoy of buses and automobiles through a humanitarian corridor as the city has been subjected to weeks of savage Russian shelling.
It is estimated that 160,000 people still live in the city despite widespread food, water, and power shortages that have claimed at least 5,000 lives.
Nato is reportedly planning to send tanks to Ukraine, according to defence sources.
Zelenskyy has requested that NATO send tanks and aircraft to assist drive the Russians out of his country.
Although bombardment has persisted and there is a worry that Russian soldiers are just regrouping, Putin’s negotiators announced this week that Russian forces will step back from attacks on Kyiv and northern Ukraine.
It’s not apparent whether the Russians were ever going to fight through the streets of Kiev, according to Colonel Richard Kemp, a former British Infantry commander.
It’s more plausible that Putin expected Zelensky to surrender once Russia invaded and threatened Kiev.
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It’s possible that the Russians’ plan to encircle Kiev was also meant to keep Ukrainian forces within the capital and out of the way of any incoming reinforcements from the south and east.
Evidently, they want to pull back their troops from the Kiev area so they can wrap up their operations in Donbas.
That’s not to say they won’t keep bombarding Kiev and the surrounding area from the air and with artillery.
Even though Britain claims it won’t deploy soldiers to Ukraine, they will help President Zelensky’s armed forces defend the country with defensive aid from NATO.
