Fighting north of Kyiv ongoing despite Ukrainian gains, says Zelenskiy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday (March 28) that although Ukrainian forces had regained control over some areas in the Kyiv region, the fighting was ongoing.
The town of Irpin had been retaken by Ukrainian forces who were making advances but Russian troops remained in control of the northern Kyiv region, he said.
Speaking in his nightly video address to Ukrainians, Zelenskiy also urged Western nations to toughen sanctions quickly against Russia, including an oil embargo, to stop Moscow from having a free hand to escalate its measures against his country.
The clearly irritated president said the West had miscalculated last year in delaying sanctions and the invasion had followed.
Russia's month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest European conflict since World War Two, has seen over 3.8 million Ukrainians flee abroad, left thousands dead or injured and isolated Russia's economy.
Zelenskiy said sanctions had to be "effective and serious" given Russia's actions to date.
The United States has already introduced an embargo on Russian oil shipments. But Europe, far more dependent on Russian energy, has been more hesitant. Germany, Europe's largest economy, has said introducing such an embargo would trigger recession and mass unemployment.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers on Monday patrolled territory recently recaptured from Russian forces in the northeastern part of Kyiv region, passing through a landscape scarred by heavy fighting.
Several wrecked Russian tanks lay scattered throughout the area next to destroyed buildings and the ruins of a church.
The Ukrainian soldiers on patrol paused to bury the charred remains of a dead combatant.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbour. Kyiv and the West consider this a pretext for an unprovoked invasion to try to topple the elected Ukrainian government.