About 200-300 civilians have died in fighting in the city of Irpin since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
Irpin is located only twenty kilometers from Kiev. Russia has been bombing it heavily since the first days of its offensive war.
Ukrainians recapture Irpin from Russian forces this week, city mayor Oleksandr Markusyn told the media on Wednesday.
According to Markušyn, Russian troops left Irpin on Monday.
According to Markušyn, at least 50 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the battles of Irpin so far. About a hundred have been wounded.
Irpinin the population was about 60,000 before Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. According to the mayor, there are still about 3,500 people in the city.
“We’re still looking for people in the basements,” Markušyn told reporters.
Markušyn assured that there are no more Russian troops in the city.
Tamara, 73, was evacuated from Irpin. A rescue worker talked to Tamara in Kiev on Wednesday.
The old woman was evacuated from Irpin on 13 March.
But although Irpin is 100% owned by Ukraine, it is not safe for residents to return there, according to the mayor.
“Fifty percent of the city has been destroyed, including the infrastructure necessary for society to function,” Markušyn said.
He believed that Russian forces would continue to bomb Irpin from Bocha, another suburb of Kiev. Butša is less than ten kilometers from Irpin.
People carried a white flag as they walked on the border of Butshan and Irpin on March 11th.
Irpin destroyed in the bombings on March 29th.
Russian troops have been trying to besiege the capital Kiev for weeks.
The suburbs to the northwest and west of Kiev are important to Russian troops because they provide a supply link for troops to the north. The loss of cities along the western highways means more difficult maintenance for Russian troops.
Irpin has been bombed since the beginning of the war because it is one of the main routes to Kiev. CNN reporters in Kiev report that they heard voices of bombing from Irpin earlier this week.
People carried goods from a house on fire in Irpin on March 4th.
Previously a U.S. journalist died in Irpin this month. Since then, the city has been closed to the media.
Before that, stopping images of the bridge, the destruction of which at the beginning of the war made it much more difficult to evacuate, and of a family of four whose three members died at the evacuation point as a result of the Russian attack spread to the world.
The Irpin bridge was destroyed in early March. Pebbles were built next to the bridge, along which the townspeople fled far away from Irpin with the help of soldiers. The old woman was helped across the temporary bridge on March 7th.
Residents fled Irpin on March 9, walking along planks under a destroyed bridge.
Images of the dead family at the evacuation point were originally spread through the U.S. newspaper The New York Times, as the magazine’s photographer Lynsey Addario was just meters away from the family when the Russian attack hit them on Sunday, March 6th. The attack killed a 43-year-old mother, children aged 9 and 18, and a 26-year-old aid worker who had tried to help the family escape. The family’s father was in another city at the time of the incident caring for his sick mother.