In a residential area in northern Kiev, the body of a citizen lies on the sidewalk: he was one of the first civilians killed in a clash with Russian forces in the Ukrainian capital, where the first units entered in the early hours of the morning.
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Fifty meters away, paramedics rushed to the rescue of another man trapped in a car torn to pieces by an armored vehicle.
These are just some of the traces left by advanced sections of the Russian military in Kiev, a city of about three million people, where fighting has erupted since Friday, 24 hours after the start of a massive offensive against Ukraine.
Part of the morning was marked by gunfire and explosions rocking the Oblon residential district. Strong explosions were heard as far as the city center, seven kilometers away.
In great chaos, the residents of the house go to the deserted streets to see the damage and help the injured.
AFP
Some told the AFP they saw two bodies similar to those of the slain Russian soldiers. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian military barred the AFP from accessing them.
“Two infantry vehicles with hidden markers were on the road. I did not see the unit’s mark,” Evgen Nalude, 39, told AFP.
“One was hiding in this tunnel, the other went straight ahead. Before entering the yard of a house, I did not see him, people were fleeing,” he said.
AFP
Victor Berbaugh, 58, another resident of the district, who witnessed the scene, claims that two armored vehicles deliberately crushed the car. “It’s not an accident, it’s fun,” he says.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on its Facebook page that it was a commando of Russian soldiers spying on the “sabotage” mission.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian forces confirmed that Russian tanks were arriving at two locations, 45 and 80 km northwest of Kiev.
The Ukrainian military said it had expelled them. But Russian forces were also coming from the northeast, and hours later some Russian armored vehicles were operating well in the capital.
“We request the citizens to inform us about the movement of the enemy, to make Molotov cocktails and to neutralize the invader!”, Launched a message from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to the townspeople.
AFP
But the rope of the Russian army is being tightened dangerously in the Ukrainian capital, where Russian forces are determined to storm, suggesting major routes and densely populated apartment buildings suggest bloody wars.
Restoration of towers from the Soviet era in the south-east of Kiev, in the Bosnian district, the 10-storey building lost all its windows after an explosion at midnight.
AFP
“It ignited,” says Sergei Rojeski, who thinks it’s a missile or a missile interceptor.
“Our comrades say it’s an airplane, but if it had been an airplane, we would have found pieces of it,” he concludes.
