On Saturday, Mikhail Podolyak, a major advisor to Zelensky, tweeted a video of himself and two others on a coffee run in the embattled city. According to a tag in the tweet, one of the other men was Ukrainian Parliament Majority Leader David Arakhamia. Throughout the 26-second video, all three appear cheerful and at ease.
“Kyiv is always beautiful,” Podolyak wrote. “Even during a wartime.. [President Zelensky’s] team is permanently on the working places.”
In a similar show of confidence, Zelensky, responding to Russian rumors that he had fled, shared two videos of himself on Tuesday, showing that he was still in his office in the capital.
“I’m not hiding,” he wrote on Facebook. “And I’m not afraid of anyone.”
On Saturday, Newsweek reported that according to Western intelligence sources, Russian military forces are currently working to encircle the capital city. Sources within the U.S. government also previously told Newsweek that the country’s resistance to the Russian invasion would likely end should Kyiv fall.
Satellite imagery taken on Friday appeared to show that the 40-mile long, beleaguered Russian convoy north of Kyiv had largely dispersed and moved to smaller towns and forests after the column had been stalled due to supply issues for a week.
“Elements of the large Russian column north of Kyiv have dispersed,” the U.K. Ministry of Defence tweeted on Saturday. “This is likely to support a Russian attempt to encircle the city. It could also be an attempt by Russia to reduce its vulnerability to Ukrainian counter attacks, which have taken a significant toll on Russian forces. Beyond Kyiv, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain encircled and continue to suffer heavy Russian shelling.”
U.S. officials have been less keen to ascribe to the movements of the convoy. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby suggested Friday that the moves could be in response to the constant attacks against the convoy by Ukrainian forces.
Social media posts indicated that two oil depots near the Vasylkiv Air Base, which is south of Kyiv, were on fire after Russian missile strikes.
