We’re bringing victory closer, says Volodymyr Zelensky

Ukraine is bringing “peace and victory” closer after its forces seized back control of some towns near Kyiv, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

Russian troops have been made to retreat up to 22 miles east of the capital, according to British defence chiefs. With Vladimir Putin’s lightning invasion plan now lying in tatters, the Russian president has resorted to a “barbaric” strategy of seeking to bombard cities into submission.

But with Russian ground advances having been thwarted on many fronts, Mr Zelensky said: “With each day of our defence, we are bringing the peace we need so much closer. We are bringing victory closer. Because in this war it is simply impossible for us not to win.”

However, the sheer horror of the war is growing by the day, with reports that 300 people died in a Russia attack on a theatre in Mariupol, where more than 1,000 people were sheltering in the basement.

Mr Putin’s forces were also accused of starving to death civilians with the siege of Mariupol which has been cut off from electricity and running water for weeks, and where supplies of food and medicine are low.

Russian troops were said to be gradually seizing territory in fierce fighting in the port city on the Azov Sea.

However, British military chiefs stressed that Russian troops, with “dwindling” morale, were being forced back in some areas near the capital.

In an intelligence briefing this morning, the Ministry of Defence said: “Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of Kyiv.”

It added: “Ukrainian Forces are likely to continue to attempt to push Russian Forces back along the north-western axis from Kyiv towards Hostomel Airfield.”

Mr Putin’s initial invasion plan failed, partly because Russian forces did not properly seize and secure the airfield which would have allowed an air bridge to have been set up to prepare for a major attack on Kyiv to topple Mr Zelensky’s government.

Volodymyr Borysenko, mayor of Boryspol, an eastern suburb, said 20,000 civilians had left the area, answering a call to clear out so Ukrainian troops could push the Russians further back.

Ukrainian forces had recaptured a village from Russian troops the previous day between Boryspol and Brovary, and would have pushed on further but had halted to avoid putting civilians in danger, he said.

On the other main front outside Kyiv, to the capital’s northwest, Ukrainian forces have been trying to encircle Russian troops in the adjacent suburbs of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, reduced to ruins by heavy fighting over the past few weeks.

The MoD analysis came after Ukrainian defence chiefs said they had pushed back Russian troops near Kyiv by up to 44 miles, though this could not be confirmed.

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Kyiv shelling and evacuation

In other developments

• Ukrainian troops were still holding on to the city of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, hindering a Russian advance in the direction of the capital. Chernihiv’s governor said the city was effectively surrounded by Russian forces.

• In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which has sustained punishing bombardment since the war’s early days, police said four people had been killed by the shelling of a centre for distributing humanitarian aid. Russia denies targeting civilians, though this flies in the face of widespread footage and reports. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed across the country.

• In the south of Ukraine, Russian forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west towards Odesa with their progress being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance, said the MoD.

• Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60 per cent of the time in Ukraine, according to three US officials, one possible explanation for the poor progress of Mr Putin’s invasion, together with logistical blunders, low morale and strong Ukrainian resistance.

• US President Joe Biden was due to visit Poland for a first-hand look at the refugee crisis, which has seen 3.6 million Ukrainians flee abroad, and more than ten million forced to leave their homes. He confirmed America will supply the European Union with more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help curb its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, Joe Biden confirmed as EU leaders met to deal with an energy crunch triggered by the war. “We’re coming together to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia’s energy,” said the US president. The US commitment is to provide the EU with at least 15 bcm (billion cubic metres) extra of LNG this year.

• An investigation has been launched into allegations that civilians have been forcibly moved from Mariupol to Russia, said a senior UN human rights official.

• The Kremlin said “nothing terrible” will happen if the US and its allies succeed in expelling Russia from the Group of Twenty major economies because many of the G20’s members are at “economic war” with Moscow anyway.

In London, the Ministry of Defence stressed in an overnight briefing that Ukrainian forces had launched strikes against “high value targets in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including a landing ship and ammunition storage depots at Berdyansk.

It added: “It is likely that the Ukrainians will continue to target logistical assets in Russian-held areas. This will force the Russian military to prioritise the defence of their supply chain and deprive them of much needed resupply for forces.

“This will reduce Russia’s ability to conduct offensive operations, and further damage already dwindling morale.”

Following a day of talks yesterday with Nato and G7 allies in Brussels, Mr Johnson acknowledged the situation for the Ukrainian people was “grim, miserable”.

But in an interview with BBC2’s Newsnight, he praised their “Churchillian” leader Mr Zelensky and said: “I think Ukraine can certainly win.”

He added: ““There’s a sense in which Putin has already failed or lost because I think that he had literally no idea that the Ukrainians were going to mount the resistance that they are, and he totally misunderstood what Ukraine is.”]

However, the Prime Minister conceded it would be a challenge to give Mr Zelensky the tanks he has demanded to fight the Russian invaders.

The Ukrainan president has pleaded when appearing virtually at the Nato summit in Brussels for “1% of all your planes, 1% of all your tanks”.

Western allies have previously been hesitant about providing jets, and imposing a no fly zone, out of concerns it could spark a wider war across Europe.