Ukraine war: Hand-to-hand combat breaks out near Kyiv
Hell freezes over: Soldiers clash HAND-TO-HAND as Putin’s forces get bogged down in snow with temperatures set to drop to -20C and Ukrainian soldiers race to evacuate civilians as Kyiv claims to have killed 12,000 troops
Ukrainian paratroopers say they are fighting Russians hand-to-hand in streets of Irpin, on the outskirts of KyivComes as President Putin’s invasion grinds to a bloody halt, with no significant territory captured in daysTemperatures are set to plunge in coming days – down to -20C with wind chill – worsening conditions for refugees and Russian forces alike, both of which lack shelter and heating Kyiv claims 12,000 Russian soldiers have now been killed in fighting, with more than 300 tanks destroyedRussian forces continue to bomb major cities, with strike on Sumy overnight killing 21 including two children Click here to read MailOnline’s liveblog with the latest updates on the Ukraine crisis
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Bombed, shot at and chased from their homes – now desperate Ukrainian refugees are facing a punishing cold snap as temperatures fall well below freezing this week, which will also bring bitter conditions to Putin’s men who are spread out across the country with limited access to shelter as his invasion stalls.
Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s two largest cities where intense fighting and bombing has been going on in recent days, will see overnight lows around -10C this week (14F) – down to -20C with wind chill, the BBC reports. Many civilians in those cities are currently without heat due to heavy shelling by Russian troops.
But Putin’s forces also lack shelter from the cold, with thousands thought to be caught up in a 40-mile convoy that has stalled near Kyiv after running low on supplies. Numerous reports have emerged in recent days of Russians complaining of a lack of equipment, food and shelter – conditions which look set to get even worse.
It comes as brutal clashes between Ukrainian paratroopers and Russian special forces erupted in Irpin – the scene of civilian evacuations today, as elderly residents were carried out in shopping carts – with one commander reporting hand-to-hand fighting as Putin’s men battle street-to-street in their efforts to surround the capital.
‘In some places, there is hand-to-hand combat,’ an officer who gave his name only as Stas said. ‘There is a huge column – 200 men, 50 light armoured vehicles, several tanks,’ he said of the Russian threat. ‘We are trying to push them out, but I don’t know if we’ll be fully able to do it.’
Meanwhile Vitaliy Shichko, resident of nearby Bucha, said Russian forces have been attacking the town since last week – initially throwing in men ‘they weren’t afraid of losing’ but increasingly moving in better armed and equipped troops to capture and hold ground. ‘Basically special forces,’ he said.
Others said that Russians had cleared residents out of their homes so they could set up sniper positions, with some alleging that civilians had been fired at as they tried to flee. Ukrainian artillery is now being brought to bare on Russian forces as they set up the next phase of their attack, commanders said.
The grim assessment from the outskirts of Kyiv emerged as Ukraine’s commanders said Putin’s invasion has ‘slowed significantly’ in recent days, with American intelligence saying he has now committed all of the forces he built up along the border to the fight.
Ukraine’s military, giving an overview of combat as the war enters its 13th day, said defensive operations continue in the north, east and south of Ukraine, with all major cities other than Kherson – which fell last week – in Ukrainian hands. Russian troops are ‘demoralised and increasingly tend to looting and violations of international humanitarian law,’ commanders added.
It has also emerged that another Russian commander – Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army – was killed in Kharkiv on Monday, just the latest in an increasingly long line of senior military figures to lose their lives in Ukraine.
Kyiv claimed today that 12,000 Russian troops have now died fighting in Ukraine, while 300 tanks have been destroyed along with more than 1,000 armoured vehicles, 48 planes, 80 helicopters and three boats. Moscow has acknowledged taking losses but has not given a recent update. Ukraine’s losses are unknown.
Strikes on civilian areas also continued overnight, with the city of Sumy – in the east – struck by bombs which the local mayor said killed 21 people including two children and left others wounded. Ukraine’s parliament published a photo of a bloodied infant they said was hurt in the attack.
Russia said it will again open up ‘humanitarian corridors’ today to allow civilians to flee bombarded cities – but the offer has already been dismissed by Kyiv, with President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Moscow of ‘cynicism’, saying its troops have laid mines across the routes and blown up buses intended to be used as transports.
‘There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors. Did that work? Russian tanks worked in its place, Russian Grads (multiple rocket launchers), Russian mines,’ Zelensky said in a video posted on Telegram. ‘They ensure that a small corridor to the occupied territory is open for a few dozen people. Not so much towards Russia as towards the propagandists, directly towards the television cameras.’
