In villages near Kyiv, how Ukraine has kept Russia's army at bay

FILE PHOTO: A Ukranian serviceman sits inside a Russian tank captured after fighting with Russian troops in the village of Lukyanivka outside Kyiv, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukraine, March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo

LUKYANIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) - The burnt wreckage of two Russian tanks with blown off turrets and several armoured personnel carriers attest the ferocity of last week's clashes in Lukyanivka village just outside Kyiv. The charred corpse of a Russian soldier lies in a field nearby.

"There were mortars so strong that it was scary even in the cellar," local resident Valeriy Hudym told Reuters on Sunday, two days after Ukrainian soldiers seized back control of Lukyanivka in a five-hour battle with the Russians.