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Battle for Kyiv begins: Ukraine repels Russian tanks on edge of capital

Battle for Kyiv begins: Ukraine repels Russian tanks on edge of capital
The moment Ukrainian artillery forces took out a Russian tank in Bovary (Picture: A3OB)

Ukrainian forces have reportedly ambushed a Russian convoy attempting to advance on Kyiv, capturing and destroying several tanks in the process.

The military vehicles were stopped in Bovary, a city in an eastern suburb of the capital.

Fighting in the area has intensified in recent days as Vladimir Putin’s troops attempt to make a move on Kyiv from multiple directions.

But so far, their progress has been slow and Ukrainian forces have repeatedly repelled troops.

In the most recent skirmish on Wednesday, Ukrainian troops were filmed taking out several Russian military vehicles with artillery fire.

In one video, a column of Russian tanks is shown being bombed by Ukrainian forces on a village road.

In the footage, Russian tanks can be seen bunched up in the road, while several are blown up. Soldiers can also be seen fleeing the stationary vehicles.

A directorate from the Ukrainian MoD’s Defence Intelligence said: ‘The commander of the occupier’s Colonel Zakharov regiment has been liquidated.

‘During the fighting in the Brovary district of Kyiv Oblast, the battalion tactical group (BTGr) of the 6th Tank Regiment (Chebarkul) of the 90th Panzer Division of the Central Command suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment.’

Russian tank column destroyed at Brovary nr Kyiv
Russian tank engulfed in flames by the side of the road in Brovary on the outskirts of Kyiv (Picture: @RALee85/Twitter)

One of the tanks left behind by Russian forces, was confiscated, repaired and taken to use in the field, military personnel said.

Ukrainian soldiers showed a damaged APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) to journalists in the area, together with items taken out of the vehicle, including a Russian soldier’s ID, Russian military t-shirts and sleeping bags.

‘So a column was moving towards Kyiv,’ an unidentified Ukrainian soldier told reporters.

‘The column was big. The ambush was organised. We destroyed the head of the column.

‘Our information is that heading the column there was a commander of the sixth tank regiment which was destroyed.

‘The soldiers worked the ambush just perfectly’.

Russian tank column destroyed at Brovary nr Kyiv
Ukrainian forces said they destroyed the column (Picture:A3OB)
Russian tank column destroyed at Brovary nr Kyiv
Fighting in Kyiv’s suburbs has intensified in recent days (Picture:A3OB)

According to Ukrainian military staff at the scene, the Ukrainian forces lost three vehicles and 30 soldiers in the ambush.

Civilians who remain in the suburbs say Ukrainian forces have been trying to repel the Russian tanks but the occupying troops are infiltrating the area.

‘They shoot to scare people and force them to stay at home, steal what they can to get supplies and settle among the inhabitants, so that the Ukrainian forces do not bomb them,’ Volodymyr, a 41-year-old resident of Velyka Dymerka, nine miles from Brovary said.

Overnight, the Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces were continuing their ‘offensive operation’ to encircle Kyiv, while pressing attacks on a string of other cities across the country.

A 40-mile long convoy of Russian forces has been ominously closing in the capital for several days but it currently stalled to the north of the city.

In Borodianka, to the northeast of Kyiv, several Russian tanks and a base were filmed being bombed by a Bayraktar drone, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Images of Russian tanks and military vehicles engulfed in flames on the outskirts of Kyiv have also been shared online.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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