At least one of the corridors – out of Sumy – appeared to be operating early Tuesday, with around a dozen people pictured boarding a bus marked with medical symbols as they tried to leave. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the route of of Mariupol, which has been without water or electricity for the best part of a week, has been shelled.
In Bucha, to the northwest of Kyiv, the mayor said the city is under such heavy shelling that medics cannot get into the streets to retrieve the bodies of the dead – which are now being ‘pulled apart’ by stray dogs. ‘It’s a nightmare,’ he added.
In Zhyotymyr, west of Kyiv, a fire at an oil depot was extinguished in the early hours of the morning while in Mykolaiv, in the south, several fires in residential areas had broke out due to Russian attacks – with four civilians killed and five others rescued from the rubble and taken to hospital
In Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, Russian shelling set nine floors and 27 apartment units of a residential building on fire – a blaze that took rescuers more than four hours to extinguish. At least four people were killed.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, speaking to the BBC this morning, said Russian forces are ‘getting more desperate’ and ‘we are seeing the Russians just double down on brutality’ as the attack stalls.
He says ‘Russia has still not been making its advances, it’s day 13. That northern column that we have often talked about is still pretty much stuck, I mean really stuck, so that’s not advancing.’
He said the UK would be increasing the amount of lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine, details of which he would announce in Parliament on Wednesday, and is helping organise delivery of aid through Nato and other EU countries. President Zelensky is due to address the House of Commons via video link later today.
An elderly woman placed in a shopping trolley is carried over a destroyed bridge as she is evacuated from the city of Irpin, west of Kyiv, as snow falls on Tuesday morning
An elderly Ukrainian woman, placed inside a shopping trolley, is carried over a destroyed bridge on the outskirts of Irpin, near the capital Kyiv, which has been the scene of brutal street-to-street fighting
People carry a wounded woman during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
A police officer says goodbye to his son as his family flees from advancing Russian troops as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in the town of Irpin
Civilians continue to flee from Irpin due to ongoing Russian attacks as snow falls
A young boy is carried by his father as civilians are evacuated from Irpin with Russian forces trying to take the city
Heavy snow falls as Ukrainian civilians flee across a river in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, where heavy fighting is going on
Ukrainian soldiers help an elderly woman to cross a destroyed bridge as she evacuates the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
A Ukrainian woman dressed in full furs and carrying a suitcase is helped by soldiers to cross a destroyed bridge while evacuating from Irpin, where Russian troops have been fighting
A person is carried on a stretcher during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv
A woman carrying a swaddled baby walks down a motorway near the city of Irpin as she evacuates amid heavy snowfall
An elderly woman wrapped in blankets is wheeled down the highway in Irpin, Ukraine, as civilians evacuate
A wheelchair-bound woman is covered in snow as she is evacuated from Irpin while temperatures plunge
A woman evacuates from Irpin in the snow, with Ukraine set to see a cold snap that will send temperatures down to -20C over the coming days – increasing the pressure on refugees
Civilians continue to flee from Irpin due to ongoing Russian attacks as snow falls
A woman carries her dog during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
Civilians continue to flee from Irpin due to ongoing Russian attacks as snow falls
Heavy snow almost obscures people fleeing from their homes in the city of Irpin, near Kyiv, on Tuesday
People displaced from their homes carry what belongings they can as they flee from the city of Irpin, near Kyiv
A man and his dogs are helped across a river on the outskirts of Irpin, near Kyiv, as civilians evacuations continue
People file across a makeshift river crossing below a destroyed bridge as they flee from advancing Russian troops whose attack on Ukraine continues in the town of Irpin
A woman carries a dog to cross a destroyed bridge as she evacuates the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee crossing the Irpin river in the outskirts of Kyiv
A Ukrainian soldier helps a woman to cross a destroyed bridge during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin
A woman prays as she watches her relatives cross a destroyed bridge on their way out of Irpin, to the west of Kyiv
Russian troops continue to try and surround Kyiv ahead of what is expected to be an attack on the city, with intense fighting reported in the north west including hand-to-hand combat with Russian forces
On the subject of Poland possibly supplying jets for the fight in Ukraine, he said there was a debate going on at the moment about whether Poland would.
‘The UK could not supply jets directly to Ukraine, we don’t have the same type of fighter jets they fly, Mig-29s and others… Our view would be that it is for Poland on a bilateral basis to decide whether to support Ukraine,’ adding the UK would support Poland as an old ally.
