What Kyiv region's recapture revealed on 2 April 2022

What did the end of the Russian push on Kyiv look like on the ground? By 2 April 2022 the picture was one of recaptured towns, a reclaimed nuclear site and, in Bucha, bodies in the streets, while the war continued elsewhere in Ukraine.

A region returned

On 2 April 2022 Ukraine was reported to have retaken full control of Kyiv Oblast as the last Russian troops returned to Belarus. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said that 30 towns and settlements in northern Ukraine and around Kyiv had been returned to Ukrainian control after a mass Russian retreat. She said Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel and the whole of Kyiv region had been freed from the invader.

The recaptures had come in steps. On 1 April Ukrainian forces retook Bucha. Irpin's mayor, Oleksandr Markushyn, confirmed that day that the city had been fully liberated after the last Russian troops were driven out. Later accounts place Ukraine's recapture of Irpin by 28 March 2022, so the mayor's confirmation marked the end of the clearing of the city rather than the start of its recovery.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was also back in Ukrainian hands. On 2 April the Ukrainian flag was raised over the site, and a ceremony honoured the staff who had kept working under Russian occupation. Later accounts say Russian forces had seized the plant on 24 February, the first day of the invasion, and that around 300 people were reported trapped there by 7 March. By 31 March most Russian troops in the area had been reported to have withdrawn as the Russian military abandoned the Kyiv offensive to focus on Eastern Ukraine.

What Bucha showed

The most consequential reports of 2 April 2022 came from Bucha. Hundreds of civilians were found dead on the streets after Ukrainian forces recaptured the city. Journalists and Ukrainian forces said they had uncovered evidence of war crimes by the Russian military. These were the accounts of those on the ground at the time, and they put civilian harm at the centre of how the Kyiv withdrawal was understood.

The danger to those documenting the war was also clear. On 1 April the body of Reuters journalist Maks Levin was found in the town of Huta Mezhyhirska, near Kyiv. He had disappeared several days earlier and was the sixth journalist reported killed in the country since the invasion began. On 2 April the Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius was killed in Mariupol.

Pressure elsewhere

The retreat from the capital's approaches did not mean calm across the country. Ukrainian military sources confirmed on 1 April that Izium had fallen under Russian control, ending a month-long battle for the town. In Mariupol, the siege continued, and it was where Kvedaravičius died.

In occupied Enerhodar, in the south, residents said Russian forces had violently dispersed a pro-Ukrainian demonstration on 2 April. Several protesters were arrested, and Russian troops were alleged to have used explosions to scatter the crowd. The city is home to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which later accounts say generates nearly half of Ukraine's nuclear-derived electricity.

Inside Russia, more than 170 people were detained on 2 April at anti-war protests across the country. On 1 April, Russia claimed that the Ukrainian Air Force had struck fuel facilities in Belgorod. Videos on social media showed low-flying attack helicopters firing rockets at a fuel depot in the city.

Why the day mattered

Taken together, the reports of 2 April 2022 marked a turning point in the war's geography. Ukraine could say that the area around its capital was cleared, and it could point to a reclaimed nuclear site as evidence. At the same time, the fighting was shifting toward the east and south, where Izium had fallen, Mariupol was besieged and Enerhodar was under occupation. The evidence from Bucha added an urgent, separate question about accountability for civilians killed during the occupation.