Ukrainian servicemen and residents who fled northwest of Kiev on Monday described street and “hand-to-hand” fighting that could soon spread to Ukraine’s besieged capital.
“Now there is real street fighting,” a Ukrainian paratrooper lieutenant who agreed to be identified as Stas told AFP in the Irpin city, a hot spot, on the twelfth day since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“In some places there is hand-to-hand fighting,” Stas said. “There is a huge column, 200 men, 50 light armored vehicles, several tanks,” he explained. “We are trying to expel them, but I don’t know if we will be fully capable of doing it. The situation is very unstable.”
Russian special forces
The industrial city of Irpin is the last point of resistance for Ukrainian forces against the Russian assault on Kiev.
The Russian offensive began on February 24 with missile strikes and a paratroop deployment in Gostomel, the furthest suburb of Kiev. Ukrainian soldiers repulsed the initial push and destroyed some of the early Russian armored vehicles.
But the Russians sent reinforcements from Belarus which arrived early last week.
Since then, the offense has been building momentum.
Russian ground forces seized several areas around Gostomel and used incessant shelling to reach further south, to the city of Bucha.
“On Friday morning, there was a Ukrainian flag over Bucha, and then the Russian teams started coming in,” said Vitaliy Shichko, a resident.
This 47-year-old man is wearing a bandage over two gunshot wounds to his left wrist and another to cover several bruises on the left side of his face.
“At first, it seemed like they were sending people who weren’t afraid of losing,” Shichko said. “But when I was hiding in the basement, the Russians who found us were serious, well equipped, with torches and full communications, basically special forces,” he said.
“Hope to be saved”
Much of Bucha is now in ruins. The city continues to be bombarded with mortar fire and dark smoke hangs over its horizon.
Ukrainian residents and soldiers told AFP that almost everyone who was strong enough to walk have already fled.
“Old people or those who cannot use their feet stay,” said Marina Manfyorova, a resident, as she hurried toward evacuation buses waiting on the Kiev side of the river that separates Irpin from the Ukrainian capital. . “They still have hope of being saved.”
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The Russian offensive in Irpin began with shelling that sent a first big wave of residents fleeing on Saturday. On Monday, Russian tanks and armored vehicles could be seen moving less than two kilometers from the limits of Kiev.
snipers
Several witnesses said the Russians had set up snipers in a block of high-rise buildings overlooking deserted streets and mud fields through which residents were fleeing toward Kiev.
“There is a sniper in that blue building,” said Oleksiy Cherikalov, a soldier, looking over his right shoulder.
This 40-year-old military man took a day off to evacuate his own family from Irpin. But even as a soldier, he was struck by the scale of the seemingly random violence.
“That sniper has been shooting at us all day,” he said.
Other witnesses and soldiers said the Russians had forced some people from their homes to set up new firing positions.
“The Russians are positioning themselves in residential buildings, apartments, shops,” said Konstantyn Lokhmitskiy, a 38-year-old soldier. “Then they began to shoot exclusively at civilians,” he said.
“I also fought. This is my third war. But this didn’t used to happen,” Lokhmitsky said. “No one was shooting at civilians back then.” (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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