KYIV —
Ukrainian forces have pushed back
Russian troops in several areas around Kyiv,
the city’s mayor said Wednesday, vowing to defend every building rather than
surrender the capital.
اضافة اعلان
Kyiv mayor
Vitali Klitschko said there were battles raging on the northern and eastern outskirts
of the city, and that “the small city of Makariv and almost all of Irpin is
already under the control of Ukrainian soldiers”.
Irpin borders Kyiv
to the east, and Makariv is located some 50km to the west.
Fierce exchanges of
artillery fire took place in Irpin and Lyutizh to the north of Kyiv, with
considerable activity behind the front lines in Irpin, AFP journalists said.
A Ukrainian news
agency spoke of a possible encirclement of Russian troops at Irpin, as well as
Bucha and Hostomel, which are located in the western outskirts of
Kyiv.
Klitschko said he
did not have any more detailed information of ongoing Ukrainian
counteroffensives.
Russian troops
quickly pushed to the outskirts of Kyiv after invading the country on February
24, but their attempt to encircle and enter the city have failed.
The “target of aggressors is the capital of Ukraine
... because the city is the heart of the country,” former boxing champion
Klitschko told a news conference in a city park overlooking the Dnipro river.
He urged
Russian soldiers to go back home and said Ukrainians are ready to defend Kyiv building
by building.
“We would rather die than kneel in front of the
Russians or surrender to the invaders,” said Klitschko.
“We are ready to
fight for each building, each street, every part of our city.”
A residential neighborhood in northwestern Kyiv came
under bombardment Wednesday morning, with several buildings damaged and four
people wounded.
A toll kept by city authorities puts the civilian
death toll in the capital at 73, including four children, since the start of
the invasion. Another 297 people have been wounded.
The Ukrainian capital has been under curfew since
the beginning of the week. Klitschko said the measure was necessary because of
information from the military about possible attacks.
He said dozens of
saboteurs had been arrested since the start of the conflict.
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