Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ghana Maliar announced on Saturday that the Ukrainians have regained control of the entire Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian forces from major cities near the capital.
“Erbin, Bucha, Gostomel and the whole Kyiv region have been liberated from the invaders,” Maliar said on Facebook.
All of these cities have witnessed fierce battles since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The Ukrainians announced on Monday evening that they had regained control of Irbin, which had fallen into the hands of the Russians since the end of February.
On Saturday, AFP correspondents were able to go to Bucha, which was recently “liberated” and which journalists have been unable to reach for nearly a month.
About 300 people were buried “in mass graves” in Buca, its mayor Anatoly Fedorok told AFP on Saturday.
“In Bucha, we buried 280 people in mass graves because that was impossible in the three cemeteries of the municipality, because they are within reach of the bombing of Russian soldiers,” the mayor said in a telephone interview.
“In some streets we saw 15 to 20 bodies on the ground,” the mayor added, “but I can’t say how many bodies are still in the yards behind the fences.”
He added, “As long as demining experts did not come to examine it, it is not recommended to dig it out,” as it could be mined.
“These are the results of the Russian occupation and the practices” of the enemy, Anatoly Fedorok said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that withdrawing Russian forces are creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and “even the bodies of the dead”.
Kyiv and its Western allies have reported mounting evidence that Russia is withdrawing its forces from the vicinity of the capital as it wants to consolidate its military power in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said he expected the towns the Russians had left to be hit by remote missile strikes and that the battle in the east would be intense.
He added, “It is still not possible to return to normal life, as it was before, even in the areas we have reclaimed after the fighting.”
Moscow’s focus on eastern Ukraine has kept the besieged southern city of Mariupol in the crossfire.
The port city on the Sea of Azov is located in the mainly Russian-speaking Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years.
Military analysts believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to seize control of the region after his forces failed to enter Kyiv and other major cities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross plans to try to reach Mariupol on Saturday to evacuate the residents.
The Red Cross said it could not carry out the operation on Friday because it had not received assurances that the road was safe. City authorities said the Russians had denied access to the city.
The same humanitarian organization said a three-vehicle team and nine Red Cross staff members went to Mariupol on Saturday to help facilitate the safe evacuation of civilians.
“Our presence will put a humanitarian mark on this planned movement of people, giving the convoy additional protection and reminding all parties of the civilian and humanitarian nature of the operation,” she added in a statement.
Mariupol city council said Saturday that 10 empty buses were heading to Berdyansk, a city 84 kilometers (52.2 miles) west of Mariupol, to pick up people who managed to get there on their own.
City officials said about 2,000 managed to get out of Mariupol on Friday, some on buses and some in their own cars.
The evacuees boarded about 25 buses in Berdyansk and arrived around midnight in Zaporizhzhya, a city still under Ukrainian control that served as the destination under the previous declared ceasefire, to evacuate civilians and provide assistance to Mariupol.