Russians are just 13 miles from centre of Kyiv: Footage shows Putin’s men making advances into Irpin to the Ukrainian capital’s northwest
- New footage has emerged of Russian tanks just 13 miles from the centre of Kyiv
- The tanks and a small group of Russian soldiers were seen in the town of Irpin
- Irpin has been decimated amid three days of shelling and no water or electricity
- Ukrainian soldiers meanwhile said Russians who invade the capital ‘will burn’
- TDF members based in Kyiv were training with new anti-tank weapons today
- It comes as Putin stepped up his heinous bombardments of Ukrainian cities, launching a strike on a maternity hospital in the southern port city of Mariupol
New footage has emerged of Russian tanks driving through a suburb just 13 miles from the centre of Kyiv, two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine began.
The video, filmed this morning in the town of Irpin on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, shows several tanks and over a dozen soldiers slowly trundling through a residential area.
Irpin, which lies north-west of Kyiv, has for days been under a constant barrage of Russian shells which have decimated the quiet suburban town and caused many of its residents to flee.
The town is located adjacent to Bucha, where an entire convoy of Russian armour was turned to scrap metal last week in a bitter show of resistance from Ukrainian soldiers and members of the territorial defence forces.
Russia’s advance through Irpin comes on the same day that a maternity hospital in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol received a direct hit from Russian rockets in Putin’s most heinous war crime yet.
The video, filmed this morning in the town of Irpin on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, shows several Russian tanks and over a dozen soldiers slowly trundling through a residential area
Irpin, which lies north-west of Kyiv, has for days been under a constant barrage of Russian shells which have decimated the quiet suburban town and caused many of its residents to flee
A Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces member hugs a resident who leaves his home town following Russian artillery shelling in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Irpin, which lies north-west of Kyiv, has for days been under a constant barrage of Russian shells which have decimated the quiet suburban town and caused many of its residents to flee
Many of the residents still left in Irpin finally abandoned their homes today, traversing destroyed bridges, decimated roads and icy terrain pockmarked with craters
A baby is carried as people flee near a destroyed bridge to cross Irpin River as Russia’s invasion on Ukraine continues, in Irpin outside Kyiv
Russian armour can be seen making its way down one of the main roads through Irpin, before the vehicles stop and over a dozen soldiers are seen filing into position on their flanks.
It is unclear whether the tanks seen filing through Irpin are a detachment which broke off from the main convoy of Russian vehicles, which has for days been stalled just north of Kyiv amid mechanical failures and fuel supply issues.
But their seemingly unopposed incursion into Irpin is demonstrative of the brutality enacted by Russian bombing campaigns on the peaceful town, which has for three days endured a hail of artillery fire with no electricity or running water.
Many of the residents still left in Irpin finally abandoned their homes today, traversing destroyed bridges, decimated roads and icy terrain pockmarked with craters.
One citizen, who herself had recently fled Mariupol to be with her children in Irpin, said: ‘It’s cold. There’s no water, no electricity, nothing to cook with.
‘Our guys are saving us, and our friends are helping us,’ she added, while another elderly resident of Irpin suffering from heart disease thanked the ‘guardian angels’ who aided her as she scrambled over the arduous terrain.
As Russian armour inches closer to Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers and members of the territorial defence forces announced today that invaders who reach the capital ‘are going to burn’ as they got to grips with new weapons.
Video emerged of the city’s defenders training with a host of anti-tank weapons as they prepare to repel the advancing Russian tanks.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace today confirmed that the British Army has sent 3,615 NLAW anti-tank weapons to Ukraine – up from the previously-announced figure of 2,000 – and ‘small consignments’ of the anti-aircraft Javelin missile system.
Wallace told the Commons earlier today that the Ministry of Defence was also looking at whether they could supply more weapons in the coming days as Putin’s bombardment intensifies.
‘We can all see the horrific devastation inflicted on civilian areas by Russian artillery and air strikes, indiscriminate and murderous,’ he said.
‘It is vital, therefore, that Ukraine maintains its ability to fly and to suppress Russian air attack.’
Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces examine new armament, including NLAW anti-tank systems and other portable anti-tank grenade launchers, in Kyiv on March 9, 2022
As Russian armour inches closer to Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers and members of the territorial defence forces announced today that invaders who reach the capital ‘are going to burn’ as they got to grips with new weapons
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace today confirmed that the British Army has sent 3,615 NLAW anti-tank weapons to Ukraine – up from the previously-announced figure of 2,000 – and ‘small consignments’ of the anti-aircraft Javelin missile system
Residents cross the destroyed bridge as they flee from the frontline town of Irpin, Kyiv (Kiev) region, Ukraine, 09 March 2022
A man carries a dog as people flee, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Irpin, Ukraine, March 9, 2022
Wallace said that ‘in response to a Ukrainian request’ the Government was exploring the donation of Starstreak high-velocity man-portable anti-air missiles.
It comes as Russia stepped up its bombardment of several Ukrainian cities and Putin committed his most heinous war crime yet – launching a strike on a maternity hospital in the southern port city of Mariupol.
Footage has emerged of badly wounded patients and nurses being evacuated from decimated buildings, while pregnant women were carried out on stretchers into a courtyard covered in rubble and littered with huge craters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself posted a video showing the badly damaged hospital buildings, filmed inside a destroyed ward room with its windows blown out and ceiling partially collapsed.
More footage showed a car park covered in rubble and the smouldering wrecks of vehicles as injured families staggered into the freezing air while snow fell.
Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
This image taken from video provided by the Mariupol City Council shows the aftermath of Mariupol Hospital after an attack, in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday March 9, 2022
The burning wreckage of a car is seen outside a destroyed children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been under heavy Russian bombardment for more than a week
‘Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity,’ the President tweeted.
In a later interview with Sky News, Zelensky added that Russian invaders want Ukrainians ‘to feel like animals’ by preventing them from accessing food or water, and again implored NATO and the West to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
‘They want us to feel like animals because they blocked our cities… because they don’t want our people to get some food or water.
‘We can’t stop all of this alone. Only if the world will unite around Ukraine.
‘Don’t wait for me to ask you several times, a million times, to close the sky. You have to phone us, to our people who lost their children, and say ”sorry we didn’t do it yesterday.”
‘The world did nothing. I’m sorry, but it’s true. In future, it will be too late. They will close the sky but will lose millions of people [while they wait]’.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile condemned the strike as ‘depraved’ and vowed to step up support to the beleaguered Ukrainian military.
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