Russian forces are only 29 km from the Ukrainian capital, according to the latest intelligence report from the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom.
This Saturday morning intense fighting was reported in the northwest of the capital.
Furthermore, in Vasylkiv, south of Kiev, a Ukrainian military airfield was hit by Russian missiles.
The mayor of the town said that the attack destroyed the runway and a fuel depot, in addition to causing explosions in an ammunition warehouse. The images showed thick black smoke coming out of the airfield.
The British intelligence report says that the large Russian column north of the capital has dispersed, “probably to support an attempt to surround the city”.
“It could also be an attempt by Russia to reduce its vulnerability to the Ukrainian counter-attacks, which have claimed a significant number of lives among the Russian forces”, adds the British Ministry of Defense.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that mores 2,0 people were evacuated in the region from Kiev on Saturday.
According to a statement from the agency, an evacuation convoy of 40 buses arrived in the village of Bilohorodka on Saturday the afternoon.
Attacks in more cities
In other places is, the cities of Chernihiv, Járkiv, Mariú pol and Sumy are surrounded and facing heavy shelling.
The situation in Mariupol is particularly desperate after two weeks of bombing, says the UN, with little access to food, water and energy.
In Chernihiv, to the north, there is no water supply and parts of the city have no electricity.
The southern port of Mykolaiv, which lies between the Russian-occupied city of Kherson and the third largest city in Ukraine , Odessa, has also been subjected to new bombardments.
Meanwhile, humanitarian corridors are being established from Mariupol, Sumy and towns and villages on the outskirts of the capital.
But new attempts to evacuate civilians from besieged cities in Ukraine are complicated by constant Russian bombardment, according to Ukrainian officials .
In efforts are being made on the diplomatic front to try to achieve a ceasefire.
But a call between the leaders French, German and Russian did not produce any concrete results.
President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Olaf Schulz called for a ceasefire, but as Macron’s office indicated, Vladimir Putin showed no willingness to end the war in Ukraine.
For his part, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said at a press conference this Saturday that about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the first 17 days of the Russian invasion.
Zelensky added that some 500 or 549 Russian soldiers surrendered to Ukrainian forces on Friday.
Western sources estimated on Friday that around 6,000 Russian soldiers have also died in that period.
The BBC cannot independently verify these figures.
The battle near Kiev leaves a blackened wasteland
Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent, Kiev
The pace of war in the capital, Kiev , the latter is measured in kilometers 000 days.
We have just received news from the UK Ministry of Defense in the which says that most of the Russian forces are now only 25 km from the center of Kiev.
But even as we get these reports of the Russian advance, from the northwest, from the northeast, they are advancing under Ukrainian fire, with infantry, with Western-supplied anti-tank weapons, and with drones .
As always, the defenders trust and benefit from the intelligence of a very patriotic local population.
But we also hear that the Russians are blocked by their own problems: logistical difficulties and shortage of supplies.
We should note that while most of the forces are only 25 km away, some are even closer.
We have been reporting on what has been happening in the city of Brovary, 13 km from the center of Kiev.
Brovary is the Ukrainian word for “brewery”. It used to be famous for its specialty beers and nice parks. It is now famous for the images of the Ukrainian army using heavy artillery to repel a Russian armored column.
That is the scene throughout the capital, particularly in the northwest and northeast: intense fighting for control of the small towns, the gateways to the city.
And what do they leave in their wake? ? Large swathes of neighborhoods are now blackened wastelands.
Kiev becomes a fortress
Jeremy Bowen, BBC News, Kiev
The fighting around Kiev was They have concentrated in the northwest and have lasted since the first morning, when Russian airborne troops landed at a cargo airport near Hostomel and Irpin, small commuter towns that evacuees say are now badly damaged. They seemed to be trying to secure an area from which to launch an advance towards Kiev. But the Ukrainian troops stopped them.
In recent days, I have seen more defenders advance to continue the fight around Irpin and Hostomel airport and heard constant fire from the Ukrainian side, from artillery lines hidden in the thick woods.
The hotly contested northwest is just 20 minutes drive from downtown Kiev, which has hardly been touched, although sirens sound regularly.
In the week I’ve been here, the Ukrainians have improved their physical defenses, which in some places barely existed. The checkpoints that were a few concrete blocks have become barricades.
Throughout the city they are filling and placing sandbags. Kiev metalworkers have been busy: at strategic junctions and on two-lane highways leading out of Kiev, steel anti-tank obstacles are ready.
Kiev is a large city with wide avenues, bisected by narrower streets, often paved with uneven cobblestones. Many of the buildings have large basements and cellars. Street fighting here, if it happens, could go on for months.
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