Zelensky confirmed Irpin's release, but warned that it is too early to say that the region is safe

Volodymyr Zelensky stated in a video released on social media that Ukrainian troops are regaining ground in the Kiev region and confirmed the news that they have succeeded in reconquering Irpin, which has already had been announced by its mayor a few hours ago.

“Today we have good news. Our soldiers advance in the Kiev region and regain control of Ukrainian territory. We've released Irpin. Good work,” he said.

The Ukrainian president warned, however, that Russian forces are “trying to rebuild” the units that were destroyed during the fighting, and that it is too early to talk about security in this part of our region.”

The mayor of Irpin, near Kiev, said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had regained full control of the city, which has been one of the main points of conflict with Russian troops near the capital.

“We have good news today: Irpin has been released,” said Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn in a video post on Telegram. “We understand that there will be more attacks on our people and we will defend it with courage.”

“Our Irpin has been freed from Moscow's evil! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to your defenders! Eternal memory to fallen heroes!” , said Markushin.

In the video, Mayor Markushin reported that the city continues to be “dangerous”: “We are strengthening our new borders and we will continue to move forward and liberate Bucha, Gostomel, Vorzel. We understand that our city will be attacked and we will defend it with courage. Irpin is Ukraine,” Markushin emphasized.

While the advance of the Russian army on the ground seems to be stalling, the invading air force is increasing shelling, particularly in the Kiev region, in Chernihiv (north) and around the separatist regions of Donbas.

Bombing is also increasingly destructive as the Russian army's reserves of precision missiles diminish, according to the Pentagon, which estimates, however, that Russian forces still hold more than 50% of their missile reserves.

Russia is also mobilizing Russian forces from the separatist territories of Georgia to send them to Ukraine, according to the senior US hierarch.

On the other hand, Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive in the southern city of Kherson, the only large urban center completely conquered by Russian forces, which is now in “dispute,” a senior US Defense Department official said Friday.

“Ukrainians are trying to seize Kherson,” the Pentagon official, who asked for anonymity, told reporters. “We cannot say exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the fact is that it is not as strongly under Russian control as it was before,” he added.

Taken on March 3 by Russian forces, this strategic city located at the mouth of the Dnieper River, where demonstrations were violently suppressed, “is once again a disputed territory,” added the Pentagon member.

If Ukrainians managed to regain control of the city, Russian positions around Mikolaiv would be found as if “in a sandwich” between the Ukrainian forces defending that city and those in Kherson, he said.

In that case, it would be “very difficult for the Russians to advance on the pitch towards (the port of) Odessa,” he explained. “It would be a major breakthrough” of the Kiev troops on the southern front.

There is also fighting between Russian forces and the Ukrainian resistance in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kiev (northwest of the capital), according to information from the Pentagon. “We observed intense fighting” in this area, the official admitted.

(With information from Reuters and AFP)

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