Ukrainian forces retake areas near Kyiv amid fear of traps

A Ukrainian soldier passes by destroyed Russian tanks (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Ukrainian troops have moved to retake territory north of the country’s capital amid fears that Russian forces might have set booby-traps before leaving.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his nightly video address hours earlier that departing Russian troops were creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and “even the bodies of those killed”.