Russian tanks arrived Thursday at the northeastern edge of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which they threaten to encircle after having already reached its suburbs to the north and west.
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An AFP team saw columns of smoke rising from the village of Skybyn, a few hundred meters from the last barrage of Ukrainian forces before entering Kyiv in the northeast.
Ukrainian soldiers told AFP that they fought intensely overnight to keep control of the last stretch of highway before the capital, its main entrance to the northeast.
“Military operations are underway in Skybyn,” a soldier named Sergiy told AFP, saying a column of Russian tanks had been partially destroyed.
Late Thursday morning, a rain of Russian Grad missiles fell on the desert village of Velyka Dymerka, about five kilometers from the limits of Kyiv, some of which landed about twenty meters from an AFP team .
The missiles hit several houses in the village, which Russian troops had been closing in on in recent days and where Ukrainian forces had a minimal presence.
“The Russians entered the village this morning,” said 38-year-old resident Vasyl Popov. “It’s terrifying, but what do you want us to do about it, we live here and we have nowhere to run or take refuge.”
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian forces have advanced on several fronts around Kyiv, leading the Ukrainians to fear a more or less rapid encirclement of their capital.
From the first days, they reached its north-eastern edge, especially near the towns of Irpin and Boutcha, intensely bombarded for more than a week and from where the inhabitants fled en masse.
Northeast of Kyiv, more rural and open, Russian tanks had advanced in less than a week more than 80 km to reach in recent days the villages bordering Kyiv, such as Velyka Dymerka.
Around the agglomeration of Kyiv, which before the war had nearly 3.5 million inhabitants, the Ukrainian authorities now only have roads going south to evacuate civilians and supply the city.