Meanwhile Russia has threatened to turn off the main gas pipeline supplying Europe if the West goes ahead with sanctions on its oil sector – a move that Moscow says would push the price up above $300 per barrel.
America is said to be considering penalties for Russia’s energy sector – one of the few lifelines its economy has left – but it has been ruled out by Germany and the UK, who say the European economy needs more time to adjust before the taps are turned off.
The invasion has sparked the biggest war in Europe and the continent’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, while the West has responded with sanctions on Russia that have reverberated around the global economy.
Russia’s defence ministry said it would open the ‘humanitarian corridors’ from 0700 GMT Tuesday, subject to Ukraine’s approval, listing routes from the capital Kyiv as well as the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy – all of which have been under heavy attack. Ukraine did not initially respond to the offer.
French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the Russian plan. ‘All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable,’ Macron told French broadcaster LCI.
‘I do not know many Ukrainians who want to go to Russia,’ he added, saying full ceasefires to protect civilians were needed rather than corridors.
Meanwhile the mayor of one besieged Kyiv suburb has described artillery fire as being so relentless residents are unable to gather up their dead.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine well into its second week, a steady rain of shells and rockets continues to fall on population centres like Bucha. The mayor of the Kyiv suburb, Anatol Fedoruk, said military fire had been heavy and constant.
‘We can’t even gather up the bodies because the shelling from heavy weapons doesn’t stop day or night,’ Mr Fedoruk said.
Corridors intended to let Ukrainian civilians escape the Russian onslaught could open on Tuesday, Kremlin officials said, though Ukrainian leaders greeted the plan with scepticism since prior efforts to establish evacuation routes crumbled over the weekend amid renewed attacks.
In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people – nearly half the population of 430,000 – were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established.
Russia’s chief negotiator said he expected the corridors to be in use on Tuesday.
The Russian UN ambassador forecast a potential cease-fire for the morning and appeared to suggest that humanitarian paths leading away from Kyiv and other cities could give people choice in where they want to go – a change from previous proposals that offered only destinations in Russia or Belarus.
The office of embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not comment on the latest Russian proposal, saying only that Moscow’s plans can be believed only if a safe evacuation begins.
Demands for effective passageways have surged amid intensifying shelling by Russian forces. The steady bombardments, including in some of Ukraine’s most populated regions, have yielded a humanitarian crisis of diminishing food, water and medical supplies.
Through it all, Mr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were showing unprecedented courage.
‘The problem is that for one soldier of Ukraine, we have 10 Russian soldiers, and for one Ukrainian tank, we have 50 Russian tanks,’ Mr Zelensky told ABC News in an interview that aired on Monday night.
But he noted that the gap in strength was diminishing and that even if Russian forces ‘come into all our cities,’ they will be met with an insurgency.
A top US official said multiple countries were discussing whether to provide the warplanes that Mr Zelensky has been pleading for.
At The Hague, Netherlands, Ukraine pleaded with the International Court of Justice to order a halt to Russia’s invasion, saying Moscow is committing widespread war crimes.
Russia ‘is resorting to tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare, encircling cities, cutting off escape routes and pounding the civilian population with heavy ordnance,’ said Jonathan Gimblett, a member of Ukraine’s legal team.
Russia snubbed the court proceedings, leaving its seats in the Great Hall of Justice empty.
The UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths addressed the Security Council and urged safe passage for people to go ‘in the direction they choose’.
The battle for Mariupol is crucial because its capture could allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.
The fighting has sent energy prices surging worldwide and stocks plummeting, and threatens the food supply and livelihoods of people around the globe who rely on crops farmed in the fertile Black Sea region.
The UN human rights office reported 406 confirmed civilian deaths but said the real number is much higher. The invasion has also sent 1.7 million people fleeing Ukraine.
