LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials claimed Saturday they had clawed back most of Kyiv and its surroundings even as they warned of executions in which civilians were bound and shot as well as renewed Russian pushes in the eastern region that is home to separatists loyal to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian troops were seeding northern areas of Ukraine with land mines as Moscow increasingly focused its offensive thrust on the Donbas region, where two self-proclaimed republics are located.
His military leaders said Russian forces were attempting to encircle Ukrainian troops in parts of the Donbas and pulling away from the capital, Kyiv. They also said Ukrainian forces were now in control of Kyiv and many of the suburbs that Russia had attempted to occupy, although that could not be verified independently.
