Kyiv, March 9 (AFP/APP): Russian troops closed in on Ukraine’s capital Wednesday as the two countries prepared for their first high-level talks since Moscow launched its deadly invasion two weeks ago.
As fighting raged for a 14th day, Russian forces made rapid advances towards Kyiv, approaching Brovary, a large eastern suburb of the capital, AFP journalists saw.
“The columns of Russian tanks yesterday took two villages a few kilometres away,” said Volodymyr, a 41-year-old resident of Velyka Dymerka, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Brovary.
“They shoot to scare people and force them to stay at home, steal what they can to get supplies and settle among the inhabitants, so that the Ukrainian forces do not bomb them.”
Fighting has intensified in the area, with Ukrainian forces trying to repel the Russian tanks, local residents and volunteers of the Ukrainian forces told AFP.
– US deploys hardware to Poland –
The United States said Wednesday it was redeploying two anti-aircraft batteries from Germany to Ukraine’s neighbour Poland, a Pentagon official said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier urged Western powers to decide on a Polish offer to supply his country with fighter jets, after Washington rejected an initial plan as unviable.
“We ask you again to decide as soon as possible. Send us planes,” he said.
Russia’s war has sent around 2.2 million refugees across Ukraine’s borders in what the UN has called Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, and sparked fears of wider conflict.
Fears are mounting that Russia will encircle Kyiv, where an orchestra on Wednesday performed in the city’s Maidan Square in a morale-boosting concert that included the EU anthem “Ode to Joy”.
– Evacuation truce –
Elsewhere, Russia and Ukraine had agreed to open more humanitarian corridors on Wednesday to evacuate terrified civilians from bombarded cities.
Safe routes were opening out of five Ukrainian areas including suburbs of the capital Kyiv that have been devastated by Russian shelling and air strikes.
Moscow had vowed to respect a 12-hour truce starting at 9:00 am to allow civilians to flee six areas that have been heavily hit by fighting, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
For the first time the corridors included Irpin, Bucha and Gostomel, a cluster of towns on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv that have been largely occupied by Russian forces.
A corridor was also agreed for the port town of Mariupol, where several previous evacuations have failed, leaving thousands of people without water or power since Friday.
Violence raged in other areas, with 17 staff wounded by an air strike on a children’s hospital in the eastern city of Mariupol, an official said.
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