People walk across a destroyed bridge during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
A Ukrainian soldier helps to carry a child during the evacuation of Irpin, which is under heavy attack by Russian forces
Two men carry a woman as people flee from advancing Russian troops whose attack on Ukraine continues in the town of Irpin
Civilians continue to flee from Irpin due to ongoing Russian attacks as snow falls in Irpin
Ukrainian soldiers check documents of men leaving the city of Irpin because those aged between 18 and 60 are banned from leaving, to join the war against Russian forces
Ukrainian soldiers detain a man they think is a Russian spy in the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
A couple crosses a destroyed bridge during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv
Civilians continue to flee from Irpin due to ongoing Russian attacks as snow falls
An Ukrainian serviceman holds a grenade launcher as people cross a destroyed bridge as they evacuate the city of Irpin
Ukrainians cross an improvised path under a destroyed bridge while fleeing Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv
Civilians continue to flee from Irpin due to ongoing Russian attacks as snow falls
Russia has now committed all of the forces it massed on the Ukrainian border before the invasion, and has made only limited territorial gains – capturing just one major city, Kherson. Others, including Sumy and Kyiv, are slowly being surrounded but in some places the Ukrainians have managed to thwart Russian attacks or successfully counter-attack
Kyiv claims these are the losses that its forces have inflicted on Russia in the first 12 days of fighting. While Moscow has acknowledged casualties, none of these figures have been verified
Ukrainian servicemen inspect a charred Russian tank that was destroyed on the outskirts of Sumy, eastern Ukraine
A charred Russian tank is seen on the outskirts of Sumy, a city in the east of the country, as Putin’s invading force continues to suffer losses without a significant gain in territory
The burned-out remains of a Russian infantry fighting vehicle are seen on the outskirts of Sumy, where fighting has been ongoing since the first day of the war
A Ukrainian tank is seen next to the ruins of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Sumy
A destroyed Russian tank is seen by the side of a road in Luhansk, in images captured by Ukrainian soldiers in the region
Ukrainian soldiers in Luhansk, in the country’s east, captured images showing destroyed Russian military vehicles
Russia has today offered to reopen ‘humanitarian corridors’ for civilians to flee besieged cities which has been dismissed as little more than a PR stunt by Kyiv because routes, most of which lead to Russia, have been attacked
A child injured in a Russian airstrike on the city of Sumy overnight, which the major said killed more than 10 people with infants among the dead. Ukraine’s forces say Russia is increasingly resorting to ‘war crimes’ as its invasion slows
Injured in result of shelling civilian woman is seen at a hospital in Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
Smoke rises into the night sky over Sumy, eastern Ukraine, as the besieged city was hit by Russian airstrikes which the mayor said killed more than 10 people including children
Destroyed houses are seen in Sumy, eastern Ukraine, which has come under heavy Russian bombardment even as Moscow offers to open a ‘humanitarian corridor’ – dismissed as a ‘cynical’ stunt by Kyiv
Buildings flattened by Russian artillery are pictured in the city of Sumy, in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv’s commanders say the invasion has ‘slowed’ with Putin’s men increasingly resorting to ‘war crimes’
Volodymyr Zelensky has openly defied Russian forces trying to encircle Kyiv, posting his location and saying he is ‘not afraid’ of soldiers attacking the Ukrainian capital
Burned Russian APC is seen in Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, which has been under heavy bombardment for days
The remains of a Russian armoured personnel carrier is seen on the outskirts of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv
Ukrainian soldiers keep their spirits up by singing in a trench near Irpin, on the western outskirts of the capital Kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers stand ready to defend against Russian forces in Irpin, Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier takes cover from incoming Russian artillery fire in Irpin, which has been under heavy bombardment
Ukrainian soldiers take cover from incoming artillery fire in Irpin, near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv
A Russian military vehicle explodes after being struck by Ukrainian artillery near Kyiv, as commanders say Moscow’s forces continue to suffer heavy losses across the country
A burning Russian tank is seen in the midst of night as fighting takes place outside the Ukrainian city of Sumy
On Monday, Moscow again announced a series of demands to stop the invasion, including that Ukraine recognise Crimea as part of Russia and recognise the eastern regions controlled by Moscow-supported separatist fighters as independent. It also insisted that Ukraine change its constitution to guarantee it won’t join international bodies like Nato and the EU. Ukraine has already rejected those demands.
Mr Zelensky has called for more punitive measures against Russia, including a global boycott of its oil exports, which are key to its economy.
‘If (Russia) doesn’t want to abide by civilized rules, then they shouldn’t receive goods and services from civilization,’ he said in a video address.
Addressing the Security Council, the UN’s top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths said civilians must be allowed to leave in the direction they wish.
At least 406 civilians have died since the start of Russia’s assault on its ex-Soviet neighbour, according to the UN, although it believes the real figures to be ‘considerably higher’.
Ukrainian forces said Tuesday they had repulsed a Russian attack on Izium city in the Kharkiv region, and outgunned troops have been trying to hold back a Russian push up from the east and south in an attempt to encircle Kyiv.
