Retreating Russian forces leave mines around homes causing danger to Citizens in Ukraine as Red Cross tries to evacuate civilians from Mariupol as the Russian invasion of Ukraine turns five weeks old.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Saturday that retreating Russian forces from Ukraine’s capital region, are creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and “even the bodies of those killed,”.

Military gear left by Russian soldiers are seen during a military sweep to search for possible remnants of Russian troops after their withdrawal from villages on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 1, 2022, AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

Ukraine and its Western allies reported mounting evidence of Russia withdrawing its forces from around Kyiv and building its troop strength in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian fighters reclaimed several areas near the capital after forcing the Russians out or moving in after them, officials said.

“It’s still not possible to return to normal life, as it used to be, even at the territories that we are taking back after the fighting. We need wait until our land is demined, wait till we are able to assure you that there won’t be new shelling,” the president said during his nightly video address.

Red Cross continues efforts to evacuate civilians
The Red Cross was renewing efforts to evacuate civilians in a convoy from the besieged port of Mariupol on Saturday as Russian forces looked to be regrouping for fresh attacks in southeast Ukraine.

Mariupol has been Moscow's main target in Ukraine's southeastern region of Donbas. Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped there with scant access to food and water.

The humanitarian group said a team with three vehicles and nine Red Cross staff members was headed to Mariupol on Saturday to help facilitate the safe evacuation of civilians. It said its team planned to accompany a convoy of civilians from Mariupol to another city.

Evacuees boarded about 25 buses in Berdyansk and arrived around midnight to Zaporizhzhia, a city still under Ukrainian control that has served as the destination under previous cease-fires announced — and then broken — to get civilians out and aid into Mariupol.

On the outskirts of Kyiv, signs of fierce fighting were everywhere in the wake of the Russian redeployment.

The war has killed thousands, uprooted a quarter of Ukraine's population and devastated several cities. More than 4.1 million people have fled Ukraine, the United Nations says.
-Reuters/AP