A Ukrainian counterattack north and west of the capital Kyiv appears to have made some headway, jeopardizing Russian efforts to encircle the city and threatening the ability of Russian forces to resupply front units exposed to the north of the city.
Videos geolocated on Monday show Ukrainian soldiers draping the national flag over a building in the city of Makariv, some 65 kilometers west of Kyiv.
Then, early Tuesday, Ukrainian forces said in a social media post that they had regained control of Makariv.
After 24 hours of fighting, the “state flag of Ukraine” was hoisted over the city of Makariv as the Russians retreated, the armed forces said on Facebook.
The city is strategically located due west of Kyiv.
The chief of the Kyiv regional police, Andriy Nebytov, visited Makariv on Monday. Video from his visit showed widespread devastation and the city appeared deserted.
Nebytov said Makariv was still being shelled, suggesting the immediate area is still disputed. During the tour, he was told by another officer that artillery fire was coming from five kilometers (three miles) north, an area still held by the Russians.
“Makariv is still under fire,” he said. “Every second civilian building, private houses, was destroyed, damaged by artillery shelling.”
“There are almost no people in the city,” Nebytov said in the video. “There are no residents, no one to take away.”
At one point, Nebytov passed a memorial to villagers “who gave their lives for the Soviet motherland in 1941-1945,” as he put it. “So there you are, these people died fighting fascism, Nazism. Now history repeats itself.”