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Destroyed Russian vehicle near Chernihiv in northern Ukraine
Photo: Andrzej Lange/EPA
Russia's military is apparently withdrawing from northern Ukraine.
On Saturday, Kyiv confirmed a "rapid withdrawal" of Russian troops from the north.
Moscow now wants to "retain control of large occupied areas in the south and east," said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podoljak.
Russia has "chosen a different tactic," Podoljak explained in the messenger service Telegram: Moscow wants to "withdraw its troops to the east and south and retain control over large occupied areas there".
In the occupied regions, Russia wants to "dictate its terms in a tough manner."
"Large number of military vehicles" left behind
Because of the Russian troop withdrawal from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions in the north, Ukrainian troops were able to recapture "more than 30 towns," said Oleksiy Arestovich, another adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video distributed on Saturday.
The Russian army left "a large number of military vehicles without fuel".
At least 20 bodies were discovered there after Russian troops withdrew from the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
The dead, who were wearing civilian clothes, were found on a street in a residential area, a journalist with the AFP news agency reported.
Several dozen kilometers north of Kyiv, the body of a Ukrainian photojournalist who had been missing for almost three weeks and whose photos had also appeared in SPIEGEL was discovered.
Selenskyj warns of heavy attacks in the east
In view of the decreasing military pressure in the north, President Zelenskyj expected "powerful attacks" in the east, above all on Mariupol, which had been under siege for weeks.
Ukraine now needs "heavy weapons" to advance into occupied areas in the south and east "and push back the Russians as far as possible," said his adviser Podoliak.
According to Zelenskyy, more than 3,000 residents of Mariupol were "rescued" with buses and private vehicles on Friday.
An AFP reporter in Zaporizhia saw dozens of buses with refugees there.
Many of them burst into tears of relief upon arrival.
"We cried when we saw soldiers with Ukrainian badges at the checkpoint," said Olena, who left Mariupol behind with her young daughter.
The port city has been under massive fire from Russian forces for weeks.
According to Ukrainian information, at least 5,000 people have been killed there since the beginning of the war, and around 160,000 civilians are said to be still stuck in the largely destroyed city.
The humanitarian situation is catastrophic;
people have little access to water, food and electricity.
After a failed evacuation operation on Friday, an ICRC team set out again for Mariupol on Saturday.
In order for the evacuation to succeed, "the parties must respect the agreement and create the necessary conditions and security guarantees," the ICRC demanded.
More attacks in Kharkiv and Donbass
Violent attacks were reported from several regions on Saturday night: residential areas in the city of Kharkiv were bombed, the presidency announced.
Villages in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east and in the south in the Kherson region were also attacked.
According to Ukrainian sources, important infrastructure was hit in Dnipro and Kremenchuk inland, including the country's largest oil refinery.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed fuel depots with "high-precision weapons."
Ukrainian attack on Russian territory?
Prospects for a negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia worsened after Russia on Friday reported the Ukrainian army's first attack on Russian territory since the war began.
Accordingly, two Ukrainian helicopters caused a major fire in a fuel depot in Belgorod in western Russia.
However, the Ukrainian side did not confirm this attack.
On Sunday, the UN Deputy Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, wants to work in Moscow for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in Ukraine, as the UN announced.
Meanwhile, the number of war refugees continued to rise.
According to the UN, almost 4.14 million people have fled Ukraine.
col/AFP