Ukraine’s Armed Forces have published an assessment of their defence of Kyiv, claiming that Russia’s two primary attack routes into the capital city have been blocked.

According to Oleksandr Hruzevych, deputy chief of staff, Russian forces on both banks of the Dnipro river, which divides the city north and south, have been stopped in the face of an apparent plan to encircle the capital ahead of a possible takeover attempt.

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“As of today, the enemy has been stopped at a distance of almost 70 kilometers (about 43 miles) from the city’s right bank, which makes it impossible to carry out fire, except for rocket fire. On the left bank, the advance has [also] been stopped. The enemy is cynically shooting at our infrastructure facilities. [But] the main ways of attack are blocked,” he said Friday. 

Russian forces had abandoned offensive actions around Brovary to the northeast of Kyiv, and Boryspil to the southeast, Hruzevych said. After creating two lines of defense to protect the capital, Hruzevych said Ukraine’s army was now “working on strengthening a third, distant line of defense.” 

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In response to the threat presented by cruise missiles, the brigadier general stated that an air defence system was still in place around Kyiv, but that missiles intercepted above the city remained a threat. According to the local council, one person was killed in such an incident Friday morning in the northwestern district of Podilskyi.

Four cruise missiles fired from jets over the Black Sea exploded into an aviation parts facility in the western city of Lviv on Friday morning. Two further missiles were intercepted by air defence systems before they could reach their objective.

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“The Black Sea and Belarus are two difficult directions from which the enemy launches missile strikes,” Hruzevych acknowledged. But, he continued, “An effective system has been developed where the missiles are to be destroyed on approach. We are now working on a system that will minimize the impact of missiles for civilians.” 

He also stated that an effort to eliminate the threat of saboteurs in the capital had resulted in the elimination of over 100 people.