Grigory Bondar 14:54, 18.03.22 UNIAN

On the left bank there are attempts to break through the invaders, but they are stopped. On the Brovarsky and Boryspil directions, the enemy abandoned the offensive.

REUTERS

The Russian occupiers were pushed back from Kyiv from the right bank of the Dnieper to a distance of up to 70 kilometers.

As an UNIAN correspondent reports, Brigadier General Aleksandr Gruzevich, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Command of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this at a briefing in Kyiv.

He noted that the capture of Kyiv is one of the most important strategic tasks for the enemy:

“Who wants to behead with one blow, and then dictate his own terms, but the plan failed. Kyiv, as the invaders planned, did not surrender in three days.”

“We completely thwarted the enemy’s plans. Today, on the right bank of the river (Dnepr), the enemy has been stopped for almost 70 km and the strip of the outer ring has been expanded to 70 km, which makes it impossible to fire, except for missiles, on our capital,” Gruzevich emphasized.

“We have a small advance along the left bank, but now we have eliminated it. So you can be calm. But the enemy has switched to the second tactic: he is cynically shooting at our infrastructure,” Gruzevich said.

He also said that every city on the outskirts of Kyiv is being prepared as a node of resistance.

“Our commander travels around Kyiv and the Kyiv region every day, checks the state of readiness, and I can assure you that the enemy will not go further. He will be stopped. All communities unanimously declare that they will not let the enemy go further,” Gruzevich stressed.

In addition, he said that a grouping of troops had been created for the defense of Kyiv and the Kyiv region.

“Two circles of defense have been created, in which the enemy has been stopped and is not successful. In some directions, and these are the Brovarsky and Boryspil directions, the enemy has generally abandoned active offensive operations,” Gruzevich emphasized.

Earlier it was reported that  since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russian troops in Kyiv, 222 people have died , of which 60 are civilians. Died, including four children.