LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russian troops were seeding northern areas of Ukraine with mines as Moscow increasingly focused its offensive thrust on the eastern Donbas region — home of two self-proclaimed republics loyal to Russia.
Meantime, as shelling and attacks continued across the country, new evacuations were planned from war-ravaged areas in the north and east, including the devastated port city of Mariupol.
According to Zelenskyy, more than 6,000 people were evacuated from war zones Friday via so-called humanitarian corridors, exit routes agreed upon by both Ukrainian and Russian officials. More than half of those evacuees were from Mariupol.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was planning a large-scale evacuation of residents from Mariupol again Saturday after a thwarted effort Friday.
Mariupol, along the Sea of Azov in the Donbas region, has emerged as a potent symbol of the destruction and loss of life that have characterized the war. Tens of thousands of residents are reportedly trapped in Mariupol with limited access to food, water and medical care, as Ukrainian defenders struggle to hold on against advancing Russian forces.
Images of Mariupol, once a city of more than 400,000, reveal empty apartment blocs and shopping centers blackened from shelling. Much of the population has fled.
The war, now in its 38th day since the Russian invasion, has left thousands dead, forced almost one-quarter of Ukraine's population of 44 million from their homes, and created a broad swath of destruction across the nation.
In the north, Zelenskyy said in an overnight video address that Russian forces withdrawing from the region are "mining houses, equipment, even the bodies of killed people."
He warned people to avoid returning to areas previously under Russian control until authorities are sure that mines had been cleared and the threat of shelling had abated.
The president described the situation in the country's east as "extremely difficult," as Russia bolstered troop strength and prepared for new attacks. Moscow has said its forces are concentrating on the east, where Russia has backed pro-Moscow separatist forces since 2014.
"It is still impossible to return to normal life as it was," the president said. "I emphasize again: Hard battles lie ahead."
The British Defence Ministry reported that in the Kyiv area, Ukrainian troops continued to advance as Russian forces pulled out of the Ukrainian capital.
As the Russians have withdrawn from the Kyiv area, viral video images show vast destruction and bodies on the streets of once-occupied cities such as Irpin and Bucha.
On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities reported predawn Russian missile strikes on the central cities of Kremenchuk, home of a major refinery, and Poltava. There was no immediate word on casualties. Firefighters were struggling to douse flames in Kremenchuk, an industrial hub.
The missile strikes Saturday came a day after a stunning attack on an oil depot in the Russian city of Belgorod, about 20 miles north of the Ukrainian border. It was the first such attack on Russian soil since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian authorities blamed the attack in Belgorod on Ukrainian military helicopters. But Ukrainian authorities did not claim responsibility for the strike.
As the war grinded on, the grim toll in deaths and displacement continued to mount.
Here in the western city of Lviv, largely spared destruction so far, there was more evidence of the human costs. Military funerals were held for two more soldiers killed in the fighting. Their coffins were carried along cobblestone streets for services at the venerable Church of Saints Peter and Paul. Weeping mourners stood outside in the cold before entering the church. Such funerals have become an almost daily occurrence here.
Meanwhile, a mile and a half away at the 19th-century train station, evacuees from the east and north of Ukraine continued to arrive. Many planned to continue onward to Poland and elsewhere in Europe, joining the ongoing mass exodus sparked by the war.
"We didn't want to leave — we waited a month to see how it went," said Olga Gremova, 41, a resident of the city of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine. "But then the shelling became too much. It was too dangerous."
She was among many waiting in line outside the station for a bus to Warsaw, the Polish capital. Accompanying her was her daughter, Kateryna, 15, and Veronica Gubarenko, 16, a friend of the family who also is from Kharkiv. They shared bread and a hot meal handed out by volunteers. All bundled up from the extreme cold. The morning saw snow flurries, belying the onset of spring.
"We were happy in Kharkiv, we had our family, our friends," said Gremova, who was overcome with emotion as she spoke. "We left everything behind. But we all want to go home again. Hopefully that will be soon. I really don't know anything about Poland. We hope this war will end soon and we can go back home."
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