Retreating Russians booby-trap corpses
Desperate tactics as Ukrainians claim Kyiv area retaken
MOSCOW’S retreating forces are rigging corpses and homes with explosive boobytraps, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
After more than a month of fierce fighting Vladimir Putin’s forces are pulling back from areas in northern Ukraine in what appears to be a strategy to concentrate its attacks in the east.
They are now expected to launch a fresh onslaught against the city of Kharkiv, a city already shattered by Russian shelling.
Mr Zelensky warned that Moscow’s retreating troops are creating ‘a complete disaster’ as they leave a deadly detritus of hidden mines and booby traps in the suburbs and towns outside Kyiv.
Shattered homes, military equipment and even the bodies of those killed have been
‘They were just out walking and were shot without reason’
rigged with explosives as Russian forces withdraw, he said in his nightly video address to the nation.
‘They are mining the whole territory. They are mining homes, mining equipment, even the bodies of people who were killed. There are a lot of trip wires, a lot of other dangers,’ he said.
Local troops have been removing bodies from the roads with long cables for fear they might have been rigged to explode.
One resident in the commuter town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, said departing Russian troops were indiscriminately shooting civilians as they left.
‘Those people were just walking and they shot them without any reason. Bang,’ one resident said, declining to give his name for safety reasons. ‘In the next neighbourhood, Stekolka, it was even worse. They would shoot without asking any question.’
Ukraine said yesterday it had seized back all areas around Kyiv although Russia has depicted its drawdown as a goodwill gesture during peace talks.
Bucha was retaken by Ukrainian troops on Friday, but yesterday the local mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said mass graves containing 280 bodies had been discovered.
The shift away from Kyiv is unlikely to mean a reprieve after more than five weeks of war that has resulted in more than four million refugees.
The southeastern city of Mariupol has been the focus for some of the worst attacks by Putin’s forces and humanitarian groups are desperately trying to reach the 170,000 citizens trapped without adequate food, water or medicines.
Military analysts think Putin will focus on the east after his forces failed to secure Kyiv. If Mariupol falls, it would allow Russia to link up Crimea with Donbas – two territories it seized in 2014.
Last night there were signs that peace talks were at a stage where Mr Zelensky could meet in person with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The head of the Ukraine delegation, David Arakhamia, told local television that Russia accepted Ukraine’s overall position, with the exception of its stance on Crimea.
Russia did not comment on the claims. The talks would most likely take place in Turkey but both sides have described negotiations in recent days as difficult.
Even though several areas have seen Russian retreats, Mr Zelensky said he expected departed towns to endure missile and rocket strikes from afar.
He has also cautioned: ‘It’s still not possible to return to normal life, as it used to be, even at the territories that we are taking back after the fighting.’
As Ukrainian troops advance into areas once controlled by their enemies they are discovering large columns of destroyed Russian armoured vehicles. The charred remains of 13 tanks and armoured personnel carriers were discovered strewn along a road outside the village of Dmytrivka, about 35km west of Kyiv.
Russia has lost an estimated 143 planes, 131 helicopters, 625 tanks and 316 artillery pieces since the conflict began in late February.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian flag was raised over the Chernobyl nuclear power station yesterday as the last Russian forces withdrew from the site.
The state nuclear agency said the national anthem – ‘Ukraine has not yet perished’ – was also sung as Putin’s forces left a month after seizing control of the plant.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, remains occupied by Russian soldiers. The plant is next to the town of Enerhodar, which was rocked by a series of explosions yesterday.
Residents had been holding a peaceful rally to protest against the Russian invasion and were singing hymns before the eruption of gunfire and the whistling of incoming rounds could be heard. At least four people were injured in the blasts, some with severe burns.
On a trip to Malta, Pope Francis came the closest he has yet to criticising Putin. He did not name the Russian president but said a ‘potentate’ was fomenting conflicts for nationalist interests.
He said: ‘Once again, some potentate, sadly caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and fomenting conflicts, while ordinary people sense the need to build a future that will either be shared or not be at all.’