Russian Forces Driven Away From Kyiv as Ukraine Regains Territory and Kills Top Commander

Ukraine’s military says they have “eliminated” another Russian colonel, adding to a long list of high-ranking Russian military personnel wiped out in Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Tuesday that Colonel Denis Kurilo, the commander of the 200th separate motorized rifle brigade, was killed outside Kharkiv.

Kurilo’s reported death, on the 34th day of the Kremlin’s “special operation,” comes after at least seven Russian generals were killed in Ukraine, according to both Ukrainian and Western officials.

It also comes as the Ukrainian military announced several territorial gains, with the northeastern town of Trostyanets liberated from Russian troops and several areas outside Kyiv reported back in the hands of Ukraine. The military said territories in the Chernihiv region were also liberated.

The mayor of the town of Irpin outside Kyiv—which has been decimated by Russian bombs as Putin’s troops sought a foothold over the Ukrainian capital—said Russian forces had been completely pushed out.

Authorities there have begun the grim task of clearing out the dead, he said, adding that some of the bodies of those killed by Russian troops had apparently been mined.

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Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced a decision Tuesday to drastically reduce the number of its troops around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

The announcement came as Kyiv and Moscow held renewed peace talks in Istanbul, where Vladimir Medinsky, the Putin adviser appointed the head of the Russian delegation, described the troop reductions as “two steps toward deescalation of the conflict.”

Elsewhere, however, Russian forces only intensified their attacks, with the administrative building of Mykolaiv struck by missile fire early Tuesday. At least seven people were killed in the strike, and another 22 injured, local authorities said.