Russian forces ‘suffered losses and retreated’ in Izium after they ‘reigned terror in the city by bombing civilian premises and infrastructure,’ the military said.
AFP journalists witnessed thousands of civilians on Monday fleeing fighting via an unofficial escape route from Irpin, a suburb west of Kyiv, towards the capital.
Children and the elderly were carried on carpets used as stretchers on the route, which leads over the makeshift bridge and along a single path secured by the army and volunteers.
Desperate people abandoned pushchairs and heavy suitcases to cram on buses out of the war zone.
‘We had no light at home, no water, we just sat in the basement,’ Inna Scherbanyova, 54, an economist from Irpin, told AFP.
‘Explosions were constantly going off… Near our house there are cars, there were dead people in one of them… very scary.’
Refugees trying to escape the city using agreed escape routes were left stranded as the road they were directed towards was mined, the ICRC said on Monday.
One Ukrainian paratrooper told of ‘hand-to-hand’ combat in Irpin, saying ‘we are trying to push (Russian soldiers) out, but I don’t know if we’ll be fully able to do it’.
An international legion of volunteers has descended on Ukraine to fight the Russians.
Ukrainian volunteers help remove a dead body as Russian forces continue to besiege residential areas of Irpin, near Kyiv
A pedestrian walks amid debris in a street following a shelling in Ukraine’s second-biggest city of Kharkiv
A member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces looks at destructions following a shelling in Ukraine’s second-biggest city of Kharkiv
Firefighters extinguish a fire of a damaged residential building after Russian troops shelled the area in the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
A rescuer is seen next to a residential building damaged by shelling, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Mykolaiv
The booster section of a Russian Smerch rocket is seen embedded in the side of a car in Kharkiv, Ukraine
Members of Ukrainian military together with other people carry an elderly woman in a wheelchair to cross the destroyed bridge as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin, Kyiv region
Rescuers carry a civilian injured during shelling, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks his plane as he arrives for his visit to Tallinn, Estonia
But the Pentagon said Monday that Moscow was on a recruiting mission for its own foreign fighters – Syrians who fought for President Bashar al-Assad.
‘We do believe that the accounts of them – the Russians – seeking Syrian fighters to augment their forces in Ukraine, we believe there’s truth to that,’ Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said he will not send conscripts or reservists to fight in the conflict.
Zelensky has recalled all servicemen working abroad to fight the invading forces, according to the Ukrainian parliament.
He again vowed to remain in place as Russian forces near the capital.
‘I am staying in Kyiv. Not hiding. And I’m not afraid of anyone,’ he said in a video late Monday.
He said his government will do ‘as much as it takes to win this war!’
The World Bank on Monday approved an additional $489-million package in support for Ukraine, to be made available immediately and dubbed ‘Financing of Recovery from Economic Emergency in Ukraine,’ or ‘FREE Ukraine.’
It came as Zelensky renewed calls for the West to boycott Russian exports, particularly oil, and to impose a no-fly zone to stop the carnage.
NATO countries have so far rebuffed Kyiv’s demand for a no-fly zone, fearing a widening war against nuclear-armed Russia.
Western allies have instead imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires in a bid to pressure Moscow to halt its assault.
But the leaders of Germany, Britain and the Netherlands warned Monday against a ban on Russian oil, saying it could put Europe’s energy security at risk.
US President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman said no decision had been taken, while Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned any oil ban would have ‘catastrophic consequences’ on prices that have already headed towards a 2008 record high.
Putin has equated sanctions with a declaration of war and put nuclear forces on alert, pledging the ‘neutralisation’ of Ukraine ‘either through negotiation or through war’.
Despite harsh punishments for those voicing dissent, protests in Russia against the Ukraine invasion have continued, with more than 10,000 people arrested since it began.
Hanna Bespalko, 54, cries over her deceased son Denys Hrynchuk in Bila Krynytsia, near Kherson, in Ukraine
Hanna Bespalko, 54, holds the hands of her dead son Denys during his funeral service in the village of Bila Krynytsia, Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers pictured carrying the coffin of 24-year-old Ukrainian soldier Denys Hrynchuk during his funeral in Ukraine
The arrival of war refugees from southern Ukrainian cities at the Zahony railway station on the Hungarian border
Refugees disembark a train at Zahony, Hungary, after fleeing the fighting in Ukraine. 1.7million have fled so-far
A woman carries her dog off a train as she disembarks in Hungary having fled the fighting in Ukraine
