Kyiv

Ukrainian presidential adviser Okeksiy Arestovych said Ukrainian troops had retaken more than 30 towns and villages in the region since Russia announced this week it would scale down operations around the capital to focus on battles in the east.

British military intelligence said Russian troops had abandoned Hostomel airport in a northwestern suburb of the capital, where there had been fighting since the first day of the invasion.

In the hamlet of Dmytrivka to the west of the capital, smoke was still rising from the wrecks of tanks and the bodies of at least eight Russian soldiers lay in the streets, Reuters correspondents saw.

"From one side we were hearing the tanks shooting at us, and from the area of Bucha was a massive mortar shelling," said resident Leonid Vereshchagin, a business executive, referring to a town to the north.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces put 31 of Russia's battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia's largest army losses in decades. It was not possible to verify his statements.

He also said about 1300 Ukrainian troops had been killed so far and urged the West to get more involved in peace negotiations. The president suggested Russian forces would face a fight to the death if they sought to enter the capital.

According to Maxar Technologies, elements of the convoy - which was last seen north-west of nearby Antonov Airport - have moved into positions in surrounding towns.

Maxar said that images also show other parts of the convoy to the north have positioned themselves near Lubyanka, and set up artillery positions nearby.

Earlier on Thursday, a senior US defence official said that Russian forces have moved three miles (5km) closer to Kyiv in the past 24 hours.

Russian forces have continued to pound Kyiv and other cities with artillery and cruise missiles in a campaign that has sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing westwards towards the European Union, clogging major highways and railway lines.

Top Russian security official and ex-president Dmitry Medvedev said military operations would be waged relentlessly until President Vladimir Putin's goals were achieved, ratcheting up Moscow's rhetoric.