"Huge" battles are being fought close to Kyiv, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said on Friday, further undermining Russia’s claim to be scaling back its offensive as a precursor to further peace talks.
Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, warned that the “risk of dying” in the city was still “pretty high” as he urged residents who had fled the fighting in recent weeks not to risk returning yet, despite Moscow’s pledge this week to scale back its offensive in the region.
