Russian forces have left mines in homes and corpses near Kyiv as they carry out a “slow but noticeable” withdrawal from northern Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.

“They are mining the whole territory. They are mining homes, mining equipment, even the bodies of people who were killed,” he said last night, adding that such action was a “complete disaster” for the areas affected.

This comes as the US is said to be working with its allies to help supply Ukraine with Soviet-style tanks. An unnamed official told The New York Times that tanks would soon be sent to Ukraine. They did not give specifics about vehicle numbers or which countries they were being sent from.

Meanwhile, charity workers are trying to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, after an attempt on Friday failed because conditions there were too dangerous.

“We will try again tomorrow. It’s critical the parties respect agreements and provide the necessary security guarantees,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday. (INDEPENDENT)

•PHOTO:A Ukrainian serviceman carrying a weapon walks into a building previously used as a Russian military post Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images