General William Morgan

Russia has depicted its drawdown of forces near Kyiv as a goodwill gesture in peace talks. Ukraine and its allies say Russia was forced to shift its focus to east Ukraine after suffering heavy losses near Kyiv.

The shift, however, does not mean the country faced a reprieve from more than five weeks of war or that the more than 4 million refugees who have fled Ukraine will return soon.

Zelenskyy said he expects the towns Russian forces withdrew from to endure missile and rocket attacks from afar and for the battle in the east to be intense.

In his nightly video address on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said the country’s troops were not allowing the Russians to retreat without a fight: “They are shelling them. They are destroying everyone they can.”

Russia, Zelenskyy said, has ample forces to put more pressure on Ukraine’s east and south.

“What is the goal of the Russian troops? They want to seize the Donbas and the south of Ukraine,” he said. “What is our goal? To defend ourselves, our freedom, our land and our people.”

Kharkiv: Remaining residents adjust to life under bombs Fighting in Kharkiv has displaced more than a third of the city's population.Many of those left behind have been hiding in makeshift bomb shelters.Al Jazeera...

The whole Kyiv region is liberated from the invader,” Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, wrote on Facebook.

There was no immediate Russian comment on the claim.

In total, Ukraine’s troops have retaken more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv, according to officials. The recaptured towns bore the scars of five weeks of fighting, with destroyed armoured vehicles, military gear and dozens of bodies lying scattered over streets.

In Bucha, a town northwest of the capital, Ukrainian soldiers used cables to pull the bodies of civilians off the streets out of fear that Russian forces may have left them booby-trapped.

Bucha’s Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said authorities there have buried 280 people in a mass grave and said the victims included women as well as a 14-year-old boy.

“All these people were shot, killed, in the back of the head,” Fedoruk said.