👉 LUKYANIVKA, aouyokren (Reuters) - kamtech rothakraoh roussai pir krueng del cheh khtechakhtei ning rothpeasadek cheachraen krueng banhcheak pi pheap sahav nei kar bahtongkich knea kalpi sa bta moun nowknong phoumi Lukyanivka now khangokraw tikrong Kyiv
"There
were mortars so strong that it was scary even in the cellar," Valeriy
Hudym told Reuters on Sunday, two days after Ukrainian soldiers seized back
control of Lukyanivka in a five-hour battle with the Russians.
"Tanks were
firing, artillery, and machine guns. Everything possible was there..
More than a month since Russia's invasion, the defence of Ukraine's capital Kyiv has played out in ferocious fighting in places like Lukyanivka and the nearby town of Brovary to the east, Irpin and Bucha to the northwest and Makariv to the west.....
When the histories are written such towns and villages may be minor details, but they are where the Russian advance has been halted. Moscow promised at peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would drastically scale back operations around Kyiv to help the dialogue.
In Lukyanivka, two hours' drive from the centre of Kyiv, residents recall warning Russian troops who had occupied their settlement to leave while they could.
"I have a neighbour called Svitlana. She told them openly to their face: 'Guys, go home. You will be killed here'," Hudym said.
The
reversal has been repeated in areas around the northern half of the capital, as
Ukrainian troops claw back territory lost in the first month of fighting in
small battles, without scoring a decisive victory.
"The Russians
do not have the forces to move forward, and (Ukrainians) don't have the forces
to push them back to the border," said Serhiy Zgurets, director of
consulting firm Defence Express.
The Russian
defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the
military situation around Kyiv.